Immaculate Conceptions - Fiction Giveaway #HolidayGiftGuide

Immaculate Conceptions

by S.E. Sward

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Need a great stocking stuffer or gift for the bookworm in your family? The 2012 Holiday Gift Guide presents:

           Immaculate Conceptions by S.E. Sward.

Story Synopsis:

Teddy Robicheaux is Hopeful1, a twenty-nine-year-old teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas. Married for three years and trying to conceive since her honeymoon, Teddy turns to Fruitful Musings, a website dedicated to infertility issues, for information and support when her doctor schedules her for a diagnostic procedure.

Liv Jensen is Mommy1moretime, a thirty-eight-year-old stay-at-home mom living in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Still grieving a miscarriage suffered two years ago, Liv is sent into a tailspin of jealousy, anger, and hurt by the unwelcome news that her new sister-in-law not only is pregnant but also had no trouble conceiving.

Kelly Dawson is Texasmom, a wise-cracking hairstylist from Dallas, Texas. Forty-one and a newlywed, Kelly wants to have another baby but is repeatedly told by doctors that she is too old to conceive on her own. She reluctantly undergoes intrauterine insemination and is crushed when the insemination fails.

Maggie Nash is Want2BaMom. Thirty-four, married to a college professor, and living in Nashville, Tennessee, Maggie has struggled to conceive for five years. When Maggie’s husband discovers that she is taking fertility drugs and wants him to get tested, too, her already strained marriage crumbles in earnest.

Immaculate Conceptions is a story about the necessity of redefining one’s self and one’s marriage in the face of infertility and the saving grace of friendship.

About the Author:

            S.E. Sward lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband and daughter and two overfed felines. What began as an effort to come to terms with her own infertility evolved into the novel Immaculate Conceptions. When S.E. Sward is not working on her next novel, she writes blog posts under the pen name Dame Nuisance (blackholesandmacrame.blogspot.com) and teaches essay writing to college freshmen. Immaculate Conceptions is her first novel.

What Readers Are Saying:

            "I read this book around the same time everyone was all atwitter about Fifty Shades of Grey. I picked up copies of both. It was summer...who doesn't love a juicy beach read?

            No offense to you who loved Fifty Shades...but y'all, I made it through a chapter and a half before I had to put it down for good. The writing is hackneyed and flat, and the characters are as two-dimensional as the paper they're printed on. I discovered by flipping ahead (and don't judge me, you know you did it too) that I would have to force my way through seven more chapters before anyone got naked—and seriously, what else would be the point of reading that book?!

            I tried, I really did. And that book's sold a bajillion copies, so maybe I'm of the minority opinion here. But...ugh.

            The charm of Fifty Shades of Grey completely lost on me, I turned my attention instead to Immaculate Conceptions, and really enjoyed reading a book about four well-rounded and interesting women that doesn't rely on clichéd archetypes to propel the story. These women reminded me of women I actually know, unlike the clueless protagonist in Fifty Shades. While many of the themes in Immaculate Conceptions could have taken the stories in a depressing, or worse, didactic or preachy direction, these four smart, funny and tough women kept me completely engaged throughout. Teddy, Maggie, Liv and Kelly remind me of friends of mine, women with real issues and concerns like jobs and children and romantic attachments and relationships with friends and—yes—there's even some pretty hot sex. Best of all, the writing assumes some intelligence on the part of the reader! (Now THAT'S a turn-on.)
            In short, loved it. Looking forward to Sward's next novel". –K.S.

           "Despite being a Yankee, I've always been captivated by the South and all its charms. The main characters of Immaculate Conceptions were so easy to like and relate to—earthy and sexy and real and raw. Teddy, Liv, Kelly and Maggie are the Designing Women of the chat room era.
            I've been on both sides of the coin when it comes to fertility, and I have to say author S.E. Sward is spot-on in the depth of feeling in her characters as well as their perceptions and the people around them. This book had me laughing and crying—sometimes on the same page—and I couldn't put it down". –S.S.

            "Although the premise of this book is infertility, the depth of the characters and the reality of their lives make the book much more than just that topic. It is so well written, it would appeal to anyone. The author has a skill with character development that brings the characters to life and you rush to see what will happen with them. As a lifelong, avid reader, I congratulate the author on getting the ending right. So often a good book will leave you disappointed because the ending is rushed or tricks you with a superficial twist. Not so with this book. It is real all the way through. I hope to see more writing by this author".—M.P.

Available on Lulu.com, Amazon.com,

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