Blog Tour ~ Review & Giveaway ~ Tattood & Tatas (Chocoholics #2.5) by Tara Sivec

 

Tattoos & Tatas (Chocoholics #2.5)

Release Date: October 1, 2014

By Tara Sivec

Book Description:

During the month of October, 100% of the proceeds from Tattoos and Tatas will be donated to breast cancer awareness.

Claire and Liz have always had a friendship that defied the test of time, but when one of them is diagnosed with a disease that every woman fears, their bond is put through the wringer. How do you cope knowing your soul mate could be taken from you?

Filled with memories of their life long friendship, inappropriate behavior, bad tattoos and shaving cats, the two friends will realize that laughter really is the best medicine.Tattoos and TaTas is not your typical love story; it's a story of friendship and learning how to let go when something is beyond your control.

 

Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22728057-tattoos-and-tatas

Our Review:

Reviewed by Willow & Donna

What Willow says ~ 5 Stars

"This is the story of the day everything changed, the day we all began looking at life a little differently than we did before"

Let me start off by saying that this is a little novella of about 100 pages, so it is an extremely quick read, but don't let that put you off. Its full of laughter and of course it centres around a devastating time for one of them as they are diagnosed and go through treatment for cancer. With so much in it, it does not feel a short novella at all.

This book is told from Liz's point of view as she is told by her best friend,

"so I have Cancer. Who wants more wine"

and it spans through Claire's treatment. During this time Liz has a hard time thinking that she's going to lose her friend and not knowing how to fix it. She reminisces about their past together, and so the chapters alternate between the present and the past.

"It's also the story of how we almost got kicked out of hospital, a funeral home, a tattoo shop and a small handful of bars"

I loved the past chapters getting a bit more background to Claire and Liz, how they met and also how Liz met Jim. It was great getting to see all the characters again, it was like going back to see old friends. It was extremely funny in parts, but it is totally balanced out with all the emotion and fears that Liz must deal with and lets not forget we see through Liz's eyes how Carter is dealing with his wife's illness and one part in particular really got me choked up, but then Tara does it again and is able to bring laughter to the situation.

This is a story of friendship, a story about struggling with your own fears, when you should be focusing on as many good things, good memories as you can, about remembering that sometimes friends don't want you to fix something, they just want you there for them.

Personally I stay away from books about cancer, It's too emotional for me, but Tara has done an amazing job of keeping the emotion in check, balancing it out with humour, all the while whilst not down playing the severity of the illness or what those who have suffered or seen someone they love suffering with it must go through.

Tara will be donating all the proceeds from the month of October to breast cancer awareness charities so go and grab you copy now!

"I think people forget just how powerful laughter is"

What Donna says ~ 4 Stars

“I’m going to have to fire you from your position as president of the Itty Bitty Titty Club. This is a sad, sad day in Titty Club history.”

I have never felt guilty laughing while reading a book…until now. Tara touches on some really sensitive and heart breaking subjects in this book but in usual Tara Sivec style she manages to combine the serious with the humorous. This book is a looking in from the outside book, touching upon how cancer not only affects the sufferer but also close family and friends.

It is that feeling of life being out of control and even if you are a “fixer” this is something far beyond your control and no matter how hard you try it cannot be fixed. The end result is out of your hands, you have to leave it to the doctors and the patient and that can be hard to deal with for some people, especially Claire’s best friend, Liz.

“She doesn’t need you to fix her, Liz. She just needs you to be there for her.”

Liz and Claire are soul mates, these two were meant to be together, and they truly are the best of friends. So when Claire is diagnosed with breast cancer, Liz struggles. Liz feels helpless, devastated and extremely sorry for herself. She cannot believe that this is happening to her best friend and the fact that she is powerless to have any effect on what happens in the future. Liz has a lot of thoughts and feelings to overcome, but sheltering yourself away from your best friend when all she needs is you, is not the way forward. After some soul searching Liz finally finds herself and recovers to be the best, best friend that Claire could need. This also leads to some seriously hilarious shenanigans as we have come to truly love from this crazy crazy group of friends.

We have shaved legs, balls and pussy’s (get your head out the gutter) this is the feline variety, melons and tattoo’s. This book has the perfect balance of the serious, emotional side and the light hearted f**k cancer side. It goes to show that friends and laughter can help in even the direst of circumstances and that as long as you have friends, life itself, never seems that bad.

A great quick read that will have you laughing even though you feel you shouldn’t, with a great message to those suffering with cancer and those supporting those sufferers. Every October a portion of the sales of this book goes to two fantastic cancer charities, so if ever that was the nudge to buy it, then do, because you won’t be disappointed.

“F**k cancer. Save second base. Fight like a girl. Do it all and do it with a few laughs because you are amazing, you are strong and you are a fighter, just like my best friend.” 

Buy Links:

 

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1x8NJbH

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1xNPMVK

About the Author:

 

 Tara Sivec is a USA Today best-selling author, wife, mother, chauffeur, maid, short-order cook, baby-sitter, and sarcasm expert. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children and looks forward to the day when all three of them become adults and move out.

After working in the brokerage business for fourteen years, Tara decided to pick up a pen and write instead of shoving it in her eye out of boredom. She is the author of the Playing with Fire series, the Chocolate Lovers series , the Chocoholics series, the Fool Me Once series, Burned and Watch Over Me. Her novel Seduction and Snacks won first place in the Indie Romance Convention Reader's Choice Awards 2013 for Best Indie First Book and she was voted Best Indie Author in the Indie Romance convention Reader's Choice Awards 2014.

In her spare time, Tara loves to dream about all of the baking she'll do and naps she'll take when she ever gets spare time.

Giveaway:

1 Breast Cancer Awareness Scentsy Warmer
2 Signed Paperbacks of Tattoos and Tatas
3 Tattoos and Tats themed swag bags
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway