November 2009On Sale: October 27, 2009Featuring: Noland272 pages ISBN: 038534113XEAN: 9780385341134Trade Size$14.00 Fiction Buy at Amazon.com The Solemn Lantern Maker by Merlinda Bobis From the award-winning author of Banana Heart Summer—“[a] wonderful debut…[that] resembles Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street and is destined to be a hit among book club members”*—comes a wondrous tale of hope, secrets, and family devotion. It’s six days until Christmas, and on the bustling streets of Manila a mute ten-year-old boy sells his version of the stars: exquisite lanterns handmade with colorful paper. But everything changes for young Noland when he witnesses an American tourist injured in a drive-by shooting of a journalist and imagines he’s seen an angel falling from the sky. When Noland whisks her to the safety of the hut he shares with his mother, the magical and the real collide: shimmering lanterns and poverty, Christmas carols and loss, dreams of friendship and the global war on terror. While the story of the missing tourist grips the media, Noland and his mother care for their wounded guest, and a dark memory returns. But light sneaks in — and their lives are transformed by the power of love. *Library Journal (starred review,…

The Daily DoseSmattering of Romance, Paranormal, and General Observations Good morning, the weather outside is truly getting frightful as the cold snap seems to be here to stay in the United States. It was 25 degrees Fahrenheit in Texas yesterday morning — brrrrr cold. But we’ve been handing out some hot books to ward off the chill all week and today is no exception. Joining us for today’s giveaway is author Shirin Dubbin. I met Shirin via Twitter over the summer when her book KEEPER OF THE WAY released. The story was delightful and the author even more so. I now count Shirin among my very dearest friends, few others out there really get me and she is definitely one that does. We often joke we’re sisters from another mother. Her giveaway today is a wonderful combination of fae and vamps and weres, oh my! So let’s frolic and play, the paranormal way! All books will be sent via Buy This Ebook For A Friend option on Fictionwise. Check out the great eBooks that Shirin has picked out: Keeper of the Way Aftermath cleaner, Nia Mora, is destined to die–tonight. Severin, the inscrutable and utterly delicious harbinger of death has…

Thank you, Fresh Fiction, for inviting me to write a guest blog! In my new novel,Love in Translation, 33-year-old fledgling singer Celeste Duncan, after receiving a puzzling phone call and a box full of mysterious family heirlooms, is off to Japan to search for a long, lost relative who could hold the key to the identity of the father she never knew. The book is about many things: identity, the meaning of family, and finding one’s own voice, but it’s also about how it feels to be a stranger in a strange land. To read more of BEING A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and to comment for a chance to win please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.