Giveaway Celebration of The Night The Lights Went Out by Karen White

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All information in this post other than my review is courtesy of Lauren Bernstein of Penguin Random House.  

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To celebrate the release of the paperback of THE NIGHTS THE LIGHTS WENT OUT by Karen White, Lauren Bernstein 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:

Scandal, secrets, and revenge collide in this delicious read, one of White’s best novels yet.

The hardcover was widely praised upon its release, including by…. 

-Huffington Post: “one of her best books ever”

-Durham Herald-Sun:  “[White] brings characters to life so well that you would expect to recognize Sugar on the street.” 

-Wilmington Star-News: “Steel Magnolias meets Gone Girl”

KAREN WHITE, the New York Times bestselling author of over 20 beloved novels, has given her devout readership a new type of story – now in paperback. 

With a plot worthy of Shonda Rhimes and a cast of characters made for Desperate Housewives’ Wisteria Lane, THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT (Berkley Trade Paperback Reprint; March 27, 2018; $16) brings a glinting new edge to White’s signature fusion of complicated family relationships, evocative prose, and picturesque southern locales.

In THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, recently divorced Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to Sweet Apple, Georgia. But her new beginning isn’t helped by an anonymous local blog that reveals for the whole town the scandalous affair that caused her marriage to fail. And Merilee’s new landlord, the proud, irascible, Atlanta born-and-bred 93-year-old Sugar Prescott, certainly isn’t helping.

But off Sugar’s property, Merilee finds herself swallowed into Sweet Apple’s most elite ranks—its inner circle of wealthy school moms—thanks to her blossoming friendship with town belle Heather Blackford. But behind the tennis whites, shiny SUVs, and immaculate women, lurk generations of secrets and resentments. And Merilee quickly learns that, in a town where appearance is everything, sins and secrets can be found in equal measure in the dark woods on Sugar’s property, and within the gated mansions of her newfound friends . . .

PRAISE FOR KAREN WHITE

“PLUMBS THE DEPTH OF HUMANITY, OF LIFE AND DEATH AND TRAGEDY AND PERSERVERANCE” The Herald Sun • 

  “GOTHIC GOLD” The Atlantan • 

 “ULTIMATE VOICE IN WOMEN’S FICTION” Fresh Fiction • 

 “EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING” Kirkus Reviews • 

“HER ICONIC MELLIFLUENT, INNOVATIVE NARRATIVE IS HAUNGTINGLY BEAUTIFUL” RT Book Reviews • 

 “CHARACTERS WITH DEPTH” The Fayetteville Observer • 

 “ENGROSSING” Parkersburg News and Sentinel (WV) • 

“VIVID” Library Journal • “SENSITIVE, PRECISE, AND POWERFUL” RT Book Reviews

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About the Author:

Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including the Tradd Street series, The Night the Lights Went Out, Flight Patterns, The Sound of Glass, A Long Time Gone, and The Time Between.

She is the coauthor of The Forgotton Room with New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband and two children near Atlanta, Georgia.

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My Review:

A new town, a new home, a friend you really don't want, a blog that tells the town's gossip, and Merilee has to deal with all of this along with her divorced husband and his pregnant girlfriend.

Living in Sweet Apple, Georgia, seemed like a good town to start over and for the most part it was.

Merilee was renting a house on the property of the town's oldest citizen, Sugar Preston.  Sugar was portrayed as anything but sweet, but actually she was.

Merilee and Sugar became friends and shared stories from Sugar's childhood that made sense as to why Sugar was the way she was.

Sugar and quite a few town residents had secrets, and now that Merilee arrived in town, the anonymous blog writer had more ammunition for her daily posts and Southern sayings. 

As Sugar knew, there were more people in this town that had better stories than Merilee had.  Sugar's past was a soap opera in itself and filled with stories but no one dared to tell them except Sugar herself and many stories were told for the first time to Merilee.

Totally and completely enjoyed the characters and the story line of THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT.  Sugar was very lovable, Merilee was sweet, and I didn't like Heather from the minute I met her. 
 
Readers of women's fiction will again be transported back to the days of Southern ​hospitality and then brought back to current day with women who keep secrets and have everything and like to flaunt it.
 
Ms. White has done it again with a marvelous story filled with wonderful characters with Southern charm​.  If you have ever read any of Karen White's books, you will love this book just like all of her books and not want to put the book down. 
 
I have LOVED all of Ms. White's books, but this has to be my all-time favorite. 5/5​

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

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The Giveaway:

I am partnering with Penguin Random House for this giveaway.

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

CONGRATS TO HEATHER FROM NEW YORK!!

USA ONLY

April 12 - April 19

Enter HERE

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What is the NINTH book on YOUR Shelf?

My NINTH book is THE SILENT SISTER.

Have you read this Diane Chamberlain book or any other of her books?

Giveaway and Review of The New Neighbors by Simon Lelic

Moving into a house they never thought they would get.

