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Thursday, July 13, 2017

Joshilyn Jackson is nifty and thrifty...plus a book giveaway

Photo by EV Jackson
We're pleased to have Joshilyn Jackson here to celebrate the recent publication of her latest novel, The Almost Sisters. Thanks to HarperCollins, we have two copies to give away!

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of seven novels and a novella: The Opposite of Everyone, Someone Else’s Love Story, gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and the novella My Own Miraculous. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, three times been a #1 Book Sense Pick, twice won Georgia Author of the Year, and three times been shortlisted for the Townsend prize.

A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, has made the 2012 Audible All-Star list for highest listener ranks/reviews, and garnered three Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly. In 2012 Jackson began reading the audio versions of books written by other novelists, beginning with Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer.

She serves on the board of Reforming Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to providing theatre infused liberal arts education to women who are under carceral control in Georgia. Through their education-in-prison and reentry programs, Reforming Arts fosters the development of critical and creative thinking skills, encouraging students to build livable lives. Joshilyn volunteers inside Lee Arrendale State Prison, teaching creative writing courses and facilitating a new literary magazine/newsletter that the students are producing. You can find out how to help support this organization HERE. (Bio courtesy of Joshilyn's website.)

Visit Joshilyn online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter


Synopsis:
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.

It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy—an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.

Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.
(Courtesy of Amazon.)


Current favorite place to shop: 
Finders Keepers. It is a string of consignment shops near my house. I am very...um...thrifty when it comes to clothes and furniture and such. Some might even say CHEAP. But I say wise and frugal, because I would almost always rather DO something than HAVE something. I think I spent maybe 200 bucks on clothes for all of us in the last year, and right now, with the money I saved, we are learning to scuba dive.

Walmart or Target?
Target, but I go there maybe 6 times a year? It is very far. Most things I get at Publix, or a drug store, or I go to the in-town Ace. It is this BIZARRE hardware store with a popcorn machine that makes it smell like carb heaven. About the half the store is saws and lightbulbs and blinds, and the rest is stuffed with a random trove of wonders: old fashioned soda, 1950’s candy, handmade soap and lotion, Maraschino Cherries in bourbon, yarn shawls, weird handmade yoga pants. I like to go there and just explore. In fact – I may like the in-town Ace more than Finders Keepers!

Would you consider yourself a shopaholic? 
Not really. 90% of shopping is a chore---a thing I put on my to do lists next to “Clean the bathroom.” But I do love thrifting and junk shopping and garage sales and art fests. That 10% is a pure pleasure.

Do you like to purchase souvenirs when you travel? 
If so, what do you usually get? One of the benefits of being, er, thrifty, Is that we have money for the stuff we really like---and one of those things is travelling. I used to get refrigerator magnets, but when we moved our new house came with a silver fridge that won’t hold them. Alas! Ever since then, we try to get things we will use. When I wear my blue scarf, I remember San Francisco, for example. We got two surrealist paintings from an art auction on the way home from London, and they hang on our walls along with a rusted road sign my son found at a flea market in Poland. From France, I brought home several bottles of wine and a pair of simply enormous pink harem pants I found in a box by a dumpster in Paris. Those pants are magic. I call them my Francey-Pants, and whenever I am stuck on a chapter, I can pull them on and they make my writing brain wake up. (For the record, I did wash them in boiling water a few hundred times before I put them on.)

What is something you purchase on a regular basis (excluding stuff you need)?
BOOKS! I am a JUNKY. And I like old, regular, paper books that I can handle. My house is stuffed with them, and I keep getting more. I love the smell of them. I can pick them up and remember the story so much better than if I just thought about them. I have hard time giving any up. I tend to loan them out instead and hope they do not come back, so I have room for more.

What would be your main character's favorite place to shop? 
Oh, that’s easy! Leia Birch Briggs is old school geek. She would hang out in comics and gaming shops.

Thanks to Joshilyn for visiting with us and to HarperCollins for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway ends July 18th at midnight EST.

27 comments:

  1. Although some days I feel like I NEED it, one thing that I purchase often that I don't really need is Starbucks. My car just seems to know the way to the drive thru line and I'm powerless to stop it!

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  2. I like to buy books or toys for Miss Kiki. I can't go to Walmart or a pet store without bringing something home for her.

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  3. I enjoy buying books, and certain treats.

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  4. I love this author. Between Sisters sounds like a good one1 Here's to books!!

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  5. So many things......scratcher lottery tickets, clothes, books, etc etc

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  6. I really don't buy anything regularly that I don't need. I do go out for lunch a few times a month with my sister and friends but, we still need to eat, right?

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  7. The one thing I purchase on a regular basis is books and Diet Pepsi. I think something is really wrong with me because I have more books than I'll ever live long enough to read and continue to buy more. I'm a book hoarder, I think! And my diet soda is just an addiction that I can't seem to stop.

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  8. I mostly buy toys for my cats and books for me.

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  9. I indulge myself with chocolate

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  10. Jigsaw puzzles and Hershey's Hugs!

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  11. Books & nick/nacks for my kids - that they don't want (why do I do this?)

    Seaside Book Nook

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  12. I buy books but not regularly... the one thing I ALWAYS buy is coffee, coffee, coffee! Did I mention coffee?! Iced blueberry with extra blueberry, to be exact! :D

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  13. I only ever buy things I NEED. My sweet tooth demands attention.

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  14. I purchase books and wax melts all the time!

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  15. Books and lattes :)...although, I would argue to my husband that I need both.

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  16. Something that I buy every single day is Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee!! I would love to win this book!! It looks amazing and I loved the interview. If I had the money, I would shop all the time!!

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  17. Books are a constant buy for me.

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  18. I purchase craft items on a regular basis.

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

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  19. BOOKS, of course! Thanks for the chance to win. I can't wait to read this one!

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