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The Murderer's Daughters Author ~ Randy Susan Meyers
Publisher ~ St. Martin's Press
Publication date ~ January 19, 2011
A beautifully written, compulsively readable debut that deals with the aftermath of a shocking act of violence that leaves two young sisters with nothing but each other—in the tradition of White Oleander, this haunting novel is a testament to the power of family and the ties that bind us together, even as they threaten to tear us apart
Mama was “no macaroni-necklace-wearing kind of mother.” She was a lipstick and perfume-wearing mother, a flirt whose estranged husband still hungered for her. After Mama threw him out, she warned the girls to never let Daddy in the house, an admonition that tears at ten-year-old Lulu whenever she thinks about the day she opened the door for her drunken father, and watched as he killed her mother, stabbed her five-year-old sister Merry and tried to take his own life.
Effectively orphaned by their mother’s death and father’s imprisonment, Lulu and Merry, unwanted by family members and abandoned to a terrifying group home, spend their young lives carrying more than just the visible scars from the tragedy. Even as their plan to be taken in by a well-to-do foster family succeeds, they come to learn they’ll never really belong anywhere or to anyone—that all they have to hold onto is each other.
As they grow into women, Lulu holds fast to her anger, denies her father’s existence and forces Merry into a web of lies about his death that eventually ensnares her own husband and daughters. Merry, certain their safety rests on placating her needy father, dutifully visits him, seeking his approval and love at the expense of her own relationships. As they strive to carve lives of their own, thespecter of their father, unrepentant and manipulative even from behind bars, haunts them. And when they learn he’s about to be paroled, the house of cards they’ve built their lives on teeters on the brink of collapse.
About the author ~
The dark drama of Randy Susan Meyers' debut novel is informed by her years of work with batterers, domestic violence victims, and at-risk youth impacted by family violence.
Randy Susan Meyers’ short stories have been published in the Fog City Review, Perigee: Publication for the Arts, and the Grub Street Free Press.
In Brooklyn, where Randy was born and raised, her local library was close enough to visit daily and she walked there from the time she figured out the route. In many ways, she was raised by books, each adding to her sense of who she could be in this world. Some marked her for horror. Reading In Cold Blood at too tender an age assured that she’d never stay alone in a country house. Others, like Heidi by Johanna Spyri, made her worship her grandfather even more.
Some taught her faith in the future.
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith was the only bible Randy ever owned, her personal talisman of hopefulness. Each time she read it, she was struck anew by how this author knew so much and dared to write it.
Randy now lives in Boston with her husband and is the mother of two grown daughters. She teaches writing seminars at the Grub Street Writers’ Center in Boston.
In celebration of the release of this book, the publisher is providing me with two (2) copies of The Murderer's Daughters to give away.
GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:
* This contest is open to residents of US and Canada only
* Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
* The contest will end on February 14th at 11:59PM EST; 2 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
* Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
* Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.
Welcome back to Show Me The $$$ Monday. Each week I'll be giving away either a $10 Amazon Gift Card (if you're a resident of the US) or a book worth up to $10 from the Book Depository (if you live outside of the US).
The contest will run from Monday ~ Friday each week with the winner announced on Saturday. Then the following Monday a new contest will start.
The RULE for entering is simple ~
Enter your name & email address in the form below.
Committed: A Love Story Author ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher ~ Penguin
Release date ~ February 1, 2011
At the end of her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian living in Indonesia. The couple swore eternal love, but also swore (as skittish divorce survivors) never to marry. However, providence intervened in the form of a U.S. government ultimatum: get married, or Felipe could never enter America again. Told with Gilbert's trademark humor and intelligence, this fascinating meditation on compatibility and fidelity chronicles Gilbert's complex and sometimes frightening journey into second marriage, and will enthrall the millions of readers who made Eat, Pray, Love a number one bestseller.
About the author ~
Elizabeth Gilbert was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1969, and grew up on a small family Christmas tree farm. From earliest memory, all she ever wanted to do was write. It is quite possibly genetic: Her sister, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, also became a writer, and is today the author of such beloved young adult novels as DAIRY QUEEN and PRINCESS BEN.
Elizabeth attended New York University, where she studied political science by day and worked on her short stories by night. After college, she spent several years traveling around the country, working in bars, diners and ranches, collecting experiences to transform into fiction. These explorations eventually formed the basis of her first book - a short story collection called PILGRIMS, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award. During these early years in New York, she also worked as a journalist for such publications as Spin, GQ and The New York Times Magazine. She was a three-time finalist for The National Magazine work, and an article she wrote in GQ about her experiences bartending on the Lower East Side eventually became the basis for the movie COYOTE UGLY.
