Posts from the ‘art’ Category

Jeanne Mackin on Tour: The Beautiful American

The Beautiful American - banner

Author Jeanne Mackin

on Tour

December 1-10

with

The Beautiful American

The Beautiful American

(historical fiction)

 Release date: June 3, 2014
at New American Library/Penguin

352 pages

ISBN: 978-0-451-46582-5

Website | Goodreads

***

 

SYNOPSIS

As recovery from World War II begins, expat American Nora Tours travels from her home in southern France to London in search of her missing daughter. There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughter’s life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920’s Paris: when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee’s magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever.

A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional women.  [provided by the author]

***

 

Praise for The Beautiful American

“Readers will rank [it] right up there with The Paris Wife…. A brilliant, beautifully written literary masterpiece…”–New York Times bestselling author Sandra Dallas

“Will transport you to expat Paris… and from there take you on a journey through the complexities of a friendship…breathes new life into such luminaries as Man Ray, Picasso, and, of course, the titular character, Lee Miller, while at the same time offering up a wonderfully human and sympathetic protagonist in Nora Tours.”–Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist

“Achingly beautiful and utterly mesmerizing… Sure to appeal to fans of Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife and Erika Robuck’s Call Me Zelda, or indeed to anyone with a taste for impeccably researched and beautifully written historical fiction.”– Jennifer Robson, author of Somewhere in France

“Beautiful…A fascinating account of a little-known woman who was determined to play by her own rules.”–Historical Novel Society

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Jeanne MackinJeanne Mackin is the author of several historical novels set in France,
and has earned awards for her journalism
as well as a creative writing fellowship
from the American Antiquarian Society.
She lives in upstate New York with her husband,
cats and herd of deer,
and is still trying to master the French subjunctive.

Visit her website.

Follow Jeanne Mackin on Twitter  | Facebook

Buy the book | on

 

 ***

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, December 1
Spotlight + Giveaway at Just One More Chapter
Review + Guest-Post + Giveaway at Vvb32 Reads

Wednesday, December 3
Review + Giveaway at Unshelfish

Thursday, December 4
Review + Giveaway at Macarons & Paperbacks
Review + Giveaway at I Am, Indeed

Friday, December 5 January 1st
Review at With Her Nose Stuck In A Book

Saturday, December 6
Spotlight + Excerpt + Giveaway at Words And Peace

Sunday, December 7
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at Indiereadergirl0329

Monday, December 8
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Tuesday, December 9
Review +  Giveaway at Chocolate & Croissants

Wednesday, December 10
Review + Giveaway at Bookish Wanderlove
Review at Diary of an Eccentric

*

You can enter the giveaway here
or on the book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter,
they are listed in the entry form below
.

Entry-Form

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour
will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

5 copies:
print for US/Canada residents only.

France Book Tours Newsletter #1 giveaway winner!

France Book Tours Banner

Once a month,
France Book Tours is offering exclusive material
to its Newsletter Subscribers!

A few weeks ago, we published our first Newsletter.

As promised, a book was offered as exclusive giveaway, a book never presented on FBT!

You just need to open the newsletter to be entered in the giveaway. Unfortunately, only 70% of the subscribers opened it!
If you subscribe, be sure you check in your spam box.

So the winner of my ARC copy of

madame-picasso(click on the cover to read my review)

 is

Maria

at

Queen of All She Reads

 

Click on the form below
to sign up
,

and spread the word!

Newsletter sign up form

 

Exceptionally, we are sharing here what you missed.

France Book Tours Newsletter #2 will reach you at the beginning of October

Michelle Gable on Tour: A Paris Apartment

Paris Apartment bannerAuthor Michelle Gable

on Tour

October 1-10, 2014

with

Paris Apartment coverA Paris Apartment

 [Women’s Fiction/Historical Fiction]

 Release date: April 22, 2014
at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press

384 pages

ISBN: 978-1250048738

***

SYNOPSIS

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER!

Bienvenue à Paris!

When April Vogt’s boss tells her about an apartment in the ninth arrondissement that has been discovered after being shuttered for the past seventy years, the Sotheby’s continental furniture specialist does not hear the words “dust” or “rats” or “decrepit.” She hears Paris. She hears escape.

Once in France, April quickly learns the apartment is not merely some rich hoarder’s repository. Beneath the cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). First, there’s a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldini. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the painting, Marthe de Florian. These documents reveal that she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly April’s quest is no longer about the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. It’s about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman.

It’s about discovering two women, actually.

With the help of a salty (and annoyingly sexy) Parisian solicitor and the courtesan’s private diaries, April tries to uncover the many secrets buried in the apartment. As she digs into Marthe’s life, April can’t help but take a deeper look into her own. Having left behind in the States a cheating husband, a family crisis about to erupt, and a career she’s been using as the crutch to simply get by, she feels compelled to sort out her own life too. When the things she left bubbling back home begin to boil over, and Parisian delicacies beyond flaky pâtisseries tempt her better judgment, April knows that both she and Marthe deserve happy finales.

Whether accompanied by croissants or champagne, this delectable debut novel depicts the Paris of the Belle Epoque and the present day with vibrant and stunning allure. Based on historical events, Michelle Gable’s A Paris Apartment will entertain and inspire, as readers embrace the struggles and successes of two very unforgettable women. [provided by the author]

 ***

PRAISE FOR A PARIS APARTMENT

“With its well-developed, memorable characters and the author’s skillful transitioning between story lines…this stunning and fascinating debut will capture the interest of a wide audience but particularly those interested in stories about women behind famous men like Melanie Benjamin’s The Aviator’s Wife or Nancy Horan’s Under the Wide and Starry Sky. Highly recommended.” –Library Journal (starred review)
“A charming read about a fascinating history and the woman behind it.” –Historical Novel Society

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle GableMichelle Gable is a writer and also a mom, wife, financial executive, sports-obsessed maniac (Go Chargers! Go Aztecs!),
Southern California native, barre class fiend, tennis player, and card-carrying member of the Chickasaw Nation.
She grew up in sunny San Diego and attended The College of William & Mary,
where she majored in accounting as most aspiring writers do.
Throughout a career that started in public accounting and then moved to private equity, then investment banking,
and ultimately to the head of FP&A for a publicly-traded software company, Michelle continued to write. And write and write.
Her first novel was released on April 22, 2014, her second scheduled for Spring 2016.

Michelle currently resides in Cardiff by the Sea, California, with her husband, two daughters, and one lazy cat.

Visit her website. Follow her on Facebook, and Twitter 

Buy the book

***

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Wednesday, October 1
Review + Giveaway at Griperang’s Bookmarks

Thursday, October 2
Spotlight + Giveaway at Booklover Book Reviews

Friday, October 3
Review + Giveaway at Bookish Wanderlove

Saturday, October 4
Review + Giveaway at An Accidental Blog

Sunday, October 5
Review  at Jorie Loves A Story

Monday, October 6
Review + Giveaway at Words And Peace

Tuesday, October 7
Review + Giveaway at Indiereadergirl0329

Wednesday, October 8
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway
at Caffeinatedlife.net

Thursday, October 9
Review + Giveaway at Book Nerd
Interview at Words And Peace

Friday, October 10
Review + Giveaway at Mirasol Press

***

You can enter the giveaway here
or on the book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter,
they are listed in the entry form below
.

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour
will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Entry-Form

It’s open to US/Canada residents only
We will have 10 winners of a print copy