Release Day Blitz and Giveaway - Mixing It Up by Tracie Banister

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Manhattan upper-cruster Cecily Sinclair now uses that pricey utensil to dish up fancy French fare on her cooking show, Serving Romance. When there’s an executive shake-up at the network, she’s not worried. Not much anyway. Her show’s a hit after all. Why would the new CEO want to mess with success?
The driving force behind several buzzed-about networks, Devlin Hayes is considered to be a wunderkind in the television industry. Although his plans to rebrand CuisineTV and make Serving Romance more Millennial-friendly don’t thrill Cecily, her charming, blue-eyed boss is a hard man to say “no” to and she really wants to keep her job—even if that means sharing screen time with a loathsome blast from her past.  
Mercurial Italian chef Dante Marchetti a.k.a. “Il Duce” was once Cecily’s boss, and she has the PTSD to prove it. Now the owner of one of the hottest restaurants in town, Dante’s egomania knows no bounds and his constant attempts to provoke and upstage Cecily make her want to conk him on the head with a sauté pan. She thinks they’re toxic together, but viewers love their chemistry and clamor for more.
As Cecily battles to maintain the integrity of her show, she finds herself scheming and manipulating right along with Dante and Devlin. Is she fighting a lost cause? Does she really belong on TV, or would her culinary talent be better served elsewhere? And could one of the men who makes Cecily’s blood boil ignite a passion in her for something other than food?

LINK TO PURCHASE

myBook.to/MixingItUp

 

 ABOUT TRACIE
An avid reader and writer, Tracie Banister has been scribbling stories since she was a child, most of them featuring feisty heroines with complicated love lives like her favorite fictional protagonist Scarlett O'Hara. Her work was first seen on the stage of her elementary school, where her 4th grade class performed an original holiday play she penned. (Like all good divas-in-the-making, she also starred in and tried to direct the production.)
Tracie’s dreams of authorial success were put on the backburner when she reached adulthood and discovered that she needed a "real" job in order to pay her bills. Her career as personal assistant to a local entrepreneur lasted for 12 years. When it ended, she decided to follow her bliss and dedicate herself to writing full-time. Mixing It Up is her fourth Chick Lit release, and in it Tracie finally got to live out her fantasy of being a Cordon Bleu-trained chef.   

CONNECT WITH TRACIE
Author Newsletter – The Banister Buzz Newsletter
Blog http://traciebanister.blogspot.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/traciebanister
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tracie.banister
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/traciebanister/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5448518.Tracie_Banister

RELEASE WEEK GIVEAWAY
Purchase a copy of Mixing It Up between October 19th, 2016 and October 25th, 2016 and you could win this fantastic prize pack inspired by the book’s heroine and her love of French food!

 This prize pack includes:
Garnier-Thiebaut Oh, La La, Chéri French-themed 4-piece Kitchen Linens Set
(Apron, kitchen towel, pot holder, and oven mitt.)

Kate Spade Deco Dot Recipe Box with 8 tabbed dividers and 40 recipe cards

The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook by Mireille Guiliano

To enter this giveaway, simply e-mail the author at traciebanister@gmail.com with your proof of purchase. Entries will be accepted until midnight on October 26th, 2016 when a winner will be selected via random drawing. This is an international giveaway, so anyone who buys Mixing It Up within the allotted time frame is eligible to win. Good luck!

Review and Giveway - Fractured by Catherine McKenzie US Only

Welcome, neighbor!
Julie Prentice and her family move across the country to the idyllic Mount Adams district of Cincinnati, hoping to evade the stalker who’s been terrorizing them ever since the publication of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Since Julie doesn’t know anyone in her new town, when she meets her neighbor John Dunbar, their instant connection brings measured hope for a new beginning. But she never imagines that a simple, benign conversation with him could set her life spinning so far off course.
We know where you live…
After a series of misunderstandings, Julie and her family become the target of increasingly unsettling harassment. Has Julie’s stalker found her, or are her neighbors out to get her, too? As tension in the neighborhood rises, new friends turn into enemies, and the results are deadly.
  
My Thoughts
What a suspenseful book!  I seriously thought I had it all figured out and then my mind changed like 5 times!  I couldn't put this book down!  I was reading at college, work (shhhh don't tell!), before bed and even every morning!
Julie and her family have had a nightmare of a year and want to make a fresh start.  They pick a quiet neighborhood and hope to blend in and have a normal existence.  Little did they know that they moved into the neighborhood from hell!  Between the nosy neighborhood watch and the alcohol free block parties - they are starting to wonder if this decision was best for their family.
Then Julie meets her neighbor John one day while out for a run and they get along rather well and decide to become running buddies.They start to get a little too close and then it happens...

Just when Julie thinks she has left her crazy stalker behind across the country, crazy things appear around her house...could it be Heather?
Little by little the neighborhood begins to turn on them and they don't know who they can trust, if anyone.  You will have to read it to believe it!

Drink Selection
I was on the edge of my seat with this and I decided I would pair it with a bottle of Bregonzo Amarone della Valpolicella from Italy! Delish flavor!

