Blog Tour Review and Giveaway: Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne

Welcome to my tour stop for Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne. This is an adult contemporary romance published by Harlequin. The tour runs July 21-31 with reviews, author interviews and guest posts. Be sure to check out the Tour Page & Schedule.

Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne

Release: July 2014

Imprint: Harlequin HQN

ISBN: 978-0-373-77859-1

Pages: 352

A big-city, high-powered advertising executive and a small-town firefighter learn that no matter where you started or what you’ve lost, if you open your heart, you can find joy and love again. WILD IRIS RIDGE is the latest book inUSA TODAY bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne’s charming Hope’s Crossing series.

Synopsis:  Lucy Drake and Brendan Caine have only one thing in common…  And it’s likely to tear them apart. Because it was Brendan’s late wife, Jessie—and Lucy’s best friend—who’d brought them together in the first place. And since Jessie’s passing, Brendan’s been distracted by his two little ones…and the memory of an explosive kiss with Lucy years before his marriage. Still, he’ll steer clear of her. She’s always been trouble with a capital T.  Lucy couldn’t wait to shed her small-town roots for the big city. But now that she’s back in Hope’s Crossing to take care of the Queen Anne home her late aunt has left her, she figures seeing Brendan Caine again is no big deal. After all, she’d managed to resist the handsome fire chief once before, but clearly the embers of their attraction are still smoldering….  (publisher)

My take:  Wild Iris Ridge is the follow-up book to Christmas in Snowflake Canyon (the first book I read in the Hope’s Crossing series). It centers around Brendan,one of the Caine boys, and Lucy, the girl he had a brief but memorable history with – before he married her cousin. I promise, it’s not confusing when you read the book ;-). I enjoyed their story and understood their reluctance to start anything more than a friendship even when they both realized they had strong feelings for each other. RaeAnne Thayne paced the story perfectly. I also enjoyed the not-too-sacharine scenes with Brendan’s children. I loved that Lucy introduced young Faith to Anne of Green Gables. As Lucy, Brendan and his kids are working through their story Brendan’s dad has a storyline of his own. Even though I’ve only read one other book in the series I can tell Dermot’s story has been a part of most, if not all, of the previous books. Lucy’s step-sister Crystal also figures into the book. Lucy is able to do for Crystal what her great-aunt did for Lucy years earlier – she gave her a place to call home and be loved. This is a nice series and I’m looking forward to catching up with the first five books. Recommended to fans of small town contemporary romance and RaeAnne Thayne.  4 stars

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | The Book Depository

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About the author:

USA TODAY bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne loves words. This led her to a fifteen-year career in journalism as a newspaper reporter and editor. But through it all, she dreamed of writing the kind of stories she loved best, romance, and has since published more than 40 titles. RaeAnne finds inspiration in the rugged northern Utah mountains, where she lives with her hero of a husband and their children. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website, RaeAnneThayne.com and Facebook.

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And now for the giveaway:

Please click here to go to giveaway page.

Good luck!

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Giveaway winner!

Congratulations to

Julia H.

winner of

• Winner selected by Random.org
• Giveaway copy provided by the publisher

Spotlight/Giveaway (US): The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

THE FORTUNE HUNTER (St. Martin’s Press; July 29, 2014) is a brilliant, new novel that explores the irresistibility of the public lives and private longings of grand historical figures. Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as “Sisi,” is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse. Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National—until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that threatens the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and all of their futures.

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Author Daisy Goodwin talks about The Fortune Hunter:

 

DAISY GOODWIN is the author of The American Heiress. She is a Harkness scholar who attended Columbia University’s film school after earning a degree in history at Cambridge University and is a leading television producer in the U.K. Her poetry anthologies have introduced many new readers to the pleasures of poetry, and she was Chair of the judging panel of the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. She and her husband, an ABC TV executive, have two daughters and live in London.

You can follow Daisy Goodwin online at Facebook and Twitter.

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GIVEAWAY

Please click here for a chance to win a copy of The Fortune Hunter

Giveaway has closed

The Danger in Tempting an Earl by Sophie Barnes

• Title:  The Danger in Tempting an Earl
• Series:  At the Kingsborough Ball #3
• Author:  Sophie Barnes
• Genre:  Historical Romance
• Published:  July 2014 – Avon
• Source:  Publisher

My take:  Lucien Marvaine has returned to England to assume the title Earl of Roxbury. His father and older brother died while he was away and he’s next in line. He’s also being pressured to marry and produce an heir.

Katherine is a widow and beginning to go out in society again. She intends to never marry again. Rather, she will raise her baby daughter and is thinking seriously of becoming a lady’s companion to her sister-in-law. Well, that was her plan. She didn’t expect her life-long friend Lucien to reappear after his abrupt departure following her marriage.

Can these two fall back into their comfortable friendship or will it become more? As they try to convince the other to court various people will they figure out they belong together?

There’s also another glimpse of a shooting at the Kingsborough Ball that has been featured from different characters’ perspectives in each of the three books in the series. In fact, the mystery of who the shooter is and why the shot has been taken is cleared up in this book. That added drama to the story.

If you enjoy a historical romance trilogy you’ll want to give the books of At the Kingsborough Ball a try. They are light and quick reads. I would recommend reading them in order.

Sunday Post

Book arrivals  (linked to Mailbox Monday)

Looks like Christmas in July! These are from the publisher via NetGalley – I’ll wait a while to read them 🙂

   

• Maybe This Christmas by Sarah Morgan
• The Lodge on Holly Road by Sheila Roberts
• The Heart of Christmas by Brenda Novak
• Snow Angel Cove by RaeAnne Thayne

    

• The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell  (from Atria Books)
• When We Fall by Emily Liebert  (from NAL)
• The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis  (purchased)

Last week on Bookfan:

• Review:  THE PROMISE by Robyn Carr
• Spotlight/Giveaway (US): I’VE STILL GOT IT…I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT: Awkwardly True Tales From the Far Side of Forty By Jenna McCarthy
• Review:  Up At Butternut Lake by Mary McNear
• Blog Post:  World’s Best Story

      

Currently reading:

   

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I had the pleasure of seeing Rebecca Rasmussen, author of Evergreen and The Bird Sisters, at a local book store event last Wednesday. In addition to being an amazing author, she’s a wonderful person. If Rebecca comes to your area, go see her! Check out her tour schedule.

 Happy reading!

World’s Best Story: Rewarding readers and book bloggers for telling the world they found a great story!

I am really excited to tell you about an innovative new contest platform for both readers and writers. Laura Fabiani of iRead Book Tours is now a proud sponsor for World’s Best Story!

More and more authors and writers are discovering the power of readers. Books are written for the reader audience, so why not have a say in telling others we think a writer’s story has blockbuster potential? That’s what World’s Best Story allows you to do.

In view of this, I hope you will join me in helping to spread the word and to sign up as a member of World’s Best Story to find talented storytellers and get great prizes.

But first let me tell you more about World’s Best Story.

World’s Best Story was launched at BookExpo America on May 28. It’s the first social contest to reward readers and writers with exclusive partner prizes. So what does this mean for you?

If you are a writer:

1. Submit your story. Entering is free and the entry period ends Aug 12.
2. Prizes include publishing contracts, celebrity master classes, trademark and IP protection, book tours, big box retail distribution, PR and marketing support and more!
3. Top ten finalists and grand prize winner will be announced at the Toronto International Book Fair on November 15, 2014.

If you are a reader:

1. You get the chance to be the judge, discover new stories and win great prizes.
2. When you sign up to become a member, you automatically get $10 to spend at Beyond the Rack. Signing up is easy, requiring only your name and email.
3. When you rate and vote you’ll get a chance to win cool prizes, and the grand prize package includes a $2000 shopping spree at Beyond the Rack!

So how can you help us spread the word? There are several ways:

• Write a post about it and you can enter in a giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card and one of 6 $25 Beyond the Rack Gift Cards
• Add the World’s Best Story logo on your blog with a link back to their site.
• If you are an iRead tour host, your post will count toward your incentive program if you do the above.
• If you are not yet an iRead tour host, join and you will qualify for the incentive program
• Tell all your readers about WBS through social media networking.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

THANK YOU!

