Book Beginnings - 3/30/2018

 

*Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.  *Taken directly from Rose City Reader's Blog Page.  

I am out of town and will try to visit.

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My Book  Beginnings is taken from DREAMS OF FALLING by Karen White:

 

"I am dead.  Yet I smell the blooming evening primrose and hear the throaty chirps and creaky rattles of the purple martins flitting home across the marsh."

LOVING THIS BOOK...don't let this depressing beginning scare you away.  

It is another MARVELOUS book by Karen White filled with wonderful characters and a terrific story line.

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Books Finished:

PAPER GHOSTS by Julia Heaberlin.

Review will be on May 15. 

A different kind of spooky.  :)

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A MATTER OF CHANCE by Julie Maloney.

Review will be on April 4. 

Suspenseful and good.

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THE WAY OF BEAUTY by Camille Di Maio.

Review will be on May 2.

A marvelous book.

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WHEN NEVER COMES by Barbara Davis. 

Really enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed all of her books.

Review will be on May 1, 2018.

 

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THE ELIZAS by Sara Shepard

Review will be on April 26.

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THE HUSBAND HOUR by Jamie Brenner.

Review will be on April 24.

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THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewell.

Review will be on April 19.

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AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline.

Review will be on April 18.

A GREAT read...don't miss reading it.

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THE NEW NEIGHBORS by  Simon Lelic.

Review will be on April 10.

 

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THE OTHER MOTHER by Carol Goodman. 

Review is in the book's title.

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NOT THAT I COULD TELL by Jessica Strawser.

Review is in the book's title - good read.

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Book Blogger Hop - 3/30 - 4/5

Question of the Week:

How many book clubs do you belong to? If you do belong to an in-person book club, do you have meetings in the day or evening? Do you meet at someone's house or meet at a local restaurant or coffee house?  (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

I am out of town...I will try to visit.

My Answer:

I belonged to four book clubs at one time.  I now belong to one.  

No on-line book clubs.

When I was working, we would meet after work - early evening -  at local restaurants, but the one at work has fizzled for all members not just for me.  :)

I also was in a church book club group, but my schedule interfered with that group.   Super nice women in the club.  We would meet in the church hall in the evening and bring a dessert or treat that matched with the book.

I also was in a local book club with eleven women that would meet at a local restaurant during the day.  We would choose a book each month and discuss it.   I had been in this book club the longest.

I currently belong to only one book club.  It is a library book club which meets once a month at the library in the evening. We do not read the same book.  We bring in a list of books we have read for the month and share the titles and our thoughts on the books.

Friendly Fill-Ins - 3/30/2018

I am out of town.
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FRIENDLY FILL-INS:

1. For Easter ( or Passover), I ______.

2. My favorite Easter ( or Passover) treat is_____.

3. Lately, the song          is stuck in my head.

4. The A-Z Blogging Challenge          .

MY ANSWERS:

1.  For Easter, I am in Maryland visiting my three sisters.

2.  My favorite Easter treat is Easter Bread.

3.  Lately, the song "It's All About The Books" is stuck in my head.

4.  The A-Z Blogging Challenge is something I am not aware of.

Spotlight of Shipyard Girls in Love by Nancy Revell

Shipyard Girls in Love

Nancy Revell 

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All information in this post is courtesy of Clare Kelly|Publicity Manager|Cornerstone|Penguin Random House UK

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This book sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
  

I LOVE the information about the research.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Published 22nd March 2018 Arrow Paperback Original £6.99. Also available as an eBook.

The fourth book in the compelling saga series The Shipyard Girls Even amid the war, a broken heart can heal.  Sunderland, 1941

With a brief break in air raids providing some much-needed respite from the war, things are looking up for head welder Rosie, who has fallen head over heels for Detective Sergeant Miller. But how long can their romance last in such uncertain times? 

Life remains full of challenges for Gloria, who must face her abusive ex-husband and confront her own guilty conscience about baby Hope’s real father. The secret is tearing her apart but if she admits the truth, she will risk losing everything. 

Both women are determined that their love and faith will be enough to keep the most difficult of promises, but nothing is as simple as it seems.
 