Rating 

I couldn't put this book down and I think you will agree - 5 wine glasses all the way!

Giveaway  (US ONLY)
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Review: Pink Lies by Haley Todd Kitts

Scarlett Hanes, recent graduate of College of Charleston, is not your typical S.O.B(South of Broad)who grew up near Rainbow Row. Growing up privileged with the well-known Riley name, Scarlett denies herself any favors that could land her an interview because of “who” her family knows. She’s discouraged and ready to throw in the towel after many failed attempts to land a career as a writer. It only takes one night out with her best friend, Addison, too many tequila shots, and a slightly fabricated resume to land a prestigious job interview with a magazine conglomerate in the Big Apple. Scarlett finds herself in a web of destruction hurting everyone she cares about along the way. She's constantly battling the fine line of "is it deception?" white lies? …or should I say “Pink Lies” because what could be wrong with a lie if it’s pink? From the Ravenel Bridge to Brooklyn Bridge, Scarlett must find peace with her decisions.
My Thoughts 
Let me begin by saying how much I LOVE Charleston SC!  I have been saying for years that this is where I will move one day.  When I met Haley and I found out a portion was set there I had no choice but to start reading that night and I was not disappointed.  I loved this story from beginning to end and I CAN'T WAIT for the next in the series (there is one right Haley?)
When I first saw the cover, I knew it couldn't be any more fitting.  It is pink (my favorite color) and it screams Charleston as well as another favorite of mine Lilly Pulitzer!

Scar is a recent graduate of the College at Charleston and she is having the worst time finding a job!  She would love to work in NYC one day but she would settle for a good job at this point.
She had the luck of growing up near that amazing site to see - Rainbow Row:

What more can a girl ask for? She also grew up with the Riley name which did help quite frequently.  But that name is NOT helping her start her writing career.
Then one night Scar and Addison were drinking (Tequila of all things) and Addison MAY have sent a slightly fabricated resume to Cosmo in NYC.  Who would ever know the wiser, it's not like they would ever call her for a job interview...and then they did.
She is asked to be in the city in a few short days and while there she MAY have allowed the fabrication to continue, who would ever find out?

This story will have you laughing, crying and just plain smiling from beginning to end.  From her move to the big city, to dating two amazing men and writing in her dream city, you won't want to put it down.   Lies are always better in Pink, right?

Drink Selection 
I would have to go with a tasty White Haven Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand! You will want to enjoy a few glasses or even a whole bottle from begging to end!  Why not?

Rating 
I LOVED every part of this book and I can't wait to read more in the series! 5 glasses it is!  Get your copy today!  You won't be disappointed!

Giveaway Time! Arc of The Regulars by Georgia Clark US ONLY

A fierce, feisty, and “wonderfully entertaining” (Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies) debut with a magical twist about three ordinary, regular girls who suddenly have their fantasies come true…or do they?

Best friends Evie, Krista, and Willow are just trying to make it through their mid-twenties in New York. They’re regular girls, with average looks and typical quarter-life crises: making it up the corporate ladder, making sense of online dating, and making rent.

Until they come across Pretty, a magic tincture that makes them, well...gorgeous. Like, supermodel gorgeous. And it’s certainly not their fault if the sudden gift of beauty causes unexpected doors to open for them.

But there’s a dark side to Pretty, too, and as the gloss fades for these modern-day Cinderellas, there’s just one question left:

What would you sacrifice to be Pretty?

Wildly irreverent, blatantly sexy, and observed with pitch-perfect wit, The Regulars is fresh “compulsive reading from a bright new voice” (Brenda Bowen, author of Enchanted August) in fiction, perfect for fans of Jennifer Close and Kevin Kwan.

Giveaway US ONLY 
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Review - Friends ForNever by Melissa Baldwin

Erin Taylor is a hard-working journalist with a serious TV addiction and lack of a social life. She’s focused on her career and determined to leave her tiny cubicle behind for a fabulous corner office! But when a new co-worker, a friendship drama, and a hot workplace crush collide, Erin finds it harder and harder to focus. Especially when that crush on the oh-so-yummy Aiden Thomas starts to materialize into what feels like a magical relationship. Erin's life seems to finally be heading in the right direction...until suddenly friends aren't such great friends after all, her magical relationship hits a bumpy road, and her career could be derailed by it all. Erin learns a lesson the hard way: Sometimes people aren’t who they seem to be. With her happiness on the line, can Erin rise above her disappointments and create the life she's always dreamed of or will she be stuck being Friends ForNever?
My Thoughts 
What a fun end of summer read!  I read it in a few days and LOVED every page!  I couldn't put it down!
Erin Taylor has the job she has always dreamed up - a journalist!  She's also like me and LOVES TV and doesn't get out much.  LOL
She is determined to get her own office and won't stop till she gets there!
But then an amazing work trip presents herself and Erin can't back away from the chance to go abroad!
This new position has pit everyone in the company against each other and it's almost become survival of the fittest!
And then there is Aiden...He truly sounds delicious and Erin has been smitten for months.
Between the job backstabbing, friends who aren't really her friends, new nightmare co-workers and her new found romance, her life has gotten extremely complicated and messy!
Sit back and enjoy the ride at the end you will still be wanting more!

