Blog Tour ~ Extract and Giveaway | Who's That Girl ~ Mhairi McFarlane

I'm delighted to be kicking of the blog tour to celebrate the paperback release of Mhairi McFarlane's fabulous novel, Who's That Girl?

And what better way to start a blog tour than by giving you a chance to win your own copy!

Below I have all the details of the book for you and the gorgeous new paperback cover, plus a little extract teaser and then finally the giveaway details - so please ensure you read right to the end!

Who's That Girl?

Mhairi McFarlane

HarperCollins

Hardback April 2016

Paperback February 2017

Hardback | Paperback Pre-Order | Kindle

She kissed the groom. She’s not the bride…

Edie thought she’d found The One…until he told her he was marrying someone else. And on the day of his wedding, when he kisses her, life really does go pear-shaped…

Labelled as a home-wrecker and office outcast, when her boss offers her the chance to get out of town Edie jumps at it, even though moving back in with her eccentric father and prickly sister isn’t exactly the escape she needs.

When her work throws her into the path of rising star and heartthrob Elliot, Edie is expecting a highly strung diva. But as their unexpected friendship develops, Elliot isn’t the only one in the spotlight…

Who’s that girl? Edie is ready to find out.

Extract

Life through a phone is a lie. Edie imagined the process like

a diagram from physics lessons, the one on that Pink Floyd

album cover – a beam of white light refracted in a prism,

splintering and fanning out as a rainbow.

I mean, how much artifice, she wondered, was crammed

into this one appealing photograph? She gazed at its seductive

fictions in the slightly greasy, warm slab of screen in her palm

as she queued at the hotel bar.

Activity in the room whirled around her, messy unkempt

sweaty reality, soundtracked by The Supremes ‘Where Did

Our Love Go?’ In this still life, everything was forever image

managed and perfect.

Untruth number one: she and Louis looked like they adored

each other’s company. In order to squeeze into the frame, Edie

had rested her head against his shoulder. She was coquettish,

wearing a mysterious smile. He was doing the self-satisfied,

slightly 007 quirk of the lip that conveyed hey life is great, no

big deal. It really wasn’t a big deal.

They’d spent five hours as platonic plus ones – the wedding planner had demanded pairs, like Noah’s Ark – and now they

were grating on each other, in heat and booze and wedding

clothes with waistbands that had got tighter and tighter, as if

inflating a blood pressure cuff.

Edie’s heels had, like those high enough for special occa-

sions, moved from ‘wobbly and pinchy, but borderline tolerable’

to stabbing at her viciously like some mythic pain where she’d

given up her mermaid tail for size 4s and the love of a prince.

Falsehood number two, the composition. Twinkling-happy

party girl Edie, looking up through roadsweeper-brush-sized

false lashes. You could glimpse the top half of her red dress,

with nicely hoisted pale bosom, stomach carefully held in.

Louis’s cheekbones were even more ‘killer in a Bret Easton

Ellis’ sharp than usual, chin angled downwards.

This was because they’d held the lens at arm’s length above

their heads and discarded five less flattering images, bartering

over who liked which one. Edie had eye bags, Louis objected

he looked gaunt, the expressions were slightly too studied,

the shadows had not fallen in their favour. OK, another, another!

Pose, click, flash. Half a dozen was the charm: they both looked

good, but not too much like they’d tried to look good.

(‘Why does everyone do that expression now, like you’re

sucking on a sour plum?’ Edie’s dad asked, last time she was

home. ‘To make yourself look thin and pouty, I suppose. But

you don’t look like that face you pull, in real life. How

strange.’)

Louis, an Instagram professional and very sour plum, fiddled

with the brightness and contrast settings. ‘Now to filter

ourselves to fuck.’

He selected ‘Amaro’, bathing them in a fairytale cloud of

lemonade fog. Complexions were perfected. The mood was

filmic and dreamy, you’d think it captured a perfect moment.

You had to (not) be there.

And then there was the caption. The biggest deception of

all. Louis tapped it out and hit ‘post.’ ‘Congratulations Jack &

Charlotte! Amazing day! So happy for you guys <3 #perfectcouple

living their #bestlife.’

This was mostly for the benefit of the rest of the Ad Hoc

agency, who’d all found elegant excuses not to travel from

London to Harrogate. Nothing tested popularity like several

hundred miles of motorway.

Like after admiring Like rolled in. ‘Sigh. You two are another

#perfectcouple!’ ‘Shame I’m a bender!’ Louis replied. That’d

be the least of our problems, Edie thought. They’d all done the

arithmetic with Louis, that if he slagged off everyone else to

you, he slagged you off, too.