Up At Butternut Lake by Mary McNear

• Title:  Up at Butternut Lake
• Series:  The Butternut Lake Trilogy, #1
• Author:  Mary McNear
• Genre:  Contemporary Romance; Small town fiction
• Published:  April 2014 – William Morrow
• Source:  Purchased

Synopsis:  It’s been ten years since Allie Beckett crossed the threshold of her family cabin at Butternut Lake, Minnesota. Now, newly widowed after the death of her husband in Afghanistan, she’s returned with her five-year-old son. There, she reconnects with the friends she had in childhood – best girlfriend Jax, now married with three kids and one on the way, and Caroline, owner of the local coffee shop. What Allie doesn’t count on is a newcomer to Butternut Lake, Walker Ford. Up at Butternut Lake follows these four unforgettable characters across a single summer as they struggle with love, loss, and what it means to take risks, confront fears, and embrace life, in all of its excitement and unpredictability. Allie Beckett could never have imagined, when she ran away from her old life, that she was running into a whole new life, up at the lake….  (publisher)

My brief take:  I bought Up at Butternut Lake after I accepted a review copy of the second book in the Butternut Lake trilogy. I wanted to get the background on the setting and original characters. I enjoyed reading about the small northern Minnesota town and found the main characters just as enjoyable. Each woman (Allie, Caroline and Jax) as well as Walker (Allie’s love interest) are in need of a fresh start, a second chance, but first they must make peace with the past. Mary McNear gave them emotional stories and wrote with a lot of heart. I look forward to reading the second book Butternut Summer which will be out in August.

Spotlight/Giveaway(US): I’ve Still Got It…I Just Can’t Remember Where I Put It by Jenna McCarthy

• I’VE STILL GOT IT…I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT
• Awkwardly True Tales from the Far Side of Forty
• by Jenna McCarthy
• Berkley Trade Paperback Original
• On-sale: July 1, 2014
• $16.00; ISBN: 978-0-425-27253-4

Welcome to Middle Age! Please check your functioning internal thermostat and razor-sharp memory at the door and pour yourself a nice, stiff drink… 

In the comic tradition of Jen Lancaster, Chelsea Handler, and Nora Ephron, Jenna McCarthy offers her own laugh-out-loud observations on the midlife years in I’VE STILL GOT IT…I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT: Awkwardly True Tales From the Far Side of Forty (Berkley Trade Paperback, July 1, 2014, $16.00), covering everything from vaginal rejuvenation surgery to bucket lists to why forty-somethings are so tired all the time.

Jenna McCarthy might be forty-something, but she doesn’t feel forty-something. And between complaining about how tired she is, trying to remember what she came in here for and wondering whether she drinks too much, she does not have time for a crisis.

She has, however, had time to crack the mysterious midlife code. She’s figured out how to tame her muffin top, keep the spark in her marriage and probably not die a fiery hoarder’s death. She’s learned the trick to looking ten years younger and the secret to feeling ten times happier (and it only cost $14.99 plus shipping and handling). And she’s discovered the one thing she will need to do for the rest of ever if she’s going to continue to refuse to “dress her age.”

Tackling everything from financial panic to skinny jeans and the meaning of life, I’VE STILL GOT IT…I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT is a middle age manifesto filled with hilarious misadventures, humiliating confessions and occasional (hot) flashes of genius.

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About the Author:

Jenna McCarthy is the author of six books and lives in Santa Barbara, California. For more information visit Jenna online at www.jennamccarthy.com, www.facebook.com/jennamccarthywrites, and www.twitter.com/jennawrites.

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US Giveaway

Please click here to fill out the form!

Giveaway is closed

The Promise by Robyn Carr

• Title:  The Promise
• Series:  Thunder Point #5
• Author:  Robyn Carr
• Genre:  Contemporary Romance
• Published:  June 2014 – Harlequin MIRA
• Source:  Publisher

My take:  Robyn Carr takes us back to Thunder Point, Oregon and this time Scott Grant, the small town’s doctor, is the main character. When his wife died after their second child was born he decided to move to Thunder Point because it would be more conducive to raising his children – and he wanted to practice medicine in a small, underserved community. Four years of living in the small town has proven his decision a good one. The only thing he needs is someone to work alongside him at the clinic – someone  who’s willing to work for almost no pay. When Peyton Lacoumette walks in the door and then agrees to give the job three months he can’t believe his good luck.

Scott and Peyton’s story was so enjoyable. They’re not perfect but together, at work and after work, their relationship was real and so sweet. The scenes at home with the kids tugged at my heartstrings. Scott would do anything for Peyton. After her previous relationship with another doctor ended terribly she’s not so sure she can start a new one with yet another doctor. And what will happen when the previous doctor shows up at Scott and Peyton’s office asking for a second chance?

As I’ve come to expect from Carr, The Promise is an emotional story filled with love, heartache, and hope. I enjoyed it and look forward to the next book in the series. Recommended to fans of Robyn Carr, the Thunder Point series, and small town contemporary romance.

Sunday Post

Book arrivals (linked to Mailbox Monday)

    

• Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match by Marilyn Brant  (purchased)
• All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming  (purchased)
• I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming  (purchased)

Last week on Bookfan:

• Review:  The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee
• Review:  The Elephant Whisperer (audiobook) by Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence. Narrated by Simon Vance.

   

Currently reading:

• Your Perfect Life by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Check out the Guilt Trip giveaway in the sidebar!

Happy reading!

 

The Elephant Whisperer (audiobook) by Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

• Title:  The Elephant Whisperer
• Authors:  Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence
• Genre:  Memoir
• Narrator:  Simon Vance
• Published:  December 2012 – Tantor Media (originally published 2009)
• Source:  Purchased

Synopsis:  When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of “rogue” wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd’s last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn’t take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom. (from Audible.com)

My brief take:  A friend recommended The Elephant Whisperer at a time when I was looking to read something a bit different from the genres I usually read. I’m so glad I did. It’s a remarkable memoir that left me grateful for people who can and will step up to be caretakers and protectors of wildlife around the world. Mr. Anthony agreed to take care of the “rogue” herd of elephants on his game reserve in South Africa and then wrote about his experiences. It’s a compelling story that had me wishing for a film version so more people would learn about the amazing elephants and other creatures on Thula Thula and elsewhere.

Simon Vance’s performance was wonderful. In my mind, he was Lawrence Anthony. I highly recommend the audiobook! The Elephant Whisperer was an Audie Award Winner, Biography/Memoir, 2014.

Giveaway winner!

Congratulations to

Rita H.

winner of

Breakwater Bay by Shelley Noble

• Winner selected by Random.org
• Giveaway copy provided by the publisher

The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee

• Title:  The Glass Kitchen
• Author:  Linda Francis Lee
• Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
• Published:  June 2014 – St. Martin’s Press
• Source:  Publisher

Synopsis: Portia Cuthcart and her two sisters find their way from Texas to Manhattan over the years, the heiresses to a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side.  Portia is running from a bad divorce and the knowledge that she has always been a little bit different, a little bit strange:  the talented cook who knew exactly what to serve on what occasion, even to the point of predicting events that hadn’t even happened yet.  But she doesn’t cook anymore.  She has tamped down this “knowing.”  It has caused her way too many problems.  When she meets twelve-year-old Ariel Kane, she sees a girl in desperate need of a mother and a family in dire need of fried chicken, biscuits, and strawberry rhubarb pie.  Widowed Gabriel Kane has his hands full with two daughters on the cusp of womanhood, plus the Kane family have so many secrets and rivalries of their own.  Ariel, especially, must find a way to bring them all together with the help of Portia: the non-cook, the non-believer in happy endings.  Portia, who just might have to rethink the pages of her own story and take a few chances to claim what she wants deep down inside…  (publisher)

My take:  Linda Francis Lee filled her novel with lovely and colorful characters who I couldn’t wait to get back to each time I had to stop reading. The story is rather heart-wrenching but never maudlin. I wanted to hug most of the characters at one time or another.

I loved the flavor of magical-realism woven through the novel (think Sarah Addison Allen). Portia’s “knowing” seemed to work on everyone but herself. As she slowly figured things out it made for an ending that I found sigh-worthy and left me smiling.

If you’re looking for a book that makes you happy each time you pick it up, a book about what makes a family, and a book about learning to accept oneself and others for who they truly are, you’ll want to read The Glass Kitchen.

