Open Book with Tori Whitaker

This holiday season I have been giving thanks for so many things as we continue this difficult time in all our lives. One thing that I have been so grateful for, more than ever, is the power of storytelling and books. I sound like a broken record but the best place for me to escape these days is within the pages of a book. I am so thrilled to have Tori Whitaker as my latest Open Book as her debut novel, Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish, is a literary delight with dual timelines and complex female relationships. I also love that Tori made her book dreams come true as she always wanted to write a novel and made that goal happen. Books and authors like Tori are what make me so grateful to be a reader and author champion ❤

via Amazon ~

Three generations of women—and the love, loss, sacrifice, and secrets that can bind them forever or tear them apart.

Millicent Glenn is self-sufficient and contentedly alone in the Cincinnati suburbs. As she nears her ninety-first birthday, her daughter Jane, with whom she’s weathered a shaky relationship, suddenly moves back home. Then Millie’s granddaughter shares the thrilling surprise that she’s pregnant. But for Millie, the news stirs heartbreaking memories of a past she’s kept hidden for too long. Maybe it’s time she shared something, too. Millie’s last wish? For Jane to forgive her.

Sixty years ago Millie was living a dream. She had a husband she adored, a job of her own, a precious baby girl, and another child on the way. They were the perfect family. All it took was one irreversible moment to shatter everything, reshaping Millie’s life and the lives of generations to come.

As Millie’s old wounds are exposed, so are the secrets she’s kept for so long. Finally revealing them to her daughter might be the greatest risk a mother could take in the name of love.

1. What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a bookclub with?

Sarah Jessica Parker – Like me and my book’s protagonist, she was born in Ohio. Sarah attended a school for performing arts in Cincinnati, in fact, in the historic OTR neighborhood where my Millicent grew up. Maybe author Chris Bohjalian, too, for interesting discussions about books and the world—and singing legend, Tina Turner.

2. Current binge series?

We just finished MadMen and still have a MadMen hangover. Can’t seem to settle on a new binge yet!

3. Last favorite book?

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

4. What 3 things do you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?  Where is it?

Hubs and I live outside of Atlanta and we missed our spring get-away because of the pandemic. I’m still waiting for that trip in our older Corvette convertible, top down, driving through the verdant Kentucky Bluegrass region, and touring distilleries of the Bourbon Trail the way one visits vineyards in Napa. I’d pack my “Life Is Good” ball cap, a ponytail scrunchie, and my Ray-Ban sunglasses.

5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly? NYT

6. Last movie you saw?  Rebecca on Netflix

7. Book you read that you wished you wrote?

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake. It’s got it all–unforgettable characters, fascinating historical settings, multiple generations and timelines, secrets and regrets, important themes from class to race, and gorgeous prose.

8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer?

There was Mrs. Bradbury in ninth-grade English who encouraged me, though she wasn’t a full-blown mentor.

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who?

Absolutely not. I need silence.

10. Describe your writing space?

I write in my home office upstairs—never on a laptop in a cabin or coffee shop. I have a computer desk near a bright window, tables for spreading out research materials and outlines and such, and built-in shelves stuffed with books that inspire me.

11. Tell me your coffee/tea order?

Well … I don’t drink either. My daily caffeine fix is chocolate!

12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift?

Hmm, not really.

13. Book that you wished they would make a movie out of?

Ariel Lawhon’s Code Name Helene. It’s the fictionalized story of a true-life bad ass woman.

14. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?

I married at age 18, and we celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary this year. That’s a pretty big part of my life and family! So the song would probably be: Led Zeppelin’s, Thank You. Here’s a sense of the lyrics.

If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
When mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me

15. Must have beauty product?

OMG, Clinique’s lipstick in A Different Grape. My friend and I met at work 15 years ago and bonded when discovering we both wore the same color. It was a minor life crisis for us when they changed the formula a year or so ago! They still call it A Different Grape, but it feels, well, different.

16. Royals- yes or no?  If so, who is your favorite?

Yes, and young Princess Charlotte is my fav. When she stuck out her tongue at reporters, I knew she might grow up to make Princess Margaret, the queen’s sister, look boring.

