Book of The Month by Jennifer Probst Review

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Probst, discover Book of the Month…

She’s desperate for another bestseller… and she’ll go to any length to get it. Even if it means sacrificing her pride to chase the hottest bachelor in town and get him to break her heart…


Once the literary world’s golden girl, Aspen Lourde can’t seem to produce another successful book, and the pressure’s on to prove she’s not just a one-hit-wonder. But there’s a catch: her bestseller was a heartbreak hit, straight from her own love life disaster. Without any fresh romantic turmoil to fuel her pen, Aspen needs inspiration quick enough to create a book her agent can sell to her publisher. So she escapes for the summer to the Outer Banks with a plan to live a story worth writing.

Brick Babel is a romance novelist’s dream: a local heartthrob with a reputation as wild as the horses running free in the town. He’s everything Aspen needs for a muse kickstart—gorgeous, moody, and notoriously unattainable. His affairs are legendary in the small town, and every woman warns her off, including her sister.

Too bad a good heartbreak is exactly what she needs to meet her deadline.

But Brick refuses to play the game, rejecting all of her advances. When Aspen hears his tour company is on the verge of bankruptcy, she offers him a deal: fake a whirlwind summer romance, then ditch her, drama guaranteed.

Desperate to save his grandfather’s business, Brick agrees to the ridiculous deal. What starts as a contractual fling spirals out of control as lines blur and real feelings emerge. Brick’s falling hard, and Aspen’s rethinking her plot twist. The novel might be her ticket back to the top, but at what cost?

Because Aspen’s finally found her muse, but some stories may be too true to share.

Book of the Month isn’t just about finding love where you least expect it.
It’s about finding yourself in the pages of life’s unexpected chapters.

I LOVED this story! 

Small Town romance ✔

Grumpy guy ✔

Dramady ✔

This has all the fun f eels  .

 A  very  popular, # 1 New York Times bestseller now has a major, stressful job of fulfilling one more contract, a third book to win over the hearts of the people and do what she did with her first bestseller.

 The problem is, she's lost her mojo, she's in a funk and can't get out. So she decides to go to her sisters, get out of the city, out of her depressive life and take a break. 

Her sister Sierra lives in a small, beach town. Everyone knows everyone. After having some much needed sister time, she decides what she needs to write that award winning book. 

This is where the fun starts. In comes Brick, yes the name says it all. The love hate that starts winds up being a little more than they bargained for.

Not saying any more . Fun, steamy, did I say STEAMY?!! read. Love Aspens sister tho, and I'm definitely  looking forward to reading Sierra's story!

10 stars! Thank you to Netgalley and Blue Box Press for this wonderful book.

Get it on Amazon today! HERE

Coming soon! Book Of The Month by Jennifer Probst

Publication Date: October 22, 2024

From Goodreads: 

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Probst, discover Book of the Month…

She’s desperate for another bestseller… and she’ll go to any length to get it. Even if it means sacrificing her pride to chase the hottest bachelor in town and get him to break her heart…

Once the literary world’s golden girl, Aspen Lourde can’t seem to produce another successful book, and the pressure’s on to prove she’s not just a one-hit-wonder. But there’s a catch: her bestseller was a heartbreak hit, straight from her own love life disaster. Without any fresh romantic turmoil to fuel her pen, Aspen needs inspiration quick enough to create a book her agent can sell to her publisher. So she escapes for the summer to the Outer Banks with a plan to live a story worth writing.

Brick Babel is a romance novelist’s dream: a local heartthrob with a reputation as wild as the horses running free in the town. He’s everything Aspen needs for a muse kickstart—gorgeous, moody, and notoriously unattainable. His affairs are legendary in the small town, and every woman warns her off, including her sister.

Too bad a good heartbreak is exactly what she needs to meet her deadline.

But Brick refuses to play the game, rejecting all of her advances. When Aspen hears his tour company is on the verge of bankruptcy, she offers him a deal: fake a whirlwind summer romance, then ditch her, drama guaranteed.

Desperate to save his grandfather’s business, Brick agrees to the ridiculous deal. What starts as a contractual fling spirals out of control as lines blur and real feelings emerge. Brick’s falling hard, and Aspen’s rethinking her plot twist. The novel might be her ticket back to the top, but at what cost?

Because Aspen’s finally found her muse, but some stories may be too true to share.

