Sara and Melissa Talk About...Life in the 90s

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now into our seventh year!

This month, we were inspired by those posts where people shared pictures of themselves in the 90s. However, we had done a post similar to that a few years ago, before it was trendy. So instead we are talking about what life was like in the 90s. (And just for fun, we're using our retro pictures in this post.) I'm sure a lot of you can relate to 90s memories, but for those who were toddlers in the late 90s or not born until after 2000, this post is also for you.

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. 😊 We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them.

Sara Steven:

I had a lot of fun watching the “What were you like in the 90s” trends that hit social media not so long ago. Most of it was focused on celebrities, but it made me think about the 90s in general and what that decade was like for me.

There was a lot of freedom–the expectation was to rely on myself for mostly everything. I had to walk a mile to get to the closest city bus stop to get to school, then walk another half a mile once I’d been dropped off. The cycle repeated itself when school let out. Since I had a city bus pass, I’d often run around and take various bus routes to visit friends or see family, or I’d hang out in the downtown area and walk around the mall. There were no cell phones to check in with anyone. I’d have to scrounge up a quarter and use a pay phone and that was only for extreme emergencies.  

Wow. Look at that old school computer screen.

When I was fifteen, my grandparents (who I lived with off and on during my teen years) started traveling and going on week-long vacations, leaving me alone to keep an eye on things. Family members would check in on me from time to time, but it was up to me to get myself to school, keep the house clean, feed myself, and during summer breaks, they’d leave their dogs with me, too, so I had to ensure that all of us were alive and well when they’d return. It was scary, but it also made me feel highly independent and capable.

My best friend and I loved ordering free samples of things from magazines; you’d have to call the toll-free number on the bottom of an advertisement or write in to request the item. We received free feminine products, perfume samples, skincare, and makeup. The anticipation of waiting for our samples in the mail was part of the fun of it, too. You never knew what you’d find when you opened the mailbox that day. That same concept pertained to receiving anything in the mail. Correspondence would take days, or weeks, depending. But that sweet feeling when you’d find something with your name on it was well worth the wait.

Me and my best friend at Christmastime circa 1995 - we're still extremely close

I wore baggy, boot cut jeans–I’m so glad they’re available and back in fashion now. I borrowed 70s-style clothing from those who still had corduroy skirts and bell bottom pants from that decade, and when I’d wear dresses, I always paired them with my Converse chucks. It’s so funny to me how the 90s style is making a comeback right now, and when I lived the 90s, we were trying to get back to the 60s and 70s.

I remember listening to Madonna’s Erotica album on the radio when it first came out in 1992. The station we listened to on our boomboxes actually released the music–so, we did what any self-respecting 90s teen would do, and recorded the whole thing on a blank cassette tape. I remember making a lot of mix tapes for myself, for friends, for those I was romantically linked with. Nothing said love like a mix tape. Of course, once CDs entered the scene, burning music onto CDs was the new thing. The same excitement applied to VHS tapes. Once, I pulled an all-nighter recording various music videos from MTV–I still have that VHS tape. 

At a work event

I’ll be honest–I sometimes miss the simplicity of my life and how I grew up in the 90s. Of course, I was enthralled when I first heard the sounds of dial-up internet, and my first cell phone (2000) was a huge turning point in my life. But I liked filling my days with less technology and more outdoor exploring. I don’t recall ever feeling bored with my life. There was always something to do, someone to see, or somewhere to be, a sweet nostalgia that I wouldn’t trade for anything.   

Melissa Amster:

I was recently talking to my son about the stuff I brought with me to college and mentioned how I had a lot of videos and cassette tapes. He made a comment about how much has changed since then. (Way to make me feel old...)

In any case, life in the 90s was definitely a lot more simple. While we had the Internet, it was in early phases and there was no social media. If you wanted to communicate with your friends, you could just email a big group of them. I had a website, thanks to the guy I was dating at the time. He helped me set it up. I think it's long gone now! (I even had a V.C. Andrews club website.) Eventually, I joined these chat groups and became friends with some people with whom I am still in contact today. We also accessed the internet through a dial-up modem. We had to share that with the phone line. So yes, there were some drawbacks. 

I liked going to the mall a lot more in the 90s. The stores were more fun, instead of the tacky and pointless ones I see in malls today. The malls even had bookstores! Obviously my favorite reason for going to the mall. 

Courtesy of WKYC.com

The music was really good in the 90s. I prefer to listen to 90s music now instead of whatever is currently on the radio. That is, when I'm not listening to showtunes. Alanis was just starting out and I listened to her Jagged Little Pill cassette constantly. I also listened to Toad the Wet Sprocket a lot. 

I went to the movies all the time because they were actually reasonably priced. The most I usually paid was four dollars for a ticket. There were a lot of second-run dollar theaters around too, so that made it even easier to see movies more than once in the theater. I also didn't mind spending on candy at the theater because it was a lot less expensive. Maybe a dollar for a box of Raisinets. 

My favorite theater chain in the 90s
(Photo courtesy of YouTube)

There were a lot less options for TV, even with cable. We didn't have all the streaming channels, so it was basically whatever was on any given TV channel on any given day of the week. I had my shows that I watched regularly and sometimes had to record them on the VCR if I was going to be away. I think my first real binge-watch was Party of Five, when Lifetime started showing episodes every night in the late 90s.

Rent was huge for me in the 90s. I still love Rent and it will always be my top favorite musical, but there's something about how it felt to see it in the 90s that just added something extra. (Also, "What You Own" is different when we're 26 years after the end of the millenium. Still one of the best songs though!) My sister, a friend, and I spent all day waiting outside in the cold for $20 front row seats when it came to Chicago. I'm currently listening to Anthony Rapp's memoir, Without You, and it's bringing back all the feels from the early days of Rent.

At the end of an amazing day (March 10, 1998)

If you took photos, you did not receive them automatically. You had to go to a store and have the film developed, which took a few days. Then you'd get a packet with your photos printed out. There were also disposable cameras that you could bring to the store to have developed, but the camera was done after that.

A roll of film. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

We didn't have cell phones and usually had to use a pay phone to call our parents if we needed a ride home from school. Before cell phones came about, we had phones that connected to the car in order to activate. I had one and of course got in trouble the one day I forgot to call my parents when I got to school. I'm receiving my karma now though! 

With my first car.

Things felt safer back in the 90s. I could just go all over the place on bike rides or drive into the city late at night without feeling like there would be any problems. Nowadays, there have been acts of violence all over the place (just recently a bunch of teens were causing a huge ruckus inside a DC Chipotle and then I heard about a kid being stabbed at a local carnival) and it makes me just want to stay home all the time and constantly worry about my kids, who like to go out a lot. 

I wouldn't mind time traveling back to the 90s, to enjoy when life was easier in some ways, even with the lack of today's technology. I will leave you with this post that I wrote at my personal blog back in 2015, but it still epitomizes how I feel about the 90s.

What were the 90s like for you?

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.

Sara and Melissa Talk About...Concerts

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now into our sixth year!

This month, we are talking about our most memorable concert experiences. We'd love to know what yours are, so please don't hesitate to share in the comments!

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them. 

Sara Steven:

The first concert I ever attended was to see the rock group Quarterflash with my dad at the Oregon State Fair. I think I was six at the time, and given the concert was held outdoors at the Salem Fairgrounds, I remember it was a warm night, with lots of people, and the songs were really loud. I really don’t remember a whole lot about it, but I still enjoy a few songs from Quarterflash and even have those songs on my current playlist. Music was always a big deal in my family, so it doesn’t surprise me that my dad would take me to a concert at such a young age.

It was nearly a decade later when I saw SWV at the same venue. This time, at fourteen, I went with a group of friends, and we felt like grown ups out on the fairgrounds without adult supervision. The State Fair is always held during summer months, and even though SWV performed during daytime hours, the heat didn’t bother me. One friend ended up on stage during the song “Right Here,” and I accidentally left my purse on the bleachers and never got it back. All in all, it felt like a pretty momentous occasion.

During my teen years, I went through a phase where I’d go to late-night indie concerts in downtown Salem. I still have an old flyer from one of the concerts I attended, back in 1995. I know it’s advertised for “all ages,” but during Cherry Poppin’ Daddies’s “Sockable Face,” a majority of the crowd broke out into a gigantic mosh pit, with many of the concertgoers throwing punches at one another. I sat on a tall male friend’s shoulders, so I didn’t get caught up in the drama, but it’s still one of the most memorable concerts I’ve ever attended. They really put on an amazing show.

One of my favorite groups, Garbage, did the college circuit back when we were about to hit the new millenia. I had moved to Arizona to live with my then-boyfriend, who drove us from the Phoenix area to Tucson’s University of Arizona. I could not believe my good fortune to get to see them in concert. At one point, two random strangers we didn’t know pulled us down through the crowd right to the front of the stage, and if anyone has ever attended a Garbage concert and had the privilege to be close to Shirley Manson, you know just how attentive she is with her fans. It feels like she’s singing just for you. I saw them again in the early 2000’s, when they opened for No Doubt, and again last year when they were in Arizona again. In some strange way, it felt a little like I’d come full circle, considering I’d seen Garbage when I first moved to Arizona when I was just a kid, then moved away and lived a whole lifetime before moving back to the valley of the sun and going to a Garbage concert again 25 years later. Much like the first time, I was only four rows back from the stage, and even though I’m a bit older, I felt like I was a young adult, getting to witness the band’s charm all over again. It was magical.  

Melissa Amster:

I will be honest here...concerts aren't really my thing. I've gone to them and they were fun enough, but I prefer to spend my money on musicals. To me, concerts are people standing on a stage singing the same songs that are on their CDs. However, I will admit to some concerts being memorable. 

My first concert ever was Michael Jackson's Thriller tour when I was maybe around seven years old. I was obsessed with his Thriller album at the time and was so excited to see him perform live. I even got a program that I'd look at all the time. The only disappointment was that when we thought we had good seats, there were actually a whole set of rows on the lawn in front of us. (This was at what was once known as Commiskey Park in Chicago.) In any case, it was a cool experience to have as a kid who couldn't stop listening to his music.

Courtesy of YouTube

When I was in eighth grade, I went to the New Kids on the Block concert with my best friend and sister. My best friend's mother was the chaperone. I was a huge NKOTB fan at the time, so this concert was a huge deal. I even cried when I saw Joey through our shared set of binoculars. Years later (like in our early 40s), my best friend and I saw a NKOTB concert again, this time with Boyz II Men and Paula Abdul performing, as well. It was a fun and nostalgic evening and we were definitely screaming for our favorite New Kids. 

I got to see Barenaked Ladies twice (once when Alanis Morissette was also performing) and they put on a good show too. I also got to see Wham and Whitney Houston when I was a kid. (I feel like I curse people I see concerts for...MJ, George Michael, and Whitney are now long gone. I also went to a concert at the Grand Ole Opry--same year as the second NKOTB concert--and a few months later one of the performers--from Montgomery Gentry--was killed in a plane crash.) I also saw the Dixie Chicks back when I was into their music. 

This leads me to the most memorable concert of my life...Weird Al. When I was going into freshman year of college, we had an orientation weekend and Weird Al did a free concert for all the freshmen. It was such an entertaining evening. He'd practically do music videos instead of just standing on stage and singing. Between songs, he'd play these videos of fake interviews (where it looked like he was interviewing celebrities but he was actually asking his own questions and playing their responses to other questions). So hilarious! This is one he did with Bruce Springsteen. The best was when he introduced "Headline News" and everyone screamed when he got to the Bobbitt part. (Yes, this was in the mid-90s.) I also remember that there was a Weird Al lookalike in the audience. I still talk about this concert and what a great time I had there. Weird Al is still iconic, but I love his older music more than his new stuff. I'm more old school for the songs I grew up with. 

Courtesy of YouTube

There you have it on my concert background! 

What is your most memorable concert?

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.

Sara and Melissa Talk About...Barbie

We've been running a column series (for over three years now!) to get more personal with our readers. This month, we are talking about Barbie. Since the movie came in really strong at its release a few weeks ago and is still all over social media, it made us think of our own experiences with the iconic doll. For fun, check out which Barbie was popular the year you were born. (If you were born before Barbie's existence, we'd love to hear what things were like when she first came onto the scene.)

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them. 

Melissa Amster:

Barbie was such an integral part of my childhood. My sister and I spent hours in the basement playing with our collection of Barbies and coming up with all sorts of stories for them. The earliest memory I have is creating villains in the Barbie universe. Ballerina Barbie was Jessica and then she had two sidekicks named Margo and Luigi. (Luigi was female. I don't know how my sister and I came up with that name either.) It's strange that I can remember these names but can't remember my passwords or why I went into a room. 

Courtesy of Good Housekeeping

When I became obsessed with Back to the Future, I acted it out with my Barbies and Kens. The Barbie pink Corvette doubled as the DeLorean. Peaches 'n Cream Barbie was Lorraine because she had the best dress for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. 

Courtesy of Fashion Doll Guide

When I got Tracy and Todd, it was around the time my aunt and uncle got married, so I had wedding fever at nine years of age. I would stage weddings on my dresser, since it looked fancy. They always walked down the aisle to "Saving All My Love" by Whitney Houston. As an adult, I learned that song was about an affair. Oops!

Courtesy of Barbie Wiki

I gave my Barbies and Kens different names so they would be individuals. I liked having control over what each Barbie or Ken would be named. If they came with different names, I obviously kept those. (I loved Barbie's friend Miko with the long dark hair.) If I had multiple dolls with the same name, I changed it for one of them. Like I had two Dereks (from Barbie and the Rockers), so one of them was changed to Jimmy. I think I named Dream Date Barbie Diane. I also named one of the Skippers Sari (like Sara, but with an "ee" sound at the end) because my babysitter's sister had that name and I thought it sounded unique. 

As I outgrew Barbies, I still found a way to keep them at the top of my mind, thanks to a friend with whom I shared a wacky sense of humor. Shortly after we became friends during our freshman year of high school, we decided to come up with all sorts of Barbies and Kens that were not yet on the market. Our ideas got pretty bizarre, but we'd send each other drawings and descriptions of each Barbie and Ken we came up with. Seeing one of the humans in the movie coming up with strange Barbie ideas made me think of how we would do that. My favorite, and the one that still cracks me up, is Chicken McNugget Ken. Don't ask. Seriously. :)

I finally got a chance to see the movie this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. It also felt nostalgic in some ways. I appreciated the messages that empowered females, especially from America Ferrera's big speech. I also loved how meta it was. For the most part, it doesn't take itself too serious or anything and that's what makes it even more enjoyable. It also reminded me that I had a few "weird" Barbies when I was growing up, thanks to the use of scissors, markers, and even some nail polish remover. 

My daughter's collection. She even has a "weird" Barbie.

Sara Steven:

**Post contains some light spoilers for the Barbie movie**

I’ll be honest–I didn’t know what to expect from the Barbie movie. When I’d first heard that there would even be a Barbie movie, I wasn’t instantly drawn to wanting to see it. I figured it might be tailored for the younger crowd or so filled with sugary-pop fluff that I’d quickly lose interest. Seeing the movie in a theater was never on my agenda.

It’s not as though I was never a fan of Barbie. Growing up, I was like most young children in the eighties – I loved to imagine what life would be like if I could step into the tiny heel-lifted feet of my Barbie, often playing pretend with friends of mine. I had two Barbies from the Barbie and the Rockers line and loved the cassette tape included in my recognizable Barbie box. To this day, I can still remember their theme song, “Barbie and the Rockers”, and the song “Born With a Mic in Our Hands”. I’d pop the tape into my boom box and we’d listen and sing along while moving our Barbie’s akimbo arms, allowing her to shake and move.

Courtesy of Pinterest

As we grew, we’d branch out and create sensational dialogue. Our Barbies were demon-possessed or had to suffer with ghosts or vampires, our movie influences of classic eighties horror films like The Lost Boys and Poltergeist or anything from Stephen King became the backdrop for our verbal screenplays. We’d cut their hair and become freelance artists with our Barbies, much like with the Weird Barbie character portrayed by Kate McKinnon in the movie. It felt like one of the last steps in the process of growing up with and bonding, then outgrowing our Barbies. 

My young adult son had made plans to partake in "Barbenheimer" with a few friends of his, the biggest draw for him being Oppenheimer. He felt he could suffer along and watch the Barbie movie, too, but it turned out that he absolutely loved it. When he arrived home and filled me in on how great it was and that he recommended I see it in theaters, I decided to take the chance. My husband was a good sport about it and joined me, I think more out of curiosity on his end than anything else. 

I had imagined if they’d ever make a Barbie movie, it would look and feel more like the music video from the song, “Barbie Girl,” by Aqua. A cute, quirky, pink-infused experience. And while all of that is true of the film, I was surprised by the emotional depth, the reflection I still feel weeks after, on top of the fun yet heart-wrenching nostalgia that engulfed me while enjoying the Barbie Bites snack I’d purchased at my local Majestic.

I don’t easily get teary-eyed while watching a film. Yet it happened several times during Barbie. When Margot Robbie (Barbie) is sitting on the bench next to an elderly woman, then tells the woman, “You’re beautiful,” it was such a touching, lovely moment. And who didn’t fight back tears during America Ferrera’s (Gloria) monologue about the trials of being a woman. At one point during her speech, I leaned over to my husband and said, “Yep, pretty much.” Gloria’s relationship with her daughter mirrored my own, considering how much I miss the days when my two sons were younger, when life seemed so much easier. When they thought that everything I did was amazing and wonderful. Before they realized I’m just a fallible human, and nowhere near perfect.

Barbie realizes that, too. It might seem easier to be perfect, and she might miss the ease of that life, but it’s better to experience a real life full of mistakes and complications, because it means a whole range of emotion and feeling. I love that my children know the real me too. I think we can form tighter bonds when we can be ourselves. 

My husband still talks about the film. He said it made him question his own choices and the type of relationship we have. I liked how towards the end of the film, Barbie lets Ken (Ryan Gosling) know that she appreciates him and apologizes for the times she may have taken him for granted, and in turn, he also apologizes to her. Amidst all of that are the multiple Barbies and Kens that we’ve seen over the years. And the Alan doll, portrayed by Michael Cera. I tried to zero in on all of the different characters I remembered playing with while I was growing up, even if they were never my own personal Barbies. Overall, I’m really glad I decided to take a chance on Barbie. I think, much like what Barbie did for me when I was a child, it changed my perception of the world, for the better.             

Share your Barbie memories with us!

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.

Book Review: Recruited

By Sara Steven

When Olivia Gesso skydives into a recruiting job with Kava Tech-a hip start-up where twenty-somethings binge drink, gamble, and code their way to luxury cars and fat bonuses-it's almost hard to remember how she got there. No one would have expected an eco-warrior hellbent on saving the seeds of an extinct tree to find her way into this silicon jungle, serving as high-heeled bait for geeky coders. But student debt and desperation drive Olivia farther from her life-changing work on a remote Indian Ocean island than she ever thought possible.

Now she's lost in a fast-paced, high-stakes "Brotopia", where hot recruiters make sure the country's best techies get anything they want to sign on the dotted line. Still, Olivia risks it all-including her heart-to be a company star and get what she is after. But having gone from eco-warrior to dot-com fly girl, perhaps a little too easily, means dealing with some seriously irrational expectations. With the investors grabbing her "assets" and the star candidate holding out for more than just money, Olivia must decide how far she'll go to bring an extinct tree back to life. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon)

Even though I knew where Kava Tech was headed, considering it’s a start-up from the late nineties, reading about Olivia’s experiences as she works her way through the high-speed, overly excessive lifestyle that represented the young tech companies of forever ago felt exhilarating and manic. The contrast between this peaceful, peace-loving, earthly character, who is then pushed into living a vastly different life than she’s used to, was at times disorienting, but in the best of ways. The reader is right there with Olivia, working 18+ hour workdays while she busts everything she has to do the best job she can, all in an attempt to get back to her roots. At times, it was inspiring, yet at other moments, tragic.

Along the way, Olivia finds who might be relationship material--yet, is he really? It seems so much of what she sees in silicon jungle appears to be too good to be true. The fancy cars, company credit cards with substantial credit limits, and the constant “work hard, play hard” ethic can only take her so far, and she constantly questions whether it will ever be enough for Kava Tech, for the man she thinks she’s falling for, and ultimately, for herself. I could see at the start of the book that Olivia comes into Kava Tech with rose-colored glasses, and gradually, the rose-colored glasses lose their tint, maturing her.

She’s battling to get to the top, and as the synopsis mentions, there are a lot of irrational expectations that are thrown at her. With double standards in tow, I wasn’t sure where Olivia would end up...or with who...or how long she felt she’d be able to handle this overly excessive lifestyle. It was consistently interesting and engaging, from start to finish, filled to the brim with that special nineties nostalgia I love so much. It was a well-deserved, five-star read!

Thanks to Stormbird Press for the book in exchange for an honest review. Recruited can be purchased here. 

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us. 

Tracy Krimmer takes us back in time....plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Tracy Krimmer back to CLC today. Her latest novel, The (Un)fortunate Fall published today and it's the second in the Rewind series. While it can be read as a standalone, it may contain spoilers for The Mash-Up Summer (reviewed here). Fortunately, Tracy has an e-book of The Mash-Up Summer for a lucky reader!

Here's what Sara had to say about The (Un)fortunate Fall: “It doesn’t take a fortune teller to predict how incredibly funny and charming The (Un)fortunate Fall is. I appreciated the unconventional manner in which Vivienne finds herself within a new potential romance, but what I love even more are the tight-knit relationships she has with her friends, the kind of friendships we all aspire to have in our own lives.”

In honor of this publication, Tracy has a fun guest post for us about all things nostalgic. 

Tracy Krimmer loves coffee, books, and naps, and not necessarily in that order. She's convinced Drew Barrymore is her best friend--Drew just doesn't know it yet. Besides reading, she loves 80s and 90s music and binge-watching a great show on Netflix or Hulu.

Visit Tracy online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:

Vivienne James loves going to the mall, but she's not there to spend her own money. As a personal shopper and owner of her own business, Exquisite by Viv, she's on the prowl for the latest and greatest items for her most exclusive clientele. When she bumps into Cal McDonald, Vice-President of a local bank, she's intrigued by his smile and charm. But she doesn’t expect him to offer her a job as his personal assistant, especially when an adult toy she purchased for her client comes flying out of her bag.

Vivienne's business means the world to her, but Cal's offer is so tempting. Unsure of what to do, her best friend makes her a paper fortune teller to guide her. The result is a promising future where all her dreams come true. Though she’d rather focus her efforts on individual clients and building a portfolio, Cal’s proposition ticks a lot of boxes and is in line with her fortune teller. It seems like a no-brainer.

But right when Vivienne’s decision is made, her family becomes caught in the middle of a heated political campaign with an unexpected opponent. Everything is falling apart, and Vivienne needs to pull together her life and her family before her business falls apart. Can Vivienne succeed at both or will her fortune teller lead her to ultimate failure? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

Tracy Krimmer’s Top Five Things From the 80s & 90s
If there is anything I love more than a great book, it’s a throwback to the eighties and nineties, which is one reason I love The Goldbergs so much. The ABC show takes us back to 1980-something in every episode. Each time I watch the show, there is always a reminder of those days. I love it. 

I tend to clump the two decades together. I view the eighties and nineties as one in the same. There is so much to love about them both. Honestly, a top-five list of my favorite things from those decades is impossible. I’ll share some of my favorites, but know that the list is more like one-hundred items long! If you follow me on Facebook, I often post some of my favorites.

Jelly Shoes. They were squishy and came in many colors. I loved these shoes and thought they were so cool, and I was, too, for having them. I wasn’t if you haven’t guessed.

Riding my bike everywhere. Wow, have times changed. I’d tell my mom I was going to ride my bike and disappear for hours. That doesn’t happen anymore. 

Magazines. I loved Teen Beat and Bop. In the “old days,” we decorated our rooms by tearing out photos from magazines and hanging them all over the walls! I can still picture Corey Haim on my wall.

Roller Skating. This was one of my favorite things to do with my cousins. My aunt would drop us off for an afternoon of skating. Once I got into high school, I started attending All Night Skates!

The music. Honestly, there is nothing like music from the eighties and early nineties. I was obsessed with Debbie Gibson, New Kids on the Block, and Madonna. I had all their cassette tapes (yes, tapes!)

I could go on and on listing Trapper Keepers, after-school specials, slap bracelets, and more. There was so much to love about that time period. I miss those simpler days. 

I’m in my forties now, and I wonder if the time I grew up in was simpler or just the innocence of childhood makes it seem that way. Either way, whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed by today’s technology, political debates (ahem, arguments), and life in general, I know I can always look back on that time fondly.

Thanks to Tracy for visiting with us and 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 November 1st at midnight EST.

Robert Webb's dose of nostalgia...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Robert Webb to CLC today! His debut novel, Come Again, recently published. Melissa finished it this past weekend and enjoyed the college memories it evoked. She's also big into the nineties, so setting it during that time scored bonus points for her. (A review is forthcoming.) Thanks to Little, Brown, we have THREE copies to give away!

Robert Webb is best known for his work as the Webb half of Mitchell & Webb in the Sony award-winning That Mitchell & Webb Sound and the Bafta award-winning That Mitchell & Webb Look, and as permanent man-boy Jeremy in the acclaimed Peep Show. In 2017, his call-to-arms memoir How Not To Be a Boy was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. Robert has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman, and now lives in London with his wife and daughters. Come Again is his first novel.

Visit Robert on Twitter.

Synopsis:
Can you fall in love for the first time twice ... ?

Kate's husband Luke -- the man she loved from the moment she met him twenty-eight years ago -- died suddenly. Since then she has pushed away her friend and lost her job, and everything is starting to fall apart.

One day, she wakes up in the wrong room and in the wrong body. She is eighteen again but remembers everything. This is her college room in 1992. This is the first day of orientation. And this is the day she meets Luke.

Kate knows how he died, and that he's already ill. But Luke is not the man that she lost: he's still a boy -- the annoying nineteen-year-old English student she first met. If they can fall in love again despite everything, she might just be able to save him. She's going to try to do everything exactly the same...


"Funny, brilliant, clever and unpredictable; I gobbled it up." 
—Jenny Colgan, USA Today bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner

What was a challenge for you when it came to writing a time travel novel?
I chose a time that I had fairly vivid memories of because the fall of 1992 was my own first week of college so I had a head-start with things like the clothes and the music. I didn’t worry too much about the sci-fi element of the book. I could have got wrapped up in all the paradoxes and the ‘if you change this in the past then how does it affect that in the future?’ stuff but it’s not that kind of story. For me the appeal of a character revisiting her younger self is entirely emotional. Here’s the husband she lost and he’s still just an annoying teenager. Here are her lifelong friends who don’t know who she is. Here’s her father, suddenly alive and well.

What was something you learned about yourself while writing Come Again?
Well, it’s my first novel so I guess I was starting to find out what kind of novelist I am. It turns out I’m someone who likes to plan a story instead of just launching into it with no idea about where it’s going.

When Come Again is made into a TV series, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Brilliant people who will be assured that they were the first choice for the part. Which is why I can’t answer the question. Sorry to be no fun.

What TV series are you currently binge watching?
We just re-watched all of Breaking Bad and now we’re on season one of New Girl which is great and really funny.

What is your go-to comfort food?
I can’t go far wrong with a baked potato with melted cheese.

Side note from Melissa: This takes me back to the nineties, when I would eat the same thing at 1-Potato-2 at the mall every week!

What are some of your favorite time travel movies and/or books?
Does Groundhog Day count? He’s kind of time traveling? If so, definitely that because it’s one of my favorite movies ever. I watched the Back to the Future movies with my girls (aged 9 & 11) and they were as much fun as I remembered. Something quite familiar about future Biff... More charmingly, the imagined 2015 involves hover boards but not cell phones. Oh well, you can’t get everything right.

Thanks to Robert for visiting with us and to Little, Brown for sharing his 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 28th at midnight EST.

Spotlight and Giveaway: Barbie Forever

Raise your hands if you played with and/or collected Barbie dolls at some point in your life. If you did, then we have a special treat for you today. Barbie Forever was published this week and thanks to The Quarto Group, we have one copy to give away!

Barbie Forever: Her Inspiration, History, and Legacy presents a detailed, full-color portrait of this beloved doll through all-new interviews, original sketches, vintage photos, advertisements, and much more. A double-sided foldout timeline showcases important moments in Barbie history. Explore how the doll came to be, what it takes to create one of her many looks, and how her legacy continues to influence the world.

Since her debut in 1959, Barbie has been breaking boundaries and highlighting major moments in art, fashion, and culture. She has been an interpreter of taste and style in every historic period she has lived through and has reflected female empowerment through the more than 200 careers she has embodied. Today, an international icon, Barbie continues to spark imaginations and influence conversations around the world.

Barbie Forever is a vibrant celebration for the "Barbie Girl" in all of us. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Ruth Handler in the 1960's, photo by Mattel

Photo by Mattel

Photo by Mattel

Photo courtesy of Robin's website

Robin Gerber is a powerful speaker, best-selling author and historian. She will be on the upcoming CNN documentary series "American First Ladies," speaking about Eleanor Roosevelt, in early 2020. She has appeared on the History Channel and Biography Channel, as well as The PBS Newshour, CBS and FOX .

Her articles have appeared in USAToday, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and numerous other newspapers and magazines.

Robin is the author of the bestseller, Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way: Timeless Strategies from the First Lady of Courage (Penguin/Portfolio).

Her book about the founder of Mattel, Ruth Handler, is being made into a major motion picture by Reese Witherspoon and Bold Films: Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her (Harper/Collins).

Prior to becoming an author, Robin practiced law in Washington, D.C. and worked on Capitol Hill. She has studied and written about leadership development since 1975. (Bio adapted from Robin's website.)

Visit Robin at her website and on Facebook.


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 October 2nd at midnight EST.

Spotlight and Giveaway: Daisy Jones & the Six

We're excited to feature Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It has been receiving a lot of amazing reviews and we look forward to reading it soon. Thanks to Ballantine, we have THREE copies to give away!

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & the Six: The Band’s album Aurora came to define the rock ‘n’ roll era of the late seventies, and an entire generation of girls wanted to grow up to be Daisy. But no one knows the reason behind the group’s split on the night of their final concert at Chicago Stadium on July 12, 1979 . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

Photo by Deborah Feingold

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Previously, she worked in feature film casting, development, and various other roles in the entertainment industry before turning to writing full time. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their daughter, and their dog.

Visit Taylor online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Pinterest


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 March 17th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Here's to Campfires and S'mores

By Sara Steven

Sparks flew the moment fifteen-year-old Molly Kaff and Jamie Burnham locked eyes across the dusty Camp Chimalis parking lot. From that moment, they were undeniably and irrevocably in love.

Until they weren’t.

Months after the demise of their fifteen-and-a-half-year marriage, a mutual friend from those treasured summers at camp dies, rattling their tight circle of friends to the core. Her dying request? Bring everyone back to camp one last time.

Returning proves more emotional than Molly expected. Sweltering heat in un-air-conditioned cabins is just the tip of the iceberg. Memories, both delightful and dispiriting, press down on Molly as she grapples with the momentous grief from the loss of her friend…and her husband.

Trying to honor her wishes with the ex hanging around is one thing, but being stuck in the woods with no cell service and years’ worth of hurt and resentment is another. As Molly tries to navigate her way through the heartache, she starts to wonder if she was wrong about the reasons behind her failed marriage. And if maybe her friend orchestrated their Chimalis homecoming from beyond…

Can a few evenings sitting by the campfire eating s’mores be the salve her battered heart needs to finally move on? (synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)

If you’re looking to take a trip through 90’s nostalgia, it can’t get better than experiencing it through Molly Kaff. So much of what she sees, even the verbiage shared between her camp friends reminded me a lot of my own high school cronies and our shared affections for Nirvana and grunge. And while I never met the love of my life over campfire s’mores, I remember what it felt like to have my first love, and ultimately, lose that love.

I appreciated the ‘teenage first love that spans into forever’ premise, because there is something beautiful and special about it. It’s rare, but it can happen. (Ask my best friend, who’s been married to her childhood sweetheart for twenty years.) Yet we learn that it really is a rarity, because people change so much over the course of their lives, and the person you were when you were fifteen is never the person you become in your late thirties, as Molly and Jamie can attest to. And particularly when something painful and devastating happens, it can often break even the strongest of relationships.

I could feel the bond between everyone in this story, how close they are. It felt genuine when a death brought them together again, because I feel like years can go by, yet a death reminds us all of what we had and what’s really important in life. Brooke Moss did such an incredible job of showcasing that. She also showed us how many layers there are to people, how there’s so much more going on beneath the surface that is often not portrayed to the outside world.

I couldn’t help but imagine what my life would be like if something happened to my best friend, or if something happened to her marriage. How she would handle it, how I could be there to support her. While reading about the lives of each special character in Here's to Campfires and S’mores, I was reminded of how important my own relationships and friendships are, and how important it is to cherish that forever.

Thanks to Brooke Moss for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Brooke Moss:

Judy Fogarty has a hold on us...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Judy Forgarty here today to talk about her debut novel, Breaking and Holding. Thanks to TLC Book Tours, we have one copy to give away! Visit all the stops on her tour for more chances to win, as well.

Judy Fogarty lives, writes, reads, and runs on the historic Isle of Hope, in her native Savannah, Georgia. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Illinois and has served as Director of Marketing for private golf and tennis communities in the Savannah/Hilton Head area, including The Landings on Skidaway Island, Berkeley Hall, and Callawassie Island. She is a devoted (even rowdy) tennis fan as anyone who has ever had the pleasure (or displeasure) of watching a match with her will attest. She is happily at work on her second novel, and as always, enjoys the invaluable support of her husband, Mike, and children, Colin and Sara Jane. Visit Judy at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Synopsis:
For Patricia Curren, the summer of 1978 begins with a devastating discovery: an unfamiliar black pearl button in the bed she shares with her controlling husband, Jack. Seeking the courage to end her desolate marriage, Patricia spends a quiet summer alone on beautiful Kiawah Island. But when she meets Terry Sloan, a collegiate tennis player trying to go pro, their physical attraction sparks a slow burn toward obsession.

Once Patricia and Terry share closely guarded secrets from their pasts, they want more than a summer together. But their love soon fractures, as a potential sponsor takes an unusually keen interest in Terry—both on court and off. And when single, career-driven Lynn Hewitt arrives, other secrets must surface, including the one Patricia has kept from Terry all summer.

An intimate portrait of the folly of the human heart, Breaking and Holding explores buried truths that are startlingly unveiled. What’s left in their wake has the power not only to shatter lives…but to redeem them.

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like?
The road was long (decades if you count the first version of this novel, which unsuccessfully made the rounds in New York long ago and slept in my attic for many years); tedious (100 query letters to literary agents); discouraging (99 rejections); exciting (1 offer of representation which quickly led to a sale); and totally worth it.

What was the most challenging part of writing your debut novel? The most rewarding?
When I polished my first draft of Breaking and Holding, I had sentences I loved, scenes that sang right off the page, and a circle of characters who I knew as well as I knew myself. What I did not have was a soundly structured, tautly paced story. Revising was necessary, challenging and painstaking. I've never counted the number of versions of Breaking and Holding that are saved on my computer, but in revision, the original 189,000 words fell to 96,000, and as much as it pained me, every one of those darlings needed to go. As for the most rewarding part of writing the novel? Having someone read and respond to my work is a reward like no other. That was true as I wrote the novel, when encouragement from my writing group, family and close friends kept me going, and that is true for me today as a published author. I love hearing from readers.

Which authors have inspired you to write Breaking and Holding?
New novelists are well-advised not to link themselves to literary giants. I would never say that F. Scott Fitzgerald inspired Breaking and Holding, or that I even dream of writing a novel of the caliber of The Great Gatsby. But I do admit that my debut novel has Gatsby-esque overtones. Both Gatsby and Breaking and Holding are stories of obsessive love and infidelity. Like Gatsby, Breaking and Holding plays out against the backdrop of an era of social change and moral turmoil—Fitzgerald's novel against the Jazz Age of the 1920s, and mine against the Me-Decade of the 1970s. Most importantly, in my novel, first-person narrator Lynn Hewitt, like Nick Carraway, is caught in the middle of an affair involving people she loves and is helpless to protect. For me, it's Lynn's perspective and presence that enrich Breaking and Holding.

Since the story takes place in 1978, what are some songs from that year that would be on the soundtrack of Breaking and Holding?
"Wonderful Tonight" (Eric Clapton)
"Just the Way You Are" (Billy Joel)
"Who are You?" (The Who)
"Prove It All Night" (Bruce Springsteen)
"You're the One that I Want" (Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, from Grease)
"Stayin' Alive" (Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever)
"Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" (Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson)
"Do You Think I'm Sexy?" (Rod Stewart)
"Got to Get You Into My Life" (Earth, Wind and Fire)
"Peg" (Steely Dan)
"Still the Same" (Bob Seeger)
Running on Empty (Jackson Browne)

If you could take us on a tour of Savannah, Georgia, where would we go first?
We would start a few miles from the city, on the historic Isle of Hope, where I live (and where my next novel is set). With a short walk on Bluff Drive, which borders the Skidaway River, I would give you a sense of the area's rich history and the natural beauty of the Southeast Coast. Some of the small cottages and grand homes along this bluff date from the 1840s and 50s when city residents used the island as a summer retreat. They're stunning but eclipsed by the river, salt-marsh, tidal creeks, and stately oaks with Spanish moss—a landscape I've always loved.

What is your favorite way to escape?
A day at the beach with an excellent book. The beach could be anywhere but is often Tybee Island, a twenty-minute drive from my house. And the book? A page-turner is always nice, but for me, prose matters too. I'm not married to a particular style. I'll take rich, atmospheric or rhythmic. Quirky, original or clever. But a good story deserves to be written well, and when I find one, I'm on the beach until the tide comes in and the sun goes down.

Thanks to Judy for visiting with us and to TLC Book Tours 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 February 28th at midnight EST.