Chalk Lines & Lipstick

We're celebrating the release of CHALK LINES AND LIPSTICK by Ophelia London! Check out the excerpt and giveaway below!

Title: CHALK LINES AND LIPSTICK by Ophelia London

Age group: Adult

Genre: Cozy Mystery/Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Gemma Halliday

Scheduled to release: August 11, 2015

Goodreads

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1DGt2vz

BN: http://bit.ly/1DBca9G

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1DGtbiG

iBooks: http://apple.co/1IYoS2A

BLURB:
Maren Colepepper thought she had it all: a career at a fashion magazine, a successful boyfriend, and a glamorous New York lifestyle. She thought wrong. When her glamorous life suddenly goes belly up, Maren finds herself forced to take the only job she can find at a small town newspaper in the tiny northern California hometown she fled ten years ago.

While Maren expected her new job in no-wheres-ville to kill her with boredom, She never expected to be front row to a shooting on her very first day! Worse yet, Maren is knocked unconscious at the scene, and when she comes to, the body has gone missing and she's been scooped by another reporter. Talk about a bad first impression. Now Maren is hot on the trail of the story of a lifetime, involving a shady lumber mill and the foresting of old-growth redwoods—a ginormous crime in her neck of the woods! Between her suddenly flirty new editor, her supremely hot new neighbor, and a lovably meddling family, Maren find small town life anything but boring. But if she can't find the shooter before he strikes again, it may even become deadly!

Globug's Quick Take

I'm a new fan of this author. Wasn't sure what to expect when I read it was a "cozy" mystery. But cozy turns out to be a great description for this book. The lead character Maren Colpepper is instantly likeable. Having just lost her boyfriend, best friend and her job in New York Maren is on her way back to her home-town to live with her parents and younger sister. One of my favorite things about Maren is that despite how serious she is about investigative reporting she's a little bit of a goof. Her first assignment leads to multiple mishaps and I really enjoyed the humor the author included in the story that keeps it light while also keeps you guessing which direction the story is going to go. It's not only a "who done it" but a romance as well. I loved that instead of the romance revolving around a girl that has crushed on a guy since their childhood and now finally gets his attention the author flipped it and the girl, Maren, is the one who's been crushed on while she hardly noticed him that way. Her neighbor Jamison "Patrick" Loomis has recently returned to town. He's gorgeous as sin and reveals his secret crush that he's had for Maren for most of their lives. He's not at all what Maren thinks and I loved his character. The author does a fantastic job of developing the story, giving bits and pieces to this mystery that kept my full attention and had me resistant to put it down until I finished it.

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About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Ophelia London was born and raised among the redwood trees in beautiful northern California. Once she was fully educated, she decided to settle in Florida, but her car broke down in Texas and she’s lived in Dallas ever since. A cupcake and treadmill aficionado (obviously those things are connected), she spends her time watching arthouse movies and impossibly trashy TV, while living vicariously through the characters in the books she writes.

Ophelia is the author of DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE; ABBY ROAD and CROSSING ABBY ROAD; the Perfect Kisses series including: FALLING FOR HER SOLDIER, PLAYING AT LOVE, SPEAKING OF LOVE, and MAKING WAVES; and the upcoming AIMEE AND THE HEARTTHROB for Entangled’s Teen Crush. Visit her at www.ophelialondon.com, but don’t call when The Vampire Diaries (or Dawson’s Creek) is on.

Twitter: @ophelia_london : Facebook : Website : Pinterest : Goodreads

Author Guest Post

Writing about Home

Hi gang! I’m here to talk about the weather. But hold up, I promise it won’t be boring…

My newest novel, Chalk Lines & Lipstick, has caused me some self-inflicted pressure. Not only am I taking a break from writing romance to try my hand at a cozy mystery (eek!), but it’s also set in my hometown of Eureka, California. Which—just like my main character, Maren—I moved away from right after graduation from high school. Go Loggers!

Funny how a lot of what I think I remember about growing up in Eureka is either slightly incorrect or straight up wrong. The biggest example is the weather. When I was a teenager, my friends and I wanted nothing more than to be tan, so laying out was the end all, be all of our existence. According to my recollection, on the days it happened to not be raining, it was foggy. Which was obviously a huge hindrance to getting tan.

When I decided to set my cozy mystery in Eureka, I knew the weather memories from my youth would play a big part, while also adding loads of mysterious atmosphere with lots of dark and misty corners for my main characters to make out—I mean, solve mysteries! But as I researched my beloved hometown, I learned that, yes, the Eureka winters are plenty wet, but summers—though the temperature rarely reaches above 80 degrees—are clear and sunny. Say what?

So yes, in Chalk Lines & Lipstick, I took a bit of poetic license when I describe Eureka as perpetually rainy, foggy and soggy. But I also feature some of the most breath-taking scenery you’ll ever lay eyes on: The oh-so picturesque Pacific ocean, shockingly-bright and colorful rhododendron bushes, and of course our claim to fame: the towering redwood trees. There may not be a lot of sun, but I dare you to not fall in love with Eureka…or re-fall in love, just like me.

Let’s talk about kissing…

My newest novel, Chalk Lines & Lipstick, is my first stab at a cozy mystery (pun obviously intended!) and is a bit of uncharted territory for this romance-writing chick. But after having ten romance novels published, I was ready for a new challenge.

However, I couldn’t seem to keep my cozy characters from making out!

The story is set in my hometown of Eureka, California. So we’re talking rain and fog and lots of dark and misty corners for mystery-ish things to happen. Thing is, whenever I put my characters in one of those corners, they went straight to making out. (You’re welcome!)

“Hey, I think that guy with the knife might want to kill me…but we better kiss for a while…”

See what I mean? Once I realized my romance crutch, I couldn’t bear to get rid of it. Because, let’s face it, kissing is totally awesome. Especially when it’s dark and public and rainy and you just…can’t…stop…yourself no matter what else is going on. Or wait, maybe that’s just me.

Either way, I’m thinking maybe I do have a bit of romance writing still left in me, and I will always defend the cozy make outs!