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Hello everyone. Today I have a special guest here at my blog. Please welcome author Brian Cohen! Some of you may remember my raving about Brian's book, The Life O'Reilly. I really enjoyed this book and it will be on my top reads list for 2010.




The Life O'Reilly is a touching and emotional read. It's a story about life, love and finding oneself. You can read my full review here.

Visit the author's website here: http://www.briancohenbooks.com/



Not only is Brian stopping by my blog to do an interview, he has graciously offered to give away a signed copy of his wonderful book to one of my lucky blog readers!!
Read on for the interview, and the giveaway details.







Bookworm: Welcome to my blog Brian, and thank you for taking the time our of your busy schedule for this interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself.



Brian Cohen: A native New Yorker, I was born in Queens and raised on Long Island. I have had a passion for all things creative, including film, literature, and music, since elementary school. During my Middle School and High School years, when I was introduced to literary classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Les Miserables, and The Count of Monte Cristo, I discovered both a love of fiction and a knack for creative writing. But it wasn’t until my first semester of law school that I truly caught “the writing bug” and knew I had to become a storyteller. I have been practicing law for over 12 years, specializing in complex litigation. I live with my wife and our daughters in the suburbs of New York City.



Bookworm: What was the hardest thing about writing this book?


Brian Cohen: Without a doubt, the hardest thing for me was finding the time to write!





Bookworm: In your book, Nick O'Reilly goes through an emotional journey, he discovers love, hope and happiness along the way. Where did you get the idea for Nick's story?



Brian Cohen: I am a huge fan of crime fiction, so as an attorney setting out to write a first novel, it naturally followed that legal suspense would be my genre of choice. I spent six months researching, plotting, outlining, and creating character sketches, and then another six months cranking out 150 pages of material. During that time, though, a lot was happening in my life – stories of people my age dying prematurely were being told with alarming frequency, the rat race had become all-consuming, and my wife and I were getting ready to welcome our first child into the world. Then one day, I appreciated that everything I’d been experiencing had inspired another story; I realized that, though writing a crime novel was something I wanted to do, telling the story of Nick O’Reilly was something I had to do. So that evening, I told my wife that I was shelving the thriller and starting on a new project and, the following morning, I began writing The Life O’Reilly and have never looked back.




Bookworm: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?



Brian Cohen: Thanks so much for all of your support and enthusiasm. You've made the journey to publication all worthwhile!




Bookworm: I've read you have a second novel in the works. Can you tell us what it's about?



Brian Cohen: It's an emotional story of love and redemption that explores the politics of a family business and the impact it has on the relationships of its inter-generational members who struggle to understand the differences in each other’s values.





Bookworm: Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?



Brian Cohen: I admire so many authors whose books have inspired me over the years, but to name a few: Harper Lee, Chaim Potok, Sloan Wilson, Bernard Malamud, John Grisham, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane.






Bookworm: Thank you again Brian! It's been a pleasure getting to know a bit more about the author behind the book. Your new book sounds interesting as well. Best of luck :O)





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Giveaway Details:

1. This contest is open worldwide


2. To enter to win, comment on this post and include your email adress

3. For an extra entry, blog about this contest or place it on your sidebar and include the link with your comment and email.

4. A winner will be announced on Friday Oct.1, 2010

Good luck!

title: The Life O'Reilly

author: Brian Cohen

pages: 266

genre: fiction

published: 2009

first line: "There has to be a better way," I muttered, as I replaced the phone receiver on its cradle.


rated: 4 1/2 out of 5






The Life O'Reilly is a touching and emotional book that has become a new favorite of mine. It's a story about life, love and finding oneself.



Nick O'Reilly leads a decent life. He has always been a workaholic, and has sacrificed having a personal life in order to get ahead in his career.
He lives in a New York apartment overlooking Central Park. His career as a criminal lawyer is thriving. However, when he is assigned a pro bono case representing a battered woman, his life is forever changed.





Dawn Nelson is fighting for legal custody of her son. She suffered abuse at the hands of her ex husband, and now that she has left him and taken her young son with her, he is stalking her and threatening to kill her.




Nick takes the case very seriously, and after meeting Dawn and her son Jordan, he wants to make sure he does everything in his power to help them.





Things don't go quite as planned, and Nick finds himself looking at the choices he has made in his life, especially his career. As the story flows Nick realizes he wants to find someone to start a family with and grow old with.

What was I doing with myself? I couldn't help but think about my unsavory corporate clients, off in their weekend cottages and vacation homes, water-skiing behind yachts and diving in Grand Cayman, basking in the comfort of knowing their misconduct was easily being covered by directors and officers liability insurance, boasting about how royally they screwed their own shareholders.

I liked Nick right away. He's a nice guy, with a good heart. I enjoyed reading about his journey in realizing that there's more to life than just immersing yourself in work.


Dawn is a great character also. She's a good mother and just wants what's best for her son.


The relationship between these two was sweet. Nick and Dawn felt like real people to me. I was curious to see where their story would go.




Author Brian Cohen does an excellent job of drawing the reader in with an interesting storyline and well written characters. There's plot twists and turns, and this one was hard to put down.



I enjoyed The Life O'Reilly from page one. I laughed, I was teary eyed while reading and when I turned the last page, I just sighed contentedly. This is the kind of book that you need to discuss after reading, it's an emotional story. It's the kind of book that you don't soon forget.

So, when all is said and done, my life will not be defined by merely a collection of professional or artistic achievements. It is a story of love, family, and friendship...

Special thanks to author Brian Cohen for sending me a copy of his wonderful book.





About the author:

A native New Yorker, I was born in Queens and raised on Long Island. I attended George Washington University, where I earned a Bachelor of Accountancy from GW’s School of Business and Public Management. After graduation, I attended St. John’s University School of Law, where I was a member of the Law Review. I have been practicing law for twelve years, specializing in complex litigation with an emphasis on corporate, securities, and commercial law. I live in the suburbs of New York City with my wife and our two daughters, and am working on my second novel.

This book has also been reviewed by:

Suko