And of course, Louis had not stopped grousing under his

breath about the ‘amazing’ wedding. Edie thought criticising

someone’s big day was like making fun of the way they ate,

or the size of their ankles. Good people instinctively under-

stood it was not fair game.

I really thought Charlotte would go for something more clean,

minimal. Like Carolyn Bessette marrying JFK Jnr. The crystal beading

on that gown’s a bit Pronuptia, isn’t it? Even women with taste

seems to lose the plot and go Disney disaster in a bridal salon. I

am so over those rose bouquets with pearl studs and white ribbon

round the stems, like a bandaged stump! Once a WAG has done

something, it is DONE. And sorry, but I find a tanned bride vulgar.

Ugh, two sips of that Buck’s Fizz and it was into a plant pot. I

can’t bear orange juice used to hide cheap champagne. Look at the

DJ, he’s about fifty in a blouson leather jacket, where did he get that

from, 1983? He looks like he should be on Top Gear. It’ll be

rocking out to Kings Of Leon’s ‘Sex On Fire’ and Toni Braxton

for the erection section. Why can’t weddings be more MODERN?

Giveaway

The lovely team at HarperCollins have kindly offered one reader of Lozza's Book Corner a sparkly new paperback version of Who's That Girl.

All you have to do is enter on the link below.

I shall leave the giveaway open until the end of the blog tour (schedule below - don't forget to check out the other fab bloggers!) and then pick one winner at random.

UK entries only

The winner will be announced via Twitter and Email and will have 3 working day's to respond.

If there is no reply, then a new winner will be picked.

Good Luck!

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Review + Giveaway | The Choice ~ Nicholas Sparks

       

 I'll hold my hands up and admit I'm a bit late to the Nicholas Sparks fandom - I've only read The Notebook and his latest novel, See Me (read my review here) before and I've barely seen any of the films *shock face entered*

I know its criminal not to have at least seen the movies but, lets be frank here, reading is about a zillion times better than watching, don't you think? I've read books before and absolutely adored them, then watched the film and the love I felt for that book went completely out of the window.

When you read a novel, the characters, the landscape are all written for you, often in great depth and detail but somehow our brains and imagination take right over. For example, within The Choice, Gabby and Travis are referred at one point to leaning on a railing on the deck looking out at their back garden. To me, I imagined Gabby leaning on her elbows with her hands together and fingers entwined, whilst Travis is leaning using his hands for support.

Now if I go and see the movie and this one little bit from the book is different to my mind, then it completely changes my outlook of the book and honestly ruins it for me.

Films are brilliant, don't get me wrong, but everything is decided for you by the producers, directors and actors - I've seen the trailer for The Choice too and both characters are not how I picture them in my head, and this again would just ruin what is a good book.

With this view in mind, when I had the email asking if I would like to participate in a new 'Read It Before You See It' campaign for Nicholas Sparks' newest film, The Choice,  I jumped at the chance.

BUY

Kindle

Paperback

How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

Travis Parker has it all; a good job, loyal friends, and his dream home in North Carolina. The last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship. That is, until Gabby Holland moves next door.

Despite Travis' attempts to be friendly, his alluring neighbour simply will not warm to him. But Travis feels compelled to get closer to her, leading them both down a road where they will face tough decisions, shocking revelations and devastating consequences.

Now a major motion picture, The Choice starring Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer, is an unforgettable - and heart-wrenching - love story from Nicholas Sparks, the multi-million-copy best selling author of The Notebook and Dear John.

The Choice was a fairly short book in comparison to Nicholas' latest release and clearly was one of his earlier masterpieces, as although I found this easy to read and get into, it didn't leave me as emotionally touched as I was with See Me.

There are four main parts to this novel -

The prologue set in February 2007 introduces us to Travis Parker visiting his wife in hospital. We don't know much about what happened but we do know that Travis is living with memories, love and regret as the last he and his wife spoke, they had argued.

Part one of the book takes us back to May 1996, and over the next few chapters we get to know Travis and his neighbour, Gabby Holland, and how they met and fell in love. Their early encounters were at times comical - the first words Gabby spoke to Travis were accusations of his dog getting her's pregnant, and we were instantly led to believe that she was a strong, independent and feisty woman. Travis suggests taking the dog to the vet but fails to mention he is the vet - slightly awkward but its the start of a loving relationship.

As puppies are born, Travis and Gabby get closer. Over a weekend of fun and flirting they fall in love with each other in the clever, romantic, whirlwind way that Nicholas Sparks is a master at writing and the first choice comes from Gabby as she already has a boyfriend.

Part two of the book takes us back to February 2007 and to the hospital with Travis visiting his wife. I found this part of the book slightly slower to read, particularly the first few chapters as we didn't really know what had happened to his wife or what the situation was, but once we learnt that Gabby was in a coma after a horrific car crash all became clear and reading speed again picked up.

