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Q&A + give-away with author Lisa Unger

August 7th, 2010

Is it hot out here, or is it just me? *moves shade umbrella, pours lemonade, adds a splash of vodka to mine*
Lisa, welcome! Cute suit. Thanks for kicking off our Summer Sizzle Saturdays here on BEB with us. Not a better accessory to hot summer days than a great book! What’s your favorite summer activity and favorite summer destination?

I travel so much throughout the year that my favorite summer destination is right here at home in Florida. During the summer we spend lots of time at the beach, hanging out with friends on our boat, and paddling around on our kayaks. It’s really what I love the most about Florida, being on the water.

Tell us briefly about the writing process for this book.

I don’t outline. When a book begins, usually with a character voice, I have no idea what’s going to happen, who’s going to show up, what they’re going to do day to day. And I certainly have no idea how things will end. It’s kind of a crazy way to write a book, but I’ve never done it any other way. I write for the same reason that I read, because I want to know what’s going to happen.

This is why I was about halfway through the writing of FRAGILE when I finally realized what it was about — and that the story at its center was an event from my own past.
When I was a teenager, a girl I knew was abducted and murdered. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we were friends. But we were acquaintances, played together in the same school orchestra. And her horrible, tragic death was a terrifying and hugely traumatic moment in a quiet, suburban town where nothing like that had ever happened before. This event changed me. It changed the way I saw the world. And I carried it with me in ways I wasn’t aware of until I was metabolizing it on the page — more than twenty-five years later.

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.

Hmm … that would be an interesting pool party. Jones is the former high school heartthrob turned town cop. He’s loved and respected in The Hollows but has a challenging relationship with his son. He’s also hiding an ugliness in his past. His wife Maggie is a family and adolescent psychologist, and her relationship with Jones is often strained with arguments about their son, Ricky. Rick, as their son prefers to be called, is a smart kid who does well in school. But he’s a bit of rebel often clashing with his father. When Rick’s girlfriend Charlene goes missing, tensions run high, and we learn that all of these characters (and others) have been on a collision course since an event that occurred twenty years earlier.

Book End Babes is all about girlfriends and great reads. What are some of the themes we could explore in your book?

Most of my books deal with issues of family, the secrets and lies that dwell beneath the surface — and that’s certainly a large theme in FRAGILE. I also touch on matters of marriage, trust, the relationships between parents and their children. In FRAGILE, another theme I explore is the idea of small town dynamics, how a tiny close-knit community can be a source of strength in hard times but also a burden in some ways.

What is a “must read” book in your beach bag this summer?

I have three: Alafair Burke’s 212, Gregg Hurwitz’s THEY’RE WATCHING and Laura Lippman’s I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

Babes, get a chance to win FRAGILE by commenting on this post before next Friday. Thanks, Lisa! We’re excited you came by to tell us about your book. *Lisa dives in the deep end* I don’t blame her.

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Posted in Books in Bloom, Women's Fiction

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THIS LITTLE PIGGY Contest

August 5th, 2010

Special thanks to Julie (@bookingmama) for hosting this fun contest NAME THAT PIG for FIXER UPPER, my upcoming ebook about girl power and power tools.

Hop on over this week and submit the name you recommend for the piglet featured in the cover. The pig is a pet spotted piglet in the book. As Macy, my protagonist, explains in the book:
“A normal piglet would prefer to live with her mama and siblings in the barn, eating slop and rolling in the mud. Dixie preferred to stay in the house and chase the cat. She was an outlier, an anomaly, a freak. No wonder I liked her.”

If your name is chosen, you’ll win a copy of the book + a pink toolkit!
Enter here and good luck!

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Posted in Women's Fiction

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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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Weaving Truth In To Fiction

