Lizzie, constantly tired, bored, and misunderstood by her husband James, questions whether her ‘perfect’ life really is all that perfect. When she decides to vent by airing her problems in an email to her sister, Lizzie does the unthinkable; the dreaded millisecond beyond the point of no return, she accidentally sends the email to her husband. And then, as the old adage goes – the ‘you-know-what’ hits the fan! James hastily packs his suitcase and takes himself and his ruffled feathers out of her life.
Your Roots Are Showing is the very real story of a young woman forced to uproot her children and start life over as a single mom in a dilapidated garden cottage. In a desperate attempt to reinvent herself, she takes up running, loses weight, and manages to finish writing a children’s book. Even a temporary distraction created by an attractive gardener doesn’t help her regain her sense of self-worth or stop her wondering whether James might not have left her if she had only been thinner, better dressed and as well-bred as her upper-crust mother-in-law, Your Roots Are Showing is an excellent character-driven story that is inspiring, humorous and insightful, with each person contributing in their own unique way towards helping Lizzie come to realize that she and James can only find their way back to each other when she is strong enough to cope on her own.
TIP SHEET:
Elizabeth Buchan, NY Times best-selling author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman: “Look no further for a delicious, romantic story, written with wit and a light touch.”
Gemma Townely, author of The Importance of Being Married: “Toe-curlingly observant and wonderfully heartwarming – I loved it!”
Jane Porter, author of Flirting with Forty: “Absolutely wonderful…a charming debut, not to be missed.”
Romantic Times Book Reviews: “Chidley hits it out of the park with her debut novel…finds humor in the mundane and absolutely nails Lizzie’s character arc…spot-on writing, Chidley has created a heroine readers will care about.”
Eastern Daily Press: “A page turner, Lizzie Buckley has a life many women would dream of but lately she’s been fantasizing about swapping lives with a single woman. When Lizzie hits ‘send’ on the wrong email everything starts to unravel.”
Prima: “This is full of colorful characters and is the ideal holiday read.”
ArmchairInterviews.com: “Elise Chidley presents…an amusing yet poignant tale… Her characters are vibrant and colorful, and her writing passionate and personal.”
When Jeffrey Taylor looks back on his life, he knows that God or one of his angels intervened on a cold, snowy night in New York when he was found by police in a gutter, stripped of his clothes. This was the lowest moment in his life – the deciding factor that made him face his demons and make a choice to take back control of his life, facing the reality that he is an alcoholic.
Jeffrey began drinking at the age of twelve after some tough times in his Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey. A Gentleman Drunk (Executive Caliber) is a first-rate biography of a once highly functioning man who allowed his alcohol addiction to destroy his marriage and his financial security, leaving him a broken, lonely soul. It is an incredible story of the road to recovery and survival, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles and challenges, in order to conquer the debilitating effects of alcoholism. This real-life drama is written with wit and brutal honesty and there is no sugar-coating the very real drama in this man’s love/hate relationship with alcohol and the battle he endured to finally conquer it.
Jeffrey’s story tells of many things that contributed to his addiction; his flawed relationship with his father, his life at college and the painful details of fraternity initiation rituals, selling drugs, studying music in France, graduate school in Chicago, on to landing a high paying bank job in New York City. He tells of his daily ritual at a local bar after work where fellow yuppies hung out, drinking more heavily and picking up strangers. He meets a girl, relocates to San Francisco with her where they marry and have a daughter. Now he is working 24/7, making lots of money, still drinking up a storm, and decides to relocate to North Carolina in order to better his consulting skills. Now pregnant with their second child, his wife is forced to end the relationship knowing that his workaholic ways and constant drinking aren’t about to change. Unrepentant about his irresponsible behavior, Jeffrey heads down to Club Med Cancun where he meets Toby, a woman he obsessively pursues until she agrees to return to New York and marry him, but even this doesn’t fill the painful void in him. After several years of traveling around the world, lecturing by day and entertaining by night, and not being able to stand Toby’s criticism of his drinking, he comes full circle on the night he ends up in the gutter – when he is forced to admit he has a drinking problem and seeks help from Alcoholics Anonymous.
Jeffrey Taylor is now a recovering alcoholic with six years of sobriety and has spoken on this subject to audiences around the world. He knows that alcoholism does not discriminate – it transcends many walks of life and knows no boundaries on where it inflicts its pain. His first AA meeting was terrifying but by his 60th day he knew he must give himself up to a higher power – he could not stop drinking on his own. He accepted guidance from his sponsor, worked his twelve step program, transforming day by day and helping others on their journey to freedom from alcohol. Visit Jeffrey’s free and informative website at www.Alcohol411.info.
Jeffrey’s life is an amazing success story. He is the founder of Jeffrey Taylor Group, a holding company for various operating businesses, and has published two textbooks for the equipment leasing industry and one on starting a new business, and still finds time to teach several commercial real estate courses.
