Visit Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks from May 22nd – May 31st and create your SUMMER OF LOVE Mixtape for a chance to win a trip for YOU and THREE friends to Las Vegas.
*No purchase necessary. Ends May 31, 2013.
One lucky Luxury Reading winner will also win a fabulous beach bag with summer essentials from hot brands such as O.P.I., Evian, Not Your Mother’s Hair Care, and Unisun Eyewear!
Enter below – open to US Residents only.
Please welcome Angela Hunt, author of The Offering, who is touring the blogosphere with Litfuse Publicity!
Reviewed by Amanda Schafer
I do not begin to presume I have all the answers, but I love it when authors write books that tackle tough subjects and do it in such a way that leaves the reader satisfied with the decisions of the characters even if they might not particularly agree with it. The Offering is such a book.
Mandy Lisandra is married to her protective Cuban husband who is a part of a Special Forces Team with the military and they have a beautiful daughter named Marilee. Their extended family is loving and boisterous and full of pride in their heritage. Mandy works at her in-laws’ Cuban grocery but knows that money is tight and they’ll never get where they want to be without more income. Mandy decides to become a gestational donor, basically being a surrogate for a couple who cannot have their own biological child. Gideon is hesitant at first but comes around and agrees to Mandy’s idea.
After some time, Mandy becomes pregnant with a French couple’s baby and she begins the long journey of carrying their baby to term. During her pregnancy, Gideon goes on special missions a few times and Mandy struggles emotionally to make it through those weeks. She emails constantly with the Amblours in France to keep them updated on the progress and they are anxiously awaiting that one call to know that Mandy is in labor. When bad news comes from the military, it throws Mandy into labor and she gives birth to a healthy baby boy.
Dealing with her own losses, Mandy sells her house and moves in with her in-laws while she gains her footing and finds her way. Two years pass and Mandy is finally able to see a picture of the baby she bore for the Amblours. What she sees is her husband’s eyes, mouth, and coloring. Knowing in her heart that this is her own son, Mandy decides to embark on a fight to get back the child she handed over two years before. But can she do it? Can she really rip this boy away from the only family and only home that he’s ever known? Or does she love him enough to let him go?
Angela Hunt is a wonderful author and I believe she’s hit a home run with this novel. While some of her novels are intense, The Offering seems to tackle something that will resonate with every mother who picks it up. What would *I* do if it were *my* child living with another couple? How far would *I* go to get him back? I don’t believe any of us can know for sure how we would behave, but Hunt finds a way to show us both sides of the decision.
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Amanda lives in Missouri with her engineering husband, two sons, and one daughter. In between homeschooling and keeping up with church activities she loves to read Christian Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and any Chick-Lit. She never goes anywhere without a book to read!
Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Howard Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Pin Itby Sara Stringer
As a book lover, I often overspend on books, much to the chagrin of my wallet. Before my eReader, I was spending hundreds of dollars a year on hardcover favorites and trashy paperbacks. It wasn’t pretty, but as a voracious reader that was the amount of books I needed to sustain my appetite.
I can’t tell you the countless times I went into a bookstore hoping to only purchase one book and came out with a sack full of them. Only, with books, you never have buyer’s remorse, because they’re such fantastic things. You simply become broke over time and are left scratching your head, wondering just how you became so carried away.
Since I received my eReader for Christmas a year and a half ago, I’ve learned to save so much money on books. I don’t just buy eBooks. I also buy paperbacks and hardcovers, but I’m buying them less and employing some savings tips I’ve picked up along with way. For you book shopaholics out there, these tips are designed to help you satisfy your literary cravings without depleting your savings.
Read Free eBooks
Even if you don’t have an eReader, Kindle and others offer their applications for free. This means you can download free books onto your phone, tablet, or computer. There are millions of free eBooks out there. Some may even be available from your favorite authors. For romance lovers, nearly every Jane Austin novel is available at no charge, as an eBook.
Go to the Library
Libraries are now lending to eReaders, so even if you’ve made the change to digital, you can still borrow your favorite authors. If you haven’t made the switch from paper to digital, then the library is home to thousands of free books, just waiting to be borrowed. Your continued patronage keeps this wonderful establishment in business, so visit often. Plus, your library card is free, it’s among the original no annual fee cards.
Buy Used Books
Amazon.com has so many used books, all sold at a magnificent discount. If online shopping isn’t your thing, you can find used books at garage sales, book swaps, and used book sales. Many consignment shops and thrift stores are also home to a large amount of used books. You may even want to call up a few of your literary inclined friends and host your own book swap, trading your collection for a new one.
Employ Smart Savings Strategies
If you really can’t curb your addiction to hot-off-the-racks, full-price bestsellers, then maybe you need to employ smarter savings. You can pick a date each month to do your book shopping and then save for this date. Save what you can and spend only what you save. Be smart with your money. If you lose your job, don’t take an early payout on your 401k. You should be asking yourself questions like, “can I rollover my 401k into a Roth IRA?”
Join a Rewards Program
Again if buying used just isn’t for you, it’s time to get smart about how you’re spending at the bookstore. You should join your bookstore’s rewards program. These programs are typically free to join and result in discounts, free shipping, and sometimes even free books.
