Review: Love, Stimulating Trivia & Other Arousing Bits by Saylor Storm

Goodreads Blurb

Do you ever wonder what makes one person attracted to another, or what happens to us chemically when we fall in love? Love, Stimulating Trivia & Other Arousing Bits is a collection of love facts and trivia that has been compiled over the years. The trivia will provide you with hours of entertainment. Play a love trivia game with your friends, start a heated discussion or learn just what makes us all tick when it comes to love. Some great pearls of wisdom. Enjoy!

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This was a very interesting trivia book. Had some good statistics and some very weird and creepy ones. I didn’t love bugs before, and after hearing about Formicophillia, I definitely don’t love bugs on any part of me yuck. Also, I wouldn’t like to meet a Maschalagnia. Leave my armpit alone.. thanks. It had some very interesting trivia to have fun with your friends.

Author Biography

Saylor Storm takes something from real life and turns it into something fun, and perhaps a bit twisted. Reality becomes fantasy, or is that imagination turns into real life experience? Her stories include places where she has lived or visited from the beaches of Malibu to Islands of Fiji and destinations in between. Love and passion are at the root of her novels; after all isn’t that what life is all about? Storm is a long-time resident of beautiful Lake Tahoe. Saylor is currently working on several new books and loves to hear from her readers! Visit her at http://www.SaylorStorm.com

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Goodreads Blurb

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg.

She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I truly loved the first book in the series. Marissa knows how to write amazing fairy tales. It really captures the readers’ attention and brings them to a world of suffering and death. You just want to help fight the Lunar’s and save your loved ones. I was so sad for all that Cinder went through. To feel ugly, unwanted, and abused is a terrible feeling. Everyone gets to see who Cinder truly is, even though she tries her best to keep it a secret. But Queen Levana will show her true colors, which most have only been manipulated with her powers and so-called beauty. Can’t wait to read the next book in series.

Author Biography

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my husband and beautiful twin daughters. Represented by Jill Grinberg. Learn more about me and my upcoming books at http://www.marissameyer.com.

Upcoming Event: Isabel Allende

Information was posted on the Montclair Festival website.

Montclair Literary Festival Presents

An evening with Isabel Allende

celebrating the release of her new novel: My Name is Emilia Del Valle

Join us to welcome internationally beloved author Isabel Allende in conversation with Cleyvis Natera on the publication of her new novel, My Name is Emilia del Valle.

Date: Monday, May 5

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad Street Street, Bloomfield, NJ

Tickets: $35 – includes a hardcover copy of My Name is Emilia Del Valle

In this spellbinding historical novel, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself. My Name is Emilia del Valle is a riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time.

Purchase tickets here: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/event_step2/MjMwNjQ4/304214

Review: Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek by Daniel Levy and Eugene Levy

Goodreads Blurb

The official tie-in book for the beloved, nine-time Emmy® Award-winning series Schitt’s Creek.

This beautifully produced, keepsake coffee-table book is the ultimate celebration of the series, the town, the characters, and the state of mind that is Schitt’s Creek. Capturing the essence and alchemy of all six seasons of what is now considered to be one of the most groundbreaking comedy television series of the last decade, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is a gift to fans everywhere who have made the show their own.

Included are character profiles from the cast of Johnny, Moira, David, and Alexis, and all of the characters that populate the town, major moments from Moira’s endorsement of Herb Ertlinger Winery, to Patrick and David’s first kiss, to Cabaret and the Rose Family Christmas episode. Also included are special features, such as the complete, illustrated catalogs of David’s knits and Moira’s wigs, Moira’s vocabulary, Alexis’s adventures, and behind-the-scenes moments from Dan and Eugene Levy and the cast of Schitt’s Creek.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

It’s a fantastic movie tie-in for one of the best and funniest series ever made. I watched the series for the first time last year. I had this book since it was released, but I wanted to read it after I saw the series. This book is perfect for the fans of this show. It includes every season and episode details. I enjoyed seeing all the outfits of Moira and David, plus Moira’s epic wigs. The fashion and wig options for the characters made this series unforgettable. It’s those outfits that will take me back to a part of the series I enjoyed and will never forget. I loved that David Rose found his happily ever after. They were a family who lived lavishly and were not very connected, and having lost everything brought them together. Moving to a small town they weren’t fond of showed how the characters worked on their family connection and built a tight-knit community. I also enjoyed all the fan art included throughout the book. I love the images and getting a backstage entrance to a community filled with love.

Currently Reading: Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh

I’m reading this book for the Barnes & Noble book club for April. My review will be posted in a few weeks.

Goodreads Blurb

Four years after their bitter divorce, Claire and Aaron Litvak get a phone call no parent is prepared for: Their twenty-two-year-old daughter Lindsey, teaching English in China during a college gap year, has been critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. At a Shanghai hospital they wait at her bedside, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The accident unearths a deeper fissure in the family: the shocking event that ended the Litvaks’ marriage and turned Lindsey against them. Estranged from her parents, she has confided only in her younger sister, Grace, adopted as an infant from China. As Claire and Aaron struggle to get their bearings in bustling, cosmopolitan Shanghai, the newly prosperous “miracle city,” they face troubling questions about Lindsey’s life there, in which nothing is as it seems.

Author Biography

Jennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer. Her new novel MERCY STREET takes on the contentious issue of abortion rights, following the daily life of Claudia Birch, a counselor at an embattled women’s clinic in Boston.

Her last novel, HEAT AND LIGHT, looks at a Pennsylvania town divided by the controversy over fracking, and was named a Best Book of 2016 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. Earlier books include the novel FAITH, about a beloved Boston priest accused of a molesting a child in his parish, and THE CONDITION, the story of a woman diagnosed in childhood with Turner’s Syndrome.

Haigh’s critically acclaimed debut novel MRS. KIMBLE won the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction. Her second novel, the New York Times bestseller BAKER TOWERS, won the PEN/L. L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her short story collection NEWS FROM HEAVEN won of the Massachusetts Book Award and the PEN New England Award in Fiction. A Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, she writes frequently for The New York Times Book Review. Her fiction has been published in eighteen languages.

Cover Reveal: Swipe Right to Flirt by Martha Sweeney

BOOK DETAILS:

Swipe Right to Flirt

by Martha Sweeney

Publication date: June 17, 2025

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Flirting is easy. Falling in love is complicated.

When she turned fourteen, Deidre found out that her parents were getting a divorce. As the gossip spread through her small hometown, and the ugly divorce unfolded, the choice be willing to leave with her father was easy.

As the years passed, Deidre’s father had learned to move on and find love again. Though Deidre is happy for her dad, secretly she believes that everyone is bound to break trust at some point. Instead of desiring a relationship, Deidre focuses on becoming a top coder in Silicon Valley. She ends up assisting with a startup which leads to the development her own app called Flirt. Engrossed in her work, Deidre is willing to play the game of a flirt all for the sake of her app to explode even further in the market.

For the first time in her life, Deidre feels as if the past will never bother her again—that is, until she finds out that her brother is getting married. What she doesn’t realize is that facing her past just might be what she needs in order to let go of the pain and become the entrepreneur she’s meant to be. Can Deidre let go to gain more than she could ever imagine?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228079948-swipe-right-to-flirt

AUTHOR BIO:

Martha Sweeney is a BESTSELLING author who writes in a variety of genres: romance (contemporary, romcom, suspense, paranormal and historical), suspense, fantasy, thriller, coloring books, and soon, science fiction. She strives to push herself as a storyteller with each new tale and hopes to push her readers outside of their comfort zone whether it be genre or the stories themselves.

With a B.S. in Psychology, Martha utilizes her knowledge of human and animal behavior successfully in the business world and in her writing to present realistic characters and situations. She’s been creative since she was little, always drawing, coloring or making crafts, so her venture into being an author was a natural transition.

