Monthly Archives: November 2016

Nov11

@NikkiL_Books Book Review: It’s beginning to look alot like Chick Lit, a holiday anthology via @tdmiller820917

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In Deck the Malls with Purple Peacock, Amy Gettinger skillfully portrays the difficulty of working in the mall during the holiday season through the eyes of Araceli Martinez. Araceli endures a thankless job with an insensitive boss because she dreams of opening her own dress shop. Despite this being a short story, Gettinger fully develops Araceli’s character. The reader will feel both her determination to succeed along with her frustrations. In addition, Gettinger uses vivid descriptions to paint her tale. Here is a young woman mourning her mother while seeking the dream of small business ownership. Add to this the wrinkle of being an illegal alien who wants  to obtain American citizenship and a burgeoning romance and you have a story that will both entertain and have you thinking.  Deck the Malls with Purple Peacock will have you believing in holiday miracles.

Source: @NikkiL_Books Book Review: It’s beginning to look alot like Chick Lit, a holiday anthology via @tdmiller820917

Nov5

Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 3 with Guest Host Laurie Baxter

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By Laurie Baxter, Author of the story “A Charlie Brown Christmas” In our new anthology, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit. 

christmas-chick-lit-anthology-2016-cover

amzn.com/B01MD197DJ   NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.

Back to our story …
In my last year of college, two days before New Year’s, the family dog died. We had had him since I was a kid. I was very, very sad.
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Author Bio:

Laurie Baxter has degrees in both puppetry and screenwriting because let’s face it, majoring in English would have been no more useful and way less fun. She loves chocolate, ice cream, chocolate ice cream, dogs, New York City, old movies, modern architecture, all kinds of theater, and music from before she was born. Her eighth grade English teacher told her to become a writer, so she did.

 

 Connect with Laurie Online:

LaurieBaxter.com

Laurie on Facebook

Laurie on Twitter

Laurie on Pinterest

Laurie on Goodreads

Laurie attempting Instagram

Nov3

I Got Blogged Again!

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Here I am in living color on Susan Murphy’s blog!!!!

http://www.susanmurphyauthor.com/single-post/2016/11/02/Meet-Amy-Gettinger—author-all-round-superwoman

I am just incredibly popular this week!!! Thanks, Susan! (who also happened to write a story for this anthology):

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https://www.amazon.com/Its-Beginning-Look-Like-Chick-ebook/dp/B01MD197DJ

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And if you like giveaways, join us tomorrow for the Facebook party at 6 pm-11:30 pm CDT

https://www.facebook.com/events/949867701785312/

Hope to see you there!

 

Nov3

Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 2 by Guest Host Susan Murphy

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Susan Murphy – Author of ‘Mistletoe & Mayhem’ in the new Christmas Anthology: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit  

christmas-chick-lit-anthology-2016-cover

amzn.com/B01MD197DJ   NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.

Back to our story …

So, Christmas is the time for gluttonous scoffing, overdoing everything, squealing about your gifts and just generally having a great time, right? Well that’s what I look forward to.

Unfortunately, 2 years in a row I was struck down with gastro on Christmas eve! The cruelty of having to watch on as your family devour turkey and good chardonnay was un-paralleled. From my spot, huddled in the foetal position on the couch, I could see all my family through the window, laughing, eating and completely enjoying themselves. While I turned green and struggled to hold down water. The smells alone were enough to keep me doubled over and the simple act of unwrapping a gift my mother brought for me, left me exhausted for the next hour.

I cursed the cruelty and unfairness of the timing, vowing and declaring to anyone that would listen, that next year I would eat and drink every bit of turkey I could stuff into my mouth, but when the following year rolled around and the entire unfortunate incident unfolded almost identically, I wondered if I had in fact been some kind of Grinch in a past life and was now paying the price for my evilness.

Thankfully the following year I stayed well. However my joy at the excitement of it all led to massively over-eating and way, way too much alcohol. I ended up back in that same foetal position, albeit self-inflicted!

