WELCOME JESSICA SANKIEWICZ

JESSICA SANKIEWICZ

Jessica is the 28 year old author of IF ONLY WE, a YA contemporary coming out in October 2013. You can often find her either reading or marathon watching TV on DVD, her favorites being Castle and Veronica Mars. She frequently mismatches her clothes and giggles uncontrollably. She knows almost every Billy Joel song by heart. She collects books and toys, and she has an intense love of cats and lemurs. Currently in the midst of her quarter-life-crisis, she is still takin’ names and getting very close to reaching an epiphany.
Connect with Jessica at these sites:

Q&A with Jessica Sankiewicz

ABOUT THE BOOK

They say all it takes is one wrong move and you lose the game. One false step and you’re trapped. One slip-up in your choice of words and you ruin a friendship forever. That is what they say. They say I lost.

I do not believe them.

At the end of the summer after graduation, Adrienne wonders what happened to cause her life to be in ruins. She isn’t getting along with her mom, her stepsister isn’t talking to her, and, to top it off, the boy she’s been in love with doesn’t want anything to do with her. She believes the turning point was a choice she made at graduation. When she wakes up the next day, she has been transported back three months to that moment, the one where everything started to fall apart.

Adrienne realizes she has been given a second chance—and this time she doesn’t want to mess anything up. Reliving the entire summer, though, turns out to be a lot harder than she thought. As the same days and weeks go by, she starts to see how simple decisions can make a huge impact on the world around her. Despite knowing some of what lies ahead, there are some things she didn’t anticipate. She thought she knew what mistake led her to where she ended up the first time. She was wrong.

And by the time summer is over, she discovers what was really at stake.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Published by: Smashwords
Publication date: October 27th 2013
Pages: 126
ISBN: 9781301918249

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WELCOME BERNARD BESSON

BERNARD BESSON

Award-winning thriller writer Bernard Besson, who was born in Lyon, France, in 1949, is a former top-level chief of staff of the French intelligence services, an eminent specialist in economic intelligence and Honorary General Controller of the French National Police. He was involved in dismantling Soviet spy rings in France and Western Europe when the USSR fell and has real inside knowledge from his work auditing intelligence services and the police. He has also written a number of prize-winning thrillers and several works of nonfiction. He currently lives in the fourteenth arrondissement of Paris, right down the street from his heroes.

Julie Rose is a prize-winning, world-renowned translator of major French thinkers, known for, among other works, her acclaimed translation of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, which was published by Random House in 2008. She has translated twenty-eight books, including many French classics, and writes on the side. She lives in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, with her husband, dog and two cats.
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GUEST POST

7 insane—but true—things about French thrillers
by Anne Trager, founder of Le French Book

Ah, ze French! Who doesn’t love to dream about being in France? But how much do we really know about French thrillers? Here are some key things everyone should know about them. OK, they are not all that insane, but hey I did get your attention. 😉

–          First of all, the French call a thriller a “thriller”—pronounced “TREE-lair.”

–          French crime fiction has the same categories as you find elsewhere: action/suspense, detective and procedural, and noir.

–          There tends to be more crossover between these subcategories.

–          Historical novels are often less esoteric, and more focused on historical detail.

–          Criminal suspense novels often concentrate more on confrontation with the bad guy, rather than with some shadow terrorist organization or mafia.

–          The French love psychology and terror, can be more intellectual, and, surprisingly, less noir.

–          Thriller crime writing in France has always been diverse. In the past you could find pulp spy thrillers by Gérard de Villiers and classic detective novels by Simenon, just like today you can fin quirky police procedurals by Fred Vargas, psychological thrillers by Sylvie Granotier, American-influenced suspense by Maxime Chattam, Nazi-conspiracy action by David Khara, and geopolitical eco-thrillers by Bernard Besson, just to name a few.

