Book Club Picks for April

Discussion begins on Monday, April 9th

If love is in the cards, then somebody stacked the deck. Los Angeles radio DJ Beryl “Berry” Lambert, whose name means luck, doesn’t much believe in it—although, thanks to her dear old gambling dad, she’s a bit superstitious, certain that everything happens for a reason. She keeps a four-leaf clover in her wallet, never takes off her horseshoe necklace, and won’t tempt fate by walking under a ladder or opening an umbrella indoors. Ever. When it comes to love, though, she could use a little luck. Two disastrous relationships back-to-back can mean only one thing to a woman who knows that everything good or bad happens in threes: A third Mr. Wrong is imminent. But fellow DJ Ryan Riley goes against the odds. Their on-air battle of the sexes is a hit for the station and sparks some serious heat after hours. Ryan is funny and sexy, and he thinks Berry’s quirkiness is cute. Is their romance doomed by the numbers—or is a girl who leaves nothing to chance finally ready to gamble?



Discussion begins on Tuesday, April 24th

Every dress has a history. And so does every woman. A treasured child’s coat becomes a thread of hope connecting two very different women. Her friends are stunned when Phoebe Swift abruptly leaves a plum job at the prestigious Sotheby’s auction house to open her own vintage clothing shop in London—but to Phoebe, it’s the fulfillment of a dream. In the sunlight-flooded interior of Village Vintage, surrounded by Yves Saint Laurent silk scarves, Vivienne Westwood bustle skirts, cupcake dresses, and satin gowns, Phoebe hopes to make her store the hot new place to shop, even as she deals with two ardent suitors, her increasingly difficult mother, and a secret from her past that casts a shadow over her new venture. For Phoebe, each vintage garment carries its own precious history. Digging for finds in attics and wardrobes, Phoebe is rewarded whenever she finds something truly unique, for she knows that when you buy a piece of vintage clothing, you’re not just buying fabric and thread—you’re buying a piece of someone’s past. But one particular article of clothing will soon unexpectedly change her life. Thérèse Bell, an elderly Frenchwoman, has an impressive clothing collection. But among the array of smart suits and couture gowns, Phoebe finds a child’s sky-blue coat—an item with which Bell is stubbornly reluctant to part. As the two women become friends, Phoebe will learn the tale of that little blue coat. And she will discover an astonishing connection between herself and Thérèse Bell—one that will help her heal the pain of her own past and allow her to love again.

Author Interview: Sere Prince Halverson

*This interview is part of Seré Prince Halverson's blog tour hosted by KMS Public Relations. 

What inspired you to write The Underside of Joy?

I had a vision of a young woman, curled up in bed under a blanket, feeling that she’d once had everything she’d ever wanted and now she’d lost it all. I didn’t know anything else about her, so I wrote to find out her story.

Since you're a mom and a stepmom and you have a mom and a stepmom, how much of the story and characters are based on your own life?

My situation was very different from Ella’s story or Paige’s story. My stepdaughters’ mom has always been in their lives, and I’ve always been in my sons’ lives. None of these characters are thinly disguised people from my own life. 

But I did pour my own emotional truth into this story. I know what it’s like to lose someone I love suddenly. Like most of us, I’ve felt like I was drowning in grief. I know how it feels to share my kids and stepkids with other women who also love them. And I definitely tapped into some of my own mommy moments with the kids…everyone has a poop in the crib story, right?

Do you relate more to Ella, the stepmom, or to Paige, the biological mom?

I relate more to Ella. I liked her right away and grew to love her. She obviously loved Annie and Zach and Joe. She wasn’t perfect, but she wasn’t trying to be. I wanted to traipse through the woods with her or play in her garden with the kids and Callie. At times she frustrated me, but I forgave her and loved her despite her flaws, and respected her for her best intentions.

Paige intimidated me at first. She walked onto the scene, and I thought, Whoa. Who does she think she is? She was so put together and confident, and then there was the whole flawless beauty thing that was hard to get past. All that was small stuff when I realized her intentions with Annie and Zach. But as I uncovered more of her story, I grew to understand her, and my heart went out to her too.

