#MMBBR #Highlight The Summer of Me by Angela Benson @Morrow_PB @HarperCollins

The nationally bestselling author of Delilah’s Daughters and The Amen Sisters returns with a moving story about a single mother who discovers the woman she can be in one unforgettable summer.

As a single mother, Destiny makes sacrifices for her children—including saying goodbye for the summer so they can spend time with their father and stepmother. Though she’ll miss them with all her heart, the time alone gives her an opportunity to address her own needs, like finish getting her college degree. But Destiny’s friends think her summer should include some romance.

Destiny doesn’t want to be set up…until she meets Daniel.  The handsome, warm and charming pastor soon sweeps Destiny off her feet. But is romance what she really wants? Or needs?

As the days pass, Destiny will make new discoveries—about herself, the man she’s fallen for, and the people around her. And she’ll face challenging choices.  But most of all, she’ll grow in ways she never imagined, learning unexpected lessons about trust, forgiveness, and the price of motherhood…and truly become the woman she wants to be.

Angela Benson writes from the heart about matters that she has experienced and about which she feels strongly. She is the award winning and bestselling author of fourteen novels, two novellas and two non-fiction titles. Her work has been published by six major publishers, including Harlequin, Tyndale House, Berkeley and William Morrow. Her most recently published works are the relationship guide, Men Don’t Like Ugly, Women Don’t Like Broke (July, 2016), and the contemporary novel, The Summer of Me (William Morrow, 2016). She holds a doctorate from the University of Georgia, a masters from Georgia Tech and undergraduate degrees from both Georgia Tech and Spelman College. Dr. Benson is an associate professor at The University of Alabama.

Website: http://www.angelabenson.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/AngelaBensonBooks

Book List

Single Title Inspirational Family Drama
The Summer of Me
Delilah’s Daughters
Sins of the Father 
Up Pops the Devil
Showers of Blessings, a novella in the Million Blessings Anthology

Genesis House Inspirational Romance & Family Drama
Awakening Mercy, Book 1
Abiding Hope, Book 2
The Amen Sisters, Book 3
Enduring Love, Book 4 (coming soon)

Sweet Passion Contemporary Romance Series
Friend and Lover, a Sweet Passion novella
The Nicest Guy in America
The Way Home
Bands of Gold (Pre-order now!)
For All Time (Pre-order now!)
Between the Lines (Pre-order now!)

Nonfiction
Men Don't Like Ugly, Women Don't Like Black: What Women Need to Know about Love, Money and Relationships, Integrated Book and Workbook Edition
Telling Your Tale: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Fiction for Print and eBook, Integrated Book and Workbook Edition
Telling Your Tale: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Fiction for Print and eBook
Telling the Tale: The African-American Fiction Writers Guide

BUY THEM HERE

#MMBBR #BlogTour #Review The Space Between Sisters: A Butternut Lake Novel by Mary McNear

About THE SPACE BETWEEN SISTERS

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Mary McNear returns to her beloved Butternut Lake in a story where the complicated bonds of sisterhood are tested, long kept secrets are revealed, and love is discovered... all during one unforgettable summer at the lake.

Win and Poppy are two sisters who couldn’t be more different. Win is organized, responsible, and plans her life with care. Poppy is impulsive and undependable, leaving others to pick up the pieces of her life. But despite their differences, they share memories of the idyllic childhood summers they spent together on the shores of Butternut Lake. Now, thirteen years later, Win, recovering from a personal tragedy, has taken refuge on Butternut Lake, settling into a predictable and quiet life.

Then one night, Poppy unexpectedly shows up on her sister’s doorstep with her suitcases, an aging cat named Sasquatch, and a mysterious man in tow. Although Win loves her beautiful sister, she wasn’t expecting her to move in for the summer. At first, they relive the joys of Butternut Lake. But their blissful nostalgia soon gives way to conflict, and painful memories and buried secrets threaten to tear the sisters apart. As the waning days of summer get shorter, past secrets are revealed, new love is found, and the ties between the sisters are tested like never before… all on the serene shores of Butternut Lake.

Read an Excerpt:

"Look, there's a driveway," Poppy said. "And there's a cabin at the end of it, too. You can see its lights through the trees."

"All right," Everett said. "But if my car breaks down, I'm not knocking on that door. I've seen that movie, too. We spend the night there, and when we wake up in the morning, we discover that our kidneys have been harvested."

"Ugh," Poppy said, wincing. "I had no idea you were so dark, Everett."

"No?" he said, with a trace of a smile. "It's amazing how much you can learn about someone on a two-hundred-and-forty-mile drive."

"That's true," Poppy mused. "So, what have you learned about me?" she asked. She wasn't being flirtatious. She was just curious.

"I've learned . . ." He looked over at her, speculatively. "I've learned that you think corn nuts are revolting."

"That's because they are revolting."

"Corn nuts," Everett said, concentrating on another turn, "are the ultimate road trip food."

"Not even close," Poppy said. "Because that would obviously be Red Vines."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Everett said. "I mean, they have, like, zero nutritional value, unless you count whatever's in the red dye, and—"

"Oh, my God, look," Poppy said, excitedly, of the driveway they were passing. Beside it a large sign with a wintery pinecone painted on it spelled out white pines.

"What's that?" Everett asked.

"It's a resort, and it means that we are now exactly three miles away from my grandparents' cabin. I mean, my sister's cabin," she amended, feeling that familiar jab of resentment she felt whenever she was reminded of the fact that this beloved piece of family real estate had been passed down to Win, and only Win, three years ago. This resentment was part of the reason that Poppy had avoided coming to Butternut Lake since Win had moved here year-round a couple of years ago. But if there was any comfort to be found inWin being the one to own the cabin, it was in knowing that she would never sell it; it meant as much to her as it did to Poppy.

Poppy and Win had spent all of their childhood summers here until Poppy was sixteen and Win was fifteen (they were thirteen months apart), and Poppy, who was just shy of thirty, could still remember every detail of the cabin. It stood on a small bluff, just above Butternut Lake, and its dark brown clapboard exterior was brightened by cheerful window boxes that overflowed with geraniums. And the homey touches continued inside: colorful rag rugs, knotted pine furniture, red-checked slipcovers on sofas and chairs. The living room, everyone's favorite room, was as comfortable as an old shoe, with its fieldstone fireplace, and its old record player and collection of albums (some of which dated back to the 1950s). In one corner, there was a slightly wobbly card table for playing gin rummy, and on the shelf next to the table, a collection of hand-painted duck decoys. Mounted on the wall above the mantelpiece was the prized three-foot walleyed pike that had not gotten away from their grandfather. The living room windows looked out on a flagstone patio, their grandmother’s begonia garden, and a slope of mossy lawn leading down to the lake. And the kitchen . . . Poppy remembered it as though it existed in a perpetual summer morning: the lemon yellow cup- boards, the row of shiny copper pans hanging on the wall, and the turquoise gas stove, a monument to 1950s chic.

"Do you think you should give your sister a call now?" Everett asked, interrupting her reverie.

"Why?"

"To tell her that we're almost there."

"Oh," Poppy said, momentarily at a loss. And then she tossed her long blond hair. "No. I'm not going to tell her," she said. "I thought we'd surprise her."

Everett stole a quick look at her. "But… she knows we're coming, right?"

"Not exactly," Poppy said, feeling a first twinge of nervousness.

Everett was quiet. Then he asked, "Does your sister like surprises?"

"Not really," Poppy said, and there it was again, that nervousness. She tamped it down, firmly, and said, "But what are sisters for if they can't just . . . drop in on each other?"

"'Drop in'?" Everett said, after another pause. "It looks like you've got a lot of your stuff with you, though, Poppy. Isn't it more like, 'move in'?"

Poppy ignored this question. Harder to ignore were her suitcases, wedged in the trunk of Everett's car, or her boxes, stacked on the backseat beside Sasquatch's pet carrier. And it wasn't just a lot of her stuff, as Everett had pointed out. It was all of her stuff. Though, truth be told, that wasn't saying much. It had taken her less than an hour to pack everything up. Traveling light was a recurring theme with Poppy, and a necessary one, too, since her peripatetic lifestyle was the norm.

"Sisters don't have to call ahead. They're there for each other," Poppy said now, though she was annoyed by the defensiveness she heard in her own voice.

"But do you think your sister—Win—will be home right now? It's ten o'clock on a Saturday night."

"Oh, she'll be home. If I know her, she's probably . . . alphabetizing her spice rack," Poppy said, "or color coding her sock drawer." As soon as she said this, though, she felt disloyal. "Actually, she's a sweetheart," she said, turning to Everett. "And I don't blame her, at all, for being a little . . . neurotic or controlling, or whatever she is. I told you about what happened to her, didn't I?" And Poppy pictured Win as she'd been the last time she'd seen her, her dark blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and her girl next door approachableness only slightly tempered by the wistful expression on her face.

"Yeah, you told me what happened to her," Everett said. It was quiet in the car again as he negotiated another sharp turn, and as Poppy watched the car's lights skim over an entrance to an old logging road. She smiled. She and Win had driven down that road as teenagers, looking for bears at dusk.

"All right," she said, after a few more minutes, "we're getting close. After this next curve, it's the first driveway on the left." And, suddenly hungry, she added, "Here's hoping Win's got some leftovers from dinner."

"Yeah, and here's hoping she's in a good mood," Everett added wryly.

 

I love visiting Butternut Lake.  It has such interesting people working through the thing we call life.  McNear did such a great job creating a place that now feels familiar to me, as I have read all of the Butternut Lake books that McNear has written.  In the newest installment The Space Between Sisters you get to spend the summer with Win and Poppy while they work through the past and figure how what the future holds.  It is filled with so much love...in various forms.  Another sweet and deeply moving novel that is perfect for the summer or as a book club pick.  4.5 stars

About MARY MCNEAR  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary McNear is a writer living in San Francisco with her husband, two teenage children, and a high-strung, miniscule white dog named Macaroon. She writes her novels in a local donut shop where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life and tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly-made donuts. She bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a lake in the Northern Midwest.

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@BookSpark #BestSummerEver #SCR2016 #Review First Comes Love @emilygiffin #MMBBR

A pair of sisters find themselves at a crossroads in this dazzling new novel from the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, and The One & Only. First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

Emily Giffin is the author of seven internationally bestselling novels: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, Heart of the Matter, Where We Belong, and The One & Only. A graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law, she lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children.

A pair of sisters find themselves at a crossroads in this dazzling new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, and The One & Only.First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious, relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing, Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes, their delicate bond splinters.

Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter is assigned to her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.

On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. 

As the anniversary of their tragedy looms, and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover that they need each other more than they knew—and that in the search for true happiness, love always comes first.

I adore Emily Giffin.  She can really flesh out her characters and causes you to become sincerely and intensely engaged in their lives.  In First Comes Love you are taken into a family that suffered a great loss.  You see what happens to the family and how everyone copes...did they chose the right path?  As, the anniversary of their brother's death approaches, many things start to build up and risk boiling over.  Josie and Meredith could not be more different, but I was equally interested in both their lives.  There is so much truth, heart break and second guessing going on.  I love that it is a story about so much...love, life, loss, second chances and family.  Another book I both wanted to read quickly and savor at the same time.  5 stars

#MMBBR Blog Tour w/ #Giveaway One True Loves: Taylor Jenkins Reid @tjenkinsreid

About the book:

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a "Best Book of the Summer" by Glamour and USA TODAY—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

I cannot say enough how much I love Taylor Jenkins Reid.  Her writing has a way to make me get the feels from the first sentence to the last.  I have LOVED every book she has EVER written.  They are all 5 stars.  In ONE TRUE LOVES Jenkins Reid made me feel a lot of things...heartbroken, hopeful, nervous, scared, confused and everything in between.   What would you do if you had to chose between your two loves.  Do you go with with your heart or your mind.  How do you make the choice that will determine your future?  This book is like no other I have read in a long time.  It had such a unique premise and brilliant storytelling.  It was such an emotionally haunting and soul searching read.  All the while I was wondering what I would do, how would I react...what choice would I make.  Another amazing 5 star hit!  Love Love Love Love Love!!!! 

  

"Everything that happened before today feels different now, and I have no idea what happens after this."

About the author:

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author, essayist, and TV writer from Acton, Massachusetts. Her debut novel, Forever, Interrupted, has been optioned with Dakota Johnson attached to star. Her second book, After I Do, was called a "must read" by Kirkus. Her most recent novel, Maybe In Another Life has been featured in People, Cosmo, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, PopSugar, USA Today and more.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and their dog, Rabbit. 

FIND TAYLOR ONLINE:

Website: www.taylorjenkinsreid.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taylorjenkinsreidbooks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tjenkinsreid 

Instagram: @tjenkinsreid

ORDER:

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY:

2 COMPLETE SETS OF SIGNED TJR BOOKS

5 SIGNED COPIES OF ONE TRUE LOVES

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#MMBBR Picks for the men in your life...

For the military lover:

SHADOW WAR (Morrow, on sale May 10, 2015, ISBN 13: 9780062403704, $25.99) introduces Sean McFate’s alter ego, Tom Locke, an Army veteran and elite private warrior.  In SHADOW WAR, Tom Locke is working for a private military company in Africa when he’s pulled off a mission and assigned to a top-secret black op in war-torn Ukraine. He has one week to rescue a businessman’s family and pull off an assault that will catapult the billionaire to presidency.  But there are hidden complications, one is Locke’s boss at Apollo Outcomes, Brad Winters, it’s unclear where his true loyalties lie.  Locke soon learns that brilliant planning can’t overcome deception—and his mission could end in catastrophe and tip the balance of power in Eurasia toward Putin’s Russia for the next century.

SHADOW WAR is unlike any thriller that has ever been written about the Deep State and modern warfare.  And it’s all told with searing pace and unparalleled authenticity. 

