Randa Jarrar is our guest blogger during the week of September 8th. If you have any questions for Randa Jarra, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about A Map of Home:

From America to the Middle East and back again— the sparkling story of one girl’s childhood, by an exciting new voice in literary fiction

In this fresh, funny, and fearless debut novel, Randa Jarrar chronicles the coming-of-age of Nidali, one of the most unique and irrepressible narrators in contemporary fiction. Born in 1970s Boston to an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, the rebellious Nidali—whose name is a feminization of the word “struggle”—soon moves to a very different life in Kuwait. There the family leads a mildly eccentric middle-class existence until the Iraqi invasion drives them first to Egypt and then to Texas. This critically acclaimed debut novel is set to capture the hearts of everyone who has ever wondered what their own map of home might look like.

About Randa Jarrar

Randa Jarrar was born in Chicago in 1978. She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved back to the U.S. at thirteen. She is a writer and translator whose honors include the Million Writers Award, the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Award and the Geoffrey James Gosling Prize. Her fiction has appeared in Ploughshares as well as in numerous journals and anthologies. Her translations from the Arabic have appeared in Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers; recently, she translated Hassan Daoud's novel, The Year of the Revolutionary New Bread-Making Machine. She currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A Map of Home is her first novel.

Kimberly Frost is our guest blogger during the week of September 8th. If you have any questions for Kimberly Frost, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about Barely Bewitched:

Welcome to Duvall, Texas, where new witch Tammy Jo Trask has just unleashed an accidental Armageddon...Oops.

Tammy Jo's misfiring magic has attracted the unwanted attention of WAM, the World Association of Magic. Now, a wand-wielding wizard and a menacing fire warlock have come to Duvall to train her for a dangerous mandatory challenge. But is there more to their arrival than they claim?

When a curse leads to a toxic spill of pixie dust, the town comes unglued and the doors between the human and faery worlds begin to open. To rescue the town and to face the impossible magical test, Tammy needs the help of incredibly handsome Bryn Lyons, but WAM has declared him totally off-limits. To avoid deadly consequences, Tammy probably ought to follow the rules this time.

On the other hand, rebellion is an old Texas tradition.

About Kimberly Frost 

Kimberly Frost wasn't born in Texas, but she got there as fast as she could. Currently at home in a small town known as Houston, she is taking dictation from her characters and working on her "Southern Witch" series. She loves to hear from readers.  

Seanan McGuire is our guest blogger during the week of September 8. If you have any questions for Seanan McGuire, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel:

October "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.

About Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire is a folk singer, songwriter and artist. She lives in Northern California. Rosemary and Rue is her first novel, and the start of a new series.

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My debut novel, Drawn into Darkness, is a paranormal romance. Dark, yes, but ultimately a romance. A strong bond develops between Rachel, the single mother with a troubled teen and Lachlan, the Soul Gatherer disguised as a priest-a bond neither one of them can deny, even though both have reasons to walk away.

Lachlan is well aware that there's no hope for a future with Rachel. But his attraction to her is immediate and visceral-and he can't help but offer his aid in protecting her daughter.

Rachel is struggling with many of the same challenges any one of us faces-making ends meet, keeping her job, raising her daughter. She has no idea that Lachlan is a Soul Gatherer. What she sees is a quietly confident, if somewhat enigmatic, man of the cloth. It's perfectly natural for her to seek him out when her daughter begins exhibiting strange behavior. But her failed marriage has left her leery, and Lachlan's disguise doesn't exactly set them up for success.

It says a lot for the compelling nature of a Scottish warrior that he's able to allay her fears and calm her doubts.

Excerpt:

His tongue drew a delicate pattern on her wrist. Combined with the heat of his hand seeping into her skin and the heady effect of his musky scent, she tingled-all over.

"Is it difficult?" he murmured.

"What?"

"Being the sole provider for your family, always having to be responsible, never being able to take more than a moment for yourself, even when you need it?"

Her breath caught.