In 2000, Elizabeth published her first novel, STERN MEN (a story of brutal territory wars between two remote fishing islands off the coast of Maine) which was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, Elizabeth published THE LAST AMERICAN MAN - the true story of the modern day woodsman Eustace Conway. This book, her first work of non-fiction, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Elizabeth is best known, however for her 2006 memoir EAT PRAY LOVE, which chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide, and a movie version in the making, starring Julia Roberts. The book became so popular that, in 2008, Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In 2010, Elizabeth published a follow-up to EAT PRAY LOVE called COMMITTED -- a memoir which explored her ambivalent feelings about the institution of marriage. The book immediately became a number one New York Times bestseller, and was also received with warm critical praise. As Newsweek wrote, COMMITTED "retains plenty of Gilbert's comic ruefulness and wide-eyed wonder", and NPR called the book "a rich brew of newfound insight and wisdom." COMMITTED will be published in paperback in February 2011.
Elizabeth Gilbert lives in rural New Jersey with her husband, her garden, and far too many beloved pets. She is at work on a new novel.
In celebration of the paperback release of Committed: A Love Story, the publisher is providing me with two (2) copies of this book to give away.
GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:
* This contest is open to residents of USA and Canada only
* Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
* The contest will end on February 13th at 11:59PM EST; 2 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
* Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
* Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.
Check out this amazing contest that's going to start on February 7th. No purchase necessary. Just email Ellery to let her know that you've pre-ordered your copy, plan to buy a copy or have asked your local library to stock a copy. (I'll bump this back up on February 7th and there will be a link on my sidebar).
You don’t have to send her receipts – your word is good enough for her.
Your email address will not be captured. Ellery will delete each email as soon as the contest ends. If you would like to sign up for her bi-annual newsletter, please do so here.
The contest runs from Feb. 7-March 7. A winner will be drawn on March 8th.
The winners have been notified. They have 48 hrs. to confirm with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen. Thank you to everyone that entered.
The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner, Ezra Hilton, is found bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. Business under Ezra has been faltering-but was it enough to provoke someone to murder? Only Kate can find the answer.
My thoughts ~
Katie Bonner busts her butt working for a slave-driver, a jerk who careS less about her and more about what she can do for him. But she needs this job. Every dime she makes at the insurance agency goes into paying first for her late husband’s funeral expenses, and then towards replacing all of the money he took out of their savings to gain a small percentage of ownership in Artisans Alley. Ezra Hilton owns Artisans Alley, a renovated apple warehouse, divided into sections (booths), for individual artists to sell their work. In McKinlay Mill Artisans Alley seems to be the glue that holds them all together.
While driving to work one morning, Katie spots the police at the Alley and stops to see what is going on. She is shocked to find that not only has poor Ezra been murdered, but that she is now the majority owner of Artisans Alley, having both her husband’s shares and half of the business from Ezra. Ezra’s nephew inherits the other half. Up until this point, she has remained his ‘silent’ partner, as Ezra was extremely set in his ways, and not very open to making any changes. Katie knows that Artisans Alley is now not only her responsibility, but is also in a failing financial state. She can’t afford to leave her tiresome, yet well-paying job to manage a failing business. But then she wonders – what if she can turn it around? What if she can start to make a profit? Maybe, just maybe, she can sell it and use those funds to buy her dream – the old, yet amazingly beautiful Victorian that she would someday love to turn into a Bed & Breakfast.
But then another man turns up dead, and it doesn’t appear that the police care all that much about finding the killer: someone who obviously has issue with those associated with Artisans Alley. It’s up to Katie to figure out just who is killing those associated with Artisans Alley and why. Is it the owner of the new pizza place across the street who doesn’t like the fact that he hasn’t been allowed to join the Merchant’s Association? One of the artists who don’t want “plain ole crafters” renting booth space? The nephew who was counting on selling the building and pocketing the money? Mary, the one woman who has been keeping company with or Nora, the woman the victim scorned for Mary and who is full of piss and vinegar about the situation?
