New Release for Ellen Jacobson SMITTEN WITH RAVIOLI review @Ellen_Jacobson

A really fun book released today. It's by my friend and co-IWSG'r (Insecure Writers Support Group), Ellen Jacobson. I've read all of her Mollie McGhie stories, starting with Murder at the Marina. They are laugh out loud funny.

When Ellen announced she was branching out into a new romantic comedy series, I knew I had to read them. The first is Smitten With Ravioli (Smitten with Travel series). I was lucky enough to get an advanced readers' copy so I can tell you about it.

Blurb (from Amazon)

I’m not sure what I’m more scared of—cats that drool or falling for that annoying history professor in my Italian cooking course.

Sure, Preston Whitaker has amazing blue eyes, but he’s an arrogant know-it-all, just like my ex. I can’t stand the man. And now I’m stuck with him for the next four weeks in Italy.

If you gave me a choice between snuggling with a drooling cat or with Preston, I’d choose the cat in a heartbeat.

Or would I?

Did I mention how cute Preston is?

Maybe I should have a holiday romance with him. That would be okay, right? It could be a fun diversion. Then, once I leave Italy, I’ll never have to see that pretentious jerk again.

Just one teeny-tiny problem—I think I might be falling for him big time. Will I be able to say goodbye to him when the cooking course is over?

Smitten with Ravioli is a standalone romantic comedy with a happily ever after ending that you’ll swoon over. If you like steamy-clean romance with plenty of goofy humor, Italian food, and the occasional drooling cat, you’ll love Ginny & Preston's story!

Diane's Review: 5 Stars

Smitten With Ravioli is as funny as I expected and more so. Ginny hasn't been dumped by a former boyfriend. Worse. The jerk copied her thesis paper and turned it in as his own. Consequently, she's accused of plagiarizing him. After that, she has to get away. How about Italy? Why not. She enrolls in a culinary school. 

The laughs start when she discovers she enrolled in the wrong class. Then, the cute guy she met on the train (and who seems to follow her) shows up and becomes her cooking partner. Smitten With Ravioli is filled with wacky characters and crazy situations. This book will have you laughing out loud.

Smitten With Ravioli is available at  all retailers. The universal link is   https://books2read.com/ravioli 

About the author:

Ellen Jacobson is a chocolate obsessed cat lover who writes cozy mysteries and romantic comedies. After living on a sailboat for many years, she now travels around in a teeny-tiny camper with her husband and an imaginary cat named Simon.

Connect with Ellen on her Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | BookBub | Blog

Saturday Sampler - The Widow's Gallery by Marilyn Baron

The Widows’ Gallery

A Lobster Cove Series Novel

By Marilyn Baron

February 11 was release day for The Widows’ Gallery, part of the Lobster Cove Series from The Wild Rose Press.

Genre: Women’s Fiction/Romance

Blurb:

Childless heiress Abigail Adams Longley and three other widows on a Mediterranean cruise bond over a Renaissance masterpiece in Florence, Italy, and find love, friendship and joy in their joint venture to open an art gallery at the Longley mansion in Lobster Cove, Maine.
Since the death of her husband, Abigail has been lonely and drifting in a house that’s too big and a town that’s too small. When she literally runs into sexy widower and whale-watching excursion captain Tack Garrity on the dock, she’s entranced by his adorable five-year-old daughter. 

But will Tack, who has harbored a secret crush on Abigail for almost two decades, be able to capture her heart? A secret pact her husband made with Tack could either tear them apart or bring them closer together and change their lives forever.

Excerpt:

Abigail Adams Longley looked around at the three women flanking her in Hall 10/14 of the Uffizi Gallery. They were all staring at The Birth of Venus like wide-eyed art students. Admittedly, the painting was as compelling as when the Medici family originally commissioned the tempera on canvas in the fifteenth century. But for Abigail, seeing the painting again wasn’t cathartic. It was beautiful, but that wasn’t the feeling she was going for. Peace. Why couldn’t she get some goddamned peace in this life?

Abigail glanced at the square-cut, four-carat diamond on her finger, gazed at the sparkle of the ring she hadn’t removed since the day Louis had proposed. And now, a whole year after his death, she still hadn’t taken it off. Conventional wisdom dictated that you weren’t supposed to make any major life decisions until a year after a spouse’s death. Well, it had been a year already, and she hadn’t wanted to make even one decision—major or minor—about where to live, where to go, or what to do. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness had devised another dead-on axiom. She had all the money in the world—in fact Louis had left her a big chunk of the globe. He’d left her set for life, monetarily. But she would have traded every cent for the chance to be with him again. Louis was gone, and the sooner she faced the fact that she was alone on this planet, the better off she’d be.

Buy Links:

Amazon  (EBook):  http://www.amazon.com/Widows-Gallery-Lobster-Cove-ebook/dp/B00S4CHGUI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422995192&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Widows%27+Gallery

Amazon (Paperback):

http://www.amazon.com/Widows-Gallery-Marilyn-Baron/dp/1628307609/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422995259&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Widows%27+Gallery+paperback

The Wild Rose Press  

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=the+widows+gallery+marilyn+bar&x=0&y=0

AllRomanceeBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thewidows039gallery-1734443-149.html

Barnes & Noble and other outlets: Available after Feb. 11, 2015

Bio

Marilyn Baron is a corporate public relations consultant in Atlanta. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW), recipient of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award and winner or finalist in writing awards in single title, suspense romance, novel with strong romantic elements and paranormal romance.

Marilyn writes in a variety of genres, including: Humorous women’s fiction (The Widows’ Gallery, Stones, and Significant Others; a psychic suspense series (Sixth Sense, Homecoming Homicides and the soon to be released Killer Cruise);  and historical romantic thrillers (Under the Moon Gate and the prequel, Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story) for The Wild  Rose Press; and humorous paranormal short stories for TWB Press (A Choir of Angels, Follow an Angel, The Stand-In Bridegroom, Dead Mix and The Files Death Forgot).

Marilyn is a member of the Roswell Reads Steering Committee and belongs to two book clubs. A native of Miami, Florida, Marilyn now lives in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband and they have two daughters. She graduated from The University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism [Public Relations sequence] and a minor in Creative Writing. 

When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, going to movies, eating Italian food and traveling. She often sets her stories in places she’s visited, including Bermuda, Australia and Italy, where she spent six months studying in Florence during her senior year in college.

Social Media Links:

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marilyn-Baron/286807714666748

Blog  Marilyn blogs with Savvy Authors on the 22^nd of every month at  http://savvyauthors.com/blog/

Twitter  https://twitter.com/MarilynBaron

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4722647.Marilyn_Baron

Website   www.marilynbaron.com