Friday, September 30, 2016

Irish Banana Tours Blog Tour & Giveaway: Last Seen Leaving (Caleb Roehrig)


Flynn's girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?
Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January's boyfriend, he must know something.
But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.










LINKS: 
Amazon | B&N 





Caleb Roehrig is a writer and television producer originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Having also lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Helsinki, Finland, he has a chronic case of wanderlust, and can recommend the best sights to see on a shoestring budget in over thirty countries. A former actor, Roehrig has experience on both sides of the camera, with a résumé that includes appearances on film and TV—as well as seven years in the stranger-than-fiction salt mines of reality television. In the name of earning a paycheck, he has: hung around a frozen cornfield in his underwear, partied with an actual rock-star, chatted with a scandal-plagued politician, and been menaced by a disgruntled ostrich.






LINKS: 





3 Finished Copies of LAST SEEN LEAVING (US Only)









Tour Schedule:

Week 1:








Week 2:









Wednesday, September 21, 2016

5 Star Children's Book Review: Kangaroo Kisses (Nandana Dev Sen)

26113792
Book: Kangaroo Kisses
Author: Nandana Dev Sen
Illustrator: Pippa Curnick
Publisher: Otter-Barry Books (OtterBarryBooks.com)
$17.99-Hardcover // ISBN: 978-1910959008

Add To Goodreads


It's time for… BED!Not yet!If I tickle Giraffe,she'll giggle and laugh!Then I'll brush furry Bear...Please brush your own HAIR!
This fun and playful book is a lovely mix of fantasy and real life as one mischievous child delays getting ready for bed, and has some amazing wildlife encounters along the way!
Delightful read-aloud picture book from an internationally renowned actress and a Child's Rights Ambassador
Exciting bedtime adventure, full of imaginative play as the child’s toys become real wild animals
A perfect picture book for reading aloud at bedtime – or any time.






Nandana Dev Sen, daughter of Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen and Bengali writer Nabanita Dev, is an acclaimed international film actress, Indian writer and children's rights activist. After studying literature at Harvard, she worked as a book editor, a screenwriter, a poetry translator, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. Nandana has starred in over 20 feature films, is the author of Mambi and the Forest Fire, and a frequent contributor to newspapers and journals. She works with children (and grown-ups) at UNICEF, Operation Smile, and RAHI to fight against child abuse. Kangaroo Kisses is Nandana Sen’s debut children’s book in the UK. Nandana lives in New York, London, and Kolkata (India), and loves to eat, bike, rhyme, dance, and argue.




Illustrated 
by 
Pippa Curnick


I grew up in rural Essex, UK, and spent most of my childhood climbing trees, jumping over ditches and daydreaming in my treehouse.
I studied at Camberwell College of Art before graduating from the University of Derby with a First Class degree in illustration.
Children's illustration and typography design are amongst my main interests. I draw my inspiration from long walks in the woods, and can often be found scribbling ideas in my sketchbook.
Illustration Clients include: Oxford University Press, Jumping Jack Press (Up With Paper)
Lonely Planet Kids, Crocodile Creek, Symmetry, David Gibb, and Storytime Magazine.
Design clients include Alison Green Books, Scholastic Children's Books & Patchwork Owl Photography.
I currently live in Derbyshire with my ever-expanding menagerie of pets.
For the last two years I have worked as a Designer for a London based publishing house, surrounded by lovely people and equally lovely books. I am now available as a freelance Illustrator and Designer.




"NO, now I'll kiss you! 
Will you turn out the light, and hug me good night?"
"YES! 
I love you, I do!"


Kangaroo Kisses is a beautifully written children's books with vivid, bright, colorful illustrations. Kangaroo Kisses follows a young girl's nighttime routine and the many ways she tries to get out of going to bed. She goes on so many fun adventures with interesting animals that help her to get out of going to sleep. I loved how the little girl uses her imagination to create wild adventures with the stuffed animals in her room by pretending they are real.

Kangaroo Kisses is the perfect bedtime story for young children and would be great for parents to read to their kids as a bedtime routine. This book shows kids the steps for getting ready to go to bed and how at the end of the day....bedtime can be fun! 

