Giveaway!

To celebrate the release of her debut novel, Texas Two Step, my friend and fellow author, Cynthia D'Alba is blogging about those sometimes hard-to-read "man signals" over at Riding With the Top Down blog. Click on this link to leave a comment on the blog and you'll be entered to win an autographed copy of my novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club!

Isn't her cover absolutely yummy?

Lovely Review

After a week in which I've been down with the stomach crud, I'm happy to say that I'm finally on the mend. I'm going to my hometown of Melbourne this afternoon to pay a much overdue visit to my parents, and of course to visit my new "brother" Paco. Paco is a 4 month old Miniature Schnauzer. Very cute. I've only seen him once and I'm sure he's grown since February. I'm also planning to catch a STAR meeting (Space Coast Romance Writers of America). Can't wait to see what they have lined up.


On the home front, I received a very lovely review for Boyfriend from A Cozy Readers Corner (click to read the whole review).



"Ms. Geraci’s writing is easy to read and follow. I enjoyed the laid back approach I was able to take in reading this book. It reminded me of the many reasons I enjoy chick-lit and fiction as a whole. "

I Love Romance Junkies

One of the reasons possibly being that they just gave The Boyfriend of the Month Club a lovely five star review right here!

Author Geraci’s great gift is her ability to make readers laugh at the inanities of the dating arena with her spunky, independent women and strong, but flawed men. The action is fast, the characters are smart in addition to being sassy and the one-liners never stop. BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB is a hoot! Like a very hard to resist, drippy ice cream cone!

Do you have any idea how much I love my book being compared to chocolate ice-cream? Yes, I know the reviewer did not specify chocolate, but she meant to

Thank you Romance Junkies! You made my day:)

You pierce my soul

My pal, Susan McBride (author of the fabulous The Cougar Club) is over at the Stiletto Gang today talking about favorite romantic reads. She was seen on Great Day St. Louis on Valentine's Day and selected The Boyfriend of the Month Club as a favorite read this year. Yay! You can read the post and see the video right here.

Susan did a poll recently on Facebook and her readers selected 5 of their favorite romantic reads of all time.

I think mine is without a doubt, Persuasion, by Jane Austen. The love letter Captain Wentworth writes to Anne at the end of the story is a two hankie read!

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago.

Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine.

I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men.

Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."
Persuasion, Jane Austen

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be in Pittsburgh. Pictures to come (if I don't freeze to death, that is!)

Another nice review for Boyfriend

Okay, I admit it. Good reviews are better than chocolate :)

There’s nothing like a satisfying Chick Lit book on a blah winter’s day or on a sunny day at the beach. The machinations of friends and family in a cozy setting while the main character falls in love with the perfect guy becomes the chocolate bar for the soul. Maria Geraci’s The Boyfriend of the Month Club is such a nugget of pleasure.

Check out the rest over at All About Romance!

Happy New Year and a give away!

2011! So far, my New Year is starting out perfect. The Noles won their bowl game last night and I'm over at A Cozy Reader's Corner! Come on over and comment to win an autographed copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club!

Good stuff to read

Okay, so I'm back from my mini-break vacation which was utterly fabulous. We spent 4 days in Orlando, doing Christmas with the family and visiting friends. We saw ICE (utterly fabulous and if you live in the Orlando area, don't miss it). We also went to Harry Potter World, which might have been utterly fabulous but because of the frigid weather and humongous crowds turned out to be semi-miserable. However, I do want a butter beer kit. So if you see one, please send along. We also went to Tampa for a couple days, saw more family and that was fabulous as well.

Now I'm back to my house (which needs cleaning) and a few dozen emails that need answering. And a special thank you to everyone who has texted or emailed me to tell you how much you've enjoyed/loved/adored The Boyfriend of the Month Club. You've all made my day!

Here is some really good stuff to read today. I promise. It's fabulous. First, there's Marilyn Brant's blog which kind of choked me up. If you're a writer, then run to read this. She makes so much sense. I love Marilyn!

Then there's Lisa and Liz over at Chick Lit is Not Dead. I love this site and they're offering up free books. All you have to do is comment and tell them which post of 2010 is your favorite. They give you 5 fabulous posts to pick from.

Happy Reading!