Drink Selection
I want to pair this fun story with a drink with a little Persian flare - Persian Rose Cocktail!  Delish!

Rating 
I loved this story from beginning to end!  5 wine glasses all the way!

Review - I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi

An engrossing debut about a devoted mother who commits suicide, leaving her husband and teenage daughter to redefine their understanding of family, while she meddles from beyond the grave.

Maddy was a loving, devoted stay-at-home mother...until she committed suicide, which left her husband Brady and her teenage daughter Eve heartbroken and reeling, wondering how they can possibly continue without her. Maddy, however, isn’t quite done with them. In an attempt to fulfill her family’s needs, Maddy watches and meddles from beyond the grave, determined to find the perfect wife and mother to replace herself and heal her family. That’s when she finds Rory: a free-spirited schoolteacher, who Maddy maneuvers into Eve’s confidences, but who turns out to be harboring a tragedy of her own.

In a story both deeply moving and charming, with the domestic insight of Jodi Picoult, I Liked My Life is a mother’s final blessing for a family learning to live again.
My Thoughts 
Where do I begin?  I Liked My Life is truly a page turner.  It grips you in a way that you don't see when you first pick it up.
You are brought into a world that has been torn apart by tragedy.  Maddy seemed to have to perfect life, maybe not the life she had dreamed for herself, but it was still great.  She had a great husband, a daughter who loves her and she has perfected the art of being a stay at home mom.  She thought she would have been a CEO one day, but her life took a different path.
The she committed the unthinkable...suicide.
Eve's life is turned upside down.  She is constantly asking herself what could bring her mother to do this and was it her fault?  Had she driven her mother to leave this world?
Brady has been thrown into a life he didn't expect.  He has always been the breadwinner and Maddy took care of their daughter and their home.  He's not only lost Maddy but is now in charge of their home and teenage daughter without a clue as to what to do, still blaming himself for his wife taking her own life.  He should have been there for her more, he should have seen the signs, these are all things he feels he could have changed.
Maddy is behind the scenes, in their minds, telling them things she needs to hear from the other side.  She is determined to help them through this time of grief and make sure they are OK before she leaves this world completely.
Day by day Maddy brings Eve and Brady back together, family members back into the mix and even tries to work a little magic in the love department.
Little by little this family becomes whole again and believes they will make it through this dark time.
I couldn't recommend this book more if I tried.  It is amazing.  Add it to your TBR for January 2017.

Drink Selection
I would pair I Liked My Life with a nice glass (or two) of Fall White Sangria with a little bit of spice. Yum!

Rating 
This book is amazing and I can't recommend it enough, 5 wine glasses for sure!

Review - Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

My Thoughts 
I was just in Target the other day and I was buying the movie - Me Before You - for my daughter and I to watch. The more I thought about it though, I had a copy of the novel at home and I really wanted to read it before I watched it. (I have yet to watch the movie yet, but I can't wait now!)
I loved every page of this book! I couldn't put it down!
The characterizations were amazing, the landscapes and backdrops as I've pictured them are breathtaking and I can't wait to watch Lou and Will come to life on the screen!
Lou has lived a pretty normal, yet somewhat sheltered, life up until she meets the Traynor family. She has worked several years at a cafe in town, she lives with her family and she really hasn't traveled much outside of her bubble. That was by choice, after an event early on in her teens that changed her forever. She never socialized with the same crowd, she never dressed the same, and she changed her identity as a whole. Some may see it as peculiar but there is a meaning behind it that is sad and somewhat haunting in a way.
Then one day the cafe closes and Lou is left without the job she has known for quite some time. She goes to the Job Center to get a job which isn't easy when you do not have any real skills or higher education so to speak. She tries many jobs to no avail and then one day she gets the call that will change her life, even though she may not know it yet.
She becomes a caregiver to Will Traynor, he was in a horrible accident which has left him permanently in a wheel chair and unable to take care of himself.
The family has hired her for 6 months, which seems odd for a person bound to a wheel chair, wouldn't she be brought on for an undefined amount of time?
She has a bumpy start when she begins, after all she has never done this type of work before. But she becomes tough and doesn't let Will boss her around.
Little by little she breaks away at his tough stubborn exterior. She is determined to make him believe that his life is worth living even if he has to re-evaluate the way in which he goes about that.
Their love story is truly magical, yet sad at times. Everyone will want the love that these two share at least once in your life if even for a brief moment in time.
Pick up your copy today, I promise you that it is worth every page turn! (Must have a box of tissues handy)  

Drink Selection
I would live to celebrate this amazing book in same fashion the characters celebrated - with a bottle of bubbly!  

Rating 
This is one of my favorite reads of the year by far, and it is well deserving of 5 wine glasses!  Cheers!