Amelia Colliard, the owner of a Hollywood matchmaking service called ‘Happily Ever After by Amelia’, has ticked off Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, by using her computer savvy to succeed in the matchmaking business.

Like any fierce competitor, Venus seeks to learn Amelia’s secrets and shut her business down so she enlists her son, Cupid, to go undercover to help her tip the scales of success back in her favor. 

Now Cupid/Colin isn’t the naked winged cherub you see on Hallmark cards.  No Mrs. Gilardi’s Cupid is an Italian heartthrob that makes Amelia’s female clients eager to be matched with him.  The only problem is Cupid has fallen hard for Amelia so his mother’s mission and other women are the further things on his mind.

As a lover of mythology, I have to say Matching Wits With Venus is a refreshing contemporary look at the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Mrs. Gilardi used her excellent storytelling skills to asked her readers to contemplate the possibility of gods and goddesses still among us.  

The gods actual identities are veiled from our eyes as they observing our society and some gods even use our advancements to help them in their godly tasks.  (Yes, that’s right Mercury has developed his own a cell phone, while Cupid likes to utilizes computers and drives expensive sport cars.) I enjoyed how Roman and Greek gods personified meet our modern humanity. It’s such a great story with many surprises.

I liked the main characters, Amelia and Cupid. Both of them have very firm beliefs about love and their purpose in life.  Amelia reminds me of many women that excel in their job but place their own love life on the back burner. Mrs. Gilardi revealed the emotional depth of her heroine through her interactions with her employee/best friend, Jennie and her parents. She also pulled back the veil on the personalities of the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses by letting readers view Cupid and Venus’ exchanges in the underworld.

Matching Wits With Venus is a delightful read I highly recommend you pick it up. I found the novel easy to read and engaging throughout. For the most part the characters were interesting and consistent. The storyline is intriguing, charming, and well designed. Overall I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, paranormal or romance.  It’s a different play on the many gods/goddesses and their powers. A great metaphor on how we as humans become enlightened by our own inner god/goddess.

Therese Gilardi is a poet, novelist and essayist who lives in the hills above Los Angeles with her husband, children, and various pets. Therese's work appears online in "Literary Mama", "Punchnel's", "The Dirty Napkin", and "The 13th Warrior Review". Therese's essays about her life in Paris, France appear in the anthologies "Knowing Pains" and "So Far And Yet So Near: Stories of Americans Abroad". Therese's short fiction and poetry can also be found in print journals, as well as in the recently released collection, "Matrimonial Mayhem". Therese's paranormal romance, "Matching Wits With Venus", about a Hollywood matchmaker and the Roman god Cupid, was recently released by Astraea Press. Therese's poetry will appear in upcoming editions of "The Mom Egg" and "Onthebus".

FTC Guidelines

In accordance with the new FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials for bloggers, I am posting this statement for all visitors to my blog.

All book reviews posted represent my personal opinions. Any books that I have read and reviewed has been purchased by myself or gifted to me by the author/publisher. All reviews given for a ‘gifted’ book will be clearly identified since these books were provided at no charge.

I will never accept any monetary compensation for books that I review at the request of an author, publisher or agent. I will as of this date and in the future, inform my readers/visitors which items I am reviewing at the request of author, publisher and/or agent and I will post a disclaimer at the end of each review.

If you have any questions regarding this statement, please feel free to contact me.

Today I'm doing a guest post at For Whom The Book Toll about reinventing yourself and the women that embrace self-transformation in my novel SOUTH BEACH.  

We wake up one morning after a bad break up or some other heartache and decide we don’t want to see that miserable, red-eyed lady in the mirror any more.  We’re tired of seeing her sad expression, limp hair, puffy eyes and we become desperate to erase her dejected appearance from our sight right there on the spot. So what do we do?

We change our hair, go shopping, and get a few spa treatments in order to lift our mood, and if we have besties to assist with the transformation, all the better... 

(You can read the rest of this post over at For Whom The Book Toll.)

Today I'm doing a guest post for romance author, MJ Schiller about women friends and my novel SOUTH BEACH. 

The best thing about having women friends is being able to get together and share bits and pieces of our lives. We can talk about mundane things like trying to find the right curtains for our newly painted bathroom or we can reveal relationship angst over a bottle of wine. Women need other women to talk to in order to de-stress and to understand we aren’t living in a vacuum.

But can you share too much with your friends? (To read more, visit MJ Schiller's 'In The Spotlight') 

Inspired by the volunteers of a local community center, Angeline wrote North Star, her debut novel and the first book in her Sheridan series for Soul Mate Publishing. Angeline drew on her ten years of work experience in academics to transport romance readers from their stressful lives by providing contemporary love stories that feature captivating characters with strong family values.

CLICK HERE to listen to the broadcast

★Book Tour★ SOUTH BEACH by Angeline M. Bishop - $10 Amazon Gift Card - Enter today! (Visit Authors' Cafe to read my latest interview.)

