Author Archives

Melissahttp://www.missmeliss.comWriter, voice actor, dog-lover, and bathtub mermaid, Melissa is the Associate Editor-in-Chief at All Things Girl. To learn more about her, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter (@Melysse) or Facebook. You can also listen to her podcast, "Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub" at Bathtub Mermaid or on iTunes.

Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge, by Ovidia Yu (@ovidiavanda) #review #tlcbooktours

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About the book Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge

Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (April 5, 2016)

Rosie “Aunty” Lee—feisty widow, amateur sleuth and proprietor of Singapore’s best-loved home cooking restaurant—is back in another delectable, witty mystery set in Singapore.

Slightly hobbled by a twisted ankle, crime-solving restaurateur Aunty Lee begrudgingly agrees to take a rest from running her famous café, Aunty Lee’s Delights, and turns over operations to her friend and new business partner Cherril.

The café serves as a meeting place for an animal rescue society that Cherril once supported. They were forced to dissolve three years earlier after a British expat killed the puppy she’d adopted, sparking a firestorm of scandal. The expat, Allison Fitzgerald, left Singapore in disgrace, but has returned with an ax to grind (and a lawsuit). At the café one afternoon, Cherril receives word that Allison has been found dead in her hotel—and foul play is suspected. When a veterinarian, who was also involved in the scandal, is found dead, suspicion soon falls on the animal activists. What started with an internet witch hunt has ended in murder—and in a tightly knit, law-and-order society like Singapore, everyone is on edge.

Before anyone else gets hurt—and to save her business—Aunty Lee must get to the bottom of what really happened three years earlier, and figure out who is to be trusted in this tangled web of scandal and lies.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Ovidia YuOvidia Yu

Ovidia Yu is one of Singapore’s best-known and most acclaimed writers. She has had more than thirty plays produced and is also the author of a number of mysteries. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Iowa’s International Writers Program and has been a writing fellow at the National University of Singapore.

Connect with Ovidia

Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

Melissa A. BartellThis novel hits the ground running, opening with an explosion at a vet clinic, and never stopping until the final scene. From the start, the characters were so vivid, so engaging, that I didn’t even realize this was book three in a series. (Now that I have, I’m looking forward to going back and reading the prior installments.)

From the start, I was in love with Aunty Lee, who is sort of like a Singaporean Mrs. Pollifax. What I thought was really amazing about her was that she didn’t have any of the judgemental tendencies that a Western character would have – instead, even the worst of the people she interacted with were seen through the eyes of someone who lived the words ‘compassion’ and ‘mercy’ as if they’d been bred into her.

Similarly, Allison Love, the ex-pat who left and then returned, was as real, as dimensional, as anyone I’ve ever known. I felt bad for her, and I also wanted to know more of her backstory (see paragraph one).

What I loved about this novel was that the mystery, while there, was never screaming, “Solve me, solve me!” Sure, some elements were easy to predict, but author Yu did an amazing job of keeping us guessing about other elements to the very end. I like that, and I’ve gotten so complacent about always being ‘ahead’ that when I wasn’t it was both surprising and refreshing.

I also loved the ‘foodie’ elements of this novel. I didn’t count the recipes – there were somewhere between five and a thousand – but every time food was mentioned, I wanted it to magically appear in front of me. The few times I’ve had Singaporean food (at restaurants like Straits and Five Foot Way, both in California) I’ve really enjoyed the flavors, and I found myself longing for them as I read.

I also loved that Yu seamlessly worked in elements of Singaporean culture. I felt as though her decision to include that made me experience this novel – which I almost underestimated as ‘just another formulaic foodie mystery’ – on many, many levels.

Seriously, if you love a good mystery, with well drawn characters, a plot that is complex enough to keep you thinking, and a dash of culture on the side, you need to read Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge.

Goes well with pineapple tarts (or any fruit cookie) and hot tea.

Ovidia’s Tour Stops

TLC Book ToursTuesday, April 5th: FictionZeal

Wednesday, April 6th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Friday, April 8th: In Bed with Books

Monday, April 11th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Tuesday, April 12th: Lavish Bookshelf

Wednesday, April 13th: Book Journey

Thursday, April 14th: Bibliotica

Friday, April 15th: Reading to Distraction

Monday, April 18th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, April 19th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, April 20th: Reading Reality

Thursday, April 21st: Kahakai Kitchen

Friday, April 22nd: A Chick Who Reads

Reader, I Married Him, edited by Tracy Chevalier #review #tlcbooktours

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About Reader, I Married Himthe book Reader, I Married Him

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 22, 2016)

This collection of original stories by today’s finest women writers takes inspiration from the famous line in Charlotte Brontë’s most beloved novel, Jane Eyre.

