lunedì 12 ottobre 2015

Review & Giveaway: Love by Numbers by Sara Donovan


Love by Numbers
by Sara Donovan

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BLURB:

How to Fall in Love with Someone YOU Choose. (Why not, if you have a broken man-picker?)

Choose an available compatible guy-friend who doesn't turn you off and rewire your brains for a hot and heavy romance.

1. Get emotional while watching a sad movie.
2. Share a major adrenaline rush.
3. Be competent at something cool, but don't make a big deal out of it.
4. Have him provide food from the hunt (a good restaurant will do).
5. Eyegaze until it doesn't feel weird.
6. Fulfil each other's primary fantasies within reason and without judgment.
7. Sleep together like stacked spoons.

Repeat the above until love and lust click in. Then send your love brain chemicals into overdrive by not seeing each other. That's when things really get cooking.

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My Review:

I devoured this book! It was a quick read and just what I was in the mood for. It's a fresh, funny and witty, a really original and different way to talk about romance
April is attracted to a co-worker. She's sure if he knew her better he would be  fall in love with her. Unfortunately just she manages to have an appointment with him ends up that he is attracted by her roommate. Depressed she decides to go to a psychologist to understand why she always falls in love with the wrong guy. During therapy she establishes a list of things to do to conquer her ideal man that for her is her best friend Nathan. Will he be the right one?
It's a light and pleasant reading, is the perfect book for a quiet afternoon read!
This was my first time reading a book by this author, and I can say with complete certainty That it will not be my last!
I have no hesitation in recommending it highly.

I received an advanced reader copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.



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EXCERPT:


Half an hour later, Claire helped me carry my boxes to my new floor.

‘I’d lose the breast-enhancers if I were you’ she said when we were alone in the lift. ‘The men in this office are worse gossips than the women. They’ll notice if your boobs are bigger one day to the next, and have a big discussion about it.’

I gave her a confused look.

‘You’re not serious?’

‘I’m deadly serious.’

The lift stopped at the fourth floor, but Claire held down the ‘Close Door’ button. A buzzer went off in protest.

‘I’d do it now if I were you,’ she said.

‘Now?’

‘Yes. Quickly.’

I put down my box, reached into my bra and fished out one chicken fillet, then the other. My C was instantly a B. I put the fillets in my handbag.

Claire gave me a look of approval, then took her finger off the button. The doors released and we walked straight into the six-foot-four-inch frame of Wade, Ryan’s boss.

‘Wade, this is April, your new L and D consultant,’ Claire said, taking charge.

‘So … April,’ he said, casting a micro-glance at my cleavage before stepping into the lift. ‘Welcome to the jungle.’

Before I could answer, the doors closed and the lift whisked him away.

‘Typical Wade,’ Claire said with disapproval, before putting on a determined look like a pith helmet and slicing her way through the jungle that was the fourth floor. Loud phone conversations, lively debates, shouts across workstations and counter-shouts back filled the space. No one paid any attention to Claire, me and my boxes.

I kept my head down until she suddenly came to a stop near Ryan’s workstation. I had a good look at his things since he wasn’t around. There was a calendar blu-tacked to his bookshelf, pictures of an unknown beach and ski slope, a President’s Club certificate (a junket for only the best salespeople) and a laminated quote stuck to the top of his computer monitor: Victorious warriors win first, then go to war. The words Sun Tzu — The Art of War, were in small writing underneath. Fortunately, there were no happy couple or girlfriend pictures.

‘So what do you think?’ Claire asked.

‘Um. There’s a lot of energy in here for sure,’ I said. ‘It’s pretty noisy, though.’

‘I meant what do you think of this workstation?’ she said putting the box she was holding on a desk a few metres from Ryan’s. It was so close. Too close. Like being in the front row of the cinema.

‘Is that spot also an option?’ I pointed to a workstation further away.

‘Too far away,’ Claire said. ‘It doesn’t send the right message to the team. I want them to know you’re available.’