Willett LaSandra Thomas, born June 15, 1963 in Stamford, Connecticut to Gertrude Redden and Willis Lacey Thomas, was the founder and President of Write of Passage, Inc.

She earned her MA in writing from Johns Hopkins and received artist fellowships from Blue Mountain Center and the Millay Colony. Willett was selected as a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation fellow for the District of Columbia and was the recipient of the 2008 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange award for fiction.

Her e-book fictional novel, 'Raised by Hand, Lifted By Tides' showcases her love of Southern Gothic literature and reminds us the role we all play in creating a better world. Reviewers and readers praised her work.

In 2013, BET National News covered how she redefined her long-term personal and career goals after a hard financial setback. And earlier this year, she wrote a Fifty Fiction piece for Huffington Post titled, ‘In The Word’ that continued to prove her storytelling abilities by captivating all types of readers.

It’s with great sadness that her family, friends, and colleagues learn of her death today in her Baltimore, Maryland home.  She was a remarkable woman with so much talent and intelligent. (Please click here to read Caryn Coyle's remarks about Willett.)

A few weeks ago, Willett reflected on the passing of Dr. Maya Angelou and wrote, “I remember sitting in the pantry where my mother stashed all her books and reading my first "grownup" book: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Wondering as I did, how did she do this magic and if someday I might be able to do the same?”

It’s my prayer that she’s now able to visit with Dr. Angelou and all the other great novelists that inspired her to become a writer and learn more about their sweet love affair with the written word.

Rest in peace, sweet sister. I’ll never forget the love, laughter, and tears we shared together.

Willett wrote many short stories but one that captured the voice of a young
Baltimore child was Shorondra Reynolds” or “The Siditty Clerk Typist in B-3. When she first let me read it, she explained "Baltimore is filled with 'brownstone stories' that start right outside my window." 

For the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing the works of some new author friends. Thanks to wonderful Mocha Milieu Group Facebook party sponsored by Coffee Time Romance on June 13th, readers had an opportunity meet some of the wonderful authors of Astraea Press.  This event helped each author to highlight their latest work and share a bit of their personality with readers.

Astraea Press is a conservative book publisher that claims to work really hard to break the mold of a typical publishing company so I’m going to let you know what I think about some of the latest novels on their bookshelf.

I’ve purchased the following novels during the Facebook party and will be reviewing them in the next few weeks, in this order:
Matching Wits With Venus – Therese Gilardi
Beautiful One – Mary Cope
Starving For Love – Nicole Zoltack
Rescued By That New Guy In Town and Called to Arms Again  – J.L. Salter
Big is Beautiful – Kelly Martin
Shining Moon Rises – Stephy Smith
Climbing Heartbreak Hill – Joselyn Vaughn
The Rose Ring – Lucie Ulrich

If you wish to read along with me and share some of your thoughts on Twitter, then please join me. Stay tuned to this blog to learn more about the types of books Astraea Press distributes. Or pick up and review one listed in the video below: (NOTE: This video has embedded music so lower or mute your speakers)

Yes, in my head I've re-written 'Talk Dirty To Me' a song by American singer-songwriter Jason Derulo in order to prepare for my upcoming interviews for June and July. It's cheeky but I can say the hook 'Talk Nerdy To Me' around children, young people, or older people and everyone always smile. (Hey, didn't you?)

Well since I have you here, I would like you to tune in this evening to the Black Authors Network Literary Talk Show at 8:30PM EST, I’ll be discussing my novel SOUTH BEACH, Book II, The Sheridan Series, the 2015 Angie Awards, upcoming giveaways, and so much more.  (Read Ella Curry's pre-initial interview with me.)

***HEAR THE ARCHIVED SHOW BROADCAST HERE ***

The BAN Literary Radio Program (hosted by Ella Curry) aims to support the African American community and gives a platform for African American authors, by showing the diversity of genres within our literary community. The BAN Talk Show is a platform for authors who should be recognized as having cross-over genres.

I’m hoping readers, author colleagues, friends, Facebook subscribers, and Twitter followers will call in so I can have a chance to hear what they think about the Sheridan Series and so they can share their views on friendship and honesty (two of the themes of SOUTH BEACH). And for people that haven’t pick up a copy of SOUTH BEACH, I may read a short excerpt that you won’t get to read in the Amazon sample.

The AMB Ovation Awards provide honors and recognition of authors’ outstanding achievements in the multicultural romance literary profession in the following categories:

Book Club of the Year Award: Recognizes outstanding achievement for an innovative Book Club that support the AA/IR/Multicultural romance field.

