Little Sacrifices by Michele Gorman

How much would you risk to stand up for your beliefs?

When Duncan and Sarah Powell move with their daughter, May, to Savannah Georgia in 1947, they hope against hope that they’ll be welcomed. But they’re Yankees and worse, they’re civil rights advocates almost a decade too early.

At first May can pretend they’re the same as everyone else. It means keeping quiet when she knows she should speak up, but it’s worth the sacrifice to win friends. Unfortunately her parents are soon putting their beliefs into action. And when they wake to find that they’re the only family on the block with a Ku Klux Klan cross blazing on their front lawn, the time comes for them to finally decide between what’s easy and what’s right.

Jamie Scott can inscribe this book through www.kindlegraph.com for you or a friend if you’d like to give it as a gift. It has also been lending-enabled, so please do consider passing it on to a friend. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

This atmospheric, evocative depiction of the American South may just be the perfect summer read for fans of The Secret Life of Bees or To Kill A Mockingbird.

My thoughts about Little Sacrifices ~~

I started reading Little Sacrifices after reading an intense, YA paranormal novel. I do have to say that I rather enjoyed the relaxing, slower pace that this story had to offer me at this time. The setting of the book takes place in the South, Savannah, Georgia in 1947, and as I imagine the South being, people and events move a lot slower. I was ready for that change of pace.

As noted above, this story is a perfect fit for anyone loving The Secret Lives of Bees (loved it!) or To Kill a Mockingbird (another one to love!). I very much got that type of feeling while reading this book. Little Sacrifices has wonderful character development and is very well written. I really felt like I was there experiencing it all.

May is a spunky young lady who has been taught to do the right thing so when things don't seem 'right' to her in the South, she has a hard time being quiet. She learned this behavior from her father, so the two of them set out to try to 'fix' the South. But not without a cost, to them and those around them.

I loved the side story that we get to enjoy along with the main story of May and her parents adjusting to life in the South. May finds a journal of a women who lived in their house in the early 1900's. That woman's story gives us, the reader, an additional taste of life before our time and reminds us of how everything in connected.

I really did enjoy Little Sacrifices, a lot, and hope that Michele has more great stories to share with us. I know I will be waiting to read them!

About the author

Michele Gorman was born and raised in the US, but lost her heart to London nearly 15 years ago and is now a card-carrying Brit. Michele writes both chick lit (Single in the City, Misfortune Cookie, The Twelve Days to Christmas). She also writes upmarket commercial fiction under the pen name Jamie Scott.

Since procrastination is an essential element in writing, Michele spends way too much time on twitter and facebook and would be thrilled for readers to join her there. So follow @expatdiaries on twitter, send a friend request on Facebook or visit her website or blog (www.michelegormanwriter.blogspot.com).

And if you'd like her to sign an eBook for yourself or as a gift, just pop a request through on www.kindlegraph.com. Better yet, send a friend request!

Connect with Michele

Website | Facebook | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Follow The Book Bag on bloglovin'

or by email (option on the sidebar)

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

WWW Wednesdays July 10, 2013

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Goodreads
for more information about the books listed below.

What are you currently reading?

Heist by Laura Pauling

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

I have heard so many good things about this book. I am going to be listening to it on audio-book.

What did you recently finish reading?

Taking Back Forever (Kindrily #2)
by Karen Amanda Hooper

Loved book #1. My thought are here. I will be posting my thoughts about book #2 soon.

Little Sacrifices by Jamie Scott Michele Gorman

My thoughts will be posted on Thursday.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Whew, done! This is a long audio book but I loved every minute of it. The narrators do an excellent job of reading.

What do you think you will read next?

It's about book club time of the month so I need to get started on these books. I am not sure which one I will read first.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
or
The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and

I'll stop by to check out your reads.

Follow The Book Bag on bloglovin'
or by email (option on the sidebar)

And be sure to check out the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Chick Lit Author Michele Gorman Has a YA Alter-Ego

Known for her best-selling chick lit (the Single in the City series and Bella Summer Takes a Chance), Michele also writes coming-of-age fiction under the name Jamie Scott and today sees the re-launch of her first novel, Little Sacrifices. 

