• Blog

    Holiday Wishes Romance Giveaway – enter today!

    12/9/2019

    Holiday Wishes Romance Giveaway Promo
    HOLIDAY WISHES ROMANCE GIVEAWAY
    December 5-25
    A Sleighful of Prizes and Video Holiday
    Greetings from the Authors!
    https://bookwrapt.com/holiday-wishes/

    Come listen and watch as some of your favorite romance authors give you their best wishes for the holiday in a special video! To celebrate the season, they’re giving away a grand prize package that includes a Kindle Fire, 6-months of Kindle Unlimited, and a $20 Amazon gift card. Santa also has a bag full of runners-up prizes, including gift cards and ebook prize packs.
    Still want more? Check out the fantastic reads in the Holiday Wishes All Romance Genres Book Fair, and play the Scavenger Hunt Game for your chance at a $50 Amazon gift card!
    https://bookwrapt.com/holiday-wishes-book-fair/

    (This giveaway is sponsored by the authors listed below)

    Allyson Lindt • Amanda Uhl • Angelica Kate • Anne McClane • C.A. King • C.D. Gorri • Crystal Dawn • Danielle M Haas • Debbie White • Diane Benefiel • Elizabeth Rose • Elsie Davis • Emmanuelle de Maupassant • G.K. Brady • ID Johnson • Jacqueline Diamond • Jacquie Biggar • JC Andrijeski • Jina Bacarr • Joanne Dannon • Josie Riviera • Judith Sterling • Karen Michelle Nutt • Kat Drennan • Kat Samuels • Kerry Blaisdell • Keta Diablo • Kristy Tate • Laurel O’Donnell • Liz Durano • Maria Elena Alonso Sierra • Melissa McClone • Michelle Jo Quinn • Mona Sedrak • Monique McDonell • Naomi Bellina • Penelope Wylde • Ravyn Wilde • Regan Walker • Rhondi Ann • Samantha Keith • Sara Beth Williams • Shana Gray • Sofie Darling • Soraya Naomi • Stormy Legend • Tammy Andresen • Victoria Saccenti • Zoe Dawson • Aileen Harkwood

  • Blog

    Fast (Holiday) Five with Author Susan Murphy

    11/12/2016

    Ipad Pic of They Do I Don't and Annabel's Wedding by Susan MurphyThis is my second blog post interviewing contributors to the It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Chick Lit Anthology …today’s interview is with Susan Murphy.

    1. You have a holiday story in It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chicklit…what’s your favourite holiday?
    My favourite holiday is definitely Christmas. Ever since I was a kid, I’d start counting down the days from as early as July. I am the youngest of 5 kids and we didn’t have very much growing up, so when Christmas came around it was the only time we’d really get new toys and clothes. It was also fun to see all of our cousins and have roast dinner and dessert. In Australia Christmas is also in the summertime so it’s stinking hot. We would have the sprinklers on in the back yard and after opening our presents in the morning, lunch would be cooking while we played and got wet. I loved it.

    2. What book are you reading right now or looking forward to reading next?
    Right now I can’t wait to start reading The Florentine Bridge by Vanessa Carnevale and Don’t Mean a Thing by Renee Conoulty. They both look great and are wonderful ladies.

    3. Of your own novels do you have a favourite?
    I have 2 published books, a series called ‘Confetti Confidential’ which is loosely based on my work as a marriage and funeral celebrant. I loved book 1, ‘They Do, I Don’t’ but I think the second, ‘Annabel’s Wedding’ was actually better. My books have a lot of comedy, so most of the reviewers said that there were a lot of laugh out loud moments, but there’s also romance and of course, because I am a marriage celebrant, there are weddings!

    4. Are you working on a novel/book/story now? Can you tell me a little bit about it?
    I am working on something now, several things actually. I have written another ChickLit story which is based in Hawaii and is a bit more romance based than my other 2. I hope to have that out early next year. I’ve also been working on a thriller with another author and I have co-written a middle-grade children’s book with a fellow children’s author, Adam Cece. I also have a historical romance in the works too, based on the stories of my grandparents, but I need to wait until I visit Edinburgh next year, where the story is based, before I can really get into the details for that one.

