All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg ~ My Thoughts

All the Best People

All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg
Paperback, 368 pages
Expected publication: May 2nd 2017 by Berkley Books

An intricately crafted story of madness, magic and misfortune across three generations from the author of The Middle of Somewhere and House Broken...

Vermont, 1972. Carole LaPorte has a satisfying, ordinary life. She cares for her children, balances the books for the family’s auto shop and laughs when her husband slow dances her across the kitchen floor. Her tragic childhood might have happened to someone else.

But now her mind is playing tricks on her. The accounts won’t reconcile and the murmuring she hears isn’t the television. She ought to seek help, but she’s terrified of being locked away in a mental hospital like her mother, Solange. So Carole hides her symptoms, withdraws from her family and unwittingly sets her eleven-year-old daughter Alison on a desperate search for meaning and power: in Tarot cards, in omens from a nearby river and in a mysterious blue glass box belonging to her grandmother.

An exploration of the power of courage and love to overcome a damning legacy, All the Best People celebrates the search for identity and grace in the most ordinary lives.

  

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"Carole was ten when her mother was committed to Underhill State Hospital. For a year, her father had said."

I just love Sonja's books and I know when I start one that I am going to take an emotional journey into a family's life and come out with a better understanding of an issue that is a big part of, not just that family, but a lot of other families as well. All of her books are like that. All the Best People deals with mental health issues, an issue that has touched my family, as I am sure it has others. 

This story is so beautiful as well as being so heartbreaking. Beautiful because we see how families and communities can support and love each other and heartbreaking because we get a glimpse of how mental issues were dealt with in the past. Oh, how far we have come. 

Sonja's stories are always filled with great characters. I have so much respect for Carole and admire her for being so strong, even with all she had been through in her life. Her sister, Janine however, not so much. And then there's Walt and Alison, Carole's husband and daughter. They are both so supportive and loving as Carole is struggling with her past and dealing with the present. She doesn't want to be like her mother, but what if she can't help it? 

All the Best People gives us a very personal look at those who are affected by mental health issues and brings the struggles to our attention to give us all a better understanding of what it is like when something like this touches families. Hopefully, we can all have a little more empathy going forward for those who are faced with these issues.

Thank you Sonja for another wonderful, emotional, touching story! 

About the author

I grew up in Stowe, Vermont, the daughter of a ski instructor. In my first incarnation, I was a animal behaviorist who studied learning in blue jays, hyenas and kangaroo rats. I wrote a book about that. Now I make stuff up.

My first two novels (House Broken and Middle of Somewhere) were published in 2015 by Penguin. My third, All the Best People, will be out in May 2017. I'm very excited about it, but then again, I get excited about a lot of things.

When I'm not writing or pretending to be writing, I run, garden, cook, eat, drink wine, then run some more. My husband and I live in central Virginia with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's quiet and pretty, like Vermont. 

Connect with Sonja

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads

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Book Spotlight Giveaway! Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

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This one was another book club read for me. Did you ever have a book that you would never pick up on your own and that you know you are not going to like but you are reading because someone in book club picked it? Well, that was this book for me. And I was pleasantly surprised at how much I came to love the plot, the characters, and everything else about it. That is what can sometimes be great about book club picks, they take me out of my comfort zone and introduce me to a treasure I would have missed. We had a great discussion too, by the way. And I noticed that this author has another book coming out in the fall. I'll be keeping my eye out for that one now that I have discovered Celeste Ng.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

Everything I Never Told You

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Paperback, 292 pages
Published May 12th 2015 by Penguin Books

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins this debut novel about a mixed-race family living in 1970s Ohio and the tragedy that will either be their undoing or their salvation. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. 

About the author

Celeste Ng is the author of the novel Everything I Never Told You, which was a New York Times bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book of 2014, Amazon’s #1 Best Book of 2014, and named a best book of the year by over a dozen publications. Everything I Never Told You was also the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the ALA’s Alex Award, and the Medici Book Club Prize, and was a finalist for numerous awards, including the Ohioana Award, the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.

Celeste grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio, in a family of scientists. Celeste attended Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan), where she won the Hopwood Award. Her fiction and essays have appeared in One Story, TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize.

Currently, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere, will be published by Penguin Press in fall 2017.

Connect with Celeste

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

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Release Day! Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Happy Release Day!!



Slightly South of Simple

Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Paperback and ebook, 400 pages
Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Gallery Books

Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.\

Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

  

I read Slightly South of Simple and posted my thoughts a couple of days ago. You can read my thoughts HERE. I loved this one just like I have loved all of Kristy's books. This is such a wonderful story and I am so excited that this is the first in a series, more wonderfulness to come! Yay! 

Congrats Kristy 

on the release today of 

Slightly South of Simple!

About the author

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. 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 kristywoodonsharvey.com. She is a 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. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine and Houzz. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.

Connect with Kristy

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Blog | Goodreads | Design Chic

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Release Day! You're the One That I Want by Giovanna Fletcher

Happy Release Day!! 



You're the One That I Want

You're the One That I Want by Giovanna Fletcher
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published: April 25th 2017 by Thomas Dunne Books 

A new novel from the author of Billy and Me about love and the unbreakable bonds of friendship.

Maddy, dressed in white, stands at the back of the church. At the end of the aisle is Rob—the man she’s about to marry. Next to Rob is Ben—best man and the best friend anyone could ever ask for. And that’s the problem. Because if it wasn’t Rob waiting for her at the altar, there’s a strong chance it would be Ben. Best friends since childhood, Maddy, Ben, and Rob thought their bond was unbreakable. But love changes everything. And now Maddy has a choice to make. Her heart, and the hearts of the two best men she knows, depend on it.

  

About the author

Giovanna grew up in Essex with her Italian dad Mario, mum Kim, big sister Giorgina and little brother Mario, and spent most of her childhood talking to herself (it seems no one wanted to listen) or reading books.

At thirteen she left Essex behind to attend the full-time Sylvia Young Theatre School, where she met her husband Tom Fletcher. Following SYTS she completed an acting BA (hons) at Rose Bruford – since then she's been acting, chaperoning mini actors and dabbling in a spot of freelance journalism.

Giovanna is a firm believer in the power of magpies and positive energy. To see what makes Giovanna smile, view her blog at www.giovannasworld.com, or her Twitter page @mrsgifletcher

Billy and Me is Giovanna's debut novel.

Connect with Giovanna

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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The Sisters by Don Sloan ~ Book Trailer Blitz, an Excerpt, and a Giveaway!

The Sisters

The Sisters: A Mystery of Good and Evil, Horror and Suspense by Don Sloan

Publisher: Independent

Pages: 239

Genre: Supernatural/Mystery/Horror/Thriller 

In this book, written in the style of Stephen King, two young people on vacation in a small New England seacoast town battle unspeakable horror and solve a hundred-year-old mystery. Fourteen Victorian mansions whisper dark secrets among themselves, and a dangerous shadow roams up and down the wide, wintry boulevard in search of new prey.

Trailer

Excerpt

Snow pellets blow white across the boulevard and up onto the wide, night-shadowed porch of the house just in the center of the block. Inside, past leaded glass doors and heavy oak furnishings, something moves.

Up the polished mahogany staircase, and up yet another flight to the third story something moves that has no breath, no warmth, no life.

There is a narrow passageway to the attic, locked behind a heavy door with steel bands. The shadow pauses at the door only long enough to pass cold fingers over the padlock. It falls heavily to the floor and the door opens. The shadow passes through, as quietly as a midnight breeze in an icy cold forest. Here, no light at all warms the creaking steps. It is darker than the inside of death.

