My Interview with Felena Hanson

LCR: Welcome to Library of Clean Reads! If you were to describe your book in 20 words, what would you say?

FH: Flight Club is a call to women who feel “stuck” in their corporate job to “lean out” and launch their own business.  The book is a combination of inspiration and guidance to help them take the leap!

LCR: How are women entrepreneurs different from men entrepreneurs? Or is there no difference?

FH: I truly believes that women, when given a chance, interact differently and are instinctively more collaborative in their approach to business. I felt it was important to create a space for female entrepreneurs that is not only beautiful, comfortable, and feminine, yet also very professional.

Women empowering women is more than just a theory.  In a Kaufman Foundation study (“Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men?” May 2010), women rated their professional and business networks as important contributors to success more highly than men did. It was also found that women especially benefit from other types of social support and encouragement beyond business.

Several of the identified gender differences in the study indicate that support and encouragement from key people can especially benefit women in their efforts to found successful companies. Many women feel more comfortable in a female-focused environment and typically get to a point of trust much quicker, especially in a safe, supportive environment like Hera Hub.

LCR: What is your ultimate goal in writing this book?

FH: My goal was to inspire more women to launch their own business.  This can allow them to pursue their passions and be in the driver's seat as it relates to how and when they work.

LCR: What was the best advice you received when you launched your own business?

FH: My grandpa Hanson used to recite the Serenity Prayer, which basically says… "Don't worry about the things you do not control.”  This has served me well to remember that, as it helps me stay focused on what I can achieve and not worry about the opinion of others.

LCR: Where do you see your business in 5 years from now?

I’m on a mission is to support over 20,000 women in the launch and growth of their business by 2020.  I’m achieving this goal through our licensing expansion and the book.  I believe what we're doing will continue to change the face of female entrepreneurship.

Meet the Author:

Enter the Giveaway!

Title: Death at the Paris Exposition
Genre: Historical mystery, 276 pages 

Publisher: Allium Press of Chicago
Buy the book: Amazon  ~  Allium Press of Chicago

Interview with Frances McNamara

There’s been a change of plans, and that’s just the beginning.

Buy the Book: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

When Grace Hansen finds a box belonging to her beloved grandfather, she has no idea it holds the key to his past—and to long-buried family secrets. In the box are his World War I diaries and a cryptic note addressed to her. Determined to solve her grandfather’s puzzle, Grace follows his diary entries across towns and battle sites in northern France, where she becomes increasingly drawn to a charming French man—and suddenly aware that someone is following her…

Through her grandfather’s vivid writing and Grace’s own travels, a picture emerges of a man very unlike the one who raised her: one who watched countless friends and loved ones die horrifically in battle; one who lived a life of regret. But her grandfather wasn’t the only one harboring secrets, and the more Grace learns about her family, the less she thinks she can trust them.



Time and Regret is a well-written touching story with a dual timeline. Grace Hansen's story takes place in 1991 New York. She is a successful woman who works in marketing for an insurance company and is the mother of two teenage sons and dealing with her recent divorce. She finds a tackle box belonging to her late grandfather in the attic that contains his WWI diaries and a puzzle left for her to solve. This propels her to trace his footsteps by going to all the different towns and places in France where he served.

Time and Regret is also the story of Martin Devlin, Grace's grandfather, who in Feb 1915 enlisted in the war and goes from a young soldier to a grief-stricken hardened colonel after losing most of his friends and platoon on the field. Both stories alternate between chapters and are brought together toward the end as we come to realize that Martin has done something he regrets that he wants his granddaughter to rectify.

I became so immersed in this novel that I read it in two days. I enjoyed both stories but initially found Martin's story somewhat difficult as I felt that I was dropped into the war scenes and strategies and did not have time to get to know the characters. But soon enough, I was racing through the chapters because I was invested and wanted to know how the two stories would merge.

It is a testament to this author's writing skills that she could so easily transition from contemporary life in the sleepy towns of France to that of war-torn France in 1915. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with Grace as she explored the war memorials in the towns where her grandfather experienced life in a totally different way. On the one hand we have a middle-aged woman at a pivotal point in her life who rediscovers herself and finds love again and on the other hand we have a young soldier living the hellish life month after month of sleeping in muddy trenches with the smell of rotting flesh and the constant sound of shells and gun fire directed at him.

Both stories brought out a variety of emotions in me. The beauty of quiet life in small French towns and the horror of war and the psychological impact it had on the men who fought relentlessly. The mystery of the puzzle that Martin left for Grace added intrigue, adventure and danger. The romance was well done and added spice to Grace's story.

I was so pleased to discover that M.K. Todd is a Canadian author. This is her third novel and I would now love to read her previous books. This book will be listed in my Best Reads of 2016 post. Highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction and women's fiction.

Buy the Book:

You can find it on Amazon.com,  Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk and other Amazon sites as well as Barnes & Noble, IndieBound and Indigo (audio book only).

Disclosure: Thanks to the author and France Book Toursf or sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Global giveaway open internationally:
5 winners will receive a print copy of this book.

Our Review

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani and her son Alessio

As soon as we received this book in the mail, we liked the look of it. A little redhead is on the front cover with a bossy stance. She's on her bed with her stuffed toys and it looks like she means business. I love it! I've taken that same stance when addressing my teen kids. And I'm a redhead! 

But seriously, this is the beauty with kidlit. It can touch both children and adults. So with the catchy title of this book and it's attractive front cover, my son and I dug in. Flossy is a bossy kid. She's also creative and smart but being bossy has consequences. When Flossy meets Edward, another child who is also bossy, she begins to understand what it's like to be bossed around and so does he. They begin to understand that giving consideration to others and their feelings is a good thing.

There were a few reasons why we loved this book. The first is that it had bright illustrations with pages that are filled with bold colors. It's perfect for the subject matter and Flossy's personality. We also liked that the author included inner dialogue in the form of dialogue bubbles. This was brilliant. The sentences are short but to the point making it easy for a young child to quickly pick up on the characters' feelings and to be able to relate.

Even a kid who isn't bossy could relate to Flossy's inner dialogue. What kid hasn't thought, "I'm trying to tell her something. She never listens to me." Just ask your kid. Actually, this book opened up dialogue between my son and I. I love books that do that. A parent can take advantage of Flossy's inner dialogue to ask their child if they've ever felt that way. The answers might be surprising!

Next we noticed that the author includes children of various backgrounds in her school setting. My son picked up on that right away. And having both a boy and a girl who are bossy is good so that any child can relate since being bossy is not a gender-related trait. Finally, we thought it very realistic that during the last scene, sometimes Flossy and Edward revert back to being bossy. No child (or adult) is perfect and even when we learn a good quality we can still struggle throughout our growing years to master it. Parents and educators can help children understand that learning new ways takes time but it's possible and attainable, even if at times we fall back to our old ways.

That last scene was quite funny actually and as a parent I found it touching and adorable. Flossy and Edward are holding hands as they are walking and arguing, and we can see that they've forged a friendship. My son and I recommend this book to parents, grandparents, teachers and educators.

My Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

This is the third book I read by Lauren Carr and I must say once you start, the characters grow on you and you just want to keep reading her series. Candidate for Murder is the 12th book in the Mac Faraday Mysteries. All Lauren Carr's books are stand-alone novels and she includes a character list at the front of the book. But once you've read one or two of her books, you get to know all of her characters and it's easy to keep track of who is who. I've read Three Days to Forever and Cancelled Vows from this series and Kill and Run, which is the first book in her new Thorny Rose Mysteries.

Candidate for Murder was so entertaining, I kept reading parts of it to my hubby as I read through it. It was just too funny not to share. When the elections for a mayor in Spencer, Maryland offers two very unsavory characters who are nothing but trouble, the chief of policy decides to show his frustration by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday's German Shepherd as a candidate. Carr succeeds in showing the ugly side of elections by including all the usual tactics candidates use to discredit one another.

She does this all while creating a murder mystery tied in with several story threads that are all solved and tied up neatly at the end. All this is done while the backstory of why Gnarly, who served in the United States Army was dishonorably discharged four years ago. He has a classified file and the army refuses to talk about him. Gnarly, who is one of my favorite characters in the series really takes center stage in this novel. We get to see his army training in full force.

Now that I have read books from two of Lauren Carr's series, I can appreciate when she includes some of the characters from her other series in her books. Truly these characters grow on you. Even though the book is fast paced and you're wondering who the bad guy really is because there are many of them, Carr makes sure to include snippets of romance, funny moments and plenty of dog antics that animal lovers will rejoice to read.

I think this one is Lauren Carr's best murder mystery so far from what I've read of her work. I mean who else can write about a dog running for mayor and still give us a thrilling murder mystery? Plenty of laughter, twists and turns and murders in this one. Perfect for the mystery lover who enjoys colorful characters, smart dogs, political and gov't corruption and a good dose of humor in their books. This one made it to my list of Best Reads for 2016.

To read more reviews, please visit Lauren Carr's page on iRead Book Tours.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not told how to rate or review this book.

Watch the trailer:







Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released June 2016.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV. 

Connect with Lauren: Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook



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