I love the illustrations in this book because they are so colorful and attractive and not to mention that the animals in the book are adorable! The front and back pages of the book are filled with all different kinds of animals and would make for a fun interaction between parents and kids by picking out and talking about each animal. 

I would recommend Kangaroo Kisses to any parent who enjoys reading to their kids at night and who has a bedtime routine that they like to instill with their children. 

I also love the fact that the author of this book is a Child's Rights Ambassador and believes in the rights and safety of children. 









** Kangaroo Kisses is one of the launch titles for Otter-Barry Books, an exciting new children's imprint aiming to make a difference, push boundaries, and publish books that children will love, and which will be welcomed by booksellers, libraries and schools worldwide. **



~ Praise for Kangaroo Kisses ~


"Smiles and wild creatures abound in this playful mother-child bedtime routine. A warm and spirited invitation to dreamland." ~ Kirkus Reviews


"It's full of fun and captures perfectly a child's reluctance to stop having fun and simply go to sleep." ~ Parents In Touch (UK)


"A charming bedtime story in verse that's easy to read and easy to share, with lots of lively and colorful animal illustrations on every page." ~ Booktrust (Largest Reading Charity in UK)

Waiting On Wednesday ~ September 21, 2016




Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at 

and spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.





29522966Book: Stealing Snow
Author: Danielle Paige
Hardback Edition, 352 pages
Expected Publication: March 7th 2017  

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books




A girl with a secret talent must save her village from the encroaching darkness in this haunting and deeply satisfying tale.
Alys was seven when the soul eaters came to her village.
These soul eaters, twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly morphed into something not quite human, devour human souls. Alys, and all the other children, were spared—and they were sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where good and evil are as fundamental as the nursery rhymes children sing. Fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think it is. And neither is Alys.
Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul.






30117284
Book: Carve The Mark

Author: Veronica Roth
Hardcover, 480 pages
Expected Publication: January 17th 2017  
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books


Fans of Star Wars and Divergent will revel in internationally bestselling author Veronica Roth’s stunning new science-fiction fantasy series.
On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world?
Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.
Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.



What book are you waiting for??
Beth 



**You can also view my WOW choices on the 
YA Books Central Blog!!**

www.yabookscentral.com

Rockstar Book Tours Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway: The Women In The Walls (Amy Lukavics)





28367592Title: THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS
Author: Amy Lukavics
Pub. Date: September 27, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 496
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They're inseparable—a family.
When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she's ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother's voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.



Find it: 

Ever since she was little, Amy was especially intrigued by horror books and movies. Raised in a small mountain town in Arizona, she sustained herself on a steady diet of Goosebumps, Fear Street, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books before discovering Stephen King in her mother's bookshelf. 
Amy lives with her husband, their two precious squidlings, and an old gentleman cat by the name of Frodo. When she isn't writing, she enjoys cooking, crafting, and playing games across many platforms. 








Creepy old mansion with strange, curious people makes the perfect mix for a chilling YA Horror story......

The Women In The Walls is the perfect read for the fall and in preparation for Halloween. The Women In The Walls is intensely creepy, deeply disturbing, and the perfect psychological thriller. The whole setting of the book is dark and mysterious and just when you think you know what is happening....Be ready...because you don't.


and that cover....SERIOUSLY! How creepily awesome is that cover? An old mansion sitting back in the fog with The Women In The Walls written as though it is dripping with blood....Ummmm YES!!!!!!!

Lucy Acosta lives with her family in the Acosta mansion. Her mother passed away at a young age and she has been raised by her father and aunt. She has an cousin named Margaret that also lives with them and Lucy has grown up with her and thinks of her as a sister. Lucy and Margaret have never ventured far from home. Both girls are home-schooled and when they are not doing school work they play within the old mansion or out in the grounds of the land.

"The girl lives in a beautiful dollhouse made of stone, I wrote one time in my diary when I was young, my handwriting shaky but sure. But underneath her shining plastic smile, there are only screams."

