Guest Post: Laura Donohue

Becoming a Writer

First Sight is the first book I completed, but it wasn’t the first book I ever wrote.  I started writing my very first novel almost ten years ago.  I had a great idea, excitedly told a few people about it, created an outline, starting writing…and never finished it.  I still have my first draft, but I just couldn’t get the storyline to go where I wanted it to.

Long before then, I was always writing something.  Just as some people have loved to read since they were kids, I’ve always loved to write.  Reading is an escape, an adventure, and the perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon.  As much as I’ve always enjoyed escaping in a book, I’ve also always loved coming up with my own stories.

As a kid, I’d write my own pretend stories and articles.  When I was a college student, I enjoyed mostly nonfiction.  You know those students that hated term papers?  I wasn’t one of them!  I have an English degree, and researching, drafting, and coming up with my thesis and argument were challenges I enjoyed.

It wasn’t until after college that I started writing fiction again.  I had so many stories I wanted to get down on paper that it was almost difficult to decide which one to start with.

When I had the idea for Maddy and Travis’s story, I started writing and couldn’t stop.  I’d come home from work and write late into the night.  I’d spend time on weekends, vacations, and even occasionally my lunch break if I had an idea that I just had to get down on paper.

I remember once at a job interview (I’ve been a writer/editor for fifteen years), the interviewer asked what I liked to do in my free time. I said reading and writing.  How’s that for making a career out of something you love?

Have you ever had a book you just couldn’t put down?  That’s how I feel when writing.  I just can’t wait to get the story down on paper to see where it goes.  Nothing is better than watching your characters grow and coming to a satisfying conclusion.

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About Laura Donohue

Laura Donohue pictureLaura Donohue is a graduate of George Mason University. She spent ten years working as a technical writer and editor before publishing her first novel. She lives in Washington DC with her husband and daughter.

Contact Laura Donohue

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First Sight Cover

Maddy Smith writes for a trendy website in Washington DC, has two fabulous best friends, and her own apartment. When a girl’s night out ends with her locking eyes with the handsome stranger across the room, the last thing she expects is for him to show up at her office on Monday morning.

Travis Emerson, her attractive and single new colleague, just moved to town. Although an immediate friendship between Maddy and Travis forms, she soon finds herself wishing for something more. After a misunderstanding between them occurs, not only is her hope for a relationship ruined, but their friendship is in jeopardy as well. Is any chance that Maddy had with Travis over? Or could he possibly be what she’s been looking for all along?

Follow Maddy and Travis on a series of adventures that will quickly have you cheering them on. First date jitters? Not when you’ve been in love since First Sight!

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***Book cover and author picture provided by the publisher.***

***I also work for Booktrope Publishing but do not receive monetary compensation from sales of First Sight by Laura Donohue.***

Review: Miss Taken

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Love……………………The Ultimate Loss of Control

Rain and Raven Medici are identical twins. Although they come from a loving close-knit family their childhoods couldn’t have been more different. Raven went to school and was exposed freely to the outside world. Rain on the other hand was born with a blood disorder and denied many normal childhood experiences.

Once grown, Raven becomes a lawyer at their dad’s firm Kane & Medici in NYC. Rain along with her only childhood friend Tommy Conte, builds a very successful business as professional photographers. Traveling between Europe and Manhattan, and enjoying a world that was kept from her, Rain vows never to be controlled again.

Dominick Kane is a product of his upbringing. He’s powerful, self-assured and knows he can achieve anything he desires. Nothing gets in his way. There is only one thing he has ever failed at. A relationship with his father Vincent Kane. Upon his father’s death, Dominick vows revenge. The events he sets in motion put him on a collision course he himself will be unable to control.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Dominick kidnaps Raven as part of his plan for revenge. Only to discover afterward, he has taken Rain by mistake. Rain knows she can never survive being confined again. So she strikes a bargain with the devil and agrees to help Dominick get back what he feels rightly belongs to him. His father’s share of Kane & Medici.

