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#BooksinBloom

Any Way You Dream It: An Upper Crust Novel

May 26, 2015 Leave a Comment

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“Any Way You Dream It: An Upper Crust Novel” by Monique McDonell

Blurb: Sometimes when life throws you lemons, you create a fake fiancé. That’s exactly what Lucy does when her high school nemesis calls. She didn’t mean to lie. Really, she didn’t. But with nowhere to live and a car that has just decided to die on her, the thought of attending the reunion alone is one she can’t contemplate.

Cherie thinks arrogant, wealthy and way too handsome Chase is the answer to her friend’s dilemma and for reasons Lucy can’t fathom, Chase agrees. The man is too good to be true – he fixes her car, takes her to stay at his place – more castle than house – and seems to find her fascinating.

Life hasn’t been easy for Lucy and she has a hard time accepting anyone would believe Chase would be with her. Still, he turns out to be the perfect choice and in the month leading up to the reunion makes himself an indispensable part of her life, which may be the biggest problem of all.

Lucy knows life is not a fairy tale – she’s living above her place of work, her sister has run off leaving her with three kids and, when the weekend reunion begins, she has to go back to a town where her greatest humiliations took place.

Will her ‘romance’ with Chase be turn out to be the answer to her dreams or will the whole sham turn into just another nightmare?

EXCERPT

“All I’m saying is, I’ve got my eye on you, Lucy. You’re my next project.”

“Fine.” I unlinked my arm and faced her. “First of all, I’m not sure you possess the matchmaking gift you think you do, but if you do, please keep your evil eye off me.”

“It’s not an evil eye. It’s a cupid’s arrow.”

“Well, aim that sucker elsewhere. I’m not in any way, shape or form in the market for a boyfriend.”

“A fling?” she asked, hopefully.

“Not even a fling.”

“You do know what they say: when you’re not looking….”

“Cherie!”

It was at that moment that my phone rang. I should have checked caller I.D but I didn’t. “Hello?”

“Hello, Lucy. It’s Patty Lewis.”

Great. On the list of people I least liked in the world, Patty would be on top. Patty was my high school nemesis and now she was married to my hometown sweetheart, Jacob.

“What can I do for you? But more to the point, how did you get my number?”

“Your mom gave it to me, of course,” she said in her saccharine voice. “And I’m calling because the high school reunion is in two weeks and I haven’t got your RSVP. I assume you’re coming because your mom says you’re doing really well in Boston, and only people with something to hide stay away from reunions.”

“I don’t have anything to hide,” I snapped. Well, apart from the fact that I was living in my car, not talking to my sister, and terminally single. “I’m just not sure with my work schedule that I can make it up to New Hampshire.”

“You can bring a date if that makes it less awkward for you. Even a girlfriend.”

I read between her lines: If you’re desperate and dateless and too scared to come back to town without a friend, then bring one, chicken.

That’s when I said it. The words were out of my mouth before I even thought about what I was saying. “Can I bring my fiancé?” I didn’t add my imaginary fiancé, of course.

“Your mother didn’t say anything about you being engaged.” Her voice held a very suspicious tone. I couldn’t blame her—considering that I was lying—and my mother would not be able to keep that secret. If I had a fiancé that my mother knew about, my entire home state would know it, too.

“I haven’t told her yet. It’s a secret. Naturally, I want to tell her in person. Don’t spill the beans yet, please?” I tried to sound all perky and conspiratorial.

“Well then, you’ll absolutely have to come so you can introduce your fiancé to your mother and the whole town. I, for one, can’t wait to see you. I’ll put you down for two tickets.”

The phone went dead and I wanted to die. Cherie was eyeing me suspiciously.

“Wow. I had no idea you were engaged, Lucy. No wonder you don’t want me to set you up. Have you been holding out on me?” She knew darn well I was a big fat liar.

“Shut up. Let me get inside and get a drink, and then I’ll tell you the whole, woeful tale.”

All of a sudden, sleeping in my broken-down car wasn’t the worst part of my day.

