Kathy Cooperman shows her pride...plus a book giveaway

We're thrilled to have Kathy Cooperman at CLC today. Her sophomore novel, The Very Principled Maggie Mayfield, published last month and we're excited to read it soon. Thanks to Lake Union, we have THREE copies to give away! 

Kathy Cooperman wrote Amazon bestseller CRIMES AGAINST A BOOK CLUB (one of Melissa A's 2017 favorites, reviewed here). She is an ex-improv comic, a recovering attorney (Yale Law), and a mom to four challenging children. Kathy lives in Del Mar, California. Visit her on Twitter.

Synopsis:
Maggie Mayfield, an elementary school principal in the upscale suburbs of San Diego, likes to do the right thing—for her students and, after her marriage takes a hit, for herself as well. What’s wrong with that?

To keep her cash-strapped school afloat, Maggie says yes to a sweet deal from Silicon Valley’s hottest for-profit education company. They’ll provide enough funding so that Maggie can keep her science, art, and PE teachers in exchange for some dopey beta-test program backed by handsome CEO Danny Z. No layoffs! Happy kids!

Professionally, everything’s flourishing. Personally, the right things are tingling—Maggie can’t resist Danny Z’s magnetism. But as the school year continues, Maggie senses that she might have been duped. As things take a turn for the worse, Maggie and her BFF assistant, Diane, must keep things good—by going a little bad.

Smart, funny, and unpredictable, The Very Principled Maggie Mayfield is a comedy of friendship, class warfare, good intentions, and occasionally necessary unprincipled behavior. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

“YOU ARE MORE THAN YOU HAVE BECOME” – NOW CLEAN YOUR ROOM!

Kathy Cooperman, here. I’m too klutzy to see myself as of the Disney princesses and too earnest/disorganized for its villains. So these days, I identify with Disney’s bumbling, but well-intentioned parents.

Disney has soooo many sweet, but lousy, parents (especially dads – it’s forgivable for dads to be lousy—sorry, but them’s the rules). Belle’s sweet, eccentric dad—“crazy, old Maurice”—constantly puts her in terrible situations. Seriously, Maurice’s “wackiness” works perfectly as a metaphor for the way parents’ addiction traps children – it’s as if Disney wrote a musical version of Shameless. Then, there’s the loving, but uber-controlling watery papa from The Little Mermaid—Triton is obsessed with preventing his daughter Ariel’s assimilation and intermarriage (like a watery version of Fiddler on the Roof).

Photo courtesy of Fanpop

But the bumbler I identify with most is—drumroll, please—Mufasa from The Lion King. To be clear, I do not have delusions of grandeur. I do not identify with Mufasa’s grander characteristics: his James Earl Jones’ voice coming out of a cloud, his flowing mane, the way he rules “everything the light touches.” I’m not organized or ambitious enough to rule everything the light touches. I can’t even keep my car clean.

No, what I identify with is Mufasa’s fierce—and ultimately ineffective—protectiveness for his child. Mufasa does great when something—a pack of hyenas—threatens Simba directly. Mufasa is not afraid to charge at any problem and muscle it to the ground. I have that quality. Though I’m a nebbishy, Jewish lady in my forties, I am formidable when my babies are threatened (by bullies, by a disability, by their own sadness, by ANYTHING!). You just have to point me the right way, and I. WILL. ATTACK.

But the problem for me – as it was for Mufasa – is that I don’t always know what the right way to attack is. Mufasa ran to protect his kid, and—in his eagerness to protect—he met his doom. Before I had kids, when I saw The Lion King in theaters and they got to the scene where Mufasa was dangling from a cliff and his eyes widen as he realizes Scar is going to shove him to his death, I thought Mufasa was thinking: “Oh, woe unto the Heavens, I have been betrayed. Noooooooo!” Years later, watching it again on a food-stained couch next to my toddler, I read that look differently. Mufasa was thinking: “Crap, who’s gonna pull my baby outta that furry traffic jam down there?! Who’s going to help him get into college?!”