Sunday Post

Book arrivals:  (linked to Mailbox Monday)

      

• Always Something There to Remind Me by Beth Harbison  (purchased)
• On the Rocks by Erin Duffy  (purchased)
• Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn Dingman  (for review)
• Pies & Peril by Janel Gradowski  (purchased)

Last week on Bookfan:

• Guest Post:  Megan Abbott, author of The Fever
• Review:  Breakwater Bay by Shelley Noble
• Review:  Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen
• Review:  The Hurricane Sisters (audio) by Dorothea Benton Frank

   

Currently reading:

• After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Until We Touch by Susan Mallery

   

Happy reading!

The Hurricane Sisters (audiobook) by Dorothea Benton Frank

• Title:  The Hurricane Sisters
• Author:  Dorothea Benton Frank
• Narrator:  Robin Miles
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Published:  June 2014 – Harper Audio
• Source:  Purchased

Synopsis:  Once again Dorothea Benton Frank takes us deep into the heart of her magical South Carolina Lowcountry on a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness that is hard earned. There we meet three generations of women buried in secrets. The determined matriarch, Maisie Pringle, at 80, is a force to be reckoned with because she will have the final word on everything, especially when she’s dead wrong. Her daughter, Liz, is caught up in the classic maelstrom of being middle-aged and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz’s beautiful 20-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds. The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, and, Ashley deal with challenges that demand they face the truth about themselves. After a terrible confrontation they are forced to rise to forgiveness, but can they establish a new order for the future of them all? This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women became The Hurricane Sisters.  (publisher)

My take:  I thought The Hurricane Sisters quite different in tone compared to The Last Original Wife but I still liked it. Some eccentricities aside, the Waters family is not that different from a lot of families. They accept and protect their own but sometimes they aren’t so nice to each other. Underneath it all they love each other and will defend them to the end.

At the forefront of the novel are the rather naive Ashley, her long-suffering mother Liz, and the matriarch Maisie who doesn’t tiptoe around anyone. Big secrets figure into the plot but rest assured all will be dealt with by the last page.

The Hurricane Sisters is just the second book by Dorothea Benton Frank I’ve read. I look forward to catching up with her backlist.

As in The Last Original Wife, Robin Miles’ narration was  great and made the book even more enjoyable. I loved her performance.

Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen

• Title:  Evergreen
• Author:  Rebecca Rasmussen
• Genre:  Fiction
• Published:  July 15, 2014 – Knopf
• Source:  Publisher

Synopsis:  It is 1938 when Eveline, a young bride, follows her husband into the wilderness of Minnesota. Though their cabin is rundown, they have a river full of fish, a garden out back, and a new baby boy named Hux. But when Emil leaves to take care of his sick father, the unthinkable happens: a stranger arrives, and Eveline becomes pregnant. She gives the child away, and while Hux grows up hunting and fishing in the woods with his parents, his sister, Naamah, is raised an orphan. Years later, haunted by the knowledge of this forsaken girl, Hux decides to find his sister and bring her home to the cabin. But Naamah, even wilder than the wilderness that surrounds them, may make it impossible for Hux to ever tame her, to ever make up for all that she, and they, have lost. Set before a backdrop of vanishing forest, this is a luminous novel of love, regret, and hope.  (publisher)

My brief take:  Oh, Rebecca Rasmussen, you did it again. You reached in and wrapped your hand around my heart with your lovely but heart-breaking story. I loved most of the characters – and the ones I didn’t you made me understand why. These characters leapt off the pages as did the settings (which played as big a part as the main characters). I should have been tipped off by the quote before the story begins: “Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are”.

It’s a story about the need for love and acceptance, and what happens when those are missing in one’s life. The question of ‘nature versus nurture’ ran through my mind with each generation. I loved what a minor character says at one point in the story:  “Every time you think you need to hold on, let go“. Without spoiling the story I’ll just say I think book clubs would find a lot to discuss with Evergreen.

Earlier I mentioned the story is lovely but heart-breaking. I turned the final page feeling uplifted and hopeful and so glad to have read Evergreen.