PS And yes, fabulous was the word the day:)

Blog tour and book giveaway

Today I'm over at Get Lost in a Story, a fabulous new blog that connects readers with writers (in reality, I'll be at Harry Potter World freezing my arse off, but I'll be at the blog in spirit and hopefully will be able to check in and make comments!)

Maureen McGowan (one of the nicest and most talented writers around) interviewed me and the questions were fun. Find out how I like my hamburger and leave a comment here telling me which fictional heroine you'd like to be to win an autographed copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club!

Blog-o-Mania

Yep, I'm still doing the blog tour thing. Today, I'm supposed to be over at Coffee Time Romance. I love that place! It's the first site I ever received a review from. I'll always remember the excitement of that email (Feb 12, 2009) telling me they'd reviewed Bunco Babes Tell All. It was a great review and I'll always be grateful to them (can you imagine your first review being a stinky one?) *shudder* We authors are much more delicate than you can imagine.

So... as you can see I'm supposed to be over at the Coffee Time Romance Blog. I was supposed to post the blog myself and was given directions, but being the procrastinator that I am I waited till the wee hours of the morning to post the blog. Yep, should have done it yesterday, but nope. Didn't. So yep, something went screwy and I can't post it and am waiting for help from the Coffee Time Romance crew. Hopefully, the blog will go live sometime today.

NOTE: Yay! I am now live at Coffee Time Romance. Check out my blog right here.
PLUS, Coffee Time Romance is giving away a copy of my book, THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB and a copy of HUNGRY FOR YOU, by Lynsay Sands. If you'd like to be entered for the giveaway, go to their home page and sign up for Feeding My Addiction.

In the meantime, I'm still giving away books! Leave a comment and maybe you'll be picked to win an autographed copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club!

Night Owl Blog- Where does Inspiration come from? ends December 17
Chick Lit Central- Celebrating the Winter Holidays ends December 19

Blog tour and giveaway

Today I'm over at Chick Lit Central talking about my favorite winter holiday rituals and memories. And of course I'm giving away a copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club, so come on over and comment!

And if you love chick lit as much as I do, check out their Facebook page here. There's always lots of great info on your favorite books :)

It's tomorrow!

Or the day after my yesterday, which means, well, as you can see I've not gotten a whole lot of sleep, because I'm not sure I'm making much sense to anyone except myself! Except to say that I'm relieved/happy/sad/worried that my 3rd baby is out in the world (that would be The Boyfriend of the Month Club) not my real baby (she's still in class or rather, she better be.)

The relieved and happy part are probably obvious emotions. The sad/worried maybe not so much. Sad? Only because I almost wish I was writing it again, I loved that part so much. Worried because I hope people get it. My editor mentioned in passing to me during lunch this summer that she thought there was a lot of me in this book. And she's absolutely right. Me as in I think I let go more in this book than in my previous other two books. And that's both exhilarating and a bit frightening. Writing a book is like walking naked down the street (okay, in my case that would be extremely frightening) but you get what I mean.

I received a really lovely review today from Julie at What Women Write. "Stylewise, think Dorothea Benton Frank meets My Big Fat Greek ... er, Cuban Wedding."

I really loved that she said that! You can read the whole review right here.

So, I'm still hopping the blogosphere. You can still find me at Book Binge, Night Owl Reviews Blog and Chick Lit is Not Dead. And I'm also being featured on the Romantic Times Book Reviews Mainstream Spotlight!

Plus, my fabulous friend Louisa Edwards is giving away a copy of my book on her Facebook Fan page. Right here. All you have to do is tell her the name of your first boyfriend:)

It's Today!

So today is the day that The Boyfriend of the Month Club comes out. Yay! I want to thank my editor, Wendy McCurdy, the fabulous Erin Galloway (my publicist), my agent Deidre Knight, and all of you who have emailed me to congratulate me. Thank you! Writing a book might be a solitary endeavor, but getting one published takes a village.

What am I going to do to celebrate? Clean the house, of course! While listening to Christmas music and running to my computer every few minutes to interact on the many blogs I have out there today. I will NOT be googling my name, my book, or checking my stats on any sites. No sirree, I will not. Repeat and repeat and again.