Author links:
https://www.marthasweeney.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marthasweeneyauthor/
https://twitter.com/MSweeneyAuthor
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMarthaSweeney/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13453575.Martha_Sweeney

Cover Reveal: Keeping the Countess by Lille Moore

BOOK DETAILS:

Keeping the Countess

by Lille Moore

Publication date: June 24, 2025

Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance

Synopsis:

In this first installation of the DAMSELS IN DISGUISE series, a passionate clergyman on a mission to steal an earl’s secrets finds himself captivated by a cunning and courageous countess.

Charismatic curate Jonah Sinclair survived the deadly streets of south London with two well-trained fists and divine intervention. He will let nothing—not his vocation, nor his yearning to find love—stop him from pursuing the criminals who killed his father. When he learns the notorious Earl of Rochford could hold the key to retribution for his family, he seizes on the chance to become tutor to the earl’s young ward. But the only trace of Rochford he discovers at the mysterious Ravenglass Hall is his abandoned countess, a woman whose fierce strength stirs a forbidden temptation.

Faith Trenton, Countess of Rochford, is on the brink of ruin. Betrayed and abandoned by her husband, she disguises herself as a man to defend her estate from an embezzling steward. Jonah’s arrival threatens her carefully constructed masquerade, and despite the irresistible spark between them, she must send him packing, or risk having him expose the dangerous secrets she keeps hidden. But when a succession of attacks threatens everything that Faith has fought to protect, she’s forced to place her trust in Jonah, and pray he won’t unravel the truth, or her heart.

Helping Faith could sabotage Jonah’s mission. Loving her might cost him everything.

AUTHOR BIO:

Lille Moore writes romance with a twist on time-honored tropes and tales. Her hard-fought happy endings feature strong heroines, seductive heroes, and plenty of steam and shenanigans.

Author links:

Newsletter

Home

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553432212051

https://www.instagram.com/lillemoorebooks/

Review: Kill or Be Kilt by Victoria Roberts

Goodreads Blurb

Lady Elizabeth Walsingham pined after the same man for years. When she finally realizes the brawny Highland laird doesn’t return her feelings, she decides to leave for London and start anew. It seems that her prayers are answered when she catches the eye of a charming actor at the Globe Theatre – a man who is the complete opposite of the Highlander she once loved.

Laird Ian Monroe spends his time avoiding the bothersome young girl who dreams of their union. But when he travels to London and discovers that she has a new love interest with a dishonorable agenda, his perspective changes. Ian soon realizes that Elizabeth is no longer a child with a crush, but a beautiful woman in need of his help. He may have what it takes to rescue Elizabeth from her scheming beau, but does he have the courage to reclaim Elizabeth’s heart as well?

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

This is the third book in the Highland Spies series. Was very happy that after three years Ian has come back to see his friend Ruairi. The chemistry between Elizabeth and Ian still has sparks. As much as he doesn’t want to show weakness that he has fallen for Elizabeth, he just can’t help himself following and protecting her. I was laughing at how he was following her all over the court and was jealous. He still can’t get over that she is a lot younger and strikingly beautiful. Ian doesn’t think he has any good looks and feels that lasses don’t really love him. To find out the after three years Elizabeth loves him, he just can’t see the possibility of it being true. Love conquers no matter age and beauty. Love that this story has a murder mystery made the book very interesting. Thanks, Victoria, for another amazing story with some Highlanders. Please don’t miss out on this book and series.

Author Biography

Award-winning author Victoria Roberts writes Scottish historical romances about kilted heroes and warriors from the past. She was the recipient of the 2013 RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice award for Best Medieval Historical Romance for X MARKS THE SCOT, as well as the 2014 BTS Book Reviews Red Carpet award for Best Historical and Best Book of the Year for MY HIGHLAND SPY.

Represented by Jill Marsal of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, Victoria is a member of Romance Writers of America, Celtic Hearts Romance Writers, several local chapters, in addition to being a contributing author to the online magazine CELTIC GUIDE.

Victoria resides in western Pennsylvania with her husband of twenty two years and their two beautiful children–not to mention one spoiled dog. When she’s not plotting her next Scottish adventure, she’s dragging her clan to every Scottish festival under the sun. Please visit Victoria at VictoriaRobertsAuthor.com.

Review: Braking for Bodies by Duffy Brown

Goodreads Blurb

Moving from Los Angeles to small, picturesque Mackinac Island to work in a bike shop might seem crazy, but Evie knows it’s the best decision she’s ever made. That’s not to say she’s gotten rid of all her stress; after all, the upcoming Lilac Festival has everyone in town riding in circles.

But things really go downhill when a ferry full of tourists—including Evie’s friend Fiona’s former boss, the editor of a sleazy rag in LA—arrives on the island. No one knows why Peephole Perry came all the way to Mackinac, but things aren’t looking good for Fiona when Peep is found dead. Now Evie has to gear up and get a grip on the truth if she wants to clear her friend’s name…

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book. It is a murder mystery that had me guessing all the way till the end. The characters were perfect for this book. Evie and Fiona are hysterical. Loved that a murder was committed in such an important time for the town. The town was having their annual Lilac Festival. Rudy and Irma were going to get married, and that became a whole fiasco of events. You don’t want to miss this mystery. Do you know who murdered Peep?

Author Biography

Duffy Brown loves anything with a mystery. While others girls dreamed of dating Brad Pitt, Duffy longed to take Sherlock Holmes to the prom. She has two cats, Spooky and Dr. Watson, her license plate is Sherlok and she conjures up who-done-it stories of her very own for Berkley Prime Crime. Duffy’s national bestselling Consignment Shop Mystery series is set in Savannah and the Cycle Path Mysteries are set on Mackinac Island.

Upcoming Book Event: Anne & Claire Berest

Information was taken from the Montclair Literary Festivals website.

Join us on Tuesday, April 29th, at 6:30p.m. as Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival, the Montclair Public Library, the Montclair Campus of L’Alliance New York, and Watchung Booksellers welcome Anne & Claire Berest in conversation about Gabriële based on the life of their bohemian, brilliant great-grandmother with moderator Violaine Huisman. Event will be held at the Montclair Public Library.

Tickets to hear Anne & Claire Berest in person cost $33 and include a copy of the book. Doors open at 6:00p.m.

Gabriële was originally published in French by Europa Editions and was translated by Tina Kover. It’s a sensational, exuberant novel about love and sex, art and revolution, experimentation and creativity. Moving between Paris, New York, Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, London, and Saint-Tropez, the book is as audacious, uninhibited, intimate, and unforgettable as its central character, the mercurial, pioneering Gabriële Buffet.

Anne Berest’s first novel to appear in English, “The Postcard,” was a national bestseller, a Library Journal, NPR, and TIME Best Book of the Year, and winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, France’s highest literary honor. It was described as “stunning” by Leslie Camhi in The New Yorker, as a “powerful literary work” by Julie Orringer in The New York Times Book Review, and as “intimate, profound, essential” in the pages of ELLE magazine.

Claire Berest is the author of four novels including “Rien n’est noir,” winner of the ELLE Readers Grand Prize, and two works of nonfiction, “Class Struggle: Why I Resigned from National Education,” and ”Lost Children: An Investigation in the Minors Brigade.” Her most recent novel is “Artifices.”

Violaine Huisman is a French writer. Her debut novel, The Book of Mother, won the Prix Françoise Sagan and was long-listed for the International Booker Prize.

This event will be held at The Montclair Public Library, 50 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042. If you require any special accommodations to attend, please email montclairliteraryfestival@gmail.com before the event.

RSVP Link: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/event_step2/MjI5NTAw/302271