Guest Post: M.J. Rose, author of Seduction

Welcome to Literary Marie's Precision Reviews, the virtual book tour stop for Seduction.

Publication Date: May 7, 2013


Atria Books


Hardcover; 384p

ISBN-10: 1451621507 

Book Synopsis:
From the author of The Book of Lost Fragrances comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost journal of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.



In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.



Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.



What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists.

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." — Victor Hugo

Excerpt from Seduction Chapter 10:
--> Inside harp music played. A lush and ethereal accompaniment to the colors in the night sky, the twisting trees, the dour faced monks, and this house. The scents of frankincense and vanilla suffused the air. Her senses bombarded, Jac stood inside front hall with its high ceiling and looked around.

About the Author:
M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of eleven novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio.  Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the '80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors - Authorbuzz.com.  The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose's novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype.  She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com. 
Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.



For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter. Visit Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for the complete tour schedule or the Twitter hashtag: #SeductionVirtualTour 

Check out M.J. Rose's previous guest post here.

Spring/Summer 2013 Anticipated Reads

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Yes, I will twerk for books, especially new releases and ARCs. I am such a book whore when it comes to new releases from authors I love. Below are just a few of the books I am anticipating this spring/summer. Each book synopsis is from Goodreads.

Expected Pub Date: April 23, 2013

Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement—just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember or one to forget?

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Expected Pub Date: May 7, 2013

It has always been up to Johanna to care for her family, particularly her younger brother, Cole. With an absent father and a useless mother, she’s been making decisions based on what’s best for Cole for as long as she can remember. She even determines what men to date by how much they can provide for her brother and her, not on whatever sparks may—or may not—fly.

But with Cameron MacCabe, the attraction is undeniable. The sexy new bartender at work gives her butterflies every time she looks at him. And for once, Jo is tempted to put her needs first. Cam is just as obsessed with getting to know Jo, but her walls are too solid to let him get close enough to even try.

Then Cam moves into the flat below Jo’s, and their blistering connection becomes impossible to ignore. Especially since Cam is determined to uncover all of Jo’s secrets …even if it means taking apart her defenses piece by piece.

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Expected Pub Date: May 7, 2013

Life is close to perfect for Charlotte and Curtis Black--except that their son Matthew's girlfriend, Racquel, is eight months pregnant and Racquel's mother, Mona, and Charlotte can't stand each other. On the day of Racquel's baby shower, Charlotte and Mona have a major blow up and the stress sends Racquel into early labor. Curtis is displeased with Charlotte's behavior, something that slowly but surely drives a new wedge between them. At the same time, Curtis is consumed with church business, and trying to uncover who is behind a series of mysterious letters that threaten to expose Curtis's biggest secret. Increasingly furious with his mother, Matthew gives Charlotte an ultimatum--treat Racquel and her mom with respect or she'll be cut off from seeing the baby altogether. This sends Charlotte down a road of revenge. Once again, the Black household is torn apart, and it will take a miracle for anyone to recover.

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Expected Pub Date: June 4, 2013

The worldwide phenomenon continues as Eva and Gideon face the demons of their pasts, and accept the consequences of their obsessive desires. Entwined by our secrets, we tried to defy the odds. We made our own rules and surrendered completely to the exquisite power of possession…

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Expected Pub Date: June 4, 2013

The sequel you’ve been waiting for: the follow-up to the sensational #1 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada. Eight years have passed since Andrea “Andy” Sachs quit the job “a million girls would die for” working for Miranda Priestly at Runway Magazine—a dream that turned out to be a nightmare. Now Andy’s on the top of the world: she’s writing and reporting to her heart’s content; running The Plunge, her wildly successful high fashion bridal magazine with Miranda’s other ex-assistant, Emily; and most importantly, getting married to the scion of a storied media family and the love of her life. Karma’s a bitch. And Andy’s efforts to build a bright new life have led her directly to the one she fled—and into the path of the Devil herself.

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What book(s) are you looking forward to this spring/summer?

 

Series Sunday Guest Post: John A. Heldt

Author of The Northwest Passage Time-Travel Series

Welcome to Literary Marie's Precision Reviews. Today we have a special guest post from John A. Heldt, author of The Northwest Passage Time-Travel Series.

Guest Post:

If there is one character in my Northwest Passage time-travel series that stands above all others, it is the red-blooded, all-American male protagonist of The Mine. Joel Smith, a cocky, fun-loving, time-traveling college senior from the year 2000, dominates my first novel and sets the stage for its sequel, The Show. He is the only character who will appear in every book of the planned five-part series.

 

But as I marketed The Mine, The Journey, and The Show this week and outlined The Fire, my fourth book, I noted something for the first time. Though a male character occupies the most visible real estate in the series, females occupy just about everything else. Put differently, Northwest Passage is largely a series about women.

 

Creating female characters representing all ages and walks of life has been both a treat and a challenge for me as a male author. The challenge part is pretty obvious. No matter how well men think they understand women, they really don't. No matter how well they think they can write about women, they usually can't – at least without serious help.

 

Fortunately for me, I've had such help. I've benefitted from the guidance of female friends and relatives who understand what makes a compelling and believable female character and what doesn't. The result has been three books filled with engaging, intelligent, sympathetic women.

 

No character in the series has been more fun to draw than Grace Vandenberg, Joel Smith's girlfriend and future wife. The heroine of The Mine (set mostly in 1941) and the protagonist of The Show (set mostly in 1918 and 1919), Grace evolves from a shy honors student wrestling with grief to a decisive, courageous woman who battles through several gut-wrenching crises and challenges.

 

Grace assumes several roles in the series: niece, friend, fiancée, wife, mother, and, oddly enough, daughter. Through the magic of time travel, the orphaned daughter of missionaries meets her parents as young, single adults in The Show.

 

Grace is one of several admirable women in The Mine. Her best friend, Ginny Gillette, Joel's future grandmother, is a liberated, chain-smoking newspaper heiress who holds her own in even the toughest assemblies of men. Brainy, beautiful, and tough but kind, Ginny has been the favorite character of readers of The Mine since the book's release in February 2012.

 

Not far behind is Grace and Ginny's college housemate, Katie Kobayashi. The witty, resourceful Japanese American plays an important supporting role in The Mine and The Show as the friend and advocate of the protagonists. She is a model survivor, a person who overcomes the injustice of internment to better the lives of others.

 

Katie is one of at least four characters in the series readers see in their youth and as an older adult. Penelope Green Price is another. In The Show, Grace meets Penelope as both a spirited 89-year-old woman and an adorable 7-year-old girl.

 

Readers also see Edith Green Tomlinson at two stages in life. In The Mine, Edith is the cultured middle-aged aunt who assumes guardianship of Grace following the tragic death of her sister and brother-in-law. In The Show, she is the more intellectual and career-minded of two English twins who arrive in Seattle days after the end of World War I to pursue a college education.

 

Lucy Green Vandenberg, Edith's twin and Grace's future mother, is the free spirit with the sunny disposition and an eye for handsome seminary students. The friendship between the sisters and Grace, whom the twins know only as a fellow boarder, is among the most poignant in the series.

 

In no book, however, do female characters play more prominent roles than in The Journey, the stand-alone second novel in the series. Michelle Preston Richardson, 49, and Michelle "Shelly" Preston, 18, share protagonist duties in the tale of a wealthy, childless widow who returns to her Oregon hometown for a 30th high school reunion, accidentally enters a time portal, and finds herself in 1979 at the start of her senior year.

 

Distraught and suddenly destitute, Michelle gets a secretarial job at Unionville High School and sets out to right past wrongs and improve the lives of the young people around her, including her spirited younger self. As a person who dedicates herself to others and backs it up with action, she is the one of the most appealing characters in the series.

 

Young Shelly is arguably the most sympathetic. As a high school senior juggling classes, college applications, a domineering mother, and a controlling boyfriend, she faces more challenges in a single year than some face in a lifetime. Her transition from troubled teen to achieving adult brings an entire story into focus.

 

My Northwest Passage series is many things. It is a collection of books that combine time travel and history with romance and adventure. It's a series that gives readers a glimpse of the Pacific Northwest at four distinct times in the twentieth century. But it is also a place where you can find a variety of strong, compelling women. I encourage readers to give it a try.

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The Mine, The Journey, and The Show are available on Amazon.com for less than $3.00 each. Visit http://johnheldt.blogspot.com for more information.

 

First Lines Friday BONUS

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

"I woke up to a sharp report, as if a gun had gone off next to my ear."
 
~ 12th of Never: FREE Preview of First 17 Chapters by James Patterson 

 

Literary Logic

Double Click

"Holiopathic? Hilarithetic! (Something so pathetic, it's hilarious.) ~ pg. 21

Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Ethan and Mark are back! Double Click, the sequel to Click: An Online Love Story, picks up six months later. In the same style, we get a peek into these characters lives through their email exchanges.

I liked everything about Double Click. The cover is appropriate and fits the content very well. Electronic chic! The book is made up entirely of emails between the characters. Their banter is ha-larious! There were moments in the book that literally made me LOL. Any questions that were left unanswered are certainly brought up in this sequel. For example, is Renee and Ethan still in love? Who is Shelley's latest sexual conquest? Is Mark dating anyone yet? Is Ashley still judgmental? Hmmm...read to find out.

Double Click is a fun quick read. Perfect for an afternoon of light reading. So double click the title below and download the eBook for just $4.99.

DISCLAIMER: This book was received directly from the author for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Title: Double Click
Author: Lisa Becker
Published: March 2013
Pages: 146
Edition: Galley
Rating: ♥♥♥♡

 

US vs. UK

Everyone knows I am completely obsessed with the UK. "US vs. UK" was created by Jenny from Wondrous Reads and it compares covers from books released in the two countries.

US

UK

Today's first comparison is Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou. The US cover is plain with an ivory background and bold purple, green and red letters. The title really stands out. The UK cover is neutral-colored and shows framed photos. There really is no question here which cover I like better. UK, we have a winner!

Total: US 21, UK 19

 

 

US

 

 

UK

Today's second comparison is Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella. The covers are very similar with a couple holding hands and walking. The font on the US cover is in Sophie Kinsella's signature font that makes the new release easy to recognize. However, the UK cover fits the title better. It is nighttime blue with stars in the sky. Very whimsical. I choose the UK cover.
 
Total: US 21, UK 20

Which covers do you favour?