{Grand Opening} BestSellingReads

The best authors in New Fiction are celebrating the grand opening of BestSellingReads.com with a February promotion:

Best Selling Read's February Deal

Prize for winning reader entry: iPad Mini with Wi-Fi 16GB plus 1 eBook from each BSR author

-OR-

$300 Amazon gift card plus 1 eBook from each author (if winner received eReader holiday gift)

2nd & 3rd place winners: $25 Amazon gift card

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{Review} The World as We Know It by Joseph Monninger

ISBN #: 978-1451606348

Page Count: 320

Copyright: October 11, 2011

Publisher: Gallery Books

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

A lifetime of friendship begins the day brothers Ed and Allard save Sarah from drowning in an icy river near their rural New Hampshire home. Though their paths diverge through the years, the connection between the three endures until a heartbreaking tragedy in the remote mountains of Wyoming forces Sarah and Allard to confront the unthinkable. In their grief, they find themselves on separate journeys that test the enduring bonds of their relationship and time's unremitting power to heal.

Poignant and transformative, The World as We Know It is subtle and heartrending - a love story of friendship, nature, and the surprising twists that can alter our destinies forever.

Mandy's Review:

Do you recall sitting in your high school English class and your teacher telling you that you would be reading a classic. Perhaps it was A Tale of Two Cities. Maybe it was The Giver or The Scarlet Letter. Do you recall how you felt while reading a story that was written so long ago, the pages yellowed with age? I have no doubt that The World as We Know It will be a classic that is read by English students years from now. The flow of the story and the way it read was reminiscent of those classics I read during high school.

Sarah and Allard's love story is a great piece of literary fiction. There are life lessons and situations throughout this novel that are open for deeper interpretation. The Wyoming tragedy lends a more serious, but necessary note, to this work. What would an unforgettable piece of literature be without a tragedy to tear the lovers apart?

I really don't know what to say. I'm just stunned and still in awe of how substantial this story is. This is one book that isn't going anywhere. When the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list is revamped, I could pretty much guarantee you that this book will be on that list.


*A paperback copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

{Review} Second Chance Grill by Christine Nolfi

ISBN #: 978-1478342229

Page Count: 318

Copyright: October 24, 2012

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Dr. Mary Chance needs a sabbatical from medicine to grieve the loss of her closest friend. But when she inherits a struggling restaurant in Liberty, Ohio she isn't prepared for Blossom Perini. Mary can't resist falling for the precocious preteen - or the girl's father. The bond they forge will transform all their lives and set in motion an outpouring of love that spreads across America.

Mandy's Review:

Everyone deserves a second (and sometimes a third, fourth, and so on) chance. It doesn't matter what people have done or what situation they're in, if they are trying to do better another chance should be given to them. Stop living in the past and look towards the future.

Mary deserves a second chance with her medical career that helps her to feel fulfilled while not disappointing anyone. Her best friend, another doctor, was killed recently by a drunk driver. The two friends had intended on taking over a free clinic as a way to give back to the community, but now that her friend was dead Mary needed to get away. With her aunt retiring, Mary acquires the Liberty's only restaurant. She renames the place, revamps the menu, and opens up shop ... to a horrendous, disastrous first day.

Anthony deserves a second chance at true love. He had never been in love even though he had been married before. A girl in high school, not even his "girlfriend," was waiting on his bed for him one day after school ... naked. Being a teenage boy with raging hormones, he did what any male in his situation would do ... he had sex with her. That one time was enough to get her pregnant and, being the honorable guy that he was, Anthony married her shortly after graduation. Two years later, she divorces Anthony leaving him in Liberty with their child.

