Best books of the month: January edition

Can y'all believe we're already almost a month into 2015? Time is a' flyin'! And, of course, we already have a long list of fabulous books to add to your reading list this year. From sparkling debuts to authors who've been wowing us for years, we're giving you a chance to win a copy of each of these books!  Just leave a comment to be entered. The contest closes on January 26 at 8am PST.

1. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

The scoop: The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Rosie Project, starring the same extraordinary couple now living in New York and unexpectedly expecting their first child. Get ready to fall in love all over again.

Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are back. The Wife Project is complete, and Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge because— surprise!—Rosie is pregnant.

Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice: he’s left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie.

As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business, and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most.

Our thoughts:  The Rosie Project is one of our absolute favorite books and this sequel absolutely delivers another dose of humor and heart when a pregnancy is added into the mix!

2. Betrayed by Lisa Scottoline

The scoop: Blockbuster author Lisa Scottoline returns to the Rosato & Associates law firm with Betrayed, and maverick lawyer Judy Carrier takes the lead in a case that's more personal than ever.  Judy has always championed the underdog, so when Iris, the housekeeper and best friend of Judy's beloved Aunt Barb, is found dead of an apparent heart attack, Judy begins to suspect foul play.  The circumstances of the death leave Judy with more questions than answers, and never before has murder struck so close to home.

In the meantime, Judy's own life roils with emotional and professional upheaval.  She doesn’t play well with her boss, Bennie Rosato, which jeopardizes her making partner at the firm.  Not only that, her best friend Mary DiNunzio is planning a wedding, leaving Judy  feeling left behind, as well as newly unhappy in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend Frank.

Judy sets her own drama aside and begins an investigation of Iris’s murder, then discovers a shocking truth that confounds her expectations and leads her in a completely different direction.  She finds herself plunged into a shadowy world of people who are so desperate that they cannot go to the police, and where others are so ruthless that they prey on vulnerability.  Judy finds strength within herself to try to get justice for Iris and her aunt -- but it comes at a terrible price.

Our thoughts: Completely satisfying!

3. Lost and Found by Brooke Davis

The scoop: Millie Bird, seven years old and ever hopeful, always wears red gumboots to match her curly hair. Her struggling mother, grieving the death of Millie’s father, leaves her in the big ladies’ underwear department of a local store and never returns.

Agatha Pantha, eighty-two, has not left her house—or spoken to another human being—since she was widowed seven years ago. She fills the silence by yelling at passersby, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule.Karl the Touch Typist, eighty-seven, once used his fingers to type out love notes on his wife’s skin. Now that she’s gone, he types his words out into the air as he speaks. Karl’s been committed to a nursing home, but in a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes. Now he’s on the lam.Brought together at a fateful moment, the three embark upon a road trip across Western Australia to find Millie’s mother. Along the way, Karl wants to find out how to be a man again; Agatha just wants everything to go back to how it was.Together they will discover that old age is not the same as death, that the young can be wise, and that letting yourself feel sad once in a while just might be the key to a happy life.

Our thoughts: We gobbled up this sparkling debut!

4. Before I Go by Colleen Oakley

The scoop: A heart-wrenching debut novel in the bestselling tradition of P.S. I Love You about a young woman with breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a new wife for her husband before she passes away.

Twenty-seven-year-old Daisy already beat breast cancer three years ago. How can this be happening to her again?

On the eve of what was supposed to be a triumphant “Cancerversary” with her husband Jack to celebrate three years of being cancer-free, Daisy suffers a devastating blow: her doctor tells her that the cancer is back, but this time it’s an aggressive stage four diagnosis. She may have as few as four months left to live. Death is a frightening prospect—but not because she’s afraid for herself. She’s terrified of what will happen to her brilliant but otherwise charmingly helpless husband when she’s no longer there to take care of him. It’s this fear that keeps her up at night, until she stumbles on the solution: she has to find him another wife.

With a singular determination, Daisy scouts local parks and coffee shops and online dating sites looking for Jack’s perfect match. But the further she gets on her quest, the more she questions the sanity of her plan. As the thought of her husband with another woman becomes all too real, Daisy’s forced to decide what’s more important in the short amount of time she has left: her husband’s happiness—or her own?

The scoop: We were hooked as soon as we read the synopsis and could not put this book down once we opened it! Loved. It.

5. House Broken by Sonja Yoerg

The scoop: In this compelling and poignant debut novel, a woman skilled at caring for animals must learn to mend the broken relationships in her family.…

For veterinarian Geneva Novak, animals can be easier to understand than people. They’re also easier to forgive. But when her mother, Helen, is injured in a vodka-fueled accident, it’s up to Geneva to give her the care she needs.

Since her teens, Geneva has kept her self-destructive mother at arm’s length. Now, with two slippery teenagers of her own at home, the last thing she wants is to add Helen to the mix. But Geneva’s husband convinces her that letting Helen live with them could be her golden chance to repair their relationship.

Geneva isn’t expecting her mother to change anytime soon, but she may finally get answers to the questions she’s been asking for so long. As the truth about her family unfolds, however, Geneva may find secrets too painful to bear and too terrible to forgive.

Our thoughts: Another debut that left us wanting more from this new author!

6. My Father's Wives by Mike Greenberg

The scoop: Jonathan Sweetwater has been blessed with money, a fulfilling career, great kids and Claire, his smart, gorgeous, sophisticated wife. But there is one thing Jonathan never had: a relationship with his father.

Percival Sweetwater III has been absent from his son’s life since Jonathan was nine years old. A five-term U.S. senator, now dead, Percy was beloved by presidents, his constituents, and women alike, especially the five women who married him after Jonathan’s mother.

Jonathan hasn’t thought about Percy or the hole he left in his life for years. Dedicated to Claire and his family, he’s nothing like his serial monogamist father. But then Jonathan discovers evidence that everything in his marriage may not be as perfect as he thought. Hurt and uncertain what to do, he knows that the only way to move forward is to go back.

On this quest for understanding—about himself, about manhood, about marriage—Jonathan decides to track down his father’s five ex-wives. His journey will take him from cosmopolitan cities to the mile-high mountains to a tropical island—and ultimately back to confront the one thing Jonathan has that his father never did: home.

Our thoughts: This is a man who definitely knows how to write books women want to read! Bravo!

7. One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis

The scoop: No one has ever guessed Emily’s secret.

Will you?

A happy marriage. A beautiful family. A lovely home. So what makes Emily Coleman get up one morning and walk right out of her life—to start again as someone new?

Now, Emily has become Cat, working at a hip advertising agency in London and living on the edge with her inseparable new friend, Angel. Cat’s buried any trace of her old self so well, no one knows how to find her. But she can't bury the past—or her own memories.

And soon, she’ll have to face the truth of what she's done—a shocking revelation that may push her one step too far. . . .

Our thoughts: This thriller took us on one hell of a ride!

The Status Of All Things Cover Reveal + ARC giveaway!

So far, we're really digging 2015. Liz is super stoked San Diego is actually having a winter (so many boots and scarves to wear, so little time!) and Lisa is resolved to get organized and is having a serious love affair with The Container Store (you should see the storage cubes she's got goin' on)! And... we're only one chapter away from finishing the first draft of our 2016 release, The Year We Turned Forty! *cue party music* But this year, we are MOST excited about the cover for The Status Of All Things! Is it just us or is it totally RAD?  We are so thankful for the team of people at Atria who worked so hard to create it! And especially grateful to Mary Kubica, the brilliant author of The Good Girl, for her lovely blurb. We can't wait to share our novel with the world on June 2nd! To celebrate how much we heart the cover, we're giving away one signed advanced copy. Just leave a comment to be entered. The contest will close on January 18th at 8am.

Want to know more? Here's the scoop: What would you do if you could literally rewrite your fate—on Facebook? This heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the authors of Your Perfect Life follows a woman who discovers she can change her life through online status updates.

Kate is a thirty-five-year-old woman who is obsessed with social media. So when her fiancé, Max, breaks things off at their rehearsal dinner—to be with Kate’s close friend and coworker, no less—she goes straight to Facebook to share it with the world. But something’s changed. Suddenly, Kate’s real life starts to mirror whatever she writes in her Facebook status. With all the power at her fingertips, and heartbroken and confused over why Max left her, Kate goes back in time to rewrite their history.

Kate's two best friends, Jules and Liam, are the only ones who know the truth. In order to convince them she’s really time traveled, Kate offers to use her Facebook status to help improve their lives. But her attempts to help them don’t go exactly as planned, and every effort to get Max back seems to only backfire, causing Kate to wonder if it’s really possible to change her fate.

In The Status of All Things, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke combine the humor and heart of Sarah Pekkanen and Jennifer Weiner while exploring the pitfalls of posting your entire life on the Internet. They raise the questions: What if you could create your picture-perfect life? Would you be happy? Would you still be you? For anyone who’s ever attempted—or failed—to be their perfect self online, this is a story of wisdom and wit that will leave you with new appreciation for the true status of your life.

Sound good?  You can pre-order it here! And in case you haven't read our first novel, Your Perfect Life, you can order it here!

And to keep up to date with our latest news, be sure to sign up for our newsletter!

So we are dying to know---what do y'all think of the cover? Tell us!

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

OMG, y'all! Kristin Harmel's latest book is soooooo good. The Life Intended is a Sliding Doors-esque (one of our all-time favorite movies!) story that makes you think about life and love and happiness. And guess what? You can win a copy of this novel that's not even out until December 30th. (You're welcome!) Just leave a message to be entered to win. Contest closes on December 27th at 10 am PST. The scoop: From the author of the international bestseller The Sweetness of Forgetting, named one of the Best Books of Summer 2012 by Marie Claire magazine, comes a captivating novel about the struggle to overcome the past when our memories refuse to be forgotten.

In this richly told story where Sliding Doors meets P.S. I Love You, Kristin Harmel weaves a heart-wrenching tale that asks: what does it take to move forward in life without forgetting the past?

After her husband’s sudden death over ten years ago, Kate Waithman never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she’s planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn’t she more excited?

At first, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she’s really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something? Attempting to navigate between dreams and reality, Kate must uncover her husband’s hidden message. Her quest leads her to a sign language class and into the New York City foster system, where she finds rewards greater than she could have imagined.

Our thoughts: The perfect book to read as we head into a new year.

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

1. THE LIFE INTENDED is such a fabulous concept. (Sliding Doors meets P.S. I Love You is one of the best descriptions we've read in a while). How did you think of the idea?

Thank you so much!      SLIDING DOORS is one of my favorite movies and P.S. I LOVE YOU is one of my favorite books and movies, so when I realized this was the description the publisher was using, I was absolutely thrilled! That said, I never set out to write a book that paralleled either of those stories! Whereas every other novel I’ve written has evolved over months – or even years – of thinking and reflecting, the genesis of THE LIFE INTENDED was a bit unusual. I actually dreamed the plot almost whole. I know that sounds kooky, especially since the novel centers partially on the dreams that the main character has of her dead husband, but it’s true. I woke up one morning a couple of years ago, and the entire book was already in my head. I jumped out of bed, rushed to the kitchen table, grabbed a stack of paper, and began scribbling as quickly as I could, to get as many elements of the plot down on paper as I possibly could. The finer details – the sign language lessons, the kids’ cochlear implants, Patrick’s and Kate’s personalities, etc. – evolved later, but the basic structure of the plot and lots of the broader details were there from day one. Weird, right? Maybe this is the book intended!

2. Tell us about the cover. It's beautiful! 

 Oh, I love the cover. I think it evokes New York, where the book takes place, but it also looks very dreamlike. And so much of this novel is about Kate, the main character, trying to figure out whether she’s dreaming – and what her dreams (if they are indeed dreams) actually mean. I like that the cover has the same sort of hazy, intangible, almost gauzy look that dreams sometimes do.

 3. You've always been so great about helping up and coming authors (years ago Liz and I took one of your writing classes in Los Angeles). What advice do you give to aspiring writers now that the publishing landscape has changed?

Oh, thanks! It was such a pleasure to have you two in my class, and I’m so glad we’re still in touch. It’s been lovely to see the success you’ve had! Congratulations! As for advice, hmmm… The thing is, I think every situation is different. For some people, the wide open world of self-publishing, or publishing with a small press, might be the best idea in the world, whereas a few years ago, many of those types of options didn’t even exist. There are so many more ways now to put your book out into the world. But at the same time, if you hope to be published traditionally by a major publisher, as I am, I believe it’s important to be thinking in terms of both the quality of your writing and the heart of your story. In other words, competition is tough. So if you’re writing a novel, make sure the writing itself is good before trying to find an agent. Just as importantly, your story has to be good, and when it comes to mainstream fiction geared toward women – the kind of novels I write – I think the feelings and emotions you put into the story really matter. Your characters should be experiencing big transformations in their lives, big moments where their worlds are changing. And from the standpoint of making your story appealing to agents and editors, you also have to be able to sum up your book in less than a paragraph in a way that would make the average reader saying, “Oh cool! I think I might want to read that!” So think in terms of that elevator pitch, that short description of your book, and if you can summarize it in a tantalizing way, then it will help you as you write and as you edit to nail down exactly what makes your book special. In my experience, I’ve also found that focusing on family dynamics is just as important as focusing on romantic dynamics between characters. Our families really make us who we are, and that’s something I love exploring in fiction. It makes books much richer, much more well-rounded and impactful, I think.

4. Because THE LIFE INTENDED is our Liz & Lisa Book Club pick of the month, what do you think are the top (non spoiler related) themes book clubs can discuss for this novel? 

 Thank you so much for picking THE LIFE INTENDED as your book of the month! How cool! Well, it just so happens that there’s a Reading Group Guide in the back of the book. (You can also find it here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Life-Intended/Kristin-Harmel/9781476754154/reading_group_guide). Simon & Schuster does such a good job with these discussion guides that I’d definitely recommend starting with that. (But please don’t read the Reading Group Guide until after you’ve finished the book, because it does contain spoilers!)

