New Kids On The Block - Book Recs

Nothing thrills me more than to introduce the debuts of my writer friends. And I have two of them today. Yay.

Jamie Raintree's Perfectly Undone

"Yes" is such a little word... 

Dr. Dylan Michels has worked hard for a perfect life, so when her long-time boyfriend Cooper gets down on one knee, it should be the most perfect moment of all. Then why does she say no? 

For too many years, Dylan’s been living for her sister, who never got the chance to grow up. But her attempts to be the perfect daughter, perfect partner, and perfect doctor haven’t been enough to silence the haunting guilt Dylan feels over her sister’s death—and the role no one knows she played in it. 

Now Dylan must face her past if she and Cooper stand a chance at a future together. But when Cooper makes a startling confession of his own, can Dylan find the courage to define her own happiness, before her life becomes perfectly undone? 

Set among the breezy days of a sultry Portland summer, Perfectly Undone is a deeply moving novel of family secrets, forgiveness and finding yourself in the most surprising of places. 

“Raintree’s lead characters are vividly realized, and readers will be moved…” - Publisher’s Weekly 

“The most sensational, emotionally raw, and satisfying debut of fall.” - Redbook Magazine

Buy links: 

Amazon Barnes and Noble iBooks Indiebound Kobo

About Jamie: 

Jamie Raintree is voracious student of life, which is why she became a writer, where she could put all that acquired information to good use. She is a mother of two, a wife, a businesswoman, a nature-lover, and a wannabe yogi. She also teaches writers about business and productivity. Since the setting is always an important part of her books, she is happy to call the Rocky Mountains of Northern Colorado her home and inspiration.

WEBSITE FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM GOODREADS

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Alexis Daria's Take the Lead

The first book in a sizzling duology about dancers who find love from #OwnVoices author, 

Alexis Daria.

Gina Morales wants to win. It’s her fifth season on The Dance Off, a top-rated network TV celebrity dance competition, and she’s never even made it to the finals. When she meets her latest partner, she sees her chance. He’s handsome, rippling with muscles, and he stars on the popular Alaskan wilderness reality show Living Wild. With his sexy physique and name recognition, she thinks he’s her ticket to the finals—until she realizes they’re being set up.

Stone Nielson hates Los Angeles, he hates reality TV, and he hates that fact that he had to join the cast of the The Dance Off because of family obligations. He can’t wait to get back to Alaska, but he also can’t deny his growing attraction to his bubbly Puerto Rican dance partner. Neither of them are looking for romantic entanglements, and Stone can’t risk revealing his secrets, but as they heat up the dance floor, it’s only a matter of time until he feels an overwhelming urge to take the lead.

When the tabloids catch on to their developing romance, the spotlight threatens to ruin not just their relationship, but their careers and their shot at the trophy. Gina and Stone will have to decide if their priorities lie with fame, fortune, or the chance at a future together.

Buy Links:

Amazon Barnes and Noble Kobo iBooks 

Google Play Ebooks

About Alexis:

Alexis Daria is a contemporary romance author, artist, and native New Yorker. Her debut, TAKE THE LEAD, is a 2017 Golden Heart® finalist. She loves social media, and you can find her live-tweeting her favorite TV shows at @alexisdaria, or talking about writing and books on her blog at alexisdaria.com.

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So, peeps, I'm curling up on a sofa with hot chai and these two books today. What will you be doing? 

WITH YOU I DANCE - Aarti V Raman

Book Tour

With You I Dance by Aarti V Raman

Dance is Meera's passion and raison d'etre, what are Aarti V Raman's passions and life goals?

Aarti's answer:

My current passions consists of sleeping, traveling and reading a book a day. I can NEVER sleep enough! And the book a day thing is something I am trying out in the middle of fifty hour work weeks. So far, managed some 25 books in YA and reading Murakami on the side. All great fun.

Life goals: I guess writing-wise I have no goals except to rediscover all the things I did love about writing. And otherwise, it would be to learn to exercise empathy and be a little more mindful of myself.

Blurb

Meera Sagar had everything—the perfect job as a principal ballerina (for a prestigious New York ballet company) and a man who loved her as much as she loved him. But tragedy struck on the night before her biggest performance, forcing her to do the one thing she never wanted to do—come back home. To Mumbai.