One afternoon Lucy watches her Aunt Penelope walk into the woods late at night and never come back. This odd occurrence begins a series of strange events among the Acosta house. From this point on Lucy experiences changes with the people she loves and realizes that something dark and evil is happening within their home.  Lucy must figure out the truth behind what is really going on in her home before it is too late and the evil takes over.....

"Some of us die afraid, my mind whispers, shaky at the knowledge, desperate for release from it. Some of us die in awful, unexpected ways."

The Women In The Walls is not for the faint of heart and at times can be very gruesome and horrifying... I recommend this book to true Horror genre fans who aren't afraid of a little blood and evil apparitions. Amy Lukavics really knows how to dig into the heart of a story and take the reader on a horrific journey that will stay with you long after reading the last page. Her writing is emotional, deep, and yet very thought provoking. I love that her characters all seem to have scars and yet by the end of the story are able to overcome their issues and truly....face ...their...fears.....







3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS, US Only.







Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/19/2016- The Cover Contessa- Interview

9/20/2016- Emily Reads Everything- Review

9/21/2016- Curling Up With A Good Book- Guest Post

9/22/2016- RhiReading- Excerpt

9/23/2016- A Gingerly Review- Excerpt



Week Two:

9/26/2016- Ohana Reads- Review

9/27/2016- Bibliobibuli YA- Guest Post

9/28/2016- Smada's Book Smack- Review

9/29/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Interview

9/30/2016- BookCrushin- Review






Sunday, September 18, 2016

Fall Favorite Things Blog Tour: Three Dark Crowns (Kendare Blake)



I am SOOOO excited to get to share my review of Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake as part of the Fall Favorite Things Blog Tour hosted by BookSparks. Kendare is one of my favorite authors and her new book, Three Dark Crowns is absolutely amazing! It is by far one of my favorites of 2016!!



Kendare Blake holds an MA in creative writing from Middlesex University in northern London. She is the author of Anna Dressed in Blood, a Cybils Award finalist; Girl of Nightmares; Antigoddess; Mortal Gods; and Ungodly. Her books have been translated into 18 languages, have been featured on multiple best-of-year lists, and have received many regional and librarian awards. Kendare lives and writes in Kent, Washington. Visit her online at www.kendareblake.com or on Twitter @KendareBlake.

What’s more badass than three sisters with cool magical powers fighting for the throne? I’ll tell you what: Kendare’s fall favorite thing. You may be thinking, it’s just a necklace. Doesn’t really seem badass…Well this is actually the most badass necklace ever because not only does it match the cover of the book (more bookstagrams!), but it is also handmade by an inner city high school student. And the profits from all of the products sold go toward funding that students college education. Pretty badass, am I right? Feel free to check out more of their stuff: The Shine Project.






Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Published by HarperTeen
Expected Publication Date: Sept. 20, 2016


Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest. 

Pre-Order it:



Kendare Blake
Kendare Blake is the author of several novels and short stories, most of which you can find information about via the links above. Her work is sort of dark, always violent, and features passages describing food from when she writes while hungry. She was born in July (for those of you doing book reports) in Seoul, South Korea, but doesn’t speak a lick of Korean, as she was packed off at a very early age to her adoptive parents in the United States. That might be just an excuse, though, as she is pretty bad at learning foreign languages. She enjoys the work of Milan Kundera, Caitlin R Kiernan, Bret Easton Ellis, Richard Linklater, and the late, great Michael Jackson, I mean, come on, he gave us Thriller.
She lives and writes in Kent, Washington, with her husband, their two cat sons (Tybalt and Tyrion Cattister) and their red Doberman dog son, Obi Dog Kenobi.









"Three Dark Queens
are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends

Three dark sisters
all fair to be seen, 
two to devour
and one to be Queen."

SERIOUSLY.....SERIOUSLY.....OH MY WOW!!!! WOW WOW WOW!!!! I am completely and utterly in awe of you, Kendare Blake..You amaze me!! 

Is it possible to give a book more than 5 stars...because if it were....this book would have TEN!!!!! I have loved all of Kendare's books but this one is by far my favorite!!!! 