Dominick decides to use the strong attraction growing between Rain and himself to control her in every way imaginable. Too bad no one ever taught Dominick you can’t control the heart. Nothing could have prepared him for the effect Rain would have on his.

Will this plan of revenge turn into unconditional love? Or will Dominick and Rain’s need for control ultimately destroy them and any possible chance for a real future
together…….

(Blurb from Goodreads)

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I kept going in cycles in this book. I love it….I’m getting bored, did Rain just take him back again? And repeat.

As you can see from the blurb (because I hate giving anything away) Rain falls for Dominick aka her kidnapper. While I actually don’t have a problem accepting that, I do have a problem with how fast it happened, and how she just agrees to things that I feel like don’t benefit her. Sometimes I was just like, why are you staying?! Why are you helping him??

But.

The fact that I had such a reaction means that I was invested in the book, and therefore Ms. Scornavacca did a good job. 🙂

Like I mentioned above, I did have a lot of back and forth liking and getting bored problems with this book, but overall I DID like it. I just wished that Rain had a bit more of a backbone.

My Rating: 3 1/2 stars

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***I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.***

Review: Hopeless

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever. 

(Blurb from Goodreads)

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So I thought that this was my first Colleen Hoover book, but I totally forgot that I had read Slammed and Point of Retreat a long while back. (Common mistake amongst huge readers like myself.)

I remember when I downloaded this book I had heard somewhere that it was a dark read, and yes it was. If you’re looking for a light young adult read-this isn’t it. It IS of course, very well done, the writing is great, the characters have depth, but it does get dark. I don’t want to say much more about the how or why it’s so dark because I don’t want to give anything away.

I loved Sky’s best friend, Six, and the moments that they have together. It just gives the story the extra push, and some humorous moments as well.

One thing that bothered me a bit was how far the story went. I felt like things just kept getting worse and worse to eventually unbelievable. Yes, I know it’s a book and fiction, but I felt like the story took it a little too far. I felt as though if one of those scenes was missing then it would be more believable. (Again, I’m being vague on purpose.)

That being said, it is a great book. Just make sure you’re in the right mood for it before you start.

My Rating: 4 stars

04

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Review: Risking Ruin

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

 

Marisa Tanner’s most important client, multi-billion dollar family-owned Brannon Company, has been sued by nine of its employees for sexual harassment. Marisa is a pro at handling sexual harassment allegations, but will she be able to handle the CEO’s prodigal son as well as she can handle the lawsuits? 

Clients are off-limits and Marisa could lose her law license and livelihood, but Memphis playboy Trip keeps making strong plays for her. 

Their attraction is undeniable and chemistry electric. Can she have her career and Trip, too, or will she have to choose? 

A steamy debut novel by Mae Wood, “Risking Ruin” is a stand alone novel that blends the tone of chick-lit and the sensuality of contemporary romance to create a landscape filled with strong characters in the lush environment of Memphis, Tennessee.

(Blurb from Goodreads)

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What a great debut novel by Mae Wood!! I love a confident protagonist, and Marisa was just that. The characters had depth and the story was believable. I had no trouble at all getting lost in the fictional world that Wood created, in fact, I looked forward to picking it up every night before I went to bed until I finished it.

I only have one teeny tiny complaint – the way that Marisa takes her coffee – milky white. I’m fine with this, I love coffee myself, but the words “milky white” where just mentioned a few too many times.

Other than that it was seriously a great read. Fantastic job Ms. Wood!

My Rating: 4 stars

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***I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.***

Book Blitz: Flawed and Damaged


 