In the attic, the bitter, knifing cold whirls and eddies around shapeless mounds of old memorabilia and the shadow moves silently to a dormer window. Cobwebs—spun by industrious spiders long dead—are brushed aside and a single candle is placed on the sill. And in the darkness a flame is struck.

Outside, the wind falls off to nothing, and snow drifts listlessly to the ground. The candle flickers briefly and catches, burning a pinprick hole in the vastness of the night.

Far out to sea, a single cry begins and then falls silent.

And in the dormer window, where the shadow has settled down to wait, the candle flares brightly and then goes out.

About the author

Don Sloan is a former journalist for a large metropolitan daily newspaper and also an avid book reviewer, with more than 200 reviews posted on Amazon. His goal with the Dark Forces Series is to present readers with a new and exciting horror and suspense thriller experience.

He currently lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina with his wife of 39 years, and, when not writing, enjoys a cold glass of Chardonnay in the evenings, sitting on his back deck.

Connect with Don

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Don Sloan is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms & Conditions: By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old. One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive $25 Amazon Gift Card. This giveaway ends midnight April 24. Winner will be contacted via email on April 25. Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 24, 2017

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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I had a great week. Saturday was my birthday (check out my birthday post for a giveaway) and it was a wonderful day. I am so blessed. The next week will be very busy and different for us. We are taking care of our 2½ grandson for a few days while his parents take a vacation. Thank goodness he's got a great daycare so we can rest up during the day. 😉

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a great week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading/listening to

All the Best People
by Sonja Yoerg
Love this author's stories!


Motherland
by Maria Hummel 
This is our book club pick for this week.


Beach Rental (Emerald Isle, NC #1)
by Grace Greene
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

Locked Tight (Mindjack Series #4)
by Susan Kaye Quinn
Love this series! My thoughts will be posted soon.

I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage
by Mary-Ann Kirkby
Interesting read. Check out my post and giveaway HERE. 

What I am going to read next


Sweet Tea Tuesdays
by Ashley Farley

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey ~ My Thoughts

Slightly South of Simple

Slightly South of Simple by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Paperback and ebook, 400 pages
Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Gallery Books

Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.\

Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

  

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"I still have dreams about that yellow-and-white-striped bikini, the one I was wearing the night I met Jack, my first bona fide summer love. I was fifteen going on sixteen, the perfect age, when your hair tints that summer blond that hairstylists become superstars for emulating."

I know when I start a novel by Kristy Woodson Harvey that I am going to be transported to another fabulous world, one that I will not want to leave. Slightly South of Simple is full of interesting characters and that wonderful southern charm that Kristy does so well.

I was hooked from the first paragraph, as I knew I would be, and I loved the story more and more as I turned each page. Slightly South of Simple is a story of family, sisters, and love, all kinds of love; old loves and new loves, deep love and heartbreaking love. 

Oh, and secrets. Always secrets. Secrets that need to be revealed so that healing can happen. As each sister heads home to Peachtree Bluff and their mother, their safe place, they realize that there is nothing more important than family. 

I am so excited that there will be more stories from Peachtree Bluff. I loved my visit there and I can't wait to go back. 

About the author

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. 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 kristywoodonsharvey.com. She is a 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. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine and Houzz. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.

Connect with Kristy

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Blog | Goodreads | Design Chic

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Book Spotlight Giveaway! I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby

I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

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This book is one that my book club just finished reading and discussing. It was very interesting and I learned so much about the Hutterite way of life, so different from my own. We had a really great discussion and since we have Hutterite colonies in our state, it was enlightening to learn more about the culture of some of our neighbors.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

I Am Hutterite

I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage by Mary-Ann Kirkby
Paperback, 203 pages
Published June 1st 2007 by Polka Dot Press

A fascinating journey into the heart and culture of a reclusive religious community.

