Winner of "The Love Goddess' Cooking School"

To pick the winner, we assigned a number to each entry and asked Melissa Senate to pick the winning number. Here was her response:

I am randomly picking #1, even though that seems odd!

Thank you so much for entering the giveaway contest for "The Love Goddess' Cooking School." You've made my launch week all the more exciting! I've loved reading your comments about your favorite cooking rituals! If you read The Love Goddess' Cooking School, I hope you enjoy it--and I'd love to hear what you think afterward.

Thank you again and Happy Halloween!

xoxo Melissa Senate

Congrats to Jonita!

Thanks again for all your participation and to Melissa Senate for the interview and giveaway.

Don't forget to enter our giveaway for "Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis. (US only. Ends Monday at 6 pm EST.)

What we've been up to this fall

Melissa P:
Hey fellow Chick Lit lovers! I hope everyone has been having a fun and productive fall season so far. It has definitely been a busy and exciting time for me and I thought I would share what I have been up to with all of you.

My husband and I decided to go back east for our vacation this year to spend time with his siblings. We rented a beach house and spent an amazing 10 days in Boston, Cape Cod, and Nantucket. We almost had to cancel at the last minute because of hurricane Earl, but luck was on our side and we had gorgeous weather the entire vacation! Just days after we returned home to Arizona, we became an auntie and uncle for the 3rd time. My nephew Dylan was born September 18th and is the sweetest baby I have ever laid eyes on.

October has been so fun so far! My cousin Sam came from Cincinnati to celebrate my birthday with me and we had an absolute blast. We shopped, danced, got pedicures, went to the casino, and drank plenty of champagne. :) I was sad to see her go, but hopefully I will get to Cincinnati soon. Just 10 days after Sam left our aunt Rose came down from Cincy to visit as well. I guess that is a perk of living in sunny Arizona, lots of company all year long! Next up, my cousin Jessica from Cincinnati will be here in early December.
Last night, my family and I attended an annual Halloween party. We all went as characters from "Peter Pan." I hope all of you that celebrate Halloween had a fun and safe weekend. Save me some candy!
So that’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to out here in the desert. Thanks so much for supporting our site and we always welcome comments and suggestions!
Melissa P xo

Melissa A:
Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well and having a nice fall. I absolutely love this season. Especially when the trees change color and the leaves crunch under my feet. I'd love it more if there were a little bite in the air though. I haven't worn a sweater other than on the camping trip (more on that later). It's been unseasonably warm in Maryland! Anyway, things have been insanely busy for me these past couple of months. And I have a feeling it’s only going to get busier over the months ahead.
September was a whirlwind of cooking and having guests over. The month started with a visit from my parents and sister (from Illinois) and my older son’s fifth birthday party. Then we were swept up with the High Holidays. The first week was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. My parents stayed to celebrate with us and we hosted a couple of meals for friends in the neighborhood. Then, while Melissa P was holding her new nephew for the first time, I was fasting all day in observance of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. I didn’t make it the whole day through, but it probably didn’t help that I was reading “Good Enough to Eat” by Stacey Ballis at the time.

The next day, my husband put up our Sukkah and my sons and I decorated it on the inside. Sukkot came in with a crazy rain and wind storm and then excessive amounts of heat the whole weekend. Since we ate outside, we didn’t have much air conditioning. We did get to enjoy a barbecue in our Sukkah with some friends between the holidays. Then we had some friends in from NJ to visit for Shemini Atzeret (eighth day of Sukkot) and Simchat Torah (the day we bring the Torah back to the beginning). Before we knew it, October had arrived!
We spent the second weekend in October on a camping trip with some cousins. It was fun, but I think we’ll get a cabin instead of a tent, if we ever do it again. The boys had a blast though. They loved helping my husband make a fire. Thankfully, the rest of the month has been low key on the weekends. We went pumpkin picking one Sunday and I went to a spa for a whole day the following Sunday. Today, I took my sons trick-or-treating at a mall. It was fun, but got pretty crowded after a while. My older son dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine and my younger son refused to put on a costume but still liked getting candy.

The big news in my life right now is that I’m expecting a baby in late February (b’shaah tovah). I have not found out the gender yet and don’t plan to until it arrives. I love the element of surprise. For those of you who are wondering, "b'shaah tovah" means "in good time." Usually, people say this to a pregnant woman instead of "congrats," as to not jinx the pregnancy. I say it for myself for the same reasons.
Anyway, I've enjoyed getting to know some of you better and hope to get to know even more of you in the coming months! Feel free to e-mail me anytime!
~Melissa A

Winning Wednesday--October 27th

I will only be posting giveaways on this blog from now on. If you have a giveaway that ends before Wednesday of a given week, please feel free to post it at Chick Lit Central on Facebook. You're also welcome to contact me about any giveaways you would like to have listed. (Chick Lit only, please, unless it is for a gift card or book related device.)
Finally, I am no longer going to seek out contests to post. If they happen to show up in my Facebook or Twitter news feed or on my blog reader, I'll be sure to post them. If you think I won't see your contest, please send it to me so I can include it in this blog.
Thank you!

New giveaways:

"Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis
Chick Lit Central
US only
Ends November 1st at 6 pm EST

Win "The Love Goddess' Cooking School" by Melissa Senate from:
Chick Lit Central (a.k.a. The Two Melissas)
US/Canada only
Ends tomorrow at midnight EST

Chick Lit is Not Dead
Ends tonight

"All I Can Handle, I'm No Mother Teresa" by Kim Stagliano
Manic Mommy
Ends sometime next week

"Stay" by Allie Larkin
Book Bargains and Previews
Ends October 31st

"Hook, Line and Sink Him" by Jackie Pilossoph
Chick Lit Reviews
US/Canada only
Ends 10/30 at 12pm GMT

"Girl in Translation" by Jean KwokJenny Nelson
Ends sometime later this week

$20 Amazon Gift Card
Simply Stacie
Ends October 31st at 11:59 pm EST

Previously posted (still going on):

"Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks
Readaholic
US/Canada only. No PO Boxes.
Ends November 3rd.

"The Lies We Told" by Diane Chamberlain
4 the Luv of Sanity
Ends November 5th

Oberon Doll's Pram and signed copy of "Mini Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella
Silver Cross
UK Only
Ends November 8th at midnight GMT

"Swallow" by Tonya Plank
A Nut in a Nutshell
US only
Tonight at 10 pm EST

Congrats to The Book Chick for getting 250 followers to her blog! She's having a special giveaway to celebrate! See her blog for details. (Deadline: November 3rd at midnight EST)

Julie Cohen is giving away advanced copies of her novel, "Getting Away with It". (Deadline: Today)

Missed out on previous chances to win "She's Gone Country?" Well, look no further than A Novel Menagerie. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 31st)

Chick Lit is Not Dead invites you to Play Nooky with Liz and Lisa. (Deadline unknown)

Interview with Jill Shalvis and book giveaway

**Giveaway is now closed**

Jill Shalvis is the author of over four dozen romance novels and has just started a new series (Lucky Harbor) with "Simply Irresistible." We got an opportunity to learn more about Jill and found that she has a great sense of humor and is very easygoing. With Halloween coming up, we even asked her some holiday-themed questions and enjoyed her answers to those, as well. (After all, who isn't a "ho" for Jill's favorite treat?)