Book Title:  Flawed and Damaged

Author:  Emily Krat

Genre: New Adult/Contemporary Romance

Release Date:  July 22, 2014

Two people haunted by their past…
The collision of two damaged hearts…
Meet Elizabeth Williams. She is at the airport on an important work assignment. If everything goes smoothly, after three years of hard work, she’ll get a promotion and a much-needed raise. Elizabeth is putting her life back on track after it was ripped out from under her feet four years ago when she lost her parents along with all her dreams. Standing here, she believes her life is going to change for the better any moment now. Nothing can go wrong, right?
Meet Ryan Price. He came to Moscow on business. Right now, Ryan is standing at the airport looking at a ‘present’ from his brother, judging by the sign a beautiful young woman is holding. Damn his brother for not cancelling this arrangement as Ryan asked.
Miscommunications and misunderstandings and a love story begins.
There will be a scary flight, lovely breakfasts, long evening conversations, sharing a secret or two, discovering one another, a lot of laughter, tender moments and some tears, a fight and, of course, the I-am-ready-for-the-end-of-the-world kiss.
Somewhere along the way, they won’t be able to fight their feelings any longer.
For the first time in his life, Ryan will experience a different shade of lust. And for the first time in her life, Elizabeth will have to trust despite all of the times she has been hurt.
Will these two wounded lost souls find love, peace and comfort in each other or will they just break each other more? Is it a train wreck of a love story or a happily ever after?
 
“Ryan, I love you.” He looks confused, but relief is evident in his eyes, so I continue. “It was wrong of me to tell you about my feelings like I did yesterday. I was being a coward. I’m glad you shared all this with me. I won’t run, Ryan.”
“But, I don’t understand. How can you love me? Even after I told you about what I’ve done … How can you love someone so … horrible?” he says bitterly.
“You are not horrible, Ryan. I know it. I feel it.”
“How?” The desperation in his voice squeezes my chest.
I stare into the deep green pools that are his eyes and wonder how I can show him what I see.
“In here,” I point to my heart, “I believe my heart. And from what you told me, I can tell that you had no family except Mark. You were a kid at thirteen who didn’t want to lose his brother, you were a young man who sacrificed his own freedom for someone he loved the most. Now you are a big business mogul who may be harsh toward his employees, but puts them first even when seeking revenge. It’s an honor for me to love someone as devoted as you.”
“Liz, I’ve lied – ” I interrupt him.
“We are people, Ryan. We all make mistakes. You think I’m so pure? I wanted to use David to stay in Seattle. I agreed to marry someone for my own selfish reasons. Then I came to Russia and spent more than six months making my Granny’s life a living hell. She lost her only daughter. I never once thought about her feelings. She was old, she needed my care, and all I did was sulk for my old life. Even with you, how do you know I’m not using you? Maybe I just like this sense of fulfillment I feel with you that overwhelms the loneliness I’ve felt for so long. I am not a saint, Ryan. I also did awful things.”
Ryan contemplates my words for several minutes. Then says quietly, “I lied to you.”
I sigh. Now I don’t like the direction this conversation is taking. “You already told me that you didn’t need an assistant. There’s more?”
“I read your journal.” 
The blood drains from my face.
“You what?” My voice trembles.
“When we were in Nice – the night you got drunk with Mark – I saw your notebook and I read it.”
“I … I …” No words come out of my mouth because I don’t have any. I can’t believe he did it. I wrote my sacred thoughts there, poured some raw feelings on those pages. They were never meant for anyone’s eyes other than mine.
“I’m sorry I did it. I was at a loss, I couldn’t understand what I was feeling for you.”
“So you read my journal to understand yourself? Ryan, it’s private. I poured my soul there. How could you do this?” I may be screaming now, but I don’t care. Some boundaries can’t be crossed.
“That’s who I am, Elizabeth. I don’t care about people’s privacy.”
“I’m so mad at you right now. I don’t even know what to say. Is that all?”
“No.”
Oh God!
“Tell me.” He almost looks scared. That’s when I know there are so many more lies he doesn’t want to tell me about. “Now, Ryan. You are going to tell me every damn thing. You owe me this.”

 

 

 
 
Always an avid reader who consumes whole books in a single day, Emily Krat is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page. For her writing stories and developing ideas for novels is a true passion and a dream come true. Emily is a chocolate junkie, “Grey’s Anatomy” fan, and admirer of good music. She loves summer rains, warm blankets on cold winter nights, as well as traveling, sleeping in late, watching TV shows, cooking, and baking. When she’s not writing or rewriting, she loves spending time with family and friends.
 
Find Emily at:
 
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***All images and text were provided by the author.***