Blossom deserves a second chance at having a mother and at life. Growing up as a single child with a single parent, Blossom is somewhat spoiled. Anthony's done the best he could during her childhood years, but now that Blossom is a preteen she needs a mother. When Blossom sets eyes on Mary, she determines to have Mary in that role. While pushing Anthony and Mary together every chance she can, Blossom's hiding the fact that she's not feeling well. She's in remission from leukemia and doesn't want to worry her father about her health. About a month before the long-awaited two-year remission mark, Blossom takes a serious turn for the worse: her leukemia has come back with a vengeance. Her only possible chance at survival is a bone marrow transplant, which costs a ton of money her family cannot afford.

Second Chance Grill is a wonderfully realistic story that I could read over and over again. It made me laugh and cry. Even though Liberty isn't a real city, I could easily picture this happening in any small town across America. This is a town that I want to live in with people I would love to have as friends. Christine Nolfi has a wonderful thing going on with the Liberty series and I cannot wait to see who we'll learn more about next.


*An ecopy of this novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

{Ebook Cover Reveal} Unbeautifully Loved (Unbeautiful Life #1) by Emma Grayson

COMING IN APRIL

Blurb:

On the run from her dark and painful past, Lexie Todd is finally forced by her best friend Mollie into settling into a new place for the first time in months. Having been hurt in more ways than one in the past, the last thing Lexie is expecting or wanting is to meet someone as persistent and annoying but incredibly gorgeous as Lukas Gunn.

When an incident leaves Lexie banged up and rattled, Lukas knows there's more to her than meets the eye as something is haunting her to the core making him nothing but determined to make her his and protect her from whatever it is that casts the dark painful shadow behind her eyes.

But when her past shows up and pulls Lexie back into the nightmare she already once escaped while leaving her closest loved ones in danger, it's up to Lukas to save her from her darkest nightmare relived.

Will Lukas be able to save Lexie? Or will Lexie succumb only having known what it's like to be Unbeautifully Loved?

{Review} The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

ISBN #: 978-1401341930

Page Count: 352

Copyright: February 5, 2013

Publisher: Hyperion

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

Grace Alban has spent more than twenty years avoiding her childhood home, the stately mansion situated on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. Alban House is enchanting, certainly; it is also plagued with a history of tragedy and the rumor of a curse that no one can quite laugh away. So when newly divorced Grace returns with her moody teenage daughter to attend to her mother's estate, she is shocked but not surprised to learn that her mother died under eerie circumstances - silenced the very day she planned to give a tell-all interview about the family. Soon, Grace finds herself faced with more unsettling discoveries, including a long-lost aunt and a possible intruder watching through the walls.

Now Grace must uncover the truth about the Alban curse - and the witch at its heart - before she becomes its next victim ...

Mandy's Review:

As soon as I saw the cover on this book, I just knew I had to read this book. When I received the paperback, I fell even more in love with the cover. The photo above does not do this cover art justice. And, you can't see it in the photo, but there's a girl in white in the window at the top of the house. I'll admit it: I totally judged this book by its cover before even reading the summary. The summary just confirmed that I had to have it.

The Fate of Mercy Alban is an interesting title. Not only does it tell us that something happened to a lady named Mercy Alban, but while reading this story you realize that Fate was Mercy's twin sister. I pretty much figured out what happened to Mercy and Fate when they were younger, but I didn't know the how of it. I commend the author for skillfully keeping me on my toes. I totally lost myself in this book, as I hoped I would when I received the review request.

There's a comment made, in a review blurb on the back cover, stating that Stephen King could be the (literary) father of Wendy Webb. I don't think she's as twisted, or anywhere near as vulgar, as Stephen King (I adore your work, Mr. King!!!), but I would agree with Dean Koontz being Wendy's (literary) father. She has Mr. Koontz's milder, otherworldly-esque writing style thrown in with a dash of realism.

There were many little twists and surprises in this novel ... like the Epilogue ... Way to make me want more, Wendy!!! I am officially begging you to write a sequel to this novel. Whoever her literary father is, I have now become a huge fan of Wendy Webb. Her books will be sitting alongside Stephen King's and Dean Koontz's on my bookshelves, as they should be on yours as well.


*A paperback ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.