A Crafty Killing is a fantastic start to a new cozy series written by the author of one of my favorite cozy series (see The Booktown Mysteries written as Lorna Barrett). I try not to expect too much from a first book in a series, but knowing the author and her writing style, I was certain I would not be let down. And I wasn’t. Ms. Bartlett has created a warm, inviting town where everyone is on a first name basis and murder is a rarity. The characters are quirky, yet relatable. They are begging to tell you the rest of their story. Ms. Bartlett has laid the perfect groundwork for future books in this series that introduces us to Katie and the people who sell their wares at Artisans Alley. Will Katie run Artisans Alley long enough to turn it around and sell it for her dream B&B, or has she found a new dream? A Crafty Killing kept my attention from the very first word until I turned the last page. The red herrings were aplenty, and the killer a complete surprise. Ms. Bartlett has created a crafty tale that must be read.
FTC Full Disclosure ~ I received this book from the publisher in hopes that I would review it.
I am frequently asked why I decided to write a book. I always enjoyed reading in a wide range of genres and often found myself writing short stories or poems in my spare time. When I think about it, I've always been a writer. I've maintained a journal all of my life. On a daily basis I use my writing as a way to relax and stay focused.
Another question I am asked by aspiring authors, is whether I can help them write their novel . I always feel bad because the actual writing of a book is usually a solo job or at least it was for me. There are something's that a new or aspiring writer can do to make the path a little smoother. The most important piece of advise I can offer is to write, write, write. Here are some additional tips that will help a new writer.
1. Use a outline. Writing is like taking a road trip with the family. It is a long and tedious ride that involves a lot bathroom breaks and you watch the scenery as it passes by going to your intended destination that seems to take forever. Like a road trip, your outline should plot out the story from beginning to end. The writer should have a clear idea of how the story would end. You wouldn't pack your car for a family road trip, get in and start driving without knowing where you were going would you?
2. Know your characters. Each of your main characters should have a written bio, including a full name, address, occupation, marital status, hobbies, friends, general physical description, good qualities, bad qualities, motivations, etc. If you don't know your character how will the reader.
3. Write what you know. It is always easier to write about what you know. Sure you can research any topic and write about, but will your readers actual feel you passion for it. Real life is much stranger than fiction, tell the reader what you know. There is always passion in what you know and believe.
4. Keep your writing relevant. Be careful to stay on task when you write. It is easy to wonder off the path while writing. Make sure that what you tell the reader is relevant to the story. Always ask your self is this relevant and would the story still move forward without this information. If you answer yes, copy and paste that information some where else, but delete it from your current story. Save it for later. You may be able to use it later.
5. Find a good editor. It is true you only get one chance to make a good impression. There is nothing worst than unedited work. It is always a good idea to have a professional editor review your work before submitting it a publisher.
Most editors will give you a sample edit. This is very important because you need to make sure that you and your editor are compatible. Also be sure the editor you choose is familiar with your genre.
6. Join a writing group. I belong to several writing groups. I have found it helpful and motivating. It helps to know that you aren't the only person with writers block and that there are other writers have problems with plot twist too.
7. Don't give up!! My first piece of advise is still my best piece of advise. Write, write, write. Keep writing. Never throw anything away. You never know when your creative juices will go into overdrive and propel you forward. You may find your self picking up a short story you wrote years ago and weeks later find you have produce a best selling novel.
About the author ~
Kimmie Thomas is a native Detroiter. She is a writer, teacher, mother, and wife. Her first love has always been reading and writing. She has been motivated by writer such as Donald Goines, Maya Angelou, Zane and E. Lynn Harris. Kimmie has worked as a psychiatric nurse for more than 10 years. She uses her vast knowledge of mental health to make her characters real for her readers.
Maxine Payne s poor self-esteem leads her to marry the first man that showed any interest in her. After five years of marriage and misery she has nothing to show for it. Her sham of a marriage is falling apart and her dream of having a child is fading away each day. To make matters worst, she discovers that the people in her life are not there to love and help her as she has always believed. She struggles to come to terms with her failing marriage and her sick mother as she watches her chance at a happy home with children slip away. Her two childhood girlfriends offer help and support but they have their own personal struggles. The old saying, what s done in the dark will eventually comes to light has never been more true. When tragedy strikes, Maxine will have to make the most important decision of her life. But will the lies and secrets her husband and friends harbor bring Maxine s life crashing down around her?
Growing up, I was an avid (rabid?) reader. I am a natural speed reader, regularly clocked at about 1200 wpm (I read Harry Potter 5 in just under three hours), and always have several books on the go, nearly all in e-book form on my iPhone.
I have always made up stories in my head, but never considered becoming a writer. Instead, I intended to be a high school music teacher. I was sidetracked by my enjoyment of my psychology courses in university, and ended up with a psychology degree with a concentration in computer science.
This took me to a major Canadian bank as a software developer. I stayed there for just over four years, and then went back to school to become an elementary school teacher. After four years teaching elementary school computer science, I took up the National Novel Writing Month challenge and attempted to write a novel in a month.
