Spotlight and Giveaway: The Peacock Emporium

Today we are celebrating the US publication of The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes. Viking has one copy for a lucky reader!

Jojo Moyes became a household name with her #1 New York Times bestselling Me Before You series, especially for her trademark memorable characters and complex, true-to-life relationships. Moyes brings all of that to THE PEACOCK EMPORIUM, now available in the US for the first time. It’s a rich story of a young woman with a complicated past who finds both satisfaction and salvation in a quirky shop she opens in her small town.


Athene Forster was untouchable. Dubbed the “Last Deb,” she was gorgeous, rich, and could have anything—or anyone—she wanted, including young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme. Two years into their marriage, however, scandal engulfs the couple after a young salesman catches Athene’s eye, ultimately causing her fall from grace.

Thirty-five years later, Suzanna Peacock is drowning in the shadow of her late mother, Athene. Unhappy in her marriage and desperate for a fresh start, Suzanna opens The Peacock Emporium, an eclectic shop that attracts an eccentric cast of characters. In her new role, Suzanna begins opening up, and even finds a true friend in Alejandro, a male midwife. But despite her efforts, Suzanna is unable to escape the specter of her mother. Through heartbreak and laughter, Suzanna learns that only by confronting the ghosts of her past can she finally begin to live in the present, and discover that the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.

Photo by Stine Heilmann

Jojo Moyes is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Still Me, After You, Me Before You, Paris for One and Other Stories, The Peacock Emporium, The Horse Dancer, One Plus One, The Girl You Left Behind, The Last Letter from Your Lover, Silver Bay, and The Ship of Brides. She lives with her husband and three children in Essex, England. For more information, visit Jojo at her website and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway ends April 14th at midnight EST.

Spotlight: The Problem with Perfect

Marigold Doyle’s life was perfect, with a successful career and wonderful marriage. But when her husband, Julian, passes away, her life is thrown into turmoil as she discovers a trail of secrets Julian was hiding in the months prior to his death. Struggling with her grief, she knows she needs to find out Julian’s actions to help her move on.

Finn Schröder, a former police officer and now private security consultant, is focused on an uncomplicated, unattached life and growing his business. He agrees to help Marigold find out the truth about Julian, but as they become closer, he realises his feelings for her may be developing beyond simply professional.

As Marigold and Finn work through the web of Julian’s deception, will they learn to face the reality that things aren’t always exactly as they seem?

Purchase this book on Amazon.

Author Bio –
Megan Mayfair’s stories are about families, intrigue and love. Every book contains a bit of humour and a lot of heart.

Megan lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children, and has a background in public relations and higher education.

She drinks far too much coffee and has an addiction to buying scarves. She interviews with other authors for her blog series, Espresso Tales, and loves a bit of #bookstagram.

Her debut novel, The Things We Leave Unsaid, was released by Crooked Cat Books in 2018, followed by Tangled Vines. The Problem with Perfect is her third novel.

Social Media Links:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * BookBub

Book Review: Everything is Just Fine

By Jami Deise

When my son Alex was growing up, our life was ruled by his sports schedules. Baseball in particular became so important that I wrote a book about it, Keeping Score. (Reviewed here.) Even though Alex is 25 now and his only sport is moot court, I’m still drawn to stories about crazy sports parents and their amusing shenanigans.

I read Brett Paesel’s novel, Everything is Just Fine, about parents and their 10-year-old sons playing on a soccer league in Beverly Hills, expecting the same kind of LOL experience. Rich, entitled parents are the worst kinds to stand on the sidelines with, as the recent college cheating scandal demonstrates. (How could you, Aunt Becky? Lynette? We thought you were one of us!) And the best kinds to laugh at. But in Everything is Just Fine, nothing is fine at all. And the book had me tear up much more often than laugh.

Coach Randy pretends his life is great, but he’s mortgaged his future to pay for a lifestyle he can’t afford. His wife Missy is desperately unhappy. Divorced moms Diane and Karen deal with grief and anger over their ex-husbands’ new lives and wives. Team mom Jacqui is in denial about her son’s medical needs. And the other boys on the team aren’t doing that well, either.

Why do people who have everything still act like it’s not enough?

