Slice of Life Friday: Got Basil?

We still have a few flourishing basil plants in our garden and it won’t be long before a fall frost blitzes them, so that means…It’s time for Uncle Steve’s Amazing Pesto Recipe. Duh!

Uncle Steve, my bro, perfected his recipe over two decades of intense gardening, taste-testing and readjusting.  Truthfully, he ate so much pesto over this time that he simply can’t even grow basil anymore. He’s done.

But his recipe lives on…

So here it is (you can thank me later):

UNCLE STEVE’S AMAZING PESTO RECIPE:

2 cups chopped basil
3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts (or walnuts or parsley)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. salt

Blend in blender. That’s it!  Add pesto to soups and recipes. Slather it on bread with a slice of fresh mozzarella, a slice of ripe tomato (yum!). And of course it’s a wonderful coating for pasta.  If you have a ton of basil, you can spoon pesto that you won’t be using right away into freezer bags. It freezes perfectly.

Imagine having fresh pesto in the dead of winter. The fragrance of it filling your kitchen with summertime warmth…

And as a side note, if you have so many basil leaves on hand that there are even too many to convert ’em all into pesto, then just wash and pat dry these leaves and freeze them in bags.  I always have some on my freezer door and pull out a few to drop into a homemade soup or sauce.  A slice of summer at anytime.

Mangia! And enjoy.

Marie

150 Ebook Titles All on Sale for 99 Cents at Book Lovers Buffet!

Ready to stock up on your sizzling hot summer reading (including one of my novels) without breaking the bank?  Well here’s your chance!  Now you can choose from 150 Ebook titles all on sale for 99 cents at Book Lovers Buffet!

This is a limited time offer that is only valid from June 8th through June 22nd.  This special promotion includes a huge selection of romance ebooks, including young adult, contemporary, fantasy/sci fi/time travel, erotica, historical, inspirational, mystery/suspense and paranormal. All are discounted just for this sale till June 22nd. So whatever your taste, you’ll find great beach reads at just 99 cents. ALSO, on the sale site there is a page devoted to contests where you can win tons of gift cards, etc.  You definitely should check it out.

My novel OVER MY HEAD is available on the Book Lovers Buffet’s young adult page and the contemporary page for just 99 cents with links to purchase my novel through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords…  I can tell you that after the sale’s over, the price for OVER MY HEAD will be rising, so now’s your chance to snag it on the cheap.

OVER MY HEAD is the ultimate summertime novel, and a perfect beach read full of romance and longing.  This sun-soaked poolside book is about Sang, a high school senior who falls for Cameron, a gorgeous college-aged lifeguard.  He’s either the love of her life or a player out to stomp on her heart.  Sang teeters with Cameron on the edge of true love.  Will she sink or swim?

Clean Romance Reviews says OVER MY HEAD is “full of fun characters and twists…about a teenager figuring out what love can mean in its many forms.” And Stephanie Su of StephSuReads says, “The YA world very clearly needs more books like OVER MY HEAD…Marie Lamba gets numerous kudos for portraying the Jumnal family in such an empathic and rich way…younger readers will most likely find a bit of themselves, their frustrations and their desires, in Sang, and cheer this promising young lady on.”

If you want to snag OVER MY HEAD and a ton of the other 150 titles at Book Lovers Buffet without breaking the bank, you’d better act fast…or these prices, like hot summer nights, will fade away…

Summer Love in Winter…on Sale!

Hi folks!

I just discovered that my contemporary young adult novel Over My Head is now listed as a #19 top seller in the multiculti category on Amazon!!!  I’m especially honored because it’s just a few slots below Born Confused, another title that features Indian-American characters, and a book that I really love.

To celebrate, I’m putting my Over My Head ebooks on sale for just 99 cents.  But, like summer, this won’t go on forever, so snag your copy while you can.  For purchase links, just go here.  (Note that this price change was just listed…Smashwords already shows it, the other sites will have the 99 cent price up in the next few hours or so…)

In Over My Head, high school senior Sang Jumnal puts her heart on the line for college-aged lifeguard Cameron. Is he the love of her life? Or a player out to stomp on her heart?

If you like The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, and novels by Sarah Dessen, then you’ll love Over My Head, with its summertime vibe and realistic, heartfelt conflicts. My novel features the Jumnal’s, a funny mixed Italian/Indian American family that appeals to fans of Bend it Like Beckham and Born Confused. 

Here’s what Clean Romance Reviews said about Over My Head in their recent review: “Rarely have I encountered an author skilled enough to really get inside a sixteen-year-old mind and pull the reader along with them. All the crazy emotions, lack of focus, lack of maturity while trying to be an adult, and insecurities of wanting to fall in love… a good read, full of fun characters and twists.”

So check it out, and let a little summer shine into your dreary winter day!

Happy reads,

Marie

Clean Romance Reviews Loves OVER MY HEAD

Okay, I know its cold outside right now.  But for a moment, let’s go back to summertime. Glittering swimming pools. Steamy summer love…

Today over at the great book site Clean Romance Reviews, they’ve just posted a steamy hot review of my summery YA novel OVER MY HEAD.  This is the novel about Sang who falls for college-aged lifeguard who is either the love of her life or a player out to break her heart.

The reveiwer over at Clean Romance Reviews said, “Rarely have I encountered an author skilled enough to really get inside and sixteen-year-old mind and pull the reader along with them.”  And she went on to call my novel, “full of fun characters and twists.”

