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Q&A + giveaway with author Holly Christine

August 21st, 2010

Babes, join me in welcoming author Holly Christine as a part of our Summer Sizzle Saturdays all month long. Holly, I’ve slapped on the sunscreen and poured our margaritas. Let’s get to it.

Thanks for being a part of our Summer Sizzle Saturdays. What’s your favorite summer activity and favorite summer destination?
I love to read in the sun. There is something about a sunny, lazy day that is so appealing to me. Of course, I prefer my toes in the sand while I’m reading. I’m drawn to water (I’m a Cancer) and I plan trips accordingly: lakes, the ocean, the pool, you name it.

Tell us briefly about the writing process for this book.
Though I write everyday, I really write when the inspiration and narrative hit. That’s when I can’t stop and write late into the night and early in the morning to get the story out of my head and into my laptop. Tuesday Tells it Slant was written in one month, during the holidays. Looking back, I have no idea how I played hostess, gift shopper, gift wrapper, cookie baker, full-time job worker and writer that month. Of course, I drank at least a pot of coffee for every day in December of 2009.

We’re ready to have a pool party with your characters. Give us your main character’s names and a one-line definition for us to get to know them at our pool party.
Tuesday Morning: On a mission to find her true past.
Billy Nelson: Back in Tuesday’s life for a reason, and it begins with a capital L.
Katie Wrener: A Bully, but we all have layers.
Eli Dear: The man that Tuesday shouldn’t love.
Monday Morning: Twin sister of Tuesday and leader of the pack.

Book End Babes is all about girlfriends and great reads. What are some of the themes we could explore in your book?
Dealing with the painful past: Tuesday rewrites her old diary entries in an attempt to mask a past that she finds less than desirable.
Finding your true self: During this process, Tuesday discovers what and whom she really wants in her life.
Living in the present: With so many painful memories to cover up, Tuesday was consumed by her past and allowed her present life to fall by the wayside.

What is a “must read” book in your beach bag this summer?
I’m on a Jodi Picoult mission this summer. There are so many tear-jerkers that I need to get in by September. Right now, I’m reading Keeping Faith. Next, I’m going to take on House Rules.

BUY THE BOOK

Babes, leave us a comment for a chance to win TUESDAY TELLS IT SLANT. Thanks, Holly. It was a pleasure getting to know you. – ML

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Announcing Summer Sizzler Saturdays!

July 30th, 2010

Okay, babes. Um, wow. Feeling really, really excited about our August line-up on Book End Babes. In addition to our regular fabu Bookettes, we have four authors spending their Saturdays with us and giving away a copy of their book. Here’s what to look forward to in August:

August 7th – Lisa Unger/Fragile: Q&A & Giveaway

August 14th – Jenny Nelson/Georgia’s Kitchen: Q&A & Giveaway

August 21st – Holly Christine/Tuesday Tells it Slant: Q&A & Giveaway

August 23rd – Jane Porter/She’s Gone Country, Review (I’m reading now)

August 28th – Jane Porter/She’s Gone Country, Q&A & Giveaway

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Posted in Books in Bloom, Mainstream, Side Dish, Women's Fiction

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The Other Mother’s Club

July 28th, 2010

by Malena Lott

This Book in Bloom caught my eye by its catchy title and motherly cover. Other Mother refers to step-mother. A friend of mine raised her former husband’s daughters and added two more to the bunch. Since the girls lived with them full-time she was the “primary mom”. It made me wonder how in the h— she did it. I’d need a support group and that’s exactly what author Samantha Baker does in this delightful read. This book explores the joys and difficulties of that “club” in an entertaining, thoughtful manner. -ML

THE OTHER MOTHER’S CLUB by Samantha Baker

Product Description
Eve has had it—she’s no “wicked stepmonster” in the making. She absolutely adores Ian, the new man in her life, and she’s more than willing to open her heart to his kids. But nothing she does is right in their eyes, and she just can’t take it anymore.

At her wit’s end, she decides it’s time for stepmothers to stick together, so, with a little prodding from her best friend, Clare, she decides to join a support system for other women in the same boat. There’s stay-at-home mom Mandy, high-achiever Mel, and even young and in love Chloe. And as cups of coffee give way to wine, and their get-togethers become a regular fixture, the women share their love, lives, ambitions, and true feelings about their new families.