If you plan to read this for your book club, I’d pull out the Readers Group Guide on the night of the meeting, once everyone has read the book. In the meantime, I think two of the themes that are worth discussion are:

• CHOOSING HAPPINESS: How has Kate failed to choose happiness over the last 12 years? Do you think she believed she didn’t have the right to a happy life? Why? How can you choose happiness in your own life? And since this book comes out just before the new year, how can you make 2015 a year of choosing happiness?
• FAMILY: What makes a family? Kate definitely has some nontraditional relationships in this book. For instance, she seems closer to Patrick’s mother than her own mother. And in a way, she’s searching to rebuild her family with Dan. In life, how do we choose our families, and how do our families choose us? How much is fate and how much is choice? And when it comes to building a future, how do the choices we make affect everything?

5. We can't believe it's already December. Do you give books as gifts? Which ones top your list?

 Eesh! Where has the year gone?? Yes, I do sometimes give books as gifts, but I don’t have any annual standbys. Instead, I tend to give people books I’ve enjoyed over the few months preceding the holidays. I look for books that are thought-provoking, and I usually write a little note in the card explaining why I thought the recipient would like the book. This year, I might give friends a novel by Lucinda Riley, a new favorite author of mine. I also love the proliferation of non-fiction, gift-oriented books around the holidays. Cookbooks are often a good gift option, as are humor books. It’s also nice to give people biographies if they are interested in a particular person or period in history.

 6. Okay, so this question has nothing to do with your book per se, but you had the most romantic proposal ever and now you are married. (Congrats!) What can you tell us about him?

Aw, thanks! Yes, I still can’t quite believe it! I’m in my mid-thirties, and before Jason and I started to date, I had just begun to have those little “What if you never meet someone?” whispers in the back of my head. I had also begun to figure out that whatever happened, I’d be okay, which I think was key to being ready for the love of my life to sweep in. It sounds silly, but I think that getting to a point in my life where I was happy alone, and where I was focused on being a better person and a better writer (as opposed to finding a guy) was really a hugely important step. I finally became me – and that’s when I finally became ready to be with the right guy. In any case, Jason is great. We’re a funny pair, because I’m five feet on the dot, and he’s six foot one, but I like to think we’re cute together! He’s a big runner – he does marathons and triathlons – and he’s also very creative. He works in advertising and PR, but he’s also very creative in his spare time. The very first gift he gave me was an original painting he’d done of the Eiffel Tower (which is actually where he proposed a year and a half later!), and there are several pieces of art around our house that are his originals! We’re buying a new house right now, and he’s been sketching some really creative, awesome plans for landscaping the back yard. He’s just really imaginative. I love it. But much more importantly, he’s good and kind and supportive, and I trust him entirely. He’s also so generous; he’s always volunteering for charitable organizations. Oh, and did I mention he’s handsome? Seriously, I couldn’t have written a better character in a book. He’s perfect for me.

 7. Are you working on another novel? If so, can you give us any details?

Yes! I’m currently in the outline stages of my next book, which may or may not work. Sometimes, it takes me an outline or two to hit on the right idea. But I think this is the one. Like THE SWEETNESS OF FORGETTING, which came out in 2012, this new idea will focus on a character in the present and a connected character in the past. The story in the past is the one that’s a little more vivid to me right now; it’s about a mystery involving a German POW who was imprisoned in the southern United States during World War II. Did you know that more than 400,000 German prisoners lived in the States during the war, in more than 700 prison camps? It’s just such a rich period in history, and I’m truly enjoying the research.

Thanks, ladies!

xo, Kristin

Best Books of the Month: December Edition

Have you been naughty or nice this year? Well, you must've been nice because otherwise why would we share this list of UH-mazing books with you? And better yet, why would we give you the chance to win a copy of each one? Leave a comment to be entered--the contest will close on December 21st at 8am PST. Here are our top picks from December!

1. Cherish (Covet #1.5)  by Tracey Garvis Graves

The Scoop: When Daniel Rush wakes up in the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the head, the last person he expects to see at his bedside is his ex-wife Jessica. Their marriage disintegrated after the death of their infant son Gabriel, and Daniel gave Jessie what he thought she wanted: the freedom to start over with someone else.

But Daniel never updated his emergency contact information, and Jessie is the one who receives the call with the devastating news. Daniel was Jessie’s one true love. Together since college, Jessie had dreams of raising a family with Daniel, and growing old together. When Gabriel died, Jessie buried those dreams with her beloved son and shut everyone out, including Daniel. Daniel faces months of grueling rehabilitation and he’s going to need some help. Jessie is the last person anyone expects to volunteer, but this is her one chance to make amends, giving her and Daniel a shot at getting things right this time. The road to recovery will be long and arduous. But with Jessie leading the way, Daniel just might be able to get his old life back. Daniel knows how to covet. But can Jessie help him remember how to cherish?

Our thoughts: WE LOVED Covet and this was a delicious follow up!

2. Save Me by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

The Scoop: Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact, most of her life has been good--until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.

Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen, and realizes that reconciliation may lie within her grasp, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her.

Our thoughts: You won't be able to put this one down!

3. Hello from the Gillespies by Monica McInerney

The Scoop: For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has sent to friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled “Hello from the Gillespies.” It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself—she tells the truth....

The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping badly with retirement. Her thirty-two-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.

Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when Angela is taken away from them in a most unexpected manner, the Gillespies pull together—and pull themselves together—in wonderfully surprising ways…

Our thoughts: Curl up next to the fire with this one!

4. Saving Grace by Jane Green

The Scoop: Grace and Ted Chapman are widely regarded as the perfect literary power couple. Ted is a successful novelist and Grace, his wife of twenty years, is beautiful, stylish, carefree, and a wonderful homemaker. But what no one sees, what is churning under the surface, is Ted’s rages. His mood swings. And the precarious house of cards that their lifestyle is built upon. When Ted’s longtime assistant and mainstay leaves, the house of cards begins to crumble and Grace, with dark secrets in her past, is most vulnerable. She finds herself in need of help but with no one to turn to…until the perfect new assistant shows up out of the blue.

To the rescue comes Beth, a competent young woman who can handle Ted and has the calm efficiency to weather the storms that threaten to engulf the Chapman household. Soon, though, it’s clear to Grace that Beth might be too good to be true. This new interloper might be the biggest threat of all, one that could cost Grace her marriage, her reputation, and even her sanity.  With everything at stake and no one to confide in, Grace must find a way to save herself before it is too late.

Our thoughts: Jane Green does it again with this wonderful novel!

5. The Cinderella Murder: An Under Suspicion Novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke

The Scoop: In a first-time collaboration, “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark partners with bestselling author Alafair Burke to deliver a brand new suspense series about a television program featuring cold case murders.

Television producer Laurie Moran is delighted when the pilot for her reality drama, Under Suspicion, is a success. Even more, the program—a cold case series that revisits unsolved crimes by recreating them with those affected—is off to a fantastic start when it helps solve an infamous murder in the very first episode.

Now Laurie has the ideal case to feature in the next episode of Under Suspicion: the Cinderella Murder. When Susan Dempsey, a beautiful and multi-talented UCLA student, was found dead, her murder raised numerous questions. Why was her car parked miles from her body? Had she ever shown up for the acting audition she was due to attend at the home of an up-and-coming director? Why does Susan’s boyfriend want to avoid questions about their relationship? Was her disappearance connected to a controversial church that was active on campus? Was she close to her computer science professor because of her technological brilliance, or something more? And why was Susan missing one of her shoes when her body was discovered?

With the help of lawyer and Under Suspicion host Alex Buckley, Laurie knows the case will attract great ratings, especially when the former suspects include Hollywood’s elite and tech billionaires. The suspense and drama are perfect for the silver screen—but is Cinderella’s murderer ready for a close-up?

Our thoughts: A MAJUH page turner!

6. The Dog Year by Ann Garvin

The Scoop: Dr. Lucy Peterman was not built for a messy life. A well-respected surgeon whose patients rely on her warmth, compassion, and fierce support, Lucy has always worked hard and trusted in the system. She’s not the sort of person who ends up in a twelve-step program after being caught stealing supplies from her hospital.

But that was Lucy before the accident—before her husband and unborn baby were ripped away from her in an instant, before her future felt like a broken promise. Caught red-handed in a senseless act that kept her demons at bay, she’s faced with a choice: get some help or lose her medical license.

Now she’s reluctantly sharing her deepest fears with a bunch of strangers, avoiding her loneliness by befriending a troubled girl, pinning her hopes on her husband’s last gift, and getting involved with a rugged cop from her past. It’s only when she is adopted by a stray mutt and moves her group to the dog park that she begins to truly bond with the ragtag dog-loving addicts—and discovers that a chaotic, unplanned life might be the sweetest of all . . .

Our thoughts: Whether you are an animal lover or not,  you will love this one!

7. The Look of Love by Sarah Jio

The Scoop: Born during a Christmas blizzard, Jane Williams receives a rare gift: the ability to see true love. Jane has emerged from an ailing childhood a lonely, hopeless romantic when, on her twenty-ninth birthday, a mysterious greeting card arrives, specifying that Jane must identify the six types of love before the full moon following her thirtieth birthday, or face grave consequences. When Jane falls for a science writer who doesn’t believe in love, she fears that her fate is sealed. Inspired by the classic song, The Look of Love is utterly enchanting.

Our thoughts: Charming and sweet!

Lisa's Best Books of 2014 + Giveaway!

What a great year for books! Yesterday, Liz shared her picks for the best books of 2014. And today, I'm adding mine. If you haven't yet read the titles we're highlighting, why not add them to your holiday wish list this year? Or buy them for someone you love? We think books (and wine) make the best gifts! And because we're in the holiday spirit, we're giving away TEN mystery books with this post! Just leave a comment to be entered. The contest closes on December 11th at 10am PST.

1. One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

If JoJo Moyes wrote the phone book, I'd read it! 'Nuff said.

The scoop: Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.

2. After I do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A wonderfully insightful look at the pitfalls of marriage, this fast-paced novel packed with witty lines and spot-on dialogue will have you turning the pages with vigor and will make you think about your own relationship--in a good way.

The scoop: When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

3. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This is one of the most suspenseful and surprising novels I've ever read. It's considered YA (which I admittedly don't read a lot of) but will appeal to all ages! 

The scoop: A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

4. Tempting Fate by Jane Green

My favorite Jane Green novel so far, this book made my heart race and set my mind into overdrive. The powerful story jumped off the pages and gripped me tightly. Jane did a wonderful job of making me empathize with Gabby even though giving into her temptation caused her marriage and family to crumble around her. I couldn't put it down! 

Gabby and Elliott have been happily married for eighteen years. They have two teenaged daughters. They have built a life together. Forty-three year old Gabby is the last person to have an affair. She can’t relate to the way her friends desperately try to cling to the beauty and allure of their younger years…And yet, she too knows her youth is quickly slipping away. She could never imagine how good it would feel to have a handsome younger man show interest in her—until the night it happens. Matt makes Gabby feel sparkling, fascinating, alive—something she hasn't felt in years. What begins as a long-distance friendship soon develops into an emotional affair as Gabby discovers her limits and boundaries are not where she expects them to be. Intoxicated, Gabby has no choice but to step ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, never foreseeing the life-changing consequences that lie ahead. If she makes one wrong move she could lose everything—and find out what really matters most.Gabby and Elliott have been happily married for eighteen years. They have two teenaged daughters. They have built a life together. Forty-three year old Gabby is the last person to have an affair. She can’t relate to the way her friends desperately try to cling to the beauty and allure of their younger years…And yet, she too knows her youth is quickly slipping away. She could never imagine how good it would feel to have a handsome younger man show interest in her—until the night it happens. Matt makes Gabby feel sparkling, fascinating, alive—something she hasn't felt in years. What begins as a long-distance friendship soon develops into an emotional affair as Gabby discovers her limits and boundaries are not where she expects them to be. Intoxicated, Gabby has no choice but to step ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, never foreseeing the life-changing consequences that lie ahead. If she makes one wrong move she could lose everything—and find out what really matters most.

5. Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

This thriller is Gone Girl meets The Good Girl. I was kept  in suspense from the first to the last line, I didn't know who or what to believe, and was met with a completely satisfying and shocking ending.

The scoop: When a fourteen-year-old runs away, her parents turn to social media to find her—launching a public campaign that will expose their darkest secrets and change their family forever, in this suspenseful and gripping debut for fans of Reconstructing Amelia and Gone Girl.

Don’t try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley’s hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away.

As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have “limited resources.” If they want their fourteen-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Desperation becomes determination when Paul turns to Facebook and Twitter, and launches FindMarley.com.

But Marley isn’t the only one with secrets.

With public exposure comes scrutiny, and when Rachel blows a television interview, the dirty speculation begins. Now, the blogosphere is convinced Rachel is hiding something. It’s not what they think; Rachel would never hurt Marley. Not intentionally, anyway. But when it’s discovered that she’s lied, even to the police, the devoted mother becomes a suspect in Marley’s disappearance.

Is Marley out there somewhere, watching it all happen, or is the truth something far worse?

6. We'll Always Have Paris: A Mother Daughter Memoir by Jennifer Coburn

I love to travel, I love memoirs, I loved this book. It's funny, it warms your heart and it makes you want to pack a bag and see the world with someone you love! 

The scoop: Jennifer Coburn has always been terrified of dying young. So she decides to save up and drop everything to travel with her daughter, Katie, on a whirlwind European adventure before it's too late. Even though her husband can't join them, even though she's nervous about the journey, and even though she's perfectly healthy, Jennifer is determined to jam her daughter's mental photo album with memories—just in case.

From the cafés of Paris to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Jennifer and Katie take on Europe one city at a time, united by their desire to see the world and spend precious time together. In this heartwarming generational love story, Jennifer reveals how their adventures helped vanquish her fear of dying...for the sake of living.

You can also enter to win Jennifer's book on Goodreads here. 

7. Catching Air by Sarah Pekkanen

I loved this book from start to finish. It's an emotionally powerful story with rich characters, she nails the complexities of the relationships between women yet again.