She glanced at my skirt which seemed to ride up every time she looked in my direction.

I put my box on my new desk, then wriggled my skirt down when she wasn’t looking.

‘By the way, did you know that Toby was working on a team-building afternoon for these guys and the Technical Support team? They need some cohesion.’

‘He never mentioned it.’

‘It’s tomorrow,’ Claire continued. I gave her a surprised look. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Bad taste. The day after retrenchments and we’re spending money on lunch and a jet boat ride. It was booked a while ago.’

‘Shouldn’t it be jet boat first, then lunch?’ I said.

‘Talk to Wade about it. Call me if you have any problems.’

Claire walked away as my phone buzzed. It was Wade inviting me to a team meeting in half an hour.

I tried to stay calm as I unpacked my things, but it was hard. My eyes kept checking out the lift, waiting for Ryan to appear. I felt like a predator waiting for her prey. Only it was the other way around. I was the prey.




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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sara Donovan is a corporate facilitator and instructional designer who delivers training programs in neuroscience and communication skills. She draws inspiration for her writing from psychology, science and her accidental romcom life.



A little interview


Where are you from?
I’ve lived in Sydney, Australia, my whole life, and I love it – despite living out in the suburbs, nowhere near the harbour and spending extended periods in traffic just minutes from my driveway.
The beaches, climate, lifestyle and sport are just a few reasons why Sydney’s worth the occasional grid lock.
What is the first book you remember reading?
I wasn’t a bookworm for most of my childhood and skimmed almost everything I had to read until I opened the cover of ‘101 Dalmatians’ by Dodie Smith when I was 10 or 11. That book gave me my first ‘sneakily reading a book under the covers with a torch’ experience.
The idea that dogs thought humans were their pets, had a network where they could send alerts (the twilight barking) and could roll in soot so they could run undetected through the streets of London at night (all 101 of them), really floated my boat.
What gave you inspiration to write this book?
Reading a neuroscientific study that explained that the ‘falling in love’ experience was significantly influenced by the environment and also by our kindergarten fantasies of what a perfect parent would be like, created so much fascination in me I had to write a story about it.
The topic also interested me because I often got hooked on the completely wrong guys and “missed” the right guys when I was growing up.
It was a frustrating and painful experience to have a broken ‘man picker’ and it wasn’t until I discovered the role of my brain’s hard wiring, that I could understand why I made such poor love choices when I was younger. 
I wanted to write a book about a woman who had the problems I did, but used her knowledge of the ‘brain in love’ to get in control of who she fell in love with.
Without giving too much away, of course it isn’t as simple as that. Nonetheless, I wanted to explore the subject in a way that could be hopefully entertaining, unpredictable and also helpful to anyone confused by their love choices.
What is the hardest thing about writing?
Time. Writing is very time consuming and I am time poor in many ways. I run my own management consultancy and have a family, so I can’t just write and do nothing else – as tempting as that would be sometimes.
Ironically, time is also the best thing about writing. When you’re in the creative flow of a story, you’re basically in a trance state, which often creates blissful feelings – especially when the characters take over and you’re just a witness discovering what’s happening as you type. When you’re in that kind of blissful writing trance, you completely lose track of time.
I was recently on a 5 hour flight, deep in a writing trance and was really confused when the air stewardess told me to put away my computer because we were about to land. I thought we’d been in the air about 20 minutes.
What else do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?
Reading, reading, reading of course! And talking about books, films and the meaning of life with family and friends.
I also love hot yoga, meditation and cooking really yummy food that is easy to make and healthy.
What are you working on next?
I’m working on a romantic comedy about a socially active women who is trying to save the world and win the guy at the same time. She’s a wannabe documentary film maker who is in love with the subject of her film – a social activist who is living off the grid in what appears to be an ideal community.
The story is an exploration of the monogamy/polyamory spectrum, how far people will expose themselves for a cause they believe in and the light and dark side of being a hero.



Buy Link:


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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Sara will be awarding an eCopy of Love by Numbers to 3 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

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