Feature & Follow Friday #25 #FF – Blogger I Follow

Feature & Follow

 

This is a blog hop, a way to find and follow new blogs,

hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

You can follow me by using any one of the options over on the left sidebar.

This weeks question: Find a “new to you blogger” and feature their button on your post this week. Tell us why this blogger stands out to you. 

Paranormal Book Club

 

I mostly follow them through facebook, where they’re very active (and have over 20,000 followers!)  They have a ‘pimp your page’ post at least once a week, and they’ve helped me gain a ton of followers by posting my page on theirs.  They comment back and they just seem like a nice bunch.  🙂

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Pam

Labor Day Review

 

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  Labor Day

Author:  Joyce Maynard

Published:  2009 by William Morrow

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Purchase Labor Day from Amazon

 

 

It was the end of summer and Henry was just happy to be out of the house.  His mother, Adele, doesn’t like to leave the comforts of home, and going out has become a rarity.  They are at the store because Henry has grown and needs new clothes.  Henry is minding his own business reading a magazine when an injured man asks him for help.   He noticed that Henry came in the store with his mother, and he wants them to take him to their house.  Adele agrees.  Turns out, this man, Frank, is a fugitive and on the run, but Adele just takes the news in stride as does Henry.  A relationship ensues between Adele and Frank, but is it for real, or just another part of the fugitive’s plan to escape the law?

Adele is going to be brought up in a lot of book clubs.  Is she a bad mother?  Let’s see, she talks to Henry about things that are definitely inappropriate.  Adele is in dire need for a friend.  And since she only has one kind-of friend/acquaintance, Henry gets to listen to all of Adele’s thoughts some which he shouldn’t be privy too.

What about Henry’s dad?  Should he be the one raising Henry?  Well, Henry’s dad is remarried with a stepson and a new baby.  Henry did try living there, but poor kid just didn’t feel like he belonged in the ‘new’ family.

Back to Adele, what was she thinking bring a bleeding stranger home with her and her son?!?!  Again, she definitely has issues, and you do find out what they are.  She definitely needs companionship in her life.

And what about Frank the fugitive?  I wasn’t sure about him for a while.  Is he the bad guy?  Is he just faking his feelings for Adele?  For Henry?  Well, I guess you’re going to have to read it to find out.

One thing that just wasn’t for me was the style of writing.  The author didn’t use quotation marks at all during conversations between characters.  It was different, but not for me.

As some of you know, this book is now a major motion picture; and I haven’t had the chance to see it yet.   It was definitely a good book, just not life changing or great.  That’s why I gave it three stars.

 

My Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

03

 

~Pam

*****I purchased this book for myself.*****   

Guest Post – Author Andre Phillip-Hautecoeur

OUR ITINERARY

One Exquisite Night in Paris! Fantasy! Enchantment! Luxury!

Trip-or-Treat?

I defy anyone to suggest anything more wonderfully romantic than One Exquisite Night in Paris! I’m in a state of perfect anticipation, looking forward to the elation I will feel presenting Eff with one exquisite night in Paris—an anniversary night away. Our enchanting fantasy will start in New York as a surprise. I will have done all the preparation and packing, suggesting we go for a night on the town, using taxicabs to easily get around and avoid the necessity of assigning a “designated driver.” As the taxi heads toward the airport, I will find the first appropriate moment to disclose in most romantic terms—by presenting her a hand-calligraphed invitation, on watermarked card with matching envelope, reading, “Forget the moon: Dinner in Paris!”—that our night on the town will unfold as one exceptionally special night, and a dream, in Paris, France.

Accompanying the handwritten invitation will be a copy of the itinerary, defining each carefully chosen element, which perfectly culminates in our one unforgettable night. To start us off properly en route to the airport, it may be a good idea to have a half bottle of champagne, two paper cups, and some tissues at the ready. Of course, I will delay discussing what items I’ve packed since there will be no turning back.

My simple wish was to craft a day packed with a whirlwind of activity, bounding breathlessly from one enthralling occasion to another, leading to a magical evening of superbly delicate dining and a memorable midnight fantasy moment; after a night of exhaustingly seductive revelry, we’ll run ahead of the rising sun into the passionate arms of warm, all-embracing love—an all-consuming excursion, where fantasy and obsession are the only prevailing sentiments.

Coming from New York, you naturally strain under the six-hour time difference, with Paris being ahead. The plane ride, though seven hours, isn’t seven restful sleeping hours. Whether in first-class or coach, if you take the Air France 7:15 p.m. flight and go to sleep immediately, you might get five full hours of restful sleep. Still, that’s more than enough to sustain you through the next day’s romantic marathon. I’ve done it several times, where once I get to Paris in the morning, I don’t go to bed till sometime the next day. Once awake, the following days are normal. That is the only real cure for le de’calage horaire (jet lag)—stay awake. Be reminded that this one exquisite night in Paris represents the highpoint of romance and adventure. Lovers should lust to wring every drop of passionate excess from one day and night in the most wonderful city on earth designed purposefully for just such a night. There is plenty of time to sleep when returning home with a dream and a memory to last a lifetime.

Air France is always our first choice when going to Paris. Perhaps a small dose of Francophilia settles in even while at JFK. You get into the Air France plane, and—voila!—you’re already somewhere in French territory.   The 7:15 p.m. flight gets there at 8:35 a.m. And I don’t know how they do it, but even when we leave a little late, we still manage to get there on time. Maybe they just drive like mad.

Arrive in Paris, 8:35 a.m.

Arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport to be met by our luxury sedan, a Mercedes S500 (driver with hostess): “Welcome to Paris!” I imagine we’ll float our way through the suburbs, crossing the city in early-morning traffic, and glide to the Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne for a short stop to drop off our bags. Normally, unless you can arrange an exception, check-in isn’t until three in the afternoon; however, they will find some accommodation if you need to freshen up and change, probably at the luxurious hotel spa. A tight espresso and croissant croustillant at Chez Francis, a picture-perfect brasserie with outside seating, around the corner on the Place de l’Alma, facing the Eiffel Tower, would be as much as we’d need to freshen up and brace against the dawning day. The circle around the Place de l’Alma is always a hive of activity as tourists make their way to the Eiffel Tower while fashionably dressed Parisians focus on getting to their next appointments. Sitting with legs crossed at a sidewalk café directly facing the Eiffel Tower while sipping an espresso is the picture-perfect-postcard way to start the day in Paris.

About the Author:

Andre Phillip-Hautecoeur defines himself as, “…not a writer really.” He simply had an urge Andre Phillip-Hautecoeurto write something about Paris.

It’s the city exactly at the intersection of romance, history, fantasy and enchantment; everyone faces Paris in some form of a dream. He came to know and love Paris hanging onto the hem of his wife’s skirt. She’s Parisian, she’s everything French without constraint; she makes understanding all of Parisness a pleasure. An understanding which made him want to write.

Together they make home between New York and Paris. Shuttling back and forth continues to be the ultimate dream.

His latest book is the contemporary romance, One Exquisite Paris Night.

Visit his blog at www.ExquisiteNightinParis.blogspot.com.

Connect & Socialize with Andre

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

About the Book:

 One Exquisite Night in Paris

What’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever done?

Take a moment, close both eyes, summon your most exaggerated fantasy, and multiply by 1000.

Feel the extraordinary moment for a minute…then multiply it all by 1000 again.

That’s this story. It’s your story too.

If you were ever a little girl, or even a little boy with a romantic soul, you would have known very early on, that someday love would require you to do wonderfully ridiculous things.

And so, I’m going to explain to you, why the most intriguing thing you will ever want to do, is get on a plane and fly to an exotic dinner, at some elegant trois-étoiles across the ocean in Paris.

Purchase your copy at Amazon

 

Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE.

 

One Exquisite Night in Paris banner

 

***All images and text provided by Pump Up Your Book***

Feature & Follow Friday #24 – To read again for the first time #FF

Feature & Follow

This is a blog hop, a way to find and follow new blogs,

hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

You can follow me by using any one of the options over on the left sidebar.

This weeks question:  If you could read a book for the “first time” again, which book would it be? Why?

Ok, I’m going to pick two for the same reason.  The Hunger Games and The Tea Rose.

Both were suspenseful and I read them so fast because I had to see what happened next.  I hated some characters and routed for others.  I love these kinds of books that just suck you in, and even during the awful things that are happening to the characters you love, you just can’t look away.

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

~Pam

Never Say Goodbye Spotlight & #Giveaway

Never Say Goodbye

 

Synopsis:

**This contains graphic sexual content and situations suitable for readers 18+**

Liv’s childhood best friend, who she’s been inseparable from her entire childhood, moves out of state. She’s devastated and forced to move on with her life without “her everything.”

Luckily, she finds a new best friend, Brynn. These two have been best friends for so long; they decide to attend the same college as roommates.

After things don’t turn out so well with a failed relationship, Liv chooses to forgo any romantic commitments. She’s in college after all, so why not enjoy being single and free?

Brynn however is in a happy relationship and wants nothing more than for her best friend to be in one too. As much as she tries to play matchmaker, Liv refuses to be tied down. Unfortunately, when it’s least expected, someone at school makes Liv’s world turn upside-down. As much as she doesn’t want him to affect her, he does.

To make matters worse, Brynn’s boyfriend knows more about Liv then he realizes and eventually he’s able to put the pieces of her past together.

When tragedy strikes, the past and the present collide, allowing secrets to come out and change everything.

Will friendships be torn and goodbye’s said or will they keep their promise and never say goodbye?

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Purchase Never Say Goodbye from Amazon

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Excerpt

I just look at him, shocked and speechless.  Here, I never once forgot about him and he looks like he can’t wait to get away from me. ME.

Before I say anything he starts talking, he lets out a frustrated sign, “Yes O, I do remember you, but that was a long time ago.  You don’t know me or anything about me now,” he states surprising me.

“Why are you being so rude?” I ask confused and hurt, because it’s been so long since I’ve heard him call me by the nickname O, the one he gave to me when we were kids. 

“I’m not, I just don’t want anything to do with you,” he says looking intently at me.

“Why not?” I can’t believe he’s being this mean, this guy, one I freaking would have done anything for, and here he is being rude and wants nothing to do with me.  What the hell did I do to him?

“Like I said, I’m not that stupid little boy anymore.  We know nothing about one another and I don’t want to know you.  Stay away from me,” he says harshly.

I feel like I want to cry, but I won’t do that in front of him.  Instead I look him dead in the eyes, “You grew up and became an a**hole,” and then I storm off towards the library, never looking back.

About the Author

T. Renee Fike is a born and raised country girl from Pennsylvania.  When T. Renee isn’t T R Fikewriting, she’s working her full-time day job, or pursuing her Master’s degree.  Aside from work and school, she enjoys hanging out with friends, reading a good book, watching football, (GO EAGLES) or hanging out with her niece and nephew.

 

 

You can follow T. Renee Fike on:

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

***This giveaway is provided by the author; moonlightreader is in no way accountable***

***You must be at least 18 years old to enter***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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***Images and wording for this post were provided by the author***