Thursday, June 12, 2014

L. Alison Heller finds her Neverland...plus a book giveaway

We are pleased to have L. Alison Heller back at CLC to talk about her sophomore novel, The Never Never Sisters! She was here last year to introduce her debut novel, The Love Wars, which was met with high praise by one of our reviewers.

Synopsis of The Never Never Sisters:
Marriage counselor Paige Reinhardt is counting down the days to summer, eager to reconnect with her workaholic husband at their cozy rental cottage in the Hamptons. But soon a mysterious crisis at Dave’s work ruins their getaway plans. Paige is still figuring out how to handle the unexplained chill in her marriage when her troubled sister suddenly returns after a two-decade silence. Now, instead of enjoying the lazy summer days along the ocean, Paige is navigating the rocky waters of a forgotten bond with her sister in the sweltering city heat.

As she attempts to dig deeper into Dave’s work troubles and some long-held family secrets, Paige is shocked to discover how little she knows about the people closest to her. This summer, the self-proclaimed relationship expert will grapple with her biggest challenge yet: Is it worth risking your most precious relationships in order to find yourself? (Courtesy of Goodreads.)

Thanks to Wunderkind PR, we have one copy of The Never Never Sisters for a lucky US reader!

Visit Alison at her websiteFacebook and Twitter.

What was the inspiration behind The Never Never Sisters?
Lies! Does that sound too horrible? In my defense, years of being a divorce lawyer have given me a pretty high threshold for lies. But even outside of my practice– just as a human being I’ve of course lied and been lied to with the best of intentions. It’s so common, from not mentioning that your friend’s haircut isn’t so great to keeping your vulnerabilities under wraps in an attempt to self-preserve. I wanted to explore the effect of well-intentioned lies on a family as well as how someone comes back from the lies she has told herself.

Which of your books was easier to write?
This is a tough one! I worked harder and thought more about structure and timeline with The Never Never Sisters—the whole book takes place over a few weeks and my calendar for this July still has all of the various things the characters are doing every day (so that Paige’s appointments with clients and Vanessa’s social engagements are in there with dinners with my friends, etc.) That said, I had the benefit of working with a wonderful editor this time and was somewhat more familiar with the feeling of writing a novel.

You cast The Never Never Sisters over at Writer's Corner already, and since you seemed to enjoy coming up with a soundtrack for The Love Wars...what would be the theme song for The Never Never Sisters?
I think it would have to be "Under African Skies" by Paul Simon, given the album Graceland’s prominence in the road trip scene as well as, of course, this line: “This is the story of how we begin to remember.” AND—that beautiful harmony between Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt, which gets me every time.

What is one thing you would never (never) do?
Ha! Thank you for asking that this way. This is an extremely loaded answer in context of this book, but I would never (never) deliberately hurt my kids.

Who are your favorite sisters from a movie or TV show (or celebrity sisters in real life)?
Something about the Olsen twins intrigues me—I first saw them as sitcom babies and now they’re designer moguls with a third sister who’s an actress. The amazing Olsens! I am fascinated with sisters, I admit. I have one and I’m the mom to two. I feel like it’s the luckiest thing in the world to have a sister but it’s also complex: the competition, the being parts of a whole, the nuance and that deep-down familiarity that can be the most supportive thing, as well as sometimes suffocating.

What is the last book you read that you would highly recommend to our readers?
I just went on a reading tear, so can I mention two? I loved getting swept up in Elin Hilderbrand’s Beautiful Day (I always enjoy her novels. Always.) and I really, really enjoyed Anne-Marie Casey’s No One Could Have Guessed the Weather, which is witty and unique. I loved her writing too.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


US only. Giveaway ends June 17th at midnight EST.

18 comments:

Janine said...

I can't think of any fights I've had with a sibling. We've had little bickering matches when we were young, but don't remember what caused them.

Unknown said...

Only when we were little kids. As adults, we are not close enough to fight. Which is sad, is it not?

Ro said...

Not since we were kids. My sister is 5 yrs younger and always wanted to follow me and my friends. Did not like that at the time. Now we are super close.

Anonymous said...

When we were home and growing up, I was the oldest of four girls and when mom wasn't home I was in charge of seeing chores were done and we fought a lot about that because they didn't think they had to do what I said. I may have taken a little advantage of that too. We are super close now and don't know what I would do without my sisters.

Ann Ellison
abilene_nana@yahoo.com

Lisamarie said...

The worst fight with my middle brother had to do with his & his wife's treatment towards our mother. He is very critical of her and how she handles his kids but yet he calls her to watch his kids all the time. I let him have it and while it took a few weeks before we spoke again we did make up.

Tami said...

Me and my sister used to fight like cats and dogs when I was little. But now that we're older and living hours apart, we don't see each other as much and never fight.

Bonnie K. said...

I have two brothers and zero sisters. I've never had to share; so, there wasn't really any need to fight. They were good brothers to me.

bluedawn95864 at gmail dot com

Anita Yancey said...

Our biggest fight was when I was only 6. I have a much older sister, and I torn up a picture of her boyfriend and we got into a big fight. We made up but it took a few months.

bn100 said...

can't think of anything

Angleterre71 said...

My younger brother and I fought all the time growing up, but I can't remember about what. I think it was about the other's existence and who was going to be an only child. (Whatever it was, I'm sure he started it!) Now as adults we hang out and have even vacationed together, by choice!

pascale said...

my sister and I shared a bedroom when we were little and the door was on my side. We had a huge fight, and I drew a line along the room, and did not allow her to enter or exit the room. YIKES!

lbryant said...

My younger sister and I are in disagreement over our mother's final wishes. We still haven't spoken since our mom passed away in Feb of this year.

jpetroroy said...

Something stupid about chores. We didn't talk for a week.

debb1955 said...

I was very upset with my sibling for the way he was treating my mother. Because of that, he hasn't spoken to any of us, including my mom, my kids, my grandchildren and me in the past twelve years.

Hailey Fish said...

Only as little kids did we get into huge fights. I do something she didn't like and she would tattle tale on me. Or she'd give me an Indian sunburn which hurt a lot!

Cheryl R said...

I only have a brother, our fights were minor as children, haven't had one as adults.

Unknown said...

I have no siblings, which I didn't mind when I was younger. No sharing, no fighting! Nowadays I long to have a sister or brother to help with elder care.

Bridget T. said...

I don't have any siblings to fight with.