After you read what she has to say here, check out her blog for more insight into what makes her tick. She also has three copies of "Simply Irresistable" to give away to some lucky US readers.

MP: What is your usual writing routine?JS: I try to write while the kids are in school or at practice but to be honest I'm not very good at routines. I can write anywhere, in the carpool lane, on my deck supervising the trampoline play outside, or while watching one of my kids' games -- though I don't recommend that because inevitably someone will want to read my screen and if it's one of THOSE scenes, it can be very embarassing!!!

MP: How did you celebrate when your first book was published?JS: Wrote another. :)

MP: Do you ever suffer from Writer's Block? If you do, how do you remedy it?JS: Yes, I suffer. But I tie that bitchy muse up and crack the whip. Or ... I eat cookies. My favorite is plotting with my eyes closed (aka: taking a nap ...) My point is, I just keep at it and work thru it. But there's usually lots of whining involved.

MP: How do you like to spend your time when you aren't writing?JS: READING! And hiking. And READING. And eating ...

MP: Can you tell us a little bit about how the "Lucky Harbor" Series came to be and what is it about?
JS: When I started this series about three estranged sisters who get stuck together running a beach resort, I decided I was out of my mind. I don’t have sisters. I have a brother, and we like each other just fine. Then at the dinner table that very night, my three teenage heathens started bickering and fighting, and I just stared at them in awe and wonder.
I had my fodder! “Keep fighting,” I told them -- much to their utter shock, since I’ve spent the past fifteen years begging them to get along.
After that night, it was a piece of cake to write the sisters — Maddie, Tara, and Chloe — their claws barely sheathed, with resentment and affection vying for space.
So then all that I had left to do was find the three sexy guys who could handle them.
It just so happened that, at the time, my neighbor was having an addition put on her house. For six glorious weeks, there were a bunch of guys hanging off the roof and the walls, in perfect line of sight of my office.
Which is really my deck. It’s a wonder I got any work done at all.
So I sat in the sun and wrote while in the background cute, young, sweaty guys hammered, and sawed, and in general, made my day.
And on some days, they even took off their shirts. Those were my favorite days of all. But I digress …
I was working very hard, planning out conflicts and plot pacing and trying to nail down my hero. And given what I was looking at for inspiration, it shouldn’t be any surprise at all that the hero for this first book in the Lucky Harbor series, SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, turned out to be a master carpenter.
And a very sexy one at that.
I’m actually writing book two right now. I keep going out on the deck, sitting and patiently waiting, but my neighbor hasn’t hired any more sexy carpenters. Darn it.
Perhaps I need a new addition myself!

MA: Being a mother, where did you find the time to write over 4 dozen romance novels?
JS: Ha. Very carefully. There's the hours during school, when they're with friends, and ... drops head in shame ... I've been known to work while trying to watch their basketball games. Don't judge me. :)

MA: If "Simply Irresistible" were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
JS: Don't ask me this! :) It's too painful. The characters are so real in my head, and so ... mine ... that I can never cast my own books. No one is ever quite right. Is that awful?

MA: What do you like best about living by Lake Tahoe?
JS: Well it's not the bears, coyotes and raccoons, oh my. But definitely the scenery. And the change of pace from being a city girl turned mountain mama.

MA: What was the best Halloween costume you ever wore (or that one of your kids wore)?
JS: Well one year the girls all went as adorable little precious fairies ... and about an hour before we were going to go trick or treating it started snowing. Like two feet of snow. So we were all adorable little precious fairies, in full snow, thick gear from head to toe. Which meant we were fairies turned Michelin Men.

MA: What is your favorite kind of Halloween candy?
JS: Candy corn!! I'm a 'ho for candy corn.

Special thanks to Jill Shalvis for her entertaining answers to our questions and for offering the books for the giveaway!

How to win "Simply Irresistible":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

1. Please tell us: What was the best Halloween costume you've ever worn?
2. Please tell us: What is your favorite Halloween candy?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

US only. Giveaway ends Monday, November 1st, at 6 pm EST.

Winners of "Life After Yes" (giveaway, part 2)

To find the winners, we assigned everyone numbers by the order in which the entries came in (we only had one entry per person, as we didn't include bonuses this time) and used the Custom Random Number Generator. It chose numbers 11 and 15.

Congrats to Wanda and Julie(t) (Coberly) Farmer!

Thanks to everyone for participating and to Aidan for the books to give away!

Don't forget to enter our current giveaway:

"The Love Goddess' Cooking School" by Melissa Senate
US/Canada only
Ends Thursday at midnight EST

Winners of "Secrets and Sins"

To find the winners, Melissa A. assigned numbers to each entry and Melissa P. picked the numbers (without knowing to whom they were assigned).

Congrats to....

4-Jonita
17-PoCoKat
23-StereoQueenBee
39-Sarah
52-Linda Kish

Thanks again for all your participation! Thanks also to Jaishree Misra for the interview and to Charlotte Allen for arranging the interview and giveaway.

More opportunities to win books:

"Life After Yes" by Aidan Donnelley Rowley
You're not having deja vu! We had some more copies to give away. :)
US/Canada only. Ends TODAY at noon EST.

"The Love Goddess' Cooking School" by Melissa Senate
US/Canada only. Ends Thursday at midnight EST.

Book Review: Secrets to Happiness

By Melissa Amster


When I first dug in to "Secrets to Happiness," I had to question whether or not Sarah Dunn had been reading my e-mails between my best friend and myself. It seemed like everything one of us had said was written out word for word. This alone says how observant Ms. Dunn is when coming up with realistic sounding conversations.

"Secrets to Happiness" is about several New Yorkers and their quest for romantic, spiritual or even career-based satisfaction. The story starts with Holly and expands to some of her friends and acquaintances, as well as an ex-boyfriend. While Holly's quest for happiness involves a sick dog and a much younger lover, others embark on having affairs or dating people completely different from what they're used to.

The dialogue and situations in this story remind me of a cross between "Seinfeld" and "Sex and the City." There are some fun and even sweet parts that make this story a worthwhile read. However, I felt that other things could have been left out, such as a secondary character having their own story, which wasn't really necessary to move the plot along or some spiritual conversations that bordered on heavy and morose after a while.

Ms. Dunn creates some clever banter between her characters and gives almost all of them a realistic feel, making this an interesting and engaging story overall. I even feel like she was able to nicely tie up loose ends for all the characters, even for the one that didn't fit into the story as well as the others. I'd definitely be interested in reading more of her novels.

Interview with Melissa Senate and book giveaway

**Giveaway is now closed**

Today we have three Melissas in one "room." Not only that, but our maiden names begin with S, so we're all Melissa S, as well! Plus, Melissa A can relate to Melissa Senate's love for pop culture and being the mom of a son (or two, in Melissa A's case). Melissa P can relate about cooking because her husband is a chef and he owns a restaurant. She is also a writer. We found these common interests by interviewing the lovely Melissa Senate and finding out some fun facts about her, that we hope you will enjoy too!