July 28th, 2010

Last weekend I started reading Jennifer Weiner’s new book, Fly Away Home. I’m already engrossed in the life of Sylvie Woodruff and her two daughters, Diana and Lizzie. With each page I’m learning more about the characters and watching their personalities unfold. As I do with each Jennifer Weiner book, I’ll lose myself in the lives of the characters she’s created. I’ll follow their stories, root for my favorite and be thoroughly entertained. I will also wonder if she’s plucked something from her real life and included it in the story.
I fell in love with Jennifer Weiner’s writing style after reading Little Earthquakes in 2004. At the time I had a newborn and a four year old. I was deep in the trenches of mommyhood and so were the characters. As it turns out, Jennifer was too. In Little Earthquakes she explored the exhilaration and exhaustion of parenthood from her own real perspective as a first- time mother.
Over the years I’ve devoured every book Jennifer has written. Along the way I noticed recurrent themes (Jewish customs, characters who struggled with weight loss, sibling rivalry, even lap pools) and wondered how much was simply coincidence or real life themes she purposely returned to. Even her beloved pooch, Wendell, makes an appearance in her first novel (Good In Bed) as Cannie’s dog, Nifkin.
I’ve always been fascinated by the writing process. I find myself particularly curious about which aspects of the story were researched and which were written from a well-known place in the author’s heart.
I love to blog, write articles for a local lifestyle website and chat about my favorite reads here at Book End Babes. Every now and then, a story idea or plot will come to mind and I’ll proclaim, “that’s it, I’m gonna do it, I’m going to write a book.” Then of course the dream bubble will burst over my head when I hear shouts of, “I’m hungry,” “the cat threw up again,” “I’m bored.” Currently, this glamorous life doesn’t afford me time to write more than a grocery list but you never know what the future may hold.
Fortunately life has blessed me with my own fantastic cast of characters. I’m surrounded by friends and family who are interesting, funny and some, downright insane. In addition to the voices in my own head, these real people may some day grace the pages of a novel. Maybe I’ll write about my half-blind grandmother who cooked like a Top Chef, saved used tin foil and washed dishes with her bare hands. I might devote a supporting character role to my brother who specializes in creating unique strings of curse words. In anticipation of my book, he’s already provided me with his preferred pseudonym, Jasper McCoykins. And of course what story would be complete without a Willie Nelson-loving, cancer-battling father who eats his weight in peanut butter covered Oreos?
Now, if I can just get them to sign the release forms.

BUY THE BOOK

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Posted in Uncategorized, 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.

BUY THE BOOK

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

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Pieces of Happily Ever After

March 5th, 2010

Our Book in Bloom feature a spunky little girl, her broken-hearted mama and a husband-stealing starlet. (So *that’s* why her husband turned in his six-pack for six-pack abs!)

The funny, well-written Hollywood tale is a great one for anyone who enjoys Jennifer Weiner and Beth Harbison.

40047184.JPGPIECES OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Irene Zutell

From the publisher:
What happens after “happily ever after”? Alice Hirsh is about to find out…

Alice, a former New Yorker who thought she’d never feel at home in the bizarre world of the San Fernando Valley, was adapting, raising her 5-year-old daughter while trying to keep her job and make her new house a home. When her attorney husband lands a trophy client – box-office queen Rose Maris – things begin to look up. Then Alex starts working late – a lot. He crunches his paunch into a six-pack and trades his Gap ensembles for Armani everything.

Soon, Rose and Alex’s affair blazes in the tabloids and Alice is plunged into trash-gossip hell. Her life crumbles around her as she navigates her newly single self through suburban LA –a place rife with porn stars, psycho soccer moms and nutty neighbors.

Is there a chance to wrest Alex from the Sexiest Woman Alive? And if so… would Alice want him back? And what about George–her college sweatheart? Or Johnny, a walking charm-bomb paparazzo? As Alice inventories the rubble of her life, she desperately searches for her bearings and is forced to ask herself what she really wants from life, love and herself.

About the Author
Irene Zutell began her career as a journalist. She has written for People, Us Weekly, The New York Times, the NY Daily News, Newsday, USA Today and others. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children. You can visit her at www.irenezutell.com.

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

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The Murderer’s Daughter Release Day

January 19th, 2010

This week’s Book in Bloom features a novel compared to the likes of White Oleander and The Deep End of the Ocean. If you’re looking for am emotionally gripping tale, consider THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTERS by Randy Susan Meyer.

41gjyBJkUdL._SL500_AA240_ From the publisher:
A beautifully written, compulsively readable debut that deals with the aftermath of a shocking act of violence that leaves two young sisters with nothing but each other—in the tradition of White Oleander, this haunting novel is a testament to the power of family and the ties that bind us together, even as they threaten to tear us apart.