My greatest fear as a parent is not that I won’t be able to control every force that threatens my children. I know that lightning may strike, tornadoes may scoop them up, etc. No, what makes my skin crawl is that I will be focusing on the WRONG threat and will thus fail to protect them from another TOTALLY AVOIDABLE THREAT. So, yes, Mufasa is my guy.

Thanks to Kathy for visiting with us and to Lake Union 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. 

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Giveaway ends November 13th at midnight EST.

Book Review and Giveaway: The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger

By Sara Steven

She’s got a movie deal. He’s got the lead role. Can she choose between her family and her Hollywood crush?

Stay-at-home mom Lizzy Dillinger escapes the monotony of her humdrum marriage by writing down her daydreams. When her producer friend contracts her story for a movie and invites her on set, she jumps at the chance to leave the suburbs until the film’s in the can. But Lizzy’s big break gets even better when she learns the hunky character who starred in her daydreams will be played by her Hollywood crush, Ben Winters.

On location in Arizona, the desert gets even hotter when Lizzy and Ben strike up a flirtatious friendship. But her hopes of a celebrity fling shatter when a family visit brings her fantasy crashing into reality. Against the dazzling lights and the glamorous movie sets, her cookie-cutter life back home seems painfully bland. Torn between the man of her dreams and the family who helped define her, Lizzy must search her heart to find where her true passion lies... (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the last six years, and could easily relate to how Lizzy feels. There is monotony at times, the daily workings of tending to your family, and often that means your own wants and needs aren’t met. It’s not so much that those in your inner circle wouldn’t want to ensure that you’re happy and fulfilled. It’s that you yourself forget what’s needed to feel that fulfillment.

Lizzy feels that lack of fulfillment, and along with those emotions are past experiences that not only affect how she feels, but the way her husband feels, too. There is a lot of baggage between this couple. It lends into her immediate attraction to Ben, a man who she has had a crush on from afar for several years. While reading through their interactions, I kept wanting to read on to see what I imagined would eventually happen. And while I knew the right choice would be to see her distance herself from Ben, I couldn’t help but want to see something come to fruition. Through her thoughts and dialogue, I could sense how youthful Lizzy feels when she’s around him. How free. It was hard not to want that for her.

There was a lot of banter in the dialogue between Lizzy and Ben, as well as the conversations she has with her friends. They make up a nice support system during her time of need. While I felt the dialogue at times could get really heavy in places where I would have liked to see more plot, it was in those moments where we learn a lot more about a woman who used to be a lot different than the person she is today. And, we don’t really know until the end of the story what she is going to do with her future, or who will be there. It made for an interesting read.

While I’m not entirely sure what my own decision would have been, had I been in her shoes, it was nice to live that experience vicariously through Lizzy. We’re given a very realistic approach to the struggles so many of us face when it comes to matters of the heart, and wanting to do the right thing for our own personal happiness, while still living a fulfilling life.

This is our stop during the book blitz for The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger by Marianne Hansen. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours, who also gave me the book in exchange for an honest review. The book blitz runs from 5 till 11 November. See the tour schedule here.

You can find The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger on Goodreads

You can buy The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger on Amazon

About the Author:

Marianne Hansen is a redhead who loves red lipstick and high heels. She earned a BA, MA and JD so she could ultimately stay home with her kids. She travels whenever she can and dreams of traveling when she can’t. She lives in Montana with her family.

She’s spent her life imagining alternative endings and wondering “what would happen if…”. She’s finally writing the answers down.

You can find and contact Marianne Hansen here:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads
Amazon * Instagram * Bookbub

Giveaway

There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger. One winner will win a signed copy of The Unscripted Life of Lizzy Dillinger and a $25 Amazon Gift Card. US Only.

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

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We have a friend in Anita Hughes...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Anita Hughes back at CLC to get us into the holiday spirit with her latest novel, Christmas at the Chalet. Doesn't the cover look cozy? Anita is participating in our Disney and Fairy Tales theme month by telling us which Disney character she can relate to the most. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have one copy of Christmas at the Chalet to give away!