    5. What’s your favourite holiday song/or food or tradition?
    I am one of those awful people that has Christmas carol CDs playing on loop all through December. My favourite tradition is taking the kids out so that they can buy gifts for each other and us with their own money. We wander the shops, listening to carols playing overhead. We have lunch and they spend time sneakily buying gifts and hiding them so that we don’t see. It’s my favourite thing in the lead-up. Boxing Day is also a big one for my family as my siblings and parents usually go our separate ways on Christmas day, to in-laws etc, but then on Boxing Day we have a big feast and celebration.

    Susan MurphyAbout Susan Murphy
    Susan Murphy is an author and marriage (and funeral) celebrant from Adelaide, South Australia. From weddings on cruise ships to family brawls at funerals, Susan has seen (and completely enjoyed) all of it. These situations have of course provided much inspiration for her writing.
    Her first book ‘Confetti Confidential: They Do, I Don’t’ was published with Harper Collins in 2015 with the follow-up, ‘Annabel’s Wedding’ released on November 1st 2015.
    After a stint as the Writer in Residence at the SA Writers Centre, Susan has co-written a middle-grade children’s book and is now working on a historical fiction project as well as a new romantic comedy series.
    In her ‘spare’ time she mainly eats chocolate and drinks wine, although she occasionally turns up at work and sometimes parents her three children, 2 dogs, cat and cockatiel, Moe.

     

    Website: www.susanmurphyauthor.com/
    Facebook author Page: https://www.facebook.com/susanmurphyauthor/
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/SMurphyAuthor
    Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Murphy/e/B00VCZ7HTO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1475038372&sr=1-4
    Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13495153.Susan_Murphy
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanmurphyauthor/
    Blog: http://www.susanmurphyauthor.com/comechatblog
    Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/SmurphyAuthor/
    Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13495153.Susan_Murphy
    Harper Collins listing: http://www.harpercollins.com.au/cr-113929/susan-murphy/
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE_DBLbbRGKLOPzCjOrWrFA

    Look for Susan’s story in It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit out now and free at all major retailers.

    Chick Lit Anthology Promo 2016

    Comment

    Dianne Maguire
    11/13/2016 07:00:11 pm

    Loved this interview Susan. ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chit Lit,’ will definitely be part of my holiday reading. 🙂

  • Blog

    December a month of self-doubt

    12/16/2015

    Hearts Afire and Mr Right and Other Mongrels Paperbacks and Christmas DecorationsTime to remember social media is the ultimate holiday brag letter…
    It’s December – the month of celebrations and candy canes. The month of Christmas trees, tinsel and tears.

    Yeah you read that right – tears. It’s the month that people want everything to be perfect and it just plain isn’t. Not because it’s December but because life just isn’t perfect. Not in any month of the year actually but there’s something about the holiday season that has us craving perfect.

    And doesn’t it just look like everyone else is doing it right.? I mean everyone.

    Perfect trees, perfect kids, perfect freaking holiday cookies. Their relatives seem to turn up in matching outfits looking calm and full of cheer. Their kids never bitch and moan. Their husband doesn’t give them a dust buster (and you know they have a husband…everyone has a husband, kids, a holiday home and matching outfits at Christmas right?).

    Oh and then they start reflecting upon the year that was. The raise, the promotion, the climbing of Everest, the losing of the ten kilograms and their new ability to tango.

    And so maybe you were already feeling a bit flat – you’ve lost a loved-one, a job or a dream this year. You have to go to the in-laws and you want to go to your family (sorry even when we love our in-laws this is a BIG bone of contention for many), the Christmas angel you’ve had since you were ten is missing and your burnt those goddamned Christmas cookies (and I’m not even going to mention the gingerbread house) and then you look around and see everyone else’s life and it looks PERFECT.

    So I have one thing to tell you. This is a lie.

    Remember those bragging Christmas letters you used to get? A perfect family’s year condensed into a page? Remember those. Back when I had a small child and had struggled with infertility I advised a friend who was then struggling NOT to read the letters that year. “Don’t do it to yourself.”

    Well social media is the eternal Christmas brag letter and you need to know that. Those perfect Instagram selfies – remember someone worked hard to find one good shot. Those Pinterest handmade gifts – only the well-lit successes make the cut and Facebook, well no one shares a photo of the kid melting down on Christmas morning. No one.

    People think social media brings us together, and it does in some ways, but it also tears us apart, inside where they demons live. This is our fault too. When you share a perfect photo of your dog in antlers and you get 59 likes. If you say you’re feeling low – no comments, no likes, no one reaches out. We like using social media to create the illusion of connection because mostly we just talk about ourselves – just like in that Christmas letter – but it’s only a true connection if you actually reach out to people in a responsive way.

