Thanks to Shelby Howick of Grand Central Publishing, I am giving away 3 print copies of Crowning Design by Leila Meacham.
Description Crowning Design by Leila Meacham
From the New York Times bestselling author of Roses¸ comes a beautiful, classic romance about letting go of the past and finding the courage to embrace love set against the heights of the Rocky Mountains.
Deborah Standridge has done everything her parents have ever asked of her with a smile on her face. That’s what southern belles do. But when a renowned architect offers her a job at his firm across the country only days before her wedding, she faces a dilemma. Should she become the dutiful wife of a man she doesn’t love to please her parents or finally make her own dream come true? Leaving her fiancée at the altar, she flies to Denver, setting in motion a tragedy that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Now, as one of Denver’s most successful architects, Deborah manages to avoid love at all costs…until Dan Parker walks into her firm-and her heart. Magnetic and irresistible, Dan commissions her to design a building for him and gives her the courage to believe in love again. But he has a secret that may be her undoing. Will his love and the family they could create become her crowning design? Or will he break her heart and cost her everything she’s worked so hard to build?
In this incredible love story, Meacham once again delivers a heartfelt, incredibly developed plot with a cast of characters you won’t want to let go of. Love, friendship, betrayal, tragedy and triumph are all here in this reprint of a classic romance that will appeal to old and new readers alike.
Praise for Leila Meacham
“Roses heralded as the new Gone with the Wind.”– USA Today (praise for Roses)
“An enthralling stunner…. A compelling saga with echoes of Gone with the Wind.” − Publishers Weekly (praise for Roses)
“As large, romantic, and American a tale as Texas itself.”− Booklist (praise for Roses)
“It has everything any reader could want in a book… epic storytelling that plunges the reader headfirst into the plot… [Meacham] is a titan herself.” – Jackie Cooper, The Huffington Post (praise for Titans)
About Leila Meacham
(C) Marie Langmore Langmore Photography
Leila Meacham is a writer and former teacher who lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of the bestselling novels Roses, Somerset, and Tumbleweeds.
Giveaway of Crowning Design by Leila Meacham
This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on January 20, 2017 midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
Thanks to Elizabeth Martins of Smith Publicity, Inc., I am giving away one print copy of Dog Training the American Male by L.A. Knight.
Description of Dog Training the American Male by L.A. Knight
Meet Dr. Nancy Beach, a relationship counselor who hosts a local radio show called Love’s a Beach. One problem: The relationship guru cant seem to make her own relationships work, sending her credibility and ratings into the toilet. Meet Jacob Cope, a walking thesaurus of phobias — a Lehman Brothers casualty who’s lost his job and swagger and now yearns to be a ventriloquist.
When Nancy and Jacob are set up on a blind date and hit it off, their siblings, desperate to be rid of them, encourage the young couple to move in together. When the honeymoon stage abruptly ends, Jacob attempts to mend the fence by adopting a dog; a big dog and Nancy flips out . . . until she realizes the dog trainer’s techniques can be used to housebreak Jacob and save her radio career.
Praise for Dog Training the American Male by L.A. Knight
“In Knight’s comic debut novel, a relationship expert turns to dog-training strategies in order to domesticate her incorrigible boyfriend and save her flagging career. . . .The book is funny in the best way: the humor propels the action rather than pausing it. . . .[T]he authorial hand is mostly well-hidden, and the prose flows like a jocular babbling brook. More impressively, the central characters transcend their stock roles and grow into legitimately compelling subjects. Incident by unlikely incident, we are pulled deeper into their lives until it is their fates (not merely their quips) that keep us turning the pages. Knight is a naturally comic writer; what is more, she is a talented storyteller. A lighthearted work with well-drawn characters and genuine laughs.”-Kirkus Reviews
“Teaching your old dog new tricks simply requires the right treat–so goes the story of Dog Training the American Male, a riotous romp through relationships of the young, the old, and the restless. . . . Comedic newcomer L.A. Knight offers a fresh farce replete with a cast of well-drawn characters, fast-paced wit, and merging cinematic storylines that triumph as a novel, but would feel equally right on a London stage, as a Netflix original, or in a theater near you. Dog Training is a new look at age-old male-female quandaries, but also a book for mature readers that will find more than one male looking at himself–and suddenly realizing why he’s so eager to help with the dishes.”-The Mountain Times
“Laugh out loud funny! What really makes this book connect with everyone is that men and women have been trying to change, or at least understand, each other for centuries, and this book takes a different approach to that issue. . . .Both sexes will enjoy this quirky take.”-ManhattanWithATwist.com
“A spirited romp through a peculiar carnival of fascinatingly fresh and ultimately irresistible characters.”-The Examiner
About L.A. Knight
Many know L.A. Knight as the first pup born to a litter of four, who managed to escape from several disobedient schools in Philadelphia and then relocated to South Florida where he went into heat over a gorgeous poodle. In reality, L.A. Knight is the pseudonym for NY Times best-selling author Steve Alten, who penned 16 thrillers—one of which, Meg, is being made into a Warner Bros. movie to be released in 2018. Knight penned Dog Training the American Male as a means of dealing with the sorrow of his father’s passing. The initials L.A. are his Dad’s initials, the KNIGHT signifying his father’s role in their family—a “knight in shining armor.” A portion of the proceeds from Dog Training the American Male will be donated to Paws4Liberty.
Dog Training the American Male is available via Amazon and bookstores nationwide.
Jack Laskin is an ordinary man. More than ordinary according to some. Running the family hardware store and a life that would bore a snail, nothing exciting ever seems to happen to him.
Then, at his mother’s urging, he tries on a pair of his late grandfather’s old pants and everything changes — most importantly his emerging love life. It’s not long before his mother and her meddling friends get involved.
When an old friend of his grandfather’s tells Jack he has something she wants, his new-found life takes another turn. Having no idea what he is supposed to have, Jack looks to his girlfriend, Connie, and her brother, Robert, for help.
In the end, the answers will all be found in his Grandfather’s Pants.
Praise for My Grandfather’s Pants by Tegon Maus
“This story is fantastic! It is totally different to anything I have read before. As the storyline unfolds, it is sexy, humorous and very entertaining – absolutely brilliant!”- Susan Keefe, Book Reviews By Susan Keefe, Author
“I was definitely not expecting to laugh as often as I did while reading My Grandfather’s Pants. Mr. Maus has a fantastic sense of humour that translates extremely well to the written word. He is adept at teasing out the funny side of even the most serious or mundane parts of daily life. It was especially entertaining to see how he plays around with a wide range of assumptions most of us make about certain groups of people in order to keep his readers on their toes. My Grandfather’s Pants is a great choice for anyone in the mood for something quirky and original. This is the kind of book that begs to be read more than once. I, for one, will be revisiting it quite soon!”- LAS Reviewer, Long and Short Reviews
“My Grandfather’s Pants is a funny and surprising novel. An enjoyable combination of fantasy and suspense with a touch of romance. The protagonist, Jack is a likeable old soul thrown into a bizarre situation, and the way he handles the bizarre challenges he faces will keep you guessing . . . and laughing. Pick up this book if you want to take a ride on a saucy, madcap rollercoaster. You won’t be disappointed!”- Joseph N. Sidari, Amazon Reviewer
Interview with Tegon Maus, Author of My Grandfather’s Pants
TR: Where do you get the names for your characters?
TM: Depending on what I write, I want my characters to reflect the personality I’m trying to convey. Names are important… I can’t have a bad guy doing terrible things with a name like Percy ! I have a book… much like a phone book that I find names that most match how I want my readers to see my characters.
TR: Are any of your characters in ‘My Grandfather’s Pants’ based on real-life friends or acquaintances?
TM: Many of the people I know are in all my books… not their names mind you but most certainly the way they behave. People are very interesting in what they say compared to how they behave… everyone has a little something that doesn’t follow the line. For me, that makes them very interesting !
TR: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself?
TM: In a manner of speaking… my publisher asks for what I think it should look like… what colors I like, any symbols I don’t want on the cover, do I want people or graphics… things like that and then the company designer takes that info and turns it into a cover. By its self… My Grandfather’s Pants appears to be a plain cover but after you read it, it becomes the perfect cover !
TR: What is your favorite scene in ‘My Grandfather’s Pants’? Why?
TM: I have several that are an important part of my life sprinkled throughout all my books. I may have turned them just a little to keep them personal but I would have to say at the end of this book my hero asks his girl to marry him… it is the EXACT scene… the EXACT words… exact way it happened when I asked my wife to marry me. Every word true in every detail !
TR: Imagine you have entered the ‘Twilight Zone’, Would a writer purposely commit suicide in hopes her book would then become famous?
TM: To what end ? She would never know what people thought… whether they like it or hated it. There would be no upside, no money, no fame, no adulation, no twits saying what she wrote changed their life. Why it would be crazy to think killing yourself would give your book more attention than any other… wait a minute… I’ll have to think about this.
TR: What are you currently working on?
TM: At present I almost finished with Book 2 of the Littlefield series. I also have a few chapters of Book 3 as well. In addition I’m tinkering with Book 2 for BOB and only have 8 or 9 thousand words left for book 3 of the Eve Series. I also have an Audio copy of BOB coming in early November!
TR: Wow, an audio book of ‘Bob’ will be a special treat! I am looking forward to all of the sequels as well! Thanks so much for being my guest today, Tegon!
About Tegon Maus
Tegon Maus was raised pretty much the same as everyone else… devoted mother, strict father and all the imaginary friends he could conjure. Not that he wasn’t friendly, he just wasn’t “people orientated”. Maybe he lived in his head way more than he should have, maybe not. He liked machines more than people, at least he did until I met his wife.
The first thing he can remember writing was for her. For the life of him he can’t remember what it was about… something about dust bunnies under the bed and monsters in my closet. It must have been pretty good because she married him shortly after that. He spent a good number of years chasing other dreams before he got back to writing.
It wasn’t a deliberate conscious thought, it was more of a stepping stone. His wife and himself had joined a dream interpret group and we were encouraged to write down our dreams as they occurred. “Be as detailed as you can,” we were told.
He was thrilled. If there is one thing he enjoys it’s making people believe him and he likes to exaggerate. Not a big exaggeration or an outright lie mind you, just a little step out of sync, just enough so you couldn’t be sure if it were true or not. When he writes, he always write with the effort of “it could happen” very much in mind and nothing, he guarantees you, nothing, makes him happier.
He has consistently placed in the top 3 in 189 writing contest in a variety of genres and has been featured in magazines a couple of times to raise money for Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
This giveaway is for one ebook copy and is open worldwide. It ends on November 30, 2016 at midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only. a Rafflecopter giveaway
Crowning Design by Leila Meacham
Dog Training the American Male by L.A. Knight
