Book Blogger Hop - 8/31/2018

Question of the Week:

Do you have a YouTube channel? If so, do you post book review vlogs? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

My Answer:

I do not have a YouTube Channel.

I honestly wouldn't know how to post on there. :)

Giveaway and Spotlight of THE GUESTS ON SOUTH BATTERY by Karen White

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All information in this post is courtesy of Tara O'Connor of Penguin Random House

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Celebrating The Release Of
The Trade Paperback Of:

THE GUESTS ON SOUTH BATTERY

by Karen White

Berkley Trade Paperback
August 28, 2018

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Behind the Scenes:

The brick-walked streets of Charleston, along with its beautiful architecture and its rich history, have always charmed New York Times bestselling author Karen White. 

So, when it came time for White to write a series about complicated characters with a side of spooky lore, she knew just where to set it. And so began the story of Melanie, a Charleston realtor with a special gift.

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About The Book:

In THE GUESTS ON SOUTH BATTERY, Melanie’s maternity leave has reached its end and she is less than thrilled to return to work, especially when she's awoken by a phone call with no voice on the other end. 

Melanie has the uneasy feeling that the ghostly apparitions that have stayed silent for over a year are about to invade her life once more.

But, Melanie’s return to the realty office goes better than expected, with a new client eager to sell her recently inherited home on South Battery. 

Despite her stroke of luck, Melanie can’t deny that spirits have started to appear to her again. 

And while she knows nothing good can come from unearthing the past, some secrets refuse to stay buried.

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About the Author:

 “Karen White credit Marchet Butler”

Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Dreams of Falling, The Night the Lights Went Out, Flight Patterns, The Sound of Glass, A Long Time Gone, and The Time Between, and the coauthor of The Forgotten Room with New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig.

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Tara O'Connor of Penguin Random House for this giveaway.

USA ONLY

Trade Paperback

August 29 - September 5

Enter here

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Sold On A Monday by Kristina McMorris

 

Good and bad things seemed to happen on Mondays for Ellis Reed, but more bad.

The day Ellis was biding time until a scheduled meeting, happened to be the day his career changed, but it also was the day that would change his life and the life of the Dillard family.

Ellis’s story about a family who had their children for sale turned out to be something more than a story.  It really happened, and when Ellis found out, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Meanwhile Lily worked at the paper as a secretary and had a part in this story even though she didn’t write the story.   Lily had a secret about the story and her personal life that she hoped would never be revealed, but you know how things work with secrets.

Ellis wanted to be successful, but once he was, he still held back because he felt his success was based on the misfortunes of the family he had taken a photo of and had written a story about.

Ellis and Lily worked together once they found out what happened to the Dillard’s after the publication of the story and the sign that said:  2 Children for Sale.

They both felt responsible for the outcome, and it haunted both of them.  Neither Lily or Ellis wanted to rest until they found out where the children were and what happened to their mother.

Set during the depression, you can feel the troubles and worries families had and the desperate measures some of them took.

SOLD ON A MONDAY has wonderful, lovable characters.  Ms. McMorris marvelously portrayed characters you would want to know.  You will be with them in their pain, their indecisions, their decisions, their love for each other, and their feelings.

Ms. McMorris knows how to tell a story and keep you interested. SOLD ON A MONDAY is a beautiful story about caring and compassion.

SOLD ON A MONDAY was heartwarming as well as heartbreaking.

It is a book women’s fiction fans won’t want to miss. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.   All opinions are my own.

My Niece and New Nephew's Wedding Day

An absolutely beautiful day for my niece Amanda and my new nephew Travis.

She was gorgeous, and that dress is stunning and elegant.

CONGRATS!!

AUDIO Giveaway and Spotlight of Mourning Dove by Claire Fullerton

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All information in this post is courtesy of the author, Claire Fullterton.