A fixture in the literary canon, Charlotte Brontë is revered by readers all over the world. Her books featuring unforgettable, strong heroines still resonate with millions today. And who could forget one of literatures’ best-known lines: “Reader, I married him” from her classic novel Jane Eyre?

Part of a remarkable family that produced three acclaimed female writers at a time in 19th-century Britain when few women wrote, and fewer were published, Brontë has become a great source of inspiration to writers, especially women, ever since. Now in Reader, I Married Him, twenty of today’s most celebrated women authors have spun original stories, using the opening line from Jane Eyre as a springboard for their own flights of imagination.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Featured Authors

Featuring:

Tracy Chevalier – Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Sarah Hall – Website | Facebook

Helen Dunmore – Website | Twitter

Kirsty Gunn – Website | Facebook

Joanna Briscoe – Website | Twitter

Emma Donoghue – Website | Facebook | Twitter

Susan Hill – Website | Facebook | Twitter

Elif Shafak – Website | Facebook | Twitter

Evie Wyld – Website | Facebook | Twitter

Patricia Park – Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Salley Vickers – Website | Twitter

Nadifa Mohamed – Twitter

Esther Freud – Website

Linda Grant – Website | Twitter

Lionel Shriver – Facebook

Audrey Niffenegger – Website | Facebook | Twitter

Namwali Serpell – Website | Twitter

Elizabeth McCracken – Website | Facebook | Twitter

My ThoughtsMelissa A. Bartell

I’ve had a long relationship with Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. It began when I was pretty young –  nine or ten, I think – and found it on the shelf above my bed in the room I always used when I visited my grandparents over the summer. I remember reading it during a wild summer storm, and rereading it again several years later. It’s one of those novels I go back to, every so often, finding something new in it with every visit, as if it’s the book that’s changing, instead of me.

When I was offered the chance to review this anthology of short stories, all by women, inspired by Jane Eyre’s iconic line, “Reader, I married him,” I knew I had to read this book.

It’s a funny thing. I write short stories, but I don’t often read them any more. So first, this book reminded me that short stories are a great way to sample the work of a new author, or at least, an author who is new to me.

The stories in this anthology range from close interpretations (Grace Poole’s version of the story is especially poignant) to stories that only have unconventional marriages, or vague hand-waving in Jane’s direction to connect them with the original work.

I couldn’t possibly review all of them, but five of my favorites were:

  • “Dangerous Dog,” by Kirsty Gunn – a woman saves a dog and introduces would-be bullies to the joys of Jane.
  • “Reader, I Married Him,” by Susan Hill – about a rather famous unconventional marriage involving an American divorcee and an abdicating ruler.
  • “The Mirror,” by Francine Prose – a dark look at what happens in Jane and Rochester’s marriage after the novel ends. A concise, compelling, psychological thriller.
  • “Dorset Gap,” by Tracy Chevalier, who edited the anthology – Ed and Jenn met at a rave the night before, and now they’re on a hike.
  • “The Orphan Exchange,” by Audrey Niffenegger – re-sets the novel in a contemporary, albeit war-torn, country, with an ending that I’ve always suspected was a possibility.

But those five stories are only a representative sample… this collection looks at marriage from so many angles, and uses Jane Eyre as the connecting tissue, even if sometimes it’s not obvious.

What I loved is that each of these twenty-one tales was written by a woman, and each was completely relevant to modern readers, in a way the Brontë sisters’ work was to their contemporaries. As well, I’m tickled that there was diversity – older women, young girls, gay men, and lesbians, several religions, and many cultures (including one story about an Argentian-raised Korean woman in New York) were represented.

What I didn’t love is that there were only twenty-one stories. I’d love to see more. I’d love to see an annual contest sort of like the Strange New Worlds contest that used to be run every year for Star Trek fans, where aspiring writers could write their own short stories inspired by Jane.

Still, if the worst thing you can say about a book is that it left you wanting more, I think the author – or authors, in this case – has done their job.

Whether Jane Eyre was a literary companion of your childhood, or you met her later in life, there’s something for you in this collection, Reader, I Married Him.

Goes well with, a proper English tea, or a bowl of venison stew served near a crackling fire on a cold and rainy day.

 

Tour StopsTLC Book Tours

Tuesday, March 22nd: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, March 23rd: 5 Minutes For Books

Thursday, March 24th: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, March 25th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, March 28th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, March 29th: Raven Haired Girl

Wednesday, March 30th: BookNAround

Thursday, March 31st: Reading Reality

Friday, April 1st: View from the Birdhouse

Wednesday, April 6th: Bibliophiliac

Thursday, April 7th: Bibliotica

 

Lies and Other Acts of Love, by Kristy Woodson Harvey (@kristywharvey) #review #contest #mustread

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Lies and Other Acts of LoveAbout the book, Lies and Other Acts of Love

 

  • Print Length: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley (April 5, 2016)
  • Publication Date: April 5, 2016

 

Dear Carolina was praised as “Southern fiction at its best.”  Now author Kristy Woodson Harvey presents a new novel about what it really means to tell the truth…

After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies.

Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves….

Buy, read, and discuss this book.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble. | Hudson Booksellers | IndieBound | Kobo | Goodreads

Kristy Woodson HarveyAbout the author, Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina, which was recently long-listed for the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize and Lies and Other Acts of Love, a Romantic Times top pick and Southern Booksellers Okra Pick. She blogs at Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life and loves connecting with readers at kristywoodsonharvey.com. She is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism and holds a Master’s in English from East Carolina University. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Southern Living, Domino magazine, Our State, Houzz, the Salisbury Post and the New Bern Sun Journal. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and four-year-old son where she is working on her next novel.

Connect with Kristy

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Contest: Order to Enter

Contest

Order Lies and Other Acts of Love and send a picture of the receipt to kristy@kristywoodsonharvey.com between now and April 10 to be entered to win a $1,000 Shop Design Chic gift card. Everyone will receive copies of four gorgeous printable quotes from the book! Order or pre-order from an independent bookstore or Indiebound for two contest entries!

Link to blog post: bit.ly/1UE6elP

(See above for buy links.)

Melissa A. BartellMy Thoughts

I had the privilege of reviewing Kristy Woodson Harvey’s first novel, Dear Carolina before it’s release, and I quickly fell in love with both that novel and Harvey’s writing, so when she sent me an email asking if I’d review her sophomore outing, Lies and Other Acts of Love, I made time to do so, and I’m glad I did, because I think this may be one of the best novels of the spring/summer of 2016 – and we’re barely into April.

Told in alternating chapters from Lovey and Annabelle, this novel holds the richness of family tradition in every page, but tradition isn’t always fluffy, and I really appreciate the way Harvey’s characters are flawed and dimensional. Lovey is at an age where secrets really start to weigh upon you, and we feel that in every one of her interactions, though we feel the equal – greater – weight of her love for her family as well.

Annabelle, by contrast, is still young enough to retain some element of capriciousness, though her maturity increases as the story goes on.

Maybe I’m just a sucker for stories about big families with overlapping generations, but I felt that the collection of women in Lies and Other Acts of Love was incredibly important. Our mothers and grandmothers and aunts – our cousins and and nieces and daughters – these are the people who hold our histories and our stories, but they also hold our hearts. There’s something incredibly powerful, to me, about women supporting other women, and it drives me crazy when they don’t. In this novel, we see more support than not, but both sides of the coin are reflected, and that balance is part of what makes these people seem so real.Lies and Other Acts of Love

I want to say a word about the men in the story, and especially D-Daddy – Lovey’s partner, who is declining much faster than she is. The scenes between the two of them were so poignant, and so naked, full of the little fictions we tell the people we love to ease their days, but also full of the impact of a decades-long relationship. Despite the requisite pain that comes with knowing someone you love is fading, the scenes with these two people were some of the most interesting, and most passionate, in the novel.

Overall, I found that Kristy Woodson Harvey’s voice, while remaining once the same as it was in Dear Carolina, has evolved into a confident, warm voice made for telling these distinctly human tales, that are the perfect blend of realism touched by romance. It’s no lie that I loved this book, and I’m certain you will, too.

Goes well with fresh-caught fish, a garden salad, and sweet tea (or maybe a vodka cranberry).

 

 

The Darkest Secret, by Gena Showalter #review #TLCBookTours #giveaway

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In June, 2016, Gena Showalter will be releasing the newest installment of her series The Lords of the Underworld. That novel, The Darkest Torment, is not yet ready for review, so, in conjunction with TLC Book Tours, many of us are reviewing other books in the series. I chose to review The Darkest Secret.  Read to the end of the page for the entire list of tour stops, and the chance to win a signed copy of the entire collection.

About the book, The Darkest Secret The Darkest Secret

  • Series: Lords of the Underworld
  • Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: HQN Books (March 29, 2011)

Keeper of the demon of Secrets, Amun can manipulate the darkest thoughts of anyone nearby. But when new demons possess him, the immortal warrior must be chained and isolated to protect those he loves. Death is his only hope of release—until he meets Haidee, a fellow prisoner whose beauty and hidden vulnerability draw him into a reckless test of his loyalty…. Haidee is an infamous demon assassin, raised to despise Amun’s kind. Yet how can she hate the man whose touch sets her aflame? But to save him, she must give herself body and soul…and face the wrath of a powerful adversary sworn to destroy her.