Anita Hughes was born in Sydney, Australia and had a charmed childhood that included petting koala bears, riding the waves on Bondi Beach, and putting an occasional shrimp on the barbie. Her writing career began at the age of eight, when she won a national writing contest in THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper, and was named "One of Australia's Next Best Writers." (She still has the newspaper clipping.)

She received a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing from Bard College, and attended UC Berkeley's Masters in Creative Writing program.

Her debut novel MONARCH BEACH was released in June 2012, followed by MARKET STREET and LAKE COMO in 2013. FRENCH COAST and ROME IN LOVE were released in 2015.

ISLAND IN THE SEA: A MAJORCA LOVE STORY and SANTORINI SUNSETS and her first holiday novel, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS, were released in 2016.

WHITE SAND, BLUE SEA: A ST BARTS LOVE STORY, EMERALD COAST and CHRISTMAS IN LONDON were released in 2017.

CALIFORNIA SUMMER was published this past June.

Anita lives in Dana Point, CA with her family, where she interrupts her writing to watch the glorious sunsets. (Courtesy of Anita's website.)

Visit Anita online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
It's the day after Christmas, and Felicity Grant is at a gorgeous ski chalet in St. Moritz for the biggest fashion show of her career. Felicity is a rising star on the bridal design scene, and this is her best collection yet. But when her boyfriend gives her a spa day instead of a diamond ring for Christmas, she has to face the possibility that she may never walk down the aisle in one of her own stunning designs.

And then there's Nell, the top model headlining Felicity's show. Nell is planning her dream wedding to her wonderful fiancé with one catch: her divorced parents can't stand each other and threaten to no-show if the other is there.

Add to that Felicity's race against the clock to create a special gown for a prestigious bridal salon, and what both girls need is a Christmas miracle. What better place to find one than in the Swiss Alps with its dark forests and sparkling vistas?

But for Felicity it's hard to recognize a miracle even when it's right in front of her, and for Nell one miracle might not be enough to fix the past. Can dreams really come true or is that the stuff of Swiss fairy tales? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

Which Disney character am I most like?

I thought about this question as I start preparing for the holidays. One of the best parts about the holidays is Christmas with my children and I still remember a Christmas almost twenty-five years ago. My son was about three at the time, and he got a Buzz Lightyear toy in a McDonald's Happy Meal. Of all the Christmas presents (including real presents bought with much anticipation from the toy store) that was his favorite and it resulted in watching Toy Story again and again.

Twenty-five years later, that memory resonates with me because I am beginning to feel a bit like Woody - one of my favorite characters in the movie. Woody is the most loyal toy but he feels that Andy has outgrown him .He worries that he isn't really needed anymore and he'll be assigned to the toy box in the attic.

My children are mostly grown now and it's easy to feel a little like Woody - greatly loved by one's children but not really needed. It's common for mothers with adult children to feel like that - we long for the things that used to drive us crazy: days that revolved around a child's nap, the endless lines at Toys 'R' Us (which of course doesn't exist anymore) rainy afternoons when one tries anything to entertain the gloomy faces glued to TV or computer screens.

But just as I'm feeling a little "Woody" like, I get a text or a call from a child at college or one on the way home from work with some exciting update about their lives. Another daughter wants me to book a plane flight home or asks my advice on picking out a Christmas present. I realize that why I may feel like Woody, I'm still greatly needed after all. And if I happened to have kept that Buzz Lightyear toy (unbeknownst to my son), I'm confident that one day when he marries and has children, it will find a new home with his own son or daughter and my grandchild.

Thanks to Anita for visiting with us and to St. Martin's Press 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. 

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Giveaway ends November 11th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Nine Perfect Strangers

By Melissa Amster

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I've read several of Liane Moriarty's books. My favorites so far are Big Little Lies and What Alice Forgot. After reading Nine Perfect Strangers, I'd like to add that to the list.