When eleven-year-old Lucy Burns writes and mails a letter to “Whom it may concern” to save her sister’s life, she never dreams that “He” will come to collect once her sister miraculously recovers! Nineteen years later, unnaturally gorgeous, unable to stay with a man past that all-important third date, and stuck in a less than ideal job, Lucy decides she has had enough of doing the devil’s dirty work. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns (Bancroft Press), the debut novel of Elizabeth Leiknes, is a hilarious tale about a thirty-something woman whose life teeters somewhere between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bridget Jones! Lucy wants out of her seemingly binding contract with the devil so that she will be able to get what she’s always wanted and has never been granted – a normal life that will include a loving relationship, friends, and a family of her own. An unlikely friend gives his best shot at helping her, but it’s not as easy as it seems, and Lucy must decide the distinction between what is evil and what is good – not an easy task for someone used to damning others to hell!
Leiknes’ novel is fast-paced, sharp and sassy; loaded with humor and just the right amount of compassion; a tale of morality that shows in the end how good triumphs over evil. Cutting through Lucy’s dark and sometimes scary persona, there surfaces a gentler side of what it means to be human, showing that in the end, no matter how dark the journey was, Lucy does the right thing. It’s very possible that readers may relate to Lucy’s dilemma with some personal experience in their own lives (did anyone say credit card debt?), but with one exception – quitting isn’t exactly easy when you have accidentally signed on to work for the devil! Visit the author’s fun website at: www.elizabethleiknes.com.
While The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is Leiknes’ first novel, she has since written Black-Eyed Susan and The Understory and is currently working on a fourth novel. She teaches English at a middle school near Lake Tahoe, where she lives with her husband and two sons.
REVIEWS: Jane Green, author of best-selling Straight Talking, To Have and To Hold, and Jemima J: “I rarely give blurbs for debut novels, but Ms. Leiknes not only came up with a great premise for a story but her novel is quirky and fun, and her main character is devilish and likeable…quick and easy read, and one I enthusiastically recommend.”
Book-Blog.com: “A fun, light read…Lucy turns out to be a more nuanced character than one supposes going into the story.”
Ann Campbell, Editor, Doubleday: “A charming story.”
John Scognamiglio, Editorial Director, Kensington Publishing: “Well-written with a bright, energetic tone and a sexy, likeable protagonist.”
Lynn Drew, Editor, HarperCollins: “Fun.”
Ellen Edwards, Editor, New American Library: “A lot of fun – lively, funny and certainly full of surprises – and definitely an original premise.”
Charlotte Herscher, Editor, Random House: “I loved Elizabeth Leiknes’ incredibly fresh voice, and thought this was truly an original piece of fiction….A fun and quirky tale.”
Lyssa Keusch, Senior Editor, William Morrow: “…I like the unusual premise and the author’s fun voice.”
Third and last in The Elite book series – Jennifer Banash brings us more adventures from the spoiled, rich teens in Manhattan who nearly ate Casey McCloy alive when she first arrived in the Big Apple from her small town of Normal, Illinois. Casey learned very quickly after she moved in with her grandmother at The Bramford, the most exclusive luxury apartment building on New York’s Upper East Side and got into the prestigious Meadowlark Academy on a full scholarship, that it’s not who you are but who you know!
Simply Irresistible (Penguin) brings us a whole new set of adventures now that Casey has had a big city-haute makeover, courtesy of her classmate and neighbor Madison Macallister – part teen icon and part queen diva-bitch. Wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and meeting the right people, has given Casey the look and the attitude – she’s “in” and loving it! Much to Madison’s dismay, her rival is climbing up the social ladder in a big way and could end up just as popular as Madison now that the two are set to star in their own TV reality show, “De-Luxe.” Yes, showbiz came knocking on two of The Bramford’s most illustrious doors and, as much as Madison thrives on the attention the show brings, she’s not thrilled about having every bit of her life of privilege caught on tape. However, fame comes at a price and Madison is one chick who is willing to pay anything…especially if it means becoming the next reality “it girl.” Casey, on the other hand, is realizing that Reality TV can sometimes be unreal, causing her to wonder if she even knows who she is anymore. With her relationship with Drew, Madison’s ex, currently more off than on, she can’t help wondering if everything in her life is really just an illusion – and how much longer the illusion can last….
Although The Elite series is obsessed with fashion and glamour, Branash does an impressive job of examining real issues that teens face, such as cutting, divorce, infidelity, and drug addiction. Having personally attended high school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan provided the author with the background for her ample insight and imagination portrayed in The Elite Series.