Doing the happy dance over this review (and maybe even the twist?).  For the full review, click here, and be sure to check out Clean Romance Reviews. It’s a cool site.

Stay warm, all!

Marie

 

OVER MY HEAD’s Latest Review!

I just got back home from a four-day visit to Florida for a family wedding, feeling a little tired and a bit overfed, when I opened an email that really perked me up…

Seems that Australian book blogger Agrippina Legit has just posted a review of my YA novel Over My Head. As with any review posting, I found myself holding my breath when I first gave it a read. But I quickly found myself grinning!

The review starts with this:

“Although Over My Head is really a sequel to Marie Lamba’s What I Meant (Random House), it reads perfectly as a stand alone novel… It’s an entertaining contemporary YA offering, which has a generally light tone but nonetheless manages to deal with some very big issues in a particularly sensitive manner.”

And the blogger’s review ends with this:

“Over My Head is a strong contemporary offering, with an interesting, multi-layered plot and a likeable cast of characters. Marie Lamba deals with cultural conflicts with warmth and sympathy, while accurately representing young love, with all its accompanying mistakes and embarrassments. A solid read.”

So great!

If you want to read her complete in-depth review, you can visit the book blog review by clicking here.

Hope you’ll check out this review, share it with others, and, of course, check out Over My Head.

Happy reading,
Marie

My Confession

So what is my big confession?

Check out my guest post today on the wonderful bookblogger site WORD FOR TEENS  by clicking http://bit.ly/rociAl 

Book Launch Party August 5th – Dive in!

Join me as I launch my newest title Over My Head out into the world! We’ll be throwing a huge book launch party on Friday, August 5th at the wonderful independent Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA from 7-9 p.m. The party is free and open to everyone.

Books will be signed. Snacks will be nibbled. I’m planning on having giveaways from the many local shops that are featured in the novel (more details about these in a later post).  And, if the stars align, I’m also hoping to have some lifeguards from Fanny Chapman Swimming Pool on hand to add to the beach party feel of things!

For those of you who don’t know, in Over My Head the main character Sang, a senior at CB West High, falls for a 20-year-old lifeguard from the Fanny pool.  And she doesn’t know if he’s the love of her life or a player out to break her heart. So, yeah, lifeguards with whistles at the party. That’s part of the plan. Hopefully without the heartbreak!

Should be a great time. Especially since it’s part of the town’s First Friday celebration. That means there is going to be tons of free entertainment along the streets of the town. It’s like all of Doylestown will be celebrating 🙂

Ah, there’s something about a book launch. It’s different than any other signing an author does, because for the very first time you are signing a brand new novel for readers. This is the first time I get to see people’s reaction to the cover, and I get to watch their expressions as they flip through the pages. It’s unnerving in a way, but mostly wonderful and exciting. For the first time, I get to see someone actually holding my book. I get to go to bed that night knowing that people will be reading my words and that the story that was stuck in my head for so long will come alive in a reader’s head now too. SHIVERS!

So come see me and be a part of this celebration. For more info, or if you would like to reserve a copy of Over My Head in advance, you can call the bookshop at 215-230-7610.

Here’s to making a huge SPLASH!

Goodreads Book Giveaway — Hurry to Win!

News flash!  A book giveaway has just gone live over at goodreads.com. Now you can enter to win your own free signed copy of my new young adult novel Over My Head.  Five winners will be selected, there is no cost involved on your part, and no one will collect your email and spam you, so it’s all good!

To enter, just click here.

This giveaway is open to anyone who lives in the U.S.  But, like summer, it won’t last forever. You must enter before July 15th. (There’s even a countdown clock on the giveaways page. Yikes.)

So get moving…And good luck 🙂

Over My Head on Sale!!!!!!

It’s summer. And high school senior Sang Jumnal is in way over her head.

Now you can be too!  HUZZAH!!!!!   My new novel Over My Head is now officially on sale in print ($12.99) and in ebook ($2.99).  To find out how to snag your own copy, just click here.

The book (a perfect beach read if I must say so myself) picks up two years after What I Meant… ends.  It’s the start of summer before Sang’s senior year in Doylestown, PA, and nothing goes as planned.  Sang definitely doesn’t plan on falling for 20-year-old lifeguard Cameron Cerulli. And she can’t tell if he’s the love of her life or a player out to break her heart. Serious Trouble.

So dive on in for some summertime fun, and enjoy.  As for me? I’ll be busy setting up a huge beachy book launch party (details coming soon), and generally working hard to spread the word everywhere.  But I just wanted to take a minute (and a deep breath) and share the happy news with you all.  My. Book. Is. Finally. Out!

Fist pump.  Heel click. Yessssss!

As always, thanks so much to you all for supporting this wacky writer and her work. It really means a lot. ❤

Marie

OVER MY HEAD now available in ebook! (Paperback coming soon)

Okay, crazy excited here!  The ebook version of OVER MY HEAD is now live!  It’ll be popping up in other ebook venues over the next few days, but it’s available through Smashwords for $2.99. RIGHT NOW!

Yippee!  (Insert sound of heels clicking.)

Even if you don’t do the whole ebook thing yet, you can click on the link and download the first third of the book for a free preview, and then you can get the paperback when it comes out in the next few days.  This is definitely a summery beach read, filled with lifeguards, love, drama and, yes, an apricot poodle.

Just click on this link!: Over My Head at Smashwords

Not sure what to do with myself now.  Eat dark chocolate in celebration? Yes, that does sound right.

Here’s one huge summertime HUZZAH!