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Celebrating An AUDIO Giveaway of:

MOURNING DOVE

by Claire Fullerton

August 23, 2018

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Praise For The Book:

"An accurate and heart-wrenching picture of the sensibilities of the American South." Kirkus Book Reviews

 

"Mourning Dove is much more than genre-driven Southern fiction. It is the voice of a generation, directly speaking to the children of the Seventies who were raised by parents who did not discuss "bad things."-- Southern Literary Review

 

"Mourning Dove is deep thinking, rhythmic and evocative. It is a wonderful narrative with purpose, direction and an emblematic linchpin. I found myself being drawn back to it again and again. The ending was just brilliant--it must have been Fullerton's intention all along, which makes the story incredibly moving and masterful." ---Jaymi of Instagram's Suspect Nargles

 

"Fullerton's novel will transcend generations for this reason. It speaks to readers across different barriers in the same way that her novel oscillates. North to South. Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial. The hard-learned lessons she captures know no boundaries and have no mercies. Mourning Dove is a novel we not only read, but listen to as we would a teacher filled hard won wisdom." -- Review in The New Southern Fugitives ( Emery Duffy.)  

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About The Book:

The heart has a home when it has an ally.

 
If Millie Crossan doesn't know anything else, she knows this one truth simply because her brother Finley grew up beside her. Charismatic Finley, eighteen months her senior, becomes Millie's guide when their mother Posey leaves their father and moves her children from Minnesota to Memphis shortly after Millie's tenth birthday.

Memphis is a world foreign to Millie and Finley. This is the 1970s Memphis, the genteel world of their mother's upbringing and vastly different from anything they've ever known. Here they are the outsiders. Here, they only have each other. And here, as the years fold over themselves, they mature in a manicured Southern culture where they learn firsthand that much of what glitters isn't gold. Nuance, tradition, and Southern eccentrics flavor Millie and Finley's world as they find their way to belonging. But what hidden variables take their shared history to leave both brother and sister at such disparate ends? 

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About the Author:

Information taken from her biography on this Amazon page.

 

Claire Fullerton grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of contemporary fiction, "Dancing to an Irish Reel," set in Connemara, Ireland, where she once lived. Dancing to an Irish Reel is a finalist in the 2016 Kindle Book Review Awards, and a 2016 Readers' Favorite. Claire is the author of "A Portal in Time," a paranormal mystery that unfolds in two time periods, set on California's hauntingly beautiful Monterey Peninsula, in a village called Carmel-by-the-Sea. 

 

Both of Claire's novels are published by Vinspire Publishing. Her third novel, Mourning Dove, is a Southern family saga, published in June, 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction. 

 

She is one of four contributors to the book, Southern Seasons, with her novella, Through an Autumn Window, to be published in November 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction. 

 

Claire is represented by Julie Gwinn, of The Seymour Literary Agency, and can be found on WordPress, Twitter (cfullerton3) Goodreads, Instagram ( cffullerton) as well as the website under her name.

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with the author for this AUDIO giveaway.

USA ONLY

Trade Paperback

August 23 - August 30

Enter here

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Giveaway and Spotlight of Vox by Christina Dalcher

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All information in this post is courtesy of Roxanne Jones of Berkley|Penguin Random House

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Celebrating The Release Of

VOX

By Christina Dalcher

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Praise for VOX:

One of Entertainment Weekly's and SheReads' books to read after The Handmaid's Tale

 
One of Good Morning America's "Best Books to Bring to the Beach This Summer"

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About The Book:

An electrifying and urgent new dystopia, VOX is a must-read for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and “Black Mirror.”

 

Humans speak 16,000 words per day on average.

 

What if women were forbidden to speak more than 100?

 

What if the penalty for exceeding that quota was pain?

 

That’s the premise of this important, compulsively readable new novel.

 

In VOX, the change began with a renewed reverence for traditional gender roles. Amplified by the charismatic voice of Reverend Carl, the Pure Woman movement found sure footing in a divided country. With the Reverend delivering votes, a new president was elected. By the time their agenda became clear, each woman and girl had a word counter on her left wrist: 100 words a day, with increasingly intense shocks administered for every word over.

Dr. Jean McClellan was a neurolinguistics before she—and all women—were removed from the workforce. She spent most of her life leaving the protests and politics to others while she developed a cure for aphasia. But when the president’s brother suffers brain damage in a ski accident, Jean is recruited to continue her work in exchange for her—and her daughter’s—reprieve from the quota.