Now, a year later, Meera is still trying to pick up the pieces, while fending off marriage proposals from her well-meaning but traditional Gujarati family, and figure life out all over again. By starting a ballet school in Mumbai. But she has two problems. One, she doesn’t know anything about running a business. And two, she can’t dance. Not anymore.

Enter . . .
Abeer Goswami. Hotshot junior partner at a South Bombay law firm and a man nursing a broken heart. When he meets Meera again, the woman who left him, he tries his hardest to be her friend, to help her . . . and not let the past get in the way.

And then . . .
There is the sexy Zoya Sehgal. Meera’s only friend in the city and the woman Abeer is currently seeing. They say triangles have pointy edges, for a reason. Will Meera find a new dream in her ballet school? Can Abeer and Meera find their way back to each other again? And, most important, has Meera danced for the last time?

With you I dance is a warm, funny, at times heart-rending, love story of second chances, true love, and finding yourself when your dearest dream has vanished.

Grab your copy on 

Amazon.in | Flipkart

Follow the Tour @Pinterest 

About the Author

Aarti V Raman is an established novelist in the romantic thriller genre (White Knight, Kingdom Come) with her third book, a contemporary romance titled “With You I Dance” out soon with Fingerprint Publishing.

29 years old, she graduated from Mumbai University in 2007 with a degree in Mass Media focused on Journalism, which provided her the perfect background for conducting sound research on any project. She then went on to study Creative and Professional Writing at Deakin University in Melbourne for post-graduation in 2008. It was there that she learned to hone her craft and lifelong ambition of writing romances that had strong characters and stronger stories that remained etched in the reader's minds.

While waiting for her big break, Aarti pursued commercial writing and gained a vast amount of knowledge (from fishing tackle to soft toys) that she claims have helped her with molding better stories. Her first novel "White Knight" was published by Leadstart in 2012 and gave her the impetus to continue writing. In 2013, her work was excerpted in the Tamil Edition of Mills and Boon novels. And in 2014, her short story "Post-Coital Cigarette" was chosen to be part of the Rupa Romance Anthology "An Atlas of Love" curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan.

Her latest novel "Kingdom Come" (Harlequin MIRA) has enjoyed a brief stay at the bestseller lists in Amazon India. Her work is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency, Delhi. And very recently, she was a speaker and panellist at the Goa Arts and Literary Fest 2014, Vth Edition.

She is currently expanding her skill set to include copy editing, content marketing, and creative writing workshop that help her explore the wonderful world of words in various forms.

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Author Interview with Aarti V Raman

Dear Readers, please welcome once again author Aarti V Raman whose new release 

WITH YOU I DANCE #WYID 

is trending upwards on Amazon.in.

Let’s talk romance, RT…

Thank you so much for having me over, FK! I love talking romance, books and hot dudes with you.

Haha. Me too :)

1.What’s your personal brand of romance?

If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have said my personal brand of romance involved Chris Hemsworth, a waterfall, white shirt and jeans. Now though, it’s that moment of utter quiet and peace you have with yourself and someone else. Where the world is revolving or going to hell but you’re Ok, you just be. And it’s not perfect but it works. And it can be for five minutes or a lifetime but that feeling stays forever. I know, cheesy, right?

I also wouldn’t mind a trip to the shoe store, though!

2.Where did you get your inspiration from for WYID?

Dance has been a big part of my childhood, like every Indian kid, especially South Indian kids. In fact, I even won a few Bollywood dance competitions back when I was in school and participated in all Annual Day dance programs.

When I thought of writing about a broken woman who has to come back home to India and deal with her well-meaning but ‘not-understanding-her’ family, I pictured her to be someone delicate and yet with a core of strength that carries her through to the other side. Ergo, she became a dancer.

Also, I might have seen Natalie Portman in Black Swan around that time and thought she was smoking hot!

3.Do you dance like Meera?

If you mean, do I know ballet? The answer is no. I don’t know ballet. I do have five years of classical Bharat Natyam training under my belt although I never did perform my arangetram.