Everything is Just Fine starts a little silly, with rah-rah emails from Coach Randy and other parents. (In fact, the entire first chapter is just emails.) It wasn’t until I was about a quarter of the way in that I realized that underneath Paesel’s breezy narrative voice was a heart of darkness. In that way, it reminded me of Felicity Huffman’s old series, Desperate Housewives. (And while I don’t think Lynette would have bribed a college coach to get her kids into USC, I do think Bree, Carlos, Katherine, and Paul would have resorted to such measures.)

A few problems I found: There are multiple points of view, and occasionally Paesel hops from one head to another without warning. More broadly, the league treats these 10-year-olds like they are six, with rules about playing time, substitution, sportsmanship, and non-competitive games appropriate for little children who’d never played sports before. With Beverly Hills being so competitive, I’d expect most 10-year-olds to be in select travel programs rather than leagues that don’t keep score for the first several games of the season.

Still, I’d recommend the book to anyone who enjoys tales of suburban angst. Sometimes everything really is just fine, and it’s nice to have a reminder that even if you don’t have the biggest house on the block or your kid isn’t the best soccer player in town, what you do have is pretty great. Every character in this book would have been so much better off had they just appreciated what they had. We can all learn from their mistakes.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Brett Paesel:

Camille Pagán is keeping it real...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Camille Pagán back to CLC today. Her latest novel, I'm Fine and Neither Are You, recently published. Melissa A really enjoyed it and will be reviewing soon. Camille has one e-book and one print copy to give away!

Camille Pagán is the #1 Amazon Kindle bestselling author of five novels, including Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties and Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, the latter of which was recently optioned for film. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. A journalist and former magazine editor, Pagán has written for the New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Parade; Real Simple; Time; and many other publications and websites. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her family. (Bio courtesy of Amazon.)

Visit Camille online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
Wife. Mother. Breadwinner. Penelope Ruiz-Kar is doing it all—and barely keeping it together. Meanwhile, her best friend, Jenny Sweet, appears to be sailing through life. As close as the two women are, Jenny’s passionate marriage, pristine house, and ultra-polite child stand in stark contrast to Penelope’s underemployed husband, Sanjay, their unruly brood, and the daily grind she calls a career.

Then a shocking tragedy reveals that Jenny’s life is far from perfect. Reeling, Penelope vows to stop keeping the peace and finally deal with the issues in her relationship. So she and Sanjay agree to a radical proposal: both will write a list of changes they want each other to make—then commit to complete and total honesty.

What seems like a smart idea quickly spirals out of control, revealing new rifts and even deeper secrets. As Penelope stares down the possible implosion of her marriage, she must ask herself: When it comes to love, is honesty really the best policy? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

What is something new you learned about yourself while writing I'm Fine and Neither Are You?
I would describe myself as a positive person—I tend to be fairly optimistic and try to look for the silver linings in life. Yet writing about a couple struggling to make their marriage happier—even as midlife volleys one challenge after another at them—helped me see that sometimes I do focus on day-to-day difficulties rather than keeping my eyes on the positive aspects of my marriage and family life. So that’s been an eye-opener and has prompted me to work harder to count my blessings. After all, as the protagonist of I’m Fine learns, it can all disappear in a moment.

What do you do when you get writer's block?
I’ve never had writer’s block—I think nearly twenty years of working as a health journalist has trained me to meet deadlines, even if I’m the one making them! If my butt’s in the chair and I’m in front of my computer, I can at least come up with a semi-decent draft that can be fixed during editing.

If I'm Fine and Neither Are You were made into a movie, who would star in the lead roles?
Yes, I love brainstorming about film adaptations! I always want to answer Melissa McCarthy (because I adore her and would just absolutely fall over if she ever made one of my novels into a film). But for I’m Fine, Kal Penn would be perfect for Sanjay, and I could see Anna Kenrick or Rosario Dawson as Penny. And Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, or Minka Kelly would be great as Jenny.

What TV series are you currently binge watching?
I just finished Ricky Gervais’ After Life and it was stellar—funny, sad, and ultimately uplifting and life-affirming, which is exactly the kind of thing I want to be watching (or reading!).

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
Well, my eight-year-old son is convinced that the couple on the cover of I’m Fine and Neither Are You are his father and mother … which he’s happy to announce to anyone who will listen. It’s lead to a few uncomfortable dinner party conversations (which of course, are always funnier after the fact).