–          According to the French specialist of all things noir and thrilleresque, the blogger Claude Le Nocher (http://action-suspense.over-blog.com/), “French suspense, noir and action novels seem to be getting closer to American-style thrillers, but without losing their French identity. French writers do not want to imitate North American or Scandinavian writers. Their imagination is linked to French culture and French society, with its qualities and faults.”

These are some of the reasons why we at Le French Book (http://www.lefrenchbook.com) are working to bring this very vibrant creative French culture to new readers.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A stylish, fast-paced spy thriller about the intrigue, economic warfare and struggles for natural resources promised by global warming. The Arctic ice caps are breaking up. Europe and the East Coast of the Unites States brace for a tidal wave. Meanwhile, former French intelligence officer John Spencer Larivière, his karate-trained, steamy Eurasian partner, Victoire, and their bisexual computer-genius sidekick, Luc, pick up an ordinary freelance assignment that quickly leads them into the glacial silence of the great north, where a merciless war is being waged for control of discoveries that will change the future of humanity.

BOOK DETAILS:

Release date: October 30, 2013
List price: $9.99
Direct-to-digital translation (all major ebook outlets)
Isbn: 978-1-939474-94-0 (Kindle)/ 978-1-939474-95-7 (epub)
113,000 words/285 pages

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WELCOME SONJA LEWIS

SONJA LEWIS

Sonja Lewis is a former newspaper journalist for The Albany Herald, in Georgia USA. Now living in Battersea, London, Sonja is a full time writer. She blogs at www.sonjalewis.com and also for the Huffington Post www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ sonja-lewis When Lewis moved to London fifteen years ago she set up and managed a successful communications consultancy, where she worked with high profile clients including The Royal National Institute for the Blind. She also freelanced for The Guardian and studied for an MA degree in journalism. Lewis was later accepted on to a range of writing courses with the Arvon Foundation where she met her mentor Jacob Ross, who later became heavily involved in the proofreading and editing process of her novels. Lewis’ first novel The Barrenness was incredibly well received, appearing in The Voice, and WM Magazine in the UK, US national media including CNN, Black Enterprise and The Tom Joyner Morning Show along with a host of regional media across Canada and the US. The Blindsided Prophet by Sonja Lewis is available now as an eBook RRP £2.99, and will be available in paperback from mid October 2013 (published by Prymus Publications, RRP £8.99) online at retailers including Amazon.
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Q&A with Sonja Lewis

Writing and Reading:  
-Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
Sure I do. The fact that I didn’t have children and was perceived as being unhappy sometimes, prompted me to write The Barrenness. I don’t have a specific connection as such to The Blindsided Prophet, although I find the theme of thinking and taking responsibility for one’s thoughts intriguing. I wanted to create a larger than life character, a global thinker, to demonstrate the importance of thinking as a communications skill.

-Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
I often start with the engine of the story—the main reason for writing it, the compelling event that drives it. I want the reader to know upfront what the story is about and why they should read it. This is often not the beginning of the story so to speak but answers the question why the story is worth telling in the first place.

-Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
I need to be committed to a story before I decide to write it. I am often in full flow in my head but when I sit down to write, poof it goes away, which is why I try to write several chapters and imagine even more before I commit to an idea and do research, unless it is the research that has grabbed my attention.

I do like to imagine that I am in my own room of sorts, my writing sanctuary in my head, a bit odd to some. And when I’m writing I don’t like anyone around me, not even in the house, although I can write in cafes. I have noticed though that I do more thinking and planning in public places than actual writing.

-Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
Yes, writing is what I do full-time now, though I do still serve as a communications advisor with Pocket Living.

-Who are some of your favorite authors?
I enjoy reading Tony Morrison, James Baldwin, Gloria Naylor, Amy Tan, Claire Keegan, Andrea Levy, Andrea Lee, Zoe Heller, Maggie Gee, just to name a few. As for non-fiction, I am a big Malcolm Gladwell fan.

-What are you reading now?
I have two books on the go – Mary Munroe’s Mama Ruby & Pam Grout’s E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.

-Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
Uncharacteristically, I haven’t started yet because I haven’t decided what to do next. I have two novels that I plan to re-work, one with the Voting Rights Act at the centre, and the other, racism in the southern US in the 80s.

A year ago, however, after losing both my in-laws, I kicked around the idea of doing my first novel set in England, perhaps a historical romance. My mother-in-law’s story, in particular, is quite intriguing, major joys and pains. What a fascinating woman!

Fun questions:
-Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
Will Smith as Isaiah, who is the main character – although maybe he is a bit old now but yeah, sounds good!

Jill Scott  – Mae Cook, who is his mother figure.

Freema Agyeman as the beautiful, reckless Lucky Lee. Freema and I go to the same hairdresser and though I have never been a fan of Law & Order or seen her in anything else, I was struck by her presence.

-Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Keyboard or no one would be able to decipher. My handwriting has deteriorated over the years. Sometimes I can’t read it, but I do take pen to paper in the middle of the night quite often.

-Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
That is a hard call but going to great restaurants need not be a leisure activity but I do so enjoy as well as catching plays in London. But for me, just me, I love running.

-Favorite meal?
Pan fried fish, seabass, salmon, etc., with risotto and spinach. If no risotto on the go, give me chips (French fries). Simple pleasures are the best! Oh yes, fish has to be filleted. If not, have to choose duck!

ABOUT THE BOOK

1980 was the year of an unforgettable tragedy in Coffee, a small town in Georgia, when a mass killing at a church claimed the lives of twelve innocent people. Fourteen-year-old prophet Isaiah Brown, failed to predict the massacre that took the lives of his beloved mother and grandfather. Traumatised and inconsolable, young Isaiah fled the scene, disappearing into a woods close by, where he went blind. Fifteen years later, at God’s bidding, Isaiah must return to Coffee, to repent and free himself from the years of guilt he has endured. God has entrusted him with the knowledge that will save the people of Coffee from an even worse trauma than they encountered in 1980.
Days before he is due back in the town where he was an outcast for so many years, he experiences a vision from the past; he sees his mother and father’s forbidden love-story and his miraculous birth. He goes ahead with his trip back to Coffee, where he is faced with a town that has been unable to move on from the nightmare of the 1980 devastation. Visions continue to haunt him; not only from his family’s past, but also from the town’s past. Soon he learns the shocking and inconceivable secret that has been hidden from him. Isaiah knows what he has been sent to do but he starts to defy his own nature, whilst falling for the reckless Lucky Lee, and he ultimately begins to question whether he can remain a prophet. Will he be blindsided by the discovery about his past and his love for Lucky Lee? Or will he be able to prevent the impending tragedy?

The Blindsided Prophet explores thinking at the deepest level and whether we have a say in shaping our thoughts, ideas and beliefs, or whether we are at God’s mercy. The idea that we must take responsibility for our thoughts and actions is a powerful theme. The Blindsided Prophet employs science and religion, whilst not mutually exclusive, to unravel themes of prophecy, incest, pain and love. Sonja Lewis conducted extensive biblical and scientific research whilst writing the book, and drew inspiration from a number of non-fiction authors including Joseph Murphy and Robert Waggoner as well as the fiction works of Tony Morrison and Gloria Naylor.

BOOK DETAILS:

Publisher: SDL Communications
Publication date: 9/20/2013
Pages: 384
ISBN: 978-0-9567105-3-6 (trade paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-9567105-5-0 (e-book Amazon)
ISBN: 978-0-9567105-4-3 (e-book Smashwords, Sony, Apple, Kobo, Diesel, Barnes & Noble, etc…)

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WELCOME BACK LORI FOSTER

LORI FOSTER

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a Waldenbooks, Borders, USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. She also received the Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy and Contemporary Romance.