About The Author:

Nancy Revell is the pen name of writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton, and has worked for many national newspapers, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories. 

Nancy has recently relocated back to her home town of Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, with her husband Paul and their English Bull Mastiff, Rosie. They live a short walk from the beautiful, award-winning beaches of Roker and Seaburn, within a mile of where The Shipyard Girls series is set.

The subject is close to Nancy’s heart as she comes from a long line of shipbuilders, who were well-known in the area.

Praise for the Shipyard Girls:

‘I have just finished The Shipyard Girls and enjoyed it very much indeed . . . It has all the essentials of a good saga: well-drawn, believable, sympathetic characters, storylines which keep the reader turning the page and a very authentic background . . . The special bond that develops between the women makes it a very well rounded novel and will I’m sure have readers eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.’ Lyn Andrews, Sunday Times bestselling saga author

‘I had read The Shipyard Girls and enjoyed it tremendously, so much so that I bought Nancy’s second book. Strong characters and an absorbing story-line. Can't wait to read her third novel.’
Rosie Archer, author of The Gunpowder and Glory Girls 

‘The Shipyard Girls is just wonderful. Heartfelt, pacy and gutsy, I adore it already and will no doubt be devouring the rest of the series with just as much enthusiasm.’
Fiona Ford, author of The Spark Girl 

 More Information:

* Arrow has recently acquired two more books from Nancy and the fifth book in the series, The Shipyard Girls Unite publishes 6th September 2018 and is available to pre-order now. 

* During research for The Shipyard Girls, writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton found that the remarkable women who did some of the most dangerous work in both the First and Second World War have now died with little recognition or praise for the work they did and the conditions they encountered. 

* During World War Two seven hundred women worked in the Sunderland shipyards carrying out dangerous and backbreaking jobs, previously only been deemed suitable for men, such as welding, riveting, burning and rivet catching, as well as general labouring, operating cranes, and painting. 

* The yards in the ‘Biggest Shipbuilding Town in the World’ produced a quarter of Britain's merchant shipping at the time, causing it to become one of the most heavily bombed towns during the war. 

* It is believed that without the shipyards, the country would have been forced to surrender, as the cargo vessels being built were essential for the transportation of vital food, fuel and minerals, as well as taking troops to wherever they were needed in the fight against the Axis alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan. 

*Nancy is available for interviews and written pieces* 

For further information, please contact:

Clare Kelly on 020 7840 8893 or Clare.Kelly@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

The Other Mother by Carol Goodman

  

Should she really have done what she did?  That seemed to be the only way to keep her baby.

Daphne married, had a baby, and had Postpartum symptoms that caused her to not be happy and have thoughts of harming the baby.  

Daphne attended classes and met a friend, Laurel, in the class whose baby had the same name as her baby, and they became friends.

Their friendship was odd, though, because Laurel would tell stories about things that happened to Daphne and make them her own.

Her husband was supportive to a point, but then Daphne was worried he would take the baby away from her because he didn't think she was capable of taking care of their child.  

Daphne had a plan where she decided pretending to be someone else to get a job would be the only way out, but was it really?

She took on the identity of her friend Laurel, met Sky and Billie, and lived in a tower on the grounds of an insane asylum to help Sky write her memoir.

The job's location was not the best place to be with her paranoia and the history of the mansion.  Odd things would happen and strange sounds would occur that had Daphne second guessing her leaving. How Billie took over the caregiving of her daughter to the point of obsession was very strange.

THE OTHER MOTHER is not something I normally read.  It actually was a bit bizarre, dark, and tense for me, but the twists and turns in the storyline and the pull-you-in writing kept me reading.

I always felt something sinister was about to happen, and was kept on edge and feared for Daphne.

There are many sneaky, conniving, untrustworthy, deceitful characters in THE OTHER MOTHER.

I would not recommend this book to women who have just had a baby and who might be having a difficult time.

This book also addresses suicide and Borderline Personality Disorder.  

This DEFINITELY is a psychological thriller that at first had me second guessing why I was reading it, but then it all came together. 

THE OTHER MOTHER had a pretty clever and brilliant storyline.

