April is being hosted by Mari @ MariReads

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.

Hosted by Kathy @ I Am A Reader Not A Writer

…. of A LOST GUN by Wix Simon

• 23 Diane Margolis-Baum Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

• 18 Anita Yancey Leave a Blog Post Comment

• 17 bn100 Leave a Blog Post Comment

  
  

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.

Rebecca, from The Cadence Group is stopping by to introduce us to today’s guest author, Mr. Joe Keller.  Welcome to CMash Reads!!!

JOE KELLER

Joe Keller is a father of two, an entrepreneur at heart, and a lifelong learner. His personal quest is to live a fulfilling, awesomely happy life and to help others do the same.

Single Effort grew out of Joe’s learning curve following a painful divorce. Through trial and a healthy dose of error, Joe learned to approach single life – and life in general – with smarts and heart, leading to newfound confidence and exciting new adventures.

Equally at home cooking a meal for his kids, crooning karaoke on a night on the town, deciphering the world of dating for his readers, or traveling the globe, Joe believes that it’s what’s inside that counts – that happiness comes from following your passion, loving and being loved, and ultimately, finding peace within yourself.

Joe shares his passion for helping others through volunteer work in the U.S. and abroad, via his writing, and through public speaking. Joe makes his home in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Connect with Joe here:   

GUEST POST

Learning to Cook as a Single Guy – Why It’s Important

When you’re thinking about dating, it’s important to develop “date-friendly” skills that will help you stand out as an attractive and worthy mate. All the better if those same skills will also serve you on your own as a single guy and father (if you have kids). Cooking fits the bill.

A nice way to impress a date is to tell her you know how to cook. A better way to impress a date is to show her that you can cook. Once you’ve learned the ropes, Single Effort your date night by offering to cook a meal at your home. You’ll be able to impress your date with your cooking skills while at the same time providing both of you with a relaxing evening she’ll truly appreciate. You’ll definitely stand out in her mind after the date is over!

If you don’t know how to cook, don’t worry. I didn’t cook well either when I was married – and if I can pick it up (a guy who didn’t know how to cook a decent grilled cheese sandwich before becoming single) then anyone can. Cooking is really quite simple. Read on for some “sage” cooking advice.

First and foremost, if you don’t know how to cook, start by getting familiar with the basics by visiting cooking websites and tuning in to cooking shows. Did you know they have an entire network on TV devoted to food and cooking? It’s called the Food Network and most cable and dish broadcasters carry it on their standard channel list. You can find a plethora of cooking tips and recipes on the Food Network. Pick a show that interests you and start watching to gain some insight into cooking lingo and to pick up tips and tricks.

Another great way to learn about cooking is to attend cooking classes. A quick search on the Internet should help you find many businesses offering cooking classes near you– sites like Local Cooking Classes and Local Cooking Class are wonderful references for classes local to you (and yes, they’re two distinct websites).

Community colleges and adult education courses are a great way to learn about the basics of cooking as well, and many speciality grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, offer affordable cooking classes to help you learn how to use the ingredients they offer in their stores.

Cooking classes are also a great Single Effort opportunity – they’re an excellent way to learn a new skill while meeting like-minded single women at the same time.

But the best way to learn to cook is simply by “doing” – find a recipe that sounds interesting and devote an evening to learning how to cook it well. If you can’t find a recipe that inspires you, try visiting Allrecipes.com for some great ideas!

I enjoy using Allrecipes because they allow me to save recipes found on their site into my own virtual recipe box. I can look up a recipe I previously saved with just a couple clicks of the mouse.

Allrecipes also allows you to print your recipes in a variety of sizes so you have the recipe in front of you, in an easy-to-read format, while in the kitchen preparing your meal. In addition, the recipes are well organized into food categories, easily searchable, and include pictures of the finished meal along with user ratings.

Allrecipes is truly unique – I rely on them for fantastic meal suggestions and cooking ideas on a regular basis. I consider Allrecipes.com to be to cooking what Amazon.com is to shopping.

