Do you want to join a book club? Enter "Reading With Robin's" book giveaway!

I am proud to say that I'm now in two book clubs. One is a local club in my neighborhood that meets once a month or so and discusses various literary fiction novels. The other was recently started by Robin Kall and meets via Facebook, where readers can interact with authors of the books we're discussing. It's a great place to make new friends who have the same book interests and also learn about books you might not have thought to pick up before.

Robin Kall is Rhode Island’s own book maven. From author interviews to events with best-selling authors, Robin shares her love of books wherever and whenever possible. You can connect with Robin on Facebook and follow her on Twitter, or on her website is updated constantly with all new author interviews and bookish information.Her Well-Read column on GoLocalProv.com runs twice a month on Saturdays. Reading With Robin is on AM790 Fridays from 4-5pm and on I Heart Radio. Robin has a special giveaway right here to go along with her April book club selections. 

Amy and I are proud to share acknowledgement space with Robin in Jane Green's latest novel, Saving Grace, which was the February book that kicked off Reading With Robin's Book Club 411. 

Who is in a book club? Who’s in more than one? I know there are a lot of book club junkies out there so here’s a new one for you-Reading With Robin’s Book Club 411. RWRBC411 will provide info on today’s biggest books. Ten years of on-air author interviews and hosting author events have allowed for relationships with many of your favorite authors. RWRBC411 is an extension of Reading With Robin radio allowing me to connect readers and writers in a more intimate setting. I am passionate about sharing the books I enjoy and I love gathering readers. 

We kicked off our first meet-up with Jane Green’s Saving Grace. I announced the title at the beginning of February and we met on the Facebook page at the end of February to discuss. Many club members participated either by posting their questions ahead of time or joining in live while Jane was on the Facebook page. All had a great time. If you’ve already read Saving Grace and want to check it out (warning –spoilers) the conversation is still posted on the RWR Book Club 411 page. I’ve been to many book clubs where someone refuses to allow the ending to be discussed. It’s baffling to me that groups will bend to the will of one or two non-finishers, but it happens.

With Jane Green in Providence

Here are some FAQ:

Why do I want to join another book club?

The more the merrier. If you like the book we’ve chosen or have already read it, it’s another place to join in a discussion. If you’re a “book-person” there can never be too much of that.

Do I have to quit my present book club?

That’s up to you. If you’ve been thinking of making a move this just might be the time to break away. I hear from many readers whose book clubs no longer serve them but they see no way out. If you are happy with the book club(s) you are in stay put. You can also encourage your book club(s) to read along with us once in a while and make the RWRBC411 selection your club’s pick.

What happens if I don’t finish the book?

There are no judgments in RWRBC411. You just might not want to join in the Facebook discussion at the end of the month.

Will you be offended if I don’t enjoy the selection?

If I were offended every time someone didn’t like one of my picks, I wouldn’t have lasted in the book world as long as I have. No offense will be taken. 

RWR’s Book Club 411 is truly a no-pressure book club. Each month I will announce the title that I am highlighting. You can pop in and out as you like. This month's title is The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth, which will be discussed on March 26th from 4-5 pm EST. 

The RWRBC411 readers are enthusiastic and are such voracious readers that I’ve added in a second book for April. We’ll be chatting with Marisa de los Santos about The Precious One on April 23^rd from 4-5pm EST and with Robin Antalek about The Grown Ups on April 30^th from 4-5pm EST. I am giving away BOTH  novels to TWO lucky readers in the US or Canada. You can enter the giveaway with the Rafflecopter at the end of this post.

The people who have joined RWRBC411 are engaged, interesting and thoughtful readers.  In the short amount of time that the site has been up titles have been shared and conversation around our mutual passion for books. There will be book giveaways and incentives for bringing in new club members. I hope you’ll join us.

Thanks to Robin for visiting with us and sharing her April picks with our readers.

~Introduction by Melissa Amster

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.

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US/Canada only. Giveaway ends on March 22nd at midnight EST. 

For another chance to win The Precious One, visit Confessions of a Bookaholic (@jenny_oregan on Twitter) by March 23rd.

Book Review: Splinters of Light

By Jami Deise

The Oscars aired this past month, and the big winners were Eddie Redmayne for playing a man with ALS, and Julianne Moore for playing a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s. The former disease traps a person in their body but leaves the mind intact; the latter keeps the body working for the most part but destroys the mind. Both highly intelligent people, both characters would probably prefer to keep their minds over their bodies. Our minds are who were are, distilled to our very essence. The thought of losing that is terrifying.

