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Today’s question:
A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.
Amy and Sarah both asked about genres:
Amy asks:
Name a book you love in a genre you normally don’t care for. What made you decide to read it? Did it make you want to try more in that genre?
Bookish Sarah asks an interesting assortment of questions:
What genre do you avoid reading and why?

My response:
In response to Amy’s question one book came to mind instantly, Ragdoll Redeemed: Growing Up In The Shadow of Marilyn Monroe by Dawn Novotny.  This book fell under the category of memoirs,  definitely on the other side of the spectrum of what I usually read, which is suspense.  When contacted through WOW to read this book, there was something that was in the synopsis that intrigued me, Marilyn Monroe.  I was young when she died but remember exactly where I was and how I tried processing “death” of a celebrity.  Once I started reading the book, it was much bigger than Marilyn Monroe.  It was about a small girl growing up with everything stacked against her, then reading her journey into her adult years with more obstacles presented and battled to become a forgiving, intelligent, and happy adult.  A caveat.  The author and I started exchanging emails and a friendship developed.  In October, she has a conference that she is attending here in RI.  I will be picking her up at the airport then out to dinner, which if our emails are any indication, we will need to find an all night restaurant, because I am sure our conversation will last for a very long time.  If you want to read a female “Rocky” success story, this is the one to read.  I highly recommend this memoir.  And  since this was such a compelling read, I have read other memoirs since.

And now on to Sarah’s question.  I know the new rage is PNR, UF, etc., matter of fact, it is so big, that the majority of book blogs there are now are geared to the YA books in this genre. I know, since I search and visit book blogs to invite them to become a host for Partners In Crime Tours.   I am just not interested in vampires, fantasy, etc.  I remember, and I am definitely dating myself, when I was young there was a show on TV called Dark Shadows, which would have fallen in this category.  One of my friends HAD to watch it every day at 4pm, no matter what we were doing or playing.  I would tag along  just to wait to continue what we had been doing at 3:55p, and after sitting through the show a couple of times, and not enjoying it, I would go home instead, grab a book, read and wait for when we could continue playing outside.  So since I didn’t enjoy it back then, as an adult, I am sure I wouldn’t enjoy it now.

What about you?  Any book outside your genre that you are happy your read?  Any genre that you know you would never be interested in?

If you visit often then you know that when Robyn, from WOW stops by, she has an amazing author to introduce us to.  And she is here today with a multi talented and esteemed author, Ms. Mohanalakshmi  Rajakumar.  Please join me in welcoming our guests to the CMash blog!!

MOHANALAKSHMI RAJAKUMAR

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a writer who has lived in Qatarsince 2005. She has a PhD from the Universityof Floridawith a focus on gender and postcolonial theory. Her dissertation project was published as Haram in the Harem (Peter Lang, 2009) a literary analysis of the works of three Muslim women authors in India, Algeria, and Pakistan. She is the creator and co-editor of five books in the Qatar Narratives series, as well as the Qatari Voices anthology which features essays by Qataris on modern life inDoha (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2010). Her research has been published in numerous journals and anthologies.

She was the Associate Editor of Vox, a fashion and lifestyle magazine based in Doha and a winner of the She Writes We Love New Novelists competition.   She has been a regular contributor for Variety Arabia, AudioFile Magazine, Explore Qatar, Woman Today, The Woman, Writers and Artists Yearbook, QatarClick, Expat Arrivals, Speak Without Interruption and Qatar Explorer. She hosted two seasons of the Cover to Cover book show on Qatar Foundation Radio.

Currently Mohana is working on a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf and a novel based inQatar. She believes words can help us understand ourselves and others.
Catch up on her latest via her blog or follow her on Twitter @moha_doha.

GUEST POST

Is Love a Choice?
By Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

A few years ago I was stuck while writing my latest book, Love Comes Later. All the characters were ready; like actors on a stage they were on set, dressed, waiting for the curtain to open.

The problem was, their playwright wasn’t sure what their lines were. I was writing a contemporary novel that had at its core a love story. But I couldn’t figure out how the characters fell in love.

It was all there in my outline: Abdulla is engaged to Hind. Neither of them want to get married. After a chance meeting, Sangita falls in love with her roommate’s fiancé. Made sense.

Except that spark, the chemistry, the magic they throw around in romantic comedies was missing. I knew by the end of Act II or around the middle of the book, they would need to have a big fight to leave the readers wondering what happens next.

But the first part, the falling scene wouldn’t surface.

I started asking people. At toddler birthday parties, I cornered the dads, all nursing beers, evidence of their marital love running riot around us: “How do people fall in love?”

At dinner, with friends who had arranged marriages, I pestered, “When do you think love starts?”

Everyone hemmed and hawed.

“You had a love marriage,” someone said. As in, I, not my parents or family chose my spouse after dating him. “Don’t you know?”

“Our story was so unique,” I said. “I don’t think other people can relate.” My sweetie and I met in the Arabian desert (he’s American, so no, fiction is not imitating life in case you were wondering) and we were ten months later. Not a typical story from which you can extract universal elements of the love machine.

I grew frustrated until I remembered: married people are the worst to talk to about love. We see the commitment and responsibility as a way of connecting, solidifying, stabilizing.

