WAT!: Pursuing the Times by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

 Hi guys!

Welcome back to another day another post here at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

We started the day with a spooky tale (a good fit considering Halloween is tomorrow) and now we're bringing things back to another "horror-ific" word for some readers....CHICK LIT.  AAaaaaah!  Just kidding.  I love the genre despite the less than friendly welcome it receives at times and today's title is perfectly fit to show the world that you can't keep a good writer down which leads me to proclaim....

WAT!

The WAT! MEME stands for 'What A Tease!'. It exists to showcase those samplers and book excerpts that you've read and wish to highlight to some degree on your site...yet you have not had the chance to read the entire book for a review....thus, the "tease" aspect. Have you run into this problem as well? Feel free to "borrow" this MEME and post away!

Now on to today's feature...

Pursuing the Times

by

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

From the Amazon......

All that popular Chick-Lit author Mercury Lauren wants is to have one of her books reviewed by the New York Times Book Review - just one - and she'll do almost anything to get it. In this contemporary romantic comedy, with a nod toward Pride and Prejudice she crosses swords and hearts with the Editor-in-Chief of the NYTBR in a madcap adventure that takes her from her home in Westport to a yoga retreat to a golf course in Florida. Will she get what she wants and will she finally be happy if she does? Only one thing's for certain: nothing will stop her from Pursuing the Times.

Read the full excerpt here...

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First off, love the title actually functioning within the story; too often to we see a case of mismatch where they go together like oil and water.  Second...hello?  Did you read the synopsis?  Did you click to read the excerpt?  Trust me, I did and it deals with the book world as we know it, authorial talent waiting to be discovered, the hard climb to the top, and the lengths it apparently takes to get an invite to the National Book Awards ceremony.  Umm, yeah....Mercury?  Good thing you were talking to her over the phone because you might have had some face to save, or dirt to wipe off your nose.  (LOL.)  I must say, Mercury's characters is easy to know...and see yourself in just a smidge (~whistles~).  

It takes a fast paced and satirical look at the world of Chick-lit, the writers that inhabit it, and the potential not-so-friendly distance between them and their authorial counterparts.  Some look down on the genre, automatically saying "nay" to a title as soon as they hear that "tell-tale" genre (like Frank)...but you know what?  THEY ARE MISSING OUT...as I can only presume the potential readers/reviewers of Mercury's work are in the book; including the New York Times Book Review (take that Frank!).  Crossing my fingers she gets a chance to live out her story...or at least dreams a new dream.

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Final thoughts...what a tease!

With the excerpt as fun filled and snarky as it is, one can only guess what's in store as we read further...but my money's on a fun time indeed with many cases of "foot-in-mouth" disease, eraser logo or not.  (Inside joke...read the excerpt, you'll see.) I'll be checking this one out further next year (darn...I have to wait to find out what the deal is with the RICE acronym!) but if you're looking for your next read of the moment, feel free to check this title out on Amazon as it's available for download now.

Special thanks to author Lauren Baratz-Logsted for the heads up on this release as well as the upcoming read.  (THANKS!)  For more information about this title or her full body of works, be sure to check out her website, like her on Facebook or follow along on Twitter.

So...questions? Comments? Thoughts?

Is there something YOU'VE been teased with as of late?

Feel free to share any and all...

*grabs wish list and pen*

Until next time...happy reading!

WAT!: The Bro-Magnet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers...the place to be when you simply need a bookish break in your day and nothing more; well, almost nothing.  ^_^  We've done a review or two so far this week, and introduced you to a new work from an author dedicated to helping children be the best that they can be (with contest!), so today, we're taking a mini-break and re-introducing a MEME of my own creation that doesn't get to see the fair light of a bloggy day all that often to present you with a recent release because really....

 

WAT!

 

The WAT! MEME stands for 'What A Tease!'.  It exists to showcase those samplers and book excerpts that you've read and wish to highlight to some degree on your site...yet you have not had the chance to read the entire book for a review....thus, the "tease" aspect.  Have you run into this problem as well?  Feel free to "borrow" this MEME and post away!

Now on to today's feature...

 

 

The Bro-Magnet

by

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

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From the author....

Women have been known to lament, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." For Johnny Smith, the problem is, "Always a Best Man, never a groom." At age 33, housepainter Johnny has been Best Man eight times. The ultimate man's man, Johnny loves the Mets, the Jets, his weekly poker game, and the hula girl lamp that hangs over his basement pool table. Johnny has the instant affection of nearly every man he meets, but one thing he doesn't have is a woman to share his life with, and he wants that desperately. When Johnny meets District Attorney Helen Troy, he decides to renounce his bro-magnet ways in order to impress her. With the aid and advice of his friends and family, soon he's transforming his wardrobe, buying throw pillows, ditching the hula girl lamp, getting a cat and even changing his name to the more mature-sounding John. And through it all, he's pretending to have no interest in sports, which Helen claims to abhor. As things heat up with Helen, the questions arise: Will Johnny finally get the girl? And, if he's successful in that pursuit, who will he be now that he's no longer really himself? THE BRO-MAGNET is a rollicking comedic novel about what one man is willing to give up for the sake of love.

