Fall is here and we are so excited to wear cute boots and warm hats! And we've also got all the BEST BOOKS here!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 32 books! (US only, please) Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, October 30th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
The kids are back in school and you know what that means: more time to read! Make sure to build your TBR with this fabulous list of all the BEST BOOKS!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 37 books! (US only, please) Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, September 18th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
You guys! We are in LOVE with these ultra-cool USB drives that just arrived from usbmemorydirect! Perfect little replicas of The Good Widow! Check out their site to see how you can create your own custom USBs.
Okay, how is it August already? Summer is almost over! Good thing we have some amazing books to keep it sunny and warm!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 53 books! (US only, please) Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, August 21st at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
July is all about BBQs, bonfires, and great books! And we have all the hottest ones here!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 43 books! (US only, please) Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, July 17th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
Surf's up and it's time to hit the beach with the hottest books of Summer!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 52 books! (US only, please) Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, June 19th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
May is here and along with it comes so many AMAZING books! Not to mention, The Good Widow arrives in less than a month: June 1st!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 39 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, May 22nd at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
**We are partnering with Putnam books to offer a copy of TOUCH by Courtney Maum
It's Spring Break and you know what that means-BEACH READS! Look no further, because we have the very best here!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 37 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, April 17th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
March is here! Finally! And wow, we have quite a line up for you this month.
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 37 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, March 20th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
Baby it's cold outside, but we've got the hottest books to keep you warm!
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 29 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, February 20th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
Happy New Year, lovelies! We are so thankful to ring in 2017 with you! Did you see the cover for The Good Widow? We are SO excited for you guys to read this one June 1st! Here it is, in case you missed it.
And, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 23 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, January 23rd at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
Wow, the year has flown by, hasn't it? We are so excited for 2017--The Good Widow will be out June 1st and we can't wait for y'all to read it!
But for now, YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 22 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, December 5th at 5pm PST. Good Luck!
Fall is finally here! And with it comes some stellar books!
And YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 28 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Tuesday, October 18th at 5pm PST.
Are you ready to go back to school? Time is moving quickly, isn't it? Good thing we have some amazing books to slow down with this month!
And YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 27 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Tuesday, August 23rd at 5pm PST.
It may be hot, hot, HOT right now but no worries--we've got the best and brightest books of the month for you to cool off with!
And YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 29 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Tuesday, July 19th at 5pm PST.
Summer is officially here. Woo hoo! And we can't think of a better book to kick it off with than the latest by Jen Lancaster! BY THE NUMBERS is the perfect novel to take to the pool while you bask in the sun and sip on a cocktail. And of course we have one for #giveaway! Just leave a comment here or on our FB page and be entered to #win. Contest closes June 24th at 8pm PST.
The Scoop: Actuary Penny Sinclair has a head for business, and she always makes rational decisions. Knowing that 60% of spouses cheat and 50% of marriages end in divorce, she wasn’t too surprised when her husband had an affair. (That he did so with a woman their daughter’s age? Well, that part did sting a bit.) She just made sure she got everything in the divorce, including their lovely old Victorian house. And as soon as her younger daughter has her hipster-fabulous wedding in the backyard, she’s trading it in for a condo in downtown Chicago...
Well within the average market time in her area, Penny gets an offer on the house. But then life happens. Her children, her parents and her ex come flying back to the nest, all in need of Penny’s emotional—and financial—support. Spread thin, Penny becomes the poster child for the “sandwich generation,” when all she really wanted to do was make managing director, buy a white couch, and maybe go on a Match.com date...
Our thoughts: FUN, FAB + FANTASTIC!
How did you think of the idea for BY THE NUMBERS? And what inspired you to want to write about the sandwich generation?
Prior to this, I’ve written anti-heroes as my protagonists. While none of them have ever been on Walter White’s level, I’ve always made my heroines a bit difficult to root for, at least initially. I strive to do something different in each book, so this time, bowling right down the center of the lane was a departure for me. Because I myself am a bit of an anti-hero, I had to dig deep to find inspiration for Penny’s character - she’s the polar opposite of me. She pays her water bill in advance and knows exactly where the spare batteries are kept. She’d never hem her curtains with a steak knife. For Penny, her metamorphosis is much subtler, more internally-focused, as on the surface, she already has it all together.
In the past, I’ve had memoir readers tell me they’ve been frustrated when they weren’t sure what came from my life and what was fiction so I wanted this book to be a definitive line between fantasy and reality. I brought in the sandwich generation plot twist because it’s something so prevalent in my generation and I thought readers could identify with it. Again, as everything about Penny is the antithesis of me, I figured these were the ideal problems for her to have, since they’re not my issues.
As has been the case in some of your past fiction, is there any of YOU in this novel?
Because I wrote this, it’s impossible to remove my sense of humor, such as the scene in the Walgreens where Penny’s buying cigarettes. I don’t smoke and I’m not an actuary, but if I did, and if I were, hers is the exact conversation I would have had when the clerk told me to “be well.”
I actually struggled with this book, not because of the cast of characters or the plot, but because Penny is so enamored with math and uses numbers to better understand her world. That part was so damn foreign to me as I literally have to use a calculator to add anything more than single digits. (And even then…)
Probably the portion that smacks the most of me now is her devotion to physical activity. A year and a half ago, I ruptured my Achilles. In losing the ability to walk – really, to even perform basic household and personal tasks, like showering safely – I gained such an appreciation for being able to move that since then, I’ve lost something like ninety pounds and become a daily communicate at the gym. (Anyone familiar with my memoirs will know exactly how much of a departure this is.) Now I’m as likely to miss a workout as I would be to skip brushing my teeth. So, when Penny waxes poetic about deadlifts, that’s all me shining through.
You recently got back from a trip to Turks + Caicos with some of your readers--what was that experience like?
I’ve been doing dozens of events each year, every year, and I’m always meeting incredible people… in thirty-second increments. I always think, “I bet we’d be friends if we could actually spend time together.” The Turks & Caicos trip proved that theory true. I fell in love with every single person who came and we had the time of our lives. What was supposed to be a fan event for me turned me into a fan of all the participants. (Imagine your best summer camp experience and then multiply it by a million.)
Originally, the plan was that I would go to a couple of hours’ worth of events with the readers over the course of two and a half days. In actuality, everyone extended their stay and we had such a great time that we ended up hanging out en masse for five full days. Everyone became BFF with everyone. There was one day when a big group of us just lazed in the water, drinking frozen mojitos, laughing and narrating the scene as people fell off their paddle boards and I thought to myself, “I have found my tribe.” Now we have our own little group on Facebook and we’re in touch every day and we can’t wait to do it again.
On that note, your fans LOVE you. What is your favorite way to interact with them?
My fans have been very good to me and I’m so appreciative. I like Twitter best because that’s the most one-on-one and it doesn’t engender the in-fighting that Facebook can spawn.
You've always been a big champion of other writers--who are you recommending we read right now?
I am crazy-mad-obsessed with Swedish author Fredrik Backman. A Man Called Ove is one of my favorite all-time novels and I’m currently reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. I just read Matthew Norman’s We’re All Damaged and I think he’s wonderful, too. I will always and forever love Joshilyn Jackson and Dorthea Benton Frank. (Southern women rock my world.) Libba Bray is an author who constantly surprises and delights. If you haven’t picked up the paperback copy of Shanna Mahin’s Oh, You Pretty Things, do so now. Jennifer Niven’s YA All the Bright Places has been on my mind ever since I read it - amazing. Once in a while, I’ll love a book so much, I’ll buy/send it to everyone I know. I did that with Mahin’s book last year, Backman’s Ove this year, and Norman’s Domestic Violets a few years ago. So maybe the key here is to be my friend and great books will just start arriving at your house.
What's up next for you?
I’m on what I’m calling a hard re-set because it was time. New publisher, new contract, new editor, new agent, new film team. I’m working what will be my last memoir (at least for a long while) and it’s going to be welcome departure from the same old formula. I’m also readying a young adult novel for sale, which is so different from anything I’ve written that I may publish under a different name. So I guess new is the new black for me.
Summer is finally here--thank goodness! Bring on the beach, the (flattering) bathing suits and the BOOKS!
And we have 32 (yes, you read that right--THIRTY-TWO books) up for grab--and they all can be yours! Just leave a comment on the thread for this post on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 20 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, June 20th at 5pm PST.
April showers bring May flowers and.... lots of BOOKS!
And YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 20 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, MAY 23rd at 5pm PST.
Spring is our fave season of the year because it means one thing--LOTS AND LOTS of amazing new releases! (ahem, including our own, The Year We Turned Forty, our April 26th!)
And YOU have a chance to win every single one of the books listed below! Just leave a comment here or on our Facebook page to be entered for a chance to #win ALL 24 books! Want an extra entry? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and tag us! Click on the cover image to learn more about each book. Contest closes on Monday, April 18th at 5pm PST.
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