But, on the other hand, I do dance with the same abandon and sheer joy of living that infuses Meera when she moves. I don’t always succeed but I try!

4.What did you have to research for WYID?

Being a great fan of classical music, I had to comb through the greats – Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Wagner, Prokofiev and others to find that one perfect opera that my beautiful heroine would completely screw up. In the end the choice was obvious, if a bit clichéd. Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ opera.

5.Who is your favorite character in WYID?

Hey! I can’t play favorites among my babies. But I admit, I have a soft spot for the Sagar siblings – Meera and Bullet. Being an only child with a ton of cousins who made my childhood and adulthood so memorable, I could only guess at the inner workings of a relationship as complex and fragile as that of siblings, that too, siblings who had not seen each other in years.

But Meera and Bullet made it damned easy to write about them, mostly because they are fully formed people in their own right.

6. Difference between love and lust?

Love is when you want to tear the clothes off of your S/O while both of you are wearing your rattiest pair of PJs. Or just Netflixing without the chill, LOL. Lust is needing to dress up in an LBD and fuck me shoes in order to impress. I guess, comfort, trust and intimacy is the difference between love and lust.

7.What do you think of the Tall, Dark and Handsome trope? How does it work for Abeer? Or doesn’t it?

Abeer is TDH, but he is TDH with a twist. He isn’t vengeful or brooding. Or at least, he tries not to be as he helps Meera with setting up her ballet school/business venture. The TDH trope exists for a reason – Women love men they need to fix and most TDH’s (like Krivi Iyer from Kingdom Come) come with damages to their souls that need careful tending.

In WYID, both characters are coming from a place of deep emotional scarring. Abeer tells Meera that he thought she was dead, when they meet again for the first time, so he isn’t exactly Mr. Sorted but he isn’t your traditional Alpha Male TDH either. I’d call him the caramel-flavored version of the trope – Sexy, Suave, Confident and Screwed Up.

8.Your favorite romance author or a memorable romance you read that you must share with our readers:

Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh. In recent times, it’s pretty much the best romance I have read which had me weeping copiously and sighing in hopeless writer’s envy. Other authors that come to mind are Shilpa Suraj, Adite Banerjie and Sarah MacLean. Reading them all is such a pleasure.

9.The nicest gift you have received from a loved one! Does Abeer give any special gifts to Meera?

Shoes! And books! And handbags. And clothes. Ok, kidding. I am at that stage where I prefer gifting things to my loved ones than getting them, but my nicest gift yet is yet to be given me – a pair of nude Loubotins and turquoise Manolo Blahniks. Any takers there?

Abeer does give Meera several somethings – advice on how to start a business, lead on a rental space in a posh Mumbai neighborhood and …the last one happens in the last scene of the book. Read it y’all to know what it is.

10.What would you cook up for a romantic dinner?

I adore cooking, it’s my stress buster. If it were a romantic dinner with a holiday the next day, I’d go the whole hog. Dum Aloo Kashmiri, Jeera Rice, Dal Makhani, Rotis (which will be ordered cuz I can’t make) Salad, Papad and, for dessert gaajar ka halwa

This is Indian romantic date. I am open to an Italian, Chinese or Thai date. 

11.On a date - would it be jeans and a top or a long sexy gown?

I am like five one, FK. I have to wear dresses that flirt with my knees to appear taller. And black, to appear slimmer. So! A short LBD.

12.Your favorite fragrance.

Azzaro Silver Black. If a man wears that, I am doomed (in the best way possible, of course). Women too, I don’t discriminate. (winks)

13. Share a little something about WYID that no one knows about yet.

WYID was written as part of the April NaNoWriMo2013 challenge. The thing I remember the most while writing it was that it was such a simple story to tell. A girl trying to not get married at her parents’ behest and figuring out what she wants to do in the meantime. It turned into this beautifully layered tale of second chances and two people who have to re-love each other and themselves while confronting demons.

It’s kind of the best thing about writing, right? The places you go with it.

It is, RT. And that’s it. Thank you for visiting my blog, and allowing us a peek into your life.

Author Bio:

Aarti V Raman is an Amazon India bestselling romance writer who dabbles in romantic thrillers and contemporary romance. Happy Ever After are her three favorite words in the English lexicon.

