STAY TUNED – SOME SPECIAL FEATURES ARE COMING!!!

By

Jocie McKade

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29 January 2021

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IT’S ALMOST TIME…………..

Quarantined? Started reading? Run out of books? Now you need to find some new authors?

We are starting a Special Feature just for you!!!

Each month in 2021, beginning in February, you can MEET THE AUTHOR!

February, we will be hosting ROMANCE AUTHORS! From sweet and warm, to paranormal and sexy, find some ‘new to you authors’.

Then stay tuned for March as we duck-and-cover with THRILLER AND SUSPENSE AUTHORS.

Our first MEET THE AUTHOR will be here on Monday, February 1st………

She Wrote The Songs That Reflected The World – MELANIE

By

Jocie McKade

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29 January 2021

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FOLK MUSIC ICON MELANIE SAFKA NOMINATED FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

It is 1 am on Saturday August 16^th, 1969 and Melanie Safka, a folk singer at the tender age of 22 years old moves herself onto the stage at the Woodstock Music Festival to perform songs echoing love, beauty and freedom. Following a one-hour performance by Ravi Shankar, playing her music in front of 400,000 flower children would only be one precious moment in her music career. Three years later and one recording contract later, Melanie Safka would ultimately record two singles that would take her into the mainstream music scene, “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)”, which would reach number six on Billboard and “Brand New Key”, which would become number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and become an international bestselling single reaching No. 1 in Canada and Australia and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

Who knew that over 50 years later, Melanie’s trademark of success and songs would still be relevant and vital to society, she certainly could never have imagined that! Roll forward to 2021 and Ms. Safka’s journey continues. The influential singer-songwriter’s legacy now moves forward as she has been nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Folk Alliance International in conjunction with the 2021 International Folk Music Awards. Influential and inspiring, this Award will be given to one individual with competition stemming from key influencers both living and those in legacy. The award, voted on by members of the Folk Alliance International is given and recognized by folk music industry leaders, legends, unsung heroes, and rising talent. Although the award has not been won as of yet, the sheer magnitude of being nominated is a testament to Melanie’s longevity and success as a singer-songwriter.

More information about the award can be found at: Announcing the nominees for the 2021 International Folk Music Awards – Folk Alliance International

To celebrate the revitalized success Melanie is having, there will be a livestream concert event on January 30^th and you can join the concert through this link:

Bookstore Spotlight: BLUESTOCKINGS

By

Sheila English

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29 January 2021

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This is a rare gem! It’s run by volunteers! Can you believe it? I love that there are enough book lovers out there to do such an amazing thing!

Their books are diverse and unique! You’ve got to check out BLUESTOCKINGS in New York! Online or in person!

Are they physical open for browsing? YES

Can you shop online? YES Buy online too! https://bluestockings-bookstore.square.site/

Events- http://bluestockings.com/events/calendar/ you can subscribe and be updated on events! Or just go to their page. Lots going on!

About the bookstore (from the website)- ABOUT BLUESTOCKINGS

Bluestockings is a volunteer-powered and collectively-owned radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We’re currently in the process of relocating from 172 Allen Street and building out our new space at 116 Suffolk Street! When we’re open, we carry over 6,000 titles on topics such as feminism, queer and gender studies, global capitalism, climate & environment, political theory, police and prisons, race and black studies, radical education, plus many more! You can also find some good ‘ole smutty fiction, sci-fi, and poetry. We also carry zines, alternative menstrual products and other oddly hard-to-find good things. If you’d like to donate to our buildout and relocation fund, you can do so at bit.ly/bstoxmove and help support us through this challenging time! We’re looking forward to sharing space with you again soon.

23 Shades of Black by Ken Wishnia – Throwback Thursday

By

Sheila English

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28 January 2021

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It’s a new book if you’ve never read it! 23 Shades of Black by Ken Wishnia takes us back to 2012 and to a great series!

This tense, psychological thriller set in the East Village punk scene during the early 1980s shadows a single evening shift of NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela. When Filomena learns that the toxic leak may have been sabotage, and a key witness—an East Village artist—dies in a suspicious accident, she decides to pursue the case on her own by cruising the Alphabet City punk rock clubs for clues about the artist’s last days. But as she attempts to punish environmental criminals, Filomena finds the case, and her personal life, begin to crumble. A taut noir tempered with a cynical sense of humor, this mystery novel is a sociological snapshot of a working-class Latina in New York City.