Like Julianne Moore’s character, Nora Glass in Rachael Herron’s Splinters of Light is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in her mid-40s. Nora is a newspaper writer with a 16-year-old daughter, Ellie; a fraternal twin sister, Mariana; and a neighbor, Harrison, who has been a best friend for 15 years and now suddenly there’s something more. But this diagnosis changes everything. Now, instead of looking forward to Ellie’s college search, exploring the relationship with Harrison and spending more time with her sister, Nora is faced with the end of her mind, and then the end of her life. Not surprisingly, she puts off telling her loved ones as long as possible.

Splinters of Light employs three points of view – Nora’s, Ellie’s, and Mariana’s. Nora’s is the dominant one, and although the book is written in third person, Nora’s terror as her mind slips away is clearly conveyed. Ellie’s dilemma, as well, is understandable – she’s at the age when she’s supposed to pull away from her mother, but how can she while Nora is also slipping away? For Mariana, faced with losing the person she’s closest to in the world, her conflict is more specific. With Ellie’s father basically out of the picture, Mariana sees herself taking care of Ellie when Nora no longer can … but Nora has always viewed Mariana as a screw up, and Nora’s disease makes it impossible for her to hold her tongue about her twin’s shortcomings. Simply put, Nora just doesn’t think the “fun aunt” is mature enough to finish the job of raising her daughter. The dynamic among these three women is just as important as the disease angle, and helps make the book much more than the Lifetime movie it might have been with cardboard characters. All three women are very specific people with their own relationships and passions that make them come alive on the page.

The only aspect of the book I did not appreciate was the author’s inclusion of Nora’s newspaper columns about Ellie. Titled “When Ellie Was Little,” Nora used them to recount anecdotes from Ellie’s childhood, such as the time they had pizza for Thanksgiving. Nothing in these columns was terribly special or unique, and the author doesn’t really follow through on companion pieces Nora attempts to write to give advice to an older Ellie. The book would have worked just as well, if not better, without them.

When you pick up a book like Splinters of Light, you know there’s not going to be a happy ending. Rather than rooting for a couple to live happily ever after, the reader has to decide what outcome she wants to see. Should Mariana marry her boyfriend and raise Ellie? Should Nora marry Harrison? Should Ellie pursue her dream of attending college on the other side of the country, or stay close to Nora? What about Ellie’s father? I had my own preferences, but others reading this book may want different outcomes. Unfortunately, there’s no changing what’s ahead for Nora. Splinters of Light is a very well-written book, but I wonder if you can call a book like this “enjoyable.” We don’t read books like these for a fun experience … we read them to see characters facing their worst nightmares, hoping that they find grace before the end. They are not happy stories, but they can be inspiring ones.

Thanks to Penguin Random House for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Enter to win Splinters of Light from Karen's Korner and check out her interview with Rachael. (US only. Ends 3/25.)

More by Rachael Herron:

Book Review: A Hundred Pieces of Me

US cover

By Becky Gulc

Having previously read Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts (reviewed here), I knew I enjoyed Lucy Dillon’s style of writing and as a dog-lover, the fact that dogs feature so heavily in her novels is a real bonus. When I read the synopsis for A Hundred Pieces of Me, it sounded a bit different to her previous novels. It has a very beautiful cover and I’d heard some really good things about it, so it was an easy book choice for a recent holiday.


‘Letters from the only man she's ever truly loved.

A keepsake of the father she never really knew.

A blue glass vase that catches the light on a grey day.

Gina Bellamy is starting again, after a few years she'd rather forget. But the belongings she's treasured for so long don't seem to fit who she is now.

So Gina makes a resolution. She'll keep just a hundred special items - the rest can go.

But that means coming to terms with her past and learning to embrace the future, whatever it might bring ...’ (Synopsis courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton.)

We join Gina as she is settling into her new home after recently breaking up with her husband and a few years since she was treated for breast cancer. With the new home being a lot smaller than her old one, she perhaps has no choice but to get rid of a lot of the things she’d been holding on to, but emotionally as well. This is someone needing to start fresh and embrace the present; it’s not easy getting rid of some memories though is it?

I found this to be an incredibly moving novel. The narrative worked really well in terms of taking us back to key memories and times in Gina’s life and introducing us to key characters that have played an important part in her life, and of course not in a chronological order, which worked for me.

UK cover

The scenes with Kit, Gina’s first love, were particularly moving and kept me guessing as to how what seemed to be a perfect relationship had turned sour. I enjoyed Gina’s passion for her job in project managing house renovations and Nick was a lovely character to get to know.