Highly respected General Stanley A. McChrystal raves, “Wars produce warriors. Some, like special operator-turned mercenary Tom Locke, find it a curious calling that pulls them into the darkest of nights and most dangerous of places. Shadow War brings all of it to life in fascinating detail.”

For the world adventurer:

HELL’S GATE (Morrow, on sale 6/7/2016, ISBN 13: 9780062412522, $26.99) is set during the dark days of World War II and imbued with the scientific knowledge of two experts in their respective fields.  As war rages in 1944, Army Intel discovers a 300-foot Japanese sub marooned deep in the Brazilian interior.  Rangers sent to investigate have now disappeared and it’s up to Captain R.J. MacCready, a wisecracking, brilliant scientific jack-of-all-trades, to uncover the enemy’s plans.  Mac parachutes deep into the Brazilian jungle but is surprised to be reunited with hometown friend Bob Thorne, a botanist presumed dead for years.  As Mac makes the arduous trek into a hidden valley beneath a 2000-foot plateau, he learns of an Axis plot to destroy the U.S. But another force is on the prowl in heart of the jungle, attacking at night and draining the blood of livestock and human prey. Mac has to uncover the source of this emerging biological crisis and foil the enemy’s plans… but will he be in time to save humanity from itself?

Famed director, writer and explorer James Cameron warns, “Working within chilling scientific plausibility, this two-fisted jungle adventure swerves unexpectedly down a path of heart-pounding suspense. What emerges from the darkness will haunt you long after you put the book down.”

Q&A w/ Brenda Minton Her Rancher Bodyguard @brendaminton @BookTrib @HarlequinBooks

Her Texas Protector 

Bodyguard Boone Wilder isn't keen on his latest mission: watching over a pretty politician's daughter. Boone is from quiet Texas Hill Country, and Kayla is a showy city gal. But once safely settled at the Wilder Ranch, Boone watches Kayla enjoy cooking with his family, caring for his relatives and bottle-feeding calves. There's more to her than he ever knew. Still, the former soldier's wounds are way too deep to let Kayla close. But when he discovers that someone wants to hurt Kayla, Boone must risk his heart to protect what he cares about most.

Brenda Minton lives in the Ozarks with her husband, three children and a few too many pets. She's a pastor's wife as well as children's ministry worker. 

Her hobbies include sitting on the porch drinking coffee and going out to eat with friends. 

If you enjoy her Love Inspired Cooper Creek series, you can find Brenda most days drinking coffee and hanging out on facebook.

Q&A with Brenda Minton – Her Rancher Bodyguard

1)     List two books you’ve read more than three times.  That’s a long list. And when I started writing, that was my goal. To create books that readers loved so much, they would read them again and again.  A favorite from childhood would be “My Wolf My Friend” By Barbara Corcoran. And “The Truth About Cowboys” by Margot Early

2)     Is anything in your new release based on real life experiences or purely all imagination? There are always small pieces of my life in each book, in each character. Her Rancher Bodyguard is for the most part imagination.

3)     How much research goes into your books? It depends on the book. I love research so I can bury myself for hours searching the internet for places, experiences, and even real people who have gone through something similar to what my characters are experiencing.

4)     You get a brilliant phrase/idea/thought at an inopportune time (while driving, drifting off to sleep/in the shower). What do you do? I’ve been known to scribble on McDonald’s receipts, type notes into my phone or tell one of my kids  “Grab a pencil and paper out of my purse and write this down. Yes, write it on that payroll check, I don’t care.” (the last part is fiction. I wouldn’t write on a payroll check)

5)     What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Is there such a time as ‘not writing?’  My life is really busy. I have 3 grown children, a granddaughter and we’re adopting five children. When I’m not writing I hide and eat chocolate. I love my screened in porch and a cup of coffee. I also take walks. Alone if I can. And I plant flowers. Lots of flowers.

6)     Where is one place you want to visit that you haven't been before? New York City

7)     What does your family think of your writing? They support me, fantastically. They tag team the kids, vacuum, shampoo carpets and order pizza.

8)     How do you decide on the setting of your book? I think of places that I’d like to go and I figure my readers my like to take the journey with me. I love Oklahoma and Texas. If I didn’t live in Missouri, I would pick either of those two states.

9)     What question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? Write it out here, then answer it.   Why does Boone live in a camper when he could live in his family home?

Boone went through a lot in Afghanistan. Not only the explosion that injured him and left him an amputee but the loss of a friend, the loss of trust. He loves his family and is loyal, he wants to be there for them. But he needs space to heal. He needs quiet. With his rowdy family, the camper is his space.

10)  What is your favorite summer read? I love a great historical. Anything that takes me far away, with a castle, a chivalrous hero and a heroine who doesn’t really need to be rescued but is willing to give it a try.