Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Applewood liebt George Clooney!


Came home from a delightful family vacation in New England to find a copy of Wann Kommt George in my mailbox (click pic for larger view). It's the German edition of Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, and I think it's a hoot. I seriously love the cover! Can't read a word, of course, but I'm assuming Ursula Walther, the translator, did a good job, as she's got amazing credentials

Another fun development in my absence was this interview posted on the blog of the multi-talented Kay Sexton.

Still have mountains of laundry to get through. More later ...

Monday, August 27, 2007

BLAME IT ON PARIS

By Laura Florand



Today I have the pleasure of blogging about a wonderful book by an author who's fairly new to the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, the talented Laura Florand. It's ironic that I'm not doing a GCC Does Hollywood blog for this one, because it's so filmic I'd bet money BLAME IT ON PARIS winds up on the silver screen. Here's the description from the press release:

Eleven o’clock on a Friday night. The seamy, sex-obsessed center of Paris. I balanced over a Turkish toilet in a tiny bistro, one stiletto heel propped against the wall to make some kind of writing table out of my knee, trying desperately not to touch anything around me as I wrote an invitation…

Thus begins BLAME IT ON PARIS, Laura Florand’s hilarious and moving true story of a French-American romance between two people, two families, and two cultures.

What does happen when you put a small-town Georgian in Paris and a handsome, sophisticated Parisian in small-town Georgia? Especially when two huge families, one French and the other American, decide it’s up to them to further this romance. The Parisian’s family wants Laura to learn how to prepare snails, while Laura’s family keeps serving SĂ©bastien Mad Dog 20/20 as good wine. How will true love survive?



I think that's a great concept all around, and while I haven't gotten my hands on the book yet, apparently it reads like a dream, because over on Amazon.com, readers are going nuts over it. Critics and fellow authors love it, too. Here's a sampling of the raves ...

“Hilarious…A fun, frothy tale for anyone who has ever conjured up a dashing handsome foreigner to sweep her off her feet. Readers will be happy to live vicariously in Laura's French fairytale.” –Booklist (Aleksandra Kostovski)

“A frothy French confection.” –
Publishers’ Weekly

“Laura Florand offers up an outsider’s oddly inside view of Paris, and she does so in a narrative that is by turns witty and touching, but always charming. Best of all, she turns the tables and lets us see our own culture through the fresh, French eyes of the man she loves. Do yourself a favor: Read this book.”--
Joshilyn Jackson, best-selling author of Gods in Alabama

“I haven’t laughed so hard over the course of an entire book in a long time.” DearAuthor.com

“A fabulous romp from Paris to Podunk and back again. Loved it. Laura Florand’s reluctant heroine is adorable, and her perfect Parisian amour can wait on my table anytime.”--Haywood Smith, New York Times best-selling author of the Red Hat Club series


“A romantic, hilarious soufflĂ© of a story! Move over, Bridget Jones. Charming and laugh-out-loud funny.”--Deborah Smith, New York Times best-selling author of A Place to Call Home

“This delightful book should come with a warning label: do not read while traveling, otherwise other passengers will wonder why you keep laughing aloud and shouting ‘Vive la Laura Florand!’”--Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife

“I was taught in high school chemistry never to combine two ingredients whose properties you don’t fully understand. Well, Laura Florand ignored that advice and mixed a Parisian gentleman with a Southern lady, and what she got, predictably, was combustible. Blame It on Paris is a charming, light-hearted romp through a cross-cultural quagmire that proves that love, if it can’t conquer all, certainly is a match for a couple with families at different ends of the universe.”--Larry Habegger, editor, Travelers’ Tales Paris

“As enchanting as Paris in the spring, Florand’s debut sparkles with all the brilliance of the City of Light. Warm, funny, and sublimely satisfying, BLAME IT ON PARIS follows Laura as she journeys around the world in search of herself - only to discover home is in the hearts of those she loves. I’m adding Laura Florand to my must-read list!”—Alesia Holliday, author of Seven Ways to Lose Your Lover

BLAME IT ON PARIS is in bookstores now. To buy online, visit any cyber bookseller, such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Powells. For more information (and to see a pic of the lovely author herself) visit Laura's website at lauraflorand.com.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Signed books

My minivan and I have been busy this week, driving around Long Island from bookstore to bookstore, where I got to meet some lovely folks who let me sign their inventory of my book. So if you live in the area and are interested in an autographed copy of Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, paperback edition, please visit one of these stores (but call first to make sure it's still in stock):

Borders Syosset*
Book Revue, Huntington*
Barnes & Noble Huntington
Borders Westbury
Barnes & Noble Manhasset
Barnes & Noble Carle Place
Borders Farmingdale
Barnes & Noble Massapequa

I hope to visit a few more stores this week, but the kids are finished with camp so that makes it a bit harder. Still, I'll give it a shot, and will post updates. If there's a particular store you'd like me to visit, let me know.

If you don't live on Long Island and would like an autographed book, I'd be happy to send you a signed bookplate. I had new ones specially designed for the paperback. They're self-adhesive and right into the front of the book, like this:

Just send me your address and tell me who you want the bookplate(s) made out to. The stamp's on me.

*Indicates large quantity in stock.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

New interview

Lynn the Virtual Wordsmith just posted an interview with me over at her blog. Check it out:
Virtual Wordsmith

Thanks, Lynn!