Moving into a house with all the previous owner's things left inside.

Moving into a house and finding things that should not be there and hearing things.

Syd and Jack were excited to move into the house they actually got for a bargain, but things they didn't bargain for happened.

The neighbors were a bit odd as well.

THE NEW NEIGHBORS was difficult to connect with for me because of the writing style of the author. It was confusing when the chapters went from one character to one situation with hardly any connection for me.

There are many characters and many stories going on but it always comes back to that house Syd and Jack bought.  Even Syd’s mother sees something in the house that made her upset when she stopped for the first time.

There also were some things that I wasn't comfortable with like drug use and mental abuse, but I continued to read because I had to find out what the story was with the house.

THE NEW NEIGHBORS had many broken, hurt characters that all stemmed back to their childhood and to one person.  Could it be more than one person causing all the grief?

This book is definitely a psychological fest.  It plays on your mind just like the author has others play on the minds of the characters and story line. 

Everything doesn’t seem to be what it appears to be.  

If you enjoy characters that are secretly twisted and a story line that keeps you wondering, watching, and waiting, THE NEW NEIGHBORS is for you.

It is difficult to rate this book because it held my interest, but it also was frustrating.  3.5/5

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

GIVEAWAY:

I am partnering with Penguin Random House for this giveaway

USA ONLY

APRIL 10 - April 17

GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED
CONGRATS TO STACY FROM OHIO!!

A Matter of Chance by Julie Maloney

Had the kidnapping of Vinni actually been planned? Were Rudy and Hilda watching and planning each time Maddy and Vinni were at the beach?

Maddy couldn't stop blaming herself for Vinni's disappearance.  Why didn't she have her cell phone with her instead of having to run back to the house to call the ambulance for Rudy.  Was his accident really an accident or had Hilda planned that on her own too?

We follow the police investigation as well as Maddy's own investigation and share Maddy's pain as she mourns the disappearance of her daughter.  Maddy did annoy me a little when she did her own investigation that might have hindered the investigation.  I am sure I would have done the same though.

There were not that many characters in the story, but you did get to know each character well.  Ms. Maloney described each character in detail and will have you feeling as if you are sitting right there with them and experiencing what they are experiencing.

A MATTER OF CHANCE has beautiful, detailed writing and a smooth, pull-you-in story line.  You won't want to stop reading because of the engaging situations.  

Mystery fans as well as suspense fans will enjoy A MATTER OF CHANCE.  

There are a few sensitive topics addressed, but this book is a marvelous, moving read that will fill you with terror as well as love.  5/5

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

Spotlight of Elaine Neil Orr's book Swimming Between Worlds

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All information in this post is courtesy of Loren Jaggers of Penguin Random House.  

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Celebrating The Release Of

 SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS

On Sale April 3, 2018

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About The Book: 

Sounds quite good, doesn't it?  

 

When you leave home, can you ever really come back again?

That’s what Elaine Neil Orr explores in her new novel SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS, set in 1960’s Winston-Salem, NC.  

The daughter of missionaries, Orr spent parts of her childhood in both Winston-Salem and Nigeria, her memories serving as inspiration for the events of the novel. 

Local golden boy and high school football star Tacker Hart left his home in North Carolina a hero, having gone on to NC State to study architecture. After graduation and despite his parents’ concerns he accepts a prestigious assignment in West Africa to help build a university. However, after he is fired and returns to Winston-Salem in disgrace, he has no choice but to make ends meet by managing one of his father’s local grocery stores. He has a changed view of his seemingly idyllic hometown after his time abroad; the culture and people he grew to admire have left their mark on him.

At the same time down the street, recent college graduate Kate Monroe is back at her parents’ home, still grieving over the recent deaths of both of her parents. While cleaning, a trove of disturbing letters sends her searching for the truth behind the comfortable life she's been bequeathed.

Soon both Tacker and Kate encounter a young African-American, Gaines Townson, and their stories converge with his. As Winston-Salem is pulled into the tumultuous 1960s, each find themselves at the center of the civil rights struggle, coming to terms with the legacies of their pasts as they search for an ennobling future.

A perfect read for fans of The Help and The Secret Life of Bees, SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS is a Southern coming-of-age novel that explores how changing viewpoints can alter people’s lives and their communities.

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About the Author:

Elaine Neil Orr is professor of English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where she teaches world literature and creative writing. 

She also serves on the faculty of the low-residency MFA in Writing program at Spalding University in Louisville. 

Author of A Different Sun, two scholarly books, and the memoir Gods of Noonday: A White Girl's African Life, she has been a featured speaker and writer-in-residence at numerous universities and conferences and is a frequent fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She grew up in Nigeria.

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March Reads

I enjoyed all of these books.

Have you read any of them or are they in your To Be Read stack?

Happy Easter!!

HAPPY EASTER!!

HAPPY READING!!

ENJOY YOUR DAY!!