Wait…
Finally, it’s all about when you buy, as opposed to what you buy. Of course, James Patterson’s newest novel is going to cost a lot more when you buy it the day it hits the shelves. New releases sell for more than older titles. So, wait for the price to go down and you’ll save big.
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Reviewed by Alysia George
There is a sad, shameful chapter of American history that I knew nothing about until reading Christine Baker Kline’s novel, Orphan Train. Less than 100 years ago, orphaned children were herded onto trains and taken as far west as it took to get them adopted. At each stop they were treated as commodities, and handed over to just about anyone who was willing to take them. Adoption was not necessary, just a roof, food, and schooling. Since no one was closely monitored, even these basic essentials were more theoretical than anything. Unless they were cute little babies, the children were typically chosen by their new guardians for their strength and abilities. Essentially, they were free labor and household help. It was a time of great widespread hardship in this country, so poverty was a normal state for many. Therefore, the children were often given over to despicable living conditions, with the attitude that it had to be better than living in an orphanage or on the streets.
Orphan Train chronicles two parallel stories, one of a modern day teenager in the year 2011, and another of a Depression era young girl beginning in the year 1929. One is experiencing the trials and tribulations of the foster care system, and the other is a rider of an orphan train. When 17-year old Molly meets a rich old lady, Vivian, she cannot imagine that they will have anything in common. Before long it becomes clear that they are kindred spirits and an unlikely friendship is formed.
Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, Orphan Train is the story of a lonesome way of life, not just for Molly and Vivian, but for thousands of other children who have endured (and continue to endure) similar hardships. Some children are lucky and find themselves in loving homes, treated as family. Others are not so lucky, and although they may (or may not) be safe and cared for on the surface, they may not feel loved or feel truly a part of a family. They may feel that they have been chosen for a home based on what they can bring to that home (today, payment for foster parents), and sadly, in many cases that is the ugly truth. While conditions may have improved, and safeguards are in place that were not there in the days of the orphan trains, the experiences of the children are not so different.
Rating:
Alysia lives in Metro Detroit with her husband and four children. She writes about family life, parenting issues, and other things of interest to her on her blog, Michigal.
Review copy was provided free of any obligation by William Morrow Paperbacks. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
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Personalized books and other personalized baby gifts are available through Chronicle Books. Fun and color in useful gifts that are extra special help babies to enjoy themselves and develop. These unique gifts that incorporate their name are personalized presents designed for infants in their first year of life.
Celebrating a new person for baby showers, first birthdays and just to celebrate the new person, customers can select something that has the baby’s name on it. Here are some of the fabulous items at Chronicle Books that make superb gifts:
First gifts for babies’ first birthdays and first Christmases are two of the best times to give gifts that are personalized. Princesses, trucks and adorable animals are some of the popular characters found on items on which personalization is possible. The name font is decorative with artistic lettering, but it is easy to read. Gifts that the little one can enjoy and first gifts that work well as keepsakes for the child are found at Chronicle Books.
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Please join Joanna Hershon, author of A Dual Inheritance, as she tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours.
Enter to win a copy below – open to US only.
Reviewed by Jax Kepple
Spanning the course of fifty years, A Dual Inheritance covers jealousy, wealth, love, longing, family and friendship as it affects the lives of first Ed Cantowitz and Hugh Shipley, and then their daughters Rebecca and Vivi. Author Joanna Hershon sets up the story right at the moment Ed and Hugh meet, and the story progresses chronologically through the ups and downs of their lives in the early 1970s, and then switches over to the entwined lives of their daughters, who meet at boarding school and bring the story up to present day.
When Ed and Hugh meet at Harvard while they are undergrads, they quickly become friends; the perfect compliments to each other. Hugh comes from old money, and his future is planned out for him but he can’t deny that deep down he wants to do more with his life. So he goes to Africa to start medical clinics and along the way marries his high school sweetheart, Helen. Ed has always resented and is extremely jealous of old wealth and how Hugh always has had everything given to him so easily, and decides to do whatever it takes to achieve immense wealth. After going to Helen’s parents’ house for a weekend getaway, Ed meets Helen’s father, who offers him a summer job and Ed begins his high profile career on Wall Street. After a chance encounter with Helen before she is due to leave for Africa, Ed becomes very bitter about everything and cuts Hugh and Helen off. He winds up marrying another motivated, high achieving woman, Jill, and together they become a New York City power couple.
Vivi and Rebecca’s story is not as intense until after an existential crisis that leads Rebecca to quit her job and break up with her boyfriend. Suddenly, Rebecca finds herself in Africa alone with Hugh and has an epiphany. I felt as though Vivi’s character was a tad underdeveloped, and she was clearly the least likable out of everyone, even though Hugh and Ed do some very questionable things. I liked how, while Rebecca and Vivi both portrayed aspects of their fathers, they were able to get past it and form a lasting friendship.
I truly enjoyed Hershon’s writing style – she is able to convey what each character is thinking and their motivations without being too simplistic. The story was a bit unpredictable but had a satisfying ending, after each character has gone through the ringer, personally and professionally. The result is a rich, layered story about how life is imperfect but it’s important to keep those you care about close.
Rating: 
Jax is in an accountant at a hedge fund. She resides in NYC with her husband.
Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Ballantine Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