What are you looking forward to this spring?
New books, of course! I recently read Tracey Garvis Graves’ The Girl He Used to Know (April 2) and Kristy Woodson Harvey’s The Southern Side of Paradise (May 7), and they were just wonderful. I’m about to dig into Allie Larkin’s Swimming for Sunlight (April 23) and I’m so excited for that one—I love Allie’s writing.

Thanks to Camille 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 April 9th at midnight EST.

Book Review: The Campfire Series

By Sara Steven

I enjoyed reading all three books in Beth Merlin’s The Campfire Series. After finishing the first one, One S’more Summer, it would have been difficult not to continue on and read the other two in the series. From the beginning, we get to learn a lot about Gigi Goldstein, and the backstory that leads her into wanting to become a camp counselor at the same place she used to camp at, Camp Chinooka, when she was a teen. I really enjoyed the relationship dynamics portrayed between Gigi and the campers. You see so much of who she’d been at their age, and you also see the growth she’s had as an adult, yet she hasn’t completely let go of that girl from long ago. Especially not where matters of the heart are concerned, one of the biggest reasons she’s hiding away at Camp. When she meets Head Counselor Perry, she’s even more confused. I could feel the division in her heart, the need to hold onto the past, yet there was a real desire to move forward with the present, looking forward to the future.

In the second book, S’more to Lose, we find Gigi four years into the future, no longer a camp counselor, pursuing her dream job of becoming a fashion designer. While there was plenty mentioned in the first book about her zest for all things fashion, I felt S’more to Lose delved deeper into it, with detailed descriptions provided. While I’m no fashionista, I felt drawn into the world of style and celebrity. Having been tasked with designing a wedding gown for a British socialite, this tie in brings Gigi to Perry, who has become a success story of his own right. A love triangle forms between Gigi and other potential love interests, not to mention their own potential love interests. I wasn’t sure where Gigi would end up, or with whom, keeping me on my toes. Central to all of this are the friendships formed, the tight-knit relationships that make or break who Gigi is and how she sees herself, while she tries to figure out whether putting herself first and following her own dreams is the number one priority, or putting her relationships to the forefront would be the better choice. There was struggle and indecision, lending into a realistic, honest read.

In the final installment, Love You S’more, Gigi finds herself dealing with the aftermath of chaos and destruction, attempting to pick up the pieces and move on with life. You get the feeling that she’s lost it all, and has no way of knowing how to get herself back to where it all began for her. But through it all, there is love, and the biggest regret is not knowing where she belongs, or who she belongs with. There is a lot of discovery and growth in the third book, with doses of inner reflection. Is it with Perry? Or with someone else? I flip flopped right along with her, where her matters of the heart were concerned.

I appreciated the constant struggle for Gigi, in trying to decide on what’s important, her career or her love life. I think that was a very relatable situation for so many of us, trying to balance it all out so that we can have both, equally. That was a common theme in this series, in choosing someone who compliments who you already are, and supports your dreams and aspirations. I also enjoyed the scenic mixes of Camp Chinooka, a place Gigi continually seeks out in the entire series, a place that grounds her. In some respects, it’s where her life really began. There was a whimsy to The Campfire Series, with moments that slow down sweetly, really giving us a look into the interpersonal relationships that move these stories forward. While any of the books can be read individually, all three are amazing reads, and compliment one another so well, it’s worth it to read the series in its entirety. All three received a much-deserved five stars from me!

Thanks to Kelley & Hall for the books in exchange for an honest review.

Getting to know Tracey Garvis Graves...plus a book giveaway

We are thrilled to have Tracey Garvis Graves back at CLC today to celebrate the publication of The Girl He Used to Know. Melissa A can't stop recommending this book! Check out her review. Tracey has a signed advanced review copy for one lucky reader!

Tracey Garvis Graves is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into thirty-one languages, and is in development with MGM and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film. She is also the author of Uncharted, Covet, Every Time I Think of You, Cherish, Heart-Shaped Hack, and White-Hot Hack. She is hard at work on her next book. (Bio courtesy of Tracey's website.)

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

Synopsis:
Annika (rhymes with Monica) Rose is an English major at the University of Illinois. Anxious in social situations where she finds most people's behavior confusing, she'd rather be surrounded by the order and discipline of books or the quiet solitude of playing chess.