Buy, read, and discuss this book.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

My Thoughts Melissa A. Bartell

This novel, The Darkest Secret, is number seven in a series, and while each of the novels can be read as standalone stories, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been a different experience reading them all in order.

But that’s beside the point.

The Darkest Secret opens with a homecoming, as we witness the changes in a place I’m calling Casa Demonica  – a sort of group home/mansion/commune for angels (warriors) and demons, each of whom is the ‘keeper’ of some great evil – some of them are four horseman-level evils, others are less intense – fatigue, for example – but all of the demons represent the darker side of humanity. Or demonity. Or… both.

Author Gena Showalter does a really good job of blending world-building with paranormal romance. I enjoyed the fact that there was nuance to her darkest creatures – they regret that their appetites cause harm, and actually try to make things easier for their human partners, as a rule.

I also enjoyed learning about the interpersonal relationships between these creatures. How precarious it must be to have friendships that could so quickly turn to death and destruction, or just as easily become true kinships – or switch between both extremes in the space of days, weeks, or years?

But beyond the demons themselves are their human hosts. In this case Amun is living within Micah, and Strider – it’s his point of view we first experience – has brought a human woman – Haidee – into Casa Demonica, but Haidee isn’t just a chick of the week, she’s Micah’s girlfriend.

Yeah. That’s not awkward at all.

Because Amun/Micah is experiencing the physical manifestation of a psychic disease, he’s strapped to a bed, and in terrible shape, and Haidee, of course, answers his mental call and makes her way through the house to be at his side.

Hurt/comfort is a very big part of this novel.

And yet, with the author’s fresh spin, and clear writing voice nothing ever seems trope-y or overdone. Instead, everything that should be cheesy or over the top combines in to a deliciously dark, exquisitely erotic fable for contemporary adults.

Goes well with dark chocolate, red wine, and a seriously plush sofa.

Giveaway Gena Showalter

The publisher is sponsoring a RaffleCopter contest to win a signed copy of the entire series of these books. Enter below. PLEASE NOTE: I have nothing to do with the giveaway, except as a facilitator.


Gena Showalter’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, March 28th: Read Love Blog – Series spotlight

Tuesday, March 29th: Supernatural Snark **The Darkest Craving

Tuesday, March 29th: Booked on a Feeling **The Darkest Night & The Darkest Kiss

Thursday, March 31st: Bewitched Bookworms – spotlight, The Darkest Passion

Friday, April 1st: Reading Reality **The Darkest Touch

Monday, April 4th: Reader Girls **The Darkest Lie

Tuesday, April 5th: Bibliotica **The Darkest Secret

Wednesday, April 6th: Romancing the Book **The Darkest Seduction and The Darkest Craving

Thursday, April 7th: From the TBR Pile **The Darkest Night

Monday, April 11th: Lovely Reads  **The Darkest Whisper

Monday, April 11th: Books that Hook **The Darkest Touch

Tuesday, April 12th: Stranded in Chaos  **The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss

Wednesday, April 13th: Romancing the Readers **The Darkest Seduction

Friday, April 15th: Bibliophilia, Please ** The Darkest Night

Monday, April 18th: Stuck in Books – **The Darkest Pleasure

 

Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery, by Jenny Colgan (@jennycolganbooks) #review #tlcbooktours

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About the book,  Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 22, 2016)

For fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Jojo Moyes, and Jane Green, Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery is an irresistible novel—moving and funny, soulful and sweet—about happiness, heartache, and hope. And recipes.

A thriving bakery. A lighthouse to call home. A handsome beekeeper. A pet puffin. These are the things that Polly Waterford can call her own. This is the beautiful life she leads on a tiny island off the southern coast of England.

But clouds are gathering on the horizon. A stranger threatens to ruin Polly’s business. Her beloved boyfriend seems to be leading a secret life. And the arrival of a newcomer—a bereft widow desperately searching for a fresh start—forces Polly to reconsider the choices she’s made, even as she tries to help her new friend through grief.

Unpredictable and unforgettable, this delightful novel will make you laugh, cry, and long for a lighthouse of your own.

Buy, read, and discuss this book.

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including Little Beach Street Bakery, Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, and Christmas at the Cupcake Café, all international bestsellers. Jenny is married with three children and lives in London and Scotland.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts Melissa A. Bartell

I’ve always wanted to live in a lighthouse. Actually, that’s not true. I’ve always wanted to live in the keeper’s cottage adjacent to a lighthouse, but living in an actual lighthouse would be pretty cool, as a secondary option, so I totally appreciated Polly’s decision to buy one and move in.

