Quick quote

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.
- Joseph Campbell

Happy Holidays!

Here's a sprinkling of fairy dust to make all your wishes come true. Have a blessed holiday season!

Christmas Reading

This wasn't on my Christmas reading list, since I already have a teetering pile of books to read and this was the newest addition to the pile. But I'm so glad I did. This book was an even better way to spend an evening than a feast of red wine and dark chocolate!

India Grey's newest book, Her Last Night of Innocence, was an incredible read, packed full of intense emotions and believable characters. The story is set against the backdrop of F1 motor racing, of which I'm a huge fan, and I loved the way in which India handled the motor racing scenes.

There are far better book reviews out there, but a few of the things I loved ...

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Apart from being an excellent read, there were moments when I had to laugh out loud at India Grey's cleverness. Like the line where she uses words typical of purple prose but in a completely unique combination:
"Cristiano’s eyelids flickered for a second as beneath the water she took hold of his throbbing erection and held it for a quivering moment ..."

And then there's the delightful moment when a minor character, Nurse Parks, is reading a romance novel while on duty: “She’d just reached a really good bit, where the heroine had vowed she’d rather die than let the gorgeous Italian hero know about the child she was carrying. That was all very well in books …” then the gorgeous Italian hero walks into the ward to claim his secret love child!

Finally, and I'm note sure whether this was accidental or intentional, but all the book's character have the surnames of known racing drivers: Maresca (US driver Mario Maresca), Edwards (US driver  John Edwards), Hill (Graham & Damon Hill), Fournier (Henri Fournier, early 1900s), Watson (former Irish racer John Watson) and Parks (1960s Paul Parks, drag racer Wally Parks & 60s Ferrari driver Michael Parkes).

I had only one gripe with this book. Much though I love the new M&B covers, this is one book where the designers got it very, very wrong. The only evening gown the heroine wears in this novel is blue, not gold. She's blonde, not brunette. And apart from a couple of scenes set in Monaco, this book has nothing to do with gambling or card games - unless you count the hero gambling with his life on the race track.

But don't let the cover stop you. You owe it to yourself to read this book.

Winner announcement

I've announced the winners over at my Rae Summers blog. Congratulations to Jennifer Mathis and Rachel Lyndhurst. They both win Christmas tree decorations courtesy of The Rainforest Site.

The Rainforest Site is offering all Christmas ornaments at half price, so check out the sale!

Interesting quotation

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart and soul.
- From Bernard Baruch (courtesy of a Huletts sugar packet)

Whew!

The day job just got really busy. Since I've had a quiet run for the last two months I've almost forgotten how to do the job! I'll be absent for the next week or so until I get on top of the workload. Have fun while I'm gone!

Take on Amazon Web Splash

Author Talli Roland is conducting an interesting experiment. She's using social media to take on Amazon today, and would appreciate our support. 

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Help Talli's debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.

Coming soon in paperback.  Keep up with the latest at www.talliroland.com.

About THE HATING GAME:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £2000,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end? 

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Reviews & Tags

 

If you do buy The Hating Game and you like it, a review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated! If you don't have an Amazon account, you can also post reviews on Goodreads. Thank you!

If you are on Amazon and in a clicking sort of mood, it would be fantastic if you could click on a few tags ('Tags Customers Associate with this Product' - located underneath the Product Description). Cheers!