About the Author
Samantha Baker has edited some of the UK’s most popular magazines, including J-17, Company, and Cosmopolitan UK. She is editor in chief of Red, and lives between Winchester, Hampshire, and central London with her husband and grown-up stepson.

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Posted in Books in Bloom, Mainstream, Women's Fiction

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Mockingbird

July 22nd, 2010

It’s the first book I remember falling in love with, in 8th grade. I was always a pretty voracious reader, I would often be found with my nose in a book and would nightly stay up past my bedtime to read whatever adventure I was immersed in at the time. But To Kill a Mockingbird was different.

We read it in Language class, and I remember that our teacher had us dramatically act out scenes from the book. I still picture some of those kids when I reread this book, even after seeing the film many times.

I had moved from the big city to the suburbs the summer before school started, and I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was still a full-on tomboy, wearing hand-me-downs from my brother, while my peers were already wearing blue eye shadow, feathered hair and designer jeans. Academically, this suburban school was years ahead of the inner-city school district that I attended formerly, so the challenges to fit in were coming at me from all sides. I used books as an escape to places where I would understand the social landscape as my actual landscape seemed to be a foreign and unfriendly land.

Our teacher (Mrs. Goff) assigned us a lot of advanced fiction that year – Ayn Rand (Anthem, which I loved), F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), and of course, Harper Lee. I fell in love with To Kill a Mockingbird as so many others did. The characters resonated with me (especially the coming-of-age arc of the dedicated tomboy, Scout), the southern dialect was new and exciting for this Wisconsin girl, and the story line was moving, challenging and inspiring – all wrapped up in one small paperback package.

I’ve reread the book frequently over the years and watched the movie and loved that as well (Gregory Peck as Atticus is inspired casting). Years later, when I met the man I realized would my future husband, I gave him a mix tape of love songs and my copy of Mockingbird to read, because that was a shortcut to getting to know my inner landscape.

And now, as the book celebrates 50 years, I’ve picked up a copy of Scout, Atticus & Boo, where many others share their love stories with Harper Lee’s classic tale. I’m looking forward to savoring that one.

Get the book here.

Do you have a Mockingbird moment? Or another classic lit pick that speaks to you? Tell us about it!

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Side dish with author Sarah Pekkanen

July 1st, 2010

How NOT to take an author photo by Sarah Pekkanen
 
When it came time to take a photo for the jacket of my debut novel, The Opposite of Me, I figured I should do it right. Instead of having my husband snap a headshot with our cheap little camera, I hired a professional photographer. I asked her to come by one afternoon during a narrow sliver of time when I’d organized a baby-sitter for my baby and a Wii extravaganza for my older kids. I was showered (a minor triumph), mascara’d, and though I hadn’t managed to squeeze in a haircut or a trip to buy new Spanx, all things considered, I was feeling pretty triumphant about my grooming.
So there we were, me and the photographer, in my backyard, ready to take the picture that would proclaim to readers: See how friendly (but not too friendly, certainly not in a stalkerish way!) and smart (not too smart, though! No threats to you Mensa members here!) this author is? Isn’t her novel just leaping into your hands and compelling you to start reading it?
The problem was, it was hot outside. Brutally hot. And I was wearing a sweater (even I knew better than to trot out my usual summer uniform of slightly stained Old Navy t-shirts).
“Perch on this chair,” Hilary the photographer suggested.
I obligingly perched, smiled, and sweated while the camera clicked. After a few minutes, my thigh muscles complained about perching on the edge of a chair and suggested we all go inside for a little restorative chocolate treat.
“You don’t look comfortable,” she said. “Maybe a different outfit?”
I raced inside, changed, came back outside, and posed again.
“Hmm…” Hilary said. “I’m not sure that shirt is the right color for you.”
Since I know and trust Hilary – she shoots my photo for a magazine column I write – I dashed upstairs again to change. I tore through my closet, which was stuffed with shorts and t-shirts, maternity wear, and a few very outdated business suits. Where were all my clothes? My cute, trendy, flattering clothes? Did I really dress like this? The horror!
“Mom,” one of my kids whined, “can we have popcorn?”
“I’m having a photo shoot,” I said importantly. “You know, for my book.” The kid looked at me blankly.
“The Opposite of Me?” I said. “At bookstores everywhere? Didn’t Mommy teach you to say that whenever possible?”
“He bit me!” came an outraged wail.
“Stop fighting and I’ll take you to the pool in ten minutes,” I lied to my children, whose sense of time is seriously warped from scenarios just like this one.
“I’ve got to go,” the babysitter said apologetically. “I have another job to get to.”
“Let’s put the baby on a blanket outside,” I said desperately. “He can watch the photo shoot.”
“Did you powder your nose? You really should,” the photographer asked, clearly feeling this was no time for subtlety.
I powdered, brushed my hair, threw back my shoulders, and posed again.
“THARM alert!” The photographer shouted.
(A “Tharm” happens when you position your arm in such a way that it appears to be bigger than a typical arm — more like a thigh. Like the Ebola virus and men with bushy toupees, it is to be avoided at all costs).
I shifted, sweated, and posed. The baby rolled off the blanket into the grass. The older kids made popcorn themselves and doused it with a pound of butter. Was the baby rolling onto a bee? Why were the older kids being so quiet inside? And why didn’t I have cuter clothes? Wasn’t it bad enough that I drove a minivan?
“Smile!”
It was absolutely exhausting. And you know what? The tension showed in my face. I didn’t use the photos from that shoot, after all. Instead, I found an old shot Hilary had taken of me for my magazine column. I wasn’t wearing much makeup, and I wasn’t posing. I’d just moved in close to my sweet black Lab, Bella, to give her a cuddle, and I think my happiness of being near my dog showed. 

