Melissa Senate

If you're in Maine this lovely time of year (when the weather is so gorgeous that we forget all about the too-long, too-snowy, too-cold winter), please come by my reading and book signing at Books, Etc. in Falmouth on Saturday, April 28th at 1pm. I'l be reading from my latest novel,  LOVE YOU TO DEATH, a fun light-hearted mystery about a Portlander whose worst ex-boyfriends are suddenly on someone's hit list.  

 PRAISE FOR LOVE YOU TO DEATH

"Readers will cheer Abby every step of the way as she tries to clear her name and find her prince for whom her glass slipper will finally fit." –Publishers Weekly

"Senate has penned an enjoyable mystery with a couple easy to root for at its center." –Booklist

4 stars from RT Bookclub Magazine

                             "Character development is spectacular and proves that the novel is more than the usual, sometimes vapid, chick lit fare. This charming story is ideal for people like me who are sometimes wary of mysteries. Grade: A –The Daily Collegian, Penn State University

"This sixth novel from Melissa Senate is an absolute delight. I couldn't put it down, and it contains enough twists in the plot to keep you guessing (and lusting after Detective Orr) until the end. You'll root for Abby til the very last page." –The Daily Buzz's Lit Chick, Kristin Harmel 

"Set here in Maine, LOVE YOU TO DEATH combines sassy prose with L.L. Bean break-ups!" –The Maine Switch 

"Melissa Senate is definitely one of my favorite chick lit authors." — Sarah Mlynowski, bestselling author of Me Vs. Me and Frogs & French Kisses 

And, if you're looking for a fun tween novel, the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit proudly presents:

THE SECRET IDENTITY OF DEVON DELANEY by Lauren Barnholdt 

 Mom says karma always comes around to get you, and I guess it's true. Because last summer I was a total liar, and now, right in the middle of Mr. Pritchard's third-period math class, my whole world is about to come crashing down…..

That's because while Devon was living with her grandmother for the summer, she told her "summer friend," Lexi, that she was really popular back home and dating Jared Bentley, only the most popular guy at school. Harmless lies, right? Wrong. Not when Lexi is standing at the front of Devon's class, having just moved to Devon's town. Uh-oh.

Devon knows there's only one way to handle this — she'll just have to become popular! But how is Devon supposed to accomplish that when she's never even talked to Jared, much less dated him?! And it seems the more Devon tries to keep up her "image," the more things go wrong. Her family thinks she's nuts, her best friend won't speak to her, and, as if it's not all complicated enough, Jared starts crushing on Lexi and Devon starts crushing on Jared's best friend, Luke. It all has Devon wondering — who is the real Devon Delaney?

Website:  www.laurenbarnholdt.com

Blog:      www.livejournal.com/users/laurenbarnholdt

Bio:  Lauren Barnholdt’s first book for teens, REALITY CHICK, was a Teen People Can’t-Miss Pick and a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age 2007.  In junior high, she was known to have a few “secret identities” of her own.  She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, where she’s hard at work on her next book.

THE GIRLFRIENDS' CYBER CIRCUIT PRESENTS ANOTHER MUST-READ!: 

So Not The Drama [Kensington Books/Dafina for Young Readers] introduces readers ages 11+ to bright-eyed, optimist Mina Mooney, a high school freshman with nothing more on her mind than climbing the popularity ladder, until a sociology experiment to rid the world – or at least Del Rio Bay High School – of  prejudice backfires.  The project causes a rift between Mina and her best friend, Lizzie and sends Mina on a journey of exploration that’s both funny and eye-opening.

The Buzz on So Not The Drama…

“Contemporary friendship story, which revels in rich diversity of race, color and class.”—Booklist

“Readers will like the genuine dialogue.” —Publishers Weekly

April Girls Life magazine Book Pick!

    Paula Chase has written for Girls Life, Sweet 16 and Baltimore Magazine, among others. In addition to her background in corporate communications and public relations, she founded the Committed Black Women, a youth mentoring program for 14-17  year old girls. Her Del Rio Bay Clique series helped launch Kensington Books YA line and joins a burgeoning number of YA books targeted to multi-culti suburbanite teens. Chase calls her brand of teen literature, Hip Lit, a nod to the diversity spawned by the MTV-watching, 106 & Park-ing, pop culture hungry hip hop generation. The author lives in Maryland with her husband and two daughters. Learn more about the series and author at www.paulachasehyman.com

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit is proud to introduce you to another must read: 

STAYING HOME IS A KILLER by Sara Rosett

STAYING HOME IS A KILLER is the second book in the mom lit mystery series about a military spouse who runs a professional organizing business. Diaper bag over her shoulder and adorable toddler wriggling in her arms, Ellie Avery strives to balance motherhood, marriage, and her professional organizing business, Everything in Its Place, but her ordered world is thrown into disarray when a fellow military spouse’s death looks more like murder than suicide. Toss in her husband’s deployment and her daughter’s separation anxiety, and Ellie has to keep the home fires burning as she sort clues from chaos and proves that home is not for killers.