Lori believes it is important to give back to the community as much as possible, so she routinely arranges events among authors and readers to gather donations for various organizations.
Connect with Lori at these sites:

Q&A with Lori Foster

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
The ideas are just… there. I’m so amazed by authors who can teach this stuff, because it’s impossible for me. I’ll be minding my own business (often working on a different book) and bam! I get hid upside the head with characters who want on the page – or sometimes they just show up on the page without even introducing themselves first – and sometimes that’s not enough for them. They want their own books too!

It’s almost magical to me. I could never dissect the process or explain it.

It just is.

Once the characters are there, THEY tell me what the idea is. They lead me through the plot, sometimes page by page – although sometimes they tell me the whole story right up front.

Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
I prefer to write at my desk at the lake house and I write from the morning, say around 10 am (after I’ve finished emails and online stuff) until 5 or 6pm. When I’m under a close deadline that expands with me starting earlier and going later in the day. I’m only at the lake house during mild/warm weather though, and I like my office space at home too. At the lake house, my desk overlooks the lake, and at home my desk faces French doors that lead to the pond. Water inspires me!

I LOVE my music playlist. I have a lot of Kid Rock on there. He’s my fave. Also KORN. Lots & lots of KORN. Some Marilyn Manson. Cage the Elephant. Nirvana. I have a few artists where I like only one song – like “Rumour” by Adele, or “List of Demands” from Saul Williams.  Overall I have around 200 songs on my playlist.

What is your favorite book?
Of my own? Hmmm. Probably “My House, My Rules,” from one of the Bad Boy anthologies.

Of others? Well, I love the Sherbrook series by Catherine Coulter.  If I can only pick one, maybe “Perfect Partners” by Jayne Ann Krentz. It was so brilliant!

What’s on your nightstand right now?
Clock, lamp, decorative tissue box, plug for my iPad, a pair of eye glasses (I have several around the house) and CRASH INTO YOU by Katie McGarry. It’s *amazing.* I’d have finished reading it by now, except we just welcomed our 3^rd grandson into the world and that occupied me for a few days.

What are you working on next?
I just finished Dash’s story. Dash is the brother of the hero from the first book, RUN THE RISK. I think readers will be surprised with Dash now that it’s his turn to reveal his soul. I know I was surprised! I kept thinking, Dash, you devil! Lol.

And now I’m ready to get started on Cannon’s book. Cannon (You met him in GETTING ROWDY) will actually star in the first book of a new series set for Sept 2014.  I really enjoyed him in GETTING ROWDY, and he has a larger role in Dash’s book, DASH OF PERIL (April 2014) so I hope readers like him as much as I do!

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
My favorite pastime is anything with family. We have big family parties at my house. I look for reasons to invite all 60+ people over.

I also love, love, love going to movies. Horror and action are my favorite movie genres, but I can comedy and romance in a pinch. Drama… almost never. Who needs more drama? How is that entertainment?

Also really love the outdoors for relaxing. Hubby and I love to go to Hocking Hills (Fantastic place! Look it up!) or Cumberland Falls or The Natural Bridge. We have a small lake house and I spend much of the summer there. Boating, swimming, skiing… just being outside and seeing the birds and fish and hearing the breeze in the trees and feeling the sun on my skin… Love it.

Favorite meal?
I love roast and mashed potatoes, stuffed pork chops, beef stew and bean soup and sauerkraut with ribs… I’m a country girl.

ABOUT THE BOOK

An alpha hero’s attraction to the one woman he can’t have could draw him into a killer’s snare.

Charismatic bar owner Rowdy Yates isn’t the kind of man women say no to. So when he approaches waitress Avery Mullins, he fully expects to get her number. However, the elusive beauty has her reasons for keeping her distance— including a past that might come back to haunt them both.