I succeeded, and the first draft of "Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo" was the result. I realized I love writing. I left teaching, and I haven't looked back since!
In my non-writing time, I read, run, swim, crochet (I am on Ravelry and would be happy to add you as a friend!), take care of my 55 gallon aquarium and my cat Sapphire, and play clarinet. Generally not all at once.
This picture shows me wearing a sweater I crocheted and holding the finishers' medal I received at my second half marathon, May 13/08.
Mary's given up everything, including an unsatisfying marriage, to become a chef. But the career comes with a side dish: Kegan, her sexy; but controlling new boss.
They're soon in a relationship, and in all-too-frequent arguments, and when it becomes clear they can't work together and be together Mary faces a dilemma: keep her dream job or her dream man?
Read an excerpt ~
Prologue
After everything I've learned and all the ways I've changed over this last year, how can I possibly be here again, trapped between a man and work?
This time is different, though. It is. Charles didn't want me to have a career. Kegan does. But he wants our relationship too, and we've more than proven we simply can't work together and be together.
My shaking legs carry me away from Steel and I wonder what will happen when I return tomorrow. I love working here, and I love Magma even more. I've dreamed of being a chef forever, and now that dream's come true twice over.
But I've also found Kegan, of whom I didn't dream because I'd never have been able to imagine someone so right for me. Why does he have to be my boss? But if he weren't, would I have fallen for him? Without his amazing work with his restaurants, without his focus and attention and drive, would I have fallen hard enough to consider leaving the kitchens I adore?
After the emotions of last night I knew something had to give, but I didn't expect him to say, "We can't go on like this, Mary. I want you, and I want full control of my restaurants, but I can't have both. I can't decide which I want more, which I'll resent less for making me lose the other. I need you to decide for me, for us."
His words ring in my head and the shock mixed with fury I felt as he spoke tenses my body again. The shock makes sense but I don't know why it made me so angry. I understood. He's lost too many girlfriends to his control issues to risk letting it happen again. He has to leave the decision to me.
But understanding doesn't make deciding any easier.
I need to find something that will, so I call the spa where Tanisha sent me to relax post-Christmas and book myself an overnight visit and a long massage. It's not cheap, and it's a good hour's train ride from Toronto, but I need a quiet and peaceful place to think and I've never felt more peaceful anywhere else.
Except maybe in Kegan's arms after the first time we made love.
I take a deep shuddering breath and make myself push the memories away. I have to be strong, stand on my own two feet, and choose: stay as the chef of Kegan's two restaurants and end our relationship, or stay with him and try to find a job that's even close to as perfect for me.
I know for many women there'd be no question: career comes first. And a huge part of me wants to make that choice. But I also know Kegan himself has been amazingly good for me and I don't want to lose him either.
I turn off my phone so I won't have to talk to anyone. I need to listen to myself. After a quick stop at home for overnight gear, I take a taxi to the train station and am soon on my way.
I don't get any closer to resolving my dilemma on the train, and once I've checked into the spa and am resting in my room before heading down for a late lunch I wonder if replaying everything that's happened between Kegan and me from the day we met will help. It might, but it'll hurt too.
But I need to find the answer for us, so I give in, close my eyes, and relive the last four months of my life.
Thanks to the author I have three (3) e-copies and one (1) paperback copy of Stir Until Thoroughly Confused to give away.
GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:
This contest is open to residents of USA residents only!
Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
The contest will end on February 9th at 11:59PM EST; 4 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
Book will be shipped directly from the author.
When you fill out the form, make sure you choose which copy you would like - paper or e-copy.
When the first mutterings of ‘sub-prime’ and ‘mortgage crisis’ hit the press, I found myself thinking: this is going to have a really big effect on everyone. What will happen when people loose their jobs, their homes, their confidence? Who will help them?
And so reflecting on this, a novel came into my head.
There are two main themes in Separate Beds. The first looks at how the family can provide a raft in a sea of troubles and the second examines how, against all expectations, love can be rekindled.
Much had been written about the state of the family today – some of it positive, some of it not and the subject arouses strong feelings. In Separate Beds I wanted to explore a family which does manage to change, adapt and to renegotiate their relationships, despite the battle lines which have been drawn and the hostilities which have sprung up between them.
It is not easy – as the Nicholsons discover. The predictable, but comfortable, tenor of their lives is turned upside down by financial calamity and each family member has to choose how to get through it. At first glance, it might seem easier for their children. But youth is not necessarily as flexible as might be imagined. They have been bought up with high aspirations and it isn’t easy to abandon them.
What of their parents, Tom and Annie? They are already living separate lives – bitterly divided as a result of their eldest daughter’s departure from the family circle. When Tom loses the job which meant everything to him, he plunges into abject mourning. It is left to Annie to pick up the pieces and, as I was writing the novel, I was deliberately drawing comparisons between the modes of survival of the twenty-something and the fifty-something. In the novel, it is Annie the middle-aged woman who, despite her unhappiness, is called on to be stronger and more adaptable. Instinctively at this stage of her life, she understands that solidarity between humans is the only thing which matters.
As Emily, the youngest daughter says: the Nicholsons are at the start of the book, ‘just averagely and depressingly dysfunctional’. The shifts in sensibility and behaviour which happen because of events, and their feelings about other family members, are not always obvious to themselves but they are, nevertheless, changing. By the end of the book, each of them – in their different ways – have grown towards each other.
A fascination with love and money powers much of our fiction. Of course, novel is about character and the very best novelists create characters which become life companions. Who can forget Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet, or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenna. Yet, money and circumstances also influence significant portions of our lives and novels provide the structure and space to record and to reflect on these prime catalysts - think Thackeray’s Vanity Fair or of Dickens’ fizzing commentaries on Victorian England. Think, too, of Tom Wolfe, Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler. Whether political, social, spiritual, sexual or marital, any relationship will be, and is, influenced by its context. It is understandable, then, when people are in danger of loosing the roofs over their heads, it sends a bullet into the heart.
What rich and rewarding material for the novelist! As the nosiest person alive (put me on a desert island and I would die of boredom) I long to know how it all fits together.
Yet, it is not all gloom. Separate Beds is also Tom and Annie’s love story. Love stories can, and do, spring out of the stoniest ground, and I wrote it partly to show how resilient, compassionate and, ultimately, forgiving human beings can be - how they need to love, and to be loved, and my family is no exception. To paraphrase the novelist Muriel Spark: relationships never end. Only novels do.
Writing about families is a great way of showing this.
About the author ~
Elizabeth spent her childhood moving home every three years - including living for brief periods in Egypt and Nigeria before moving to Guildford, York and Edinburgh.
After graduating from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a double honours degree in English and History, she began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books. This was a job which required the hide of a rhinoceros, a nimble mind and the - occasional - box of tissues. People tend to shout at blurb writers but they are resourceful creatures which she and the team proved by continuing to produce a stream of copy for back jackets through thick and thin. Looking back, it was a golden era. Not many people are paid to spend their time reading through the treasury which is Penguin Books and there was no better education. Later, after having married and producing two children, she moved on to become a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time which was something she had always planned to do since childhood - when she was frequently caught reading under the bedclothes with a torch after being put to bed which gave both books and reading a deliciously subversive tinge.
It was not an easy decision to take the gamble but she has never regretted it. As a writer, she has travelled all over the world and one of the many pleasures of the book tour has been to meet readers of all ages and to share with them a mutual passion for books and reading. She is in touch on line with many of them.
Elizabeth Buchan's short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times (UK) and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread (now Costa) awards. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and a past Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
A story of economic breakdown and romantic recovery from the author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman.
Tom and Annie's kids have grown up, the mortgage is do-able, and they're about to get a gorgeous new, state-of-the-art French stove. Life is good- or so it seems. Beneath the veneer of professional success and domestic security, their marriage is crumbling, eaten away by years of resentment, loneliness, and the fall out from the estrangement of their daughter, and they've settled into simply being two strangers living under the same roof.
Until the economy falls apart.
Suddenly the dull but oddly comfortable predictability of their lives is upended by financial calamity-Tom loses his job, their son returns home, and Tom's mother moves in with them. As their world shrinks, Tom and Annie are forced closer together, and the chaos around them threatens to sweep away their bitterness and frustration, refreshing and possibly restoring the love that had been lying beneath all along.
In Separate Beds, Elizabeth Buchan has captured the concerns and joys of contemporary women, and her timely, warm, and funny novel tracks the ebb and flow of family, fortune, and love that is familiar to so many readers.
* This contest is open to residents of USA only. No PO Boxes
* Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
* The contest will end on February 8th at 11:59PM EST; 5 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
* Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
* Book will be shipped directly from the publisher
The Murderer's Daughters
Author ~ Randy Susan Meyers
Author ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
- Kindle Contest!
ISBN - 0425240231
A Crafty Killing (Victoria Square Mystery)