If you like what you read, you can follow Melissa on Twitter, friend her on Facebook and visit her website.

Finally, Melissa has offered to give away one copy of "The Love Goddess' Cooking School" (which will be in stores tomorrow) to a lucky reader in the US or Canada.

Melissa P: What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?
Melissa S: I love reading in coffee shops, on those comfy overstuffed chairs with a strong mug of Sumatra coffee and a berry scone. Also love going to the movies in the middle of the day, but don’t get to sneak off too often. Reading and anything to do with pop culture are pretty much my favorite things to do.

Melissa P: What is your usual writing routine?
Melissa S: My best writing time is crack of dawn before anything can make an impression on me, whether the news or irresistible social media. So I pop out of bed at 5 a.m. and head to my desk and write for two hours before my 8 year old son wakes up. If I’m getting close to deadline, I’ll also write while he’s at school, otherwise I use those precious hours for my freelance work—writing jacket copy/back cover copy and freelance editing.

Melissa P: Did you celebrate when your first book was published?
Melissa S: Oh yeah! I threw a big launch party at a swanky lounge in my then neighborhood in New York City, and so many friends/coworkers/former coworkers from different eras of my life came to celebrate with me. That was a magical time.

Melissa P: What was your inspiration for “The Love Goddess’ Cooking School”?
Melissa S:: Dual inspiration: the first was my late grandmother, whose life was so interesting to me, yet she was so tightlipped about her past, her marriages, her early life on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and her parents, who came to America from Latvia. But during my many weekends with her as a kid, I noticed she’d open up a bit while we were cooking together in the kitchen. She’d let me scrub potatoes or wash vegetables, and I’d get an earful. Out of the kitchen, not a peep.

The other inspiration was my son, Max, who loves to cook with me. On his sixth birthday, while beating eggs for his beloved bacon and cheese frittata, he leaned close to the bowl of eggs and said into it, “Please let Mommy get me a rat, mouse, hamster or rabbit for my birthday. Please, please, please.” He stirred the eggs some more and made his fervent wish again. And over time, the combination of my thinking about my grandmother in the kitchen and my son’s wishing into his eggs (his wish did come true and he got 2 fancy pet rats (ugh) for his birthday!) inspired the novel.

Melissa A: Which of your characters (from any novel you’ve written) can you relate to the most? Least?
Melissa S:: I definitely relate most to Jane from See Jane Date. She wasn’t me, but I was her—if that makes any sense! I least related to the characters from my novel The Breakup Club, despite having been through quite a few breakups myself. I love that book, but those four main characters came from an interesting place inside me instead of “through” me, if that makes sense too!

Melissa A: If “The Love Goddess’ Cooking School” were to be made into a movie, who would you want to cast in the lead roles?
Melissa S: Beloved Kate Winslet for Holly, the main character. Robert Downey, Jr. for her love interest, Liam. Emily Blunt for Tamara. Dakota Fanning or AnnaSophia Robb for Mia. Ryan Gosling for Simon.

Melissa P: You have moved around and lived in places that all vary in size, landscape, and energy. How did you adapt to the different communities and is there one place that holds your heart more than the others?
Melissa S: I’ll always feel like a New Yorker in my heart, but Maine (after 6 years here) has come to feel like home. I don’t adapt well to change at all. I think one of the reasons I’ve always been such a reader is because no matter where you are or what you’re feeling, you can always lose yourself in a book. And you’ll always come out of that book slightly—or sometimes very—different.

Melissa A: What is your favorite thing about Halloween?
Melissa S: The huge sack of candy treats my son will spill out on the table after trick or treating and share with me. He hates all the good stuff—meaning anything with nuts, caramel, nougat, cream, or mint.

Melissa A: What is your favorite thing to cook?
Melissa S: My favorite thing to cook is Camilla Cucinotta’s Chicken Alla Milanese, which Holly, the main character, of The Love Goddess’ Cooking School, teaches in the first class. It’s so simple and delicious. And the final ingredient is a wish. (You can find the recipe—and others—at the end of the novel.)

Melissa A: What is one thing about you that people would find surprising?
Melissa S:: That I’m really such an introvert. I don’t think I come across that way, but after an hour or so with people, I crave being alone.

Bonus question: Since we're all Melissas here...who is your favorite celebrity with the name Melissa?
Melissa S: I want to say Melissa Gilbert, since Little House on the Prairie had such a profound effect and influence on me as a kid. But it’s really Melissa Joan Hart. I’ve loved her since "Clarissa Explains It All."

Special thanks to Melissa Senate for a fun and interesting interview and for providing a book for the giveaway!


How to win "The Love Goddess' Cooking School":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

1. Please tell us: Who is your favorite celebrity with the name Melissa?
2. Please tell us: What is your favorite cooking ritual (or favorite part of cooking, aside from eating the finished product)?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends Thursday, October 28th, at midnight EST.

Don't forget to check out Melissa Senate's bucket list at Chick Lit is Not Dead, as well.

Book review and giveaway (part 2): Life After Yes

By Melissa Amster



**Giveaway is now closed**

"Life After Yes" is one of those books that I was initially hesitant to pick up because the main character's name threw me off. I saw "Prudence" and expected it to take place in the 1800's. However, I gave it a chance because I heard that my other book reviewing friends really liked it and I did not want to miss out. Besides, Prudence went by her middle name, Quinn, which makes me think of "Glee."

While the book itself is a complete departure from "Glee" (no musical numbers to be found), it did remind me of another favorite television show of mine from the past, "Dawson's Creek." Maybe that is why I told Aidan Donnelley Rowley that Prudence (a.k.a. Quinn) should be played by Michelle Williams if a movie were ever made of this story. In any case, one of the things that made Dawson's Creek stick out was that the characters were very introspective and waxed philosophical on each episode, which didn't really work because they were supposed to be teenagers. However, the introspectiveness and philosophical utterings seemed to work for Prudence, since she was in her late 20's and going through some major life changes.

Four months after Prudence's father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, her boyfriend proposes to her and she has a strange dream following that proposal. The dream follows her throughout the year as she tries to make sense of her reality. She sometimes does this by reminiscing about her past and also leaning on her physical trainer and two best friends (who are like night and day, when compared to one another) for advice or a listening ear.

"Life After Yes" carries a lot of symbolism and metaphors. The topic of "prudence" is peppered throughout the story, as it is the reason she chooses to go by the name Quinn and also the way she looks at the world and the behaviors of those around her on a daily basis. Seeing that the word "prudence" follows her the entire time, it's hard for the reader to detach from her name, even though she wants to be called Quinn. There are also references to blackberries, both the fruit and the communication device. And fishing is a constant metaphor, as well.