Aarti graduated from Mumbai University in 2007 with a degree in Mass Media focused on Journalism which provided her the perfect background for conducting sound research on any project. But she has also worked as a copy editor, social media consultant, and commercial content writer-editor while pursuing her goal.

Aarti’s ambition of honing her craft and writing stories, particularly romances that have strong characters and stronger plots that remain etched in the reader’s minds, grew when she sold her first novel WHITE KNIGHT (Leadstart Publishing), in 2012.

In 2013, her work was excerpted in the Tamil Edition of Mills and Boon novels. And in 2014, her short story “Post-Coital Cigarette” was chosen to be part of the Rupa Romance Anthology “An Atlas of Love” curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan.  Her last novel “Kingdom Come” (Harlequin MIRA) has enjoyed a brief stay at the bestseller lists in Amazon India. Her third book “With You I Dance” (Fingerprint! Publishing) released in April 2016 and debuted on the Amazon India Romance Bestseller list.

Aarti was chosen to be part of the Goa Arts and Literary Fest 2014 in December 2014 and The Hyderabad Literary Festival in January 2015.

She is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency, India.

You can find her at www.aartivraman.wordpress.com. She loves to hear from her readers and friends on email at kingdomcomethebook@gmail.com, on Facebook as Aarti V Raman-Author and on Twitter @RT_writes.

Kingdom Come: Amazon India, Infibeam, Flipkart

White Knight: Amazon India

With You I Dance: Amazon India, Flipkart

AUTHOR'S CIRCLE: ANJALI MITTER DUVA

On Author’s Circle today, I have author, urban planner, and dance teacher Anjali Mitter Duva, to talk about writing, life and her book, FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN. 

Hi Anjali, welcome to my blog. 

1.      So, what’s FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN about? (On a side note, Dear Readers, I've read it and loved it.)

My book is set in 16^th century India, and revolves around a little girl, Adhira, born into a family of Hindu temple dancers just as a new Muslim emperor takes the throne. The story is about this girl caught between her tradition, her artistry, and her family’s fear of change, all set against the vivid sights and sounds of the Rajasthan desert.

Book Blurb: 

It is 1554 in the desert of Rajasthan, an outpost of resistance against a new Mughal emperor. In a family of Hindu temple dancers a daughter, Adhira, must carry on her family’s sacred tradition. Her father, against his wife and sons’ protests, insists Adhira “marry” the temple deity and give herself to a wealthy patron. But after one terrible evening, she makes a brave choice that carries her family’s story and their dance to a startling new beginning. Told from the memory of this exquisite dancer and filled with the sounds, sights and flavors of the Indian desert, this is the story of a family and a girl caught between art, duty, and fear in a changing world. (Available here and here.)

2.     What’s your favorite line from the novel? Why?

“In Rajasthan, where I was born, it is possible for a child of five never to have seen rain.” 
This was the first line I wrote, and the one line that never changed, despite at least a dozen manuscript revisions. I was reading a guidebook to Rajasthan and found this anecdote, that it rains so rarely in Jaisalmer, the city of Rajasthan in which the story is set, that in the days of royalty, the children’s rooms in the palaces were painted with black and blue cloud designs so that when it finally did rain, they would not be afraid. This was such a powerful and magical image, I had to write it down. I had no idea then that I was about to write a book. Even less a set of four books!

Writing is often compared to magic...hence it goes to show :)

3.   Now tell us how you become a writer? 

I think I always was a writer. I just didn’t really admit it to myself. My family is full of people who write, mostly in the academic world. Growing up, I knew implicitly that writing was a worthy pursuit. But I also had many other interests. Like many writers, I wrote in a journal, I wrote stories and poems I never showed anyone. I wrote a lot of letters. I received compliments on my writing in college and graduate school as I studied international development and urban planning. I wrote some more as a freelance writer, still in those fields, still not really considering myself a “writer.” And then I started studying kathak, a classical dance form of India, and I discovered a whole world, a whole history. I researched this history as I helped my dance teacher found a non-profit, Chhandika, dedicated to this storytelling art, and that same year I traveled back to India and read that anecdote I mentioned, and suddenly everything came together, and I was writing a book set at a particular junction in the history of India and of kathak. I realized the story was there, I just needed to put words to it.