Finally at Thanksgiving a newlywed couple came over and after everyone else had left, they stayed. He sat on the couch, very close to her, and stroked her hair the entire time she talked. The entire time.

I found it creepy and said so to my husband. Who laughed.

“He’s in love,” he said.

I thought back to the way they were sitting on the sofa in our house and something began to stir. Memories of the embers of infatuation that no matter what age can make you do the most nonsensical things. When you can’t get enough of someone. When you feel the attraction, the chemistry, my single friends mentioned right away on their list of necessities in the recipe for love. The spark in the air that makes what you’re wearing, saying, or doing irrelevant.

And that mighty moment, either in a supervised meeting or over days, weeks, months, years, when that spark becomes the flame of attraction, fed by respect, admiration, and trust.

I had my answer. A magnetic connection, yes, in the beginning, to signal a burgeoning of so much more.

How have you fallen in love? Do you think it’s more choice or emotion? Check out the Sangita, Abudlla, Hind love triangle and tell me what you think.

ABOUT THE BOOK

THANKS TO AUTHOR, MOHANA RAJAKUMAR, AND WOW,
I HAVE ONE (1) DIGITAL EDITION (.MOBI OR PDF)
TO GIVE AWAY. OPEN TO ALL.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

AUTHOR, MOHANA RAJAKUMAR IS ALSO HOSTING A
GRAND PRIZE GIVE AWAY OF A KINDLE FIRE.
VISIT HER BLOG HERE OR USE RAFFLECOPTER WIDGET BELOW

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DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

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BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
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*LEAVE COMMENT: FROM READING THE SYNOPSIS,
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON AND/OR COULD

YOU BE A PARTY TO AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE?*

*OPEN TO ALL–DIGITAL EDITION*

*(.MOBI or PDF)*

 **HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
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………of the SUMMER GIVEAWAY HOP

1st PLACE WINNER

118 Alyce Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

2nd PLACE WINNER

104 Ellie Wright Easy entry for fans of this blog post

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Ohhhhh…so many books!!!  Are you like me, that at times you wish you could read 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because of all the novels you want to read?  Our friend Lisa, from Sparkpoint Studio, is stopping by today and next Wednesday to introduce us to 2 authors and 2 more books to add to our lists.  Today she is here with author Maria Geraci.  So I ask, that you help me welcome them to the CMash blog.

MARIA GERACI

Maria Geraci was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised on Florida’s Space Coast. Her love of books started with the classic, Little Women (a book she read so often growing up, she could probably quote). She writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You,  is released today, August 7th, 2012 by Berkley, Penguin USA.
You can visit Maria at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

GUEST POST

Inspiration from the Unexpected
Like most writers, I’m always asked where I find the inspiration for my novels. I’d be answering honestly if I said that my ideas come from just about everywhere. But I’d be a little more than chagrined to admit that the idea for my latest novel, A Girl Like You, came from the Real Housewives show.

Now, I don’t watch the Real Housewives of Anywhere. Not that there is anything wrong with the show. I’m a total reality show junkie. Survivor, The Bachelor, So You Think You Can Dance. Bring ‘em on! But the Real Housewives isn’t a show I’m addicted to. Lucky for me, however, that while switching channels one afternoon, I came across an episode. Two of the housewives were talking and one mentioned that she had just dropped her daughter off at college, then went on to commiserate that all the girls at her daughter’s sorority were beautiful and how was her daughter to “shine” if there wasn’t an ugly girlfriend around? Talk about an epiphany! I immediately began to “see” my novel and my central story question was born: What if you found out you were the ugly girlfriend?

In case you’ve never heard of the expression before, let me give you the definition I found in the Urban Dictionary. Ugly Friend: A friend a person brings with him/her to a gathering /event in order to make him/herself appear more attractive in comparison.

When my main character, Emma, overhears herself referred to as the ugly friend, she’s devastated. But it begins a chain of events in her life that lead her to discovering more about her friends and ultimately, about herself, changing her life forever. Sometimes the unexpected turns out so much better than we first imagined.

Thanks, CMash, for inviting me to guest blog today!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Emma Frazier is smart, hardworking, and loves her job as a journalist for a Florida lifestyle magazine. Emma knows she’s no great beauty, but she’s pretty certain she has a shot with her handsome new boss, Ben Gallagher—until Emma overhears a mutual acquaintance refer to her as the “ugly friend.” In an effort to reclaim her battered self-esteem, Emma decides to impress Ben at work by promising an exclusive interview with NASCAR legend, Trip Monroe.

Emma and Trip went to high school together and although it’s been fourteen years since they’ve spoken, Emma is certain she can score an interview with the elusive super star. But connecting with Trip turns out to be harder than Emma imagined. Her quest for the interview leads her back to her tiny hometown of Catfish Cove, where old secrets and a new romantic interest shake up Emma’s views on life and teach her that maybe the key to finding true love is as simple as accepting yourself for the person you were always meant to be.
Purchase links:    Amazon    IndieBound

THANKS TO LISA, FROM SPARKPOINT STUDIO, I HAVE ONE (1)
COPY OF THE BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or
Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: FROM READING THE SYNOPSIS,
DO YOU THINK EMMA’S NEW LOVE INTEREST IS TRIP?*

*U.S.  RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

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