For a first novel, Ms. Rowley does an amazing job of drawing her readers into someone else's life. Prudence may be just another face in the crowd of Manhattan, but the author really gives her personality and purpose. She makes her complex and easy to relate to at the same time. Her use of description makes it easy to visualize everything Prudence is doing and everywhere she is going. The language of the story is smooth flowing and very artistic. It reads like prose. While some parts of the story do have a chick lit feel, I think it also fits into another category. I was reminded of Jodi Picoult's early work, at times. Given Ms. Rowley's law background, I could see her easily following in Ms. Picoult's footsteps someday and even writing an engaging law drama. The only criticism is that I was left wanting more and wondering what would happen next, hoping Ms. Rowley will want to continue the story into a sequel or bring Prudence back as a secondary character in another story.

Thanks to Aidan Donnelley Rowley for the review copy, in exchange for an honest review. She also gave me a bunch of copies to share with others. I gave away a few with her interview and have two more to give away now.

How to win "Life After Yes":
Please comment below with your e-mail address and tell us why you are interested in reading this book.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

To keep it simple, we're not doing bonus entries this time. Consider this a "lightning round."

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends Tuesday at noon EST.

Winner of "Safe Haven"

To find the winner, we assigned everyone numbers by the order in which the entries came in and used the Custom Random Number Generator. It chose number 66.

Congrats to Anita!

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Thanks again to Brad Parsons from the Hachette Book Group for providing the book for the giveaway.

Don't forget to enter our current giveaway:
"Secrets and Sins" by Jaishree Misra.
International.
Ends Monday at 6pm EST.

Winning Wednesday--October 20th

I will only be posting giveaways on this blog from now on. If you have a giveaway that ends before Wednesday of a given week, please feel free to post it at Chick Lit Central on Facebook. You're also welcome to contact me about any giveaways you would like to have listed. (Chick Lit only, please, unless it is for a gift card or book related device.)
Finally, I am no longer going to seek out contests to post. If they happen to show up in my Facebook or Twitter news feed or on my blog reader, I'll be sure to post them. If you think I won't see your contest, please send it to me so I can include it in this blog.
Thank you!

New giveaways:

"Secrets and Sins" by Jaishree Misra
Chick Lit Central
Ends October 25th at 6 pm EST

"Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks
Chick Lit Central
US/Canada only. No PO Boxes.
Ends tomorrow at midnight EST.

Another chance to win "Safe Haven"
Readaholic
US/Canada only. No PO Boxes.
Ends November 3rd.

"The Lies We Told" by Diane Chamberlain
4 the Luv of Sanity
Ends November 5th

Oberon Doll's Pram and signed copy of "Mini Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella
Silver Cross
UK Only
Ends November 8th at midnight GMT

"The Birthday Party" by Veronica Henry
Chick Lit Reviews
UK Only
Ends October 24th at midnight GMT

"The Book of Peach" by Penelope J. Stokes
Chick Lit is Not Dead
Ends Thursday

"Swallow" by Tonya Plank
A Nut in a Nutshell
US only
October 27th at 10 pm EST

Previously posted (still going on):

Win "Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis from Readaholic. US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. (Deadline: October 22nd)

Win a Skype chat with Jillian Cantor. See the sidebar of her blog for details. Contest runs this week and next week. (Deadline: October 24th)

Congrats to The Book Chick for getting 250 followers to her blog! She's having a special giveaway to celebrate! See her blog for details. (Deadline: November 3rd at midnight EST)

Wild Mountain has your chance to win "Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster. (Deadline: October 23rd)

Julie Cohen is giving away advanced copies of her novel, "Getting Away with It". (Deadline: October 27th)

Missed out on previous chances to win "She's Gone Country?" Well, look no further than A Novel Menagerie. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 31st)

Luxury Reading has paired with BookSparks PR to bring you a fabulous giveaway with chances to win books and a luxury blanket from Keiko Co. US only. (Deadline: October 22nd)

Chick Lit is Not Dead invites you to Play Nooky with Liz and Lisa. (Deadline unknown)

Interview with Jaishree Misra and book giveaway

**Giveaway is now closed**

Jaishree Misra is the author of six novels, as well as a book of romantic poetry. She was born and raised in New Dehli (with the exception of her toddler years in England). She then moved to England to study special education, got married in Delhi and moved back to England again. She's now in Delhi again and is working on establishing a residential facility for women with learning disabilities. She stopped by Chick Lit Central to tell us about her experiences as an author, special education and cultural differences between her two homes.

Charlotte Allen from Harper Collins (UK) also arranged this interview and has five copies of "Secrets and Sins" to give away to lucky readers anywhere in the world!

MP: What is your usual writing routine?
JM: My routine used to be one of enforced discipline back in England, when I was juggling novel writing alongside a nine-to-five job: mad crack-of-dawn writing sessions and weekends when all other pleasures would have to be given up if I had a chapter to finish. But all that’s gone to pieces a bit since moving to India. I used to dream of being a full-time writer but, now that I supposedly am one, I find I need to discipline myself (and everyone else) a whole lot more than before. Indian home and family life can be quite chaotic and I find myself eternally distracted either by unexpected visitors (never more exciting than when it’s a plumber I’ve been waiting weeks for), or a friend in crisis, or a dog that’s just vomited on the carpet.

MP: Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, how do you remedy it?
JM: Occasionally. What seems to work for me is sitting before the computer and stubbornly churning out what I call ‘wordage’ – ie. just getting as many words as possible down on the screen, regardless of how close to garbage it is (yes, there’s a reason for which ‘wordage’ rhymes with ‘garbage’). Even if most of it later gets canned, that wordage at least provides me with something to work with and improve upon. There’s nothing more terrifying than a blank page to a writer.

MP: How do you like to spend your time when you are not writing?
JM: Reading other people’s wonderful books, obviously (I sometimes still find myself asking admiringly, ‘How do they do it?’). I also like going off to nice places that enable ‘blue-sky thinking’ for what I may do next. ‘Book research’ can be a great excuse for merely bumming around and travelling to unusual and exotic places. While I’m quite happy with my own company, I also like hanging around with family and friends, meeting new people and throwing parties.

MA: Does someone need to read "Secrets and Lies" in order to understand what is happening in "Secrets and Sins?"

JM: Not at all. They are two totally separate books with no characters in common at all. I’d meant to take one character from “Secrets and Lies” into “Secrets and Sins” (kind of like an in-joke) but forgot!

MA: What was your journey to publication like for your first novel?
JM: It started back in 2000, when I had to give up my job at the BBC because the breakfast shift timings were playing havoc with my family life, in particular my daughter’s care. Stuck at home and feeling very sorry for myself, I started to play around with a brand new computer that we’d bought. My husband had promised to teach me Word functions if I wrote a couple of pages of text (I didn’t know how to spell-check and cut-and-paste back then!). So I sat down one morning to write what was going to be a short memoir. By the end of that first day, I had twenty odd pages and by the end of the week, I had what I knew was the beginnings of a novel. It was like a tap that couldn’t be turned off. When the document had got to novel length, I broke it up into chapters, re-structured it, changed all the names around to make it less autobiographical and spell-checked it (oh yes, I was a whizzo at Word by then!). Then I sent it to David Godwin, who was Arundhati Roy’s literary agent, and couldn’t believe my ears when, a few weeks later, I had a call saying, ‘Hi, I’m David Godwin and I think we can do something with this manuscript you’ve sent us.’