Check out the book trailer!

And the video book review!

SNEAK PEEK: Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

By

Jocie McKade

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28 January 2021

0

HONEY GIRL BY MORGAN ROGERS

Perfect for readers of QUEENIE, this #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut follows a young black woman just finishing her Ph.D in astronomy who impulsively gets married in Vegas and decides to leave her perfectly ordered life for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.

With her newly completed Ph.D in astronomy in hand, 26-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls trip to Vegas to celebrate. She’s a straight A, work-through-the-summer certified high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that.

This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her father’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.

In New York, she’s able to ignore all the annoying questions about her future plans and falls hard for her creative and beautiful wife, Yuki Yamamoto. Yuki hosts a radio show about monsters and what they reveal of the terrors lurking inside people’s minds, when she’s not waiting tables to make rent. Yuki welcomes Grace into her Harlem apartment and her own tight circle of roommates-turned-family. As Grace knits herself into their firmament, she builds a fantasy summer where a vodka-soaked wedding can last, there is no life roadmap to follow beyond the beating of your heart, and the past is as illusory as the facades of the Vegas strip.

But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the need for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.

PODCAST: Sharing RomComs with Author Kate O’Keeffe

By

Jocie McKade

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28 January 2021

0

Sharing RomComs with Author Kate O’Keeffe

LISTEN HERE!!!

Kate O’Keeffe is an award-winning, bestselling author of fun, feel-good chick lit and romantic comedies. She lives and loves in beautiful Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand with her family, two scruffy dogs, and a cat who thinks he’s a scruffy dog too.

He’s not: he’s a cat.

When she’s not penning her latest story, Kate can be found hiking up hills (slowly), traveling to different countries around the globe (back when we used to be able to do that), and eating chocolate. A lot of it.

Right now, Kate is working on a spin-off story from the Love Manor Romantic Comedy Series. Entitled A very English Love Story, it’s Phoebe’s story, one of the contestants from the Dating Mr. Darcy reality TV show. The box set is called Love in the City and it’s an anthology of 13 fabulous rom coms, on pre-order here.

You can find her at her website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Bookbub, Goodreads, and Amazon.

SNEAK PEEK: LADIES OF THE HOUSE BY LAUREN EDMONDSON

By

Jocie McKade

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27 January 2021

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LADIES OF THE HOUSE BY LAUREN EDMONDSON – A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility

In the vein of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible, an irresistible contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility about two sisters who must rebuild their lives and reputations in the aftermath of their family’s public scandal.

No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to thirty-four-year-old Daisy Richardson, a woman of routine, order, and careful thought. So when it’s revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy’s life becomes complicated—and fast.

For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy’s mother is holding on with an iron grip to this last vestige of their former life. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible, someone Daisy can’t bring herself to trust. And then there’s Atlas, Daisy’s best friend. She’s always wished they could be more, but now he’s writing an exposé on the one subject she’s been desperate to avoid: her father.

Daisy’s plan is to maintain a low profile as she works to keep her family intact amidst social exile, public shaming, and quickly dwindling savings. But the spotlight always seems to find the Richardsons, and when another twist in the scandal comes to light, Daisy must confront the consequences of her continued silence and summon the courage to stand up and accept the power of her own voice.

Maria Shriver Partners with Penguin Life on New Imprint

By

Jocie McKade

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27 January 2021

0

Emmy Award–winning journalist, producer, and New York Times bestselling author Maria Shriver is partnering with publisher Penguin Life to launch a new imprint called The Open Field.

Maria Shriver says, “The Open Field will commission and publish voices from all walks of life and areas of human endeavor that seek to inform, ignite, inspire, and move humanity forward—one person at a time. Books published under The Open Field imprint will be unique in look and feel, in mission and purpose. Each one will carry readers’ minds beyond judgments and troubles, into new reaches of peace and compassion.”

The Open Field will publish roughly three books a year. Brian Tart, president and publisher of Penguin Life, Viking, and Penguin Books, will also serve as publisher of the new imprint while Shriver will be the founder.

Tart says, “I have worked with Maria on her books for a number of years now and have always been impressed with her instinct for all aspects of publishing and her commitment to sharing ideas that impact all our lives for the better. Partnering with her on The Open Field makes perfect sense for Penguin Life—it allows us to inspire more readers to be their best.”