Let's begin with THAT cover...Yes...THAT COVER!!! Three crowns...each covered in something different. The first is covered in plants and flowers, the second is covered in fire and smoke, and the third is covered in snakes..yes...snakes. Seriously..if that doesn't grab your attention..nothing will!

Three Dark Crowns (Untitled, #1)



These three young queens are faced with an impossible future full of heartbreaking choices that no young girl should have to make. There are three queens but only one can reign....So the three queens are raised and taught to develop their special abilities in order to kill the other two and take the crown.



Katherine-The Poisoner

Arsinoe-The Naturalist

Mirabella- The Elemental

Katherine, Arsinoe, and Mirabella are triplets who are separated at the age of 6 and taken to their respective islands to be raised and trained in the art of their ability. 

Katherine is fed deadly poisons throughout her entire life in order to make herself immune so that she can fight against her sisters. 

Arsinoe can command any plant or animal and they will do her bidding which will help her in the final fight against her sisters. 

Mirabella can command fire and the elements and by the very beginning you can tell she is the fiercest of them all and the most deadly. 

Three Dark Crowns is told from each of the queens perspectives so you learn how each of them is living and dealing with their destiny. I loved how each of the queens are telling their own stories and you get to experience their lives with them and the people that they each love and care about and how this horrible fate is affecting them all. I found myself loving each of the queens which makes it so difficult to think that only one of them will survive to take the crown. 

Each queen has close friends that they love so dearly and each has their own special story that is so full of feels, heartbreak, and yet.... hope....I loved each and every page of this book...I was flipping pages late into the night just to be able to read more about these characters....Kendare writes each one in a way that you really connect with them all and you feel what they are feeling and I just cannot describe how great that makes this book...I mean seriously....Kendare...you KNOW how to write a story...

I really liked how the book was not only about the three queens but also their friends and their stories as well. Two of my favorite characters besides the queens were Jules and Elizabeth...Oh I loved them and their animal companions....(You have to read the book to understand ;) ) 

"Jules is a Beltane Begot, a child conceived during the festival of Beltane, like the queens. It is considered very lucky, and they are all supposed to be charmed, but it is a horrible birthday to have. Forgotten and overshadowed."

I could just write and write about this book because I loved it so much...but I want to leave the secrets for each reader to experience themselves. I love fantasy books and this is by far my favorite of this year!!! Three Dark Crowns has it all...Fantasy, romance, heartbreak and FULL of suspense.....I highly recommend this book and I know you will enjoy it as much as me!!! and I cannot wait to read the next one...If Three Dark Crowns was this amazing...then I cant wait to see what the sequel has in store!! WOW! 
Kendare Blake...YOU ROCK!!!!










**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**



**I want to say Thank You to Kendare Blake & Harper Teen  for the opportunity to review this book!!**

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Spotlight on The Secret Ingredient of Wishes (Susan Bishop Crispell)

28220957Book: The Secret Ingredient of Wishes
Author: Susan Bishop Crispell
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published Date: September 6th 2016
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books




26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina—also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.

As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love—and her chance at happiness—all over again.









Susan Bishop Crispell

Susan Bishop Crispell is not one of those writers who's been scribbling down stories since she could hold a pencil. She didn't read constantly growing up (blasphemy!), and she can still be found in public without a book tucked into her purse (again with the blasphemy!). She is, however, the kind of writer who lives for the imaginative spark that introduces her to a new character or story idea that pushes her to turn everyday life into something magical.
She is the author of THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 9/6/2016), and THE PROBABILITY OF FATE (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2017). Susan lives and writes near Wilmington, NC with her husband and their two literary-named cats.






Rachel dreamed about unicorns. Despite the absurdity of Violet’s wish, it had rooted in Rachel’s subconscious while she slept, and she awoke the next morning with a stress headache that felt like dozens of hooves bucking against her skull. Massaging the base of her neck, she closed her eyes against the dull grayish-blue light that slithered in between the slats of the metal window blinds and reminded her- self this particular wish was not one she needed to worry about.