The scoop: A chance to run a B&B in snowy, remote Vermont—it’s an offer Kira Danner can’t resist after six soul-crushing years of working as a lawyer in Florida. As Kira and her husband, Peter, step into a brand new life, she quells her fears about living with the B&B’s co-owners: Peter’s sexy, irresponsible brother Rand, and Rand’s wife, Alyssa…who is essentially a stranger.For her part, Alyssa sees taking over the B&B as the latest in a string of adventures. Plus, a quiet place might help her recover from the news that she can’t bear children. But the idyllic town proves to be anything but serene: Within weeks, the sisters-in-law are scrambling to prepare for their first big booking—a winter wedding—and soon a shy, mysterious woman comes to work for them. Dawn Zukoski is hiding something; that much is clear. But what the sisters-in-law don't realize is that Dawn is also hiding from someone…

Liz's Best Books of 2014 plus giveaway!

 

OMGEEEEE. Where the hell did 2014 go? It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready to launch Your Perfect Life. And speaking of launches--we can't wait for The Status of All Things--officially launching June 2, 2015! Read what it's about here!

But one thing is for sure--we read a great TON of books this year. SO many that it was really hard to narrow it down. And we want to know what YOUR favorite books of 2014 were. Tell us here and you'll be entered a stack of TEN mystery books. Yep, ten! Leave a comment--contest closes December 14th at 8am PST.

Oh, and be one the lookout tomorrow for Lisa's top books of the year plus another major TEN book giveaway!

1. The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Confession: I didn't want to like this book. It was so over-hyped last summer that I was sure I'd be disappointed. But to my surprise and delight, this story about a family vacation was both witty and slyly insightful. And it even inspired us write our next book in a third person narrative. So if that ends up sucking, you know who to blame! (Emma Straub, of course!)

The Scoop: For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.

This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.

2. Miss Brenda and The Loveladies by Brenda Spahn and Irene Zutell

I sat down one Saturday afternoon and thought I'd read a few chapters of this non-fiction book and then get a few things done around the house. Five hours later, my house was still a total mess and i was wiping tears off my face as I read the last page. If you only read one non-fiction book this year, READ THIS. It will restore your faith in humanity, I promise.

The Scoop: For Brenda Spahn, entrepreneur and businesswoman, wealth was a lifestyle—until a brush with the law threatened to send her to prison. In those dark moments, Brenda made a promise to God.  Spared incarceration, a renewed Brenda glimpsed into the lives of women serving time in one of the worst places in America—the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama.

What she saw prompted a God-inspired vision.

With a heart to help and a will that couldn’t be crushed, Brenda fought the system and overcame tremendous obstacles to take ex-cons into her own home and help them navigate the alien world of life on the outside.

This is the story of Brenda’s journey from rags to riches to redemption. It’s the story of the first unlikely year of her “Whole Way House” and of the extraordinary lives of the first seven women who came to call her “Miss Brenda.” It’s a story that testifies to the power of faith and how God changes hearts every day.

3. A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

I felt as if I was walking through Paris as I turned the pages of this beautifully written novel. Fast paced and smartly written, there's a reason why this charming debut novel is a national bestseller!

The Scoop: When April Vogt's boss tells her about an apartment in the ninth arrondissement that has been discovered after being shuttered for the past seventy years, the Sotheby's continental furniture specialist does not hear the words "dust" or "rats" or "decrepit." She hears Paris. She hears escape.

Once in France, April quickly learns the apartment is not merely some rich hoarder's repository. Beneath the cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). First, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldini. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the painting, Marthe de Florian. These documents reveal that she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly April's quest is no longer about the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. It's about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman.

It's about discovering two women, actually.

With the help of a salty (and annoyingly sexy) Parisian solicitor and the courtesan's private diaries, April tries to uncover the many secrets buried in the apartment. As she digs into Marthe's life, April can't help but take a deeper look into her own. Having left behind in the States a cheating husband, a family crisis about to erupt, and a career she's been using as the crutch to simply get by, she feels compelled to sort out her own life too. When the things she left bubbling back home begin to boil over, and Parisian delicacies beyond flaky pâtisseries tempt her better judgment, April knows that both she and Marthe deserve happy finales.

4. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

For the record, another novel that absolutely lives up the its hype. Suspenseful and entertaining, you won't be able to a thing done until you read the last page and find out what the hell happened. (And FYI, one of our all-time fave books is Liane's The Hypnotist's Love Story--check it out!)

The Scoop: What’s indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what?

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

5. Safe With Me by Amy Hatvany

Amy does it again in this gripping and brilliant story about a grieving mother who intersects with the family who received her daughter's donated organ. So, so SO well done--and my new personal favorite of hers!

The Scoop: The screech of tires brought Hannah Scott’s world as she knew it to a devastating end. A year after she signed the papers to donate her daughter’s organs, Hannah is still reeling with grief when she unexpectedly stumbles into the life of the Bell family, whose fifteen-year-old daughter, Maddie, survived only because Hannah’s daughter had died. Mesmerized by this fragile connection to her own daughter and afraid to reveal who she actually is, Hannah develops a surprising friendship with Maddie’s mother, Olivia.

The Bells, however, have problems of their own. Once on the verge of leaving her wealthy but abusive husband, Olivia now finds herself bound to him in the wake of the transplant that saved their daughter’s life. Meanwhile, Maddie, tired of the limits her poor health puts upon her and fearful of her father’s increasing rage, regularly escapes into the one place where she can be anyone she wants: the Internet. But when she is finally healthy enough to return to school, the real world proves to be just as complicated as the isolated bubble she had been so eager to escape.

A masterful narrative shaped by nuanced characters whose delicate bonds are on a collision course with the truth, Safe with Me is a riveting triumph

6. Twisted Sisters by Jen Lancaster

Come on, now. How could I resist a good body switching story? There's magic, humor and a fast paced plot. Who could ask for anything more?

The Scoop: Reagan Bishop is a pusher. A licensed psychologist who stars on the Wendy Winsberg cable breakout show I Need a Push, Reagan helps participants become their best selves by urging them to overcome obstacles and change behaviors. An overachiever, Reagan is used to delivering results.

Despite her overwhelming professional success, Reagan never seems to earn her family’s respect. Her younger sister, Geri, is and always will be the Bishop family favorite. When a national network buys Reagan’s show, the pressures for unreasonably quick results and higher ratings mount. But Reagan’s a clinician, not a magician, and fears witnessing her own personal failings in prime time. (And seriously? Her family will never let her hear the end of it.) Desperate to make the show work and keep her family at bay, Reagan actually listens when the show’s New Age healer offers an unconventional solution…

Record Nielsen ratings follow. But when Reagan decides to use her newfound power to teach everyone a lesson about sibling rivalry, she’s the one who will be schooled…

7. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Are you a Gone Girl  fan? Then you must pick up this thriller--I devoured it and was gaping at the ending. Another marvelous debut by a talented author.

The Scoop: "I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will."

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.

8. The Art of Adapting by Cassandra Dunn

Loved The Rosie Project? Then you'll flip for this irresistible debut novel about a recently divorced woman woman who finds herself while picking up the pieces of her life.

The Scoop: In this warm and winning first novel, a recently divorced woman rises to the challenge and experiences the exhilaration of independence with the unlikely help of her brother with Asperger's, who she takes in to help pay the rent.

Seven months after her husband leaves her, Lana is still reeling. Being single means she is in charge of every part of her life, and for the first time in nineteen years, she can do things the way she always wanted to do them. But that also leaves her with all the responsibility. With two teenage children—Byron and Abby, who are each dealing with their own struggles—in a house she can barely afford on her solo salary, her new life is a balancing act made even more complicated when her brother Matt moves in.

Matt has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes social situations difficult for him and flexibility and change nearly impossible. He only eats certain foods in a certain order and fixates on minor details. When Lana took him in, he was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to numb his active mind enough to sleep at night. Adding Matt’s regimented routine to her already disrupted household seems like the last thing Lana needs, but her brother’s unique attention to detail makes him an invaluable addition to the family: he sees things differently.

INDIE PICK!

A Little Bit of Everything Lost by Stephanie Elliot

Whoa! I really enjoyed this--it's sultry and soulful--not to mention hot, hot HOT!

The scoop: Falling in love for the first time made Marnie feel a little bit lost... At 19, Marnie plunged into first love with Joe, a guy who was completely wrong for her. Their romance was fast and exhilarating and like nothing Marnie had ever experienced or understood. Just as quickly as it began, it was over, with no explanation. He left her with unanswered questions and unexpected feelings of loss and regret, and a quiet grief she would carry with her for the next fifteen years.

When Joe returns, Marnie is a 34-year-old wife and mother to two rambunctious little boys, who is slowly healing from a devastating loss. All the emotions she suppressed from the past fifteen years surge to the surface, threatening to ruin her marriage and destroy her family. She'll need to confront the one person who hurt her the most to realize that love and loss sometimes go hand in hand… and that you have to live with some of your toughest choices for the rest of your life.

A Little Bit of Everything Lost is part coming-of-age/part love story. It's a story about a woman desperate to make peace with the past. It's for all women who have ever experienced the magnitude of first love, whether it was a lasting bond or a fleeting moment. Because first love - while it might not have been the best love - is a love none of us ever forgets.

Best Books of the Month: November Edition

We can't believe it's November! If you're looking for a cozy read to curl up with by the fire--or if you're in Southern California like Liz, at the beach--here are some of our favorites this month. And as you'll see by the titles and covers, they are meant to put you in the holiday spirit!  Just leave a comment to be entered to win either a print or e-copy of each! The contest will close on Friday, November 14th at 10 am PST.

Christmas at Tiffany's by Karen Swan

The Scoop: What do you do when the man you pledged your life to breaks your heart and shatters your dreams? You pack your bags and travel the big, wide world to find your destiny—and your true love . . .

Ten years ago, a young and naïve Cassie married her first serious boyfriend, believing he would be with her forever. Now her marriage is in tatters and Cassie has no career or home of her own. Though she feels betrayed and confused, Cassie isn't giving up. She's going to take control of her life. But first she has to find out where she belongs . . . and who she wants to be.

Over the course of one year, Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with her best friends living in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris, and London. Exchanging comfort food and mousy hair for a low-carb diet and a gorgeous new look, Cassie tries each city on for size as she searches for the life she's meant to have . . . and the man she's meant to love.

Our thoughts: We love the premise of this book--to spend a year in the most exciting cities in the world! You will dive into this novel and not come up for air until the very end!

Giveaway: One print copy.

Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake by Sue Watson

The Scoop: For Tamsin Angel, Christmas is always the biggest and best… chic parties and a little showbiz sparkle are a must. This year though, things aren’t going quite as planned…

With bailiffs suddenly at the door and her husband nowhere to be found, it looks like Christmas just got downsized. Moving into her sister’s flat, she wonders whether things will ever be the same again.

After losing her husband on Christmas Eve, Sam Angel has rebuilt her life around her son Jacob and her new business – The White Angel Bakery. She’s also found herself a very handsome, loving boyfriend, but is struggling to let go of the past.

Thrown together with a sprinkle of Christmas magic, Sam and Tamsin might just learn a little more about each other – and themselves. But when disaster strikes at the bakery, will they be able to save the day in time for Christmas?

Our thoughts: Sue Watson never disappoints with her heartwarming and hilarious novels! You will devour this holiday tale about sisterhood and figuring out who you are.

Giveaway: One e-copy.

Ginger Krinkles by Dee DeTarsio

The scoop: "I was named after a Christmas cookie."

Ginger Krinkles is crossing her fingers that this holiday season will be extra special, for once. She lost her job in San Diego and dreads moving back to her home in Ennui Ohio, where she's convinced she will end up like her mean ol' grandmother (God rest her soul!). Ginger has always been a holiday-hater. But she has a secret. Make that two. If you buy the first one, maybe it will be easier to unwrap the second: Either Ginger is an elf, or there really is magic to be found in an old cookie recipe.

Our thoughts: A sweet holiday story that will have you laughing out loud!

Giveaway: One print copy.

Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays by Jill Smokler and Scary Mommy contributors

The scoop: From New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed “Scary Mommy” blogger Jill Smokler comes a funny and practical guide filled with essays, recipes, and tried-and-true tips sure to get any parent through the holiday season—without losing your marbles.

Ah, the holidays: a time of joy, celebration, serenity, and peace…

Unless, of course, you have whiny, screaming children demanding presents, attention, and a personal appearance by Santa or Judah the Maccabee. Then you’re screwed.

But wait, there’s hope: Scary Mommy Guide to Surviving the Holidays to the rescue!

Yes, in this handy holiday guide, you’ll find everything you need to survive the fall/winter rush of cheer in style, and without having a mental breakdown. From relatable, hilarious essays on everything from the Santa myth to being seated at the dreaded kids’ table, to easy-to-follow recipes that might include just a little something special to take the edge off (can anyone say Kahlua?), to fun and accessible gift ideas, this book is your ticket to peace of mind—and a laugh—during the busy, crazy holiday season!

Our thoughts: Every mom needs to pick up a copy of this book now! A funny, feel-good read!

Giveaway: One e-copy.

National Animal Shelter & Rescue Appreciation Week: Photos & giveaway!

Most of you already know that Liz is a self-proclaimed animal-a-holic. She admitted as much in her Puppy Love post written almost exactly one year ago. In fact, she's been known to bring home a dog or two without asking her hubs! (Thankfully he's as much of a pooch lover as she is.) And since she wrote about adopting three dogs into her family (Layla, Lily and Oreo), she's added a fourth into the mix: Scotty. And he is darn cuuuuuute.

And Lisa, who said she'd NEVER get a dog while living in the Midwest because she didn't want to deal with things like: walking him or her in the Polar Vortex conditions, soggy  fur and muddy paws, has now adopted not one but two puppies! (Lily and Chesney.) So between the two of us, we have SIX dogs. But six really cute dogs, if we do say so ourselves!

