We’re thrilled to have author Debby Mayne here visiting us while on her virtual tour for her book, Sweet Baklava. Debby was kind enough to answer some interview questions for us, so be sure to check those out.

As for the book, doesn’t the cover just make you want to snatch a piece of that baklava? Here’s a description of the book from Amazon:

The product of a split home, Paula Andrews is conflicted about the only guy she’s ever loved, Nick Papadopoulos, on leave from the military. When the two see each other after years of separation, the awkwardness is replaced by pounding hearts and memories sweeter than the baklava in Nick’s aunt’s bakery.

Nick’s dad begs him to leave the military and join the family to keep their struggling sponge-diving business alive. Although Nick loves the military, he’s willing to put it aside to be with Paula. However, she doesn’t want to do anything that will make him resent her.

Paula experiences all sorts of emotional tugs – from Nick going back to his base in Texas to her mother coming to her for emotional support. Nick’s cousins are relentless in their scheming to keep the flame burning.

Years later, and after their lives have grown apart, is it possible for these two people to rekindle what they once had?

Want some more info? Here’s a book trailer that gives a flavor of the story:

Here’s my review:

I loved this book so much. So many couples go through exactly what Paula and Nick do: they have their own goals and passions and giving it up for a chance to be with someone they love is risky. Perhaps the timing hasn’t been right before, perhaps they each have been working for something and aren’t sure if the other person is ready to commit, or perhaps the couple has been on and off. There are so many times I hear about something like this, and I thought Debby Mayne did a wonderful job capturing what is a real-life situation for many couples.

The characters are really lovely. I so enjoyed coming back to this book every day and seeing what was going to happen. Paula runs a soap and candle store, and the descriptions of her business made me smelling those candles every time I cracked open the book. I liked the backdrop of Tarpon Springs, Florida, and could picture the sights of the town and just about smell the ocean air from the descriptions of the restaurants and shops.

I especially loved the Papadopoulos family with their generosity and endless supply of food! In fact, if you aren’t hungry by the time you finish Sweet Baklava, you will be when you see the small collection of recipes at the end.

I could so relate to Paula, who loves Nick but isn’t sure if she can give up her business and the stability that Tarpon Springs has provided. I also found her a wonderful example of what God’s grace can do. This was the first Debby Mayne novel I read, and would recommend it. (I’m also going to pick up a few more from her.)

Best of all? I have a copy to giveaway! So if you want to win, just leave a comment on this post by Sunday, March 13th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the following day. Good luck!

Review copy provided by author.

Just in time for Christmas! Here’s another great Chicken Soup book with a focus on the holidays. I’ve got one copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Magic: 101 Holiday Tales of Inspiration, Love, and Wonder to give away to a lucky reader.

Here’s a description from Amazon:

Christmas is a magical time of year — a time of family, friends, and traditions. Readers will revel in the 101 holiday stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Magic that spread the special joy, wonder, and blessings of the season with its tales of finding the perfect Christmas tree, being with family, seeing the awe in a child’s eyes, and enjoying the magic of the season.

Hey, at this time of year, we’ll all looking for a little happiness. Right?

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Monday, December 27th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or girl the next day. Good luck!

Additional Writing Resources:

• Freelance Writers Needed
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

Also:

• Free ebook on work at home success strategies

One thing I learned from hosting giveaways here is that people need words of encouragement. All the time. We get beaten down at times, don’t we? We hear negative thoughts, pissy comments, and other not helpful statements from folks that can make us feel like we’re just spinning our wheels for nothing. I try and let negative comments and rejections roll off my back, but hey, there are times when I swear I’m quitting this freelance thing and going back to corporate land. (I know, it’s just as bad there.)

To that end, however, I have a book to give away that I think you’ll really like. It’s Dr. Ian Smith’s Happy: Simple Steps to Get the Most Out of Life. You’ve seen Ian on Celebrity Fit Camp. He’s got no nonsense advice on getting in shape, which leads me to believe that his advice on happiness will be the same. No BS, helpful, and inspiring.

Here’s a description of the book from Amazon:

Happiness isn’t the too-brief rush that comes from getting something you’ve wanted—it’s the lasting great feeling that comes from becoming someone you want to be…..

And someone others want to be with, too. No matter where you start, Happy can help you improve your life and permanently alter your happiness set point.

Dr. Ian has inspired millions to lose weight. In counseling dieters, Smith learned that while achieving hard-fought and worthy goals can help make a person happy, even these real accomplishments aren’t what make happiness stick.

In Happy, Ian Smith presents a program that motivates readers to understand the behaviors and mind-sets that work and last, including:

–How to be optimistic

–Why optimism and realism are not opposites

–How to get outside yourself

–The importance of family and community

–Why involvement leads to contentment

–Shedding the treadmill mentality of getting and spending

–Tapping the power of simple pleasures

–Mastering modern life to live in the moment

–What we can learn from the Danish people

–How to be, not just to do

Happy is a life-changing book from one of America’s most trusted voices.

I like the first one in this list alone: How to be optimistic. It’s the first step in everything.

Want to win? Leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, November 30th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

Other books on happiness you might like:

• Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out
• How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People–Their Secrets, Their Stories
• What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better

Additional Writing Resources:

• Make Money From Home – Real Jobs You Can Do by Telecommuting
• Reuse Your Articles by Creating New Content
• How to Write Your Own Ebook in 7 Days
• Freelance Writing Jobs

If you read our interview with author Naseem Rakha today you know what great reviews her book The Crying Tree: A Novel has received. When I asked Naseem about it, she said:

I’m *extremely* grateful for the positive feedback and attention The Crying Tree has received. It’s an international best seller; won the Pacific NW Booksellers Award; was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection; a Book Expo America Emerging Author pick; a Target Breakout Book, as well as the only American selection for the UK’s Richard and Judy Book club (think Oprah, but with an accent). I still wake up some mornings and pinch myself.