This is where you can find me today:

The Romance Dish
Girlfriends Book Club
and I'm still at the fabulous Chick Lit is Not Dead (will be there till Thursday)
I'm also going to be at Book Binge and Night Owl Reviews blog
Whew! I'm also supposed to make cookies today (the Neimen Marcus ones) but I don't see that happening. Do you?

Holiday Movie Countdown

I love love love holiday movies. So I've decided to do a month of holiday movie watching. I know what a hardship. I started last night with a Home Alone mini-marathon. I love Home Alone! Home Alone 2 not so much, but the scenes with Tim Curry more than make up for blah-ish plotline.

I forgot how many great liners there were in the original. The one that got the most laughs last night at the Geraci house? When the adults were in the airplane on their way to France and they're talking about how Kevin was left behind. Mom (played wonderfully by Catherine O'Hara) is beating herself up. And Uncle Frank (gotta love/hate him!) sighs and says "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."

Hee hee... Oh well, I guess you had to be there!

Happy December 1st everyone, and don't forget to check out Marilyn Brant's blog where she's giving away a copy of my new book!

And... if you want to get inspired AND win a couple of free books by the fabulous Lauren Baratz-Logsted, go to the Girlfriends Book Club and leave a comment.

I'm off to Publix! Happy December, everyone!

Blog Tour!

I can't believe The Boyfriend of the Month Club comes out in just 8 days! I'll be all over the blogosphere for the next few weeks, visiting blogs and doing online promo trying to spread the word. If you're out there, reading this (and I know you are) please help me spread the word too!

The first week that a book comes out is the most important in sales, so if you haven't bought my book yet, please do so (and enter my fabulous contest, details on the right of this post.)
And if money is tight (and I know it is) there's lots of opportunities to win free books.

Today I'm over at the fabulous Marilyn Brant's blog. Marilyn is the author of According to Jane and Friday Mornings at Nine, two fabulous books that I simply devoured from cover to cover. I'm talking about my mom's flan recipe and how I used it in The Boyfriend of the Month Club. Plus, Marilyn is giving away a copy of the book. Thanks again, Marilyn!

Thanksgiving Freebie

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day was as wonderful as mine. Below, I've posted a small free read from upcoming novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club. This scene takes place a few days before Thanksgiving. Grace (my heroine) runs into her dentist at the grocery store. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Grace turned to find Rosie Dimples aka Dr. Joe leaning against his shopping cart. He wore above-the-knee nylon basketball shorts and a T-shirt. Maybe he’d just come from the gym. Grace squelched the urge to reach out and smooth an errant lock of hair off his forehead.

“There’s no chocolate in pistachio ice cream,” she said.

“What is it with women and chocolate?”

It’s the universal substitute for sex, dummy. She wondered what Dr. Joe would say to that. He’d probably volunteer to fill in for the ice cream. “It’s one of our daily food groups,” she said instead.

He smiled. “How’s the tooth holding up, Grace?”

So he remembered her name. Had he read her patient satisfaction survey? Melanie claimed he personally read each one. Tomorrow it would be a week since she’d been to his office. Surely he’d read it by now. Which reminded her, she really did need to investigate where Tanya had gone to work so she could find a new dentist. She’d planned to do it right away, but with all the roof drama going on at the store, she’d forgotten. Technically, she supposed, she was still Dr. Joe’s patient.

“The tooth is holding up great. Thanks for asking, Dr. Joe.”

“The patients find it easier to call me Dr. Joe rather than Dr. Rosenblum. But outside the office, it’s just plain Joe.”

There was nothing plain about this Joe, that was for sure. He seemed friendly enough too. Almost too friendly. There was no way he had read her patient satisfaction survey. Melanie was so full of it. She probably read them herself and only showed him the good ones to pump up his ego.

A woman with a cart full of baby items tried to slide between them. Joe pushed his cart off to the side to let her pass. You could tell a lot about a person by the items in their grocery cart. What did a hottie like Dr. Joe have in his? Probably a lot of pretentious, overpriced health food items. She tried to discreetly peek at the contents inside his cart.

“Are you checking out my turkey, Grace?”

“What?”

“Do you think my turkey is too big?” He pointed to the large frozen turkey that took up nearly half his cart.