Going into the novel, I didn't quite know what to expect. However, it captured my interest quickly. I had a hard time putting it down and was concerned for the characters when I had to do so. Each character had a compelling, and sometimes heartbreaking, story. I was initially worried that there would be too many people to keep up with, but it wasn't a problem at all. I enjoyed getting to know everyone and felt like I was part of their group by the end. I liked how they connected and bonded with each other in different ways.

My only concern is that some parts of the novel seemed a bit far-fetched, but I've never had those experiences so I can't say one way or the other.

Overall, Nine Perfect Strangers was engaging and thought-provoking. It made me look at winning the lottery in a new way, as well.

Casting suggestions (since Big Little Lies was moved to the US for a TV series, I didn't focus on the actors being from Australia all that much):
Frances: Mira Sorvino
Lars: Kit Harington
Heather: Gabrielle Anwar
Napoleon: Matthew Lillard
Zoe: Angourie Rice
Jessica: Dakota Blue Richards
Ben: Luke Bilyk
Tony: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Carmel: Michelle Trachtenberg
Masha: Donna Murphy (It was really hard to cast this role, but when I saw her come up on IMDb, it was like kismet!)

Thanks to Flatiron for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Liane Moriarty:

Excerpt: I Invited Her In

Synopsis:
Imagine the worst thing a friend could ever do.

This is worse.

When Mel receives an unexpected email from her oldest friend Abi, it brings back memories she thought she had buried forever. Their friendship belonged in the past. To those carefree days at university.

But Abi is in trouble and needs Mel’s help, and she wants a place to stay. Just for a few days, while she sorts things out. It’s the least Mel can do.

After all, friends look out for each other, don’t they?

I Invited Her In is a blistering tale of wanting what you can’t have, jealousy and revenge from Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks.

Excerpt

Liam turns to his dad and playfully asks, “What are you wait­ing for? I’m ready.”

They’re out the door and in the car before I can ask if he has his football kit, whether he’s getting himself home from train­ing this evening or hoping for a lift, whether he has money for the vending machine. It’s probably a good thing. Me fussing that way really irritates him. I usually try to limit myself to just one of those sorts of questions per morning.

The girls, however, are still young enough to need, expect and even accept, a barrage of chivvying reminders. I check the kitchen clock and I’m surprised time has got away. I gulp down my tea and then shout up the stairs. “Girls, I need you down here pronto.”

As usual, Imogen responds immediately. I hear her frantic footsteps scampering above. She starts to yell, “Where is my hairbrush? Have you seen my Flower Fairy pencil case? Who moved my reading book? I left it here last night.” She takes school very seriously and can’t stand the idea of being late.

Lily is harder to impregnate with any sense of urgency. She has picked up some of the vocabulary that Liam and his friends use—luckily nothing terrible yet, but she often tells her older siblings to “chill” and she is indeed the embodiment of this verb.

I drop the girls off at school with three minutes to spare be­fore the bell is due to ring. I see this as a bonus but honestly if they’re a few minutes late, I don’t sweat it. I only make an ef­fort with timekeeping because I know Imogen gets stressed and bossy otherwise.

I’m aware that it’s our duty as parents to instil into our chil­dren a sense of responsibility and an awareness of the value of other people’s time, but really, would the world shudder if they missed the start of assembly?

I wasn’t always this relaxed. With Liam, I was a fascist about timekeeping. About that and so much more. I liked him to fin­ish everything on his plate, I was fanatical about him saying please and thank you and sending notes when he received gifts. Well, not notes as such, because I’m talking about a time be­fore he could write. I got him to draw thank-you pictures. His shoes always shone, his hair was combed, he had the absolutely correct kit and equipment. I didn’t want him to be judged and found lacking.

It’s different when you’re a single mum, which I was with Liam. I met Ben when Liam was almost six. Being married to Ben gives me a confidence that allows me to believe I can be two minutes late for school drop-off and no one will tut or roll their eyes. I didn’t have the same luxury when Liam was small.

Suddenly I think about Abigail Curtiz’s email and I’m awash with conflicting emotions.