For single guys trying to stand out from the sea of other guys their date has met, learning to cook is a skill that will give you that added boost. It’s the “secret sauce” that just might help you find and keep the girl of your dreams!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Single Effort is the best guide to be­ing single – but not necessarily staying single – that you’ll ever read! From food to fun, and finance to romance, Single Effort delivers clear, real-world advice to help you live a dynamic, successful life as a single guy.

You’ll discover how to:

• · Approach with confidence and attract not just any woman — but the right woman
• · Thrive in the online dating world and the competitive dating scene
• · Prepare tasty home-cooked meals and master the befuddling world of wine
• · Save time and money with proven product recommendations and advice on everything from daily living, to dating, to personal comfort (even cleaning!)

Single Effort isn’t just for men. Ladies, you’ll benefit too! From ideas to spice up your relationship to a revealing look at a guy’s perspective on dating – it’s all here! Destined to become a classic, this indispensable guide will change how you think about being single and help you find the life and love you seek.

For more information, please visit www.SingleEffort.com. There are five free downloads which include tips and helpful advice on dating, items to buy for your home when striking out on your own, cooking, divorce, and hiring a housekeeper.

THANKS TO REBECCA AT THE CADENCE GROUP, I
HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
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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.

It’s been a busy week and it’s not over yet.  Stephanie, from Simon & Schuster, is stopping by today to introduce us to a very talented author.  Grab your coffee and give a warm welcome to Ms. Deliah Dawson!!

DELIAH DAWSON

Delilah S. Dawson is a native of Roswell, Georgia and the author of the paranormal romance Blud series for Pocket, including Wicked as They Come and an eNovella, The Mysterious Madam Morpho. The second book in the series, Wicked as She Wants and a second novella, The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance, will be out in spring 2013, and her first YA, Servants of the Storm, will be available in spring 2014.
Connect with author:    

 GUEST POST

On Damaged Women

If you’ve read any of the books or e-novellas in my Blud series for Pocket, you might have noticed that all my heroines have one thing in

common: they are damaged women. Tish in Wicked as They Come is leaving an abusive relationship. Imogen from The Mysterious Madam Morpho was kicked out of the house by her father and assaulted by her employer.

And Frannie from The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance was wrongly used by the first man she ever loved.

When I think back to the strong women I’ve known and the characters that have been memorable, very few of them have led easy, carefree lives. Game of Thrones is a tapestry of women forced into impossible situations who made mistakes, found their inner steel, and rose to greatness. Book favorites that come to mind are Ayla from Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series, Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris’s Dead After Dark series, and Claire Frasier from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Women are made strong for a reason, and many of us don’t truly find our strength until we’re pushed to our very limits and come out the other side.

And I speak from experience when I say that our tragedies make us more interesting and often more loveable. When I was younger, I thought romance was filled with swooning, naïve, virginal heroines who fell into the arms of handsome, tender dukes. Now that I’m older and looking beyond covers, I’m finding amazing stories about bluestockings, orphans, widows, queens, and uppity women who won’t back down no matter what their world’s mores dictate. Romance as a genre is just as varied as women as a gender, and I’m proud to contribute a series that’s filled for rollicking adventure and steamy romance but with powerful women at its heart.

My next book, WICKED AS SHE WANTS, is out April 30 and features my strongest heroine yet: a twist on the famous Princess Anastasia. But my Ahna is a blood drinker in a steampunk world who boards an airship brothel and faces bloodthirsty unicorns to find her way back home.

Part of the challenge of writing strong women is also writing men that compliment them, heroes who are confident enough to love strong women and give them the freedom to be themselves. Ahna’s paramour is Casper Sterling, a musician from our world with his own inner demons. When Ahna and Casper join forces, they become all but unstoppable.

When I was young, books were my escape and my salvation, and I was hungry for heroines who knew pain. Now, I like to think the underlying message of romance– my books included– is that there’s hope. Whoever you are, whatever you’ve been through, no matter how broken you might be, you deserve love.