MA: You mentioned your plans to set up a residential unit for women with learning disabilities. How is this coming along now that 2010 is almost over?
JM: Incredibly well. I’m working alongside a small bunch of parents and I’ve honestly never seen such terrific team work ever before. Thanks to some determined lobbying on the part of one parent in particular, the Delhi government has given us a large disused community centre on three acres of land to convert into a long-term residential home for people with disabilities. Another one of the parents is an architect so he’s already got to work on the plans. Another is getting a vocational training programme going while I’m listing our staffing and household requirements while also drawing up application forms to start recruiting our residents. We should have our first eight residents in-house by early 2011 and hope to have a fully integrated community on the premises two years down the line. Suddenly it doesn’t feel so foolish to be madly optimistic.

MP: What strides do you believe have been made in helping those with learning disabilities?
JM: More visibility generally, although this needs to improve here in India, where the desire is much stronger to keep people with learning disabilities ‘safe’ within the home environment. There’s a great deal of resistance too around the notion of independence, belief that it is the parents’ duty to care for their children overwhelming concerns around teaching them self-help and providing peer-company.

MA: After living in both India and England, what is the most significant cultural difference, in your opinion?
JM: I used to think that we who live in the west sometimes drive ourselves batty trying to make things perfect and just-so. But now that I’ve moved to India, I find that it’s the very reverse of that that drives me bonkers – what’s called a ‘chalta hai’ (or ‘It’ll do’) attitude that allows for poor standards and mediocrity to prevail. Something in-between would be good!

MP: Do you ever travel to the United States for book tours or for pleasure?
JM: For pleasure, many times – San Francisco being my favourite city – but never on a book tour, alas! When, oh when, will Hollywood come knocking?!

MA: What is your favorite Bollywood film?
JM: I’ll never forget one from the seventies (‘Aradhana’) that introduced me to the world of Bollywood (as a child, I was indelibly struck by all those cheesy songs and fantastic coincidences) and, more recently, ‘Jaane Tu … Ya Jaane Na’ which was cheerful and youthful and laugh-out-loud funny.

Special thanks to Jaishree for answering our questions and to Charlotte for arranging the interview and giveaway!


How to win "Secrets and Sins":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

1. Please tell us: What is your favorite movie about (or related to) India?
2. Please tell us: What is a goal you'd like to attain over the next few years?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

Giveaway ends Monday, October 25th, at 6 pm EST.

Winners of "The Fame Factor"

To find the winners, Melissa A. assigned numbers to each entry and Melissa P. picked the numbers (without knowing to whom they were assigned).

Congrats to....

10: Sarah
28: Tiffany
35: Laura
47: Misusedinnocence
53: Jeryl

Thanks again for all your participation! Thanks also to Polly Courtney for the interview and to Charlotte Allen for arranging the interview and giveaway.

Need a new book? Check out Melissa A's review of "Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks and enter to win a copy. (US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. Ends Thursday at midnight EST.)

Book Review: The Castaways

By Melissa Patafio

This past September, my husband and I were getting ready for a trip to Cape Cod and Nantucket when a friend of mine suggested I pack a couple of Elin Hilderbrand books. The author, who lives on Nantucket Island, sets all of her books there. I had seen them in bookstores and was always hesitant to read them. I can’t say why I felt that way, but I did. So when a big box of books arrived from Melissa A., I was surprised to see that “The Castaways” by Elin Hilderbrand was amongst them. I threw it into my carry on and pretty much forgot about it until we were leaving Nantucket to go back to the cape. When I finally pulled out the book and settled into my beach chair, I quickly became engrossed in “The Castaways.”

Tess and Greg MacAvoy, Phoebe and Addison Wheeler, Andrea and The Chief Kapenash, and Delilah and Jeffrey Drake are a close knit group of friends living on Nantucket Island and named themselves “The Castaways”. Just before the beginning of another perfect island summer, Greg and Tess drown when their boat capsizes as they sail to Martha’s Vineyard for their anniversary. The news devastates the rest of the group, as well as the couple’s two young children, and they all set out to figure out what really happened. Did Greg drown Tess? Were they drunk? Was it really just an accident? Nothing can prepare the group for what secrets will be revealed.

As the grief sets in, one by one the characters start to reveal their deepest darkest secrets and I quickly learned how dysfunctional the group really was. This story is filled with love, emotion, grief, infidelity, anger, regret, jealousy, and betrayal. I literally couldn’t put it down and finished it in less than two days. The plot stays exciting, the characters all have their own voice in the book, and the amount of secrets and scandal creates a perfect blend. I am so glad that I gave this book a chance, I found a new author to love and I have since just finished my second Elin Hilderbrand book!

Book Review and Giveaway: Safe Haven

By Melissa Amster



**Giveaway is now closed**

As you may already know, I am a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. When I found out that "Safe Haven" was going to be released this fall, I knew I had to get a copy and I also knew that I'd want to share it with one of our loyal readers. Thanks to Brad Parsons at Hachette Group, I got to do both.

When "Safe Haven" arrived on my doorstep, I wasted no time in reading nearly 100 pages in one day. Even after that, I didn't want to put it down and kept thinking about the story when I wasn't reading it. Though different from most of Mr. Sparks' books, "Safe Haven," deals with an issue that is real to many women and should not be overlooked....domestic abuse. The story is about a woman who is beaten constantly by her controlling husband and finds a way to change her identity and escape to a place where he'll never find her again. In doing so, she meets four people who become important in her life: Jo, her next door neighbor and Alex, a potential romantic interest who has two kids to whom she becomes attached. In the meantime, her husband is slowly spiraling downhill and trying to find a way to track her down.

I liked the different perspectives throughout the story: Katie's (the main character), Alex's (her romantic interest) and Kevin's (her husband). Mr. Sparks found a way to combine them so that they fused together in such an intense way that the book was impossible to put down and completely unforgettable once it was finished. The only criticism I had was that this story hinged upon fantasy at one point, but I won't give details as to not spoil anything. I liked how it fit into the story, but also didn't buy into it that much. "Safe Haven" has a similar feel to "The Guardian," one of his previous novels. It also had some emotional moments, as most of his books tend to do. (Have some tissues nearby!) I definitely would rank this on my list of my favorite Nicholas Sparks novels.

Special thanks to Brad Parsons from the Hachette Book Group for the review copy and for providing one book to give away to a lucky reader in the US or Canada.

How to win "Safe Haven":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

1. Please tell us: What is your favorite Nicholas Sparks book (or which of his books are you most interested in reading aside from "Safe Haven")?
2. Please tell us: What (or where) is your safe haven?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. Giveaway ends Thursday, October 21st, at midnight EST.

Winning Wednesday--October 13th

I will only be posting giveaways on this blog from now on. If you have a giveaway that ends before Wednesday of a given week, please feel free to post it at Chick Lit Central on Facebook. You're also welcome to contact me about any giveaways you would like to have listed. (Chick Lit only, please, unless it is for a gift card or book related device.)
Finally, I am no longer going to seek out contests to post. If they happen to show up in my Facebook or Twitter news feed or on my blog reader, I'll be sure to post them. If you think I won't see your contest, please send it to me so I can include it in this blog.
Thank you!