That’s the photo on the back cover of my book. 

Links:
www.sarahpekkanen.com
www.twitter.com/sarahpekkanen
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Pekkanen/215202723761?ref=ts

Thanks, Sarah. Babes, I read OPPOSITE last month and you’re in for a treat with this read. Grab a bottle of Middle Sister we wrote about yesterday and settle in to read this tale of fraternal twins and finding your grown up self.
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Places I Have Been

June 14th, 2010

It makes me sad when I mention a really good book I just read and the person I’m speaking to says, “Oh, I don’t read.” I must look like a deer in the headlights because I couldn’t imagine not reading. I used to get up on my soap box and go on and on. I know that the person only hears, “Blah, blah, blah.” I can see it on their faces as I extol the virtues reading, they could care less.

And I know why they don’t care. They’ve never been behind the scenes at a horse racing track to see how hard the people work, or how much they love their horses. Never looked across the water to East Egg, or met a vampire and fell in love. How could they, if they don’t read?

And those women longing for romance, and not getting it from their husbands are missing out on the heroes of the romance novels, or macho men of the mystery series. Yes, I too want my own version of Ranger. I won’t tell you who I think he’d be in real life, so I don’t spoil your imaginary version of him. I kinda like John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport, and Harlan Coben’s Winn, okay I’d take Myron Bolitar in a heartbeat, but Winn is dangerous in a way I could never fathom in real life.

I’ve been to Italy, South America, Canada, Spain, New York City. I’ve toured the underground tunnels of the River Thames, eaten in the finest restaurants in Paris, and even been in the dressing trailer on set of a blockbuster movie. Mostly I’ve witnessed murders, and watched them be solved in much more intriguing detail than CSI could ever offer. And the people I’ve met, laughed at and wept for are innumerable. And I’ve done this all without needing a passport or leaving my house. I’ve been places that people who don’t read can’t even imagine.

Best of all, I can quote obscure facts that no one needs to know, but make great cocktail party conversation. Like, “Did you know you can kill a person with just a light bulb and an old thermometer?” All you single women and men this is a great pick up line.

My current all time favorite book is Horse Heaven, by Jane Smiley. And my favorite character is a horse named Justa Bob. I laughed, cried and traveled the country to the biggest race courses, and the lowliest backsides reading this book. It was a travel back in time, as I spent many days at the track when I was younger.

Right now I’m visiting Danbury, a women’s prison on the east coast as I read Orange is the New Black.

 What is your all time favorite book, and where did it take you?

And I must say to all the authors whose books I’ve read, and to all the authors I have yet to read, thank you for showing me the world from my own back yard.

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Posted in Mainstream, Non-fic, Uncategorized

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The Lost Wife’s Tale

April 28th, 2010

I finished our April Top Pick The Lost Wife’s Tale, by the light of my iPhone one night when Sleepy couldn’t keep up with my night reading. Did I let that stop me? No. As is the case with most great books, I couldn’t put the darn thing down.

Here’s the description from the publisher:

Once Edith Lutz had a life, a husband, and a home. Why did she run?

