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Book Review: Girls’ Night Out by Glynis Astie

November 27, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Book Reviews by Geralyn Corcillo tagged as besties, girls' night out, Glynis Astie, new release, romantic comedy, romcom

Girls’ Night Out by Glynis Astie is just released and available now! I adored indulging in this book – a hilarious and heartfelt romp that conjures up the bubbly glee of The Facts of Life and the sassy wisdom of The Golden Girls.

Amanda, Jayne, and Holly have been best friends since girlhood. And now, with their thirties on the horizon, they still have each other’s backs as they gossip, goad, and, well, get tipsy. Amanda has always been fabulous, successful, and in control – but can her besties help her navigate the unexpected curve ball life throws her way? It is such fun watching Amanda bulldoze her way through life in stellar footwear even as her playbook is being ripped to shreds.

Jayne has been working her butt off for years trying to get that promotion to anchor at her local news station. But her new boss Tony is determined to make her life miserable, treating her like a cub reporter who just fell off the turnip truck. Who cares if he’s really hot? He’s a total jerk. Okay, so maybe everyone can’t see what a jerk he is … but he totally is! As that anchor chair comes within her reach and she starts falling for Tony, Jayne realizes that as an ambitious reporter with goals of advancement, she will have to make a decision between her dream job and her dream guy. And she’s pretty sure that not even her best friends can help her out of this dilemma. Oh, how I feel for Jayne and her turmoil throughout this book, even as she tries to dodge the really tough decisions with some pretty spectacularly ill-advised shenanigans!!

Holly just wants life to feel right for a change. It always feels so wrong. Wrong job, wrong guy, wrong hairstyle. Can her best friends offer any guidance? They are such movers and shakers and Holly just … isn’t like them. It seems that Link, the nerd she’s been friends with since grade school, is the only one who truly gets her. And he’s not such a nerd any longer… Following Holly’s story is just such a charming delight!

As you lose yourself in this romcom, Astie will make you feel like you are sitting at the table with your own margarita, ready to jump in with your two cents that might be anything from warm to snarky. You will feel that you are a part of a an intimate circle of friends, always ready to laugh, cry, or pass the fries. Girls’ Night Out by Glynis Astie, Available now!

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Perspective by Neetu

November 26, 2018 by Neetu Malik in category Poet's Day by Neetu Malik tagged as Neetu Malik, poems, Poet's Day

Pers[ective | Neetu | A Slice of Orange

Perspective

You say life is not a poem

or a story—

I ask, “What is it then?”

“Real life”, you say.

Of course, you know best.

You spend your days

averaging

life’s losses, its gains,

calculating

how much time is left,

working out

logistics while you lie in bed.

Real life gives you pain,

brings a scowl to your face—

you add and subtract,

make no mistakes,

and I,

I just watch

the shadows twitch and yawn

on that wall

across the window

through which the moon

winks at me, sly-faced—

“I’ll be fine”, I say.

© Neetu Malik

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A New World of Food: #Thanksgiving Traditions

November 23, 2018 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as history, holidays, Thanksgiving

Roasted Turkey On Harvest Table – c. evgenyb

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving yesterday. This holiday has always been one of my favorites, if only for the wonderful food. I do love a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, but turkey is a lot of work and yields a lot of leftovers, esp. when you only have four people at dinner. So this year we opted for beef roast with some of the trimmings: mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, garlic bread, and sauteed asparagus. Plus pumpkin pie, of course. It’s my theory that if the Pilgrims had had beef, there would have been no turkey dinner. They were English, after all!

And as a history freak, I love that so much of the traditional Thanksgiving food are native to the Americas.

The food supply expanded when Europeans “discovered” the New World. Prior to Columbus’s first voyage, there were no turkeys, potatoes, yams and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, cranberries or maize, i.e. Indian corn, in the Middle Ages. There was a cereal grain called corn, but it’s more like wheat, not like the ears of corn we’re used to. Halloween Jack o’ Lanterns were originally made with turnips!

And there was no chocolate. Chocolate is native to the Americas, so the Spaniards were the first Europeans to encounter it. It became popular at court after the Spanish added sugar or honey to sweeten the natural bitterness. From there, chocolate spread through Europe in the 1600’s and grew into the international obsession is has become today.

Can you imagine a world without chocolate? I really wouldn’t like that at all!

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving treat?

Linda McLaughlin

Note: This is normally the day I blog about OCC/RWA online classes, but we will be dark in Dec. and Jan. Class blogs will resume in January.

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BOOK REVIEW: SEVERED RELATIONS BY REBECCA FORSTER – A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE

November 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as book review, Rebecca Forster, Severed Relations, Veronica Jorge, Write from the heart

Severed Relations (The Finn O’Brien Thriller Series Book 1) by Rebecca Forster

Create Space 2016 ISBN 9781533275516

It’s Thanksgiving. You know what to do: eat, get stuffed like the Turkey, zone out. If you want to get the adrenaline pumping and the juices flowing again, yours not the birds’, our own Rebecca Forster has the tryptophan antidote: Severed Relations, Book 1 of her Finn O’Brien Thriller Series.

Every day is great, until it’s not. And one often boasts of their nice neighbors and safe neighborhood…until something happens.

The Barnetts, a well-to-do family on upscale Fremont Place are living the dream: great house, successful husband, stay-at-home mom, two lovely daughters, and a live-in nanny. One happy family of five.

Enter Detective Finn O’Brien to investigate the triple murder that turns their dream into a nightmare. As one of the characters in the story says, “this falls on the far of side of hell.”

Ostracized by his fellow officers for violating the blue code when he killed one of their own: a bad cop, Finn is forced to track down the killer, or killers, on his own. And he can’t count on back-up if things get rough.

Detective Cori Anderson, with ‘feelings’ of her own toward Finn, agrees to partner with him on the case. Together, they attempt to unravel the hideous mystery. Nothing stolen. No apparent enemies. Unlikely targets. It wasn’t the butler, they don’t even have one.

In Severed Relations, Rebecca Forster leads us on a page-turning, suspense-filled, unnerving journey into the h Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange eart of darkness that reflects real life. Feelings can sometimes blind and mislead you, and events and people are not always what they seem.

See you next time on December 22^nd.

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Geralyn Corcillo Featured Author

November 21, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured author, Geralyn Corcillo, romantic comedy

Geralyn Corcillo Featured Author | A Slice of Orange

Geralyn Corcillo Featured Author

When she was a kid in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo dreamed of one day becoming the superhero Dyna Girl. So, she did her best and grew up to constantly pick up litter and rescue animals. At home, she loves watching B&W movies, British mysteries, and the NY Giants. Corcillo lives in a drafty old house in Hollywood with her husband Ron, a guy who’s even cooler than Kip Dynamite.

Geralyn is not only an author of romantic comedy and women’s fiction novels, novellas, and short stories, she is also an avid and eclectic reader. You can read her book reviews here on A Slice of Orange, in her monthly column Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh . She loves to connect with readers on Facebook and Twitter—drop her a line or leave a comment here.