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Odd choice for a female reader?

Not really.

Consider it the male equivalent to a beloved chick-lit/chick flick favorite, Bridget Jones Diary.  After reading the sample (30+ pages!), the first thought that popped into my head is....wow, so THIS is what happened to Bridget Jones' brother...if she had one!  No really!  It's as coarse and as brash as the works mentioned; full of that down trodden and yet persevering spirit we love.  It's the other side of the proverbial coin in the world of relationships or lack thereof....and an interesting perspective to view things through (did I mention funny?  Yep...definitely funny!).

Final thoughts...what a tease!

Will it make it into my reading rotation?  Only time will tell....but if the preview is any indication, this should certainly be one to watch for.  Curious to find out more?  Check out the extended sample on Amazon...but be warned teeny readers, I'm recommending this one for older teens through adults only.

For more information on the author, be sure to check out her website, 'like' her on Facebook, or follow along on Twitter!

 

 

So...questions?  Comments?  Thoughts?

Is there something YOU'VE been teased with as of late?

Feel free to share any and all...

*grabs wish list and pen*

 

 

Until next time....happy reading!

 

 

 

 

The One Question Interview Blog Tour with Author Lauren Baratz Logsted

Hello, hello!

Welcome one and all to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers!

Glad you could make it today as we have a really fun post (well, in my opinion at least...you can let me know what you think of it after you've read it).  Author Lauren Baratz Logsted is currently making her rounds in the blogosphere!  Why?  Well...first, to support a recent release of a book in her exciting children's series....second, to shed some light on her upcoming Young Adult release...and third, to answer ONE and only one question from readers like you and me!  Curious what I asked?  You should be, it's a doozy, but first...let's take a look at these fabulous books making their debut.  Shall we?

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The Sisters Eight, Book 5:  Marcia's Madness

Release Date:  05/03/10

Amazon description:

Questions! Questions! Questions! The Sisters Eight have so many questions and so few answers! Luckily, one more month means they’ll get a few answers.

Marcia’s month is about to begin. You remember Marcia, right? The sensible one? The one who would never do anything . . . crazy?

Doesn't that sound interesting?  Even that little tidbit makes you curious to see exactly what happens.  The publisher, Houghton Mifflin, has even created a site just for the series!  It has a meet and greet with each of the sisters, paper dolls to print, a quiz to see which sister you are (by the way, I'm apparently mostly Jackie...description fits pretty well)...and much more. 

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The Education of Bet

Release Date:  07/12/10

Amazon description:

When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

Now that would be an interesting situation indeed!  Reminds me in passing of an old Barbra Streisand movie called Yentl.  I'm very curious to see have this is storyline is pulled off in a literary work.  Marking my calendar for July....

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Some great books to add to your future reading adventures.  Now for what you've all been waiting for....my one question and the author's answer!  Here goes....

All authors have a story behind their books...where the idea came from, the character influences, settings, etc. These are all important elements, don't get me wrong....but this is a unique blog tour and we only get one question! So, in the spirit of unique-ness and all, I thought, why not ask a unique question as well?

As a writer, you get to craft stories to boggle the mind and engage the imagination. HOWEVER, before you were a writer, you started life as a reader (whether it was famous novels or the back of a cereal box, you still were reading things). My question is this...

If you were given free reign to alter the ending of one of your favorite books of old, which one would you tackle, how would you change it, and why? (Okay, so it has three parts, but it's still one question, right?)

Well, since you've managed to ask such a prescient question and further managed to squeeze three parts into what looks like one question, I'll cheat too and select two things that should be changed in my book of choice. The book is Little Women and the two things that are wrong with it are: 1) Beth dies; and 2) Laurie winding up with the wrong March sister. Everyone in the world knows Beth dies and everyone cries when she does, including Joey on Friends. And everyone also knows that Laurie should never wind up with Amy. As my 10-year-old said last night when I raised this very question to her, "That's just so wrong!" As to how I would personally change the story, well, you'll just have to wait until The Middle March is published next year, a YA novel of mine that takes on this very theme.

Well how do you like that....I had no idea she was writing a new book with this theme!

*ponders possible psychic abilities....naw* 

Don't forget to check out her next stop on this fun tour, over at Melissa Walker's Blog tomorrow...where she'll be asking a rather intriguing question about cover art!

Special thanks to author Lauren Baratz Logsted for the opportunity to participate in this unique tour and also for playing along with my 3-n-1 question!  For more information on these titles (and her many others), be sure to check out her site and follow along on Twitter! 

Until next time....happy reading!