Happy Ho Ho!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest and Healthiest of New Years!  I'm busily making snow angels in my mom's front yard but will be back in 2012 to share more of my writing and publishing odyssey experiences with you!

See you next year!
Anne

The Tour Picks up Steam

Looking forward to tomorrow's tour stop at Jet Settlers Magazine where I'll talk about 'Expatriation Then and Now' and Linda at Adventures in Expatland will share her thoughts on @Home in Dubai.  Hope you can join me for a visit!

Anne


 

Virtual Book Tour Launches to Amazing Reviews

We launched the tour today on Arabian Tales and Other Amazing Adventures and I Was an Expat Wife. Thank you Katie and Maria for a couple of incredible reviews (that quite honestly left me blushing).  I had a great chat with Maria too and invite you to have a read.

Katie's blog also appears on The Boomer Chronicles today as part of their Blogging Boomers Carnival series! Very exciting!

See you tomorrow when I visit Jo Parfitt at Summertime Publishing and Lynda Skok Martinez at Longhorns and Camels.  We'll also launch our 'Funniest Dubai Stories' contest on The CAT (Cultural Arts & Travel Dubai).  Don't miss that! 

And don't forget...if you can post and tweet the following message that would be great!

"@Home in Dubai launches today! Full of advice for #expats moving to Dubai. Get it on Amazon http://amzn.to/vZJKYW #dubaiconnection"

The Virtual Book Tour Schedule - Connecting @Home in Dubai to the Blogosphere

I’m excited to share the plans for the Virtual Book Tour for @Home in Dubai…Getting Connected Online and on the Ground, which is taking shape quite nicely. The tour will run from Dec. 12-17 and feature some of my favourite bloggers (and stars of the expat and Dubai blogger world). There are more in the works but as of today I’m thrilled to announce the following blogs that I’ll be visiting on the tour:

Dec. 12 – Launch Day is going to be a very exciting and busy day!  We kick off with a review on Katie Foster’s, Arabian Tales and Other Amazing Adventures as well as an interview/book review with Maria Foley (fellow Canadian and intercultural communications expert) at I Was an Expat Wife. I’ll also be sharing some quick tips on writing and publishing a book and setting up your online platform that will air on Jo Parfitt's Writers Abroad radio show.

Dec. 13 – I’ll be dropping by The Cat for a guest blog and will announce the rules for a fun contest that blogger Jan D’Sa and I have cooked up. Stay tuned for details. On the same day I'll be visiting Lynda Skok Martinez's blog Longhorns and Camels.

The day will wrap up with Linda Janssen sharing her thoughts on @Home in Dubai with a book review in on her blog, Adventures in Expatland… and I’ll be popping by for sure to give it a read. 

Dec. 14 - I'll swing by Jetsettlers Magazine and do a guest post on getting connected 'then and now' and also drop by for a short visit with Expat Women.

Dec. 15 - My friend, Susan Castle (Susan the Coach) from Outwith the Dots will be hosting me on her blog as I explore the all important the Big 5 Personality Traits of successful expats that I first came across on Maria Foley's blog.  I will also return to Writer's Abroad and share some Blog Tour Secrets that I've learned as I go through this process.

Dec. 16 – The tour will find me happily digging my toes in the sand at Grace Fujimaki's Sandier Pastures with a guest blog on escaping into the desert.

Dec. 17 – I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be wrapping up tour week 2011 with a guest blog on connecting with your angels on fellow blogger and author, Zvezdana Rashkovich’s blog, Sleepless in Dubai. 

There are more to come on board in 2012 so I’ll be posting updates as they come in!

*There will also be a Book Blast on launch day when all my friends, family, colleagues and anyone connected to the book will post on Facebook and LinkedIn and Tweet the following message: 

“@Home in Dubai launches today! Full of advice for #expats moving to Dubai. Get it on Amazon http://amzn.to/vZJKYW #dubaiconnection” 

- Feel free to join in on the Book Blast on Dec. 12 – you could even schedule your Tweet now so you don’t forget.  See you then :)

*Updated on Jan 18, 2012

Book Review - Dubai Wives by Zvezdana Rashkovich

I don’t typically review fiction but there are so many kernals of truth in Zvezdana’s book, Dubai Wives: A Novel and many instances where I was nodding my head, recognizing similar situations I had experienced (or read or heard about) while living in Dubai, that I thought it would be appropriate! 

Dubai Wives is realistic, yet fictional, journey into the lives of eight women, all from different backgrounds and walks of life, but all living in the very cosmopolitan city of Dubai. Their experiences are fraught with the unique conundrums of living in an exciting, contemporary city with an undercurrent of Muslim values and Islamic law.

It’s full of mystery and intrigue, high emotion and colourful characters whose personalities both clash and meld all at once. Zvezdana cleverly describes the wildest contrasts that bring the reader skilfully into the private lives of each woman…. like the demur outer trappings of the Emirati heroine, Jewel, to the inner sanctity of her bedroom. Steamy stuff! She also takes you on the crazy roller coaster ride of Tara's life, an expat, married to a high powered executive, living and breathing his job and the toll it takes on her family.

Dubai Wives is full of all the elements that make a book a page-turner… power, betrayal, romance, exotic locations and a few plot twists to keep you glued.  Happy Reading!