However, Jean soon discovers that her research is intended for something far more ambitious and sinister than she could have ever imagined.

A novel of riveting suspense and shattering questions, VOX is a story about language as the basis of our humanity—and what happens when that language is taken away. The book has already generated major media attention in Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, ABC News online, and more.

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About the Author:

Christina Dalcher earned her doctorate in theoretical linguistics from Georgetown University. She specializes in the phonetics of sound change in Italian and British dialects and has taught at several universities. 

Her short stories and flash fiction appear in over one hundred journals worldwide. Recognitions include the Bath Flash Award's Short List, nominations for The Pushcart Prize, and multiple other awards. She teaches flash fiction as a member of the faculty at The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Roxanne Jones of Berkley|Penguin Random House for this giveaway.

CONGRATS to our winner:

Rebecca of Colorado

USA ONLY

August 22 - August 29

Enter here

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The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

 

I don’t have an evil step-mother, I have an evil mother-in-law.

Can Pammie really act the way she does and lie about it all without her son seeing she is trying to thwart their relationships?

Adam and Emily seemed perfect together except for his mother’s interference.  Adam sided with his mother and totally ignored what his mother was  doing.  And...what she was doing was trying to make Emily take the blame for everything that she was conniving and lying about.

What hold does Pammie have over Adam that keeps him from seeing what his mother is really doing?

THE OTHER WOMAN has characters that you will hate as well characters that will have you wanting to say wake up.

I wanted to jump into the book and tell Emily that she needed to move on and get away from Adam and the Banks family.

THE OTHER WOMAN definitely kept my interest, but it also kept my blood pressure up.  

The stress Emily was under kept the book moving, but also felt unreal.

The author's writing style didn't leave you wanting anything but to continue reading so you could find out what was going on. 

Then we have the ending...surprising and unexpected.

If you haven’t met Pammie and the Banks Family, you will want to.  5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. .  All opinions are my own.

Giveaway and Spotlight of In The Midnight Room by Laura McBride

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All information in this post is courtesy of Megan Rudloff and Simon and Schuster.

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Celebrating The Release Of:

IN THE MIDNIGHT ROOM

by Laura McBride

Touchstone Paperback

August 21, 2018

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Praise for the book:

"In the opening pages of Laura McBride’s new novel, June Stein dives off the Haverstraw Bridge and straight into the reader’s imagination. I love how June, and the vivid, complicated women around her, often fail to act in their own best interests while they still win our affection and admiration.  And I love how McBride brings to life the fast-changing city of Las Vegas through their intertwined stories.  ‘Round Midnight is a passionate, gripping and beautifully written novel." (Margot Livesey, author of Mercury) 

"Laura McBride reminds us of the invisible threads that bind us together as she weaves the stories of four very different women into a haunting tale of love, loss, and the power to endure. A compelling, transporting, and deeply wise novel. I was enthralled from the first page. Laura McBride is a stunning storyteller." (Patry Francis, author of The Orphans of Race Point) 

"I’m not one to pull out the term “Great American Novel,” but Laura McBride’s sublime ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT demands nothing less. Gorgeous, engrossing, moving, and at times wickedly funny, this brilliant novel pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the shattering final sentence. This is the novel you need to read right now." (Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year and A Fortunate Age) 

“If McBride is trying to prove...—that if you change one life, you change the world—she succeeds magnificently.” (Booklist)

"[A] jewel of a nov­el. Haunting and unpredictable, ’Round Midnight is the beautifully told story of how fates intertwine in ways we can’t plan." (BookPage)

"A dangerous romance and a captivating character make "Round Midnight memorable...illuminating...

thrilling...heartbreaking...You'll fall in love." (Dallas Morning News) 

"When Laura McBride starts a novel, her characters lead the way as she writes." (The Denver Post) 

"It's not often that a work of literature is able to move its readers to slow down and savor its signifigance, coaxing them into prying open its complexities one by one with a sense of wonder and anticipation.  Equal parts intricate and graceful, 'Round Midnight accomplishes just this." (The Daily Californian) 

"Redemption in doing the right thing, the solace of accepting fate, perhaps, echoes through 'Round Midnight. McBride crafts passages of sterling imagery and diction....Mostly, though, she tells an honest Las Vegas tale about life and fate, with characters, not caricatures." (Desert Companion) 