What does being a mother mean to you?

It means so much to me that I had to write an entire novel about it! But here’s a condensed version: Being a mother is the single most wonderful, rewarding, difficult, fun, challenging, self-sacrificing, fulfilling, frustrating, consuming, exhausting, emotionally draining, thrilling, loving, heartbreaking, joyful experience of my life.  

What message do you hope readers will get from your novel?

I get asked this quite a bit, and it’s a good question. But I really don’t have one message I’m hoping to get across. Readers take away different feelings and realizations, depending on their experiences. Something that kept hitting me as I was writing it is that everyone has a story. It’s so easy to judge people if you don’t understand their history. I didn’t set out to say that, specifically, but the process of writing this novel, of asking the questions, revealed that to me in a deeper more tangible way. 

What do you like the most about the publishing process? What has been a challenge?

I love hearing from readers. They have been extremely kind and generous, and their feedback means a great deal to me. We lead such busy lives. Yet, people take the time to read the book and write me? And go to readings? And spread the word about my novel? I’ve been in a constant state of gratitude.

The challenge is that there’s a ton to do in the months surrounding the book launch. I had no idea how much. And it’s easy to become the obsessive mom, hovering over your book every step of the way. I’ve had to learn to focus on what I can do, to let go of what I can’t. Now I leave some of the obsessing to my little sister, Suzanne, who will call me if something pops up on Google that she thinks I need to know!

What are you working on now? 

A novel about a young American artist who visits her father, a doctor working in Saudi Arabia. Things do not go smoothly.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you or your book?

It took me a ridiculously LONG time to finally get a novel published. We’re talking decades. But The Underside of Joy will be published in sixteen languages. I just got word that it will even be translated into Slovenian. (My grandmother would be so proud.) So, I guess I’d like your readers to know this: If you have a dream, don’t give up. Keep going. Even if it takes a ridiculously LONG time!
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Thanks for answering our questions, Seré!

Book Review: The Underside of Joy


*This review is part of Seré Prince Halverson's blog tour hosted by KMS Public Relations. 

After her divorce, Ella meets Joe whose marriage also recently fell apart. They marry quickly and Ella raises his young children, Annie and Zach, as her own. Three years later, Joe drowns and not only does Ella have to cope with such a horrible tragedy, but she is now a single parent to Annie and Zach. Or so she thinks. At Joe’s funeral, his ex-wife and Annie’s and Zach’s biological mother, Paige, who has struggled with depression, shows up and wants her children back. Ella is unable to have biological children, which is what contributed to the demise of her first marriage, so she does not want to give up on Annie and Zach. They are her children too, and she is determined to fight for them. But along the way, Ella considers what will be best for Annie and Zach, who are only six and three years old. She discovers secrets about Joe and about Paige, leaving her wondering where she fits in and how any of this will actually work out. Both Ella and Paige learn that the power of a mother’s love can make anything possible. 

The Underside of Joy is a beautifully written, heartfelt novel about the complexities of family and what binds people together. It delves into the definition of a mother, and how love and loyalty are more important than genetics. Ella and Paige are both flawed characters who are grieving in their own ways and for different reasons. Joe’s sudden death sends both of their lives into a tailspin, leaving them desperately trying to piece everything back together for the benefit of Annie and Zach. Initially, they don’t get along, but they have to try for the children’s sake. The story presents a unique family dynamic because Joe is gone, but his wife and ex-wife still have to find a way to accept each other and co-parent their children. Halverson successfully merges the touching stories of two different mothers of the same two children. The Underside of Joy is riveting from the very first page.  

Seré Prince Halverson worked as a copywriter and creative director for twenty years while she wrote fiction and raised kids. The Underside of Joy is her debut novel, which was published by Dutton (Penguin) in January 2012 and translated into a dozen languages. Seré and her husband have four (almost) grown children, and live in Northern California. For more information, please visit her website.

