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Showing posts from June, 2013

The Last Chinese Chef A Novel by Nicole Mones

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A story of food, healing, and love... This alluring novel of friendship, love, and cuisine brings the bestselling author of Lost in Translation and A Cup of Light to one of the great Chinese subjects: food. And the hidden world of Chinese high culinary culture. When Maggie McElroy, a widowed American food writer, learns of a Chinese paternity claim against her late husband's estate, she has to go immediately to Beijing. She asks her magazine for time off, but her editor counters with an assignment: to profile the rising culinary star Sam Liang. In China Maggie unties the knots of her husband's past, finding out more than she expected about him and about herself. With Sam as her guide, she is also drawn deep into a world of food rooted in centuries of history and philosophy. To her surprise, she begins to be transformed by the cuisine, by Sam's family – a querulous but loving pack of cooks and diners – and most of all by Sam himself. The Last Chinese Chef is the exhila

The Language of Flowers A Novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

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cr image:amazon.com The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realise what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. The Language

Get Bunny Love by Kathleen Long

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Yin... Beatrice Love has a problem. When her apartment building turns condo, she’s forced to land a “real” job to secure financing – and fast. Accustomed to freelancing as a graphic designer, she has a propensity for creative distraction. From fuzzy bunny slippers to feng shui, she believes in surrounding herself with whatever it takes to increase positive energy flow. Yang... Nate McNulty craves order. When his Aunt Martha, owner of McNulty Events, announces she’s selling, he’ll do whatever it takes to save the family firm. Her first demand is to successfully produce the prestigious Worthington Cup, a regional kennel club show. One event coordinator short, Nate hires Bunny, and the two agree to a mentor/apprentice relationship.  Zing... GET BUNNY LOVE is a story of opposites attract. For Bunny, the only thing grayer than the walls of McNulty Events is Nate’s stifled personality. To Nate, Bunny is a distractingly mop-topped creative menace. Will she be able to see past his lacklust

Leaving Home: A Novel by Anita Brookner

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At twenty-six, Emma Roberts comes to the painful realization that if she is ever to become truly independent, she must leave her comfortable London flat and venture out into the wider world. This entails not only breaking free from a claustrophobic relationship with her reclusive, widowed mother but also shedding her inherited tendency toward melancholy. Emma yearns to make friends, attend parties, and have love affairs like other women, but to her these things seem forever out of reach; that is, until her college tutors find her a scholarship to study seventeenth-century garden design in Paris. Once settled in a small Paris hotel, Emma befriends Francoise Desnoyers, a vibrant young woman who is as confident as Emma is tentative, as provocative as Emma is reserved, and as worldly as Emma is naive. On a weekend visit to Francoise's beautiful country chateau, L'Ermitage, Emma is drawn into Francoise's problematic relationship with her imperious mother, who demands that F

The Colour of Tea: A Novel by Hannah Tunnicliffe

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After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea. Grace opens a café where she serves tea, coffee, and  macarons —the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea st

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.  Soon, another practicing magician comes forth; the young, handsome and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.  (*) Amidst of it all, there is one ancient shadowy figure known to be the greatest magician of all, a human child taken into Faerie and later on was hailed king of both Faerie and England, mostly known as the Raven King, whom Strange was deeply fascinated of and his heedless pursuit to the long forgotten old magic could be his

Taken by A Vampire King: A Warrior Kings Series by Laura Kaye

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As promised Laura Kaye's Taken by A Vampire King ! Isn't it, uh the word pretty is not adequate enough.  Its sizzling, sensual, etc, etc. Enjoy! Taken by the Vampire King Blurb: Henrik Magnusson is supposed to be immortal, but a mysterious ailment leaves the vampire king near death, and not even the blood of the Proffered, human virgins trained to serve the elite, can sustain him. Then he rescues a beautiful young woman from his enemies, and is filled with blood lust and desire he hasn't felt for centuries. Photographer Kaira Sorenson's life takes a nightmare turn when she's attacked by blood-thirsty creatures—and saved by a vampire. She should be afraid of Henrik, but she can't deny her intense attraction to this regal, enigmatic being—nor the fact that her blood may be his only salvation. Now she must decide if she's willing to be his forever… Releases August 1, 2013 Pre-Order Links: Amazon.com B&N An excerpt as a plus after the cut,

Laura Kaye's Taken by A Vampire King: Cover Reveal Soon

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This blog, I am so happy to say will be doing a cover reveal for Laura Kaye's Taken by A Vampire King, the third book in the Vampire Warrior Kings Series .  Release date is August 1, 2013. The other two books in the series are In The Service of The King and Seduced by the Vampire King.  Taken by A Vampire King's cover will be revealed tomorrow after midnight.  So what is a cover reveal, basically we get to see the cover of the book before its even released.  It's a thrill to actually be one of the first to see it before the general public.  To get a good idea of how good the covers are here are the ones from the earlier books. I will be doing a review of the first book soon.  So Mer, what do you think of the covers so far?

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

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The magic surrounding Avalon enchants all, but like time and men, it passes into the dark mists and becomes a blurry memory. Here is an encompassing tale about the adventures and upheavals of Camelot's court through the eyes and lives of the women behind the throne. Based on the Arthurian legend most loved by all, we follow the story of the characters, as told by Morgaine, from their childhoods through the fulfillment of their destinies and their search for spirituality. The present king of Great Britain is dying and the kingdom is wrought with struggles, from the heirs vying for the throne and the invading Saxons to the spreading of the new religion. In the distant shore is the Isle of Avalon, the lair of the old magic of the Goddess, where the Merlin of Britain and the Lady of the Lake wield power. It was said that a child born from the blood of the Goddess and of the land will unite the old world and the new. But some things aren't always set in stone and even now Aval