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TIP SHEET:
“If you love all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl…you’ll want to check out…The Elite!”–Seventeen.com
“The Elite is Pretty in Pink for the millennium generation.”–Romance Reviews Today
“An awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart. Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down.”-Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic
Don’t drink, don’t smoke …: Teetotaler Jimmy Moree, one of the biggest drug smugglers in U.S. history, is the personification of marijuana reform advocates’ position on why cannabis – and those that sell it – are not as dangerous as we’ve always believed.
Weed Man – The Remarkable Journey of Jimmy Divine (Thomas Nelson, 2009) is longtime D.C. political columnist John McCaslin’s fascinating account of the exploits of a teetotaling, law-abiding citizen (Moree) turned multi-million-dollar drug trafficker, who, amidst sometimes unbelievable, hilarious and escalating circumstances, risked life and limb to both make – and give away – a fortune.
Author, Columnist, and Radio Host John McCaslin is available for interviews – an opportunity to get a former White House correspondent’s take on, among other things:
• The Obama administration’s position – does the political left have it right? • Are legalization advocates right? Are we crowding our prisons unnecessarily with thousands like Jimmy Moree? What decriminalization would mean • The next “Big Tobacco”? How marijuana is/could be different • How legalizing pot could change the course of U.S. history – in much the same way that ending Prohibition did • The potential tax revenue and whether it would help our ailing economy • Whether or not legalization could end the trillion-dollar and seemingly never-ending war on drugs – or at least improve the situation along the U.S. borders
TIP SHEET:
Wolf Blitzer, anchor and host of CNN’s The Situation Room: “This story is so compelling…John McCaslin has put it all together in a way that simply made me want to just keep on reading. Wow.”
G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate figure and nationally-syndicated radio host: “For years everybody in Washington has turned to John McCaslin’s Inside the Beltway column for the inside skinny on what is going on in our nation’s capital. Now, in Weed Man: The Remarkable Journey of Jimmy Divine, McCaslin brings his exceptional reportorial talent to bear in a fascinating expose of the drug trade.”
Michael Reagan, presidential son and nationally-syndicated radio host: “McCaslin was a 20-something White House correspondent covering my dad, Ronald Reagan, when I first read his unique musings. Maybe I’m not surprised, given the cast of characters and shenanigans he calls attention to every day in his Inside the Beltway column, that he’s now somehow made his way to a distant tropical island and uncovered the colorful if not hilarious escapades of drug trafficker Jimmy Divine.”
Mark Bowden, Atlantic Monthly correspondent, screenwriter and best-selling author: “Proof positive that the extras in James Bond movies are far more interesting than the films, the story of Harbour Island’s Jimmy Divine is so colorful it is hard to believe…or put down. Told in a breezy, witty style, McCaslin’s book captures moments in relatively recent Caribbean history when it was again possible to make a fortune by the ability to steer a boat stealthily through dangerous seas.”
Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News: “I’m delighted to see that John McCaslin has climbed out of his political trench in Washington long enough to set sail on this astonishing journey through the precarious Caribbean reefs, and beyond. Somehow, in typical McCaslin fashion, he manages to bring his readers back to the nation’s capital in a chapter that will certainly have official tongues wagging in Washington.”
Tommy Chong, comedian and actor of Cheech and Chong fame: “This reads like a bestseller. It’s about time we hear from a genuine pot smuggler of Jimmy Divine’s caliber who opens our eyes to the high times and high jinks on the high seas.”
Brad Meltzer, New York Times best-selling author: “Facts are easy. Anyone can find facts for a story. What McCaslin always finds is heart.”
In response to an intensifying outbreak of Swine Flu internationally and throughout the U.S., the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 5, a significant signal that a pandemic is imminent. Our government has declared a public health emergency and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is trying to reduce the transmission of the virus and provide information for both health care providers and public health officials. Citizens are rightly concerned and want up-to-date information on this outbreak.
Dr. Paul Boor is a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, which is home to the highest level bio-safety laboratory in the United States. A world renowned, Harvard-trained patholo¬gist and scientist, Dr. Boor has captivated audiences around the country with his expert knowledge and presentations on epidemics and pandemics, and his informative responses to questions on the spread of potentially deadly viruses. His contributions to science are highly respected and when Dr. Boor speaks – people listen! He makes a very well-informed and fascinating guest speaker on this very real and frightening health threat.
Dr. Boor is also a talented author and has written a suspense-filled biomedical thriller that unfolds inside the Galveston Bio-Safety Level-4 laboratory. It has already received top acclaim from world-renowned scientists and best-selling authors. In Dr. Boor’s character-driven, mainstream book, The Blood Notes of Peter Mallow, he adds personal and professional credibility because of his specialized background. The plot unfolds in the lab of a research scientist who is hot on the trail of an emerging bird-flu virus, drawing a definite parallel with the world’s current health problem – the difference being that his story concerns the strange behavior of a brilliant but troubled student who seeks vengeance on senior executives but ends up wreaking havoc on the entire world! For more information, please visit his website at: www.paulboor.com.