New giveaways:

We're giving away five copies of "The Fame Factor" by Polly Courtney. (Deadline: October 18th at 6 pm EST)

Win a gift certificate to Book Depository from e-Volving Books. (Deadline: Friday)

Two chances to win "Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis:
*From MamaKnows. US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. (Deadline: Friday)

*From Readaholic. US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. (Deadline: October 22nd)


Win "Single in the City" by Michele Gorman from Novel Escapes. (Deadline: Tomorrow at 11:59 pm EST)

Chick Lit is Not Dead has 5 copies of "With Friends Like These" by Sally Koslow. (Deadline: Tomorrow)

Win a Skype chat with Jillian Cantor. See the sidebar of her blog for details. Contest runs this week and next week. (Deadline: October 24th)

Previously posted (still going on):

Congrats to The Book Chick for getting 250 followers to her blog! She's having a special giveaway to celebrate! See her blog for details. (Deadline: November 3rd at midnight EST)

Brittany Roshelle is giving away 10 books at The Write Stuff. US only. (Deadline: October 17th)

Wild Mountain has your chance to win "Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster. (Deadline: October 23rd)

Enter the ChickLitShorties Extra Shorty Contest, Special Edition: "10" to win a goody bag full of prizes. (Deadline: Tonight at 11:59pm PST)

Julie Cohen is giving away advanced copies of her novel, "Getting Away with It". (Deadline: October 27th)

Win "Free to a Good Home" by Eve Marie Mont from Colloquium. US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. (Deadline: Tomorrow at 11:59 pm PST)

Missed out on previous chances to win "She's Gone Country?" Well, look no further than A Novel Menagerie. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 31st)

Luxury Reading has paired with BookSparks PR to bring you a fabulous giveaway with chances to win books and a luxury blanket from Keiko Co. US only. (Deadline: October 22nd)

Chick Lit is Not Dead invites you to Play Nooky with Liz and Lisa. (Deadline unknown)

Win an audio copy of "Safe Haven" from I am a Reader, Not a Writer. US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. (Deadline: October 18th)

Win "Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis from Bookhounds. US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. (Deadline: Friday)

Interview with Polly Courtney and book giveaway

**Giveaway is now closed**

Polly Courtney went from being an investment banker to the author of three published novels. She also plays football (a.k.a. soccer), plays violin in a string quartet, goes snowboarding and works as a consultant for online businesses. We recently got to learn more about what makes Polly tick and we hope you will enjoy getting to know her better.

We'd like to thank Charlotte Allen of Harper Collins (UK) for facilitating this interview and for providing five copies of "The Fame Factor" to some lucky readers worldwide!

MP: What is your usual writing routine?
PC: I find that I can't write creatively until the late afternoon, so in the mornings I work on something that is completely different. I like to lead a 'normal' London life, commuting and working with colleagues etc., so that my novels come across as realistic. At the moment I'm working for online fashion boutique Cocosa.com. I get home at around 3pm and spend the next five or six hours in front of my laptop, lost in the world of my characters. Quite often it's only when my boyfriend comes home that I remember where I am!

MP: Do you ever experience "writer's block"? If so, what do you do to remedy it?
PC: I'm lucky in that I've never encountered writer's block, and I think that might be because I plan out my novels so thoroughly before I start writing. When I sit down to write a chapter, I'm not staring at a blank sheet - I know roughly what my characters need to be doing.

MP: Have you experienced any significant challenges while writing any of your novels?
PC: When I wrote Poles Apart, I had to learn Polish in order to get inside the head of the main protagonist, a young migrant who comes to live in the UK. There were lots of Polish journalists at the book launch, and for some reason I had agreed to give my speech in their language. They were all very encouraging afterwards, but I suspect they were just being polite!

MA: You have written some books about the corporate world, including one coming out this month ("Defying Gravity – Adventures of a Corporate Entrepreneur"). How is the publishing world similar or different from the corporate environments you've experienced?
PC: I have worked in several corporate environments, the most extreme being the investment bank that propelled me to write my first novel. Launching myself into the literary world after that was a massive shock. For a start, people in publishing are nice. They smile and ask how your weekend was, instead of just grunting and burying themselves in their computer screens. I’ve seen some bad cases of ‘face time’ in the corporate world, where people pretend to be working late into the night, just to impress the boss. That doesn’t really work in publishing – you’ve either written the chapters or you haven’t.

MP: You started writing "Golden Handcuffs" while working as a investment banker, how long did the journey of writing to publishing take?
PC: I was naïve when I set out to publish my first novel. I thought that once I’d finished the first draft, it would only be a matter of months before the book would hit the shelves. In fact, the journey took nearly two years and it taught me a lot along the way. I spent a long time battling with my first literary agent, who wanted to ‘lighten up’ the novel and remove all the workplace scenes (thus defeating the whole point of the book), then eventually we parted company (amicably) and I signed with Diane Banks who has represented me ever since. Once I was taken on by Troubador, my first publisher, I thought I was nearly there, but of course there were several months of editing, typesetting and publicising before I could finally say I was a published author. I’ve always been slightly impatient, so this took some getting used to!


MA: Between consulting, playing in a string quartet and playing football (a.k.a. soccer, for those of us in the US), how do you find the time to write?
PC: Conveniently, all my passions seem to fit in around one another. Football (soccer) is on Sundays and weeknights, and our string quartet gigs tend to fall on Saturdays, which leaves the weekdays for consulting (mornings) and writing (afternoons) – and occasionally, an hour here or there to spend time with my long-suffering boyfriend!


MA: For "The Fame Factor," you are working in conjunction with promoting a new singer-songwriter. What was it like for you to work with her?
PC: I met Jade (stage-name Jadylu) just over a year ago, when I was just starting to sit down and write. She read the skeleton drafts of what went on to become The Fame Factor, and it was uncanny – her hopes and dreams were exactly what I had envisaged for Zoë, the main character. Since the release of the book, Jadylu has launched her first single, Defenseless, and there are plans for us to tour music/book shops in the UK. I’m really excited to be working with such a talented artist at such an early stage in her career. I just hope she heeds the warnings in The Fame Factor about the music industry!

MA: Do you have any fictional novels in process for the next year?
PC: I’m just starting to plan my sixth novel, which is about a young female footballer and her team mates. It will come out next summer, in time for the Women’s World Cup. It’s a great book for me to write, as I’m mad about the game and determined to break down some of the stereotypes that people have about women’s football.


MA: If "The Fame Factor" were made into a movie, who would you want to cast in the lead roles?
PC: I have it all planned! Zoë would be played by Emma Watson, Shannon (feisty Irish band mate) would be Willa Holland of Gossip Girls, dreamy guitarist Ellie would be someone like Saoirse Ronan (Lovely Bones) and Kate, the anxious young bassist, would be Dakota Fanning. I haven’t yet cast Louis Castle, the legendary American band manager, so I’m open to suggestions…


MP: If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
PC: Japan, in winter. I love snowboarding and I hear they have powder bowls like nowhere else on earth. (If that’s too extravagant then I’ll settle for Milton Keynes Snow Dome!)