Thanks so much for hosting me, and I hope y’all enjoy it! Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@DelilahSDawson) or at my website, www.delilahsdawson.com anytime! And if you like artisan perfumes, be sure to check out the character-based scents at Villainess Soaps (http://www.villainess.net/wicked/). Seven new scents will debut this April to cover both books and e-novellas in the series.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From the author of highly praised steampunk-ian Wicked as They Come comes an urban fantasy romance about Frannie Pleasance, a woman who takes in stray animals to save them from the dangerous world of bludbunnies, bludbadgers, and Bludmen who populate Sang, an alternate-universe London. When her pet shop is set on fire by someone who doesn’t like her menagerie, Frannie meets a fireman who wants to help her track down the animals who ran away during the blaze, and find the person who tried to put her life in danger.

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

…….of HIDING GLADYS by Lee Mims

7 Beth DiIorio Follow @CherylMash on Twitter

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

Today is special because we have an old friend, not chronologically :), stopping by.  I became a fan when I read The Ninth Step and then subsequently, The Volunteer.   I knew she was working on her next book but not quite sure when it would be available.  You can imagine my surprise when I received it from Liz, Meryl L. Moss Media.  Thank you Liz!!!  After I stopped jumping up and down, I emailed them and asked if Bobbi would stop by.  And she graciously accepted.  Welcome back, Ms. Barbara Taylor Sissel !!!!!

 BARBARA TAYLOR SISSEL

EVIDENCE OF LIFE
by Barbara Taylor Sissel
Published by Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN-10: 0778315169
ISBN-13: 978-0778315162
Pages: 320
Review Copy from: Meryl L. Moss Media
Edition: ARC    TPB
My Rating: 5

Synopsis (from Amazon):
On the last ordinary day of her life, Abby Bennett feels like the luckiest woman alive. But everyone knows that luck doesn’t last forever…

As her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, embark on a weekend camping trip to the Texas Hill Country, Abby looks forward to having some quiet time to herself. She braids Lindsey’s hair, reminds Nick to drive safely and kisses them both goodbye. For a brief moment, Abby thinks she has it all—a perfect marriage, a perfect life—until a devastating storm rips through the region, and her family vanishes without a trace.

When Nick and Lindsey are presumed dead, lost in the raging waters, Abby refuses to give up hope. Consumed by grief and clinging to her belief that her family is still alive, she sets out to find them. But as disturbing clues begin to surface, Abby realizes that the truth may be far more sinister than she imagined. Soon she finds herself caught in a current of lies that threaten to unhinge her and challenge everything she once believed about her marriage and family.

With a voice that resonates with stunning clarity, Barbara Taylor Sissel delivers a taut and chilling mystery about a mother’s love, a wife’s obsession and the invisible fractures that can shatter a family.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
I became a fan, of this author, after reading The Ninth Step and then her subsequent book, The Volunteer. And with her latest book, Evidence of Life, she did not disappoint.

Abby is looking forward to a quiet weekend alone. Her husband, Nick, and their daughter, Lindsey, are spending the weekend on a planned camping trip and their son, Jake, is away at college. But within hours of Nick and Lindsey leaving, Abby’s tranquil weekend turns into months of hell. With news of powerful rains and flooding, that have claimed lives, Abby has no word as to the fate of her family. As months go by, and no definite answers, if Nick and Lindsey were victims, Abby holds on to hope that they will be found. Even though, those around her fear and accept that father and daughter were among the causalities, Abby starts looking for answers. If it is closure that Abby is seeking, she soon finds out, that her life wasn’t as she thought it was.

As with her other novels, Ms. Sissel expands on an every day topic, adding suspense, romance, relationship dynamics and thought provoking scenarios culminating to a “never saw coming” finale. Her characters come to life and can be related to. Her descriptive settings allow the reader to create vivid imagery. The suspense, page turning. Evidence of Life…another 5 star read!! Highly recommend, not only this book, but Ms. Sissel’s previous stories. Guarantee that you will be placing her on your “authors to read” list!!!

(2013 Challenges: Count The Ways, A-Z, Where Are You, Mystery/Crime, FreeReads, 52 in 52, Outdo Yourself, Read-A-Latte)

REVIEW DISCLAIMER
This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the
best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book
was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
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.