Mama was “no macaroni-necklace-wearing kind of mother.” She was a lipstick and perfume-wearing mother, a flirt whose estranged husband still hungered for her. After Mama threw him out, she warned the girls to never let Daddy in the house, an admonition that tears at ten-year-old Lulu whenever she thinks about the day she opened the door for her drunken father, and watched as he killed her mother, stabbed her five-year-old sister Merry and tried to take his own life.

Effectively orphaned by their mother’s death and father’s imprisonment, Lulu and Merry, unwanted by family members and abandoned to a terrifying group home, spend their young lives carrying more than just the visible scars from the tragedy. Even as their plan to be taken in by a well-to-do foster family succeeds, they come to learn they’ll never really belong anywhere or to anyone—that all they have to hold onto is each other.

As they grow into women, Lulu holds fast to her anger, denies her father’s existence and forces Merry into a web of lies about his death that eventually ensnares her own husband and daughters. Merry, certain their safety rests on placating her needy father, dutifully visits him, seeking his approval and love at the expense of her own relationships. As they strive to carve lives of their own, the specter of their father, unrepentant and manipulative even from behind bars, haunts them. And when they learn he’s about to be paroled, the house of cards they’ve built their lives on teeters on the brink of collapse.

Buy the book here.

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Girlfriend (and Debut author) Marilyn Brant

October 5th, 2009

MarilynBrant[1]Marilyn Brant is in the reading lounge with me today, and we’re wearing our bunny slippers and drinking hot tea. (Don’t you think Jane Austen would approve?) See, in Marilyn’s creative debut, her protagonist hears the voice of Jane Austen, guiding her every move in her love life. Marilyn, thanks for coming by, especially on your debut week! So girlfriends, leave a comment on the best love advice you’ve ever been given and one lucky commenter will win an advanced reading copy of ACCORDING TO JANE signed and mailed by Marilyn herself. (randomly drawn at 9 p.m. CST and announced in the comments. Per usual, all BEbabes chapter members get one extra vote.)

If Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be?
How becoming your “Best Self” can require many long years of soul searching and endless hours of listening to sappily sentimental ‘80s tunes.

What was the most fun scene in your book to write?
One scene I had a lot of fun with was the bar scene in the first chapter where my main character runs into her ex-high-school boyfriend for the first time in four years. It was a situation I had never experienced personally, but I could imagine the comical possibilities so clearly and feel and the frustration of my heroine as if I’d been the one standing there, facing the jerk and his latest girlfriend, while Jane Austen ranted about how “insufferable” he was.

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice?
Before I sold According to Jane, the manuscript was a Golden Heart finalist and my son, an avid coin collector who was 8 at the time, gave me one of his “special quarters” for good luck. I won the award and now keep his quarter on my desk for good luck and inspiration. As for writing vices–I have a terrible tendency to “quote” things (not just in dialogue, but in narrative). Oh, and I also use too many ellipses…

What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?
I use every possible type of writing tool, and I use them everywhere. I have a desktop HP for my home office (I’m there most of the time), a Compaq laptop for coffee shop visits and I actually still draft a lot of scenes by hand on notebook paper. I’ve been known to use the occasional carryout menu or paper towel when necessary, too.

Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?
I’m a debut author, so I don’t expect name or sight recognition yet (and I happen to love anonymity, so I’m not rushing it!). But, right after my photo and book cover were printed in the library newsletter, I did get a flurry of phone calls and people stopping me at the local Piggly Wiggly to tell me they’d seen it… That I was famous (!!) and that everyone was going to be coming to my Author Talk. While I’m fairly certain not “everyone” will actually be at that talk, I look forward to assuring those who are that I’m really, seriously NOT famous.

What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?
I’m a huge fan of Thai spring rolls and English chocolate bars.

Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.
Curious. Persistent. Observant. Analytical. Creative.

accordingtojane[1]According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

In Marilyn Brant’s smart, wildly inventive debut, one woman in search of herself receives advice from the ultimate expert in matters of the heart. . .
It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett’s teacher is assigning Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet “tsk” of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who’s teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author’s ghost has taken up residence in Ellie’s mind, and seems determined to stay there.
Jane’s wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go–sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane’s counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.
Still, everyone has something to learn about love–perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie’s head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending. . .

Praise for ACCORDING TO JANE:
“A warm, witty and charmingly original story.” –Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Tell us, dear readers, what’s the BEST ADVICE you’ve ever been given regarding love?