She hadn’t always known she could make wishes come true. At first, they seemed like happy coincidences. Like when she was five and her favorite stuffed animal, a rabbit called Bit, appeared in her bed with both ears still attached—despite having been thrown in the garbage the week before, his fluffy brains spilling out of the hole in his head. When her mom asked her how she’d gotten him back, and fixed, she just smiled and said, “Magic!”

As she grew, she discovered that it wasn’t just her wishes that came true. She didn’t have to be in the presence of someone making a wish for it to appear, just in the same town, as she discovered one year at sleepaway camp. And most of the time, she had no idea who a wish belonged to. She just knew that when a wish was strong enough, it would pop into existence, written on a scrap of paper like the ones that came out of fortune cookies, and make its way to her. She’d find them floating in the air, and tumbling out of the cereal box when she poured her breakfast, and underneath her pillow at night.


No one else seemed to notice them appear, but once she’d touched them, igniting their power, anyone could see them clutched in her hand or stuffed into the pocket of her jeans. And anyone could read them if they managed to snatch them away from her. Anyone could discover what she could do if she wasn’t careful, even if they were un- likely to believe it.

So she waited until no one was looking to pick up the wishes. Then she hid them all in a wooden box on her dresser, the papers stacked a few inches high in neat rows, and smiled to herself when she over- heard kids at school excitedly whispering about how they’d gotten exactly what they wanted.

When her mom found the stash when Rachel was eight and asked why she was collecting these bits of paper with wishes written across them, Rachel confessed they weren’t hers but that she had made them come true. Her mom nodded, like she believed her, and joked about all of the things she’d wish for. Then she told Rachel to be sure and add her wishes to the top of her pile so they would come true first.

But that was when her parents thought she just had a very active imagination, before anyone said there was something wrong with Rachel’s brain.

Rolling out of bed, the headache reined in to a dull ache, she thought as she always did after a wish appeared about wishing things could go back to the way they used to be. Before Michael—the little brother she wished away one rainy, ordinary afternoon because he was irritating her. Before her parents watched her warily and spoke to her in soft, concerned voices, reminding her over and over that she never had a little brother. Before her dad walked out on them and her mom started to believe in Michael too, and, unable to live with the possibility she’d had a son and lost him without even remembering he existed, downed a handful of Rachel’s antipsychotics and chased it with a five-dollar bottle of Cabernet a month after Rachel’s eigh- teenth birthday.

But no amount of wishing could change the past. In the eight years since her mom’s death, she’d tried countless times to set everything right.

And she’d failed.

She paused in the hallway on her way downstairs. She’d inherited her childhood home after her mom died and hadn’t changed a thing. Discolored patches of wallpaper created a mosaic on the wall as if half a dozen frames had been removed from the collage of family photos and the wallpaper refused to blend back into one monotonous shade of green.

The wall had once held pictures of Michael next to the rest of her family. She could see his face as clearly as if he were standing in front of her. The curly brown hair and easy smile he’d inherited from their dad. The three-quarter-inch scar through his right eyebrow from when he’d fallen out of bed at age three and cut his head open on the nightstand.

But everyone else insisted Michael had never been real. They said he was just a delusion her mind had created. The first symptom of her psychotic break. That was the line the doctors gave her parents when she was ten to convince them to sign the papers and have her hospi- talized for a month in the psychiatric ward.

Pinching her eyes shut, she counted to three. With each number, she inhaled long and deep before releasing it. He’s gone. And there’s nothing I can do to bring him back. She touched one of the discolored spots on the wall as if she could will a photograph to appear. Breath- ing in deep, she imagined what Michael would look like now. Would his hair still be scruffy and tease the collar of his shirts? Would his baby face have slimmed down so his jaw and cheekbones are sharp and angular like our father’s? Would he still smile at me in the way that said we were about to do something silly?

But try as she might, the face remained stubbornly childlike. Something in her brain refused to let him age past four—the age he was when she wished him away.

When she was younger, Rachel told her parents and the doctors she no longer believed Michael had been real—it was less painful than meeting their faces, lined with worry and disappointment. But her memories of him were still very much alive. Especially here, in the house where she’d ended his existence.

She kept waiting for them to disappear like the doctors had prom- ised, but some small part of her refused to let him go.

In the kitchen, she started a pot of coffee and set to work on the dishes that were piled in both sides of the sink. Violet’s voice happily shout- ing “Ray!” broke her concentration. Startled, Rachel dropped a plate into the sink from her soapy hands, but thankfully it didn’t break. Her phone’s screen lit up on the windowsill when Violet’s voice—the ringtone she’d set for Mary Beth—called out her name again. She bumped the faucet handle with her wrist and dried her hands on the towel hanging from the oven door.

“Did you do this?” Mary Beth asked when Rachel picked up. “Do what?”

“A pony. On my front porch. With a sugar cone strapped on to its head with a piece of elastic.” The words tumbled out in the thick Tennessee twang that always showed up when she was really agitated. “She said it’s what she wished for and you made it come true.”

How the hell could Violet’s wish come true? Unicorns do not exist. There’s no way I did that. Rachel tapped her nails against the ceramic mug in her hand. “Just wait. There has to be an explanation that doesn’t involve me.”

“Vi said she wished for a horse with a horn on its head and that’s basically what I’ve got,” Mary Beth said. “Are you sure you didn’t do this? Not even accidentally?”

“You know I don’t do that anymore.” Rachel ignored the voice in her head telling her she still could do it even if she didn’t want to. That she was solely responsible for the pony appearing at Mary Beth’s house. That more wishes could start appearing again, and who knows what else she might accidentally cause? What she might do to Mary Beth or Geoff or their girls if she wasn’t careful.

The pounding in her head roared back full force at the thought. She’d been so determined in the past few years to keep the wishes at bay. And with one careless action, she’d put everyone she loved at risk. “I know you don’t. I just thought that if you had you might know.






Advance Praise for THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES



“Susan Bishop Crispell has created a magical world where secrets are baked into pies, wishes do come true, and second chances are possible. Sarah Addison Allen fans will flock to Crispell's charming novel, leaving the last page as satisfied as they would after a slice of homemade peach pie.”
–Karma Brown, author of Come Away with Me



“This is a lovely, lark of a novel filled with imagination and energy. The warm characters, in the most engaging way, learn that you must be careful for what you wish for or live with the consequences.”
–Ann Garvin, author of I Like You Just Fine When You’re Not Around and The Dog Year



“Susan Bishop Crispell delivers a page-turning and moving story of family, love, and second chances complete with touches of humor and heartache. If you don't already believe in magic, you will, when you arrive in Nowhere, North Carolina along with Rachel Monroe, meet the town's charismatic residents, and learn everyone's secrets, hopes, and deepest fears. Fans of Sarah Addison Allen will delight in this bright new voice in romantic magical realism. I know I did!”
–Amy Sue Nathan, author of The Good Neighbor and The Glass Wives 



“A romantic confection of pies, wishes, and a spoonful of magic. A delectable read.”
–Shelley Noble, New York Times-bestselling author of Whisper Beach



“The fervent wishes and life-changing secrets at the heart of Crispell's magical tale are as addictive as the mysterious Catch's strawberry pie. I adored this story of romance and friendship, heartache and healing , and the transformative power of hope.”
–Loretta Nyhan, author of I'll Be Seeing You and All the Good Parts 



“A truly enchanting tale. One to cherish.”
–Menna van Praag, author of The Dress Shop of Dreams 


“A magical, tenderly-told story about one woman’s journey to embrace a gift she has always feared as she confronts a past she cannot quite remember. A lyrical and imaginative read about the redemptive power of self-acceptance in the wake of heartbreak, and the ways in which new love can blossom even in the darkest, most hidden corners of the human heart.”
–Ilie Ruby, author of The Language of Trees


“How I loved this warm hug of a novel about what it means to get what you want most--and how to figure out what that really is.”
–Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date and The Love Goddess' Cooking School