I Am Hutterite takes readers into the hidden heart of the little-known Hutterite colony in southern Manitoba where author Mary-Ann Kirkby spent her childhood. When she was ten years old her parents packed up their seven children and a handful of possessions and left the security of the colony to start a new life. Overnight they were thrust into a world they didn't understand, a world that did not understand them.

Before she left the colony Mary-Ann had never tasted macaroni and cheese or ridden a bike. She had never heard of Walt Disney or rock-and-roll. She was forced to reinvent herself, denying her heritage to fit in with her peers. With great humor, Kirkby describes how she adapted to popular culture; and with raw honesty her family's deep sense of loss for their community. More than a history lesson, I Am Hutterite is a powerful tale of retracing steps and understanding how our beginnings often define us.

Controversial and acclaimed by the Hutterite community, Kirkby's book unveils the rich history and traditions of her people, giving us a rare and intimate portrait of an extraordinary way of life.

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It's My Birthday! Let's Have a Giveaway! [CLOSED]

Happy Birthday to Me!!

My birthday is April 22nd!

Update: 
This giveaway is closed and believe it or not, Random.org picked the number 22 as the winner! 
22 is a great number!! 

Kelly is #22! Congrats Kelly, send me an email!
susanthebookbag(at)gmail.com 

I love celebrating birthdays and I want to party with you! And ... I'm going to give one of you a present.

Comment on this post with your best birthday greeting to me and you could win any book you want (up to $15) from either Amazon or The Book Depository, if they deliver to you. 

So that means this one's INTERNATIONAL!! 

Give me your best birthday wish in the comments and I'll pick a winner sometime next week, using Random.org. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you, in case you're the winner.

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Release Day! Kim vs the Mean Girl by Meredith Schorr

Happy Release Day!

 Kim vs the Mean Girl

Kim vs the Mean Girl by Meredith Schorr
Print and Kindle Editions, 200 pages
Published: April 20th 2017 by Meredith Schorr

High school sophomore, Kim Long, is no stranger to the “mean girl” antics of Queen Bee Hannah Marshak. When Hannah steals Kim’s diary and in front of the entire class reads personal (not to mention humiliating) entries Kim wrote about her crush, Jonathan, Kim vows to enact revenge.

Kim and her loyal best friend, Bridget, come up with the perfect plan to put the evil Hannah in her place once and for all. But will their scheming have the desired effect of getting even, or will Hannah emerge more celebrated by her peers than ever?

Kim vs. The Mean Girl can be read as a young adult standalone novel, but it is also a prequel to the popular Blogger Girl adult romantic comedy series and is set in 2000. Told in the duo perspectives of teenage Kim and Hannah, fans of the series will get an inside look into Kim’s early passion for reading, writing (and Jonathan) and find out why Hannah is so darn mean.

"In Blogger Girl we meet the irrepressible Kim Long and her nemesis Hannah Marshak. Kim Vs. the Mean Girl takes us back to high school with Kim and Hannah 101 in this delightful prequel. I gobbled it up in one byte…er, I mean bite (this is the era before a cell phone was in every backpack). When Kim declares war on Hannah, it takes some unexpected, and at times amusing, turns, and though the enemies don’t emerge as friends, or even frenemies, they each come away the better for it. A fun read for all ages." Eileen Goudge, New York Times best-selling author

 

Congrats to Meredith

on the release of her wonderful new novel, 

Kim vs the Mean Girl! 

I've read both of the books that take place in time after this one, Blogger Girl and Novelista Girl. I've got Kim vs the Mean Girl loaded on my Kindle and I can't wait to read it to see how it all started.

About the author 

A born and bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related emails way more than she was probably supposed to. After trying her hand penning children’s stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing chick lit and contemporary women’s fiction. She secures much inspiration from her day job as a hard-working trademark paralegal and her still single (but looking) status.

Meredith is also the co-founder of BookBuzz, a live author/reader event held annually. She is a loyal New York Yankees fan and an avid runner. Novelista Girl is her fifth novel.

Connect with Meredith

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

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