Book of the Month isn’t just about finding love where you least expect it.
It’s about finding yourself in the pages of life’s unexpected chapters.

Amazon click HERE 👈

The Cemetery Spot by Jenna Moquin

The Cemetery Spot by Jenna Moquin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fast read. The twists kept me hooked all the way through. Told in alternating views, the story starts with sisters Ape (April) and Auggie (August) find themselves in a difficult predicament. After talking it through and coming up with a solution, they get to work on getting rid of the problem. What they don't expect is what happens and then the whole situation gets worse. In comes another problem and another view is told. I'm being vague since I don't want to spoil this story. Lots of twists and turns you don't see coming and the whole mysterious thing with Auggie, keeps you wanting to know what's going to happen. Highly recommend!

View all my reviews

Amazon 👉When April arrived at her sister’s house, she didn’t expect to find a dead man…

Auggie has stabbed her abusive husband, Roy. Afraid of the cops due to Roy’s ties with the police force, Auggie convinces April to help her get rid of the body. April agrees because she owes a debt to her sister and wants to keep her out of prison. The two sisters bury Roy in the woods, near an old cemetery.

But someone is watching.

As the investigation into Roy’s disappearance looms closer to the truth, the sisters don’t know who to trust—including each other. The bond that held them together all these years threatens to break. Blood isn’t thicker than water when a life sentence is on the line.

Will the sisters keep this secret buried forever? Or will they surrender to outside forces before destroying each other?

Get it HERE 👈

First Book of 2018 Here We Go!

 Happy New Year ! 2018 promises to be an awesome year.

To kick off the year, Sheila over at Book Journey, has a yearly tradition, 1st Book Of The Year .

This is what she says:

Here is what First Book is.  The first book of the New Year should be:

A.  A coveted book that you have wanted to read but have just not found the time.

B.  A delicious favorite… one you have read before, but crave to read again.

C.  Really whatever you want it to – it is after all YOUR First Book Of the year.

Make it AWESOME.

My first book of the year is ..... drumroll please.........

The Man In The Black Suit by Sylvain Reynard

If you have never read a book by this author, waaahh??? GO GET IT!!!  If you love a good, romantic love story, GO NOW!! 

About this book:

Brazilian Acacia Santos excels at her job as concierge at the prestigious Hotel Victoire in Paris. When her senior colleague is attacked and sent to the hospital, she is tasked with serving one of the hotel’s most mysterious and attractive guests.

Nicholas Cassirer checks into the hotel under an assumed name every three months. Usually, he stays in the penthouse suite with a beautiful female companion but on this occasion, he arrives alone and is displeased in having to deal with someone new. A match of wits ensues as he tests Acacia’s expertise with a series of almost impossible demands. Her intelligence and creativity rise to the challenge, earning his respect.

They strike a tenuous accord until Acacia discovers a famous stolen painting in his suite. Compelled to report her discovery, she contacts a former boyfriend who works for the elite BRB, a unit of French law enforcement that deals with stolen art.

Nicholas is questioned by police and released when it is revealed the painting is a reproduction. Irked with her behavior, Acacia’s supervisor demotes her, threatening dismissal and the cancellation of her work permit.

But Acacia has already attracted Nicholas’s attention. Remorseful that she may lose her job on his account, he offers her a choice—she can wait until her supervisor dismisses her, or she can leave the city of lights behind and become his personal assistant.

Acacia initially refuses his offer, but Nicholas is persistent. He reveals himself as a man who quietly acquires stolen art in order to restore it to its rightful owners. Faced with mounting familial debts and the possibility of dismissal and deportation, she agrees to work for him.

Nicholas opens up a whole new world of beauty and intrigue to Acacia as they travel the globe. Soon the line between employer and assistant is blurred, and the two lonely people embark on a passionate relationship.

Secrets and danger abound as Nicholas and Acacia try to solve the mystery of a piece of stolen art. But Acacia may prove to be the most dangerous mystery of all.

Other books by Sylvain Reynard

Get Your Kids Signed Up For this Free Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge!

          The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge™

 is a free online reading program for children.
Join today and let’s set a new reading world record for summer 2015! (May 4 - Sept 4, 2015)

Grand Prize: 

the schools with the most minutes read will win a visit from 
Michael Northrop (top elementary school), and Varian Johnson (top middle school).

What is the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge?

