Blog Tour and Book Review and #Giveaway: Miss Scarlett’s School of Patternless Sewing by Kathy Cano- Murillo
by
Patty
-
March 8, 2011
About the Book:
Sometimes to find your life’s true path, you have to stray outside the lines . . . Scarlet Santana is never happier than when creating fabulous fashions for women of all shapes and sizes. Now, after years of hard work, she finally has the chance to live her dream and study under the hottest designer in New York. To raise money for her move, Scarlet opens an after-hours sewing school in a local record shop, teaching a type-A working mom whose rigid parenting style is causing her family to unravel and an enigmatic seamstress with a mysterious past. But as stitches give way to secrets and classmates become friends, the women realize an important truth: There is no single pattern for a good life. Happiness is always a custom fit.
About the Author:
With a life motto of “Crafts! Drama! Glitter!” Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo is a creative force of nature. A former syndicated columnist for The Arizona Republic, she is the founder of the award-winning Web site, CraftyChica.com and the author of seven nonfiction craft books and a Web series on LifetimeTV.com. Kathy has a Crafty Chica line of art supplies that are sold nationwide. She also has been featured in numerous media outlets such as The New York Times Magazine, NPR’s Weekend Edition, USA Today, Bust, and Latina magazine. She has shared her crafty ideas on local television, as well as on Sí TV, HGTV, and DIY network. She has been writing stories longer than she has been crafting. Inspired by Judy Blume and Erma Bombeck, she caught the literary bug in grade school, where she used to draw a picture and then write a colorful story to go with it. It’s a creativity exercise she still practices to this day! Kathy lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband, two kids, and five Chihuahuas.
My Opinion:
Miss Scarlett is a woman full of talent, energy, and drive but lacking a certain empathy. Not that she is a bad person, she just feels that everyone looks down upon her chosen profession – fashion design. She comes from a highly educated group of siblings and they and her parents feel she is wasting her engineering talents making dresses. But Scarlett knows what she wants and she is going to get it. She starts her School of Patternless Sewing to raise money to go to a famous design school but it is she who learns the most.
This is the second of Ms. Cano-Murillo’s books I have read (you can read my review of Waking Up in the Land of Glitter HERE) and the second one I have truly enjoyed. Miss Scarlett is an enjoyable character full of joys and sorrows just like most of us. She has a goal and she wants to achieve it and works hard to do so. Along the way she meets some very interesting people with various problems. Just like life. Now of course this is a novel so there has to be a bit of the unbelievable and there is but not so much as to make the story completely crazy.
It was a fun, fast paced read, perfect for the beach or just sitting inside on a rainy day. You don’t have to sew or know how to sew to enjoy the book (ah hem). The characters will pull you along on a fun ride into the past and then into what might be.
Miss Scarlett’s School of Patternless Sewing is available at Amazon.com
Waking Up in the Land of Glitter is available at Amazon.com
Now for some fun “what might be!” Thanks to Hachette Books one lucky reader will get to win not just Miss Scarlett’s School of Patternless Sewing but also Waking Up in the Land of Glitter!
How cool is that!!!!
How do you win? It’s easy!
But first some rules:
US and Canada only
No PO Boxes
18 years older+
One bundle per household
MANDATORY ENTRY:
Tell me if you are crafty or not. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.
EXTRA ENTRIES:
1. Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway(one per day) – #Win Miss Scarlett’s School of Patternless Sewing/Waking up in the Land of Glitter @http://tinyurl.com/4gbgfj3#giveaway
All entries need to be in by 9PM MST on March 29th when I will go to Random.org to choose the winner. He/she will have 48hrs to respond or I will choose new winners.
Good luck everyone.
Disclosure: I received a copy of Miss Scarlett’s School of Patternless Sewing gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
Recently moved from the rural life of Montana to the small city of Brattleboro, Vermont, Patty Woodland is navigating the urban life of sidewalks and neighbors once again. She will share life in her small city, the books she reads, and as always, the delicious food she cooks and bakes.