While Polly was fixing up her new home, I felt like I was visiting an old one. The first Little Beach Street novel hooked me from the start, so diving into this story, seeing where Polly and Huckleberry, and Neal the Puffin, and all the other familiar characters had landed in the intervening months really was like visiting my favorite summer haunt. Author Jenny Colgan did a great job of letting the characters evolve a bit, without really changing them drastically. You felt that they were still in mourning for Tarnie, you felt that time had passed, but you also felt the familiar salt spray and smelled the homey aroma of Polly’s baking.

Then, too, were the new characters, Jayden among them, who enriched both Polly’s world and the story itself. I loved that he would “try to only eat one” of the pastries he loved – it was an adorable and very realistic detail.

But inside the cozy setting and familiar relationships, Colgan tucks some deeper moments – the very real process of mourning a loved one is looked at through Polly’s eyes, as well as those of Tarnie’s widow, and it’s both the similarities and the differences in the two women that really takes this book beyond “beach reading” into something a little bit more meaningful. As much as I’m happy to read almost anything that involves a coastal setting and the kinds of characters who inhabit such villages, I also appreciate it when a novel addresses real issues. In the first book it was Polly’s process of starting a new life and a new business.

In this one, it was about moving forward and adapting to loss as well as change.

An added bonus: Colgan has a great knack for making places come alive. I’ve never been to Cornwall, but after reading her novels, I’m sure that if I do get to visit that region someday, I’ll feel echoes of familiarity surrounding me.

Goes well with a mug of coffee and a fresh-from -the-oven pastry, seasoned with a stiff sea breeze.

Tour Stops TLC Book Tours

Tuesday, March 22nd: Raven Haired Girl

Wednesday, March 23rd: BookNAround

Thursday, March 24th: A Bookworm’s World

Friday, March 25th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, March 28th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, March 29th: Thoughts On This ‘n That

Tuesday, March 29th: Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, March 31st: Bibliotica

Monday, April 4th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Tuesday, April 5th: Kahakai Kitchen

Wednesday, April 6th: Books and Bindings

Thursday, April 7th: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, April 8th: Broken Teepee

What We Set in Motion, by Stephanie Austin Edwards #review

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About the book, What We Set In Motion What We Set in Motion

 

  • Print Length: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Novel Ideas by SAE; 1 edition (March 30, 2016)
  • Publication Date: March 19, 2016

 

Set in the turbulent, colorful 1970’s, What We Set In Motion finds the daughter of a prominent old South Carolina Lowcountry family fleeing to New York’s Greenwich Village in pursuit of a dance career.  Cut off by her disapproving father and abandoned by her would-be fiancé, Nadine Carter Barnwell must strive on her own to beat the harrowing odds. Penniless and surrounded by the temptation of dubious money-making schemes and the bitter disappointment of seeing a friend fall prey to them, Nadine battles fiercely for her place in the ultra-competitive world of dance — only to reluctantly step away to please a man. It takes the loving, mystical intervention of her beloved aunt back in South Carolina and an unexpected letter from a young girl to set Nadine’s chaotic life firmly on the path to fulfilment and the startling realization that every encounter and each choice is a milestone in the quest to forge her own destiny.

Buy, read, and discuss this book.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Stephanie Austin Edwards Stephanie Austin Edwards

Stephanie Austin Edwards, author of What We Set In Motion (2016), is a writing teacher, novelist and grant consultant.Her recent publications include a short story in the University of Texas literary journal, riverSedge, and an essay in the book Beaufort Through the Ages. In a past life, Stephanie was a costume supervisor on Broadway for productions of Dreamgirls, Grind, The Rink (Liza Minelli) and Woman of the Year (Lauren Bacall), among others. She has worked on The Cosby Show, the Woody Allen films Hannah and Her Sisters and Radio Days, and Michael Jackson’s BAD music video. She lives in the South Carolina Lowcountry, teaching writing workshops at the college level and working for the Beaufort School District as a grant consultant.

Connect with Stephanie.

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts Melissa A. Bartell

I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect when I was offered the chance to review Stephanie Austin Edwards’ novel What We Set In Motion, but I certainly was not disappointed. The voice Edwards gave to her protagonist Nadine feels like a mix between Anne Rivers Siddons and Nora Ephron – feminine, intelligent, sassy, and definitely Southern. I was hooked from the first page.

While my favorite thing abut this novel was Nadine herself, and her story which blends low-country sass with uptown smarts, I enjoyed all aspects of this novel. The supporting characters all felt like characters you might have met in fishing camps or on city streets during the late sixties and early seventies, but slightly heightened, as if seen through the best of memories, which really worked for the story.

Similarly, I thought Edwards’ descriptions of places was amazing. Granted a costume supervisor has to have a good eye, but her words made every location seem vivid and even cinematic. I felt the dolphin spray and saw every outfit.