She narrowed her eyes at him. He had to realize his double entendre, although the expression on his face seemed innocent enough. “That depends. How many people do you plan to feed with your big turkey?”

“Just me, my mom, and a few friends.”

Grace looked at the tag around the wrapper. “This is a twenty-five-pound turkey. You could feed half of Daytona Beach with this.”

“Really?” He looked alarmed.

“Not exactly, but it’s way more than you need. Unless you want to eat turkey leftovers until Christmas. The rule of thumb is about one pound per person.”

“I don’t even really like turkey all that much,” he said.

“Then I suggest you go with a smaller version.”

He pulled a list out of the back pocket of his shorts and handed it to Grace. “This is the menu I came up with, along with the list of ingredients. Would you mind taking a look at it and telling me what you think? That is . . . if I’m not keeping you from something.”

She studied the list. “You’re not planning to make all this yourself, are you? You said your mom is coming to dinner? Is she going to help cook?”

“The only thing my mother knows how to cook is hot water.”

Grace found that impossible to believe. Whose mother didn’t cook? Of course, Abuela didn’t cook. Or not well, anyway. How Mami had become so talented in the kitchen was puzzling. But then Mami couldn’t sew the way Abuela did. “So did your dad do all the cooking when you were growing up?”

“I don’t think my dad could manage even the hot water.”

Grace frowned. “Will he be at dinner too?”

“He’ll be spending Thanksgiving with his newest girlfriend down in Boca Raton.”

“Oh.” Grace looked at the list again. She rummaged through her purse and pulled out a pen and began crossing off items. “You don’t need four different types of vegetables, but you do need both mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole, even though they’re both starches. That’s a given for Thanksgiving. Are you going to stuff the turkey?”

“Stuff it with what?”

“Never mind. Just don’t forget to take out the insides before you cook it.”

“The insides?”

“It’s probably not too late to have this catered, you know.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“You’re going to give me nightmares. Visions of exploding turkey gizzards are dancing in my head right now.”

Contest!

I can't believe my new book comes out in less than 3 weeks! I'm so excited about this story. I loved writing The Boyfriend of the Month Club and I can't wait to start seeing it out in the real world.

As many of you know (or maybe you aren't aware) a book is kind of like a movie. The producers (or in this case, the publishers) base a lot on first week sales. So a movie that does great at the box office on opening night is considered a "winner". Kind of the same goes for a book. A lot of what happens to the life of book is based on first week sales. Pre-sales are considered first week sales. so if you've already ordered my book, Thank you!!! You're helping me out with that all critical first week stuff. And in order to thank you properly, and encourage others to order my book or buy it in the first week, I'm holding a big contest. I'm calling it The Year of Reading Voraciously.

This is the low down:

1. Pre-order The Boyfriend of the Month Club or buy it by December 12.

2. Email me the order confirmation to mariageraci1@gmail.com with the word "contest" in the line.

3. That's it!

So what do you win?

The grand prize (selected by random generator) is a $100 gift certificate to Amazon, PLUS a bag full of autographed books (about 12-14 in all). These books are coming from my writer friends who graciously said yes when I asked them would they please help a sista out with her promotion. Yay for my writer friends!

There are also going to be 5 runner up prizes consisting of a $20 Amazon gift certificate, plus a very special Boyfriend of the Month desk top calendar I've had made especially for this contest.

So dont' be shy. Send me your order info and be entered to win this great contest, just in time for the holidays!

Contest ends at midnight December 12 and is open to US citizens only.

Am I smarter than a 5th grader?

Happy Early Thanksgiving! This week, The Knight Agency blog is hosting a week full of Thanksgiving posts and give aways. Each day, a different author will be featured, and today is my day! So if you'd like to find out if I'm smarter than a 5th grader when it comes to Thanksgiving fun facts head on over here. Plus, I'll be giving away a copy of The Boyfriend of the Month Club!

50 Books Everyone Should Read

Side Note: Congratulations to Marian Pearson Stevens who entered my Facebook contest and won the last ARC of The Boyfriend of the Month Club. And a big thanks to everyone who entered and left a comment!