Edith doesn’t want to be found, so she’s taken on a new look, a new name, and an anonymous new life in New York City. Hoping to escape her past and start over, she’s now working as a live-in housekeeper for wealthy, recently divorced publisher Adam. Edith is a breath of fresh air in her lonely employer’s empty home, and she soon becomes more than just the woman who cleans the kitchen. But Adam knows nothing of the real woman he’s falling in love with—or just how shaky the foundations of their blossoming relationship truly are. And Edith can never be sure that her dark history won’t catch up to her. In fact, it’s closer than she thinks.

What did I think?
McGilvary writes liquid prose, my absolutely favorite kind. You just melt with the story and there you are floating down the literary river until you’re dumped off the waterfall in a magnificent crescendo. Or something like that.

The protagonist – the “lost” wife – is not entirely likable, which I also enjoy reading. We aren’t sure WHY we don’t like her, though we do know that she is secretive and perhaps a bit dangerous and not to be trusted. And yet we sympathize with her because whatever reason led her to run away from her life must’ve been a doozy.

Nope, I’m not going to tell you much more than it’s a suspenseful, well-written read that will keep you wondering until the near end. You will probably disagree with some of our heroine’s decisions, but then again, you may not. The point is: you WILL be carried away with the story. I need Marion to feed me some more words ASAP. I’m going to go hunt down some more of her. One way is of course to check out her website. – Malena

About the Author
Marion McGilvary was restaurant critic for the Financial Times for three years and was short-listed for a Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award. She has written for numerous publications in the UK, including The Times, The Observer, Vogue, Marie Claire, Women’s Journal, and GQ. She has written and illustrated several children’s books and is the author of two books based on her columns in the Times and Observer. She lives in London.

Order the book by clicking on the cover image in the right sidebar.

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My Wife’s Affair

April 19th, 2010

This is definitely on my spring reading list. The book has gotten great reviews by PW and Booklist. Babes, get to know our Book in Bloom…

MY WIFE’S AFFAIR by Nancy Woodruff414SuCEkD6L._SL500_AA300_

A smart, sexy novel about a woman’s search for her former self on the London stage

Georgie and Peter, very much in love, move to London with their three children. Once there, Georgie’s dormant acting career takes off and she wins the role of Dora Jordan in a one-woman show. Dora Jordan was the most famous comic actress of the eighteenth century (she had thirteen illegitimate children, including ten by the future king of England).

As Georgie rehearses for her part, she becomes increasingly drawn to Dora Jordan, who she sees as a working mother with struggles exactly like her own. And when Georgie can no longer fight her attraction to the playwright, she begins an affair with tragic results.

Narrated by Peter, a failed-writer-turned-businessman, My Wife’s Affair is about infidelity, passion, duty, and about finally getting what you want and then wanting still more.

About the Author
Nancy Woodruff received her MFA from Columbia University. She taught writing at Columbia University and SUNY/Purchase before moving to London in 1997 for 8 years. Woodruff currently teaches at NYU and lives in Brooklyn.

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Girlfriend author April Henry

April 15th, 2010

Welcome, girlfriend April Henry, here to dish on her new book HAND OF FATE.

Hand of Fate coverIf Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be?
Unintended consequences.

What was the most fun scene in your book to write? The most difficult?
The most fun was the crazy mayhem when downtown Portland was evacuated. The most difficult was what happened with Allison’s pregnancy

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice?
My vices are all not writing related. They usually involve food.

What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?
On a MacBook Pro, often on my couch.

Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?
I was loading towels in the dryer when I got a call from our publisher. A bunch of folks were on a speaker phone yelling, “You’re on the New York Times bestseller list!” I jumped up and down and squealed and felt unreal – and then I kept putting towels in the dryer.

What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?
I am very bad about celebrating.

Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.
Persevering, impetuous, assiduous, benevolent, convivial.

ABOUT HAND OF FATE:

When the host of a popular radio talk show is murdered, the suspects almost outnumber his millions of listeners.
Outspoken radio talk show host Jim Fate dies he opens a package and releases poisonous gas while his polarizing show, “The Hand of Fate,” is on air.
In the ensuing panic, police evacuate downtown Portland. Soon the triple threat of FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges, crime reporter Cassidy Shaw and Federal Prosecutor Allison Pierce begin piecing together the madness, motive, and the mystery that lie behind Fate’s murder.
While Lis has worked with Bill O’Reilly for years (often serving as the voice of reason or his liberal foil, depending on your point of view), the character is NO WAY based on O’Reilly.
This is the second in the Triple Threat mystery series, which has been optioned for TV. The first, Hand of Fate, one was on the New York Times bestseller list for four weeks! And in April 2011, readers can look for Heart of Ice, which traces the path of a destruction left by a sociopath – and based on a real-life case Lis prosecuted.

