Cover Reveal for Pull

COMING DECEMBER 2015!

Rosie Clayton witnesses a mugging on her first night in London—and then the scene rewinds itself.

She finds herself standing in the same place again, with the mugging happening just like before, except his time a stranger steps in and stops it. There's no way the same incident can have two outcomes. Rosie thinks she’s losing her mind, until just a few days later, the stranger saves her.

The stranger, Albert, and his band of misfit crime-fighters, have a special ability, Pulling, which allows them to rewind just enough time to undo and interfere in a series of events. Someone is hunting Albert and his crew--and now that Rosie’s been seen with them, she’s a target too. Rosie is left with no choice but to trust Albert to keep her safe.

As Rosie learns more about this unbelievable ability and the people – if you can call them that – who want them dead, she discovers that the group’s desire for her might be more than mere coincidence. Each step into this magical side of London introduces Rosie to a family history that she never knew existed, and dangerous forces that could unravel her home in an instant.

Her family may be the reason they’re all being hunted—and she may be the only one who can figure out how to save them. The thing about Pulling, though, is you have to be alive to do it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

I’m an author of young adult fiction disguised as a high school Spanish teacher. I live in Birmingham, Alabama with my very attractive husband (some say he resembles Matt Damon) and my small, giggly daughter.

After graduating from the University of Alabama with a double major in advertising and Spanish, I wrote several complete manuscripts, none of which will ever see the light of day. In fact, I like to pretend they never existed in the first place, although this isn’t really fair as those manuscripts helped me find my voice as an author.

Other than writing, I enjoy reading, painting, watching interior design shows, pretending to cook, skipping workouts, and drinking coffee until I start to twitch.

FIND ANNE ON...

Website: http://annerileybooks.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnneRiley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnneRileyAuthor

Instagram: https://instagram.com/annerileybooks/

Against the Grain, Gluten-Free Cookbook Review

Against the Grain by Nancy Cain

N.B. I received this cookbook from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Before I begin to review this cookbook, I need to list two disclaimers. One, I am a foodie (even when my husband and I were in Paris visiting restaurants, people called us “foodies”). Two, I sneer at most cookbooks. In fact, only two cookbooks hold an honored position in my kitchen. One is an old version of the Joy of Cooking and the other is an old version of the Southern Living Cookbook. Neither version is currently in print, and their modern iterations are not in keeping with the standards of the old versions.

So, I approached this cookbook with a grim outlook. Compounded with that, I have been baking/cooking gluten free for 16 years—long before it became popular or easy. And I have bought and tossed out quite a few gluten-free cookbooks. I was prepared to do the same with this book. But I didn’t. A new cookbook may soon be moving to the honored shelf in my kitchen. 

This baking cookbook truly amazed me. The food was actually good. And if you’ve cooked GF for a while, you’ll know how significant this is. The non-GF people in our home are actually stealing the GF baked goods because they’re delicious.

Normally, I’d bake a lot of recipes before reviewing this, but I’ve been mumbling about this cookbook on Facebook and other sites and people are asking me about it. So here’s my review: buy it.

If you want some typical review information, here it is.

1. The recipes are clearly printed and well explained.

2. There are lots of lovely photos of the food, so you’ll know what it looks like—after all, presentation is important.

3. Because this is a GF cookbook, it is mostly a baking cookbook. Note too, these recipes use protein and other binders in place of the traditional guar gum and xanthan gum used in typical GF baking.

4. The cookbook has a section on the fundamentals and science of baking gluten free.

5. Two of my favorite recipes are the cocobean cupcakes and chocolate eggs, just in time for Easter. (BTW, the chocolate egg recipe is very European, i.e., not oversweet. If you like your sweets sweet, add some sugar to the coconut butter.)

Six Word Memoirs

Today, I stumbled across an interesting site/idea. The site is called "Six-Word Memoir." And the idea is to distill your thoughts into six words to get to the creative essence of something. As a writer, this really appeals to me. And it's a great exercise in precision.

So I thought I'd give it a go. Here's my six word memoir for the last couple of weeks:

Middle muddle, writing a first draft.

I'd love to get some comments where you all summarize your past few days in six words!