4.  Do you have any strange writing habits?

It depends who you ask. If you ask my mother, then yes. I tend to do my creative writing in cafés. I find it much harder to block out the silence of, say, a library, than the noisy hubbub of a coffee shop. The quiet feels oppressive, like it’s taunting me, making me too aware of the long pauses in my typing. The hum of voices and activity is more forgiving, and reminds me there is a world out there. Sometimes I place a little bronze Buddha statuette by my computer. A good friend gave it to me, as a way of helping me focus in the midst of activity. I find it helps create a don’t-bother-me bubble around me, averting unwanted conversations with some of the dubious characters who hang out at coffee shops. You know, like me. On occasion, it does invite a conversation, but I find those people who ask me about it tend to be interesting folk.

That's not so strange. Rowlings wrote HP in coffee shops too.

5.  Why write what you write?

The setting and main lines of the story for FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN came to me. Not in some divine epiphany type of way, more like I just unearthed, in the process of researching something else, a story that was itching to be told. So, thankfully, I never really had to ask myself—what do I want to write? That would have been terrifying. And it was a stroke of luck, I think, that my genre has turned out to be historical fiction. I’m a gal who likes structure—I am trained as an infrastructure planner, after all—and historical fiction gives me an established framework within which to set my stories.

6.  Which is the best character you have written? Is he or she your favorite? Why?

I have to admit I kind of fell in love with Hari Dev, who was to be a minor character but then grew into a complex, sweet and unique being who needed more space in the story. I’ve heard from several readers that they adore him, too. His mind is fascinating (yes, I love him for his mind!), and his relationship with his younger sister, Adhira, the story’s narrator, is heartwarming. Is he my best character? It’s hard for me to say. It’s like asking me which of my children is the best.

7.  Now to the non-creative aspects of writing. What is your best marketing tip?

Just be yourself, and be true to yourself. Really. I know it sounds hokey, but it’s so important. Understand your own personality, your strengths, your weaknesses. Don’t force yourself to do things that suck energy away from you. There are so, so many things one can do in marketing and promotion, just focus on those that energize you.

8.  What can we expect from you next?

Assuming I figure out how to fit writing back into my life after the flurry of launching my first book, you can expect another work of historical fiction. This one will be set in the sparkling city of Lucknow in the 19^th century, at the very end of the Mughal Empire and the start of the British Raj. It will be the second of my set of four books. The main characters are a frustrated courtesan and kathak dancer, Malika, and her half-French son, Etienne. The story takes place over four years right before, during and immediately after the Rebellion (sometimes known as the Great Mutiny, depending on whose history you are reading) of Hindu and Muslim Indian soldiers against the British.

I know that event: The Mutiny of 1857. It's like tattooed into my brain as I studied it in high school and for a very major exam. Wow, first Kathak and now this. It seems as if the settings of your novels are connected to me. :) 

9.   To end lets try a Rapid Fire round. Your answer should be the first word/s that pops into your head when you think of:

LIFE: a gift

PASSION: necessary

HERO: prolific and socially conscious writers

LOVE: peace

HATE: strife

Thank you once again, Anjali, for being here and talking to us. It was fun!

Connect with her:

WEBSITE  TWITTER  FACEBOOK  GOOGLE+

RUMI quotes: DANCE.

Have you dance today?

NY COMIC CON 2014

I went to my first ever Comic Con this weekend and I have to say, Guys, I am impressed.

There were over a 150,000 people!

Was I intimidated? A little. Okay. A lot!

There was a Just Dance game stage and, guys, I'm hooked. I went there every few hours and chilled.

There were screenings and panels. But I'm gonna leave that for another post.

I explored Comic Con Land: booths, cosplay and...what? A stall for Elvish Ears? Me want! Me WANT!

I tried to get a Tardis iPhone 6 phone cover but apparently they were sold out!

And yup, I once again find my achy feet in need of chillin' and I'm back to the Dance Stage! 

It's not Disney World...but its magic! 

What do you think?