Avery spends her nights working for tips…and trying to forget the secret Rowdy is determined to unearth. But when history threatens to repeat itself, Avery grows to rely on Rowdy’s protective presence. As the sparks between them ignite, she will be forced to choose between the security she’s finally found…and the passion she’s always wanted.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Contemp. Romance
Publisher: Harlequin HQN Books
Publication Date: October 2013
Number of Pages: 400
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-77779-2

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WELCOME SARA CONNELL

SARA CONNELL

Sara Connell is an author, speaker, and life coach with a private practice in Chicago. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, NPR, The View, FOX News and Katie Couric. Sara’s writing has been featured in: The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Parenting, Psychobabble, Evolving Your Spirit, and Mindful Metropolis magazines. Her first book, Bringing in Finn; an Extraordinary Surrogacy Story (Sept 4, 2012 Seal Press), was nominated for Book of the Year 2012 by Elle magazine.
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GUEST POST

Even before the seven-year journey I took to have a child, I would have said that every birth is extraordinary. The phenomenon of an egg and a sperm joining to create a human life is, to me, miraculous. Paradoxically, I’d always thought, the way an egg and sperm come together—through sex—is a wonderfully basic thing that anyone, regardless of education, creativity, skill or life advantages can do.

Nine years ago, when my husband and I gave ourselves over to the primal desire of having a child, this is what we wanted: a totally normal conception followed nine months later by an extraordinary event—the birth of a healthy child.

Normal, however, did not turn out to be our path.  Instead of dinner out and making love, we drove back and forth from the fertility clinic and took turns injecting hormones into my stomach and behind.  We worked up to IVF and got pregnant! With twins!  Five and a half months into the pregnancy I went into pre-mature labor and the twins were delivered, stillborn.  A year later: a miscarriage, more IVF (six rounds in all). The word “extraordinary” did not enter into conversation during this time, unless it was to describe our extraordinary feelings of grief, despair, and loss.

We took a break. And during this time, my mother, who had, according to her, never done an extraordinary thing in her life, saw a story about a post-menopausal woman who’d become pregnant and made the collosally generous and yes- extraordinary- offer to be a surrogate for our child.

Fearing our fertility clinic might refer us to a team of psychiatrists, we proceeded with caution, trying to guard our hearts. But to our surprise, our doctor did not dismiss our idea.  While the viability of a woman’s eggs are influenced by her years on the planet, it turned out that the uterus does not age in the same way. (definitely extradordinary!)

After batteries of tests, my mother was cleared to be a “gestational host” ( a woman who carries the biological child of a couple).  My eggs were joined with my husband’s sperm and then transferred into my mother’s uterus—and on the second joint IVF attempt, we heard the amazing news: we were pregnant and the pregnancy was advancing.

My mother moved in to our house in Chicago. We read Harry Potter books to the baby. We took walks and cooked my mother nourishing meals of her favorite foods. And in February 2011, thirty-nine weeks after we received that call of congratulations from our doctor, Finnean Lee Connell came into the world.  Two beautiful hands, ten perfectly shaped toes, a face with a tiny nose that lifted up at the end like my husband’s. A beautiful, vibrant new life that the doctors in the delivery room pronounced, perfectly, wonderfully, “normal.”

At two and a half years, Finn is talking, running, making friends and running to the potty – sometimes making it, sometimes not- when he needs to go.  He is – as many parents truthfully but obnoxiously say- our greatest joy; in every way “normal” and most definitely, extraordinary.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Bringing in Finn is the true story of a couple who wanted nothing more than to have a family and a mother who would do anything for her daughter. After unsuccessfully trying to conceive naturally, years of fertility treatments, miscarriage and a late term loss of twins, Sara and Bill Connell were emotionally and financially depleted and at a loss as to how they could have a family. When Sara’s mother Kristine offered to be their surrogate, the three embark on the journey that would culminate in Finnean’s miraculous birth and complete a transformation of their at-one-time strained mother-daughter relationship.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Seal Press
Publication Date: October 8, 2013
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN-10: 1580055419

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…….of This Is Rage by Ken Goldstein

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……of Narcolepsy by Eric James Fullilove

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An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

…of Tear You Apart by Megan Hart

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