 Publishers Weekly:  "The author, also the wife of an air force pilot, includes practical tips for organizing closets, but the novel's most valuable insight is its window into women's lives on a military base."

Romantic Times:  "Thoroughly entertaining.  The author’s smooth, succinct writing style enables the plot to flow effortlessly until its captivating conclusion.  (Four stars)"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, Sara Rosett has always loved to curl up with a good book. The wife of an Air Force pilot, she and her family moved ten times—giving her plenty of expertise to write the Mom Zone mystery series about a military spouse. Sara and her family currently live in southern California. Her work appeared in Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul, and she is working on the next Mom Zone mystery, Getting Away is Dangerous (Kensington, April 2008). Please visit her website, www.sararosett.com.

 My town, the quaint and lovely Yarmouth, got 15 inches of snow overnight. FIFTEEN. I am going to try to not look out the windows. Although, this morning I saw a robin, quite possibly the prettiest bird, chirping on a snowy branch. So that was worth it. As was my four-year-old disappearing up to his waist as he helped me brush off the car. (Great thing about four-year-olds is that they actually beg to brush off the car!) 

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit proudly presents one of my favorite writers (both fiction and non-fiction), the hilariously funny, unflinchingly honest Valerie Frankel, who has not one, but TWO novels (one for adults, one for teens) newly published for your reading pleasure!:

For adults:

I TAKE THIS MAN by Valerie Frankel is a hilarious story of suspense, revenge and revelation, involving a bride, a groom, her mother and his father.

 
In I TAKE THIS MAN (Avon Trade Paperbacks, on sale: 3/27/07, ISBN:0060785551, $13.95) we are introduced to Penny Bracket, who has waited two years to marry her dream man, Bram Shiraz. Just as Penny’s putting on the final touches on her wedding day, she receives a note from her beloved that simply says, “Penny, I can’t go through with it. Sorry, Bram” Mortified, Penny is determined to figure out what went wrong, even if it kills her, or, preferably Bram.

 Ester Bracket, Penny’s divorced mother wants Bram’s head on a platter.  And she gets it: In a fit of maternal rage, Ester finds Bram as he’s packing to flee, knocks him out with a bottle of champagne, and kidnaps him to a secret room in her mansion in affluent Short Hares, New Jersey. Will Penny get the answers and revenge she’s after from Bram, who (as she may or may not discover) is locked in her attic? Will Bram’s widowed father, handsome tough guy Keith Shiraz locate his son and/or seduce Ester Bracket? Will Bram, athletic and regretful, escape both his wedding and his imprisonment in one piece? Find out in I TAKE THIS MAN.

 Praise!:

“Valerie Frankel cracks me up! Kooky, sexy, and downright hilarious, Hex and the Single Girl had me laughing to the very last magical page”
   — Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries series and Size 12 Is Not Fat

 
“Reading a novel by Valerie Frankel is like hanging out with your favorite and funniest friend”

 -Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date  (hey, that's me!)

 
“Always wickedly entertaining!—People magazine

"Quite simply, Frankel makes reading a blast. No premise is too outlandish and no character is without a set a flaws. The plot [of ‘I Take This Man’ is cleverly kooky and not one many authors could realistically pull off. Frankel has an endless bag of tricks that seems to get deeper—and more hilarious—with every novel."—Romantic Times

 About the author: Valerie Frankel is a freelance writer who resides in Brooklyn, NY with her two daughters and husband.  She contributes to many national magazines, including O, [Glamour], Allure, Self, and Parenting. She’s also been a featured writer for the New York Times Style section.  [Val has written thirteen novels thus far, including The Accidental Virgin which has been optioned to become a movie starring Heather Graham, Smart Vs. Pretty, optioned to be made into TV show, and The Girlfriend Curse, nominated for a Quills award.  

 And for teens: 

In FRINGE GIRL IN LOVE (NAL Jam Trade Paperback Original; April 2007; $9.99), love is in the air—at toxic levels!  Adora Benet couldn’t wait to get back from winter break so she could go on lots of triple dates with her two best friends, Liza and Eli.  All three of them are (finally and wildly) in love!

 Then the snow melts and the ugly truth is revealed.  The new English teacher has the hots for Adora’s boyfriend, so Adora seeks solace in the arms of Liza’s older brother—until Liza finds out and freaks.  Now Eli’s boyfriend is letting his newfound fame go to his head, and their relationship goes to the dogs.  Adora’s winter wonderland has turned into a dangerous slippery slope.  It will take an unexpected trip to someplace warm to get her back on her feet and reconnecting with what matters most.

Enjoy! (And I apologize for my crazy and varied fonts and sizes. My program needs help!)