While I was a little concerned that this novel would feel a bit soap-opera-esque based on the drama and emotion in the first scene, but what I discovered was a well-written, compelling, thoroughly engaging story.

Goes well with catfish and hush puppies, even though they have nothing to do with the novel.

 

 

 

Terrible Virtue, by Ellen Feldman #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, Terrible Virtue

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 22, 2016)

Terrible VirtueIn the spirit of The Paris Wife and Loving Frank, the provocative and compelling story of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the twentieth century: Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood—an indomitable woman who, more than any other, and at great personal cost, shaped the sexual landscape we inhabit today.

The daughter of a hard-drinking, smooth-tongued free thinker and a mother worn down by thirteen children, Margaret Sanger vowed her life would be different. Trained as a nurse, she fought for social justice beside labor organizers, anarchists, socialists, and other progressives, eventually channeling her energy to one singular cause: legalizing contraception. It was a battle that would pit her against puritanical, patriarchal lawmakers, send her to prison again and again, force her to flee to England, and ultimately change the lives of women across the country and around the world.

This complex enigmatic revolutionary was at once vain and charismatic, generous and ruthless, sexually impulsive and coolly calculating—a competitive, self-centered woman who championed all women, a conflicted mother who suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience. From opening the first illegal birth control clinic in America in 1916 through the founding of Planned Parenthood to the arrival of the Pill in the 1960s, Margaret Sanger sacrificed two husbands, three children, and scores of lovers in her fight for sexual equality and freedom.

With cameos by such legendary figures as Emma Goldman, John Reed, Big Bill Haywood, H. G. Wells, and the love of Margaret’s life, Havelock Ellis, this richly imagined portrait of a larger-than-life woman is at once sympathetic to her suffering and unsparing of her faults. Deeply insightful, Terrible Virtue is Margaret Sanger’s story as she herself might have told it.

Buy, read, and discuss this book

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Ellen Feldman Ellen Feldman

Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of five previous novels, including Scottsboro, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and Next to Love. She lives in New York City.

For more information on Ellen and her work, please visit her website, www.ellenfeldman.com.

My Thoughts

Melissa A. BartellThere is no more appropriate time for this novel, Terrible Virtue, which was released two days ago, to be available. Ellen Feldman’s fictionalization of the life of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger is brutally honest and beautifully poignant, letting us see the life that formed her person and her convictions, but not shying away from showing her flaws. It’s an excellent reminder that our icons are, in fact, real people, just like us.

As the feminist daughter of a feminist mother, I was raised on Our Bodies Ourselves and Ms. Magazine. The name “Margaret Sanger” has always been a part of my cultural vocabulary, but the deeper truth of her story – that she was one of thirteen children, that she watched her mother becoming ever more exhausted and depleted as she gave birth to baby after baby – was new to me. This first person account of what Sanger’s life was like gave me a deeper context, and turned her from a mere name, an abstract symbol, into a whole person.

Ellen Feldman, of course, is not new to writing well-researched novels about real historical figures. Personally, her 2005 “what if” novel, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank is one of my favorite such reads. In Terrible Virtue, however, she isn’t challenging us with the question of “what if?” Rather, she is asking, “what was likely?”

And her presentation – giving us the bulk of the story from Margaret’s own point of view where we see her as a fully dimensional young (and then older) woman, but also providing counterpoint in the form of people who disagreed with, not her fierce support that birth control was necessary and and required in order for women to be truly free, but also her other opinions –  really puts us, the readers, in the middle of history.

Her story, her struggles with her own loves and marriages, her ongoing battle with tuberculosis, and her impoverished beginnings, not only gives us a picture of a woman with a mission, it puts that mission into a deeper context.

The one quote that everyone is sharing is the one that really defines the heart of this novel, “No woman can call herself free until she can choose when and how often she will become a mother,” is absolutely the core of Sanger’s own life, as well. It’s a truth we sometimes take for granted, and one we must remember, especially in our “modern” age.

We are in the middle of an election year that is growing ever more toxic, and we are seeing our rights as women, as people, being constantly eroded by (mostly) white, male politicians who believe their religious leanings should govern all of us. TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) are becoming more and more widespread, and more and more vindictive. Where is the Margaret Sanger for our age? And how will history treat her?

This book may not answer that question, but it’s a worthwhile read, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Goes well with strong coffee, dark chocolate, and an upraised fist.