"A beautiful novel about families and love and complications of human relations....Superb." (The Batavia Daily News) 

"Through outstanding character development and beautifully crafted storytelling, McBride uses the stories of four seemingly insignificant women to weave her tale into the readers' heartstrings." (Deseret News)

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About The Book:

 

Photo Credit:  Touchstone

From the author of the acclaimed novel We Are Called to Rise comes a “jewel of a novel” (BookPage) about four vivid and complicated women in Las Vegas whose lives become connected by secrets, courage, tragedies, and small acts of kindness. 

Fun-loving and rebellious, twenty-one-year-old June Stein abandons the safe world of her New Jersey childhood for edgy 1950s Las Vegas. For the next 60 years, June will dare to live boldly. She will upend conventions, risk her heart and her life, rear a child, lose a child, love more than one man, and stand up for more than one woman. 

June’s story will intertwine with those of three unlikely strangers: a one-time mail order bride from the Philippines, a high school music teacher, and a young mother from Mexico working as a hotel maid. Knit together around June’s explosive secret, they forge a future that none of them foresee. 

This jubilant, compassionate novel explores the unexpected ways that life connects us, changes us, and even perfects us. A powerful story of lust and of hope, of redemption and of compassion,In the Midnight Room is a smart, sagacious novel about womanhood, family bonds, and how we live in America now.

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About the Author:

Photo Credit:  Michelle Adams 

Laura McBride lives in Las Vegas and teaches composition at the College of Southern Nevada. She is the author of the novels We Are Called to Rise and In the Midnight Room.

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Megan Rudloff and Simon and Schuster for this giveaway:

 Contest has ended!!

Congrats to

Jane from Maryland

USA ONLY

August 20 - August 27

Enter here

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Giveaway and Spotlight of The Hour of the Fox by Kurt Palka

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All information in this post is courtesy of Jennifer Musico and Penguin Random House.

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Celebrating The Release Of:

THE HOUR OF THE FOX

by Kurt Palka

Penguin Random House - Canada
US Paperback 
release
July 31, 2018

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Behind the Scenes:

From the bestselling author of The Piano Maker comes a stunning, profoundly moving story about motherhood, grief, marriage, and friendship. 

For fans of M. L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans.

This book sounds like a terrific read doesn't it - Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews.  

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About The Book:

Margaret Bradley is the most senior associate at a prestigious law firm, and she is on track to make partner. It is the 1970s; her climb up the career ladder in this male-dominated profession has been difficult, but with hard work she has made herself one of the best in it. She is dedicated to her work and is happily married until one day her entire world is shattered by the sudden death of her son Andrew, a military pilot. Now, Margaret lives with a heavy, all-encompassing sense of loss and regret that is pushing her further and further away from the person she once knew herself to be, and from her husband, Jack, a successful geologist and a loving and loyal partner.

Consumed by her sorrows Margaret is drawn back to the family summer home in Sweetbarry, a small town off the coast of the North Atlantic, where she spent much of her childhood. Her lifelong best friend, Aileen, is close by. When Aileen’s adult son, Danny, is questioned by local police in connection with a violent crime that shocks the community, Margaret provides legal and moral support. And it is while doing so that an opportunity presents itself for her to confront her sorrow. She sees “a door opening. A way forward,” and she boldly reaches out with an act of courage and humility that has profound consequences.

Set against the backdrops of the rugged Atlantic coast, Toronto, and Paris, The Hour of the Fox is emotionally resonant, atmospheric, and unforgettable in its depiction of motherhood and loss.

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About the Author:

The Hour of the Fox is KURT PALKA’s seventh novel. His previous work includes Clara, which was published in hardcover as Patient Number 7 and was a finalist for the Hammett Prize, and The Piano Maker, a national bestseller. He lives near Toronto.

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Jennifer Musico and Penguin Random House for this giveaway.

Congrats To Our Winner:

Barbara from Florida.

USA ONLY

August 16 - August 23

Enter here

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BLOOM IN YOUR READING

I won this adorable sign from the Facebook group listed below.

Stop by and join in the fun if you like.