In honor of National Animal Shelter and Rescue Appreciation Week, we're giving a shout out to all the amazing people who work so hard to help homeless animals find their fur-ever families and sharing some adorable photos of our four-legged family members. And we're also giving away a copy of Doghouse by L. A. Kornetsky. Just leave a comment (we'd love to hear about your adopted pets!) and you'll be entered to win! Contest closes on Thursday, November 6th at 10:00 a.m. PST.

We could never say enough good things about the people who do everything from fostering animals to caring for them while they are in shelters to working for the rescue organizations that place animals with their families. So we hope a THANK YOU will suffice. We know our dogs are incredibly grateful (as you'll see from the photos) as are the many other pets that have been placed with loving families.

Liz adopted Oreo from Pawville Pups. She got Scotty and Lily through the San Diego Humane Society. And Layla is from  Stray and Orphaned Animal Rescue.

Lisa adopted her Lily from Save A Pet and got Chesney from Reach Rescue. Thank you to all of the wonderful people at these organizations!

LIZ & LISA'S FURRY FRIENDS

Best Books of the Month: October Edition

Fall is FINALLY here! And so are a bunch of amazing books! We have one copy of each of these awesome novels to give away! Leave a comment to be entered. Contest will close on Sunday, October 19th after 8am PST.

The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline

The Scoop: Angela can feel the clock ticking. She is single in New York City, stuck in a job she doesn’t want and a life that seems to have, somehow, just happened. She inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, but she never seems to have the time for it—these days, her oven holds only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is a photo from a magazine of a tidy cottage on the coast of Maine—a charming reminder of a life that could be hers, if she could only muster the courage to go after it.

On a hope and a chance, Angela decides to pack it all up and move to Maine, finding the nudge she needs in the dating profile of a handsome sailor who loves dogs and Italian food. But her new home isn’t quite matching up with the fantasy. Far from everything familiar, Angela begins to rebuild her life from the ground up. Working at a local coffeehouse, she begins to discover the pleasures and secrets of her new small-town community and, in the process, realizes there’s really no such thing as the way life should be.

Our thoughts: A Fall Favorite!

Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf

The Scoop: Veteran social worker Ellen Moore has seen the worst side of humanity—the vilest acts one person can commit against another. She is a fiercely dedicated children's advocate and a devoted mother and wife. But one blistering summer day, a simple moment of distraction will have repercussions that Ellen could never have imagined, threatening to shatter everything she holds dear, and trapping her between the gears of the system she works for.

Meanwhile, ten-year-old Jenny Briard has been living with her well-meaning but irresponsible father since her mother left them, sleeping on friends' couches and moving in and out of cheap motels. When Jenny suddenly finds herself on her own, she is forced to survive with nothing but a few dollars and her street smarts. The last thing she wants is a social worker, but when Ellen's and Jenny's lives collide, little do they know just how much they can help one another.

A powerful and emotionally charged tale about motherhood and justice, Little Mercies is a searing portrait of the tenuous grasp we have on the things we love the most, and of the ties that unexpectedly bring us together.

Our thoughts: Don't miss this one!

Vintage by Susan Gloss

The Scoop: At Hourglass Vintage in Madison, Wisconsin, every item in the boutique has a story to tell . . . and so do the women who are drawn there.

Violet Turner has always dreamed of owning a shop like Hourglass Vintage. When she is faced with the possibility of losing it, she realizes that, as much as she wants to, she cannot save it alone.

Eighteen-year-old April Morgan is nearly five months along in an unplanned pregnancy when her hasty engagement is broken. When she returns the perfect 1950s wedding dress, she discovers unexpected possibilities and friends who won't let her give up on her dreams. Betrayed by her husband, Amithi Singh begins selling off her old clothes, remnants of her past life. After decades of housekeeping and parenting a daughter who rejects her traditional ways, she fears she has nothing more ahead for her.

An engaging story that beautifully captures the essence of women's friendship and love, Vintage is a charming tale of possibility, of finding renewal and hope when we least expect it.

Our thoughts: We couldn't put it down!

The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison

In the lakeside resort town of Port Manitou, Michigan, dedicated teacher and running coach Neil Kazenzakis shoulders responsibilities that would break a lesser man: a tragic accident has left his wife seriously debilitated, he cares for his mother-in-law who suffers from dementia, and he’s raising his teenage son, Chris, on his own. On top of all that, he’s also secretly been seeing Lauren, his mother-in-law’s caregiver.

When Neil breaks up a fight one day after school, he doesn’t give the altercation much thought. He’s got bigger issues on his mind, like the fact that Lauren is ready for a commitment and he has to figure out a way to tell Chris that he’s in a serious relationship with someone other than the boy’s mother. But when an anonymous person uploads a video of the fight to YouTube, the stunning footage suggests Neil assaulted a student. With his job, his family, and his reputation suddenly in jeopardy, Neil must prove his innocence and win back the trust of the entire community—including his son’s.

Our thoughts: A riveting novel that will keep you guessing until the very end!

Woman King by Evette Davis

The Scoop: Nobody who works with superstar political consultant Olivia Shepherd knows that she has supernatural empathic abilities—and that’s just how she likes it. But when she wakes up one morning to find Elsa, an ancient time-walker, standing in her kitchen, Olivia can no longer ignore her gifts or the mystical path that awaits her. Soon she is plunged into the hidden world of powerful “Others” who operate beneath the dense fog of San Francisco.

Drafted to work for the Council, a shadowy organization that controls the fate of humanity, Olivia must decide whether to dedicate herself to its cause. Complicating matters further is Olivia’s new love interest, William, a centuries-old vampire who is far too jaded to take an interest in human affairs. As shocking details from Olivia’s own past emerge and her role in the world begins to take shape, will she rise to the challenge of her destiny?

Our scoop: Looking for something different? THIS!

The Firelight Girls by Kaya McLaren

The Scoop: The summers you spend at summer camp are indelibly etched on your heart. But what happens when the camp you love is about to close? Can you ever really say goodbye to the place that made you who you are?  These are the questions that plagues Ethel, the seventy-year-old former camp director who is nursing a broken heart after losing the love of her life as she now faces the impending closure of the camp on Lake Wenatchee that she called home. It's also a question that inspires change in forty-year-old Shannon, who spent the summers of her youth as a vibrant, capable camp counselor and is now directionless after watching her career implode. And there's Laura, who has lost all intimacy with her husband and doesn't know if she can save what seems to be gone forever.  Finally, Ruby, who betrayed Ethel years ago and hasn't spoken to her since, hopes this will be her chance to make amends. When the four women learn that a homeless teen has been hiding at camp, they realize camp is something much more immediate for all: survival.

And so the three generations of women search for a way to save the place that saved them all, finding in the process a way back to themselves and each other in The Firelight Girls, Kaya McLaren's novel of love and loss, heartbreak and healing.

Our thoughts: We couldn't put this down!

Outrageous Optimist by Lyne Noella

The Scoop: Outrageous Optimist is the story of family, friendship, romance, failure and fresh starts. Lisette Latour shutters her San Francisco marketing agency and returns to Playa Tiempo to regroup after over-investing in Silicon Valley startups. While applying for work, Lisette discovers that her San Diego County hometown has blossomed in her absence, with citizens as creative and unorthodox as those she left behind in San Francisco. An exploding microbrewery scene, a handsome but elusive attorney, clean skies and intrigue beguile Lisette, making it difficult to choose between family and friends in Playa Tiempo and the opportunities and lifestyle of the big city.

Our thoughts: Fun, Fun, FUN!

She Sins At Midnight by Whitney Dineen

The Scoop:  Lila Montgomery, thirty-two-year-old Hollywood assistant extraordinaire, has a secret. On the outside, she’s a hard-working dedicated employee, a good friend, and a loving daughter. But above all else, she’s been raised to be a lady, which of course is why she’s determined to conceal her secret life. If her straight-laced friends and family back home ever discover that she is really the smashing new author of a steamy romance novel, their disapproval would shame her forever! That’s why Lila has chosen to publish her sexy narrative under the nom de plume, Jasmine Sheath. With her fifteenth high school class reunion on the horizon, Lila finds herself at a crossroads. More than anything she wants to go home and see her childhood friends but is embarrassed that she hasn’t accomplished the things she feels she should have by this time in her life; mainly marriage and children.

After another brutal run-in with Melinda Forrester, Oscar nominated actress and client of her boss, Josh Furber, Lila decides that fleeing Hollywood for a month is the best thing for her. Lila packs her bags for her childhood home of Bentley Hills, sure that her friends and family will be the touchstone of normalcy that she so desperately needs. What she doesn't expect is that Melinda will follow her and a tabloid media circus will ensue! Not only does Lila discover that her home is nothing like she remembers, but she meets and falls in love with the very man that inspired the hero in her novel. She Sins at Midnight is full of laugh out loud hi-jinks that will make you never look at Hollywood the same way again! Author, Whitney Dineen, swears that this novel is based purely on fiction and that any characters bearing any resemblance to any celebrities you know are completely and totally fictitious; even though she spent eighteen years in La La Land, with a celebrity client base for her real job…

Our thoughts: A juicy read!

Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu

The scoop: Rosie “Aunty” Lee, the feisty widow, amateur sleuth, and proprietor of Singapore’s best-loved home cooking restaurant, is back in another delectable, witty mystery involving scandal and murder among the city’s elite. Few know more about what goes on in Singapore than Aunty Lee. When a scandal over illegal organ donation involving prominent citizens makes news, she already has a list of suspects. There’s no time to snoop, though—Aunty Lee’s Delights is catering a brunch for local socialites Henry and Mabel Sung at their opulent house. Rumor has it that the Sung’s fortune is in trouble, and Aunty Lee wonders if the gossip is true. But soon after arriving at the Sung’s house, her curiosity turns to suspicion.

Why is a storage house she discovers locked? What is the couple arguing about behind closed doors? Where is the guest of honor who never showed up? Then, Mabel Sung and her son Leonard are found dead. The authorities blame it on Aunty Lee’s special stewed chicken with buah keluak, a local black nut that can be poisonous if cooked improperly. Aunty Lee has never carelessly prepared a dish. She’s certain the deaths are murder—and that they’re somehow linked to the organ donor scandal. To save her business and her reputation, she’s got to prove it—and unmask a dangerous killer whose next victim may just be Aunty Lee.

Our thoughts: Another deliciously scandalous mystery from Ovidia Yu!

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Never Too Late by Claire Cook

Claire Cook, the bestselling author of eleven novels, has proven time and time again that she can write compelling and entertaining fiction that leaves you wanting more. (Must Love Dogs, anyone?) And now with her latest, Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention (Without Getting Lost Along the Way), she's proving that she also excels at writing non-fiction. And not just any type of non-fiction. She has penned a funny, yet informative guide to living the life you actually want to live. (Go to ClaireCook.com to read an excerpt and to download a free workbook.) And we have a copy to give away! Just leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win. Contest closes on October 12th at 8am PST.

The scoop: Claire Cook speaks to real women—our fears and obstacles and hopes and desires—and gives us cutting edge tools to get where we want to go. Bursting with inspiration, insider stories, and practical strategies. Filled with humor, heart, encouragement, and great quotes. Claire Cook shares everything she's learned on her own journey— from writing her first book in her minivan at 45, to walking the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs at 50, to becoming the international bestselling author of eleven novels and a sought after reinvention speaker. You'll hop on a plane with Claire as you figure out the road to your own reinvention. You'll laugh a lot and maybe even shed a few tears as Claire tells her stories and those of other reinventors, and shares her best tips for getting a plan, staying on track, pulling together a support system, building your platform in the age of social networking, dealing with the inevitable ups and downs, overcoming perfectionism, and tuning in to your authentic self to propel you toward your goals.

Our thoughts: A quick read with practical tips for everyone, whether you want a major life overhaul or to make small, but significant changes.

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Never Too Late by Claire Cook

1. Why did you write NEVER TOO LATE?

Reinvention is pretty much the theme of my books and my life. I wrote my first novel in my minivan at 45. At 50, I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the movie adaptation of my second novel, Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack.

I’m now the author of 12 books, and wherever I am—on book tour or at speaking engagements or online—reinvention has become the thing that everyone wants to talk me about. And it feels great to be able to tell them that it is truly never too late.

One day it just hit me that even if I kept traveling and traveling, I wasn’t going to meet everyone in person. So I decided it was time to share everything I’ve learned on my own journey that might help other women in theirs. And that’s how Never Too Late, my first nonfiction book after 11 novels, was born

2. Tell us about the concept of the Reinvention Intersection

I think we all have that sweet spot—the place where the life we want to live and our ability interest. For some, the trick is finding it. If you’re one of those people, you’re still trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up, whether you’re pushing thirty or eighty.

For others, like me, deep down inside you already know what you want, so it’s all about finding the courage to dig up that dream and dust it off.

Over the last decade and a half, I’ve talked to thousands of women hoping to reinvent their lives, and they usually fall into one of these two categories. I try to give tips, strategies and encouragement for both in Never Too Late.

3. We love that this book can be for someone who wants a major life overhaul and also for those who desire small, but substantial changes. After reading this book, what is the next step for a person in either of these categories?

Stop listening to all the reasons you can’t, or shouldn’t do it—whether they come from within or without. Rise above the negativity and take one simple step in the direction you want to go. Then get up the next morning and do it again. And again. And again.

4. What is your advice for someone who has a "buried dream" but also gives herself a million reasons why she shouldn't unearth it?

To recognize that it’s a choice. The difference between me and someone who hasn’t gone after a buried dream is that I finally shook off all the fear and procrastination, and just did it. If you don’t actually write the book, it can’t get published.

Every day your life gives you perfectly legitimate reasons not to go after your dream. We’re all crazy busy. Somebody always needs something. You have to want it enough to do it anyway, and in the book I offer strategies for building your dream into your life.

5. We love how you tie in the fictional books you've written and identify how the characters in your books might also help someone who wants to reinvent herself. Which of your books/characters do you feel is the most inspiring? Or is this impossible to choose?

