Archive for August 13th, 2010

Earlier today Danielle reviewed Hothouse Flower by Margot Berwin and thanks to the publishers we have one copy of the book to giveaway. All you need to do to enter is to complete the Google form below! The giveaway is open to US/Canada residents only and will end next Friday at midnight GMT. Good luck!

Lila Nova is a thirty-two year-old advertising copyrighter who lives alone in a plain, white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila’s mantra is simple: no pets, no plants, no people, no problems. But when Lila meets David Exley, a ruggedly handsome plant-seller, her lonely life blossoms into something far more colorful.

From the cold, harsh streets of Manhattan to the verdant jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, Hothouse Flower is the story of a woman who must travel beyond the boundaries of sense and comfort to find what she truly wants .

This giveaway has now closed.

In the heart of New York City, hidden in the back room of an old Laundromat, are nine rare and valuable plants. Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire tells the story of this legendary garden, and the distance one woman must travel—from the cold, harsh streets of Manhattan to the lush jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula—to claim what is hers.

Lila Nova lives alone in a plain, white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila’s life is like her home: simple, new, and empty. But when she meets a handsome plant-seller named David Exley, an entire world opens up before her eyes. Late one night Lila stumbles across a strange Laundromat and sees ferns so highly-prized that a tiny cutting can fetch thousands of dollars. She learns about flowers with medicinal properties to rival anything found in drugstores. And she hears the legend of nine mystical plants that bring fame, fortune, immortality, and passion.

The owner of the Laundromat, Armand, presents Lila with a test: if she can make the cutting from a fire fern grow roots, he will show her the secret of his locked room. But Lila is too trusting, and with one terrible mistake she ruins her chance to see Armand’s plants. The only way to win it back is to travel, on her own, to the Yucatan.

Deep in the rain forests of Mexico, Lila enters a world of shamans and spirit animals, snake charmers, and sexy, heart-stopping Huichols. Alone in the jungle, Lila is forced to learn more than she ever wanted to know about nature—and about herself. An exhilarating journey of love and self-discovery, Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire brings together mystery, adventure, and heat, in every sense of the word.

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Sasha Wagstaff, author of Changing Grooms and Wicked Games, has written us a post on how she became a writer! Enjoy…

I first wanted to become a writer when I was a child…but I also fancied myself as an actress and a pop star so it wasn’t really something I worried about too much. My love of reading never waned, however, and when I eventually completed my degree and ended up working in the City in banking, I would devour novels on my commute into London. Out of the nowhere, an idea for a novel came to me and I started to jot down my ideas. I worked at home on an old lap top but I did most of my writing on the train to and from work and eventually, shaping this novel began to take over my life.

I was certain my banking background would count against me; the majority of authors I’d read out came from a writing environment in some way. They were usually journalists and they tended to have a degree in English Literature or Language. I felt really intimidated by my lack of writing ‘pedigree’ – I did have a degree in languages but as they were French and Russian, I wasn’t sure that mattered too much!

To cut a long story short, it seems that changing careers so dramatically makes me stand out in the crowd a bit. Odd, but true! I consider myself very lucky to be able to make stories up for a living and would encourage anyone who has a dream of becoming a published author to go for it…whatever job you do right now.

We’ve been contacted by I-Village to see if any of our readers can help with their latest competition. Dreamworks pictures are turning Kathryn Stockett’s hit novel ‘The Help’ into a movie, and to celebrate this, IVillage are running a contest asking people to tell them how The Help has inspired them by uploading a picture and then an audio or written statement alongside to express your answer.

The winning 5 entries get to win a visit to the set of the film (along with a guest) and to meet the cast of the film.

The competition is open from July 19th until August 15th, so if you’ve got any ideas get them in quick!

More competition details here.