The site is all about BOOKS and AUTHORS. 

http://www.areyouinbloom.com

Giveaway and Spotlight of Up From Freedom by Wayne Grady

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All information in this post is courtesy of Jen Musico.

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Celebrating the paperback release of

UP FROM FREEDOM 

by Wayne Grady

with a SPOTLIGHT and GIVEAWAY

August 14, 2018

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Up From Freedom is a powerful and emotional novel about the dangers that arise when we stay silent in the face of prejudice or are complicit in its development.

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Advance Praise:

“Wayne Grady’s Up From Freedom pulls history from fiction and fiction from history in a way we very much need in these troubled, ever-evolving times. Focusing on the issues of race and self-identity on a continent built by whites on the backs of blacks forcibly removed from their continent, it examines not only the clash of two colors but the inevitable blending of them and its far-reaching and profound implications. The subject matter of the book comes to life on the printed page in this inter-generational, inter-racial book by way of a riveting narrative and a cast of complex, appealing characters. Up From Freedom is an important and engaging book.” —Wayne Johnston, author of the nationally bestselling Son of a Certain Woman

“In Up From Freedom, Wayne Grady has written an arresting novel about the United States bustling into the age of steam as it also drifts helplessly towards a catastrophic civil war. It is a novel that wisely, compassionately, and movingly brings to vivid life a cast of characters, black and white, struggling in the snares of slavery and racism. It is a rare achievement, a novel that is both timely and timeless, a book that locates conscience and hope at the very centre of human existence.” –Guy Vanderhaeghe, author of The Englishman's Boy, The Last Crossing and A Good Man 

“Wayne Grady writes with such careful devotion to history and human character that the private conflicts in this story perfectly expose the racial tumult of the 1830's in America. His language is forthright; his point of view unsparing; and he guides us through the landscape of slavery by walking just ahead of it and holding up a mirror.”–Linda Spalding, author of The Purchase and A Reckoning

“From its powerful opening scene, to its poignant finale, Up From Freedom captures both the heart and the intellect of the reader. Grady’s creation is a bright star in the literary universe. A wonderful and important achievement.”–Jane Urquhart

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About The Book:

As a young man, Virgil Moody vowed he would never be like his father, he would never own slaves. When he moves from his father's plantation in Savannah to New Orleans, he takes with him Annie, a tiny woman with sharp eyes and a sharper tongue, who he is sure would not survive life on the plantation. She'll be much safer with him, away from his father's cruelty. And when he discovers Annie's pregnancy, already a few months along, he is all the more certain that he made the right decision. 

As the years pass, the divide between Moody's assumptions and Annie's reality widens ever further. Moody even comes to think of Annie as his wife and Lucas as their son. Of course, they are not. As Annie reminds him, in moments of anger, she and Moody will never be equal. She and her son are enslaved. When their "family" breaks apart in the most brutal and tragic way, and Lucas flees the only life he's ever known, Moody must ask himself whether he has become the man he never wanted to be--but is he willing to hear the answer?

Stretching from the war-torn banks of the Rio Brazos in Texas to the muddy waters of Freedom, Indiana, Moody travels through a country on the brink of civil war, relentlessly searching for Lucas and slowly reconciling his past sins with his hopes for the future. When he meets Tamsey, a former slave, and her family trying to escape the reach of the Fugitive Slave Act, Moody sees an opportunity for redemption. But the world is on the cusp of momentous change, and though some things may be forgotten, nothing is ever really forgiven.

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About the Author:

WAYNE GRADY has written more than a dozen books for adult and young readers, and is also one of Canada's top literary translators. His novel, Emancipation Day, won the 2013 Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Grady lives in Kingston, Ontario, with his wife, novelist and creative nonfiction writer Merilyn Simonds.

Wayne Grady’s Awards and Honors

Longlisted for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize

A Globe and Mail “Globe 100” Best Book 2013

Winner:  Amazon.ca First Novel Award

Longlisted for the CBA Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year

A Chatelaine Book Club pick

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GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Jen Musico for this giveaway: 

Congrats to our Winner:

Linda from Michigan

USA ONLY

August 15 -August 22

ENTER HERE

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