Tour Stops for Ellen Feldman’s Terrible Virtue

TLC Book Tours
Tuesday, March 22nd: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, March 23rd: Doing Dewey

Thursday, March 24th: Bibliotica

Friday, March 25th: Books on the Table

Monday, March 28th: A Literary Vacation

Tuesday, March 29th: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Wednesday, March 30th: bookchickdi

Thursday, March 31st: 5 Minutes For Books

Monday, April 4th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]

Tuesday, April 5th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, April 6th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Thursday, April 7th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, April 11th: Puddletown Reviews

Tuesday, April 12th: Reading Reality

Wednesday, April 13th: Broken Teepee

Thursday, April 14th: Time 2 Read

Thursday, April 14th: Literary Feline

When I’m Gone, by Emily Bleeker (@emily_bleeker) #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, When I’m Gone

  • Hardcover: 355 Pages
  • Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (March 15, 2016)

When I'm GoneDear Luke,
First let me say—I love you…I didn’t want to leave you…

Luke Richardson has returned home after burying Natalie, his beloved wife of sixteen years, ready to face the hard job of raising their three children alone. But there’s something he’s not prepared for—a blue envelope with his name scrawled across the front in Natalie’s handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home.

The letter inside, written on the first day of Natalie’s cancer treatment a year ago, turns out to be the first of many. Luke is convinced they’re genuine, but who is delivering them? As his obsession with the letters grows, Luke uncovers long-buried secrets that make him question everything he knew about his wife and their family. But the revelations also point the way toward a future where love goes on—in written words, in memories, and in the promises it’s never too late to keep.

Buy, read, and discuss this book

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Emily Bleeker

Emily BleekerEmily Bleeker is a former educator who discovered her passion for writing after introducing a writer’s workshop to her students. She soon found a whole world of characters and stories living inside of her mind. It took a battle with a rare form of cancer to give her the courage to share that amazing world with others. Emily lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and four kids. Between writing and being a mom, she attempts to learn guitar, sings along to the radio (loudly), and embraces her newfound addiction to running. Connect with her or request a Skype visit with your book club at emilybleeker.wordpress.com.

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Thoughts

MelissaI wasn’t expecting a book about a widower experiencing the recent loss of his wife  to cancer to be so witty and engaging, but Emily Bleeker surprised me with When I’m Gone, and pleasantly so.

Luke is the grieving husband, whom we first meet as he and his children are returning from his wife’s funeral. He’s not a perfect man, by any means, but he is a fundamentally good, and good-intentioned man, and as we see more of him, we see him working hard to  be a good father to his kids, and to honor his wife’s memory.

Natalie, Luke’s wife, we meet only through letters, letters that Luke begins receiving on the day of her burial. I’m not going to tell you how Natalie works her magic, but I will say that through her letters, we meet a woman who, like her husband is both real and flawed, and full of good intentions. She’s also funny, kind, and genuinely interesting. Honestly, I’d want her to be my best friend.

With both of these two characters at the core of her story, Emily Bleeker spins us a tale that is at once full of hope and full of  – not quite sadness, but definitely poignance. Her dialogue never feels stilted, even when she’s writing for young children (probably her history as an educator helped with that, or she just has a good ear) and I love that she managed to give us a frank and open look at a woman going through chemo without ever once letting things get maudlin.

Of course, Natalie’s letters serve a greater purpose than just the afterlife-equivalent of “Hello from heaven. Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.” They are also meant to help Luke learn a few family secrets – some of which are as simple as “make sure you use my pancake recipe, here it is” and some that are much more complicated and span decades of family history.

Still at the end of the novel, we are left smiling but with tears in our eyes, and while some of that is reaction to the story, and some is a reaction to the fact that this book is a fairly fast read, just because it’s so naturally written,  some of it is also because Bleeker’s characters are so dimensional and engaging we cannot imagine that their story is over. There wasn’t enough time.

But that’s sort of the point, really.

Goes well with pancakes with butter and real maple syrup, crispy thick-cut bacon, fresh blueberries, and coffee.

Emily Bleeker’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS: TLC Book Tours

Monday, March 14th: Book Mama Blog

Tuesday, March 15th: Why Girls Are Weird

Wednesday, March 16th: Buried Under Books

Thursday, March 17th: Bookaholics Not-So-Anonymous

Monday, March 21st: Just Commonly

Monday, March 21st: 5 Minutes for Books

Tuesday, March 22nd: Mom’s Small Victories

Wednesday, March 23rd: Bibliotica

Thursday, March 24th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, March 28th: Books a la Mode

Monday, March 28th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Tuesday, March 29th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Wednesday, March 30th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, March 31st: Peeking Between the Pages

Monday, April 4th: BookNAround

Tuesday, April 5th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Wednesday, April 6th: Ace and Hoser Blog

Friday, April 8th: A Splendid Messy Life

The Crooked Heart of Mercy, by Billie Livingston (@BillieLiving) #review #TLCBookTours

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About the book, The Crooked Heart of Mercy

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (March 8, 2016)

The Crooked Heart of MercyFrom acclaimed Canadian novelist Billie Livingston comes this powerful U.S. debut that unfolds over a riveting dual narrative—an unforgettable story of ordinary lives rocked by hardship and scandal that follows in the tradition of Jennifer Haigh, A. Manette Ansay, and Jennifer Egan.