Special thanks to Polly for answering our questions and to Charlotte Allen for arranging this interview and giveaway.


How to win "The Fame Factor":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your facebook page if you can receive messages there.)

1. Please tell us: What singer or musical group do you feel is great but does not get enough recognition?
2. Please tell us: For which talent or skill would you want to become famous?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

Giveaway ends Monday, October 18th, at 6pm EST.

Winners of "The Book of Tomorrow"

To find the winners, we assigned everyone numbers by the order in which the entries came in and used the Custom Random Number Generator.

Congrats to:

22: Jencey
44: Inspired Kathy
54: Rhapsodyinbooks
63: Stephanie G
92: Gwendolyn B

Thanks again to everyone for participating and to Elinor Fewster from Harper Collins for the books to give away.

Stay tuned for more giveaways, including one with an interview this week!

Book Review: Stay

By Melissa Amster

I had been wanting to read "Stay" for a while, as Allie Larkin was the first author I interviewed for Chick Lit Central. I finally obtained a copy of it this past month and once I picked it up, I did not want to put it down!

"Stay" is about Savannah "Van" Leone, who gets drunk one night after the guy she is in love with gets married to her best friend. While she is drunk, she watches "Rin Tin Tin" and ends up ordering a German Shepard puppy over the Internet. When the puppy arrives, he is the size of a grown dog and only answers to Slovakian commands. However, he leads her to a handsome vet and her life then becomes another series of complications, especially when the married couple returns from their honeymoon.

I absolutely loved this novel from start to finish. Even when I wasn't reading it, I was still thinking of Van and everything that was going on in her life. Now that I'm finished, I can't stop thinking about this story. It even made me want to adopt a dog (not that I will get to anytime soon, but maybe I can convince my husband to read this novel...) The only critique I had was that I felt there was too much swearing going on. It may have emphasized Van's emotional state from time to time, but I also didn't feel that it was necessary in order to carry along a wonderful story. If this were a movie, it would have received an adult rating for the language alone, even though the concept was family-friendly (at least for age pre-teen and above).

As I was reading "Stay," I was already recommending it to friends before I even finished the story. I definitely want to recommend it to anyone who wants a heartfelt story with genuine dialogue and a sympathetic and lovable main character (and I'm not just talking about the dog here). For a first novel, Ms. Larkin did an amazing job. I hope she continues to write stories as great as this one!

Winner of Team Jessica/Team Elizabeth Shirts

To find the winner, we assigned everyone numbers by the order in which the entries came in and used the Custom Random Number Generator. It chose number 17.

Congrats to Billiondollarprincesss!

Thanks to everyone for participating and sharing your SVH memories with us.
Thanks again to Ann-Marie Nieves at Get Red PR for facilitating this giveaway.

Stay tuned for more Sweet Valley fun this coming spring!

In the meantime, don't forget to enter our other giveaway:
"The Book of Tomorrow" by Cecelia Ahern.
US/Canada only.
Ends Monday at 6 pm EST.

Tribute to the Birthday Girl!

By Melissa Amster

Tomorrow is Melissa P's birthday, so I thought we should celebrate her!

I have enjoyed getting to know a bunch of you over the past few months, but I hope you will also take some time to connect with Melissa P too. She's been a wonderful friend both when we were growing up and in the present and I know you would also enjoy getting to know her better.

Anyway, I wrote this post for my personal blog (in late August). I have been doing a post called "Friendship Friday" for the past 6 months (even though I slacked off a bit recently) and this was my post about Melissa P. I made a few updates to clarify some things I left out originally.:

M.P. and I go way back. I can't remember how old I was when she and her family first moved two doors down from us on our cul-de-sac in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. She and her sister were close in age to my sister and me (her sister is a year older than me and my sister is a year younger than her). We naturally would all get together to hang out, along with some other same-aged kids on our block. When I was 12, I remember working on a talent show for the block party with M.P. and her sister. We also went to each others' birthday parties every year. We also had the same style house and our address numbers were one digit apart. We both had dogs, as well.

After I graduated high school and my family and I moved off our street, we didn't see each other, nor did we stay in touch. She and her family eventually moved out of state. A few years ago, I found M.P. and her sister on Facebook. When M.P. and I finally reconnected on there, we discovered a mutual love for chick lit novels. I think it started with talking about a Marian Keyes book. From that point, I invited her to join a small group discussion I had with two other friends about chick lit books. She was the most involved and enthusiastic though. I was always excited to tell her what new books I had bought. This in turn inspired me to start Chick Lit Central on Facebook. Shortly after that, I was able to arrange an interview with Jane Green and I invited her to help me with the questions. After that, I thought we'd form a partnership for the Chick Lit Central blog. We've paired up on a bunch of interviews and now she is starting to fly solo on some of them.

We have a lot of fun e-mailing about the interviews and books we've been reading, as well as other things going on in our lives. We keep finding other interests we have in common too. We're even trading books from time to time. She's definitely been helpful with all these interviews. I don't even know if I could do all the work alone anymore. She asks great questions to the authors and I know she has been doing more research than I have. She's also there when I need to vent and she reassures me that I'm not going crazy. :)

We live three time zones away from each other, but I hope we can find a way to meet up soon. She seems to have quite a fun and idyllic life in AZ, based on all the updates and pictures I see on Facebook. I'm sure we'd end up partying a lot if I went out her way. Otherwise, we'd spend all our time lounging outside and reading. I know she's been interested in checking out DC, so I hope she can make it out here too. Until then, I plan to work with her on this blog for a long time and I know we'll always have chick lit.

Melissa, Hope you enjoy your virtual birthday cake!

Winning Wednesday--October 6th

I will only be posting giveaways on this blog from now on. If you have a giveaway that ends before Wednesday of a given week, please feel free to post it at Chick Lit Central on Facebook. You're also welcome to contact me about any giveaways you would like to have listed. (Chick Lit only, please, unless it is for a gift card or book related device.)
Finally, I am no longer going to seek out contests to post. If they happen to show up in my Facebook or Twitter news feed or on my blog reader, I'll be sure to post them. If you think I won't see your contest, please send it to me so I can include it in this blog.
Thank you!

New giveaways:

Brand new! Win "Just Like Me, Only Better" by Carol Snow from Chick Lit Plus. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 10th)

Also new! Congrats to The Book Chick for getting 250 followers to her blog! She's having a special giveaway to celebrate! See her blog for details. (Deadline: November 3rd at midnight EST)

Win a set of Team Jessica/Team Elizabeth T-shirts. US/Canada only. (Deadline: Tomorrow at midnight EST.)

