Today I'm turning my blog over to Lynda Simmons, with a review of her recent novel "Just the Way You Aren't !!"ALSO -- Be sure to check out Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post to be able to sign up for this blog stop's GIVEAWAY(s)!! [Blog Tour & Giveaway will run from January 12 - February 6, 2015]
- This is an ARC book - Available Formats through Amazon.com: Paperback - Pages: 282; Kindle Edition - File Size: 462 KB | Release Date: October 27, 2014 | Publisher: Bluefoot Press | Obtained: Goddess Fish Promotions"Just the Way You Aren't" by Lynda Simmons
Author's Book Description : What happens when an everyday Cinderella makes a play for the prince?
A moment of madness. That’s all muralist Sunny Anderson expected when she donned a glittering mask and a fabulous gown to crash the gala at Manhattan’s newest boutique hotel. Project manager Michael Wolfe has no idea that the beauty staring up at the mural on the ballroom ceiling is also the artist who painted it. He’s captivated and she’s willing, but when their moment of madness on the sofa in his suite comes to an abrupt end, his princess is off and running, leaving nothing behind but a pair of earrings. He’s determined to find her again, but all he has to do is look closer at the woman painting the mural in his office to see that the one he needs is standing right in front of him.
My Book Review : 4 out of 5 stars! Since there are bunches of subtle "fairy Godmothers" in this novel I was thoroughly curious to find out who would be marked as the bad guy or "evil step-mother." The main candidates to be crown the behind this scenes title of "evil step-mother" was either going to be Judith (Michael's boss) or Moyra (Sunny's mom). Yet as this novel progressed, you find that both Judith & Moyra are not evil in any way, they are just two very determined women who are set in their ways. And while this compelling story has the buildup of a fairytale, it isn't one, it’s based on a man who's lost the ability to dream and a woman who has the strength to show him the way.
Sunny & Michael are an intriguing couple from their first real meeting at the masquerade to their playful banter with each other to their easy relationship around Sunny's daughter. It all held me spell bound, wanting to read more but also sad to see it end. They’re a great couple!
I recommend this novel to those who like contemporary romances that have whimsical hopes of fantasy included in them!
Purchase This Book Here : Alibris (Paperback) : Just the Way You Aren't
Book Teaser(s) :
She gave Michael one of those big wonky grins. “I have seen the chalk. And it is mine.” She reached into the toys, brow furrowed as she pushed through coloring books and markers, yo-yos and water guns. “Who’s idea was it to use a bin?” she said and bent lower and dug deeper, her skirt rising awfully high in the back.For more information on this book and/or any other books by Lynda, then please check out her website.
Michael took hold of her arm, hauling her out before she could cause an accident. “I’ll get it.”
“Are you always so pushy?” she asked as he dug.
“I believe the word is overbearing.” His fingers closed on the chalk and he slowly maneuvered it past the other toys to the top. “Why is this so important anyway?”
“Because next to dancing, sidewalk chalk is Jess’s favorite thing. She draws these wonderfully intricate hopscotch patterns outside the tearoom, then sits like a troll and tells people they can’t come in unless they do it” Her smile was decidedly wicked. “Drives my mother crazy.”
Michael walked with her to the cashier. “There’s a very twisted side to you, isn’t there?”
“Comes from having brothers.” ~ within Chapter 8
About the Author :
Lynda Simmons is a writer by day, college instructor by night and a late sleeper on weekends. She grew up in Toronto reading Greek mythology, bringing home stray cats and making up stories about bodies in the basement. From an early age, her family knew she would either end up as a writer or the old lady with a hundred cats. As luck would have it, she married a man with allergies so writing it was.With two daughters to raise, Lynda and her husband moved into a lovely two storey mortgage in Burlington, a small city on the water just outside Toronto. While the girls are grown and gone, Lynda and her husband are still there. And yes, there is a cat - a beautiful, if spoiled, Birman.
When she's not writing or teaching, Lynda gives serious thought to using the treadmill in her basement. Fortunately, she's found that if she waits long enough, something urgent will pop up and save her - like a phone call or an e-mail or a whistling kettle. Or even that cat just looking for a little more attention!
Book Excerpt :
Sunny’s feet moved of their own accord and she stared straight ahead, horrified and thrilled at the same time. Wondering what she was playing at and not at all surprised when he fell into step beside her.
This was why she wasn’t ready to leave, she realized. She was enjoying herself too much. Enjoying the fact that as Sonja she could do anything or say anything. Be shocking and sexy, and make Michael Wolfe sit up and take notice.
She glanced over at him as they walked, feeling beautiful, powerful, but most of all desirable. Because if that wasn’t hunger she saw in those dark eyes, then she’d been out of circulation for far too long.
Which was a distinct possibility given that her last sexual encounter had been almost a year ago in the back of Vince Cerqua’s convertible when the top wasn’t the only thing that wouldn’t go up. She’d spent the drive home assuring him that it happened to men all the time; at least that was what she heard in the tearoom.
She felt her face warm, knowing instinctively that Michael’s top would never let him down. Not that she wanted to find out. Not really. Not now, at any rate.
“Where will you be going in the morning?” he asked.
“New Jersey.”
He drew his head back and she laughed. “There’s a theater group I’m rather fond of. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. I’m just a wanderer. Never in one place long enough to plant a garden as they say.”
“Is that what you’d like to do? Plant a garden?”
“Yes,” she said, slipping in a touch of Sunny, but staying true to Sonja. “Of course, with so many emerging artists, I’m not thinking about that right now.”
He stopped and took her hand. “What are you thinking about?”
Trouble. And sex. Mostly sex. For all the good it did her.
Truth to tell, Sunny wasn’t the kind to have a one-night stand. She was conservative in her thinking and cautious when it came to matters of the heart. She was the kind who delivered hampers at Christmas, painted faces at the community center on Halloween, and made sure her organ-donor card was signed. No question about it, she was Sunny the good: Balanced. Friendly. And utterly predictable.
But Sonja? Now there was a real vixen. A woman who traveled the world, took risks every day, and was never, ever predictable. It seemed a shame to make her leave the ball so early when she was only in town for one night. And Sunny had the rest of her life to spend being good.
Michael ran his thumb across hers and the pull was stronger than ever, bringing her back a step. After all, it wasn’t as though he was a total stranger, some masked man she picked up at the sushi bar. This was Michael Wolfe, Beast of Brighton, Terror of the Tradesmen. And she already knew he looked good without a shirt.
Maybe Hugh was right. Maybe a moment of madness was good for the soul.
The music changed again, the singer launching into a slow, sultry torch song that begged an answer to the question women had been asking for centuries: what is it with men and commitment?
Sunny had wrestled with that issue herself for years, convinced that the boy she’d loved too much would come back for her one day. Pale and contrite, wanting nothing more than to love her the way he should have all along. But commitment wasn’t on her mind at all when she twined her fingers with Michael’s and gave him Sonja’s best come-hither smile. “I’m thinking we should go to your place,” she said, and was sure she was floating as they headed for the door.
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