As you near the last pages of the book you will still be asking yourself "Just who is the other mother" and "Is anyone who they say they are?" 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review. 

Giveaway and Spotlight of Other People's Houses

Photo Source

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All information in this post is courtesy of R. Ryanne Probst, Associate Publicist|Berkley Publishing Group|Penguin Random House.

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To celebrate the April 3, 2018, release date of OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES by Abbi Waxman, R. Ryanne Probst, Berkely Publishing, and Penguin Random House are offering one copy to one lucky USA reader.

Giveaway is at the bottom of this post.

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About The Book:

Behind every closed door is an open secret. . . 

A Most Anticipated Book of 2018 of InStyle, Elite Daily, PopSugar, and HelloGiggles

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Praise for Abbi Waxman & Other People’s Houses

“Abbi Waxman is both irreverent and thoughtful.”
— #1 New York Times bestselling author EMILY GIFFIN

“Charming yet provocative. . . . This is a voyeuristic (in a nice way) and humorous trip through what is usually hidden behind closed doors. Waxman is a master at purveying the wry humor that rides just below the surface of even the tough times. An immensely enjoyable read.”—Kirkus Reviews“

A smart, thoughtful look at marriage and suburbia.”—PopSugar 

“Once again, [Waxman] manages to take a far-reaching topic and sprinkle it with spicy dialogue, adorable kids, and characters who feel like best friends. . . Recommend to those who like to turn pages quickly without sacrificing complex characters.”—Booklist

“We absolutely adored [The Garden of Small Beginnings]. And if it’s possible, we’re even more in love with her much-anticipated follow-up, Other People’s Houses.”—Hello Giggles

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IN HER 2017 DEBUT The Garden of Small Beginnings, Abbi Waxman tackled widowhood and grief with wicked honesty. 

Readers fell in love with Waxman’s ability to wring humor from a sober situation, and the Lorelai Gilmore-esque widow at the center of the story. 

The book, an Indie Next selection, became a cult favorite among independent booksellers, and was featured in The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Elle.com, and Woman’s World, among others.

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In her second novel, Waxman again dares to take a dark situation and make it funny. IN OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; April 3, 2018), she captures the hilarious havoc one affair wreaks on an upper middle-class LA neighborhood.

For Frances Bloom, driver-in-residence of her local carpool crew, school dropoff is a chaotic if not predictable affair. Until one of Frances’s steely-eyed kindergarten charges sends her to retrieve forgotten school supplies. That’s when Frances stumbles on her friend Anne Porter— perfect, impeccable Anne—having a 9:00 am quickie with a younger man who is definitely not her husband. 

The affair exposes, to comedic effect, dormant insecurities, neuroses, and strife in the neighborhood. As the carpool line-up unravels one gossip session at a time, the novel alternates between the perspectives of the four families involved: the down-to-earth, level-headed Blooms; the seemingly perfect Porters; the eccentric lesbian couple Sara and Iris; and the mysterious Hortons, hiding a sad secret.

Waxman, a former ad copywriter, wields pitch-perfect dialogue, capturing how the chaotic aftermath of the affair plays out across the block behind closed doors, in scenarios alternately tender and preposterous. It will all lead up to the portentous return of Anne’s boyfriend, in a final plot turn that tests the carpool crew indelibly and forces their reliance on each other into alarming perspective.
 
Waxman’s bubbly skewering of her characters’ idiosyncrasies coupled with her irrepressible humor sets OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES apart from typical suburban satire.
 
Life in the carpool lane will never be the same. 

SOUNDS GREAT, DOESN'T IT?

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About the Author:

Abbi Waxman is a chocolate-loving, dog-loving woman who lives in Los Angeles and lies down as much as possible. She worked in advertising for many years, which is how she learned to write fiction. She has three daughters, three dogs, three cats, and one very patient husband. 

She is the recipient of most helpful parent award from her daughter’s preschool. That was many years ago. But still.

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The Giveaway:

I am partnering with Berkley|Penguin Random House for this giveaway.

CONTEST HAS ENDED.

CONGRATS TO APRIL FROM NEW MEXICO

USA ONLY

March 28 - April 4

Enter HERE

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