Get the book here.

About the authors
April Henry grew up in a little town in Southern Oregon where the main industries were timber and pears. When she was was 12, she sent Roald Dahl a short story she had written about a six-foot-tall frog named Herman who loved peanut butter. He not only wrote her back – he showed it to the editor of an international children’s author, who asked to publish it.

Since then, April has written nearly a dozen mysteries and thrillers for adults and teens, with seven more on the way. Look for her young adult thriller – Girl, Stolen – in October 2010.

Lis Wiehl is a former federal prosecutor who is now a legal analyst for FOX-TV.

What the critics are saying
“Exciting… readers will identify with these very real women as they try to uncover Fate’s killer, and each battles a personal demon—Allison her fear of miscarriage, Nic her fear of her daughter’s criminal father, and Cassidy her prescription drug addiction.”
–Publishers Weekly

“The second book by Wiehl and Henry featuring the Triple Threat Club ratchets up the excitement and suspense to another level. Realistic characters with authentic dilemmas will appeal to a wide array of mystery lovers.”
–Romantic Times, four stars

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The Language of Secrets: Backstory

March 30th, 2010

As readers we love to hear where authors get their ideas. For Dianne Dixon’s novel THE LANGUAGE OF SECRETS, an actual event haunted Dianne and it spawned the idea for her novel. -ML

language-cvrHere’s the backstory, excerpted from her website. The book is high on my reading list.

The Language of Secrets was inspired by an actual event: In infancy, a friend of mine was abandoned by her parents. They were a “respectable” couple, with other children; and their marriage and family remained intact after they removed her from their lives. From the moment I heard her story it haunted me. What strange secrets would make a parent erase a child?

The first draft of Language of Secrets was completed in less than a year. I think that’s because I was writing about a character (Justin Fisher) trying to decode the secrets of an unusual, and complex, family. I’m familiar with complex families: When referring to our extended family, a British cousin once said: “They’re all quite mad, you know.”

And as the old saying goes—write what you know—my own family experience, my friend’s story, and an article by a Cornell Medical School professor about Dissociative Identity Disorder (a psychopathology related to severe, early childhood abuse and trauma—whose symptoms can include disturbances in both identity and memory) dovetailed to give me a story I’d been waiting to write.

Before The Language of Secrets, I was a television writer who knew I was supposed to write a novel. I promised myself, again and again, I’d do it—someday. Then, when I was barely out of my 30s, the lenses in both my eyes were replaced with artificial implants—a surgery usually done on octogenarians. All I could think was: If my eyes are this bad now, they’ll never last until I’m eighty. I told myself I’d answer the wake-up call and start the novel. But there were television writing jobs—tantalizing paychecks—I assumed I had a lot of ‘somedays’ still ahead. The somedays had rolled into years when I returned from a writing assignment in the UK feeling so ill that I went straight from the airport to my doctor. For no apparent reason, I’d lost 24 pounds in less than three months. An avalanche of tests began, including one for ovarian cancer. And I realized time might have run out—I might have already passed through my life and not done the thing I was meant to do.

The doctors never figured out what had happened to me; and that worried me. But I was absolutely at peace with the non-medical part of it: the warning that I’d burned through too many somedays. I had a successful screenwriting career—comedy for Howie Mandel and Damon Wayans, ideas in development with Jennifer Lopez’s and Kate Hudson’s production companies, and the creation of a drama series in England—but I knew it was time to do what I was supposed to do—resign from scriptwriting and begin The Language of Secrets. The house got downsized; two cars became one; and, often, my husband and I were in a race to see which would land first—bills in the mailbox—or the money in the bank to pay them with. But at the end of it all there was a book; a marriage tested, and surviving to tell the tale; and a life lesson so obvious, and yet so profound: Whatever it is you’re called to do, don’t wait. Do it. Don’t waste even one of the days you’ve been given.

For me, being able to tell Justin’s story as a triumphant one—as one that might make readers look for the stories behind the stories in their own families, and thus see their families in a new way—turned out to be the most rewarding writing I’ve ever done. A joy beyond description.

Get the book here.

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