Breakwater Bay by Shelley Noble

• Title:  Breakwater Bay
• Author:  Shelley Noble
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Published:  July 2014 – Wm. Morrow
• Source:  Publisher

Synopsis:  Preservationist Meri Hollis loves her latest project, restoring one of Newport’s forgotten Gilded Age mansions. And with summer approaching, she’ll be able to spend more time with her Gran on the Rhode Island shore. She has a great job, a loving family, and she’s pretty sure her boyfriend is going to propose on her thirtieth birthday.

But everything Meri believes about family, happiness, truth, and love is shattered when her family’s darkest secret is exposed.

Thirty years before, Meri’s neighbor and friend, Alden Corrigan, took his father’s dinghy out to fish. In a sudden storm, he rushed to help a woman stranded on the breakwater. She was just a girl . . . a very pregnant girl who disappeared soon after they reached safety—But not before she left behind a very special gift.

Now that the truth it out, life will change for everyone in Breakwater Bay, and Meri and Alden will have to make decisions that could ensure their future together . . . or separate them for good.   (publisher)

My take:  I loved the atmospheric feel to this novel. Very gothic – although not really dark –  with the huge, drafty house on the shore; the almost reclusive, handsome man (Alden) who owns the house; and the young woman (Meri) who suddenly needs him more than she ever realized. It’s a tale of honor, responsibility, and what exactly constitutes a family. In the end, family is not determined solely by blood but, more than that, the people who will do anything for you – the people who want to be a part of your life.

Shelley Noble included a good amount of detail of Meri’s preservation work in the story. I loved reading about it and could envision the beauty of the Newport mansion her team was restoring.

I would have liked the end of the novel fleshed out a bit more than it was but I was nonetheless pleased with the conclusion. Breakwater Bay is a good summer read – take it to the beach or read it at home and imagine yourself reading at the Rhode Island shore.

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Shelley Noble is a former professional dancer and choreographer. She most recently worked on the films, Mona Lisa Smile and The Game Plan. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.

• www.shelleynoble.com
• www.facebook.com/ShelleyNobleAuthor
• twitter: @ShelleyNoble3

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One more thing . . .

The publisher sent a finished copy so I decided to share it with one of my US readers.

Please click here to fill out the form.

Giveaway is closed

Guest post by Megan Abbott

I’m pleased to welcome author Megan Abbott to Bookfan today. Her novel The Fever  was published by Little, Brown and Company last month.

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I’m not a parent. I need to say that first. Like many of the characters I write about (especially the criminals!), I haven’t experienced what they have—I’m just imagining my way in. But The Fever was written specifically from a point of sympathy and respect for the unique challenges of being a parent today, particularly the parent of teenagers. And I don’t mean the typical, eternal challenges of navigating the relationship with your child as they chart the stormy waters of adolescence. I mean the new challenges posed by what might be the most striking technological generation gap in decades. That is, today’s teens have grown up with the internet, with social media. They never knew the world without it. Their ideas of communication, of connection are inevitably different from their mom’s and dad’s. And the world they know is a brave new one from the one their parents experienced.

It’s always dangerous to make sweeping statements about the teenage experience. We’ve all heard or read those statements like, “Teens today have no sense of privacy,” or “Teens live their lives online now.” Generalizations, truisms. But the fact remains that most parents today experienced the technological changes of the last four decades gradually—the web, email, Google, texting, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. But for their children, the world has always been a partially online experience. The notion of a public and private self is inevitably different. What intimacy and connection means has changed. Today, one can feel intensely close to someone who lives half a world away and can feel deeply alienated in one’s own school or classroom. And, whereas thirty years ago, gossip among teens operated through passing notes, through whispered rumors, today, one text message or Instagram photo can shatter a reputation, set one’s identity, spread like a virus. The “wired” world both gives (you may never feel alone) and takes away (you may never feel alone).

In The Fever, the power of social media to spread rumors, ideas, images proves mightier than anyone can imagine. But in the novel it’s a dangerous temptation for the parent and teen characters alike. Many of the teens, including Deenie, the protagonist, have trouble having a truly private, undocumented moment (when nearly everyone has a phone, and all phones have cameras, privacy can prove elusive). And nearly all of the high schoolers struggle with escaping the frenzy of their social world because their phones, their computers, social media means the school day, in some ways, never really ends. But likewise, several of the parents in the novel do what many of us might do: turn to the internet to try to solve the mystery of the illness befalling many of the girls in the book—and the internet, for those seeking answers for baffling medical conditions—can be a dangerous place, ripe with misinformation, conspiracy theories, the spread of fear.