This atmospheric, evocative depiction of the American South may just be the perfect summer read for fans of The Secret Life of Bees or To Kill A Mockingbird.

(And who doesn't just love those two books?) 

About the book

How much would you risk to stand up for your beliefs?

When the Powell family moves to Savannah Georgia in the late 1940s, they hope against hope that they'll be welcomed. But they're Northerners and worse, they're civil rights advocates almost a decade too early. The American South is deeply segregated.

At first their daughter, May, can pretend they're the same as everyone else. It means keeping quiet when she knows she should speak up, but it's worth the sacrifice to win friends. Unfortunately her parents are soon putting their beliefs into action. And when they wake to find that they're the only family on the block with a Ku Klux Klan cross blazing on their front lawn, the time comes for them to finally decide between what's easy and what's right.

I had the pleasure of reading this wonderful, beautiful novel. Come back on Thursday to read my thoughts. Short version ~ I loved it! 

About the author

Michele Gorman is the best-selling author of Single in the City, Misfortune Cookie and The Twelve Days to Christmas.

She also writes commercial fiction (historical, young adult) under the pen name Jamie Scott. Born and raised in the US, Michele has lived in London for 15 years.

And if you'd like her to sign a book for yourself or as a gift, just pop a request through on www.authorgraph.com for eBooks, or through www.michelegorman.co.uk for paperbacks.

Connect with Michele

Website | Facebook | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Follow The Book Bag on bloglovin'
or by email (option on the sidebar)

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Grasping at Eternity (Kindrily #1) by Karen Amanda Hooper

Leave it to Maryah Woodsen to break the one rule that will screw up eternity: Never erase your memories.

Before entering this life, Maryah did the unthinkable—she erased. Now, at seventeen years old, she’s clueless that her new adoptive family has known her for centuries, that they are perpetually reincarnated souls, and that they have supernatural abilities. Oh, and she's supposed to love (not despise) Nathan, the green-eyed daredevil who saved her life.

Nathan is convinced his family’s plan to spark Maryah's memory is hopeless, but his love for her is undying. After spending (and remembering) so many lifetimes together, being around an empty version of his soulmate is heart shattering. He hates acting like a stalker, but has no choice because the evil outcast who murdered Maryah in their last lifetime is still after her.

While Maryah’s hunter inches closer, she and Nathan make assumptions and hide secrets that rip them further apart. Maryah has to believe in the magic within her, Nathan must have faith in the power of their love, and both need to grasp onto the truth before they lose each other forever—and discover just how lonely eternity can be. ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

Genre: YA Paranormal
Print Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Starry Sky Publishing
Published Date: May 21, 2012

My thoughts about Grasping at Eternity ~~

I have to admit that I was first drawn to this gorgeous cover. The synopsis sounded amazing to me too. I am also going to admit right here and now, that I am not a young adult, far from it actually, but I am finding so many exciting stories that make up this YA genre. These kinds of stories were not being written back when I was a young adult. And I am loving all the wonderful stories and authors that I have discovered.

Grasping at Eternity is a book that caught my eye from the very first time I saw that beautiful cover. And then the sequel, Taking Back Forever came out ~ another beautiful cover. I loved them both but just couldn't seem to get around to reading them. I finally moved them both to the top of my to-be-read list and was determined to read them, by golly!

I just finished Grasping and totally fell in love with everything in the book; the characters, their supernatural abilities, their loyalty to one another, the kindrily, soul-mates. Everything. Their world is completely different from what our world is but I found myself embracing all that they do and believe. How awesome it would be to be a part of that world!

The Kindrily has wonderful people in it who reincarnate through out the ages and come back to offer support and love to the others in their family. They call on their individual powers to help protect the family and to make things right in their world. So many of the characters are people I wish I knew and I came to love them as if I were a part of that family.

I am so glad that book 2 of this series, Taking Back Forever, is already out. I am off to lose myself in the kindrily world again and to learn what happens to these wonderful characters. Karen is currently working on book #3 ~ I can't wait!

About the author

Author of YA paranormal and fantasy. ~Tangled Tides by Rhemalda Publishing. ~The Kindrily series by Starry Sky Publishing.