Thank you! I always feel like the next book/character I write will be my best work. I guess that’s what keeps me motivated enough to do it again. And I love that my readers all have a different favorite. I think it’s usually the one that cuts closest to their own lives, which makes sense because I think one of the reasons we read is to find ourselves.

One of my favorite parts of being a novelist is that I get to live all of my heroines' lives vicariously, but still stay in my own wheelhouse, focused on the thing I do best.

Sarah in Must Love Dogs is a preschool teacher, and in Book 2, Must Love Dogs: New Leash on Life, she takes on a summer consulting gig teaching social skills to twenty-somethings at a video game company. In The Wildwater Walking Club, Noreen is duped by a sorta boyfriend into taking a corporate buyout and gets involved in walking and lavender and clotheslines. In Life's a Beach, Ginger transitions from a series of dead-end sales jobs to making sea glass jewelry while she spends time on a movie set as her nephew's guardian.

In Summer Blowout, the family business is a hair salon, and Bella's reinvention involves staying away from her ex-husband, who has run off with her half-sister, and creating her own personalized makeup kits. March and her daughter go to college at the same time in Multiple Choice and end up with their own radio show.

And on and on! That’s a whole bunch of lives to live without ever leaving your computer!

6. Tell us about the line from your novel, Multiple Choice, "Karma is a boomerang" and how you tie that into this book

Karma is a boomerang is one of the smartest things one of my characters has ever said. In Multiple Choice, it’s a tagline for a crazy New Age radio show, but it’s also one of my favorite sayings.

That some kindness you put out into the world can boomerang back to you is something I believe with all my heart. This is not to say that I go around doing nice things all day long just to get something back. The truth is that sometimes it boomerangs and sometimes it doesn't. But still, whether it comes back to you or not, sprinkling kindness as you go is a great way to walk through the world.

My two best karma is a boomerang stories are both in Never Too Late—how the Must Love Dogs movie happened and how I ended up on the Today show

Read Pink 2014: Beatriz Williams exclusive guest post + 12 book giveaway

This is Penguin Publishing Groups fifth year dedicated to the fight against breast cancer and they will be making a $25,000 donation to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, regardless of sales. And this year's spokesperson for Read Pink, Beatriz Williams, has written an exclusive guest post just for us! Yay! Plus, if you leave a comment on this post, you can be entered to win all 12 books that have been reissued to help raise money for breast cancer research, including A Hundred Summers, by Beatriz Williams. (The full, amazing list is below).

This contest will close on Sunday, October 5th at 10am PST.

Karen White, The Time Between

Nora Roberts, Sea Swept

JoJo Moyes, The Last Letter from Your Lover

Jennifer Chiaverini, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Beatriz Williams, A Hundred Summers

Wendy Wax, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

Nora Roberts, The Witness

Catherine Anderson, Perfect Timing

Marie Force, I Want to Hold Your Hand

Janet Chapman, Heart of a Hero

Lisa Gardner, MacNamara's Woman

Jane Ann Krentz, Dream Eyes

For more details about the Read Pink initiative and to view a complete list of the participating retail outlets, please visit penguin.com/readpink.

Beatriz Williams' Exclusive Guest Post

On the morning my daughter started kindergarten, I met up with the other mothers in her class for the usual first-day-of-school coffee. One of them was wearing a beautiful Hermès scarf on her head, tied at the nape of her neck, a bit like Grace Kelly taking the air on board an ocean liner. She had spent the summer undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Until then, I confess, I’d been a little blasé about breast cancer. It was something that happened to other people, wasn’t it? Tragic and untimely, but not personal. But as I watched my friend fight this disease over the next few years—the joyful news of remission, the devastating diagnosis when the malignancy returned—with an almost inhuman dignity and strength, I learned what cancer really meant.

For one thing, life had to go on. Her daughters got up every morning, were fed and went to school, did their homework and their soccer practice. Her husband commuted to his job in New York City. She went to all the school fundraisers, all the picnics and concerts and bingo nights, determined to give her family the most normal life possible, to force away this dark cloud covering the tender years of their childhood. She didn’t want to be the Cancer Mom. She laughed and gave graceful compliments that brightened your entire day. She asked a lot of questions at open house. She joked and chatted outside the classroom, as we waited for the kids to be dismissed. The last time I saw her, she had volunteered for a shift at the book fair. She helped the kids find the books they wanted, and if they didn’t have enough money, she slipped an extra dollar or two in the till and called it even.

When I got the text later in the year, I remember being a little shocked. The final descent had, I think, been steep and sudden. My daughter happened to share a class with hers again that year, and I could only think: Those sweet girls. And they will never have her back, not for weddings or graduations or christenings, not for holidays or vacations or ordinary rainy Saturdays. Not for the first day of school, ever again.

A year and a half later, I took the train into New York City following the fifth grade graduation ceremony, and I ran into the girls’ father on the platform. They were doing well, he said. He had found a wonderful nanny to help out, and last summer he took the girls on a long, wandering camping trip, just the three of them. It was healing, he said. He spent every possible moment with them, involved himself deeply in their lives, carrying on, living. But there was still this hole. A girl was going to start middle school without her mother.

Through organizations like The Breast Cancer Foundation and others, we are making enormous strides in awareness, detection, and treatment of this disease. Today, there are over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, and more and more women can face diagnosis with hope instead of despair. But approximately 40,000 women will die of breast cancer this year, and each one leaves behind a hole that can never be filled again: children without a mother, husbands without a wife, parents without a daughter, sisters without a sister. Think of that: forty thousand women. Like me, you probably know and remember one of them.

I am deeply honored to serve as Penguin’s READ PINK spokesperson in 2014, for the sake of all these devastated families left behind, and most especially for my brave and elegant friend Vanessa, who will never be forgotten.

Thanks, Beatriz!

Best books of the month: September edition

Fall is coming (right?) and we love not only bundling up in our sassy sweaters and cute boots, but also curling up with a good book. And this month, we have ELEVEN wonderful reads to share with you. **we have ONE copy of EACH book to give away.  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes September 21 at Noon PST.

Starry Night by Isabel Gillies

The Scoop: Sometimes one night can change everything. On this particular night, Wren and her three best friends are attending a black-tie party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the opening of a major exhibit curated by her father. An enormous wind blasts through the city, making everyone feel that something unexpected and perhaps wonderful will happen.

And for Wren, that something wonderful is Nolan. With his root-beer-brown Michelangelo eyes, Nolan changes the way Wren’s heart beats. In Isabel Gillies's Starry Night, suddenly everything is different. Nothing makes sense except for this boy. What happens to your life when everything changes, even your heart? How much do you give up? How much do you keep?

Our thoughts: Her first YA novel is captivating!

Every Time I Think of You by Tracey Garvis Graves

The Scoop: Thirty-year-old Daisy DiStefano has two people she holds dear: the grandmother who raised her, and her three-year-old son, Elliott. But when Daisy’s grandmother is killed in a seemingly random act of violence, Daisy must take steps to protect herself and her child.

Despite a thriving career in San Francisco, thirty-six-year-old Brooks McClain has returned home to spend what little time his mother has left before she succumbs to the deadly disease that is ravaging her. The seasoned investigative reporter has taken a position with the local newspaper and been on the job less than twenty-four hours when he’s summoned to cover the death of Pauline Thorpe.

Brooks is all business, but the more time he spends with Daisy DiStefano, the more invested he becomes; there’s something about a single mother, a defenseless child, and an unsolved crime that has stirred Brooks’s protective instincts like nothing ever has before.

And when the unthinkable happens, Brooks will do whatever it takes to clear the name of the woman he’s fallen for and the child he’ll protect at any cost.

Romantic and suspenseful, Every Time I Think of You shows how far two people will go to fight for the ones they love, and the life they’ve always imagined.

Our thoughts:  Flawless! Bravo, Tracey!

A Place Called Harmony by Jodi Thomas

The Scoop: Desperate to escape his overbearing father, Patrick McAllen disappears with his bride, heading north to build a new town—discovering strength, honor and true love along the way.

After drinking away the grief from his family’s death, Clint Truman avoids jail by taking a job in North Texas and settling down with a woman he vows to protect but never love—until her quiet compassion slowly breaks his hardened heart wide open…

All Gillian Matheson has ever known is Army life, leaving his true love to be a part-time spouse. But when a wounded Gillian returns home to find her desperately fighting to save their marriage, he’s determined to become the husband she deserves.

Amidst storms, outlaws, and unwelcome relatives, the three couples band together to build a town—and form a bond that breathes life into the place that will forever be called Harmony.

Our thoughts: When we like to "mix things up" with a romance novel, we'd choose Thomas every time! Loved this story!

The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman

Portofino, Italy, 1943. A young woman steps off a boat in a scenic coastal village. Although she knows how to disappear in a crowd, Elodie is too terrified to slip by the German officers while carrying her poorly forged identity papers. She is frozen until a man she's never met before claims to know her. In desperate need of shelter, Elodie follows him back to his home on the cliffs of Portofino.

Only months before, Elodie Bertolotti was a cello prodigy in Verona, unconcerned with world events. But when Mussolini's Fascist regime strikes her family, Elodie is drawn into the burgeoning resistance movement by Luca, a young and impassioned bookseller. As the occupation looms, she discovers that her unique musical talents, and her courage, have the power to save lives.

In Portofino, young doctor Angelo Rosselli gives the frightened and exhausted girl sanctuary. He is a man with painful secrets of his own, haunted by guilt and remorse. But Elodie's arrival has the power to awaken a sense of hope that Angelo thought was lost to him forever.

Our thoughts: A gorgeous love story!

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon

The Scoop: Reeling from her recent divorce, Gina Bellamy suddenly finds herself figuring out how to live on her own. Determined to make a fresh start—with her beloved rescue greyhound by her side—Gina knows drastic measures are in order.

First up: throwing away all her possessions except for the one hundred things that mean the most to her. But what items are worth saving? Letters from the only man she’s ever loved? A keepsake of the father she never knew? Or a blue glass vase that perfectly captures the light?

As she lets go of the past, Gina begins to come to terms with what has happened in her life and discovers that seizing the day is sometimes the only thing to do. And when one decides to do just that...magic happens.

Our thoughts: LOVED the premise of this book--only keeping one hundred things and throwing the rest out. How to decide? Dillon nails this book!

Gravity by L.D. Cedergreen

The Scoop: After years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child, Gemma Walsh finds her husband in bed with another woman. Unable to face his betrayal, she retreats to Priest Lake where her family owns a small cabin. But Gemma finds that she is not the only one hiding away at the lake to avoid an ugly truth. Andrew Monroe was once an essential part of Gemma’s life but tragedy and misunderstanding shattered their bond, separating them. Now twenty years later, Gemma questions the coincidence of their newly intersected paths as she struggles to resist the sparks that ignite between them. Just when Gemma feels that she has found her second chance at happiness, she is faced with a shocking truth as her reality spirals out of control. She can’t deny the powerful force that brought Andrew back into her life anymore than she can defy the same force that now threatens to pull them apart. An emotionally-charged, heart-rending story that will leave you to question the freedom in truth and the existence of fate in its deepest sense.

Our thoughts: We love stories about fate and this one intrigued us from page one! A perfect story!

 All or Nothing by Kendall Ryan

The Scoop: You’ve met Ben Shaw. Now meet Braydon Kincaid, the devil-may-care male model who nearly stole the show in Working It by New York Times bestselling author Kendall Ryan.

As one of the world’s most sought-after male models, Braydon is no stranger to the finer pleasures in life. The last thing he wants to do is limit himself, especially when it comes to women. His best friend, Ben, might’ve settled down, but Braydon doesn’t want to waste his youth on the messy complications of commitment. He wants fun. He wants easy.

Ellie isn’t looking for a casual relationship, but her tough and sassy personality instantly attracts Braydon, who proposes a “friends with benefits” arrangement. Unable to resist the powerful pull of the charming bad boy, Ellie eventually relents, though she longs for all-consuming love.

As the two spend more time together, Ellie soon realizes that Braydon’s posing skills extend off the runway. His carefully crafted façade masks a secret hurt that he’s reluctant to share with Ellie, even as they embark on a passionate affair that sends them hurtling toward a fate neither expected. Can Ellie risk her heart while she waits for Braydon to let her in, or will she be forced to demand all or nothing?

Our thoughts: A steamy (make that: hot, hot, hot) page-turner!

 After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman

The Scoop: When Felix Brewer meets Bernadette “Bambi” Gottschalk at a Valentine’s Dance in 1959, he charms her with wild promises, some of which he actually keeps. Thanks to his lucrative—if not all legal—businesses, she and their three little girls live in luxury. But on the Fourth of July, 1976, Bambi’s comfortable world implodes when Felix, newly convicted and facing prison, mysteriously vanishes.

Though Bambi has no idea where her husband—or his money—might be, she suspects one woman does: his mistress, Julie. When Julie disappears ten years to the day that Felix went on the lam, everyone assumes she’s left to join her old lover—until her remains are eventually found.

Now, twenty-six years after Julie went missing, Roberto “Sandy” Sanchez, a retired Baltimore detective working cold cases for some extra cash, is investigating her murder. What he discovers is a tangled web stretching over three decades that connects five intriguing women. And at the center is the missing man Felix Brewer.

Somewhere between the secrets and lies connecting past and present, Sandy will find the truth. And when he does, no one will ever be the same.

Our thoughts: Suspenseful and highly, highly entertaining!

 Desire Lines by Christina Baker Kline

The Scoop: On the night of her high school graduation, Kathryn Campbell sits around a bonfire with her four closest friends, including the beautiful but erratic Jennifer.  “I’ll be fine,” Jennifer says, as she walks away from the dying embers and towards the darkness of the woods. She never comes back.

Ten years later, Kathryn has tried to build a life for herself, with a marriage and a career as a journalist, but she still feels the conspicuous void of Jennifer’s disappearance. When her divorce sends her reeling back to the Maine town where she grew up, she finds herself plunged into a sea of memories. With nothing left to lose, she is determined to answer one simple question: What happened to Jennifer Pelletier?