Author Interview: Carol Mason

We're so excited that author Carol Mason is joining us today! She has written three novels, The Love Market, Send Me A Lover, and The Secrets of Married Women, which are all bestsellers in Canada. They are published in more than thirteen countries and available in more than nine languages.
 
When did you start writing? What do you love about it?

I always wrote in my imagination – lines of dialogue between imaginary people were always running through my young head. I always thought I would write. Maybe because I had zero interest in anything but English Lit in school. But I didn’t start properly writing until I was in my mid-twenties. I wrote two Mills & Boons because I used to read my grandmother’s stash of them when I was about twelve years old, and I somehow thought they were simple (in other words, rather silly) little stories that would be easy to write, and easy to get published. But I was wrong! Turns out, no one wanted my two attempts at getting published the quick and dirty route! Then, my computer got stolen, and I hadn’t backed my work up. I took that as a sign and gave up. 
I ultimately came back to writing about five years later mainly because I really didn’t care for my advertising copywriter job, and I needed an excuse to get out of it. Plus, I always hated the fact that I had quit. I had proven I could write books. I just hadn’t proven they were any good. But maybe I could work on that? I was under the delusion that I would write a book in a year and get it published – a contemporary women’s fiction book a little like the ones I was reading by Marian Keyes, Emily Giffin, etc. It took three books and three years before my agent sold The Secrets of Married Women to Hodder & Stoughton. But I had done it! I was living proof that if you worked at something and believed, then it could happen if you were smart about it and you wrote from your heart.  

I write because nothing makes me happier. Quite literally. The sense of accomplishment when I finish a book that I actually still love – or have learned to love again after rather hating the process at times – is so great that it almost brings me to tears. Same as the excitement you feel when you land on a new idea and you start out with it.

Describe your typical day/writing routine when you're working on a novel.

I work full time at this. I treat writing like an office job (most of the time). I walk my dog in the morning, then try to get two productive hours in before a quick lunch break. I write after lunch – though between 1:30 and 3:30 I seem to become slow of finger and dull of head. Then, I pep up again and write furiously from around 4-5pm. After dinner – if there is no show on TV with men that I have crushes on, especially The Firm with Callum Keith Rennie (don’t ask me why) – I go back up to my computer and edit my day’s work.

Where do you find the inspiration for your novels?
      
Everywhere. Very often from articles I read – like in the case of The Love Market. I read about a mountain village square in Sapa, Vietnam where lovers went to rendezvous secretly, or to find their life’s love, and it inspired my book about a modern day professional matchmaker who is recently divorced and unsure if she has made the right decision. Then, just to complicate things, her first love mysteriously comes back into her life – a Canadian journalist she met while backpacking around the world when she was nineteen. They met in the Sapa Love Market. 

Send Me A Lover was inspired by something my husband said to me – something I thought was very sweet. He said that if he died before I did, he would do his best to send me my next love. He said he knew me so well that he would work in his own special post-grave way, to find someone who would be just right for me. I thought, WOW! There’s a great novel idea! And then with The Secrets of Married Women, I just wanted to write about an affair – but in a way that is a little different to other books about infidelity.

Are there messages or lessons you hope readers will take away from your novels?

Not really messages and lessons as such. But I hope my books do more than just crack a few smiles and entertain someone for two hours. I hope they’re not instantly forgettable. Maybe common themes in my books might speak to people  -- that we should all try to be happy with what we have. We should try to do the right thing by others. We should accept that everything happens for a reason. We should remember that even when things are really bad, they don’t go on being bad. There is always an upside in life. We can always turn negative things around and find a way to be positive again.

Tell us why your novels were recently re-released as eBooks. Are they still available in paperback as well?

My novels are all published in paperback in varying countries – but they’re not always on the shelf when people go to a bookstore and want to buy them. Given that eReaders have become so popular, it made sense to introduce eBooks that are available for great prices – maybe to encourage more people to discover the enjoyment of getting lost in a great story. Plus, there should be some benefit to readers when publishers no longer have to pay vast production costs to bring a book to a store’s shelf. So, my books are on Amazon for $2.99. And unlike my print books, they are always available!