Win "The Book of Tomorrow" by Cecelia Ahern. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 11th at 6 pm EST)

Brittany Roshelle is giving away 10 books at The Write Stuff. US only. (Deadline: October 17th)

Win an electronic version of "The Kiss Test" from the author, Shannon McKelden. (Deadline: Tonight at 11:59 pm EST)

You can also win "The Kiss Test" from Chick Lit Plus. (Deadline: October 10th)

Chick Lit is Not Dead is giving away "29" by Adena Halpern. (Deadline: Tomorrow)

Want to cook like Georgia? Jenny Nelson is giving away "Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics". (Deadline unknown)

Wild Mountain has your chance to win "Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster. (Deadline: October 23rd)

Enter the ChickLitShorties Extra Shorty Contest, Special Edition: "10" to win a goody bag full of prizes. (Deadline: October 13th at 11:59pm PST)

Julie Cohen is giving away advanced copies of her novel, "Getting Away with It". (Deadline: October 27th)

Win "Free to a Good Home" by Eve Marie Mont from Colloquium. US/Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. (Deadline: October 14th at 11:59 pm PST)

Missed out on previous chances to win "She's Gone Country?" Well, look no further than A Novel Menagerie. US/Canada only. (Deadline: October 31st)

Previously posted (still going on):

Luxury Reading has paired with BookSparks PR to bring you a fabulous giveaway with chances to win books and a luxury blanket from Keiko Co. US only. (Deadline: October 22nd)

Chick Lit is Not Dead invites you to Play Nooky with Liz and Lisa. (Deadline unknown)

Win "Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks from Readaholic. US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. (Deadline: Today)

You can also win an audio copy of "Safe Haven" from I am a Reader, Not a Writer. US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. (Deadline: October 18th)

Win "Simply Irresistible" by Jill Shalvis from Bookhounds. US/Canada only. No PO Boxes. (Deadline: October 15th)

Book Review and Giveaway: The Book of Tomorrow

By Melissa Amster



**Giveaway is now closed**

Have you ever wanted to know what would happen to you tomorrow? And if you had access to that information, would you change the outcome of the events as they were unfolding? Tamara Goodwin is given exactly that option when she finds a book in a travelling library while staying in a remote village with her family after a tragedy uproots her life.

Cecelia Ahern started out as a contemporary romance novelist with "P.S., I Love You" and "Rosie Dunne" (a.k.a. "Love Rosie" or "Where Rainbows End"). Then she started to inch her way into the fantasy realm with "If You Could See Me Now." She did keep up some element of romance in that novel, as well as with "Thanks for the Memories." As with "There's No Place Like Here" (a.k.a. "A Place Called Here"), in "The Book of Tomorrow," Ms. Ahern completely forays into a fantasy, fairy tale world and takes her characters along for the ride. However, unlike "There's No Place..." I found this story completely gripping and nearly impossible to put down. I wanted to keep reading until I found out what happened. And even then, Ms. Ahern would throw a few surprises in my path to devour and savor.

At first, I didn't know if I would enjoy reading about a spoiled sixteen year-old girl who had to live in a house half the size of the one she had left behind with a strange aunt and uncle. It immediately gave off a fairy tale feel and I usually have a hard time getting into such novels. However, I was so captivated by the story and Tamara's "voice" was so genuine that I just had to stick around to see where it went. In some ways, it gave off an Allison Winn Scotch feel and made me think of "The One that I Want." However, it was also completely different from a typical chick lit novel and I found myself loving it anyway. Aside from a few fact checks that could have been done (only a pop culture fanatic like myself would catch them), I was impressed and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a "curl up by the fire with a good book" type of novel.

I want to thank Elinor Fewster of Harper Collins (UK) for the review copy, as well as for the five extra copies she sent me to distribute to some lucky readers in the US and Canada.

How to win "The Book of Tomorrow":
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted.)

For additional entries (each as a separate comment including your e-mail address, as well):
1. Please tell us: What is your favorite Cecelia Ahern novel? (If you haven't read her novels yet, which one interests you the most aside from this one?)
2. Please tell us: What would you do if you had access to information about the near future?
3. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
4. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
5. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends Monday, October 11th, at 6pm EST.

The letter in the wall

By Melissa Amster


I watched "Letters to Juliet" this afternoon. Definitely something I could see in chick lit novel form, if it weren't made into a movie first. Anyway, one part of the storyline resonated with me, as I had a similar experience. The premise is that women write letters to Juliet (of "Romeo and Juliet" fame) and put them on (or in) a wall in Verona, Italy, for her to read. Then there are "secretaries of Juliet" who answer all the letters. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) answers a letter that was placed there 50 years ago and it leads to a romantic storyline.

Back in early 2002, I visited another country that started with an I...Israel. There is a big wall in Jerusalem called the Western Wall. It's customary for people to stick letters of prayer into the wall for Hashem to read. On one of my last days there, I wrote a letter to Hashem praying for either a good relationship or a chance to get into an improv comedy troupe. (I know the two are unrelated, but I figured if I had at least one, I'd be happy.) I made a personal bargain in return. About a month later, my letter (or prayer) was answered. I was out with a bunch of friends one night and told one of their acquaintances that I had to go bowling the next day, as I was in a league at the time. He started laughing and told me that he had a single, Jewish friend who also lived in the Chicago suburbs (where I was living at the time) and liked to bowl. I gave him my contact information to pass along and the rest is history. We've been married for six years now. I guess my husband's friend was like a "secretary of Hashem," as he found me the perfect match without even knowing anything about me other than the fact that I was Jewish and liked to bowl.

This goes to show that you never know what will come of sticking a letter in a wall.

A Sweet (Valley) Giveaway

By Melissa Amster


**Giveaway is now closed**

Before there was a set of twins living in a wealthy town in California called Beverly Hills, there was another set of twins living in what seemed like an equally wealthy town known as Sweet Valley. And just like there was drama surrounding the most popular characters at West Beverly High, there was quite a lot happening in the halls of Sweet Valley High.

When I was in fifth grade, I started reading "Sweet Valley High" books and became rather obsessed after a while. I don't even remember how many of those books I read, but they came out often and I was always excited to see what drama would unfold. They even had larger books that would take place on vacation or have some sort of murder mystery going on. I even read the more adolescent series called "Sweet Valley Twins," about Jessica and Elizabeth's junior high days.

There were some memorable situations in the SVH series. One that sticks out a lot is when Elizabeth got kidnapped. It just seemed so far-fetched, but I guess that's what made it memorable. I also remember one where this girl named Regina dies after trying cocaine. If I wasn't put off by drug use before, that really sealed the deal for me. (Nice work, Francine Pascal!) I also think there was a time that Jessica got a makeover so she wouldn't be mistaken for Elizabeth.

Now there's a new book coming out called "Sweet Valley Confidential." It takes place ten years later. I'm not sure if it's ten years after high school or ten years after they attended "Sweet Valley University" (just like in "Beverly Hills, 90210," they never stray too far from home). In any case, "Sweet Valley Confidential" will be in bookstores this coming spring, but you can read the first chapter here.

And as an added bonus, Ann-Marie Nieves at Get Red PR has one set of Team Jessica/Team Elizabeth shirts to give away to a lucky winner in the US or Canada.

How to win this set of T-shirts:
Please comment below with your e-mail address.
(Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted.)

For additional entries (each as a separate comment including your e-mail address, as well):
1. Please tell us: What is your favorite "Sweet Valley High" memory (either about he books or something related to them)?
2. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
3. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
4. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)

US/Canada residents only. Giveaway ends Thursday, October 7th, at midnight EST.