Our thoughts: An utterly absorbing mystery!

Three Story House by Courtney Miller Santo

The scoop: Renovating an historic Memphis house together, three cousins discover that their spectacular failures in love, career, and family provide the foundation for their future happiness in this warm and poignant novel from the author of The Roots of the Olive Tree that is reminiscent of The Postmistress, The Secret Life of Bees, and Kristin Hannah’s novels.

Nearing thirty and trying to avoid the inescapable fact that they have failed to live up to everyone’s expectations and their own aspirations, cousins and childhood best friends Lizzie, Elyse, and Isobel seek respite in an oddly-shaped, three-story house that sits on a bluff sixty feet above the Mississippi.

As they work to restore the almost condemned house, each woman faces uncomfortable truths about their own failings. Lizzie seeks answers to a long-held family secret about her father in her grandmother’s jumble of mementos and the home’s hidden spaces. Elyse’s obsession with an old flame leads her to a harrowing mistake that threatens to destroy her sister’s wedding, and Isobel’s quest for celebrity tempts her to betray confidences in ways that would irreparably damage her two cousins.

Told in three parts from the perspective of each of the women, this sharply observed account of the restoration of a house built out of spite, but filled with memories of love is also an account of friendship and how relying on each other’s insights and strengths provides the women a way to get what they need instead of what they want.

Our thoughts: An engaging story about friendship and facing your fears!

Charlie's Glass Slippers by Holly McQueen

In this delightful, clever spin on Cinderella, Charlie Glass—a heroine as loveable as Cannie Shapiro and Bridget Jones—inherits her father’s shoe empire and snatches up a drop-dead-gorgeous, multi-millionaire Prince Charming. But is he truly the key to her happily ever after?

When Charlie’s beloved father, iconic shoe designer Elroy Glass, dies after a long illness, everyone expects that he’ll leave his business to his glamorous wife and eldest daughters. After all, they’ve been running the company for years. But Elroy surprises everyone from beyond the grave: at the will reading, it’s announced that his fashion empire has been left to Charlie, his youngest—and plumpest—daughter.

Before she can run the company, Charlie decides she needs to make a few changes in her life. After several weeks at a California boot camp, she returns to London a new woman: thinner, blonder, and ready to revitalize the Elroy Glass brand. But as she’ll soon discover, a good esthetician and a killer pair of stilettos can only go so far, and there’s more to reinvention—and running a fashion empire—than meets the eye.

Endlessly entertaining, surprising, and ultimately inspiring, Charlie Glass’s Slippers is a modern-day fairytale about finding your own magic and transforming yourself from within.

Our thoughts: A fun modern day fairy tale. We couldn't get enough!

Liz and Lisa's Book Club: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Looking for the next book that EVERYONE is talking about? One filled with suspense that will keep you up at night? Then look no further, ladies, because Mary Kubica hits it out of the park with her debut novel, The Good Girl. And holla! Because we have a copy to give away! Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win. Contest closes on September 14th at Noon PST.

The Scoop: "I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will."

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a propulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems….

Our thoughts: Just TRY to put this one down--IMPOSSIBLE!

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

1. How did you come up with the idea for THE GOOD GIRL? Did you think of the title?

Before I dive into that question, I wanted to thank you ladies for having me here today. It’s such an honor to be asked to come and chat with you about myself and THE GOOD GIRL.

I came up with the idea for the book shortly after I left my teaching career and decided to stay home and raise my daughter. I was home for the first time ever, in a mostly quiet house save for a tiny infant who slept much of the day. My mind started wandering, and it was then that the ideas for THE GOOD GIRL were formed. I have been writing since I was a young girl, but this was the first novel I was able to write in its entirety, and I knew right away there was something special about this book, something that set it apart from the stories I’d written in my earlier years.

As for the title, that was certainly a collaborative process. We wanted something that put the main character, Mia, at the forefront of this novel. The book is about her, and yet her voice is rarely heard. It was important that the reader knows this is Mia’s story.

2. We read on your blog that you had your publishing deal for 587 days before the book finally hit store shelves. How would you describe the waiting period?

Agony! It felt like a very long time. The offer for THE GOOD GIRL came in December of 2012, and it was July of 2014 before the book was published. Of course that was all very important time, during which the novel got a cover and the much-needed publicity before launch day, but it was hard for me – a generally impatient person – to sit back and wait. During that time, however, I was hard at work on my second novel, which made the time go by more quickly; I was also traveling to conferences to promote THE GOOD GIRL, and on a pre-launch book tour. It was a very exciting time! I see now how important that time was for THE GOOD GIRL, and understand the value of the pre-launch buildup, but as a debut author having no idea of the process, it felt like I’d be waiting forever for launch day! In retrospect, the time went by quite quickly and now, here I am about to embark on the same adventure for book 2.

3. And how would you describe being a published author? What's your biggest tip for aspiring novelists?

This entire process has just been a dream come true for me. The idea that I get to write books for a living is something I’ve always aspired to do – and I can’t believe this is actually classified as a job! My biggest tip for aspiring authors is to keep trying. I received many, many, many rejections before one agent offered to represent THE GOOD GIRL – and that was all it took: one agent. Keep looking until you find that one person who is going to love your work as much as you do.

4.We both have rescue dogs and read that you work at your animal shelter. Can you tell us about that & about your pet(s)? We'd also love to see a pic/pics!

I’m a huge animal fanatic. I’ve been working at the local animal shelter for quite a few years now, and I absolutely love it. These days, I photograph all new arrivals (cats, dogs and the occasional rabbit) for our website, but I’ve done any number of things during my time there, from running a story hour for kids, to offsite events, to cleaning cages, to fostering litters of kittens in my home. It’s a great experience for both myself and my family. One day, I dream of running my own shelter. I’m equally a dog and cat person, though my family started with cats many years ago, and now that 3 more have followed me home from the shelter, it would be a bit crazy to add a dog to the mix. One day we’ll have a dog, but for now we have four cats and any number of fish I manage to keep alive on a given day. I’ve included photos of my kitties. All but the black cat, Einstein, are rescues; the last – a beautiful tortoiseshell named Tabitha – came to live with us after she was diagnosed with liver cancer, and now, ten months later, she’s doing fabulous.

5. Are you working on another novel? If so, can you share any details?

I would love to! I just finished up my second novel: PRETTY BABY. It’s the story of a Chicago mother who encounters a young homeless girl with a baby, waiting beside the train. She becomes quite taken with her, and wants to help her with her plight, but as she does she discovers a dark, hidden past, and begins to see what effect this chance encounter will have on both their lives. As is the case with THE GOOD GIRL, nothing is quite what is seems to be… Look for PRETTY BABY coming in 2015 from Harlequin MIRA.

Thanks so much for having me!

Thanks, Mary! 

Flash Giveaway: A Pinch of Ooh La La by Renee Swindle

Giveaway: ONE copy of A Pinch Of Ooh La La by Renee Swindle! Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on Sept 1st at 8am PST.

The Scoop: Abbey Ross, who runs her own bakery in Oakland, California, is known for her visually stunning wedding cakes. But lately, Abbey’s own love life has become stale. According to her best friend, Bendrix, Abbey’s not the spontaneous young woman she was when they were teenagers listening to the Cure and creating attention-grabbing graffiti. Of course, her failed relationship with a womanizing art forger might have something to do with that. Nevertheless, it’s time for Abbey to step out of the kitchen—and her comfort zone—and Bendrix has even handpicked a man for her to date.

Samuel Howard is everything Abbey’s dreamed of: handsome, successful, and looking to raise a family. But a creamy icing might be needed to hide a problem or two. When Samuel complains about disrespect for the institution of marriage, Abbey’s reminded of her nontraditional family, with thirteen children from various mothers. And when Samuel rails about kids having kids, Abbey thinks of her twenty-year-old sister who’s recently revealed her pregnancy.

Soon Abbey is facing one disaster after another and struggling to make sense of it all. Her search for love has led her down a bitter path, but with the help of her unique family and unwavering friends, she just might find the ooh la la that makes life sweet.

Our thoughts: Perfect for after your kids (finally!) go back to school!

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer

If you are looking for a novel that will grip you from the first sentence and leave you wanting more after you've finished, Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer should be the next book you read. And we are giving away a copy of this fantastic debut novel! Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win! The contest will close on Thursday, August 21st at 8am PST.

The scoop: Mara Nichols is a successful lawyer, devoted wife, and adoptive mother who has received a life-shattering diagnosis. Scott Coffman, a middle school teacher, has been fostering an eight-year-old boy while the boy’s mother serves a jail sentence. Scott and Mara both have five days left until they must say good-bye to the ones they love the most.

Through their stories, Julie Lawson Timmer explores the individual limits of human endurance and the power of relationships, and shows that sometimes loving someone means holding on, and sometimes it means letting go.

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer

First, thanks for having me! Congratulations to both of you on the success of Your Perfect Life!

1. How did you think of the idea for FIVE DAYS LEFT?

I lost a friend to cancer a few years ago. In the last nine months, she knew she was going to die, and I could not fathom how it was that she could be so brave in facing her last moments with her family. I was knocked flat, really, by what she was going through, and what it must be like for her to know she wouldn’t be there to see her kids grow up. I decided to write about someone dealing with a fatal, incurable disease in order to both explore the feelings my friend might have had and to honor her bravery, and her life. I chose Huntington’s because I didn’t want (or believe I had any right) to write my friend’s story. Five Days Left is not biographical in any sense.

I wanted to give Mara a break from her difficult situation, and adding the online group allowed me to do that. I am actually a member of an anonymous online group and it’s always intrigued me, how we feel so close to each other and share very intimate things, but have never met. When I was casting around in my imagination for an online friend who Mara could become close to, Scott materialized, as did his job as a middle school teacher and coach. I decided to make Scott a limited guardian (similar to a foster parent, though with distinct differences not important here) because I am a stepparent, and the roles are similar--stepparents and temporary guardians care for, make sacrifices for, and deeply love, children whose future isn’t in our control. I wanted to explore the challenges and benefits of that kind of relationship, since I live with those challenges and benefits every day.

2. Was there one particular storyline that was easier/harder to write and why?

This is a good and straightforward question, for which I have a not-so-good or straightforward answer. On one hand, it was definitely harder for me to write Scott’s chapters because those are obviously from a guy’s point of view, and I am a woman. I had to run bits of Scott’s dialogue or inner thought past my husband a few times, to make sure it passed “the guy test”--often it didn’t, and thank goodness for my husband setting me straight! On the other hand, I found Mara’s chapters very challenging because I don’t have Huntington’s and am not an expert on it, but I was obsessive in my intent to portray it accurately. So, while I was writing her chapters, I was constantly worried about whether I was getting the disease right, double checking my research, calling my experts back to run over something another time, etc. In the end, I loved having two story lines because if I was stuck on one, I could simply flip over to the other. And when Mara’s got emotional, I could switch to Scott’s for a bit of a reprieve--something I hope readers will enjoy.

3. This is your debut novel (congrats as you've received high praise!). Can you tell us a little about your journey to publication? 

Thank you very much! My journey to publication was one of premature querying, many mistakes and, finally, a tremendous amount of luck. I wrote a terrible first draft and pitched it (prematurely) at a writer’s conference in the summer of 2011. Those pitches went nowhere but I met some great friends at the conference, and I figured out that the book needed huge revisions.

After the conference, I rewrote the book and queried it. I was extremely lucky to receive a revise and resubmit request (R&R) early on, from an agent who took the time to speak with me about the changes she thought FDL required. She ended up giving me two chances to revise and resubmit, which means she read the book three times--to this day, I remain blown away by her generosity. She ultimately passed, but thanks to her, I had a much more polished manuscript.

However, instead of querying more, I decided in August 2012 to shelve FDL. It had been a year, I had spent hours revising it and had sent almost 100 queries, none of which led to an offer. I was ready to call it a “practice novel” and move on. So, when I received an R&R from Victoria Sanders later that month, I considered not even responding. Thankfully, my husband urged me to sleep on it and reconsider. I did both, and ended up doing another 6-month gut-and-rewrite.

I sent my revision to Victoria at the end of January 2013. She called five days later to offer representation. Twenty-one days after that, she sold it at auction, to Amy Einhorn, who at the time had an imprint at Putnam. After the long slog of revision and rejection, the speed at which I ended up with an agent and a book deal made my head spin.

In fact, my husband and I were on a (rare) kids-free vacation when the interest started coming in from different editors, and the combination of the tropical location, the freedom from kid-related obligations and the all-inclusive nature of the resort (i.e., bubbly flowing 24/7) already made the week feel dreamlike. When we added daily calls with editors to the mix, it became completely surreal, and we spent the week shaking our heads at each other in disbelief. When we finally returned to the cold, snowy, four-teenager reality of our life in Michigan, we kept asking each other, “Did all of that really just happen?”

4. Have you thought about how you would spend your last five days? Or what have you learned from writing this book? 

Oooh, great question! I have definitely thought about this, thanks to my friend and to the hours I spent getting to know Mara. I have absolutely learned some things about myself through writing Mara’s story. What I have learned is that I don’t have a long Bucket List of things I want to do and places I want to see. I appreciate the existence of the Great Wall, for example, but if I never see it, that will be fine with me. What matters to me are the five people I live with--my wonderful husband and our four amazing children. If I had five days left, I would spend them with those five people, telling them how terrific I think they are, and how much of a privilege it has been to spend these years with them, and hugging them every second I could.

5. Are you working on another book? If so, can you share any details?

My second book deals with estranged families, step parenting and the terrible practice of “rehoming,” where people who no longer want their adopted children advertise them on the Internet. As you can imagine, the wrong kind of person can respond to the ad and the children can end up in awful situations. The book is very different from Five Days Left, but as I expect every book I write will do, it raises a lot of “What would you do?” questions, and it explores different forms of “family” and how families get through (or don’t get through) various challenges.

Thanks again for having me!

Thank YOU, Julie!