And guess what? She has graciously given us a copy of The Crying Tree to give to one lucky reader!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by Thursday, November 4th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

We haven’t had a giveaway in awhile here, so why not start that practice again, this time with a book we can all use. I’ve got Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Book of Miracles: 101 True Stories of Healing, Faith, Divine Intervention, and Answered Prayers to giveaway to one lucky reader. I browsed through this book, and I can say that if you’re feeling a bit down or in need of hope, there are so many wonderful stories in here that there is bound to be at least one that lifts your spirit.

Here’s a description of the book from Amazon:

Everyone loves a good miracle story, and this book provides 101 true stories of healing, divine intervention, and answered prayers. These amazing, personal stories prove that God is alive and active in the world today, working miracles on our behalf. The incredible accounts show His love and involvement in our lives. This book of miracles will encourage, uplift, and recharge the faith of Catholics and all Christian readers.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Wednesday, October 13th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day. (U.S. and Canada entries only.)

We love the writing style and passion of Evie Wyld. She’s written a lovely book called After the Fire, a Still Small Voice: A Novel, and if you haven’t read it yet, you’re in luck! We’re giving it away here at Working Writers!

Here’s a description from Amazon:

Set in the haunting landscape of eastern Australia, this is a stunningly accomplished debut novel about the inescapable past: the ineffable ties of family, the wars fought by fathers and sons, and what goes unsaid.

After the departure of the woman he loves, Frank drives out to a shack by the ocean that he had last visited as a teenager. There, among the sugarcane and sand dunes, he struggles to rebuild his life.

Forty years earlier, Leon is growing up in Sydney, turning out treacle tarts at his parents’ bakery and flirting with one of the local girls. But when he’s drafted to serve in Vietnam, he finds himself suddenly confronting the same experiences that haunt his war-veteran father.

As these two stories weave around each other–each narrated in a voice as tender as it is fierce–we learn what binds Frank and Leon together, and what may end up keeping them apart.

To win, leave a comment by Monday, May 3rd. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

What a great gift for Mom for Mother’s Day. I’ve got a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom: 101 Stories of Gratitude, Love and Good Times to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Thursday, April 15th. I”ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

Image: Amazon

I’ve got a fabulous book to give away to one lucky reader, and that is Jennifer Weiner’s Best Friends Forever. Here’s a description of the book from Amazon.

Chick lit doyenne Weiner offers airtight proof that the genre thrives with this clever, sad and sweet turn on Thelma and Louise–style rage. Juggling the politics of broken families, heartbreaking betrayal and shaky self-esteem, two girlhood pals—ugly duckling Addie and wounded beauty Valerie—reconnect after their high school reunion, where Valerie exacts a long-in-coming revenge on smug former beau Dan Swansea. But the payback gets more complicated when police chief Jordan Novick, nursing a broken heart and a crush-at-first-sight with Addie, is called in to investigate Dan’s disappearance. Along the way, Val and Addie stage what may be the funniest not-quite-heist ever pulled off as they evade the heat over the missing Dan. The big payoff, of course, is that Addie and Valerie mend the mean-girls misunderstanding that drove them apart as teens and discover the shared pain and loss that bound them as kids and, once again, as adults. This beach read will win readers over with its wit and wisdom.

I also found a quick interview with author Jennifer Weiner about the writing of her book:

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Sunday, March 14th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

I know there are a lot of NASCAR fans out there, and I’ve got a special gift you are sure to love. It’s Chicken Soup for the Soul NASCAR, which has 101 stories of family, fortitude, and fast cars. Here’s a description from Amazon:

Get behind the driver’s seat with these personal tales and anecdotes from inside the race track. Famous drivers and their families, pit crews, and fans share their stories of perseverance, triumph, comebacks, and life on and off the track.

Includes stories by the following NASCAR drivers:

• Aric Almirola
• Buddy Baker
• Kurt Busch
• Kerry Earnhardt
• Jimmie Johnson
• Bobby Labonte
• Joey Logano
• Casey Mears
• Ryan Newman
• Mike Skinner
• Scott Speed
• Tony Stewart
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Brian Vickers
• Darrell Waltrip
• Michael Waltrip
• NASCAR CEO Brian France
• Former NBA player and now NASCAR broadcaster: Brad Dougherty
• Lt. Governor of South Carolina Andre Bauer

With many more to come, including more of the biggest names in the NASCAR world.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Thursday, March 11th. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day.

I have another great Chicken Soup for the Soul book to giveaway. This time it’s about love, and isn’t that the most perfect subject this time of year? This “true love” edition has “101 heartwarming and humorous stories about dating, romance, love, and marriage.” Heartwarming stories are something we all could use a little bit more of.

Here’s a description from Amazon:

Everyone loves a good love story. And we all love stories about how the love started and blossomed. This fun new book about dating, romance, love, and marriage, will make you laugh and make you cry, and is guaranteed to inspire you to renew that search for your soul mate or open your heart a little more to the one you already have. Read about how couples met, when “they knew”, good and bad dates, proposals, maintaining the relationship, second chances, and all the other ups and downs of love, romance and marriage.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Monday, March 1st. I’ll choose a winner at random and announce the lucky guy or gal the next day. Good luck!