17. Favorite Instagram account?

Yikes, there are too many to name.

18. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

Perhaps the book, Girl with a Pearl Earring? The lipstick would be: Barely Pearl-ly Pink

19. Current #TBR pile?

I’m still waiting to read Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.

20. Best advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t pray for things you want. Rather, pray for direction in life.

Follow Tori:

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Open Book with Louisa Treger

Indian summer anyone? While some temps are dipping we are still seeing that glorious sunshine and with that we can still bask in end of summer releases like Louisa Treger’s latest, The Dragon Lady.  A fictional account of the rebellious and glamorous Lady Virginia Courtauld, this is a must read for historical fiction buffs and readers who love a gal who has gumption!  Lady Virginia would be an inspiration to all women around the world today.  I am thrilled Louisa is my latest Open Book and we can celebrate this fantastic book!

via Amazon ~

‘A daring blend of romance, crime and history, and an intelligent exposé of the inherent injustice and consequences of all forms of oppression’ Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions

Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia ‘Ginie’ Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady tells Ginie’s extraordinary story, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play.

Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband ,Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger?

Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.

1.What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a bookclub with?

Margaret Atwood, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde.

 

2.Current binge series?

Killing Eve.

 

3. Last favorite book?

Your Duck is my Duck by Deborah Eisenberg

 

4. What 3 things to you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?  Where is it?

Sunglasses, sun cream, a good book. South Africa, my mother’s homeland.

 

5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly?

I live in London, so neither of the above. The Sunday Times.

 

6. Last person you sent a text message to?

My daughter

 

7. Book you read that you wished you wrote?

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

 

8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer?

Yes, my second year tutor at university, a wonderful man called David Daniell. His words kept me going through years of rejection of my early work.

 

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who?

No, because music is too powerful. It’s like a magnet, drawing all   my attention to it.

 

10. Describe your writing space?

It’s an octagonal room with big windows and shelves filled with books. My desk always has piles of papers, my laptop and a large mug of coffee on it. My dog sleeps at my feet while I write.

 

11. Coffee or tea?

Strong coffee

 

12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift?

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

 

13. Book that you wished they would make a movie out of?

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

 

14. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?

I will survive by Gloria Gaynor

 

15. What/Who inspires you?

Nature. Great art, be it literature, music or visual art. My children.

 

16. Bravo reality TV- yes or no?

No

 

17. Favorite Instagram account?

@puppy_unity

 

18. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

I would call a lipstick Wild Rose after Cathy in Wuthering Heights and it would be dusky pink.

 

19. Current #TBR pile?

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

 

20. Best advice you’ve ever received?

Your failures teach you more than your successes. It’s how you pick yourself up and carry on after failing that counts.

 

Follow Louisa:

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Open Book with Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

 

A royal wedding, Cote d’Azur and Grace Kelly, the most glam of vintage Hollywood are the backdrop to Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb’s latest, Meet Me in Monaco.  It doesn’t get much more beach glam than this book!  I am thrilled H & H are my latest Open Book!

via Amazon ~

“A fragrant French bonbon of a book: love, glamour, perfume, and paparazzi all circling around the wedding of the century…”–Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of THE ALICE NETWORK and THE HUNTRESS.

Named one of InStyle‘s best books to put in your totebag for the summer!

Named one of Popsugar’s best books to put in your beachbag this summer and one of the best books of July!

Set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s whirlwind romance and unforgettable wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco, New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb take the reader on an evocative sun-drenched journey along the Côte d’Azur in this page-turning novel of passion, fate and second chances…

Movie stars and paparazzi flock to Cannes for the glamorous film festival, but Grace Kelly, the biggest star of all, wants only to escape from the flash-bulbs. When struggling perfumer Sophie Duval shelters Miss Kelly in her boutique to fend off a persistent British press photographer, James Henderson, a bond is forged between the two women and sets in motion a chain of events that stretches across thirty years of friendship, love, and tragedy.

James Henderson cannot forget his brief encounter with Sophie Duval. Despite his guilt at being away from his daughter, he takes an assignment to cover the wedding of the century, sailing with Grace Kelly’s wedding party on the SS Constitution from New York. In Monaco, as wedding fever soars and passions and tempers escalate, James and Sophie—like Princess Grace—must ultimately decide what they are prepared to give up for love.