Jonathan Hoffman joined the chess club and lost his first game—and his heart—to the shy and awkward, yet brilliant and beautiful Annika. He admires her ability to be true to herself, quirks and all, and accepts the challenges involved in pursuing a relationship with her. Jonathan and Annika bring out the best in each other, finding the confidence and courage within themselves to plan a future together. What follows is a tumultuous yet tender love affair that withstands everything except the unforeseen tragedy that forces them apart, shattering their connection and leaving them to navigate their lives alone.

Now, a decade later, fate reunites Annika and Jonathan in Chicago. She's living the life she wanted as a librarian. He's a Wall Street whiz, recovering from a divorce and seeking a fresh start. The attraction and strong feelings they once shared are instantly rekindled, but until they confront the fears and anxieties that drove them apart, their second chance will end before it truly begins. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

What was the inspiration behind The Girl He Used to Know?
My inspiration for The Girl He Used to Know was a song called “Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg. It’s the one about running into your old lover in the grocery store on Christmas Eve. It’s one of my favorite songs and whenever I listened to it, I would think, I wish they could have worked it out and overcome whatever it was that drove them apart. Why didn’t they try to find that love again? Why did they both get back in their cars and go their separate ways at the end of the song? My version of the song’s premise is not a literal interpretation—the hero is not a musician and while the serendipitous meeting does occur in a grocery store, it doesn’t happen on Christmas Eve. But I did take a couple who were “old lovers,” reunited them in the present, and then wrote about what unfolded when they gave it another shot.

Since there's already been a lot of buzz about The Girl, what is your favorite compliment about it so far?
I was terrified that I might not do Annika's character justice. I don't have any firsthand experience regarding being on the spectrum, so I had to rely on my research. I have been blown away by the positive feedback from readers -- many of whom are on the spectrum themselves -- about how authentically and sensitively they felt Annika was portrayed.

If The Girl were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Annika - Hillary Duff
Jonathan - Robbie Amell
Janice - Emmy Rossum

What is your favorite thing about springtime?
The fact that summer is not far behind. Spring is my least-favorite season.

Which movie were you hesitant to watch but then ended up loving?
Slumdog Millionaire

Since part of The Girl takes place during college years, what is your favorite memory from college?
Making the Dean's List for the first time. Also, the first home football game my freshman year. Go Hawks!

Thanks to Tracey 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. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway ends April 7th at midnight EST

Book Review: The Day We Met

By Becky Gulc

‘Stephanie doesn’t believe in fate, true love or living happily ever after. She’s content enough being engaged to Matt. But then she meets Jamie, who understands her more than anyone else ever has.

Jamie is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Helen and believes in everything Stephanie doesn’t. So why does he have such a strong connection with Stephanie?

When Stephanie and Jamie meet one fateful weekend in 2006 it will change everything...

Ten years. Two people. One epic love story.’ (Courtesy of Amazon UK.)

Prepare to go on an emotional roller coaster of a journey with The Day We Met. When Stephanie and Jamie meet during a retreat at a country hotel they instantly gravitate towards one another, but with both being happily coupled up, this is a forming friendship that is just going to have stay platonic, isn’t it? Cue a narrative of meetings spanning ten years.

I felt the instant connection between the pair, and I was drawn to the vulnerability of Stephanie we saw early on and the kind and caring nature of Jamie. I enjoyed their meetings in the first couple of years, the narrative worked; I believed these people could meet once a year and live separate lives the rest of the time, I continued to like them. I did however find myself a little frustrated at times, but an enjoyable frustration if that makes sense? There’s a lot of indecisiveness, a lack of acknowledgement and sharing of emotions particularly on Jamie’s part at times as the book evolves. This frustrated me as his inner dialogue was telling me all the right things. For me, this showed Roxie captures the complexity of ‘forbidden’ love and loving more than one person at the same time so well. This was also mostly done without demonizing the existing partners which would have been the easier option.

I loved the last third of the novel in particular. The characters flourish and by this point you really want some true happiness for them, however they will find this. It’s certainly an emotional ending and I battled with that for various reasons, but it suited the novel to be honest. A recommended novel and I’d definitely read more from Roxie!

Thanks to Ebury Press for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Roxie Cooper: