Joanne DeMaio, Author of Blue Jeans and Coffee Bean, Answers the Voices Question

Yesterday I posted my thoughts about the wonderful book, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by Joanne DeMaio. You can read my thoughts here. I also read and reviewed Joanne's first book when it came out, Whole Latte Life. Those thoughts are here. I have to tell you that after reading these two books, Joanne has become one of my 'must-read' authors. I love her stories!

Today, she is here answering the 'voices' question I like to pose to authors. Let's see what she has to say.

I have heard other authors say that they 'hear voices in their head' and that is how they write their books: the characters are telling their stories. Not being a writer myself, that concept has always intrigued me.

When some people hear voices, we get them medical attention; others end up becoming writers. Does this happen to you? How do you come up with your stories?

My stories are usually sparked by a question—a what if. An acquaintance tells me she's planning a weekend birthday getaway with her best friend, and I think … what if one of those friends took the getaway literally, and walked clean out of her life? That’s how I began my first novel Whole Latte Life. Or what if a place is so special, we are called back to it, and cannot escape it, no matter the impact on our lives? This is the dilemma in my new book Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans, in which a cherished New England beach casts a spell stronger than the pull of the tides for a group of reunited beach friends.  

So no, I don’t hear voices that start my story. Rather than begin a story idea with a character, I draw upon real life. I’m intrigued with issues and questions that everyday, relatable people face—friends and sisters and mothers and daughters. Their fears and hopes and what-ifs inspire my stories, and my readers and I can then live them out on the page. 

~Joanne

About the author

Joanne DeMaio is the award-winning author of BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS and the bestselling novel WHOLE LATTE LIFE, which won First Place in the 2012 Discovery Awards and was named a Kirkus Reviews Critics' Pick. It has also been featured in USA Today, The Huffington Post, Unabashedly Bookish: Barnes & Noble's blog and other outlets. BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS is her second novel. Both books explore the intricate relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends. In addition, her music essays have appeared in literary journals, celebrating her passion for song. Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut, where the coffee and stories are always brewing, and is currently at work on her next book.

She enjoys hearing from readers at Facebook.com/JoanneDeMaioAuthor

Connect with Joanne

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Purchase the book on Amazon

And how can you not just LOVE both of these covers? 

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Winner @ The Book Bag!

I've got another winner to announce!

This is for my ARC of the wonderful book Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie. 

And the winner is ...... 

 Jordan P!!

(I will be sending you an email soon ~ watch for it)

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On Tour: Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by Joanne DeMaio

Escape to Stony Point, cuff your jeans and walk along the water's edge in this nostalgic story bringing old friends, and their lives, back to the sea.

After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But a forgotten home movie tucked inside a dusty attic box leads to an unexpected summer ... One of uncovering family secrets while settling her father's estate, one of inheriting a forlorn German Shepherd, one of reconnecting with old friends on a weathered boardwalk, beneath starlit skies on a beach nestled in a crook of the Connecticut coast.

Her design career had become a shell, curving around her like the intricate whorls of a conch, shielding her until now. Until fried clam dinners and carousel rides beckon a lost love. But can Maris ever really go back? Can these beach friends ever be who they were to each other all those summers ago? Now one of her circle is dead; another unemployed and struggling in a tenuous marriage; another regretting a fateful decision; while one is missing a mother, ever seeking a connection she longs for.

To the backdrop of seaside cottages and a boarded up beach hangout, to the soundtrack of whispering lagoon grasses and a vintage jukebox, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans asks if we can really design our own lives, or if our fate lies somewhere in the stars. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans ~~

I read Joanne's first book, Whole Latte Life, when it came out and absolutely loved it. You can read my thoughts here. When I was contacted to see if I wanted to read her current one, Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans, I jumped at the chance.

Once again, Joanne has woven a wonderful story of friends, relationships, and second chances. When Maris has to go back to Stony Point to take care of things after her father passes away, she sticks around for awhile to settle the estate. She uncovers a family secret while going through some of the things in the attic which really throws her for a loop and she digs until she finds some answers. While she is in Stony Point, the old group gets back together but it's really not the same. Being there makes her stop and think about what she has back home and to question if that is really what she wants or needs.

I loved the setting of this story, a wonderful beach community with good friends all around. Blue jeans and coffee beans takes on a significant meaning in the book but it also made me think of the setting; the blue of the water and the brown of the sand. What a wonderful combination - relaxing on the beach in your jeans while enjoying some great coffee. And in my case, it would also include a good book. So there you go, this book made for such a wonderful escape. It made me smile to read the quick reference to the coffee shop in town, Whole Latte Life, which was the coffee shop in Joanne's other book. I loved the connection.

Joanne has such a way with her writing, it is just beautiful. I marked several places as I was reading that were just amazing. Here is one section that really spoke to me ~~

Time moves like the sea. She always felt so. Living right at the beach, time is placid and calm, soft waves of it rolling onto the shore of her days. One day follows the other, over and over, in a comfortable and reassuring was. No matter what she is doing, at any age, that awareness of the movement of the sea, and the waves of time, keeps her grounded.

But as volatile as the sea can be, so too is any hour, any moment. Washing ashore, overtaking her very self with its insistence, with its forward movement rushing by the force of time. Waves of the past have that way of pulling at her, leaving her gasping and struggling to get her bearings, to breathe evenly.

And another ~~

Is Stony Point the place they forever return to for comfort, or is it the source of all their troubles?

There are several other beautiful passage that I would love to quote here but it would give too much of the story away. And I can't do that. Just trust me when I say that this is such a wonderful story with great prose and characters you just come to fall in love with. And again, as in Whole Latte Life, Joanne includes creative people in her story so you get a lot of art and creative imagery, which appealed to my artistic side.

I highly recommend Joanne's books and consider her one of my favorite authors now. I am excited to see what she writes next!

About the author

Joanne DeMaio is the award-winning author of BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS and the bestselling novel WHOLE LATTE LIFE, which won First Place in the 2012 Discovery Awards and was named a Kirkus Reviews Critics' Pick. It has also been featured in USA Today, The Huffington Post, Unabashedly Bookish: Barnes & Noble's blog and other outlets. BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS is her second novel. Both books explore the intricate relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends. In addition, her music essays have appeared in literary journals, celebrating her passion for song. Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut, where the coffee and stories are always brewing, and is currently at work on her next book.

She enjoys hearing from readers at Facebook.com/JoanneDeMaioAuthor

Connect with Joanne

Facebook | Goodreads | Website

Purchase the book on Amazon

And how can you not just LOVE both of these covers?

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Book Buzz and a Tour Giveaway: Surrender Your Love by J. C. Reed

Meeting Jett was like lightning. Dangerous. Better left untouched. And better forgotten. But lightning always strikes twice.

Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, doesn’t do relationships. When she’s sent to a remote estate to finalize a real estate deal, she discovers her new boss is no other than the guy she left naked in bed.

Sexy, dangerously handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield attracts trouble, and women, like a lightning rod. But the night he meets Brooke he gets more than he bargained for. The green-eyed millionaire playboy isn’t used to taking no for an answer, and he isn’t about to start now.

When he proposes two months of no strings sex, Brooke is intrigued and accepts his proposal. Little does she know Jett’s determined to claim the one woman he can’t have, pulling her deeper into his dangerous world.

A man who doesn't take 'no' for an answer.
A woman afraid to surrender to love.
Two lives that are about to cross...and secrets laid bare.

About the author

Jessica C. Reed is a contemporary fiction author, but her greatest achievement are her two children. She spent half of her life in the beautiful mountains of Wyoming and would like to go back one day. When she’s not typing away on her keyboard, forgetting the world around her, you can find her talking on the phone or watching way too much TV.

Connect with J. C. 

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Purchase Surrender Your Love

Amazon | B&N

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Sara Palacios Talks About Voices and a Tour Giveaway!

Yesterday was my stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Love in Translation by Sara Palacios. I loved this book and you can read my thoughts here. Today Sara is here answering my question about whether she hears voices when she writes.

Sara, I have heard other authors say that they 'hear voices in their head' and that is how they write their books: the characters are telling their stories. Not being a writer myself, that concept has always intrigued me.

When some people hear voices, we get them medical attention, others end up becoming writers. Does this happen to you? How do you come up with your stories?

Typically, an idea pops into my head for a story and I begin brainstorming. While brainstorming, the first thing to come to me is usually the character names and how I want them to be and what kind of conflicts I want them to face. Once I begin writing, I don’t think I necessarily have voices in my head, but I definitely feel like the characters - and their emotions - inhabit me. So far, this has helped tremendously, especially when I am writing an emotional scene or one that is fairly difficult for a character.

Since I feel so close to them, it definitely helps the situation and their reactions feel a little more real while writing. Which as a result, I think, helps them feel real to a reader. I think it is crucial for an author to feel close to her characters, and whether you hear them in your head or feel them in your heart, you should know exactly how they would feel at any given moment.

About the author

Sara Palacios is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Advertising and a minor in English Literature. It was during her time in college that she really fell in love with the written word and ventured into writing her own stories. In addition to writing, Sara spends a majority of her time reading the works of other authors. She reads most genres – but thoroughly enjoys chick-lit, women’s and historical fiction.

When she isn't busy reading or writing, Sara enjoys spending time with family and friends. She is happily married, the owner of two precious doggies and a new mom to a handsome baby boy. Sara is also an avid animal-lover, runner, yoga enthusiast, wannabe vegan, USA soccer fan, foodie and fashion blog-lover and Christian.

Connect with Sara

Website | Goodreads | Facebook

Purchase Love in Translation

Amazon: Print or eBook
Barnes and Noble: eBook
Kobo: eBook

**Everyone who leaves a comment on the CLP Blog Tour page (click here) will be entered to win the Love in Translation prize package!

Prize package includes:

6 pack eau de parfum from Victoria's Secret, $10 gift card to Target and the following items from Bath and Body Works: Carried Away shower gel, 3 oz. Sparkling Blackberry Woods lotion, small stress relief candle and small White barn candle.

Anyone who purchases their copy of Love In Translation before April 1 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries. Please note this is open to US residents only.**

Visit the other stops on the tour!