Guest Book Review and Giveaway: The Curl Up & Dye

By Connie Fischer

**Giveaway is now closed**

LilyAnn Bronte is a sweet, young woman who goes through life on autopilot. She has spent all of her life in the small town of Blessings, Georgia, where everyone knows everyone else. When she was in high school, she was the most intelligent, lovely, and popular girl and with her equally popular, steady boyfriend, Randy, her future looked bright. However, after the horrific events on September 11, 2001, Randy was one of the first to sign up to go to Afghanistan. Sadly, a month later he returned - in a casket. For years, LilyAnn mourned him, wearing black and making daily treks to his grave.

 Today, she works as a clerk in the local pharmacy and lives alone in the house she grew up in. Her Mama and step-father have moved to another city. Her routine is always the same with the one bright spot of the week being getting her hair done on Fridays at The Curl Up & Dye Salon. The gals who work there are great friends and a lot of fun. They always seem to have their fingers on the pulse of the gossip in town as well.

Next door to LilyAnn lives Mike Dalton. He and LilyAnn has been friends since childhood. His parents have also moved away leaving him to live alone in his home. Mike has always loved LilyAnn but she only looks upon him as a friend. It saddens him to see that she has gained weight and doesn't seem to care much about her appearance.

Enter bad guy, T.J. Lachlan. New to town, he is a cocky, self-assured jerk who thinks he can woo all of the women around and take advantage of them. Surprised and pleased that she can still attract men, LilyAnn decides it's time she looks into getting a makeover to bring her out of her funk and to improve her own self esteem. When T.J. tries to "hit" on LilyAnn and she ignores him, he is furious and out for revenge. What happens next is shocking.

There are lots of great characters in this book with all kinds of local gossip. I laughed and I had tears in my eyes as I read this book and could not put it down until I had finished it in one day. Don't think that this book is a just another gentle, small town story. There are some events that will show you otherwise. I'm betting readers will be telling their friends that The Curl Up & Dye is one they really need to read….just like I'm telling you.

Connie Fischer is a retired office manager from NASA. Loved books from the time she could read. Spent childhood summers in her front yard tree reading Nancy Drew books and biographies. Loves historical and contemporary romance novels, chick lit and anything British. Is a reviewer for the blog, bookworm2bookworm. Her goal for 2013 on Goodreads is to read and review 100 books and she's way ahead of schedule. Lived in Paris, France for a number of years. Living now in southwest Florida. Ahhh...life is good!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have one copy for a lucky reader in the US or Canada!

How to win:
Please tell us about the bright spot in your week or something you look forward to doing each week.

One entry per person.

Please include your e-mail address or another way to reach you if you win. Entries without contact information will NOT be counted.

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends February 24th at midnight EST.

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