This is also where Travis has to make the choice of his life. I wont go into it too much and spoil the complete plot, but my gosh it certainly makes you think about life and what you would do in this situation.

The last few chapters were tense and I was completely torn with the way the story would take us but certainly showed the power of true love.

The last part of the book is of course the epilogue set in June 2007. It started with a fast forward of where Travis was from the choice he had made but threw back to a memorable day since. I love a good epilogue, especially one that wraps the story up well and this didn't disappoint.

What I loved about The Choice was that although it was written in the third person, we were predominately told Travis' story. It was very descriptive and due to the way it was laid out, it kept my guessing at times on what was going to happen.

One of the lovely things about this book is the lack of characters. In the very early chapters we meet some of Travis' friends and sister but they are there more as reference than characters, as are Gabby's parents, which kept this very much as Travis and Gabby and their love story as the focus.

Although this book didn't quite move me in the way the last book from this author did, it was still an incredibly powerful, insightful and enjoyable book to read.

I urge you to read this before heading to watch the film, and to help out, with thanks to the lovely people at Little, Brown UK, I have been given a copy, SIGNED BY NICHOLAS HIMSELF, to give away to one of my lucky readers - just enter the give-away below!

I would also like to thank Stephanie at The Little Book Cafe for providing me with a review copy of the novel and for the giveaway.

Giveaway 

One signed copy of The Choice by Nicholas Sparks.

Ends 3rd March 2016

Winner picked at random via Rafflecopter and notified via email on Friday 4th March 2016

Open to UK and Ireland Only

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Promo Post: Search For The Truth by Katherine Freeman

Today I'm bringing you a promo post for Katherine Freeman's novel, 

Search For The Truth, 

which is on its blog tour with Brook Cottage Books.

Below is all the info you need including blurb and buy links.

There is also a competition!

Genre: Contemporary romance

Release Date: 13^th August 2015

Publisher: Choc Lit

Sometimes the truth hurts …

When journalist Tess Johnson takes a job at Helix pharmaceuticals, she has a very specific motive. Tess has reason to believe the company are knowingly producing a potentially harmful drug and, if her suspicions are confirmed, she will stop at nothing to make sure the truth comes out.

Jim Knight is the president of research and development at Helix and is a force to be reckoned with. After a disastrous office affair he’s determined that nothing else will distract him from his vision for the company. Failure is simply not an option.

As Tess and Jim start working together, both have their reasons for wanting to ignore the sexual chemistry that fires between them. But chemistry, like most things in the world of science, isn’t always easy to control

Buy Links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

A former pharmacist, I’m now a medical writer who also writes romance. Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a hunky hero.

With two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to buy a card (yes, he does), any romance is all in my head. Then again, his unstinting support of my career change proves love isn't always about hearts and flowers - and heroes come in many disguises.

AUTHOR LINKS

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KathrynFreeman1

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7373990.Kathryn_Freeman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?locale=en_US&trk=profile-preview

Website: http://kathrynfreeman.co.uk

GIVEAWAY

Win a katherine freeman paperback

(open internationally)

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Giveaway: How To Make A Friend by Fleur Smithwick

Today is my stop on the How To Make A Friend blog tour, and I've teamed up with the lovely people at Transworld Publishers for this amazing giveaway. There are 3 copies up for grabs! (UK only)

As a lonely child, Alice found comfort the same way so many others do – she invented a friend. Sam was always there when she needed him, until one day… he wasn’t. 

Now, Alice has a happy, normal life; she has a handful of close friends and a career as a photographer. 

But when a tragic accident shatters the world Alice has constructed, the sense of isolation that haunted her in childhood returns. And with it, so does Sam. 

To Alice, he looks and feels like a real person, but how can that be?  P
And who will decide when it is time for him to leave again?

FLEUR SMITHWICK was brought up in London and studied French Literature & Language at Southampton University.

She worked in various jobs, before becoming a full-time writer. As well as novels, Fleur writes short stories and has won The Writers’ Village and Segora competitions.

She lives in Richmond with her husband and two children.

Find her on Twitter: @FleurSmithwick

Praise for How to Make a Friend:
‘An intriguing and extremely sinister debut’ – Woman&Home 

‘An absolute must-read’ – OK! 

‘An original idea, cleverly executed’ – Sunday Mirror 

 ‘A great winter read’ – Woman’s Own 

 ‘A fascinating story about the power of the mind’ – IMAGE 

‘A tense, intriguing and must-read debut’ – Irish Country Magazine

For your chance to win ONE of three copies, please enter the competition below.

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