Canine fans will also not be disappointed, as there is a lovely dog called Buzz in the novel, I loved him and I think he provided my favourite moments of the story! Lucy’s readers will also no-doubt be pleased to see Rachel, who was a key character in Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, reappear in this novel as a new friend for Gina; great to see how life is treating her.

I thought the novel grew in strength as it progressed and well, there were plenty of tears from me towards the end of the novel. Happy or sad ones? You’ll have to read it for yourself to find out! I think the last few words in particular will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Lucy Dillon:

Cynthia Swanson is an "independent" woman...plus a book giveaway

Back in the year 2000, I was spending the weekend in St. Joseph, Michigan, with my family. One night, we were walking around town and came across a crowd gathered around the local bookstore. Kids and store staff were all dressed in wizard costumes, eagerly awaiting the release of the latest Harry Potter novel. There was so much enthusiasm and the staff had fun activities planned to make the wait go quickly. It made me think of how nice it is that there are independent booksellers who take the time to do creative things to engage their customers. I remembered seeing You've Got Mail a few years prior to that trip and thinking about how sad it was that Meg Ryan's character lost her store to a booming retail business.

While I don't always get out to independent bookstores, I have been to a few for author events and admired how cozy and personable they were. Most of the time, I go to my library's used book store, which is like a cozy version of the library that Beast gives to Belle. The money (from giving these books a new home) benefits the library. I sometimes find unexpected treasures there, such as a Carole Matthews book that could only be found in the UK. Reading about Cynthia Swanson's experience behind the counter reminded me of the feeling I had when visiting an independent bookstore. I hope they continue to thrive alongside the retail sellers of the world.

Cynthia Swanson is a writer and a designer of the mid-century modern style. She has published short fiction in 13th Moon, Kalliope, Sojourner, and other periodicals; her story in 13th Moon was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children. The Bookseller is her first novel. She's here to talk about being a bookseller for a day, which is perfect for "Books and Reading Month." Thanks to Tandem Literary, we have one copy for a lucky US reader!

Visit Cynthia at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Synopsis of The Bookseller:
Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. She can come and go as she pleases, answering to no one. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped.

Then the dreams begin.


Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It’s everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.

Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes. Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?

As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined. And how do we know where that boundary lies in our own lives? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Blog post: Bookseller for a Day: My Experience as an Author-Turned-Bookseller

What happens the day after Black Friday? If you shop at small stores, you probably know that it’s Small Business Saturday. Although I generally try to take advantage by doing a little local shopping on that day, this past year I had the opportunity to truly be involved. Not only did I shop, I also got to sell.

Backing up a bit: at the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers’ Association trade show last October, I met Nicole Sullivan, owner of BookBar, a northwest Denver bookstore/coffee shop/wine bar (really, does it get any better than that?). Nicole knew about my upcoming novel, The Bookseller, and asked me if I’d like to try my hand at being bookseller for a day in her shop.

I would not be the only author in the country doing so. Indie Bound (a national organization of independent booksellers) sponsors an event called Indies First. Founded by Sherman Alexie, Indies First encourages authors to spend Small Business Saturday working in independent bookstores. This allows authors to give back to the indies that support them, as well as providing promotional opportunities for both the bookstores and the writers.

I showed up at BookBar promptly at 11:00 AM (hey, I was volunteering - I didn’t need to be there to open the place, right?) and was greeted by Nicole and her bookselling staff. (I also met the bar crew, but they were so busy serving up lunch when I got there, and coffee and drinks throughout the afternoon, I didn’t get much opportunity to interact with them.) Event coordinator Karen Levi-Lausa gave me a tour of the stacks and taught me the all-important skills of using the barcode scanner and ringing up a purchase.

Business was already brisk when I got there, and it picked up through the day. Several of my friends stopped in - I had posted on Facebook that I’d be there, and it had also been mentioned in the Denver Post and the North Denver Tribune. Customers could pre-order my book (which at the time was four months away from its release date). The support for my upcoming novel and the opportunity to reconnect with old friends were both fantastic benefits of the experience.

I made some new friends, too. I was impressed with how many customers Karen and Nicole knew by name. BookBar is in a city neighborhood that has seen tremendous revitalization in the past several years. Tennyson Street, the commercial area in which BookBar is located, is also home to restaurants, yoga studios, galleries - and a music store that has been in business for over 60 years. It was a warm, sunny day (yes, we get those in Colorado in November - shh, don’t tell anybody). People were strolling the street and stopping in to shop, or at least say hello and browse.

My “shift” was only four hours - and while I had a great time, I was glad to be done, too. I’m a writer, not a salesperson, and I’m used to spending a good part of my working day by myself. It was unnatural for me to be extroverted for four hours straight.

I made my few purchases - there was no way I was going to leave without buying at least a few books, including that of an author who was doing a reading and signing that afternoon - and headed out. My family was spending the weekend in the mountains, a 90-minute drive from Denver, and I was grateful for the time alone driving back up.

As I reflected on the experience, I thought about how fortunate we are - as authors, readers, and community members - to have shops like BookBar. We’re lucky that people like Nicole and her staff have the passion to own and work in independent bookstores. We’re fortunate that indies still thrive.

I hope that continues to be the case. As a consumer and an author, I’ll do my part to make it so.

Thanks to Cynthia for sharing her experience with us and to Tandem Literary for sharing The Bookseller with our readers.

~Introduction by Melissa Amster

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.

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US only. Giveaway ends on March 17th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Milked

By Jami Deise

Four months after I gave birth to my son, I was on a plane to the other side of the country. It was my first business trip since I’d gone back to work, a flexible office where I had no problem pumping breast milk four times a day. I had just sat down on the plane when the baby in front of me started wailing. You can guess what happened next. I was in agony the entire flight, as the pump I’d brought with me wouldn’t work in the tiny airplane bathroom. I was so engorged I considered asking the parents of the whining child if I could pay them to let me nurse her. It never crossed my mind that they would have paid me.

In Lisa Doyle’s debut novel, Milked, we meet Amanda Keane on her 30th birthday – a night of celebration for Amanda, who has no idea the term “wet nurse” was in her future. But that night she meets Irish waiter Eamonn – and when Amanda tells him she’s pregnant a few months later, he decides to stay in Ireland. A job loss and expensive C-section later, it seems the only thing Amanda can do well is breastfeed her daughter Maddie. When her best friend, gynecologist Joy, mentions a celebrity patient who wishes her surrogate-born twins could be breastfed, a new career is born.

Wet nursing has been around since the dawn of man – how else to keep alive infants whose mothers died in childbirth? It persisted as civilization advanced, as slaves routinely nursed the babies of their mistresses. It’s even referenced in the Bible. But while breastfeeding has become a celebrated – even idealized -- part of modern motherhood, the idea of a woman nursing a child not hers now elicits a squeamish reaction. Perhaps it’s because people are much more aware that what goes into a woman’s body comes out in her breast milk. Maybe it’s because non-breastfeeders still see the act as somewhat sexual. In any case, Amanda isn’t one to trumpet her new profession – Joy is the only one who knows. And her clients – all wealthy celebrities – all make Amanda sign confidentiality agreements. Even Joy, who gave Amanda the original idea, doesn’t want to help her find new clients when she’s replaced by a live-in Dominican wet nurse. Joy compares her job to prostitution – and Amanda doesn’t completely disagree. When Amanda finds love with a single dad from Maddie’s daycare, she knows better than to tell him why her weekly fees are so high.

Milked is a very well-written, funny novel and Amanda is definitely a heroine to root for. Along with meeting her immediate needs, Amanda needs to learn to stand up for herself – she doesn’t even want to track down Eamonn after he figuratively leaves her standing at the altar and literally disappears – and part of the fun of the book is watching her realize that for herself, and finally begin doing it.

And although the book is a comedy, it portrays serious political issues at its heart. Beyond the question of who gets to make decisions about other women’s bodies, it’s a look at what it means to live in a society that’s run by the one percent. Amanda went to college. She had a career in magazine publishing. She had health insurance. Twenty years ago, she easily could have found another editing job and been able to support Maddie at a reasonably priced daycare center. But in 2015, as a member of the 99 percent, Amanda is forced to sell her body to members of the one percent who treat her as disposable as a diaper (more so, actually, since some of the families use cloth). While the best humor always has truth at its core, the truth at the heart of Milked is as frightening as a Stephen King novel.

Thanks to Simon and Fig for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Meg Donohue's break from reality...plus a book giveaway

Today we are happy to feature USA Today best selling author Meg Donohue and her latest novel, Dog Crazy. The book is about a pet bereavement counselor named Maggie who happens to experience a loss of her own and comes undone. This is a must read for all the dog lovers out there and those that understand the bond that is formed between human and canine. The story takes place in San Francisco where Meg currently resides with her family as well as her dog.

Meg graciously took the time to answer some of our questions and tell us more about herself and her interests. Read on to find out more about who Meg considers her "book boyfriend", the strangest place she's ever read a book, and what story she thinks would make a good television series! You can find her at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Thanks to HarperCollins, we have TWO copies of Dog Crazy for some lucky US readers!

