Archive for January 22nd, 2011

American Saturdays Book Review: Winter Bloom by Tara Heavey

Posted By Danielle on January 22nd, 2011

There would be tunnels of roses, beds of strawberries, fountains of overflowing herbs. And there might even be love. . . .

In the heart of bustling modern Dublin is a littered, overgrown garden of tangled weeds and a stagnant, hidden pond. Belonging to an iron-willed elderly lady named Mrs. Prendergast, who is rumored to have murdered and buried her husband there, the garden draws Eva Madigan, a young mother struggling to move on from the pain of her past. Eva is joined by Emily, a beautiful but withdrawn college dropout; Uri, an old-world immigrant; Seth, his all-too-handsome son; and occasionally even Mrs. Prendergast herself. But what drives Eva to transform the neglected urban wilderness? What makes the others want to help her? Even as Mrs. Prendergast puts the land up for sale, the thorny lives of all the gardeners are revealed and slowly start to untangle. Overgrown secrets are dug up and shared. Choices are made; a little pruning is in order. Now Eva is about to discover that every garden is a story of growth toward a final harvest. . . .

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American Saturdays Cover Wars: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Posted By Danielle on January 22nd, 2011

It’s almost here! Sarah Addison Allen’s newest release, The Peach Keeper, is due out March 22nd and I can hardly wait. Not only that, but Sarah recently announced the new book cover to her fans via email! It’s now been released to the public and I’m very excited to share with you the finalized cover for The Peach Keeper. My question to you is which one do you like better? The pre-release edition on the left or the finalized edition on the right? I’m absolutely in love with the finalized edition! Sarah’s books have a touch of magic to them, much like Cecelia Ahern, and it makes them almost whimsical just like the new cover looks. Take a look at the synopsis and then you tell me…which cover do you like better?


Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be.

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.

But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.

For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.

Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.

Resonant with insight into the deep and lasting power of friendship, love, and tradition, The Peach Keeper is a portrait of the unshakable bonds that—in good times and bad, from one generation to the next—endure forever.

American Saturdays Book News: The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

Posted By Danielle on January 22nd, 2011

Anyone who is anyone in the US who loves blogs, food, and plain old fun stories about a city girl being transplanted to country life knows exactly who Ree Drummond is. But for those of you unfamiliar with Ree, or as she is more well know, The Pioneer Woman, you will definitely want to take a look at her blog and upcoming book. Well, both unfamiliar and familiar will want to in fact. Ree is one of the funniest and industrious ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Coming from a background that involved morning lattes and subway rides daily to a life of tractors and cow herding is only the tip of this incredible lady’s story. I for one am eagerly anticipating the arrival of my copy of Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story and I know quite a few of our readers will be to! Out in time for Valentine’s Day (Feb. 01, 2011), this is the perfect story to have you swooning for your very own “cowboy.” Take a look at The Pioneer Woman site and the book synopsis below for more great details…

“That’s when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room.”

I’ll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn’t looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I’d been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.

This isn’t just my love story; it’s a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.

It’s the story of a cowboy.

And Wranglers.

And chaps.

And the girl who fell in love with them.