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Posted in Atta-babe, Romance, Women's Fiction, girlfriends cyber circuit

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AFTER YOU

September 10th, 2009

34957625After You by Julie Buxbaum

First line: Let’s pretend that things are different.

What would you do if your best friend was killed in a mugging and your friend’s child witnessed the gruesome death?

Would you move across the ocean to help care for her, leaving your own life behind? This is just what Ellie Lerner does, taking over as the caretaker for young Sophie, who hasn’t spoken since the murder. Sophie’s father is distant and can barely look at her, which makes Ellie’s presence all the more important for the collective grieving within the household. AFTER YOU is Buxbaum’s second novel, a highly-anticipated read on my part after her stellar debut with THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE last year. Buxbaum’s writing is quite hypnotic and hits straight to the heart – especially since Buxbaum’s two novels have both dealt with loss. In each, the protagonist’s loss is at least in part her own doing. In AFTER YOU, Ellie doesn’t seem to grasp – or initially care – that her decision to stay and care for Sophie means leaving her marriage. As the story moves along we see why Ellie grapples with motherhood and marriage – her friend Lucy’s death was simply the final pin that burst the balloon. A revelation on Lucy’s past gives the book a surprising twist that made me examine why women do the things we do – for our children, and ultimately, for love. The book rarely lifts its tone above somber, though readers should be more than satisfied with the conclusion. Enjoyable, well-crafted and wholeheartedly recommended.

Learn more & order now.

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Posted in Mainstream, Women's Fiction

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Bird in Hand

August 11th, 2009

41K37Iz0chL._SL500_AA240_Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

First line: For Alison, these things will always be connected: the moment that cleaved her life into two sections and the dawning realization that even before the accident her life was not what it seemed.

Some titles suck you in. Some covers reach out from their place on the shelf and scream for you to rip open that cover to start gobbling up the story. Neither happened for me with this one, perhaps because it reminded me I need to make my bed and I couldn’t for the life of me remember the saying about a bird in hand until I asked my husband later: a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Despite a less-than-stellar blink reaction to the book, judging by its cover, I was so surprised, nay, delighted, when I began reading and loved the book. The third hook, the FIRST PAGE, has to seal the deal on whether or not the book and I are going to be friends for the duration of the read. 

Kline’s novel and I were immediately joined at the eyeballs for a whole day. That’s right. I was the girl on the diet who saw a bowl of M&Ms and scarfed down every last one and then skipped around the room on a sugar high. I know BIRD IN HAND doesn’t look like an M&M book, but it is. You’ll devour it and not hate yourself in the morning. 

The novel begins with an incredible hook: Alison, the stay-at-home mom protagonist and sometimes freelancer, has been in a car accident and a passenger in the other car, a three-year-old boy, has died as a result. The accident becomes the catalyst for the deeper examination of what is happening in Alison’s life – her stale marriage, her estrangement from her best friend from her hometown, and her loss of identity. If it weren’t for the accident portion of the plot, you may THINK you’ve read a story similar. After all, infidelity and identity are two biggies in women’s fiction. However, you would be wrong. Kline’s writing is such a joy that you’ll relish every word. If you love the written word, truly beautiful language, then Kline is your gal.

She writes not from on high, as some literary writers do, writing “down” to you, but with a strong sense of relevancy and spark. Moms will be able to relate to Alison and we can only imagine the pain of being a part of someone’s death, especially a child’s, when your own children are safe at home. Her friendship with Claire, a long-time best friend since childhood, is complicated because Claire is also a writer and has just published her first novel, a thinly veiled memoir which Alison has yet to read even though she is sure she is a character in the book. What Claire does to Alison is unspeakable and because Kline gives us the story in alternating points-of-view between the two couples as well as flashback scenes from college to present-day, we see the red carpet of infidelity rolled out before our eyes. We see where it came from, and strangely, how it all makes sense, even if we don’t approve of it.

BIRD goes one step further, digging deep into our psyches, where the dreams and mis-steps of our own lives come clearly into view. How we’ve ended where we are now may be a mystery to us, but thanks to Kline’s brilliantly assertive novel, we may actually be able to solve it. 

For: A fast-paced literary read about friendship and marriage. – Malena Lott

Get it now. 

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Posted in Mainstream, Women's Fiction

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