Archive for the ‘ Lazy Day E-Scapes ’ Category

Weekend Romance: What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Author: Kimberly

Oct 5

How do you like to relax after a stressful week?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a pretty stressful week full of headache inducing tech glitches.  My absolute favorite way to de-stress is with a good book, which I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now. 

A great romantic comedy can take your mind off the real world and give you several hours of escape and relaxation.  Plus, there are all kinds of studies out there written by smart people showing that the healthy benefits of humor and laughing last for hours and hours.  Where do I sign up?

What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips is just the thing to ease you into a stress-free weekend.  It’s full of great romance and some laugh-out-loud scenes that will make you fall in love with these characters and search out more books by Phillips.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and think you will, too!

Here is the back of the book description:
How did this happen? Georgie York, once the costar of America’s favorite television sitcom, has been publicly abandoned by her famous husband, her film career has tanked, her father is driving her crazy, and her public image as a spunky heroine is taking a serious beating. What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? Not go to Vegas…not run into her detestable former costar, dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard…and not get caught up in an ugly incident that leads to a calamitous elopement.

Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, a fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life. There’s Bram’s punk-nightmare housekeeper, Georgie’s own pushy parent, a suck-up agent, an icy studio head with a private agenda, and her ex-husband’s new wife, who can’t get enough of doing good deeds and saving the world – the bitch.

It’s a paparazzi free-for-all as two enemies find themselves working without a script in a town where the spotlight shines bright…and where the strongest emotions can wear startling disguises.

What’s a great romantic comedy that you’ve read lately?  Share with us in the comments!

Happy Reading!
Kimberly

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Book Review: The Last Refuge by Ben Coes + Giveaway

Author: Kimberly

Jul 4

“Here’s the answer. The gravest threat facing the United States comes from within, when our best people refuse to get involved.  When the men and women we need to fight those threats you mentioned…stay on the sidelines.  That’s our gravest threat.”


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The Last Refuge by Ben Coes is Book 3 in the Dewey Andreas series and primarily revolves around the at-odds political landscape of three countries: Iran, Israel and The United States.

Israeli Special Forces Commander Kohl Meir (and great-grandson of Golda Meir) is kidnapped by the Iranians off the streets of New York City. Meir is not only a high-profile name for the Iranians to capture, but he also is one of Israel’s deadliest operatives who specializes in killing terrorists. The Iranians are seeking revenge for the deaths of four of their undercover operatives and believe Meir is responsible. They put on a farce of a public trial and… well, you’ll have to read the book to find out the verdict.

Former U.S. Delta Dewey Andreas owes Meir his life and will do anything to rescue him from the highly secure prison where he’s being held in Iran.  Following up on leads Meir left behind, Andreas uncovers Iran’s 9-ton nuclear secret and tries to find a way to use that information to secure Meir’s release before time runs out.

Working without the knowledge and official support of the U.S. and Israeli governments, Dewey turns to two former CIA agents, who now work independently, for tactical support.  While I would have liked to learn more about these new characters, I got the feeling they were developed just enough to set them up for re-introduction in a future book.  I’m anticipating seeing them evolve over time.

Especially appropriate for a patriotic 4th of July, here is my favorite quote from the book:

“Dewey knew there was no greater feeling than fighting for something that mattered, for your country, for an idea, for America.”

Though it is part of a series, The Last Refuge can stand alone for readers who are newly discovering author Ben Coes.  I have not read the first two books and though I’m sure I would have benefited from the additional background information, Coes shares enough in this book to easily follow the characters.  Of course, now that I’ve read this one and liked it, I will definitely go back and read the previous books in the series.

With plot lines that run alarmingly close to real-world headlines, The Last Refuge depicts a disturbing could-happen-in-real-life-but-thank-God-this-is-fiction thrill of a read.

 

Ben Coes has graciously offered a Signed Hardcover copy of The Last Refuge to one lucky reader!

The easiest way to enter for your chance to win is by visiting our Facebook fan page and clicking the sweepstakes tab at www.facebook.com/LazyDayBooks.

If you are not on Facebook and would like to enter for a chance to win, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post OR send us an email to read(at)lazydaybooks(dot)com.  When emailing us, make sure you include your name, age (must be 18 or older), city and state where you live.

Since we will use email to notify the winner, all entries must include a valid email address.  If you are chosen as the winner, we will also ask you for your mailing address so we know where to send your book.

The winner will be determined by random drawing on Wednesday, July 11 at 8p CST.

Happy Reading and Good Luck!
Kimberly

Book Review Notes:
Title: The Last Refuge
Author: Ben Coes
Subject: Fiction
Published: 7/3/2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Source: Review copy from publisher

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Guest Post by Lou Aronica: Differential Equations & Magic Realism

Author: Kimberly

Jul 2

On Friday, we shared our review of Differential Equations, by Julian Iragorri and Lou Aronica.  You can read our review here.

Today, we are excited to bring you a guest post from Lou Aronica, one of the authors of Differential Equations, where he tells us about the inspiration for the book and more about magic realism.  Aronica is a New York Times best selling author and President and Publisher of The Fiction Studio and Publisher of The Story Plant.  You can learn more about him here.

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Blog ImageDifferential Equations, the novel Julian Iragorri and I just published, had numerous sources of inspiration. Julian’s family story was one, as was the fact that both of us had some mind/body experience. Another key source of inspiration were the magic realists. I knew that Julian and I could collaborate well when I learned in our first conversation that both of us considered Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude a favorite novel. Further conversation revealed a shared affection for Isabel Allende, Jorge Amado, and others. I’d wanted to write a magic realist novel for some time, and with Julian I would finally get the chance to do so.