There are lots of things that are tough about being a single parent. The emotional, physical and financial strain of being en­tirely responsible for absolutely everything—around the clock, a relentless twenty-four-seven—takes its toll. And the loneliness? The brutal, crushing, insistent loneliness? Well, that’s a horror. As is the bone-weary, mind-wiping, unremitting exhaustion.

Sometimes my arms ached with holding him, or my back or legs. Sometimes I was so tired I wasn’t sure where I was ach­ing; I just felt pain. But there were moments of reprieve when I didn’t feel judged or lonely or responsible. There were moments of kindness. And those moments are unimaginably important and utterly unforgettable. They’re imprinted on my brain and heart. Every one of them.

Abigail Curtiz owns one such moment.

About the Author:
Adele Parks one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women’s fiction writers in the UK. She has sold over 3 million books and her work has been translated into 25 different languages.

1500+ 5 star reviews have kindly been written by her fans on Amazon.co.uk 🙂

She has published 15 novels in the past 15 years, all of which have been London Times Top Ten Bestsellers.

Adele was born in the North East of England, in 1969. She enjoyed a traditional 1970’s childhood, watching too much TV and eating convenience food because nobody minded if kids did that in those days. Since graduating from university, where she studied English Language and Literature, she worked in advertising and as a management consultant. In 2010 Adele was proud to be awarded an honorary doctorate of Letters from Teesside University.

Visit Adele online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including us in Adele's blog tour. Visit all the stops on the tour.

Cathy Lamb's magical pixie dust...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Cathy Lamb here today to celebrate the recent publication of her latest novel, The Man She Married. She's helping us kick off our Disney and Fairy Tales theme month by telling us which Disney or Fairy Tale character is most like her. Cathy also has one print copy of The Man She Married to give away!

Cathy Lamb is the author of No Place I'd Rather Be, My Very Best Friend, The Language of Sisters, Such a Pretty Face, and many more compelling novels. She started her career by freelance writing about 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper.

Cathy suffers from, "I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease" which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don't start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up 'til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.

She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn't like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.

She is currently working on her next book and isn't sleeping much. (Bio adapted from Amazon.)

Visit Cathy online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest

Synopsis:
When Natalie Shelton thinks back to how things were before the car accident, she remembers a great marriage. She and her husband, Zack, seem as strong and dependable together as the houses he builds. They live in Portland, Oregon, and Natalie is co-owner of a successful accounting firm. They’re happy, she’s almost sure of it.

Yet as Natalie lies trapped in a coma, unable to communicate though aware of everything around her, she realizes that her husband is hiding something. Zack has always been reticent about his past, which she attributed to an unhappy childhood. Now the strange calls he’s receiving, the apologies when he thinks she can’t hear him, and her fragmented memories from the morning of the accident suggest a deeper secret.

When she finally awakens, Natalie is determined to find out the truth. Sorting through clues as her brain heals, she realizes she has a rare opportunity—to reexamine the life she’s made and the man she’s made it with. But as answers come to light, she faces surprising, heartrending decisions, as well as a danger that could upend her world once again, as Zack’s past finally catches up with them... (Courtesy of Amazon.)

Image credit: Disney Fairies

The Disney character who most reminds me of myself is…Tinkerbell.

She’s imperfect and never tries to be perfect.

She’s snappish sometimes.

She’s loyal.

She’s a fighter. She’s sometimes annoying.

I don’t try to be perfect, ever. I can get snappy. I am loyal to my beloved family and friends. I’m a fighter when things in life go very badly. I’m sure I can be annoying.

And can I add one more thing? I wish I could fly like Tinkerbell.

If a genie popped out of a bottle and told me I had one wish and it had to be a purely selfish wish, I’d be flying within the hour!

Thanks to Cathy for visiting with us and 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. 

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Giveaway ends November 6th at midnight EST.

Reviews at Amazon--September/October 2018

We're posting some reviews at our Amazon account, as either they've been sitting in queue for a while and deserve their time in the sun, fall under our featuring policy, or they're new reads that we couldn't wait to post at the blog. You can check them out at the links below. Hope we can help you find your next favorite book!


Sara:

Review

Melissa A:

Review

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