Best books of the month: August edition

August might be hot (Holy humidity!), but thse books are so COOL that you'll be chilling in no time!  Behold, the best books of August! **we have ONE copy of EACH book to give away.  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes August 17th at Noon PST.

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

The Scoop: Meet the Bird family. They live in a simple brick house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching just beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together each night. Everybody in town gushes over the two girls, who share their mother’s apple cheeks and wide smiles. Of the boys, lively, adventurous Rory can stir up trouble, moving through life more easily than little Rhys, his slighter, more sensitive counterpart. Their father is a sweet gangly man, but it’s their mother, Lorelei, a beautiful free spirit with long flowing hair and eyes full of wonder, who spins at the center.

Time flies in those early years when the kids are still young. Lorelei knows that more than anyone, doing her part to freeze time by protecting the precious mementos she collects, filling the house with them day by day. Easter egg foils are her favorite. Craft supplies, too. She insists on hanging every single piece of art ever produced by any of the children, to her husband’s chagrin.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy occurs. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass and the children have become adults, found new relationships, and, in Meg's case, created families of their own. Lorelei has become the county’s worst hoarder. She has alienated her husband, her children, and has been living as a recluse for six years. It seems as though they’d never been The Bird Family at all, as if loyalty were never on the table. But then something happens that calls them home, back to the house they grew up in—and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Our thoughts: You won't be able to put this one down--it's fab!

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax

The Scoop: Maddie, Avery, and Nikki first got to know one another—perhaps all too well—while desperately restoring a beachfront mansion to its former grandeur. Now they’re putting that experience to professional use. But their latest project has presented some challenges they couldn’t have dreamed up in their wildest fantasies—although the house does belong to a man who actually was Maddie’s wildest fantasy once . . .

Rock-and-roll legend “William the Wild” Hightower may be past his prime, estranged from his family, and creatively blocked, but he’s still worshiped by fans—which is why he guards his privacy on his own island in the Florida Keys. He’s not thrilled about letting this crew turn his piece of paradise into a bed-and-breakfast for a reality show . . . though he is intrigued by Maddie. Hard as that is for her to believe as a newly single woman who can barely manage a dog paddle in the dating pool.

But whether it’s an unexpected flirtation with a bona fide rock star, a strained mother-daughter relationship, or a sudden tragedy, these women are in it together. The only thing that might drive them apart is being trapped on a houseboat with one bathroom . . .

Our thoughts: Wendy Wax does it again in this wonderful novel!

Eyes on You by Kate White

The Scoop: After losing her on-air job two years ago, television host Robin Trainer has fought her way back and now she’s hotter than ever. With her new show climbing in the ratings and her first book a bestseller, she’s being dubbed a media double threat.

But suddenly, things begin to go wrong. Small incidents at first: a nasty note left in her purse; her photo shredded. But the obnoxious quickly becomes threatening when the foundation the makeup artist uses burns Robin’s face. It wasn’t an accident—someone had deliberately doctored with the product.

An adversary with a dark agenda wants to hurt Robin, and the clues point to someone she works with every day. While she frantically tries to put the pieces together and unmask this hidden foe, it becomes terrifyingly clear that the person responsible isn’t going to stop until Robin loses everything that matters to her . . . including her life.

Our thoughts: We couldn't put this thriller down!

Driving With The Top Down by Beth Harbison

The Scoop: Colleen Bradley is married with a teenage son, a modest business repurposing and reselling antiques, and longtime fear that she was not her husband’s first choice.  When she decides to take a road trip down the east coast to check out antique auctions for her business, she also has a secret ulterior motive.  Her one-woman mission for peace of mind is thrown slightly off course when sixteen year old Tamara becomes her co-pilot.  The daughter of Colleen’s brother-in-law, Tamara is aware that when people see her as a screw-up, but she knows in her heart that she’s so much more.  She just wishes her father could see it, too.

The already bumpy trip takes another unexpected turn when they stop at the diner that served as Colleen’s college hangout and run into her old friend, Bitty Nolan Camalier.  Clearly distressed, Bitty gives them a story full of holes: angry with her husband, she took off on her own, only to have her car stolen.  Both Colleen and Tamara sense that there’s more that Bitty isn’t sharing, but Colleen offers to give Bitty a ride to Florida.

So one becomes two becomes three as Colleen, Tamara, and Bitty make their way together down the coast.  It’s a road trip fraught with tension as Tamara’s poor choices come back to haunt her and Bitty’s secrets reach a boiling point.  With no one to turn to but each other, these three women might just discover that you can get lost in life but somehow, true friends provide a roadmap to finding what you’re really looking for.

Our thoughts: LOVE Beth and her latest!  A must read!

The Curvy Girls Club by Michele Gorman

The Scoop: When best friends Pixie, Ellie, Katie and Jane become fed up with being judged by the size of their waistbands, they start a club to focus on having fun instead of counting carbs. It soon grows into London’s most popular social club for the calorie-challenged and the women find their lives changing in ways they never imagined.But the club can’t stop real life from getting in the way.

Pixie's husband, Trevor, is a waste of space, a man who thinks an empty laundry basket equals a happy marriage. Jane’s self-esteem is desperate for a makeover while Ellie looks set to sabotage her relationship with “The One”. And when the pounds start falling off Katie, suddenly “having it all” could mean losing what’s most important in a world where thin is the new fat.

Our thoughts: Super, crazy fun!

The Art of Adapting by Cassandra Dunn

The Scoop: In this warm and winning first novel, a recently divorced woman rises to the challenge and experiences the exhilaration of independence with the unlikely help of her brother with Asperger's, who she takes in to help pay the rent.Seven months after her husband leaves her, Lana is still reeling. Being single means she is in charge of every part of her life, and for the first time in nineteen years, she can do things the way she always wanted to do them.

But that also leaves her with all the responsibility. With two teenage children—Byron and Abby, who are each dealing with their own struggles—in a house she can barely afford on her solo salary, her new life is a balancing act made even more complicated when her brother Matt moves in.Matt has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes social situations difficult for him and flexibility and change nearly impossible. He only eats certain foods in a certain order and fixates on minor details. When Lana took him in, he was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to numb his active mind enough to sleep at night.

Adding Matt’s regimented routine to her already disrupted household seems like the last thing Lana needs, but her brother’s unique attention to detail makes him an invaluable addition to the family: he sees things differently.

Our thoughts: If you loved The Rosie Project, then pick this up for sure!

Early Decision by Lacy Crawford

The Scoop: Working one-on-one with Tiger-mothered, burned-out kids, Anne “the application whisperer” can make Harvard a reality. Early Decision follows five students over one autumn as Anne helps them craft their college essays, cram for the SATs, and perfect the Common Application.

It seems their entire future is on the line—and it is. Though not because of Princeton and Yale. It’s because the process, warped as it is by money, connections, competition, and parental mania, threatens to crush their independence just as adulthood begins.Whether you want to get in or just get out, with wit and heart, Early Decision explodes the secrets of the college admissions race.

Our thoughts: Juicy with a capital J!

Season Of The Dragonflies by Sarah Creech

The Scoop: As beguiling as the novels of Alice Hoffman, Adriana Trigiani, Aimee Bender, and Sarah Addison Allen, Season of the Dragonflies is a story of flowers, sisters, practical magic, old secrets, and new love, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

For generations, the Lenore women have manufactured a perfume unlike any other, and guarded the unique and mysterious ingredients. Their perfumery, hidden in the quiet rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, creates one special elixir that secretly sells for millions of dollars to the world’s most powerful—movie stars, politicians, artists, and CEOs.

The Lenore’s signature perfume is actually the key to their success.Willow, the coolly elegant Lenore family matriarch, is the brains behind the company. Her gorgeous, golden-haired daughter Mya is its heart. Like her foremothers, she can “read” scents and envision their power. Willow’s younger daughter, dark-haired, soulful Lucia, claims no magical touch, nor does she want any part of the family business. She left the mountains years ago to make her own way. But trouble is brewing. Willow is experiencing strange spells of forgetfulness. Mya is plotting a coup. A client is threatening blackmail. And most ominously, the unique flowers used in their perfume are dying.Whoever can save the company will inherit it. Though Mya is the obvious choice, Lucia has begun showing signs of her own special abilities. And her return to the mountains—heralded by a swarm of blue dragonflies—may be the answer they all need.

Our thoughts: Delightful!  Pick it up!

The 5 books that define me by Liz

It's no secret that I lovvvvvve books.  Even as a child, I'd read my favorites over and over until the pages began to disintegrate. There's so many I've adored over the years--too many to count! But there are a few that actually shaped me--that made their way into the soft, sticky bottom of my soul.  Books that not only left a mark, but that also defined a part of my life. I'll show you mine if you show me yours--leave a comment and tell us about the books that defined you and you'll be entered to win a signed copy of Your Perfect Life! (Contest closes on Sunday, July 27th at Noon PST.)

1. Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman

The year was 1977. I would sit on the battered red stool every night in the kitchen while my mother expertly put together dinner.  I'd attempt to read Are You My Mother? to her as she gently corrected my mistakes.  And one night, she didn't have to correct me at all. And thirty years later, I read this classic to my own children and encouraged them to sound out the words themselves.

2. Any and every Sweet Valley High book

I don't know about you, but for me, middle school was HELL. But, every day I could escape the mean girls by losing myself in Jessica and Elizabeth's world, whether they were switching identities to take a test (so sneaky!) or getting kidnapped, (Elizabeth! How did you not see that one coming?!) or sneaking off to a party (Jessica!  You dirty whorebag!).  Those Sweet Valley girls always made me forget the drama of my day when I slipped into into theirs.

3. Forever by Judy Blume

Whoa! When my mom brought home the latest Judy Blume, She had no idea she was unknowingly providing me with the twelve-year old equivalent of porn. (Sex! Nakedness! A penis named Ralph! ) I read the book quickly, knowing it was only a matter of time before she realized her mistake and took it away. Once she finally did, I found her hiding place and stole it back, dispersing it efficiently among my friends so they could also discover what the fuss was all about. (And we all agreed that Ralph was a VERY lame penis name!)

4. Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

1998 was an interesting year--I had graduated from college a few years prior but was still trying to find my footing in the real world.  Lisa and I had drifted (Taking a much needed break!) and truth be told, I felt a little lost.  But I found great solace in the pages of Summer Sisters, a touching story of lifetime best friends.  I read it again and again until the bindings began to crumble.  And then I picked up the phone and called my best friends to reconnect.

5. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

When I picked up Good in Bed off the table at Barnes & Noble in 2002, I had no idea I'd discovered something that would touch me in a way that I'd never forget. From the very first page, Cannie Shapiro captivated me--her struggles with her weight, with her ex, with loving herself the way she should was really resonated. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me want to write a book of my own one day. And several years later, I did.  #thepowerofbooks

What books shaped your life?  Tell me!

Best Books of the Month: July Edition

Summer is here and so are all the best beach reads! So grab a towel, some sunscreen and one of our July picks!

Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion by Karen White, Jenna Blum, Sarah Jio, Melanie Benjamin, Sarah McCoy and Alyson Richman

The Scoop: A war bride awaits the arrival of her GI husband at the platform...A Holocaust survivor works at the Oyster Bar, where a customer reminds him of his late mother...A Hollywood hopeful anticipates her first screen test and a chance at stardom in the Kissing Room...On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.Now, ten bestselling authors inspired by this iconic landmark have created their own stories, set on the same day, just after the end of World War II, in a time of hope, uncertainty, change, and renewal....Featuring stories from: Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us Amanda Hodgkinson, New York Times bestselling author of 22 Britannia Road Pam Jenoff, bestselling author of The Ambassador's Daughter Sarah Jio, New York Times bestselling author of Blackberry Winter Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of The Baker's DaughterKristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of The Pieces We Keep

Alyson Richman, bestselling author of The Lost Wife Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Call Me Zelda Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of After the Rain With an Introduction by

Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Home Front

Our thoughts: Wow!  We were blown away by the talent all in one place!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

Mating For Life by Marissa Stapley

The Scoop: Former folk singer Helen Sear was a feminist wild child who proudly disdained monogamy, raising three daughters—each by a different father—largely on her own. Now in her sixties, Helen has fallen in love with a traditional man who desperately wants to marry her. And while she fears losing him, she’s equally afraid of abandoning everything she’s ever stood for if she goes through with it.

Meanwhile, Helen’s youngest daughter, Liane, is in the heady early days of a relationship with her soul mate. But he has an ex-wife and two kids, and her new role as a “step-something” doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Ilsa, an artist, has put her bohemian past behind her and is fervently hoping her second marriage will stick. Yet her world feels like it is slowly shrinking, and her painting is suffering as a result—and she realizes she may need to break free again, even if it means disrupting the lives of her two young children. And then there’s Fiona, the eldest sister, who has worked tirelessly to make her world pristine, yet who still doesn’t feel at peace. When she discovers her husband has been harboring a huge secret, Fiona loses her tenuous grip on happiness and is forced to face some truths about herself that she’d rather keep buried.

Our thoughts: A dazzling debut!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton

The Scoop: In the tradition of Kristin Hannah and Karen Joy Fowler, Meg Waite Clayton, bestselling author of The Wednesday Sisters, returns with an enthralling new novel of mothers, daughters, and the secrets and dreams passed down through generations.

It is early evening when Hope Tantry arrives at the small cottage in England’s pastoral Lake District where her mother, Ally, spent the last years of her life. Ally—one of a close-knit group of women who called themselves the Wednesday Sisters—had used the cottage as a writer’s retreat while she worked on her unpublished biography of Beatrix Potter, yet Hope knows little about her mother’s time there. Traveling with Hope are friends Anna Page and Julie, first introduced as little girls in The Wednesday Sisters, now grown women grappling with issues of a different era. They’ve come to help Hope sort through her mother’s personal effects, yet what they find is a tangled family history—one steeped in Lake District lore.

Hope finds a stack of Ally’s old notebooks tucked away in a hidden drawer, all written in a mysterious code. As she, Julie, and Anna Page try to decipher Ally’s writings—the reason for their encryption, their possible connection to the Potter manuscript—they are forced to confront their own personal struggles: Hope’s doubts about her marriage, Julie’s grief over losing her twin sister, Anna Page’s fear of commitment in relationships. And as the real reason for Ally’s stay in England comes to light, Hope, Julie, and Anna Page reach a new understanding about the enduring bonds of family, the unwavering strength of love, and the inescapable pull of the past.

Our thoughts: We promise you won't be able to put this one down!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

A Wedding in Provence by Ellen Sussman

The Scoop: When Olivia and Brody drive up to their friend’s idyllic inn—nestled in a valley in the Mediterranean town of Cassis—they know they’ve chosen the perfect spot for their wedding. The ceremony will be held in the lush garden, and the reception will be a small party of only their closest family and friends. But when Olivia and Brody’s guests check in, their peaceful wedding weekend is quickly thrown off balance.

The first to arrive is Nell, Olivia’s oldest daughter from her first marriage. Impulsive and reckless, she invites a complete stranger—an enigmatic man who is both alluring and a bit dangerous—to be her guest at the wedding. The next is Carly, Olivia’s youngest daughter, the responsible and pragmatic one. Away from her demanding job and a strained relationship, she feels an urgent need to cut loose—and for once do something brash and unpredictable. Then there is Jake, Brody’s playboy best man, and Fanny, Brody’s mother, who is coping with the fallout of her own marriage. And in the middle of it all is Olivia, navigating the dramas, joys, and pitfalls of planning a wedding and starting a new life. A delicious, compelling, and utterly enchanting novel, A Wedding in Provence captures the complex and enduring bonds of family, and our boundless faith in love.

Our thoughts: We devoured this delightful read!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

Have A Nice Guilt Trip by Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella

The Scoop: Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella are back with another collection of warm and witty stories that will strike a chord with every woman. This four book series is among the best reviewed humor books published today and has been compared to the late greats, Erma Bombeck and Nora Ephron. Booklist raved of the third book in the series, Meet Me At Emotional Baggage Claim,  “readers can count on an ab-toning laugh session, a silly giggle, a sympathetic sigh, and a lump in the throat as life’s moments are rehashed through the keen eyes and wits of this lovable mother-daughter duo.” This fourth volume, Have a Nice Guilt Trip, maintains the same sterling standard of humor and poignancy as Lisa and Francesca continue on the road of life acquiring men and puppies. Ok, to be honest, Lisa is acquiring the puppies, while Francesca is lucky enough to have dates with actual men. They leave it to the listeners to decide which is more desirable and/or or easier to train.

Our thoughts: Fun, fun, FUN to read!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

There's also a SUMMER LONG giveaway that you should check out on Lisa's website here >>

It Comes in Waves by Erika Marks

The Scoop: Eighteen years later, now forty-two and a struggling single parent to a rebellious teenage daughter, Claire has put miles between that betrayal and that coast. But when ESPN invites her back to Folly Beach for a documentary on women in surfing, Claire decides it might be the chance she needs to regain control of her life and reacquaint herself with the unsinkable young woman she once was.

But not everything in Folly Beach is as Claire remembers it, most especially her ex-best friend, Jill, who is now widowed and raising her and Foster’s teenage son. An unexpected reunion with Claire will uncover a guilt that Jill has worked hard to bury—and bring to the surface years of unspoken blame.

When Claire crosses paths with a sexy pro-surfer who is as determined to get Claire back on a board as he is to get her in his bed, a chance for healing might not be far behind—or is it too late for two estranged friends to find forgiveness in the place that was once their coastal paradise, where life was spent barefoot and love was as dizzying as the perfect wave...

Our thoughts: Did you say "Sexy Surfer"? We are IN!

Giveaway: One Copy!  Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

What Strange Creatures by Emily Arsenault

The scoop: Scandal, love, family, and murder combine in this gripping literary mystery by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault, in which a young academic’s life is turned upside down when her brother is arrested for murder and she must prove his innocence.The Battle siblings are used to disappointment. Seven years, one marriage and divorce, three cats, and a dog later, Theresa still hasn’t finished her dissertation. Instead of a degree, she’s got a houseful of adoring pets and a dead-end copywriting job for a local candle company.Jeff, her so-called genius older brother, doesn’t have it together, either. Creative, and loyal, he’s also aimless in work and love. But his new girlfriend, Kim, a pretty waitress in her twenties, appears smitten.When Theresa agrees to dog-sit Kim’s puggle for a weekend, she has no idea that it is the beginning of a terrifying nightmare that will shatter her quiet world. Soon, Kim’s body will be found in the woods, and Jeff will become the prime suspect.Though the evidence is overwhelming, Theresa knows that her brother is not a cold-blooded murderer. But to clear him she must find out more about Kim. Investigating the dead woman’s past, Theresa uncovers a treacherous secret involving politics, murder, and scandal—and becomes entangled in a potentially dangerous romance. But the deeper she falls into this troubling case, the more it becomes clear that, in trying to save her brother’s life, she may be sacrificing her own.Our thoughts: An engaging mystery!Check out the fabulous trailer for Emily's book here >>

Giveaway: One copy (US). Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

Sweet Water by Christina Baker Kline

The scoop: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train comes a novel about buried secrets and the redemptive power of forgiveness.

Cassie Simon is a struggling artist living in New York City.  When she receives a call from a magistrate telling her she has inherited sixty acres of land in Sweetwater, Tennessee, from her grandfather, whom she never knew, she takes it as a sign: it’s time for a change.  She moves to the small Southern town where her mother, Ellen, grew up—and where she died tragically when Cassie was three.

From the moment she arrives in Sweetwater, Cassie is overwhelmed by the indelible mark her mother’s memory left behind.  As she delves into the thicket of mystery that surrounds her mother’s death, Cassie begins to discover the desperate measures of which the human heart is capable.

Our thoughts: Captivating. We could not put this book down!

Giveaway: One copy (US). Leave a comment to be entered.  Contest closes on July 20th at 8am PST.

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

If you are looking for the perfect summer read, you've found it! Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown is a page-turner that will stay on your mind long after you've finished reading it. If you're a fan of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn you will definitely love this thriller (out tomorrow, June 8th). And guess what? If you leave a comment on this post, you'll be entered to win a copy! We'll select the winner on July 10th after 8am PST.

The scoop: When a fourteen-year-old runs away, her parents turn to social media to find her—launching a public campaign that will expose their darkest secrets and change their family forever, in this suspenseful and gripping debut for fans of Reconstructing Amelia and Gone Girl.

Don’t try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley’s hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away.

As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have “limited resources.” If they want their fourteen-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Desperation becomes determination when Paul turns to Facebook and Twitter, and launches FindMarley.com.

But Marley isn’t the only one with secrets.

With public exposure comes scrutiny, and when Rachel blows a television interview, the dirty speculation begins. Now, the blogosphere is convinced Rachel is hiding something. It’s not what they think; Rachel would never hurt Marley. Not intentionally, anyway. But when it’s discovered that she’s lied, even to the police, the devoted mother becomes a suspect in Marley’s disappearance.

Is Marley out there somewhere, watching it all happen, or is the truth something far worse?

Liz & Lisa's Book Club: Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

1. Liz & Lisa: Don't Try to Find Me is one of our favorite novels we've read this year. We can't believe this is your debut. Can you tell us a little about your road to publication? How long did it take you to write it, then find an agent, then line up with a publisher?

Holly Brown: Thank you so much!  It feels like I've been living with this book a long time, but it's really only been a couple of years since I first started writing it.  It's gone through a lot of revisions.  Two drafts and eight or nine months in, I found my phenomenal agent, Elisabeth Weed.  Then she gave me feedback for another round of revisions, and there were about three more drafts once I had my editor, Carrie Feron.

I'm lucky to have found such a great team.  I trust their editorial insights, and am grateful that they didn't expect me to have it perfect right out of the gate.  The novel's evolved a lot since I first queried Elisabeth.  There are whole subplots now that didn't exist, and characters who were fairly minor and who turned into major players.

2. L&L: How did you think of the idea for Don't Try to Find Me? And did you come up with the title?

HB: I was driving to work one morning and I happened to catch an interview on NPR.  It was with Tony Loftis, who founded the nonprofit findyourmissingchild.org.  After his daughter ran away, he used his PR background to mount a social media campaign that helped bring her home, and now he's teaching other parents how to do the same.

Once he said that parents need to be careful not to have any skeletons in their closet because it'll all be exposed in the campaign, I had my idea.

My editor actually came up with the title.  My original title was "Unfounded."  I still think it sounds classy and literary, but "Don't Try to Find Me" is a lot grabbier (if grabbier is a word!  Spellcheck hasn't dinged me so I'll stick with it.)

3. L&L: You're also a marriage and family therapist and you have a toddler. How do you balance your therapist job with your author job with your mom job?

HB: I work three 10-hour days practicing therapy (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).  I don't leave until 9 a.m. so I have some morning time with my daughter (no evening time, alas!)  Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have longer chunks of time together before she goes to preschool.  The balance is as ideal as I can make it for now, though I have to admit, I'm hoping that the book will do well enough to be able to do some rebalancing.  I'm not a particularly materialistic person, but the more money you have, the more control you can have over how you spend your time.  That's an appealing thought.

4. L&L: What are you reading right now?

HB: I'm about to start reading "On Tennis: Five Essays" by David Foster Wallace.  I love his essays in general, and I'm a rabid tennis fan.  So the two together--it's like chocolate and peanut butter.  Or bacon and avocado.  Delicious.  I'm also partway through "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" by Maria Semple (yes, believe the hype, it's great so far!)

5: L&L: Are you working on another book. If so, can you tell us about it?

HB: My next book, "More Than Anything", is also coming out from Harper/Morrow.  Adrienne wants to become a mother more than anything, and after being the victim of an adoption scam once before, she decides nothing is going to get in her way; with an ambivalent husband tortured by their shared past and a hot 19-year-old birth mother with secrets of her own, what could possibly go wrong?

Thanks, Holly!

Diary of a Debut: 7 fun facts we learned on our book tour + giveaway!

We're baaaack from our book tour. Actually, we each arrived home over a week ago, but we took a much needed mental, physical and social media break (more on that in a minute). And now we're refueled and recharged and ready to share 7 things we learned while "on the road."

(Oh, and because we love you all so much, we're doing a giveaway. Just leave a comment on this post and be entered to win a surprise bundle of 10 books! The contest will close on Saturday, July 5 at 8am PST.)

1. Our readers are effing amazing!

We already knew you guys were amazing, but now we're putting an effing in front of that word because you showed up at our events! Not that we doubted you would want to be there, but we were a little nervous that only our Moms would actually fill the seats. Because everyone is so busy--especially in the summer-- and taking even a couple hours out of your schedule is a lot. So we want to say THANK YOU for putting us on your list of things to do. It means the world. And it also saved us loads of potential embarrassment.

PS:  Not to get too greedy, but while we're on the subject of how amazing you are :), if you've read and liked Your Perfect Life, we would be crazy thankful if you'd post a review on Amazon or on Goodreads. As you all know, positive reviews really, really help! And for those of you who have already done so, THANK YOU.

2. And so are other authors!

We feel so lucky to have so much support from other authors. Not only did they blurb our novel and give us shout outs when our book published, but several of them also participated in events with us and even showed up at them too! It's such a wonderful community of writers and we feel so fortunate to be a part of it. We could never list all of your names, but you know who you are and we love you! xoxo

3. We can talk with our eyes!

Have y'all seen How I Met Your Mother? Those guys have entire conversations with their eyes. And we discovered that we can do it too. Thank gawd! Because we were able to handle some sticky situations with no more than a few words spoken silently between our eyeballs. Like when we were being interviewed and that interviewer seemed to think our book was non-fiction and we had a holy shit how do we save this? mental chat. Or when we were at Rick Springfield's book signing and, at the last minute, we had a subliminal talk about how we should thrust one of our signed books upon him!

4. A slight head tilt can save the day!

We've never taken so many pictures in our lives! And a very smart author friend warned us that you will learn VERY fast how to take a good picture. So, after many, many, many terrible attempts, we finally figured out that a slight tilt of the head toward the person you are standing next to can do wonders for your face in a photo. Although when your eyes are closed and the pic still gets posted, there's no saving that. But at least it won't look like you have seventeen chins! (It feels weird to post a picture of ourselves that we think is good, so just take our word for it, k?)

5. Stick to one cocktail before an event!

We were a little nervous before our first few events, not knowing what to expect. So we might have said yes to a second drink before we were scheduled to "go on." While it definitely loosened us up, we may have been having a little too much fun out there. (We also blame the hand-held microphones that made us feel far more important than we actually are!) Our apologies to a certain someone (Liz's Mom!) we poked fun at for coming in late. We hope we made up for it when we thanked you for bringing 10 people? And a big thanks to the several people who said we should have our own sitcom. (See, it wasn't all bad!)

6. We can survive 3 weeks together!

We have to admit we were pretty worried about spending so much time together. So we took a lot of precautions to help us get through it. We didn't stay together every night, we never spoke or texted or even looked at each other before being caffeinated and we made sure to be as agreeable and flexible as possible. (We learned a lot from the mistakes made at BEA 2013! Remember Diary of a Debut: New York City edition?) And we almost made it all the way through without so much as a disagreement. Until the very last day together when we got into over, what we'll refer to as, "the great soap debate of 2014."  It's a long story but all you need to know is that someone brought someone else Starbucks an hour later and all was right in the world again.

7. We got pretty damn sick of ourselves!

In the weeks surrounding our publication, a lot was going on. And of course we wanted to share it all with you. But it finally got to a point where we couldn't upload one more photo, compose one more tweet or so much as look at our Liz and Lisa author page on Facebook. Enough was enough. We. Had To. Stop. So we took a week off to give us (and you!) a break. And we think it was a good decision, because we can now upload a pic to Instagram without spending 15 minutes debating whether the Amaro or the Sierra filter is best. (We were looking pretty tired there toward the end!)

Thanks again for everything! This has been an amazing journey which would never have been possible without your support!