MONDAY'S REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY of A NEW AUTHOR TO ME!

MEET A NEW AUTHOR
TO ME:
J. R. LaGreca!

J. R. LaCreca is a new author to me although not to many of you, I know. I have recently been in touch with her about two of her books, AFTERNOON TEA and SUBURBAN WEIRD. She has graciously offered to do an interview and a giveaway of both these books! I am so excited. I will be giving away a copy of each book to one lucky winner. The giveaway will run from today, March 23, through 6 PM, EST, March 30. (This is the same end date for GALWAY BAY, so it will be a busy day!)

U.S. and Canada entries only
No P.O. Boxes
Entries MUST have email in comment or attached by clicking on name, etc. EVERY entry MUST be a separate post, please this time!
Up to 3 ways to enter!

1-Post comment with which book you think interests you more
2-In a separate entry, Follow ON MY BLOG
3-In another separate entry, Post about giveaway and leave link

Read my review of AFTERNOON TEA below, and the Barnes&Noble synopsis of SUBURBAN WEIRD (that I am currently reading). Watch for my interview with J. R. LaGreca on Wednesday's post! Thanks for visiting! Good Luck!

My Review of AFTERNOON TEA
by J. R. LaGreca

AFTERNOON TEA by J. R. LaGreca is set in New England in the late 1800s. The details for the setting add much to the flavor of the story as it winds around the quaint villages of that area, many of which can still be visited today. AFTERNOON TEA is a romantic tale of class struggle in that era between the upper and lower class citizens.

As the story opens, 83-year-old Lawrence Gray is spied on by Meg Bailey from her kitchen window as he visits his wife’s grave every day. His wife who had died about 40 years earlier is buried within Meg’s view and she becomes quite fascinated by the love and attention Gray still has for his wife after all these years. Would someone love Meg enough to bring her roses every day?

Meg becomes quite inquisitive about why Gray does this and so she pays a visit to Fanny Brund. Fanny is the keeper of the town’s secrets, the town historian one might call her. When Meg inquires, Brund invites her over for a cup of tea and so that afternoon, Meg learns of the wonderful love that Lawrence Gray and Emily Reed had for each other. Fanny takes Meg back to the time of Emily’s death and hints at what might have been a somewhat suspicious death.

Meg decides that she must discover what the secret is that has lain dormant all these years and so searches for answers to her questions. Little does Meg know that what she finds out may change her own life forever.

As Meg “goes back in time” she finds that it was still a time when medicine and medical care were very archaic and strange potions were thought to cure things almost by magic. LaGreca shows a great deal of research in this part of the story including how things looked such as every young woman’s special time when she would come out at a debutante ball. The description of the traditional and conservative wedding of that time is written with such wonderful detail that readers will feel like they are at the affair.

The clothing, customs, and manners of that time period come to life with LaGreca’s words and whether the rich or the poor are being described, one still can tell what it was like and thus gets a very real pictorial comparison of class struggle during that era.

What the reader finds out is that this was not just the simple time it might appear to be. A passionate 3 way love affair takes place that will surprise you as we would not think something like that would take place back in those days. Meg discovers that Lawrence’s precious Emily is set up by her father, Philip Reed, in a not unusual for the time arranged marriage…but not to Lawrence but rather to a promising young man by the name of Sir Dexter Lund. Lund is a lawyer with a good career ahead of him unlike poor Lawrence who has no education and therefore, no way to care for Reed’s daughter, Emily. At least in his eyes, not the way she would be cared for.

Unexpectedly, Lawrence is able to follow Emily to the home where she is now staying with her betrothed’s family. And so, to be near her, Lawrence is forced to become the beau of Lund’s sister, Mallory. In your imagination, you can think of many possibilities of where this would all lead, but which one is correct? How, if at all, does Meg fit into any of this? How did Lawrence finally wind up married to his beloved Emily whose grave he visits daily? What part did the medical care of that time have to play in all this? How this story ends and why it is such a satisfying read are what keep you turning the pages until the very last one. Is the ending what you think it will be or is there a twist and surprise you never see coming? This is what you will find out when you read and enjoy as I did, AFTERNOON TEA by J. R. LaGreca.

SYNOPSIS OF SUBURBAN WEIRD
from BARNES&NOBLE.COM

Suburban Weird is a riveting saga of lies, lust, love and betrayal. Courtney appears to have it all - a loving lawyer for a husband, her mother-in-law's extraordinary estate for them to live in while saving for a house. Her bliss becomes overshadowed when her husband's older brother lures her into a whirlwind of desire and deception. Witness the haunting tale of how one woman becomes a pawn in a game of seduction.

Set in scenic Bay Shore, Long Island, Suburban Weird follows the exploits of Courtney Gold, a forty-year-old beauty. Courtney becomes apprehensive when her future mother-in-law, Edith Stein, turns out to be the eccentric woman her Aunt Bessie warned her about in the past.

In spite of this troubling connection, Courtney marries her fiancé, criminal attorney, Seth, only to become dangerously drawn to his adopted brother, fertility specialist, Dr. Aaron Stein. Aaron flirts mercilessly with Courtney, while constantly belittling Seth, the black sheep and baby of the family.

Things become precarious when Courtney and Seth, move into Edith's nine-bedroom mansion, and Aaron and his Russian mail-order bride, Natasha Krilova, twenty-seven years his junior, move in as well. The gorgeous, teenage virgin adds spice to this bizarre blend. The situation escalates when Aaron treats Courtney for her difficulty in conceiving.

Is Aaron a complete professional like Seth vows him to be? How does Courtney handle her improper desires? Is Edith as insidious as her Aunt Bessie suspected? Will this madness come to an end? Read the book to find out Courtney's destiny.