I was born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple of years and I'm currently sunning and splashing around Florida with my two sweet and adorable dogs. I'm addicted to coffee, chocolate and complicated happily-ever-afters.

If a book is on my Read list then I enjoyed it (3-5 stars). I only rate 5 star books (those I loved so much I will read again and/or because they are by authors I know personally and adore) because I usually don't do reviews and I'd feel bad giving an author 3 or 4 stars without explaining why.

Feel free to friend me. I love meeting other book lovers and I like seeing what people are reading!

Connect with Karen

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Blog

Follow The Book Bag on bloglovin'
or by email (option on the sidebar)

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Teresa Orts, Author of The Year of the Great Seventh, Talks About Her Voices and a Giveaway!

Yesterday I posted my thoughts about Teresa Ort's wonderful,exciting book, The Year of the Great Seventh. You can read my thoughts here.

Today, Teresa is here giving us her thoughts on the question I like to ask authors about the voices they might hear while writing. It's always fun reading the answers.

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?

I've never dared tell anyone how I come up with my stories fearing I will be deemed insane. But since I seem to not be the only one with paranormal activity inside their head, I’m happy to come clean.

For me, it has never been about voices, it is a totally different experience. I see the characters inside my head. I've always had an overactive imagination, which has its own agenda. I sometimes struggle to keep the stories from unweaving at inopportune moments i.e., while someone is talking to me, trying to read a book, or even worse, while I’m out with friends.

The interesting aspect is that when I see (imagine) the characters, I don’t really have any power over what they do. They have their own will. I just describe the scenes I see inside my head. (OK, I’m starting to feel more and more insane as I type along…) 

When I’m stuck at a specific place (or chapter within a novel), I just close my eyes and imagine the characters. I keep repeating the scene in my head until they get to the point where they get stuck. I normally do this in my commute to work. (Thankfully, I don’t drive to work…) If I imagine that same situation several times, suddenly the scene moves forward, and I can see what happens next. I also do this while I go for a run. I play music on my iPod that relates to the scene helping me see what comes next.

If I ever get really stuck, and I can’t see what happens next, I go online and look at photos of the theme related to the scene. That normally sets my imagination free again, and I can see what happens next.

There it goes! That’s how my creative process works. It feels relieving to finally be out of the closet …

Thank you, Teresa, for the insight into your writing process, even if you did take a little step over to the insane side for a bit. I'm so glad we were able to help you 'come out of the closet'. Seriously though, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your book, and sharing such an important part of you with all of us. 

Teresa's Story/Bio

  

Unlike most authors, I didn't start writing books when I was five years old. In fact, I’d never been too interested in reading or writing. Hanging out with friends in the small Spanish town I grew up in always seemed more appealing than anything a book could offer. It took about twenty-seven years and a global financial meltdown for me to discover the magic world of writing.

At the time, I was living in New York City, and one morning I discovered I was no longer expected at my sixty-hour-a-week investment banking job. Most of my friends had very demanding jobs, so I spent most days wandering around on my own.

Like most unemployed people, I started living through the nights and sleeping through the days. New York is known as the city that never sleeps for a good reason! One night, tired of surfing the web and watching TV, I opened a Word document and started typing a short story, which I saved in my computer with little interest. That was the day Nate and Sophie were born.

Days later, since the financial industry seemed to be going into a downward spiral, I decided to spend three months traveling through Southeast Asia and New Zealand. I thought, naïve me, that by the time I returned, the financial crisis would have come to an end.

Something really strange happened to me during that trip. No matter where I went, I couldn't stop thinking about the story. Nate and Sophie followed me everywhere. No matter how hard I tried to forget about them, they just wouldn't go away. At the beginning, I thought I was losing my mind, but soon after, I realized I had to continue writing the story.

When I came back to New York, I went right back into it, and that’s how The Year of the Great Seventh was created. Unfortunately, halfway through the novel, I received a letter from the immigration department informing me that, with no job, I was no longer welcome in the United States. Without much of a choice, my boyfriend and I decided to pack our lives, along with my half-drafted manuscript, and begin another exciting adventure in London, where we now live.

This novel is the first in The Tropic of Cancer series

Connect with Teresa

Website | Facebook | Goodreads 

Giveaway!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!