What book do you think everyone must read at least once in their lives?
What a difficult question! I don’t actually think there is one book that is right for everyone—different strokes for different folks and all that. I will say that I think all book-loving, dog-loving people should read Mary Oliver’s DOG SONGS. It is poignant, and funny, and so very beautiful.

Where is the strangest place that you've been able to sit and read?
I’m immediately reminded of the first time I went on vacation with my now-husband and his family. It was early in our relationship and many years before our wedding. His family, I quickly realized, is a rather sporty crew, and I am … not. At one point I remember my husband and his siblings became engaged in a heated tennis match and, instead of joining them, I climbed up onto that chair that tennis officials (umpires? Referees? You see, I’m hopeless) sit in at the net and cracked open a book. I read up there for a lovely hour in the sun while they grunted and sweated and swung below me.

How does being an author affect your reading choices/experience?
I read as a writer, dissecting the ways an author has structured a book and developed characters and tension and plot. This doesn’t make me enjoy the experience of reading any less, and I do still sometimes lose track of myself and get lost in a novel. If that happens, I read the book again with a more critical eye to understand when and how the author put me under her spell.

Who is your book boyfriend?
Heathcliff from WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Back off, ladies. He’s mine.

Do you read self-help or motivational books? If so, which one really spoke to you?
I don’t. I rarely read anything but fiction, but I’m a sucker for Facebook posts that link to articles about raising happy kids.

Which book would make a great TV series?
I absolutely loved Liane Moriarty’s THE HYPNOTIST’S LOVE STORY and could see it, with some reworking, as a TV series. The main character is a hypnotist and it would be interesting to follow the story arc of one of her patients each week. (Full disclosure: I’m a Liane Moriarty super fan, so I’d read or watch anything with her name attached!)

Thanks to Meg for chatting with us today and to HarperCollins for sharing Dog Crazy with our readers.

~Introduction by Melissa Patafio

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.


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US only. Giveaway ends March 15th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Miracle in March...with a special giveaway

By Melissa Amster

She took a break from real life, and found what she didn’t know she was looking for...

Emma had plans, travel plans, going-far-away plans, but her family means everything to her, so when they needed help, she was there to deliver it. Running the family business of beachside cabins in Tarrin’s Bay might not be the same as the French Riviera, but Emma finds a certain level of peace in the beautiful setting and small town community.

But when she finds that her ex-boyfriend, a man she left behind without explanation, staying in one of the cabins, her peace is ruined. She knows the only way to get it back is to share the secret she’s been hiding for five years, and admit to him the limitations that she now carries. But James has his own truths to share, and he’s not the man that Emma once knew.

They are both in very different places than before, but it’s a time for renewal and second chances when their reunion brings secrets to the surface, dreams to be remembered, and the realisation that they are both in need of a little miracle. (Synopsis courtesy of Juliet Madison's blog.)

Juliet's Tarrin's Bay series has a different feel from her quirky surreal novels. The stories are romantic and usually feature an emotional challenge that faces the protagonist. I enjoyed The January Wish and February or Forever (both links are to my reviews), so I was expecting another great story with Miracle in March. Well, this one went beyond my expectations, making it my favorite of all Juliet's books thus far. It's such a sweet and romantic story, as well as completely heartfelt. I can tell that Juliet put a lot of love into the story and what resulted was tears of happiness from my end, as I cried several times. Aside from it being a great story, she really gave a feel for the location and the current weather in Australia. It definitely kept me warm during this rather snowy season in the east coast of the US. I already can't wait to see what's next for Tarrin's Bay. (Side note: Although this is not related to the previous two stories, there are some recurring characters from and potential spoilers for February or Forever.)

As far as casting goes, I pictured Felicity Jones as Emma as I loved her in The Theory of Everything and thought she'd be a good fit in this role. She was able to look a variety of ages in that movie, so she can pull off looking a bit older this time around too. James would be played by the ever so gorgeous Adam Garcia (who is also Australian).

Thanks to Juliet Madison for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Learn 12 things about Juliet over at Book Mama Blog. (Side note: I hope Marlene will get to read Miracle in March soon, as she is a special needs advocate. Here's to getting it in print by this time next year!)

Enter to win a signed print copy of Time for the Beach, featuring Juliet's first Tarrin's Bay novel, The January Wish! (Open worldwide.)

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This giveaway is part of Juliet's blog tour and will close March 16th.

You can purchase Miracle in March at:
Amazon / Amazon Aus / iTunes/iBooks / Amazon UK / Kobo / Nook/B&N / Google Play /Booktopia / All Romance / Big W ebooks / JB Hi-Fi