**Additional comments by the author: This is the second book in a series. If you sign up to my newsletter this week you can download a free copy of Any Way You Slice It, Book 1 in the series.

* * * * *

MoniqueMcDonellPic2**About author, Monique McDonell:

Monique McDonell is an Australian author who writes contemporary women’s fiction, including chicklit and romance. She lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with her husband and daughter and, despite her dog phobia, with a dog called Skip. Monique is a member of the writing group The Writer’s Dozen, whose anthology Better Than Chocolate raised over $10,000 for the charity Room to Read. She is also a member of the Romance Writers of Australia. She has written five standalone romantic comedies and Any Way Dream It, is the second book in her new Upper Crust series.

**Contact Monique: Email   Website   Amazon – Author Page   Facebook   Twitter

Filed Under: Any Way You Dream It: An Upper Crust Novel Tagged With: #BooksinBloom, Any Way You Dream It: An Upper Crust Novel, Books, Chick-Lit, Monique McDonell, Women's Fiction

One Day This Will All Make Sense

December 9, 2014 Leave a Comment

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“One Day This Will All Make Sense” by Katie Jansson Shahin

Blurb: In the three years since Emma, Human Resource professional by trade and writer at heart, moved to Los Angeles from Sweden it has been anything but smooth sailing. When she was offered a new job Emma thought she had finally found the security she’d been looking for since moving to the city of her dreams.

The bliss is short-lived as Emma struggles to adjust in her new role and environment. She fails to learn how to play by the unwritten rules and office politics of corporate America, leaving her defenseless against a new boss who soon makes it clear that he wants her gone. After having put her writing before her HR career for so long, Emma knows it was just a fluke when she was hired and is determined not to let it slip away. But she cracks under the pressure and is ultimately fired. Will she be able to dig herself out again? Or has she peaked at 27? More importantly, will she survive in the city that represents everything she has dreamt of becoming?

EXCERPT

Not one day had passed since I had moved to LA two and half years earlier when I wasn’t grateful and aware of what city I was in. Not one morning had passed that I had driven to work, which was usually around six forty-five a.m., when my mind hadn’t gone completely quiet and at ease at the sight of Vine Street, coming off of the 101 South. I knew I was fortunate. Many young people in Sweden dreamed of moving to LA and tried so hard to find ways to stay once they made it here on a student visa. For the most part, people either got married or never found a way to stay. I, on the other hand, had been lucky. My dad had moved to the US almost twenty years earlier and since he’d become a naturalized citizen before I turned twenty-one, I had gotten a green card through him. I continued down Vine Street and saw the W Hotel sign up in the sky, and a few blocks farther down I passed the bright red building that housed The Redbury hotel, with the world famous Capitol Records Building on my right side.

As I got on to the 101 North, driving ten miles an hour in Friday traffic, I wondered to myself what it was about LA that had me so wrapped around its finger. The first time I fell in love with California was when I watched The O.C. Shortly thereafter my dad moved to Orange County from Wisconsin, and I was able to go visit the place I had only seen on TV. Of course, the entire show was filmed in LA, but I didn’t know that back then. I then discovered the show Entourage, and that’s when real things started to happen inside me. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. Was it the beautiful weather and the smell of freshly-cut grass all year round? Was it the wide streets you could barely cross in time before the streetlight turned red for the pedestrians again? Was it the buildings that on the outside looked like nothing more than a chunk of cement, but on the inside were beautifully decorated lounges? Was it the powerful rush I had gotten the first time I went ninety on the empty freeway at three a.m.? Or was it simply the fact that I knew I was in the same city where all the Hollywood movies came from?

While I saw all the beauty that LA had to offer, I wasn’t oblivious to all the things that other people usually saw as the downside of moving to LA: the constant sound of traffic and honking; the fuel-filled air and the fog; the enormous city where everything was separated by insane distances; the huge freeways; the above-ground electrical lines; the cracks in the pavement left by earthquakes. I saw all those things too. But my love for this city was an unconditional kind of love—I didn’t love LA despite its flaws. I loved it even more for them. We could be flawed together.