There’s a moment in The Fever when Eli, the teen hockey player and reluctant girl magnet, can’t find his phone. At first he’s panicked and soon enough it becomes a tremendous relief to him. No one can reach him. He’s alone with his thoughts. He can go anywhere. He’s “off the grid.” While writing it, I began to think about how that experience was my everyday experience as a teen. I never thought of it as a freedom. In fact, I would have loved to have been in constant contact with my best friends. But would that have made me a different person, and how? And how would it have been for my parents, who could track me down wherever I was? With whom I’d have had a relationship possibly largely mediated through texts?

I admire so much the parents I know as they try to imagine their way into their child’s very different world. As they try to anticipate the dangers and the benefits of social media and the online world for their son or daughter. The obvious risks (online predators, etc.) are in some ways the easiest to educate your children about. But what about the more subtle ones, such as the addiction to feedback some of us experience online, as we seek those Facebook “likes” and Twitter “favorites”? Do they come to seem as needed validation for ourselves or our teens?

Parents of teens out there, how do you handle your child’s experience of social media? How does your high school experience compare with your son or daughter’s because of it?

Thank you!

Megan

_____

Megan, thank you so much for your thought-provoking post.  In my case, Facebook began while my youngest (of three) child was in college. Before then my biggest challenge was making sure they didn’t spend hours on the computer playing Oregon Trail or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego before finishing their homework! They all had phones in high school but not smartphones. In retrospect it was a much simpler time – although raising teenagers at any time is never easy. 

I hope readers will weigh in with their experiences in answer to Megan’s questions.  

 

 

Sunday Post

Book arrivals (will link to Mailbox Monday):

  

• Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews  (purchased)
• Love Letters: A Rose Harbor novel by Debbie Macomber  (for review)

Last week on Bookfan:

• Q&A with Wendy Wax
• Review: The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax
• Review: One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
• Review: Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley

Currently reading:

• Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne

Happy reading!

Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley

• Title:  Mating for Life
• Author:  Marissa Stapley
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Published:  July 2014 – Washington Square Press/Atria Books
• Source:  Publisher

Synopsis:  Former folk singer Helen Sear was a feminist wild child who proudly disdained monogamy, raising three daughters—each by a different father—largely on her own. Now in her sixties, Helen has fallen in love with a traditional man who desperately wants to marry her. And while she fears losing him, she’s equally afraid of abandoning everything she’s ever stood for if she goes through with it.
Meanwhile, Helen’s youngest daughter, Liane, is in the heady early days of a relationship with her soul mate. But he has an ex-wife and two kids, and her new role as a “step-something” doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Ilsa, an artist, has put her bohemian past behind her and is fervently hoping her second marriage will stick. Yet her world feels like it is slowly shrinking, and her painting is suffering as a result—and she realizes she may need to break free again, even if it means disrupting the lives of her two young children. And then there’s Fiona, the eldest sister, who has worked tirelessly to make her world pristine, yet who still doesn’t feel at peace. When she discovers her husband has been harboring a huge secret, Fiona loses her tenuous grip on happiness and is forced to face some truths about herself that she’d rather keep buried.  (publisher)

My take:  For various reasons Helen took the nontraditional path in life re relationships and motherhood. She tried to show her three daughters (from three different fathers) how to live a full life outside the constraints of marriage. Each daughter will accept or reject her example with varying results. As you would expect the three daughters are not cut from the same cloth. One strives for perfection, another is an artist, and the third is a procrastinator who has put off finishing her PhD until the last possible moment.

As the four deal with changing life situations their attitudes will be challenged and they’ll find themselves possibly thinking differently going forward. What stood out to me was how the children (Helen’s grandchildren) were affected by their mothers’ actions – just as their mothers were affected by Helen’s choices. Book groups would have several topics to discuss with Mating for Life.

Setting up each chapter is a description of the mating habits of various wildlife. They mirrored the characters in each chapter. I enjoyed that. I liked this thought-provoking novel and look forward to reading more from Marissa Stapley.