I’d incorporated the fantastic in my work before. My novel Blue has an entire storyline set in the imaginary world created by a father and his daughter when the girl was much younger. Magic realism is different from fantasy, though. In magic realist fiction, the world is very much the same as ours except that magical things happen as a matter of course. These things aren’t phenomena; they are just the way the world works. For example, Vidente, one of the main characters in Differential Equations is someone who can genuinely see the future. Her friends and neighbors come to her when they feel the need to know what is going to happen to them. They see Vidente as someone with a gift, much like a baker or a tailor has a gift, but not as someone charmed by the supernatural.

What I love about magic realism is its ability to extend the natural world rather than diverge from it. As a novelist, this medium provides me with an extra set of tools, and it is liberating. It is as though a painter were provided with new colors. By allowing certain types of magic to seem completely real, I can create new opportunities for drama and new methods for exploring a story’s themes. For example, in her very first scene in Differential Equations, Vidente sees a vision of her imminent death. Without this, she would have approached the events in the story in a completely different – and, in our opinion, less meaningful – way. Toward the end of the novel, a magical event allows the novel’s primary message to get through to both the characters and readers. That moment would have been much less dramatic otherwise.

When done respectfully, magic realism has the ability to illuminate experience. Those who inspired us to write Differential Equations were masters at it. I hope we did them proud.

Lou Aronica

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Book Review: The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

Author: Kimberly

Mar 12

As I mentioned last week, one of my personal challenges this year is to read all of Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon books.  Chris S., one of my good friends, has been raving about this series and I do love thrillers.  Based on everything he had told me, this series seemed like a good fit for me.   Plus, Chris was nice enough to loan me his copies of the books, so I really had no excuse.

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Back of the book description, The Kill Artist:
Once a key operative in secret Israeli-intelligence missions, Gabriel Allon is on the run from his past, assuming a quiet life as a meticulous restorer of priceless works of art. But now he is being called back into the game. The agent with whom he is teamed hides behind her own beautiful mask-as a French fashion model. Their target: a cunning terrorist on one last killing spree, a Palestinian zealot named Tariq who played a dark part in Gabriel’s past. What begins as a manhunt turns into a globe-spanning duel fueled by political intrigue and deep personal passions. In a world where secrecy and duplicity are absolute, revenge is a luxury no man can afford-and the greatest masterpiece of all.

So, I set out to read book one, The Kill Artist, and I learned a very important lesson about starting any new series: block out enough time to really pay attention to the first chapters as they contain lots of important information that you’ll need later.

I had started the book on the train on my way into the office one morning, which only gave me about 20 minutes of reading time.  I picked it back up that evening, but I hadn’t paid close enough attention in the morning and felt lost.  I have a lot of books on my to-be-read list and was tempted to give up and move on to the next book, but I remembered how much Chris loved this series and decided I hadn’t really given the book the start it deserved.  So, I blocked out an hour of uninterrupted reading time and started over from the beginning.

An hour into it, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to see how the story developed.  Before I knew it, two hours had flown by and I couldn’t tear myself away.

Silva does a great job setting up the characters in this first book of the series and he doesn’t skimp on the action to do it.  There are plenty of twists and turns to keep your heart racing!

I like how Silva writes the hero, Gabriel Allon, to be more human than super-hero and gave us enough background to understand what makes him tick without spilling all the beans right up front.  There are still plenty of mysteries to unravel as the series progresses.

As the excellent start of a new-to-me series, I gave The Kill Artist 5 Sunshines and I’m looking forward to the next part of the adventure as it unfolds in book two, The English Assassin.

Happy Reading!
Kimberly

Book Review Notes:
Title: The Kill Artist
Author: Daniel Silva
Subject: Fiction, Thrillers
Published: 2000
Publisher: Penguin Group
Source: Borrowed copy from friend

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Travel Time is Perfect Reading Time

Author: Kimberly

Nov 23

Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest travel times of the year.  And travel time is perfect reading time!  I don’t know about you, but I’m never quite sure what kind of book I’ll be in the mood for when travelling, I think it has a lot to do with my stress level after getting through security at the airport.  So, I make sure I load up my eReader with a variety of options. 

Here are just a few of the books I’m travelling with this weekend.  What kind of books do you like to read when you’re away from home?

A good friend of mine has been raving over Daniel Silva’s books and he was kind enough to loan me his copies of Books 1 and 2 in the Gabriel Allon Series.  I’m halfway through Book 1, The Kill Artist, and I think I can get it finished during our first flight.  So far, I’m really enjoying it!  There are eleven books in this series; I can’t wait to read my way through to the most recent one, Portrait of a Spy.

Blog ImageI’m a huge fan of Iris Johansen’s Eve Duncan Series!  A few weeks ago I finished reading Eight Days to Live (Loved it!), so I’m looking forward to starting the next book in the series this weekend, Chasing the Night.  I might save this one for the plane ride home so I have several uninterrupted hours to devote to it.  I swear, every book in this series is better than the one before it…

Sometimes I read thrillers back to back, but more often than not, I like to read a romance or heart-warming story in between them.  Read a little murder and mayham or spy games and follow it up with some happily ever afters.  It helps me stay balanced :)   So, in between The Kill Artist and Chasing the Night, I have my eye on Debbie Macomber’s The Perfect Christmas.

That should be plenty to get me through all the travelling.  Of course, the most important part of this weekend is spending time with family and counting our blessings! 

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday, and if you’re travelling, be safe and take plenty of books to keep you sane :)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Kimberly

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