**Buy “One Day This Will All Make Sense”: Amazon – US   Amazon – UK

* * * * *

KatieJanssonShahinPicture**About Katie Jansson Shahin:

Katie’s love for writing is versatile. Before taking the big leap into novel writing she focused mostly on screenwriting. In addition to that, she has a blog where she writes book reviews and articles on writing: An Authorista’s Blog.

Katie is originally from Sweden but moved to California summer 2010 and currently resides in the North Bay area just outside of San Francisco. When she’s not working on her writing, she is an HR and recruiting professional. Although her debut novel is not a biography, as you may have guessed, One Day This Will All Make Sense is heavily inspired by her own experience moving from Sweden to Los Angeles and her life there.

**Contact Katie: Blog   Twitter

Filed Under: One Day This Will All Make Sense Tagged With: #BooksinBloom, Books, Chick-Lit, Excerpt, Katie Jansson Shahin, New Author, One Day This Will All Make Sense, Women's Fiction

BooksinBloom: A $0.99 Chick Lit Sale Promo!

April 21, 2014 Leave a Comment

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It brings me great joy to share with you that I’m part of a $0.99 promo with six amazing authors! The sale starts today and ends tomorrow, so be sure to get your discounted books now! Also, please don’t forget to share the promo through Twitter, using the hashtag, #BooksinBloom.

Isabella Louise Anderson, author of “The Right Design”

Tweet: “Embrace spring with #BooksInBloom and get your copy of THE RIGHT DESIGN for only $0.99! @ILA121209 amzn.to/1dVLVxD“

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Blurb: Interior designer Carrie Newman could not have envisioned a more perfect life for herself. She had a great job doing what she loved, wonderful friends, and a close relationship with her sister and brother-in-law. Add in an amazing man who she’d hoped would soon become her husband, and her life was perfect. Until one devastating decision ruins her relationship and changes the course of her life.

Determined to make a new start, Carrie leaves Texas and heads to Palm Beach to pick up the pieces of her shattered and broken life. The last thing she expects is to find herself attracted to her first client at her new job—Brad Larson, who has proven himself time and time again to be caddish.

But there’s something beneath the surface of Brad’s arrogant exterior that keeps her craving more of him—something almost sweet that Carrie can’t seem to resist.

Is Carrie ready to take another chance on romance? And will this new design of her life prove to be the right one…?

**This book is also $0.99 on Barnes & Noble (Nook) and on Kobo!

Billie Bates, author of “Private Air”

Tweet: “Celebrate spring with #BooksInBloom and get the fun and flirty novel PRIVATE AIR for only 99 cents! @BillieBates1 http://amzn.com/B00HBJD3GG“

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Blurb: When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as a flight attendant for the Prime Minister, she thought she’d hit the glam-job jackpot. But three years of weapons training, outback destinations, and a cheating fighter pilot fiancé, and she’s realized it’s not so fabulous after all. Time to embark on a new adventure, this time to the prestigious world of international VIP aviation.

Sienna and her best friend leave behind their small-town lives for a glitzy career flight attending on a Saudi prince’s private jet. Money, parties, designer clothes, and exotic locations fill the job description, while the sexy pilot, Ted, makes it hard for Sienna to obey the “no fraternizing” rule.

But even the most opulent of journeys can hit turbulence. Sienna’s boss, the appearance-obsessed chief stewardess, issues diuretics and Botox with the uniforms and catering orders, and the prince is a man who’s never told no. Underneath its lush appearance, could this desert oasis be more of a muddy puddle?

The Devil Wears Prada meets Pan Am in this fun frolic to the glamorous side of air travel, inspired by the author’s own experience as a VIP flight attendant in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

Laura Chapman, author of “Hard Hats and Doormats”

Tweet: HARD HATS AND DOORMATS by @lmchap: Girl meets job, meets boy, changes her world. Just 99 cents! http://amzn.com/B00H7OME88 #BooksInBloom

Hard Hats and Doormats

Blurb: Lexi Burke has always been a stickler for following rules and procedures. As a human resources manager for a leading Gulf Coast chemical company, it’s her job to make sure everyone else falls in line, too.

But after losing out on a big promotion–-because her boss sees her as too much of a yes-woman––Lexi adopts a new policy of following her heart instead of the fine print. And her heart knows what it wants: Jason Beaumont, a workplace crush who is off limits based on her previous protocol.

While navigating a new romance and interoffice politics, Lexi must find the confidence to stand on her own or face a lifetime of following someone else’s orders.

Who says nice girls have to finish last?

Jessica Gordon, author of “Becoming Mrs. Walsh”

Tweet: “BECOMING MRS. WALSH is $0.99! Get your copy now, available for 2 days! Enjoy #booksinbloom and happy spring! 🙂 http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Mrs-Walsh-Jessica-Gordon-ebook/dp/B009O3NO9I“

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Blurb: Shoshana Thompson is 26 years old, miles from home, and engaged to Andrew Walsh, the last single Walsh brother of one of Washington, D.C.’s wealthiest families. Throughout her engagement she becomes enamored with the Walsh lifestyle.

Life in the fast lane comes to a screeching halt when Shoshana develops feelings for another man. When she discovers the feelings may not be one-sided, things are about to get a lot more complicated. This man is not only part of her fancy new world, he is also completely off-limits.

Cat Lavoie, author of “Zoey & the Moment of Zen”

Tweet: “Love Blossoms this Spring with #BooksinBloom! ZOEY & THE MOMENT OF ZEN is only $0.99 for your #Kindle on April 21-22! amzn.to/Has3aU“

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Blurb: When coffee shop owner Zoey Everwood takes her obsession with ex-boyfriend Braden too far, everyone—except Zoey—is convinced a bit of fun in the sun at the Moment of Zen Wellness Resort will help her get over him once and for all.

But Zoey’s relaxing vacation turns out to be anything but peaceful when she meets Shane Lawson, a resort guest who bears a striking resemblance to Braden. And things get even more complicated when the resort’s owner starts spilling secrets about Zoey’s aunt Nessa, the woman who raised her. Add a snarky Wellness Coordinator and Nate Holmes—Shane’s grumpy friend—to the mix, and you’ve got the recipe for a perfect tropical storm.

When Zoey comes back home with a new husband instead of tacky souvenirs, she must convince everyone she hasn’t completely lost her mind. As Zoey and Shane struggle to keep the magic alive outside the resort, Zoey discovers that she isn’t the only one having trouble letting go of the past. And when Nate drops a bombshell that changes everything, Zoey must decide if the old saying is true—what happens at the Moment of Zen stays at the Moment of Zen.

Samantha March, author a “A Questionable Friendship”

Tweet: “Celebrate spring with #BooksinBloom and get your copy of A QUESTIONABLE FRIENDSHIP for just 99 cents! @chicklitplus http://amzn.to/1rnYxRH“

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Blurb: Brynne Ropert and Portland Dolish have been best friends since being paired as roommates in college. Seven years later they are now twenty-five, married, and living in Maine–– but the two women couldn’t be more different. Brynne finds fulfillment in her life as a wife, mother and owner of a small café and bookshop, but is struggling to expand her family. Portland is still coping with her mother’s death during her childhood, and her marriage is unraveling before her eyes. Portland envies her friend’s seemingly stable and easy life while Brynne doesn’t understand the growing distance between them and cannot begin to guess what secret Portland is hiding about her husband and crumbling marriage. While one woman feels shut out, the other enters into a web of lies to protect herself.

A Questionable Friendship explores what really makes someone a true friend, a support system, a sister. How much trust goes into a friendship and when is being a friend not enough? Brynne and Portland’s story will attempt to answer those questions, and show that happily ever after isn’t in the cards for everyone.

Savannah Page, author of the “When Girlfriends Collection”

Tweet: *Chick Lit Lovers* Check out #BooksinBloom and snag up WHEN GIRLFRIENDS COLLECTION (Books 1-3) for just 99 cents! http://amzn.to/16CNB4C“

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“When Girlfriends Break Heart” Blurb: Sophie Wharton doesn’t like losing control, especially of her life. She’s always been the girl who’s kept it together–the girl with a charming boyfriend, a lively social life, and plans to start her own bakery. Life is great for Sophie a few years out of college in Seattle…or so she thinks.

Then a series of events start to turn Sophie’s perfectly ordered world upside down.

After three years, her boyfriend suddenly decides to call it quits. Her close camaraderie of girlfriends is starting to fall apart. Secrets are exposed. And when she thinks things couldn’t get any worse, Sophie learns that one of her friends is fighting a devastating battle.

Now living with her best friend Claire, Sophie struggles with learning to forgive or forget those who break hearts, while trying to accept that there are some situations she cannot control. But is there still a light at the end of the tunnel? Can a girl find the “good” in the “bad”?

This is a heartfelt story about what happens when friendships take different paths and when life doesn’t exactly go according to plan.

“When Girlfriends Step Up” Blurb: Robin Sinclair is young, determined, and has a promising career at a small publishing house in Seattle. Even though she considers herself unlucky in love, Robin still dreams of eventually meeting Mr. Right and having a happily-ever-after kind of life. And at twenty-five, the world of opportunity is wide. But it’s been a difficult year filled with trials…and it’s only just begun.

While long-time friendships are finally on the mend, and things are starting to look up again, Robin is faced with her biggest challenge yet. She’s single and pregnant.

Uncertain now of her future and scared of being alone, Robin must re-examine her life and choices, and summon the courage to step up.

With the love and support of her best girlfriends from college, especially her best friend and roommate, Lara, Robin will learn that when the going gets tough, the best of friends become family. And, perhaps, with their encouragement, Robin can mature and gain the confidence needed to become a single mother. And, who knows about being unlucky in love. Things are suddenly getting interesting with Robin’s attractive co-worker, Bobby.

This is an endearing story about maturity and perseverance. It’s a story about friends coming together as family, about finding the strength within and around, and about writing your own happily-ever-after.

“When Girlfriends Make Choices” Blurb: Lara Kearns has it all. She has her MBA, a successful career in advertising in Seattle, and she’s even living with her best friend and single mom, Robin. Reliable, dedicated, and eager, Lara is the resident go-to-girl, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lara’s that girl who has everything going for her…everything, that is, except for true love. With the big 3-0 on its way and no man in sight, Lara wonders if she’ll always be married to her career, or her cat, and never find the One.

But then, when she least expects it, a handsome and suave executive at her firm, Paul Mackenzie, makes a pass at her. Hesitant at first about striking up an office romance, Lara eventually finds herself falling for her charming colleague. And the best part? Paul is falling in love with Lara, too!

What happens, though, when the man of your dreams loves you…and his wife?

Battling with what the head and the heart want, Lara finds herself in a precarious situation. Life is spiraling out of control, but with the support of her therapist and friends, Lara must make a choice. Is she really prepared to chase after love…at all costs?

This is a provocative story about struggling between right and wrong. About what you will or won’t do for true love.

**Don’t forget to share about the sale, it ends tomorrow (April 22nd)**

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Filed Under: A Questionable Friendship, Becoming Mrs. Walsh, Billie Bates, Hard Hats and Doormats, Private Air, Savannah Page, The Right Design, When Girlfriends Collection, Zoey & The Moment Of Zen Tagged With: #BooksinBloom, $0.99 Cent Promo, A Questionable Friendship, Authors, Becoming Mrs. Walsh, Billie Bates, Books, Cat Lavoie, Chick-Lit, Hard Hats and Doormats, Isabella Louise Anderson, Jessica Gordon, Laura Chapman, Private Air, Samantha March, Savannah Page, The Right Design, When Girlfriends Break Hearts, When Girlfriends Make Choices, When Girlfriends Step Up, Women's Fiction, Zoey & The Moment Of Zen

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