You've decided to donate 50% of eBook proceeds to a breast cancer foundation during the month of March. Tell us why you decided to do that and how readers can be sure their purchases are included in the donation.

I think what goes around comes around. And while I am not about to go run a marathon to support a charitable cause – mainly because I’m a) lazy and b) can only run a block before I need an ambulance - this is something that I can do quite easily. If you can buy a book for less than the cost of a latte, and a portion of that purchase will go to a good cause, surely that makes a person feel good? It certainly makes me feel good to be able to do it. And breast cancer is a cause close to every women’s heart.

If you want to give your support, you just have to go onto Amazon and buy The Love Market, Send Me A Lover, and/or The Secrets of Married Women. Then, email me through my website with proof of purchase. My website also gives more details. Remember they’re only $2.99, and I will give 50% of my net proceeds from sales to breast cancer for the entire month of March.

When will your new novel, The Art of Letting Go, be published? What is it about?

It should come out this year, hopefully. This one is about two parallel love stories – one in 1960’s London and the other in Seattle in the modern day, and how they intersect when an elderly lady visits a Seattle art gallery and has an unusual reaction to a painting by Andrew Wyeth.

What are you working on now?
I had started a new novel, but then 20,000 words into it, I had another idea that excited me so much that it just called to me to abandon the other one, and begin this one! So, that’s what I’m doing. I’m mulling over the plot and taking the first steps to getting something down on paper. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for having me!  
--

Thanks for answering our questions, Carol!

Release Day Party: Blue Straggler

We're so excited to be part of the release day blog party hosted by CLNB Blog Tours for Blue Straggler by Kathy Lynn Harris! Read on to find out more about the book and the author. 

About Blue Straggler

A blue straggler is a star that has an anomalous blue color and appears to be disconnected from those stars that surround it. But this is not a story about astronomy.

Bailey Miller is “disconnected” from the cluster of her rural south Texas family. She has never quite fit in, and now in her early 30s, she finds herself struggling with inner turmoil and a series of bad choices in her life.

Bailey’s drinking too much (even for a member of her family), has a penchant to eat spoonfuls of Cool Whip, works in a job that bores her beyond description and can’t keep a relationship longer than it takes for milk to expire in her fridge. Even with the help of her two outspoken friends, Texas gal Idamarie and her quirky college pal Rudy, she’s having a hard time.

So she packs up her Honda and heads out of Texas in search of herself and answers to secrets from her great-grandmother’s past. The novel takes readers on a journey from San Antonio, Texas, to a small mountain town in Colorado and back again, as Bailey uncovers not only the secrets of her great-grandmother’s life, but also some painful secrets of her own. All while finding love along the way.

If you have ever wondered why you got stuck with the family you did, what you are doing with your job and your life, or had a sudden desire to run off to the mountains, sit back and join Bailey for this laugh-out-loud, yet poignant ride. It’s women's fiction at it’s best!

About Kathy Lynn Harris

Kathy grew up in rural South Texas — and comes from people who work hard, love the land and know how to have a good time on a Saturday night. As a writer, Kathy was lucky to have been surrounded by exceptional characters throughout her life, many of whom have lived their lives exactly the way they wanted. The rest of the world could take 'em or leave 'em! Inspiring, to say the least.

In 2001, Kathy made the move from Texas to the Colorado Rockies to focus on her writing and soak up All Things Mountain. She lives in an authentic log cabin near the southernmost glacier in North America, at 10,500 feet above sea level, with her husband and son, plus two fairly untrainable golden retriever mixes. It is there that she writes.



For more information: 


Add Blue Straggler to your Goodreads Shelf.

Follow Kathy on Twitter. If you like Blue Straggler on Facebook by March 3rd, you’ll be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

Blue Straggler is available now!