• Now in its 9th year, the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a free online/mobile reading program dedicated to stopping the “Summer Slide” by encouraging kids to read throughout the summer months when school is out.
• Starting May 4, 2015, kids can log their reading minutes (online and on smartphones) as they Read for the World Record, enter sweepstakes to win fabulous prizes, and earn digital rewards when they complete weekly reading challenges. (Pre-Registration for educators begins on April 6, 2015.)
• This year’s theme is "Power Up and Read," sponsored by ENERGIZER^®.
• 12 Scholastic authors will create our first-ever, collection of summer short stories that kids can “unlock” throughout the summer.
• In 2014, Scholastic inspired more than 275,000 kids from 4,600 schools in all 50 States and 29 countriesto set a new record for summer reading of 304,749,681 minutes!

So How Do You Participate?

Follow this link: Summer Reading Challenge

Kids! 

Read & log minutes all summer

Unlock stories & earn rewards

Help set a new reading 
world record!

GO!

Follow on these social medias 

 

100 MILLION MINUTES! WOW GO KIDS!

photo credit: Moonsub Shin Illustration

Can you believe the kids have read over 100 million minutes !! 

That is so awesome. 

This is what Scholastic says:

At approximately 4:15pm EST yesterday (June 3^rd), Scholastic’s free, annual summer reading initiative, Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, hit an epic milestone.

 Kids have officially read 100 million minutes.!!

This beats the world record from 2012 (95,859,491 minutes). The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge aims to prevent the “summer slide”  - or the learning losses a child experiences when he or she does not read over the summer months.

Here are some highlights!

HIGHLIGHTS:

·         Free parent resources – a press release sent yesterday (link: bit.ly/1pCBP9c ) highlights access to booklists, expert advice and more

·         Planetarium events -  This year’s theme is “Reading Under the Stars.” Scholastic  partnered with planetariums across the country with their museum sleepovers (e.g. The Smithsonian, Adler Planetarium (Chicago), California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco) and more) to get kids reading about science, STEM and more.

·         Governor Spouses Show Support - To support the students in their states and encourage summer reading throughout America, many of the U.S. Governors and Governors’ Spouses are joining Scholastic as “Reading Ambassadors.”

Join in on the fun and head on over to Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and sign up today! Its Free!

Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge! Sign up today.

Exciting news about the Summer Reading Challenge !

We all know that kids reading all summer is a priority, but motivating kids to read all summer can be a challenge.

That’s why Scholastic is excited to announce the 8^th annual Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge – a free online reading program where kids can read what THEY want, and log their reading minutes to earn rewards and help set a new world record for summer reading.  It is a fun and friendly competition among schools to see who can read the most – and the school that logs the most minutes at the end of the summer, wins a visit from bestselling authors: David Shannon (elementary school prize) and Gordon Korman (middle school prize).

Starting TODAY, parents and teachers can register their kids for the 2014 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge at scholastic.com/summer.  

To help parents prepare for summer, Scholastic is hosting a live Facebook Live Chat (via Scholastic Parents Facebook) moderated by Lori Ess (Scholastic) and Betsy Bird (New York Public Library), on Monday, May 5^th  at 9 PM (ET), titled: “A Virtual Book Swap on Summer Reading.” Please help us make 2014 the biggest Summer Reading Challenge EVER by sharing with your readers. 

And be sure to like us on Facebook:facebook.com/scholasticparents ! We’ll have free resources PLUS sweepstakes every Friday!

Thanks Scholastic for a fun challenge for the kids.

The Sunday Salon

I finally have  a day to read, blog and just plain be lazy! Since I've gone back to the office, I haven't had the energy to blog or do anything on the computer. But we've been bike riding, trying to lose weight and I'm finally  getting used to the schedule. My son has also been making friends and is adjusting to our new home. The weather has been wonderful too! Not hot not cold but the fall chill is in the air.

Since we've moved I have read so many great books. The last one I finished, The Help by Kathryn Stockett  was an awesome read. Sad but the ending was so good. I am looking forward to seeing the movie!

THE HELP: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: THE HELP, Sissy Spacek

I've finished :

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Fallen by Karin Slaughter

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

No Cure For The Broken Hearted by Kenneth Rosenberg

Molokai by Alan Brennert

Kiss Her Kill Her by Lisa Dewar

The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto

Currently Reading:

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

I hope to be able to post more often during the week and also visit some of my favorite blogs.