Already under contract are two books coming out this spring.

Bestselling author, life coach, and sociologist Martha Beck’s THE WAY OF INTEGRITY: Finding the Path to Your True Self is on sale April 13, 2021. In this new book, Beck explains why integrity—being in harmony with ourselves—is the key to a meaningful and joyful life. She presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering.

Coming on March 16, 2021, is THE CALL TO UNITE: Voices of Hope and Awakening, edited by Tim Shriver and Tom Rosshirt, with an epilogue by Maria Shriver. Capturing the spirit and goal of The Call to Unite Livestream Event, which Tim Shriver organized in April of 2020, the beautiful new book features words of hope, wisdom, and inspiration from all walks of life: doctors, nurses, activists, religious leaders, former presidents, and artists. There are over one hundred contributors, including former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, bestselling authors Richard Rohr, Elizabeth Gilbert, TD Jakes, Eckhart Tolle, Arianna Huffington, Krista Tippett, José Andrés, Van Jones, Rick Warren, Deepak Chopra, Amy Grant, Arthur Brooks, Jewel, and many more. With poems, essays, prayers, and insightful conversations, THE CALL TO UNITE offers readers a book of wisdom to turn to in hard times, with lessons to live by that will stand the test of time.

Bad Love Beyond by Kevin L Schewe Book Trailer

By

Sheila English

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27 January 2021

0

Book 3 is here! Bad Love Beyond by Kevin L Schewe brings us back to our time traveling Bad Love Gang! And we are excited to share the new book trailer with you!

https://kevinschewe.com/ The Bad Love Gang is back at it with an action-packed intergalactic adventure, with espionage, intrigue and suspense. “Bad Love Beyond is like flying through the Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, Jurassic Park and Captain Kirk’s starship with a wonderful tour guide.” Dave A. Holladay, MD “Skillful writing, a zesty sense of humor, an appreciation for pop culture, and the ability to create memorably entertaining characters combine to make this an immensely impressive novel.” Grady Harp, Top 50 Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer, 5-stars Whether you’re a history buff, a time-travel buff, a sci-fi lover, or are just in need of a fun book to cheer you up, Bad Love Beyond is the adventure you’ve been waiting for. Grab your copy today!

The Beast of Beswick (The Regency Rogues Book 1) by Amalie Howard

By

Sheila English

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0

The Beast of Beswick was both hit and miss for me.

3.5 Stars

My review:

It’s Taming of the Shrew meets Beauty and the Beast as so many have already said. I love historical romance so I went in wanting to love the story. And there’s a lot to enjoy with this book. I’d have given it 3. 5 stars if I could. But, I always round up when that happens.

The story has emotion and a great premise. There’s a lot about the characters that I liked. But, Lady Astrid started getting on my nerves after a bit. Here she is asking someone for a huge favor. Huge. Like…marriage and protection huge. But, once she gets her sister and goes to him she treats him like a …shrew. It’s like she constantly forgets she is in his debt. It made it hard to continue liking her.

The hero, Thane, is far more likable. He has a sad backstory and is scarred. He’s got integrity even if he is gruff.

They go back and forth…do we desire each other? Instead of ramping up the emotion is kind of thins it out.

All that said, I did read it to the end and I would try this author again.

About the book:

Beauty and the Beast meets Taming of the Shrew in this laugh-out-loud and heartfelt Regency romance.

Lord Nathaniel Harte, the disagreeable Duke of Beswick, spends his days smashing porcelain, antagonizing his servants, and snarling at anyone who gets too close. With a ruined face like his, it’s hard to like much about the world. Especially smart-mouthed harpies—with lips better suited to kissing than speaking—who brave his castle with indecent proposals.

But Lady Astrid Everleigh will stop at nothing to see her younger sister safe from a notorious scoundrel, even if it means offering herself up on a silver platter to the forbidding Beast of Beswick himself. And by offer, she means what no highborn lady of sound and sensible mind would ever dream of—a tender of marriage with her as his bride.

To celebrate the revitalized success Melanie is having, there will be a livestream concert event on January 30th and you can join the concert through this link:

About the bookstore (from the website)- ABOUT BLUESTOCKINGS

To celebrate the revitalized success Melanie is having, there will be a livestream concert event on January 30^th and you can join the concert through this link: