Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Spotlight and Giveaway: Alice Sadie Celine

Today we are celebrating the publication of Sarah Blakley-Cartwright's debut adult novel, Alice Sadie Celine. Thanks to Simon & Schuster, we have TWO copies to give away!

It’s opening night, but far from glamorous. Alice is performing in a local Bay Area production of The Winter’s Tale, the complete opposite of what she had envisioned for her career back home in Los Angeles. She doesn’t have dreams of superstardom per se, but the basement theatre in a wildfire-choked town simply isn’t ideal. To make matters worse, her best friend Sadie is not even coming.

Pragmatic and serious Sadie and flighty, creative Alice have been best friends since high school—really one another’s only friends—but now that they are through with college (which they attended together) and living on opposite ends of California, Alice would at least expect her friend’s support. Sadie, determined not to cancel her plans with her boyfriend, ends up enlisting the help of her mother Celine.

A professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at UC Berkeley, Celine’s landmark treatise on sex and identity made her notorious, but she’s struggling to write her new book in a post-second-wave feminism world. When Sadie begs her to attend Alice’s play, she relents, if only for an escape from writer’s block. But in a turn of events perplexing even to herself, Celine becomes entranced by Alice’s performance and realizes that her daughter’s lanky, slightly annoying, best friend is now an irresistible young woman.

Set over the course of decades—from Alice and Sadie’s friendship’s early days and Celine’s decision to leave her husband to the radical movements of 90s Berkeley and navigating contemporary Hollywood—Alice and Celine’s affair will test the limits of their love for Sadie and their own beliefs about power, agency, and feminism. Witty and relatable, sexy and surprising, Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s debut adult novel is a mesmerizing portrait of the inner lives of three very different women.

“Obsessed! Each sentence of Alice Sadie Celine is chock full of playful irreverence for feminist and gender theory, hip popular culture references, and the wide breadth of what defines female sexuality.”
—ChloĆ« Sevigny

“I am literally obsessed.”
—Busy Philipps, actress and New York Times bestselling author of This Will Only Hurt a Little

Credit: Beowulf Sheehan
Sarah Blakley-Cartwright is the author of Red Riding Hood (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), a #1 New York Times bestseller that was published worldwide in thirty-eight editions and fifteen languages. She is the publishing director of the Chicago Review of Books, associate editor of A Public Space, and is based in New York City.

Visit Sarah at her website and on Instagram.

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

Giveaway ends December 3rd at midnight EST.

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7 comments:

traveler said...

A woman whom I admire ismy mother who was selfless, devoted, caring and giving.

diannekc said...

I admire my Mother. She struggled with lots of health issues, but still got dressed up every day and took care of us and the house even when she didn't feel well.

Lisa D said...

I also admire my mother - for doing so much for everyone else.

Mary Preston said...

My mother for me too. A wonderful person.

bn100 said...

mom

Robyn said...

My mom

Julie said...

my mom - when my son was getting in trouble in school and asked for a new start - she took him in willingly and covered all expenses