Rocky Road: Review (w/ Giveaway)

Tour Schedule

It was supposed to be a girls’ weekend in scenic St. George, Utah that would include shopping, trying out the local cuisine, and participating in a breast cancer fundraiser. The fact that one of the organizers of the fundraising event, a local doctor, disappeared two months ago was not supposed to be Sadie’s problem. In fact, she refuses to participate in the grassroots investigation her friend Caro, and Caro’s cousin, Tess, have put together prior to her arrival. But then she meets the ex-wife of the missing doctor. How could she not ask a few questions . . . that lead to a few more questions . . . that lead to a small town and yet even more questions. Before she knows it, Sadie is in the middle of yet another murder investigation and trying to piece together a convoluted trail of good intentions, hidden motivations, and philanthropy turned big business.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Thoughts
This was my first Josi S. Kilpack read. I went in not knowing what to expect. 

Rocky Road is the 10th story in the Culinary Mysteries series. I haven't read any of the others. Thankfully, they're not necessarily needed to be read in order. It took a while through this book to figure out what the situation was in the previous book that made Sadie want to stay out of this case.

This book, and I'm guessing the series, has a bit of Mormonism, prayers, and talk of God. It wasn't overwhelming, but the religion is there.

Sadie was a fun character! When I started reading and read that Sadie was in her 50s, I wasn't expecting that! She was an intelligent and caring character.

Her friend, Caro, is 10 years younger than Sadie. She is the reason they were on the trip. Caro is a great "side-kick" and was quite ambitious and maybe a bit overzealous due to her cousin, Tess.

For the record? Booo! Hiiissss! Tess.

I enjoyed the story told by Josie. It was a fun mystery to read. I loved the recipes included at the end of chapters! That's very clever!

A review copy was provided. All thoughts are my own and I have not been persuaded in any way.
Rating

Author Josi S. Kilpack
Born and raised in Salt Lake City Utah, I met my husband in high-school--well, he wasn't my husband then, just the cute guy in weight training with the permed mullet--and we married in 1993. I wrote my first book while on bed rest with my third child and have gone on to publish 20 novels, the most recent being part of The Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series.

I currently live in Willard, Utah with my husband, children, and cat.

Website * Twitter * Blog

Culinary Mysteries by Josi Kilpack

Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/6/13
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Rainbow Rowell: YALLFest Interview

The author interviews continue!

So, if y'all don't know about this amazing festival yet, please get on board. I have gone for the past 2 years (as long as it's been in existence) and it is the most fun I have in a day! The growth from the 1st year to the 2nd was phenomenal! I can only imagine what this 3rd year will be.

Check out yallfest.org or @YALLFest for more information!

Today's interview continues with...

RAINBOW ROWELL!!! *fangirl squeeeeeaaaal*

Photo borrowed from http://rainbowrowell.com/blog/

What one thing do you need to have when you write?

Lip balm.

Describe your book in 5 words.

FANGIRL - Earnest, snowy, swoony, minty, bookish.

What is the hardest line to write- the first or the last?

THE FIRST! The whole first page is a nightmare. I want people to just skip it. And I always end up rewriting it.

Best writing tip you ever received?

“Just finish your book.”

What one young adult novel do you wish you had when you were a teen? Why?

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. I think it would have made me feel less alone.

Where's your favorite place to write?

At coffee shops. In giant overstuffed chairs.

What are you working on now?

I’m revising my adult novel, Landline, which comes out in spring 2014, and playing with a romantic/political/tragicomic fantasy.

What is your favorite genre to write in? To Read?

I write mostly contemporary. I read mostly fantasy.

At what point in the development of an idea do you know that it will become a full-length novel?

All of my ideas are full-length novels. I have a hard time narrowing my scope.

So, you're going to meet us in Charleston now, right? Right?!?! :) Ahhh, I love Rainbow!

My Own Mr. Darcy: Review (w/ Giveaway)

Tour Schedule

After being dragged to the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice by her mother, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth’s life changes when Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Darcy appears on the screen. Lizzie falls hard and makes a promise to herself that she will settle for nothing less than her own Mr. Darcy. This ill-advised pledge threatens to ruin any chance of finding true love. During the six intervening years, she has refused to give any interested suitors a chance. They weren’t Mr. Darcy enough.
Coerced by her roommate, Elizabeth agrees to give the next interested guy ten dates before she dumps him. That guy is Chad, a kind and thoughtful science teacher and swim coach. While she’s dating Chad, her dream comes true in the form of a wealthy bookstore owner named Matt Dawson, who looks and acts like her Mr. Darcy. Of course she has to follow her dream. But as Elizabeth simultaneously dates a regular guy and the dazzling Mr. Dawson, she’s forced to re-evaluate what it was she loved about Mr. Darcy in the first place.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Amazon Kindle

My Thoughts
What a surprising book! The synopsis was good enough to make me want to read the book, and the synopsis is true to the book. However, I didn't expect to love it and become emotionally involved such as I did. Karey has written us a pearl. (Hah! Get it?)

Chad was an amazing guy. Of course, I was rooting for him the whole time and I was sad when Lizzie chose to date Matthew instead and just tried to keep Chad as a friend. As much as I wanted to dislike Matthew, I couldn't completely! Each time he would come across as a jerk, the next moment, he was her "Mr. Darcy" and made Lizzie (and myself) happy. He wasn't a bad guy. Not at all!

I'm glad that Lizzie's best friend, Janessa, got involved and talked Lizzie into giving Chad a chance. Without that, Lizzie wouldn't have had the comparison. Janessa was a fantastic friend and understood Lizzie's obsession with Mr. Darcy, but didn't make her feel badly for her feelings or dream.

The one character I did not like, and I'm sure we'd all agree, was Meg. Oy! There's always a mean girl somewhere in life, huh?

My Own Mr. Darcy is a book about having a dream and realizing that your dream may not always presented in the way you thought that it should be. Sometimes life can surprise you.

A review copy was provided. All thoughts are my own and I have not been persuaded in any way.
Rating

This was truly a great story to read. I loved that it was a completely clean romance! There was kissing, but nothing else. Nothing embarrassing or making me want to skim and move on. Whew!

This is definitely a book that you should read if you enjoy self-discovery, romance, and Mr. Darcy!

Author Karey White
Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.

She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/8/13
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Sean Williams: YALLFest Interview

The author interviews continue!

So, if y'all don't know about this amazing festival yet, please get on board. I have gone for the past 2 years (as long as it's been in existence) and it is the most fun I have in a day! The growth from the 1st year to the 2nd was phenomenal! I can only imagine what this 3rd year will be.

Check out yallfest.org or @YALLFest for more information!

Today's interview is with Sean Williams!

Photo by Anna Solding

Photo borrowed from http://seanwilliams.com/

What one thing do you need to have when you write?

The right music. And chocolate as a reward when I finish.

Describe your book in 5 words
Jump meets Uglies. But different.

What is the hardest line to write- the first or the last?
The first line is often the hardest to write, but I like a good challenge. The line I like writing the least is the last because it means I have a whole load of rewriting ahead of me.

Best writing tip you ever received?
Give up. If you can do that, you’ll be happier and probably better off as a result. If you can’t, then you know writing is exactly the right thing for you!

Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.
1) I live in Adelaide, South Australia, a place that’s home to about a million other people but somehow feels like a small town, which is why I love it.
2) I still think music from the 1980s is cool.
3) My stepson has situs invertus, which means his heart is on the wrong side of his body. That’s not really about me, but it is pretty random.
4) I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who.
5) I’m minding a pair of green tree frogs, Skipper and Jumpy, for a young friend while she’s overseas with her family. You can see pictures of them on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/seanwilliamsauthor/.

Where's your favorite place to write?
In my study, a lovely upstairs nook containing all my favorite book-related things, but I've trained myself to write anywhere as long as I have my headphones and some music. I quite like writing in hotels, probably because someone else does all the household chores.

What are you working on now?
Crashland, the sequel to Twinmaker.

Rocky Road: Book Blast (w/ Giveaway)

Tour Schedule

It was supposed to be a girls’ weekend in scenic St. George, Utah that would include shopping, trying out the local cuisine, and participating in a breast cancer fundraiser. The fact that one of the organizers of the fundraising event, a local doctor, disappeared two months ago was not supposed to be Sadie’s problem. In fact, she refuses to participate in the grassroots investigation her friend Caro, and Caro’s cousin, Tess, have put together prior to her arrival. But then she meets the ex-wife of the missing doctor. How could she not ask a few questions . . . that lead to a few more questions . . . that lead to a small town and yet even more questions. Before she knows it, Sadie is in the middle of yet another murder investigation and trying to piece together a convoluted trail of good intentions, hidden motivations, and philanthropy turned big business.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Author Josi S. Kilpack

Born and raised in Salt Lake City Utah, I met my husband in high-school--well, he wasn't my husband then, just the cute guy in weight training with the permed mullet--and we married in 1993. I wrote my first book while on bed rest with my third child and have gone on to publish 20 novels, the most recent being part of The Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series.

I currently live in Willard, Utah with my husband, children, and cat.

Website * Twitter * Blog * Goodreads

Culinary Mysteries by Josi Kilpack

BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/6/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Fafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
a Rafflecopter giveaway