Author Awards (Distinguished Author Award): Recognizes published romance authors who addressed a challenge, problem, or issue facing AA/IR/Multicultural couples today in their romance novels.  (Six Categories for Outstanding Author in: AA, IR, Multicultural, Paranormal, Urban Lit, GLBT)

Visionary Award: Recognizes an AA/IR/Multicultural romance author who, through foresight and unlimited effort, has helped add value to the profession by encouraging development, promotion, and networking of authors in their genre.

Academy of AA/IR/Multicultural Fellows Award: Recognizes authors who have contributed to the profession through the advancement of knowledge, leadership, or excellence in professional practice. The recipient is recognized for making a tangible contribution to the marketing of their genre that significantly improved public opinion. (Four recipients per year)

Debut Author Awards: Recognize an AA/IR/Multicultural romance author who has demonstrated strong literary potential and contributions to the genre.  The award is designed to both recognize and further the recipient’s professional development activities. (Six Categories for an Outstanding Debut Author in: AA, IR, Multicultural, Paranormal, Urban Lit, GLBT)

Guidelines:
June 16, 2014 – Contest opens to submissions.
July 20, 2014 – Deadline for all submissions by 11:59PM.
August 22, 2014 – Finalists announced on the AMB website.
December 13, 2014 – Winners Announced via youTube AMB Novels Channel

Readers, Publishers, and authors can make nominations and submissions for all of the categories.
Published Kindle entry submissions must be copyrighted between 2013-2014.
You can submit a Kindle version of your novel to amb.novels@yahoo.com
The AMB staff reserves the right to limit entries to the first twenty-five books or authors received in each category.

•  Entries shall consist of a Kindle e-book copy of a romance novel published with a copyright date between 2013 -2014 (NOTE: Independent published, small press, and 'E-published only' books are also accepted )
• The e-book will be judged by (at least 5) different judges consisting of booksellers, reviewers, librarians or readers. The submission will be considered a gift to guest judges and will not be returned.
• Highest average score denotes winner in each category. The winning entry from each category will advance to the final round. There will be five finalists in the final round. Entry with highest score will be declared winner.
  
• Mail entries and kindle e-book to the email address listed on the Entry Form.
  
• Each e-book entry may only be entered in one category novel.  However, you may enter different entries/different categories, with a maximum of THREE entries per entrant, per category. Each entry must have a separate entry form filled out. 
• With respect to our professional judges, their identities will remain confidential.

If you’ve ever had a teenage crush and had the moxie to tell the boy how you felt, this novel is for you.  Mrs. Warner reminds us that Cupid has a way of turning unrequited love into the real thing the second time around.

Growing up, thirteen year old Lizzie Tarleton had a crush on Wayne Whitmore, her brother’s best friend. Fast forward ten years later and now he’s the principal at Saranac High School where she teaches and both of them are dealing with feelings they’ve never acted on.

This novel is set in the fifties but other than some well-placed television, musical, and fashion references you would think it was happening in modern times. The chemistry between Lizzie and Wayne will remind readers of their first encounters with infatuation; the nervousness, stolen glances, daydreams, and over-analyzing one’s actions makes you think about the sweetness of true love.  It also highlights the importance of friendship being the basis of a strong romantic connection. I enjoyed the nicknames Lizzie occasionally says to Wayne and the childhood game that led to their first kiss.

This novel is wholesome and showcases the insecurities we feel when we attempt to let our hearts lead us to happiness. Lizzie is a beautiful, strong, opinionated woman that loves her hometown in Michigan. She sees her life in Saranac as being full and satisfying, while Wayne, the handsome bachelor her family likes, longs to prove he’s moved beyond his rough upbringing.  Mrs. Warner throws them back together and before they can bask in their new found love, she gives them a realistic curve ball to test their commitment.

Give SECRET LOVE a try, I promise Mrs. Warner’s engaging writing style will make you forget about the time you’ve spend reading this sweet novella in the Sweet Fifties Series.

NOTE: ARC given for my honest review but I also purchased this novel to add to my personal collection.

Christine Warner is living her dream in Michigan along with her husband, three children, one laptop and a much loved assortment of furry friends.

Besides laughing and a good round of humor, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, reading, writing but no arithmetic.  A confessed people watcher, she finds inspiration for her stories in everyday activities.  She loves to read and write about strong heroes and determined, sometimes sassy, heroines.

A girl gone wild, at least where social media is concerned, she enjoys meeting other avid readers and writers on Facebook, Twitter and her website.

FTC Guidelines

In accordance with the new FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials for bloggers, I am posting this statement for all visitors to my blog.

All book reviews posted represent my personal opinions. Any books that I have read and reviewed has been purchased by myself or gifted to me by the author/publisher. All reviews given for a ‘gifted’ book will be clearly identified since these books were provided at no charge.

I will never accept any monetary compensation for books that I review at the request of an author, publisher or agent. I will as of this date and in the future, inform my readers/visitors which items I am reviewing at the request of author, publisher and/or agent and I will post a disclaimer at the end of each review.

If you have any questions regarding this statement, please feel free to contact me.