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Teaser Tuesday - The One Percenters by John W. Podgursky

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should Be Reading and this is what she has to say about it:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This teaser comes from the book The One Percenters.

The beginning scares me! :-)

Ebook page  1

"It was not my intention to befriend Sam for long. I needed only to spill my guts, to regain my sense of dignity. I lost that back at the lake when the screams echoed in my ears."

More about The One Percenters:

From Amazon:

Product Description

Natural selection has become unnatural. Having dealt with the vicious murder of his wife, Edward Caine takes his rightful place as a One-Percenter, eliminating those not fit for the human race. He must fight his instinct to use his role for revenge; he is after those who live on only because of money and medicine. The weak-gened are not fit to breed, and it's the job of Edward and his brethren to see that they don't. But can he finish the job before his own mind betrays him? He is an agent of the Earth. He is a One-Percenter.

Musical Chairs by Jen Knox

Jen Knox is the author of Musical Chairs, a memoir (ATTM Press). She currently attends Bennington's Writing Seminars and works as a fiction editor at Our Stories Literary Journal. Her work has been published in Flashquake, Slow Trains, SLAB, Superstition Review and has been honored in Glimmer Train's Family Matters Competition (2008) Best Start Competition (2009) and Fiction Open (2009) as well as New Letters Poetry Prize. Forthcoming work will appear in The Houston Literary Journal. Jen grew up in Ohio, and lives in Texas, where she is working on a novel entitled Absurd Hunger.

An amazing, candid memoir of a young girl at age 15 runs away from home, turning to alcohol and stripping. Living where ever she can and when she gets to the bottom of her  well, ends up getting raped. This is when she is faced with her alcohol abuse . 
After being severly ill and detoxifying her body, she decides to get her life turned around. 
The book is told in 3 parts, The Runaway, The Dancer and The Education. The latter telling about her Grandmother and how she learns of her mental illness and her family history of mental illness. 


Trying to sum up the story is very hard because it really needs to be read to understand this girls life from a rebellious teenager to a reckless, alcoholic life to finding out about her family history of mental illness and how it plays a part in her whole life. I highly recommend this book. Its an amazing story, true story and would be a good book for a young person who is struggling.


From her website:

After suffering a series of severe panic attacks, Jen begins to explore her past.  In doing so, she becomes enamored by the mysterious nature of her family's history.  She discovers a pattern of mental health diagnoses and searches to define the cusp between her '90s working-class childhood and the trouble of adapting to a comfortable life in the suburbs.

Jen attempts to reconcile with her past and the family she ran away from at age fifteen.  With humor and surprising candor, she reflects upon years of strip-dancing, alcoholism, and estrangement while maintaining impressive narrative control. This story is about identity, class, family ties, and the elusive nature of mental illness.

An excerpt from the book ( off of her website):

Throughout the summer of 2003 I repeatedly underwent what psychologists have since diagnosed as post-traumatic stress and panic disorder.  A spiritually-inclined friend refers to the same summer as my rebirthing period.  Still others, who claim to have had similar experiences, tell me that such episodes were probably a warning, my body’s way of telling me to adopt healthier eating habits, exercise more or quit smoking.  At the time, all I knew was that the onset was swift.

I was working at a bookstore in Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.  The store was small, quiet.  Gently modulating harmonies, barely audible, filled the vast empty space between customers as I perused the alphabet of author names in front of me, searching for a paperback’s designated spot.  I had made it my goal to shelve the last two stacks of romance novels before taking a break, and I was on target, moving industriously until I reached to shelve one of the last titles and my arm went slack, my fingers released.  But the book didn’t fall. 

I could see my hand, pale and bony with soft freckles dotting knuckles, fingers still wrapped around the book’s yellow spine.  I turned the hand over, tracing its outline in my mind, trying to understand why I could no longer feel the silken texture of the cover.  The sensation I felt was almost peaceful at first; it was as though I were wandering through my body, haunting and examining but unable to control it.  I waited a moment for the cohesion of normalcy, but it wouldn’t come and soon my mind turned restless, flooding with possible causation: aneurysm, stroke, heart attack, sudden death syndrome.  I had visions of collapsing to the ground, of medics trying to resuscitate me.  I began to hear pulsing fluids moving inside me.  I was overwhelmed by a desire to run in every direction at once.

A stooped woman dressed in gray and light blue approached me slowly, asked me to help her find the history section of the store.  Her light eyes, sheathed with experience, seemed to mock me, laugh at my wretched vulnerability, my dispensable life.  I wondered at the superiority of her years; what had she done to deserve them?  What could she teach me?