Ben wakes up in a hospital with a hole in his head he can’t explain. What he can remember he’d rather forget. Like how he’d spent nights as a limo driver for the wealthy and debauched . . . how he and his wife, Maggie, drifted apart in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy . . . how his little brother, Cola, got in over his head with loan sharks circling.

Maggie is alone. Again. With bills to pay and Ben in a psych ward, she must return to work. But who would hire her in the state she’s in? And just as Maggie turns to her brother, Francis, the Internet explodes with a video of his latest escapade. The headline? Drunk Priest Propositions Cops.

Francis is an unlikely priest with a drinking problem and little interest  in celibacy. A third DUI, a looming court date. . . .When Maggie takes him in, he knows he may be down to his last chance. And his best shot at healing might lay in helping Maggie and Ben reconnect—against all odds.

Buy, read, and discuss The Crooked Heart of Mercy

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About the author, Billie Livingston

Billie LivingstonBillie Livingston is the award-winning author of three novels, a collection of short stories, and a poetry collection.  Her most recent novel, One Good Hustle, a Globe and Mail Best Book selection, was nominated for the  Giller Prize and for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book Award. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Connect with Billie

Find out more about Billie at her website and connect with her on Twitter.

My Thoughts

MelissaMake no mistake, this book, The Crooked Heart of Mercy is dark. It’s a difficult read, told in alternating first person chapters from Ben and Maggie, one of whom in in a psych ward, and the other of whom probably should be. It’s obvious from the start that these people have deep love for each other, but that love is being tested by circumstance, by low-percentage choices, and half a dozen other reasons that I don’t wish to list for fear of ruining the story.

The thing is, even though Maggie and Ben love each other, they’re both also fragile and broken. Maggie is trying to get her life back together, while Ben is trying to put his brain back together, and each, in their way, is also recovering from both a terrible personal tragedy, and the knowledge that their lifestyle was responsible for that tragedy.

Enter Maggie’s brother Francis. He’s a gay, alcoholic priest who decides that the best way to serve his penance, and kill his temptation for sex and booze, is to helf fix Maggie and Ben, as individuals and as a couple.

Author Billie Livingston nails the first person POVs  giving each character a distinctive voice. Ben’s parts are particularly surreal, as he literally has a hole in his head, while Maggie’s work the pathos – she really is struggling to improve.

I enjoyed the dark wit, the off kilter unfolding of the back story, and the earthy reality of the entire novel, but I also recognize that even for people like me, who appreciate snark and sarcasm and characters with somewhat murky moral codes this will be a difficult read. It deals with some difficult subjects and hard themes, and it deals with them in a brutally honest manner, but the storytelling is so good, that it sucks you in despite yourself, and you are compelled to keep reading until the ultimate resolution.

Goes well with pastrami on rye and a cold beer.

Tour Stops

TLC Book Tours

Tuesday, March 8th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, March 9th: BookNAround

Wednesday, March 9th: A Soccer Mom’s Book Blog

Thursday, March 10th: A Bookworm’s World

Friday, March 11th: Bibliotica

Monday, March 14th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Tuesday, March 15th: The Reader’s Hollow

Friday, March 18th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, March 21st: Novel Escapes

Tuesday, March 22nd: Good Girl Gone Redneck

Wednesday, March 23rd: BoundbyWords

Thursday, March 24th: she treads softly

Harlequin: Romance When You Need It

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Harlequin: Romance When You Need It

So, here’s the deal, sometimes everyone needs a romantic getaway, but life isn’t always terribly accommodating. As readers, we escape into books all the time – we sail the seas with Horatio Hornblower, write along with Jo March in her garret, ride down the river with Huck Finn, and quietly swoon as Colonel Brandon reads to us on our sick-bed. And sometimes, all we want is to be swept away by a strong, sensitive guy, whether he’s a cowboy, an architect, or a kilted Scotsman.

This month Harlequin wants to make that happen for any reader who wants to try out their different imprints – and believe me, there are a lot of them. Some are the traditional Harlequin romances we all grew up with; others feature contemporary stories with strong female characters who have jobs and lives outside their romantic encounters. What do you have to do? Just click the image above or visit this link: http://bookpages.harlequin.com/romance/

But first, watch the awesome video below.
Oh, and, before you ask? No one paid me to write this, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I read Harlequin romances every so often, myself.