    What’s the point of this post? Be kind to yourself. Step away from social media and go be social. Phone a friend. Meet someone for coffee or lunch or cocktails, especially if that someone is having a tough time.

    And remember – you do not have to read the Christmas letter.

  • Blog

    Sometimes, it’s got to be Christmas – a Holiday guest post from Deb Nam-Krane

    12/3/2013

    Deborah Nam-KraneSometimes it has to be Christmas
    I confess: I can be a bit of a Scrooge. When I was younger, I loved the idea of the magic of Christmas and the rest of the solstice holidays, but as I’ve gotten older it’s become more of an indulgence in crass commercialism. “Buy this, and everyone will love you because they’ll know how much you love them!” or “If you’re a good citizen, you’re going to buy a lot- the economy depends on you!”

    But while I prefer to mark December 25th with the ancient traditions of my people (a movie and Chinese food), I’d have to be living in a hermetically sealed bubble without access to any other people not to notice that “the holidays” are an important part of everyone’s lives, whether they like it or not. If nothing else, they focus the attention on people gathering together and making an effort to show their appreciation of those who are important to them. If that frequently takes the form of sweaters (worn with or without irony) and way too many baked goods, maybe that’s not such a terrible thing.

    Given that the first book in my series The New Pioneers is filled with college students in a famous college town, it would have been foolish not to have taken advantage of the drama that comes with Christmas. The break in classes, the scramble to travel, the young/new adults who are trying to establish new traditions, the return of important characters and, of course, the potential to meet friends of friends: it’s pretty clear why many YA and NA writers would include at least one Christmas scene.

    In The Smartest Girl in the Room, Christmas is a time that my heroine Emily feels unrooted after saying goodbye to both her best friend and her new boyfriend and not having a home of her own to return to. She enters into an unfamiliar situation even though she’s positive she’ll be outclassed. Instead, she’s introduced to a very important character with a surprising connection to some of her new- and old- friends. But clarity is postponed by the return of a prodigal son (or in this case, cousin)- and the “gift” Emily receives is to be rushed out before she can meet him.

    This is a pivotal moment in my story, and if Christmas hadn’t been available I could have worked it into, maybe, Spring Break. But while I would have had a very good reason for getting people out of town, getting important people back into town would have been harder to explain (unless people usually have a good reason to return to Boston in March or Spring that I don’t know about). It also would have meant moving the entire timeline of my story around; instead of beginning in autumn, I would have had to have started in winter, and then I would have had to have changed some of the catalysts for my story. Doable? Yes. But ask any writer what happens to a story you have to massage one too many times.

    So this year, instead of channeling my usual “Bah Humbug!”, I’m going to wink just a little bit when December 25th rolls around- right after I leave a movie theater and head to my favorite Chinese restaurant.

    About Deb and her writing.

    Deborah Nam-Krane came up with the kernel of The New Pioneers series when she was barely a teenager. It only took 27 years, but she’s finally ready to let the world read it. The Smartest Girl in the Room was released in late March of 2013 and The Family You Choose was released exactly six months later in September of 2013. The China Doll will be released (fingers crossed) by the end of December.

    The Smartest Girl in the Room

    Nineteen year old Emily wants her college diploma fast, and she’s going to get it. But when the perfect night with perfect Mitch leads her to a broken heart, Emily is blind to her vulnerability. When the person she cares about the most is hurt as a result, Emily’s ambition gives way to more than a little ruthlessness. She’s going to use her smarts to take care of herself and protect the people she loves, and everyone else had better stay out of her way. But shouldn’t the smartest girl everyone knows realize that the ones she’d cross the line for would do the same for her?

    The Family You Choose

    Miranda Harel has been in love with her guardian Alex Sheldon since she was five years old, and Michael Abbot has despised them both for just as long. When Miranda finds out why she wants both men out of her life for good and questions everything she believed about where and who she came from. Finding out the truth will break her heart. Without family or true love, will her friends be enough to bring her back?

    Please connect with Deborah Nam-Krane on any of the following sites:

    Join her mail list to find out first about new releases

    Written By Deb

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    Comment

    Deborah Nam-Krane
    12/3/2013 10:45:10 am

    Thanks for having me Monique!