So, I opened my email and got this link to a blog called Associates Degree dot com (I think it's sponsored by different colleges) saying how much they liked my blog, etc (I'm sure it was a form letter, but hey, I was flattered, non-the-less!) asking me to share this post titled 50 Books Every Young Woman Should Read. And since some of my favorite books of all time are on the list, I will happily share it with you (with my own commentary, of course.)

The list is divided into 7 categories.

The Classics:
I've read 4 of the 10 selected classics (5 if you count watching the movie- that would be The Handmaid's Tale) and I know the movie version usually always sucks compared to the book, but watching Robert Duvall try to impregnate poor Natasha Richardson while Faye Dunaway is holding her down is just plain off putting. Although the yummy Aidan Quinn is also in the movie and every scene with him in it almost makes up for the creepiness of Robert and Faye.

The Classics winner for me is, of course, hands down Pride and Prejudice.

Fantasy and Sci Fi:
I'm ashamed to say I have read NONE of the books on this list. Shame on me. Although I did see the movie trailer for Tuck Everlasting. Not sure if that counts or not.

Coming of Age:
This one is hard, because I've read most of the books on this list and have loved them all. Growing up, I'd have said my favorite was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Great book plus Great movie!) but since then, I've read The Secret Life of Bees (have not seen the movie, though) and since it's so fresh in my mind, I'll go with the Bees.

Young Adult and Children's Lit:
Okay, this was a no-brainer for me. Little House in the Big Woods. Sniff, sniff, tear, tear...

Female Relationships:
In contrast to Sci-Fi, I've read EVERY book on this list. Wasn't crazy about The Memory Keeper's Daughter. LOVED Like Water for Chocolate (and hate how the plot has been ripped off so much in so many inferior novels). But I have to go with Little Women as the hands down winner.

Non Fiction:
Haven't read a lot of these, but The Diary of a Young Girl (by Anne Frank) made a Huge impression on me in grade school. I still can't believe how many times it got rejected in publishing circles:

In the summer of 1950, Alfred A. Knopf Inc. turned down the English-language rights to a Dutch manuscript after receiving a particularly harsh reader’s report. The work was “very dull,” the reader insisted, “a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.” Sales would be small because the main characters were neither familiar to Americans nor especially appealing. “Even if the work had come to light five years ago, when the subject was timely,” the reader wrote, “I don’t see that there would have been a chance for it.”

Knopf wasn’t alone. “The Diary of a Young Girl,” by Anne Frank, would be rejected by 15 others before Doubleday published it in 1952. More than 30 million copies are currently in print, making it one of the best-selling books in history.
copied from The Sunday Book Review, The New York Times

Just goes to show that publishers can be big idiots.

And finally, Stories, Poetry and Plays:
Again, I've read none of the listed, although Olive Kitteridge has been on my TBR pile for a year now. Maybe I'll move it up the stack.

Want some writing advice?

Then go to Girlfriends Book Club, where some of today's smartest women writers are offering up their 'If I knew then, what I know now' advice (I'm one of them by the way. Not that I consider myself that smart, but hey, I've put myself in good company, so I guess I'm not too dumb!)

And don't forget, I'm giving away the last available ARC of The Boyfriend of the Month Club. Just go my Facebook fan page and leave a comment by Monday morning 6 am sharp. The winner will get my book an entire month before the rest of the world does!

My crick in the neck

I woke up this morning with a massive spasm in my neck. Did I sleep wrong? Probably, although I suspect it has more to do with the hours I spent at my computer yesterday (am really making headway on the new novel!)

As we speak, I can only move my head to the right. Well, okay, I can move it to the left some too, but only because Mike Geraci has spent the last ten minutes using his superb super massage/rolfing techniques on me.

Yesterday, I gave away an ARC for my upcoming book, BOTMC. The winner was announced in my edited post on Girlfriends Book Club. Congrats to Sarah!

Plans for the day: keep writing on the new novel. Go mail my Fresh Fiction contest winner her goodies (a signed copy of Bunco Babes Gone Wild and a gift card to Borders), run to Publix to buy some more Motrin (best drug in the world) and make a quiche. I'm not a huge quiche fan, but I've decided I'm going to make a really moist and delicious one today. Oh, and finish watching Letters to Juliet. I started watching it last night and fell asleep. Not because it was bad or anything, but because I was tired. It started out very cute and I really really want to like this movie, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.