Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Swimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil OrrSwimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil Orr


Thanks to Berkley Publishing, I am giving away one print copy of ‘Swimming Between Worlds’ by Elaine Neil Orr.

Description Swimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil Orr


From critically acclaimed writer Elaine Neil Orr, a Southern coming-of-age novel that sets three very different young people against the tumultuous years of the American Civil Rights movement.

The lives of one young woman and two young men collide in a small neighborhood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Kate, a recent college graduate, is still reeling from the deaths of her beloved parents when the discovery of hidden letters forces her to re-examine everything she knew about her family. Tacker, a young engineering student and all-around boy-hero, has returned from a West African odyssey where he fell in love with the local culture but was sent home in shame. Kate’s and Tacker’s stories come together when, on the same day and in different moments, they encounter a young African-American man named Gaines. The relationship that develops between the three is complicated, as each one searches for love, freedom, and new beginnings.

Praise Swimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil Orr


“A thoughtful read touching on social as well as personal issues.”—Booklist

“The catalyst for the biggest cry I’ve ever had reading a book. No French ending here. Sad, but with a brilliant resolution…. [I] found myself rejoicing at story’s end—with tears streaming down my face.”—Smoky Mountain News   

“Orr offers beautifully wrought lesson about America’s troubled race relations and what it means to follow one’s conscience.”—Greensboro News & Record   

“Orr has crafted an intelligent book that both challenges and entertains”—The News & Observer

About Elaine Neil Orr


Elaine Neil Orr is professor of English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where she teaches world literature and creative writing. She also serves on the faculty of the low-residency MFA in Writing program at Spalding University in Louisville.

Author of A Different Sun, two scholarly books, and the memoir Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life, she has been a featured speaker and writer-in-residence at numerous universities and conferences and is a frequent fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She grew up in Nigeria.

 Website: http://www.elaineneilorr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElaineNeilOrr

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Giveaway Swimming Between Worlds by Elaine Neil Orr


This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on May 11, 2018 midnight pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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Italian Party by Christina LynchItalian Party by Christina Lynch


Thanks to Staci Burt of St. Martin’s Press,  I am giving away one print copy of ‘The Italian Party’ by Christina Lynch.

Description Italian Party by Christina Lynch


A delicious and sharply funny page-turner about “innocent” Americans abroad in 1950s Siena, Italy. Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany’s famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of ltaly, America and each other.

When Scottie’s Italian teacher–a teenager with secrets of his own–disappears, her search for him leads her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband and her country. Michael’s dedication to saving the world from communism crumbles as he begins to see that he is a pawn in a much different game. Driven apart by lies, Michael and Scottie must find their way through a maze of history, memory, hate and love to a new kind of complicated truth.

Half glamorous fun, half an examination of America’s role in the world, and filled with sun-dappled pasta lunches, prosecco, charming spies and horse racing, The Italian Party is a smart pleasure.

Praise Italian Party by Christina Lynch


“Set in Siena in 1956, this debut novel is a spy thriller, comedy of manners, and valentine to Italy, spiked with forbidden sex and political skulduggery…The ending is unexpected, with the author displaying a sophisticated, nuanced view of love and marriage that feels very modern. Or maybe it’s just Italian.” —Kirkus Reviews

 “[Lynch’s] affection for and knowledge of the Italian people and way of living are evident: her food descriptions in particular are droolworthy. Readers will be rooting for Michael and Scottie through the story’s many adventures and intrigue, while political and social commentary add an extra layer of depth.” —Booklist

 “In her gracefully written debut, as effervescent as spumante,  Lynch dramatizes  the allure and power of secrets – in politics and in marriage – while depicting with sly humor the collision between the American do-gooder naïveté and Italian culture. Italophiles and anyone interested in spying and the expat experience will love the spot-on social commentary.” —Library Journal (Starred Review)

 ​”This novel is dashing, fun, sexy and witty—a fun read on multiple levels.”​—The Historical Novel Society

About Christina Lynch


Italian Party by Christina Lynch

(c) Stacy Brand

Christina Lynch is a professor of English at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. A former Milan correspondent for Wand Women’s Wear Daily, she has written on staff for television shows such as The Dead ZoneEncore! Encore!Unhappily Ever After and WildfireThe  Italian Party is her first novel.

 Website: http://christinalynchwriter.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/clynchwriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christinalynchauthor

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Giveaway Italian Party by Christina Lynch


This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ends on April 6, 2018 midnight pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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Death of an Unsung Hero by Tessa ArlenDeath of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen


Thanks to Sarah S. of Minotaur Books,  I am giving away one print copy of ‘Death of an Unsung Hero’ by Tessa Arlen.

Description Death of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen


Lady Montfort and her pragmatic housekeeper Mrs. Jackson investigate a murder of a WWI officer with amnesia in the 20th-century English countryside.

Building on the success of her last three mysteries in the same series, Tessa Arlen returns us to the same universe in Death of an Unsung Hero with more secrets, intrigue, and charming descriptions of the English countryside.

In 1916, the world is at war and the energetic Lady Montfort has persuaded her husband to offer the dower house to the War Office as an auxiliary hospital for officers recovering from shell-shock with their redoubtable housekeeper Mrs. Jackson contributing to the war effort as the hospital’s quartermaster.

Despite the hospital’s success, the farming community of Haversham, led by the Monfort’s neighbor Sir Winchell Meacham, does not approve of a country-house hospital for men they consider to be cowards. When Sir Evelyn Bray, one of the patients, is found lying face down in the garden with his head bashed in, both Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson have every reason to fear that the War Office will close their hospital. Once again the two women unite their diverse talents to discover who would have reason to murder a war hero suffering from amnesia.

Praise Death of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen


“The fourth entry by Arlen has enjoyable touches of whimsy… more satisfying than the typical country-manor murder.” ―Kirkus Reviews 

Arlen’s satisfying fourth mystery set in early-20th-century ….The surprising solution will reward careful readers. The way Arlen integrates the traumas of WWI into a golden age whodunit plot will please Charles Todd fans.” ―Publishers Weekly 

“Historical details, notably medical treatments and women’s wartime work, add to this fourth entry in the well-researched Lady Montfort series. A winning historical mystery.” ―Booklist 

“The book is a delightful romp through a world of vividly eccentric characters in a beautifully described setting. It was pure pleasure to read, and it packed a punch.” ―Historical Novel Society

About Tessa ArlenDeath of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen


TESSA ARLEN, the daughter of a British diplomat, was brought-up and educated in the beautiful Chiltern Hills of England, when she was not visiting her parents oversees in Asia, India and Europe. Her books are set in the pastoral beauty of her native England among its flint-stone villages, softly rolling hills, and airy beech woods.

Greatest influences on Tessa’s writing are hands down Kenneth Grahame and Richard Adams for their wonderful descriptions of the beauties of the English countryside, and E.F. Benson and Nancy Mitford whose characters are so quintessentially eccentric and wickedly funny.

Tessa’s first book in the Lady Montfort series, DEATH OF A DISHONORABLE GENTLEMAN, has been nominated for a 2016 Agatha award for Best First Novel. The second volume in the series DEATH SITS DOWN TO DINNER was published in March 29, 2016, and A DEATH BY ANY OTHER NAME in March 14, 2017. DEATH OF AN UNSUNG HERO is scheduled for publication March 14, 2018.

Website: http://www.tessaarlen.com/

Twitter: @TessaArlen

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Giveaway Death of an Unsung Hero by Tessa Arlen


This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on March 30, 2018 midnight pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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