Even now, as Christmas approaches I begin to pray to the Gods or the Universe to please spare me from any sicknesses and keep sick people away from me. I start to study people I work with for signs of being unwell and tell all my family they can’t come over unless they are germ free. Being sick at Christmas time just completely stinks.

May your Christmas be filled with lots of turkey, family, friends and of course, good health!

I hope you enjoy all of the stories in ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit’. xxx

susan-murphy-mistletoe-and-mayhem-christmas-cover

Author Bio:

Susan Murphy is an author and marriage (and funeral) celebrant from Adelaide, South Australia. From weddings on cruise ships to family brawls at funerals, Susan has seen (and completely enjoyed) all of it. These situations have of course provided much inspiration for her writing.

Her first book ‘Confetti Confidential: They Do, I Don’t’ was published with Harper Collins in 2015 with the follow-up, ‘Annabel’s Wedding’ released on November 1st 2015.

After a stint as the Writer in Residence at the SA Writers Centre, Susan has co-written a middle-grade children’s book and is now working on a historical fiction project as well as a new romantic comedy series.

In her ‘spare’ time she mainly eats chocolate and drinks wine, although she occasionally turns up at work and sometimes parents her three children, 2 dogs, cat and cockatiel, Moe.

Website: www.susanmurphyauthor.com/

Facebook author Page: https://www.facebook.com/susanmurphyauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SMurphyAuthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13495153.Susan_Murphy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanmurphyauthor/

Blog: http://www.susanmurphyauthor.com/comechatblog

Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/SmurphyAuthor/

G+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/117051563624512801221

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE_DBLbbRGKLOPzCjOrWrFA

 

 

Nov1

Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 1 by Me, Moi, Myself, Mich–Amy Gettinger

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christmas-chick-lit-anthology-2016-cover

Ten authors and I have a new Christmas anthology out now: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit.  amzn.com/B01MD197DJ   NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.

My story in it is entitled “Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks.”
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SO I’ve decided to do a series of posts about some of peoples’ most hideous/hilarious experiences at Christmas. I’ve invited my co-authors in the anthology to join me. If these posts are anything like their stories in the anthology, this is gonna be one heck of a series.

I’ll start.

Back in 1968-69 or so, when we were still wearing polyester bell bottoms, there was a Christmas when we had another one of those cheap-ass S-shaped trees in the sunken living room with the gold carpet. My parents believed in saving money on everything–EVERYTHING, including the Christmas tree, so they bought it way late in December, and they usually got one with not too many branches and a weirdly shaped trunk.

Anyway, Mom wrapped a bunch of gifts for all four of us, though by this time, my sister might have been married, so maybe Mom wrapped a few extras for her husband. We had the requisite oyster stew for Christmas Eve and maybe we attended a Christmas Eve service where we lit candles in the sanctuary and sang Silent Night. We all came home and Dad read the story of nasty old Giant Grummer to 7- or 8-year-old Mary and slightly older me from The Tall Book of Christmas. Giant Grummer was MEAN, and Dad loved reading about him. The giant lived in a castle made of limburger cheese. He ate pickles and drank vinegar and liked to wait until all the villagers were asleep on Christmas Eve and reach his long arm down all their chimneys and steal all their Christmas presents and take them to his castle and stomp on them. Yeah, those were the days of the best villains in kids’ stories.

Then we went to bed with sugar plums dancing in our heads.

But when we got up in the morning, there was quite a surprise. We emptied out our stockings and found the orange at the bottom like usual. But then we went to the Christmas tree and grabbed presents, eager to start ripping off the carefully applied wrapping paper, only to discover that every last present had had its original TO: ____ line blacked out, and in place of these, they all said, “TO: DAD.” We kids (and Dad) all laughed until we cried, but Mom was so mad to have to figure out what went to whom. All her careful planning and tag-writing was ruined. My dad had always had a wicked sense of humor, but this took the cake.

Best Christmas ever–well, most memorable. Just goes to show you. Be careful what you read to the kids. LOL