The C's Have It: Ten Titles Starting With the Letter C

 

Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday blog link-up sponsored by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today's theme is a freebie, bookish or non-bookish, so I decided to continue with the alphabet challenge. 

If the title starts with The or an A, I will use the second letter. I'll post them in alphabetical order. This is perfect for those alphabetical reading challenges.

I am having a ball of a time looking for books to fit each letter of the alphabet, and I hope you have found something new to read.

Happy Tuesday, and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

First Line Friday Featuring They Never Saw Her Coming by Amy Matayo.

 

Thank God it's Friday!!!! Today is going to be a fun edition. Amy Matayo is going to be dropping her cover for this new book today, so I asked her if she'd give me the first line I'd use it in first line Friday. 

Title: They Never Saw Her Coming: a Silver Bell Legends novel.

Author: Amy Matayo

Description:

Two decades ago, eleven-year-old Lisa was the punching bag of her Silver Bell, Arkansas sixth grade class. Mercilessly ridiculed for her looks, raspy voice, and lack of money, she lived life in the shadows without a friend in sight until her family finally moved away. But she’s never forgotten the awful way the kids in that town treated her. In the years since, she changed her name, face, and entire identity, all in the name of putting Lisa to rest.

Now she’s back as Scarlett Moss—Oscar-winning actress, national book club founder, widely known as America’s sweetheart…

And out for revenge.

When Scarlett returns to Silver Bell under the guise of filming a blockbuster movie in the town, she arrives with a car full of luggage and a scheme for getting even—with the mean girls of Silver Bell, with the townspeople who turned their backs on her, even with the boy named Locke who was quietly nice to her back then but still brought the biggest heartache of all.

The only problem? Locke is still nice, he’s more handsome than she remembers, and his ever-present grin is throwing a wrench in her plans. But she won’t let him stop everything she’s already set in motion. The kids of Silver Bell might have forgotten her from way back then.

But the adults of Silver Bell will absolutely remember her now.

Check out Amy's website for all the preordering information.

First Line: Her left Louboutin pump was missing, and she couldn't find it anywhere.

If that isn't a line that will grab you into a story, I don't know what is! Watch Amy's social media 9  am central time for the cover reveal.

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amymatayo.author/

Facebook amymatayoauthor

After you've done all of that head on over to my buddy Carrie for more first-line fun.

Top Ten Tuesday Featuring Indie / Self-Published Books

 

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday featuring Indie/Self-Published books. I will probably have more than ten because I just went through my blog folder and grabbed photos of indie books.

This book was made into a movie and was shown on the Friendly App.

Tamara Leigh has several medieval series and they are all amazing! 

I first read Kristin Billerbeck when she was traditionally published. I loved the Smitten series.

I'm unsure about this but I believe Amy Matayo has always been indie-published. 

This is Suzie Waltner's debut novel. The next one in the series, Red Velvet, and due to release in May.

I just reviewed this book last week and it is so good!

I fell in love with Courtney Walsh's writing when I read A Sweethaven Summer in 2012. 

Becky Wade captured me as a reader with My Stubborn Heart in 2012 and I love that she's published indie.

The six authors that wrote this anthology have been published both traditionally and indie.

Beth and I were paired up in a Christmas book swap and then I found her books.

Sarah Monzon is one of my favorite indie authors! Her Sewing in So. California series and just loved them.

Have you read any of these indie authors? Have you found a new author or two to add to your tbr? Let me know in the comments.

Top Ten Must Read Christmas Books

Happy Tuesday!! Today's Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie so I decided to give you a list of Christmas books you must read during this Christmas season. I have all of these but I've not read them all yet.

 

I hope you've found a Christmas book or two to add to your Christmas reading list. I'll be reviewing these as I finish them past that my blog will be pretty much inactive for the rest of the year. 

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!!

Featuring Amy Matayo with Excerpt of The Aftermath (Love In Chaos Book 2)

HAPPY BOOK RELEASE DAY, AMY MATAYO!!! 

Today, I am featuring Amy Matayo's newest release The Aftermath which is book two in her Love In Chaos series.


About the book:

Title: The Aftermath
Author: Amy Matayo
Series: Love In Chaos Book 2
Publisher: SYG Productions

According to Riley Mae Floss, life is a ten-page menu of possibilities. As the owner of a cupcake shop in small-town Missouri, she thrives on candies and rainbows and spreading joy every chance she gets. Even her hair is the color of bubble gum. Life is just the way she likes it, so why would she want anything to change now?
But when a tornado rips into Riley Mae’s southern town and destroys nearly everything in its path, her happy little life changes in less than forty-two seconds. Buildings gone. Homes carried away. People missing or even dead. Her bakery a shell of what it once was; also her life. Riley Mae’s picture-perfect world is shattered, and everyone she cares about has been hurt in the process.
According to insurance adjuster Chad Gamble, life always works out exactly the way it’s supposed to…for other people. As for him, life is a bit of a crapfest—one where he never wins the prize, makes the starting team, or gets the girl. He’s straight-laced, suit-and-tie, all-business, and sees the world for the color it is: muted gray with a little black around the edges.
So when Chad Gamble walks into Riley Mae’s ruined bakery to “assess the damages”—his words, not hers—he has no intention of getting bogged down by sentimental nonsense. Sparks immediately start to fly, and not the good kind. Who does this pushy, pink-haired chick think she is, treating him like an outsider when all he came to do was help? He can’t figure out why the locals like her so much.
Or worse, why he can’t stop thinking about her.

Goodreads || Amazon 

EXCERPT

She’s sitting on the floor with her head tilted back against a cabinet door, one hand wrapped around her burned wrist, eyes closed. She looks exhausted, like she’s been drained of every resource the Good Lord gave her, both physically and materially. Supplies are laid out everywhere—on the floor, on the counter, inside the refrigerator. The door is open an inch as though she tapped it with her hip in a rush, but not hard enough to close it. I walk as quietly as I can and push it the rest of the way until it suctions, then look down at her. It’s at that moment I finally notice the tears.

            “What are you doing here, Chad?”

            I suppose I wasn’t that quiet after all.

            She sniffs and wipes her nose with the back of her hand, but she doesn’t open her eyes. One tear slides down her chin and holds there. It takes more effort than it should to keep myself from trying to catch it. There’s something wrong about the sight of Riley crying, like a sudden cloud burst on a sunny day or sipping tea accidentally sprinkled with salt. It saddens me in ways I can’t explain and would rather not decipher.

            “I came to check on you. I didn’t realize you’d be feeding the five thousand with what looks like two eggs and five bags of flour.”

            Her eyes remain closed, but this elicits a laugh. I smile.

            “Is that a crack about my appearance?”

            “No, but I could probably whip up a batch of cookies using only the ingredients stuck in your hair. Seriously, did you dunk your head inside a bag and swish it around? You have the hair of an eighty-five-year-old woman. I can barely see the pink.”

            She cracks open one eye to peer at me. “Should be a relief then, considering you don’t like the color.”

            I don’t tell her it’s grown on me.

“You look tired.”

            “Thank you. The compliments are stacking up.”

            “I didn’t mean it that way. Just that—what have you been doing? Did you really make food for all those people today?”

            “Yep. By myself.”

            “Why?”

            Her eyes finally open, and she stares at me as though she can’t comprehend the question.

            “Because…? What else could I do? They just started coming in, and I couldn’t turn them away.”

            “But that’s too much for one person to manage.”

            “Tell that to the boy with the two fish and fives loaves of bread. He fed a lot more than I did, and he had leftovers.”

            “But he wasn’t alone. He had helpers. Like, wise men or something.”

            I might have gotten that wrong. Riley shoots me a disappointed look.

“I think they were disciples. Pretty sure the wise men came earlier, like when Jesus was in diapers. Besides, I managed.” She looks around at the mess, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. “Mostly, I managed. This place is a bigger disaster than it was this morning. Hopefully, tomorrow will go better. Maybe God will send me one of those wise men you speak of.”

            “You’re doing this again tomorrow?”

            She nods. “Yes. They have nowhere to go except here.” She draws a circle in the pile of pepper, going around and around with her finger. “Did you know that every single one of the folks in the other room lost their homes? Every one of them. Other than a homeless shelter, this is the only roof over their heads right now, so I won’t send them out. Not when I can give them some sense of community. Something normal.”

About Amy Matayo:

Amy Matayo is an award winning author of The Wedding Game, Love Gone Wild, Sway, In Tune with Love, A Painted Summer,The End of the World, The Thirteenth Chance, The Whys Have It, Christmas at Gate 18. Lies We Tell Ourselves, and The Waves. She graduated with barely passing grades from John Brown University with a degree in Journalism. But don't feel sorry for her--she's super proud of that degree and all the ways she hasn't put it to good use.
She laughs often, cries easily, feels deeply, and loves hard. She lives in Arkansas with her husband and four kids and is working on her next novel.

Website || Facebook || Instagram || Twitter 

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Need To Move Up On My TBR Pile

Happy Tuesday! Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday sponsored by The Artsy Reader Girl. The topic is books on my TBR that I'm avoiding and why. I spent Friday and Saturday going through books and organizing my bookcases, pictured below, and found books that I've purchased that need to be moved up on my TBR.

I need to read one of my own purchased books in between a book I'm reviewing. The problem, a review book arrives in the mail and goes on my review shelf,

pictured here. So, I'll go and grab a book off of here and not take one off of my other shelves. Well, that is in the process of being changed. 😉😊

Now it's your turn. . . What book(s) are you avoiding and why or what book(s) need to be moved up on your TBR pile? Tell me in the comments!