“Miss?  I asked you a question,” she said.

I felt the vibration of chords and soft tissue in my neck as my voice directed her to the wall opposite and, without waiting for a response, I walked away.  I felt as though I were being led by my own body, each step ethereal but swift, limbs moving involuntarily.  Two size fives in closed-toe shoes were leading the way—they had navigated this path before.  When I was alone in the break room, my body turned its back to a chair and my knees bent slowly until the backs of my legs met the gold and green upholstery.  This is when the lack of sensation changed, and, suddenly, I became hyper-aware. 

 I squirmed, trying to escape the sounds: the clicks of another’s hand entering a code, the vending machine grumbling beside me and lightly shaking the chair in which I sat.  The vent above me thumped in-harmoniously with my body’s rhythm as it bucked a miasma of stale air into the room.  My mouth seemed overly warm and the contrast of wet tissues and smooth tooth enamel repelled my tongue.  The smallness of the room, closing in, suffocated my eyes with artificial light that fell on worn beige walls, a checkered tablecloth that caused my head to spin.  My skin prickled as though small needles were entering each pore.  Just as the door opened, my eyes closed and the needles all burrowed beneath my epidermis and swam through my body to my chest where they extracted the air from my lungs and stopped my heart. 

Co-workers huddled around, asking me what was wrong.  I was hunched over in the chair with my head between my legs, shaking now, and unable to explain.  All I knew was that my body was failing, and I didn’t want this audience.  My chest contracted each time I struggled to take a full breath so that I could only gasp when I tried to respond to questions.  I tried to ignore the audience, but when I closed my eyes the cold air grip that was suffocating my skin grew stronger, squeezing.

What comes after was akin to a blackout, and I can only see clips of the events that followed.  My manager drove me to the emergency room, and I became conscious of her nervous irritation at traffic lights and her tired, worried gaze as it lingered on me.  I sat like a nervous child, holding one knee to my chest as I fixed my eyes on the dull burgundy glove compartment in front of me.  When we arrived at the emergency room, it was my manager who explained that I might be having a heart or asthma attack; she said this to someone at a desk who immediately had me ushered back to a sterile, semi-private room.

Best regards,

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
~~~Jorge Luis Borges


('’)

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 
  

My teaser comes from the book The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers:

"In addition to the mush, cassava greens, and palm-oil gravy, there were grubs. Wonderful,fat, juicy grubs. "

Sounds so gross!!  But I just started it and was hooked from the beginning. 

Whats your teaser??
















vote it up!

Lovely New Awards! Its Monday What Are You Reading?

I would like to thank Laurel  for  this wonderful award!

The rules are fairly simple:

This blog award has been passed on to me along with nine other people. The rules of this one is to list ten honest things about me and then pass the award on to ten other book bloggers. First for the easy part, to list ten things: 

Honest
Good listener
Good wife and mother.
Will read instead of doing dishes
Sits on the computer way to much
Loves to shop
Loves to do crafts
Hates to clean house
Loves chocolate  and eats way to much
Haven't grown up, still a kid

That wasn't so easy!   I'll have to pass it on later.

I would also like to thank Christine from Booktumbling   for this award:

1. Where is your favorite place to read a book?  My couch with tons of pillows.
   
2. Bookmarks or dog ears? Bookmark
3. What is the best book you have read so far this year? Too many to list.
4. Do you like to snack while reading and if so, what is your favorite snack?  No to distracting LOL!
   
5. Book borrower or book collector?Definitely a collector and my bookshelf is overflowing.

Thank you so much Laurel & Christine for these wonderful awards!

What am I reading ? This week its a book called Musical Chairs by Jen Knox - From Amazon:

Product Description

Musical Chairs explores one family's history of mental health diagnoses and searches to define the cusp between a '90s working-class childhood and the trouble of adapting to a comfortable life in the suburbs. In order to understand her restlessness, Jennifer reflects on years of strip-dancing, alcoholism, and estrangement. Inspired by the least likely source, the family she left behind, Jennifer struggles towards reconciliation. This story is about identity, class, family ties, and the elusive nature of mental illness.

After that  its The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers - this one is an Early Reviewer from Library Thing.

Thats all for now! Hope you all have a great week.

Best regards,

vote it up!