 

1. What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a bookclub with?

Hazel: Thor, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel.

Heather: Robert Deniro, Meryl Streep, and Emma Stone

2. Current binge series?

Hazel: I really don’t have one, although I am waiting for Season 3 of The Crown.

Heather: Jane the Virgin! It’s hilarious. I, too, am waiting for Season 3 of The Crown, and the Downton Abbey movie!

3. Last favorite book?

Hazel: Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts.

Heather: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

4. What 3 things to you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?  Where is it?

Hazel: Gloves. Hat. Walking boots. We are going to stay in the Ice Hotel in Sweden and then to see the Northern Lights.

Heather: Lonely Planet guide book, comfy shoes, sunglasses. We’re going all over Italy, baby! It’s a place I’ve never been and I’m dying to get there.

5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly?

Hazel: Twitter!

Heather: Digital subscription to NYT! 

6. Last person you sent a text message to?

Hazel: I rarely send text messages now. I use WhatsApp. The last message I sent was to my sister in England.

Heather: Texts are free in the U.S. so I text away. My mom is the latest person.

7. Book you read that you wished you wrote?

Hazel: Practically every book I read I wish I’d written! Most recently, I read The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis – in which the three Bronte sisters are amateur detectives. It’s wonderful and I wish I’d written it!

Heather: Ooo, Hazel’s suggestion sounds good! I wish I’d written The Light We Lost by Jill Santopalo.

8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer?

Hazel: She didn’t encourage me to be a writer (I didn’t even know ordinary people like me could become writers!), but I had an amazing English Literature teacher who definitely encouraged my love of literature and the written word.

Heather:  My high school English teacher, Mrs. Terris, helped me enter a couple of state and national essay contests when I was a junior and senior. I won three of them to my utter shock and excitement! But she never really pushed me to write books. That came much later.

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who?

Hazel: No. I listen to the sound of the neighbour’s dog yapping!

Heather: Sometimes and if so, it tends to be instrumental mostly so it doesn’t distract me. Cafe del Mar style ambient stuff or I love classical music, opera, movie soundtracks are a particular fav.

10. Describe your writing space?

Hazel: I write in a lovely bright attic conversion, which is also used as the kids playroom, guest bedroom, and storage room. It’s a bit cluttered and chaotic, but I love it, and am very grateful to have it (I wrote my first two books at the kitchen table!) I commute upstairs every morning and write while the boys are at school!

Heather: I have a large bedroom (and live in a tiny little place) so I have a desk in my room, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. And yes, the draw to the bed is strong! 

11. Coffee or tea?

Hazel: Barry’s Irish tea first thing in the morning. Coffee mid morning. Espresso martini after hours!

Heather:  Both! I tend to like coffee first thing and tea in the afternoons or evenings. 

12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift?

Hazel: A new favourite book to gift is Miss Marley by Becca Mascull. It’s a gorgeous companion novel to A Christmas Carol.

Heather: Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic for children, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert for my creative and writerly friends, and whatever my latest obsession is for adults.

13. Book that you wished they would make a movie out of?

Hazel: Meet Me in Monaco!

Heather: Meet Me in Monaco! And also Last Christmas in Paris would be perfect for an amazing BBC series! 

 

14. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?

Hazel: This is an impossible question to answer, but it would probably be Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian!

 

Heather: How about a musician instead? I’m going to say Lindsey Stirling because she’s a classical violin player who combines innovative pieces to dubstep and other electronic beats. A sort of old world meets new, with lots of fun. That’s how I like to think of myself and my life.

15. What/Who inspires you?

Hazel: My friends, other writers, and my 99 year old grandma!

Heather:  Artists of all kinds. I’m a bit of an art hound. I wish I had the money to be an amateur collector and act as someone’s patron. Also brilliant authors, my friends. My husband!

16. Bravo reality TV- yes or no?

Hazel: Probably not!

Heather: Nope. (In my 20s, a little, but never much a TV head)

 

17. Favorite Instagram account?

Hazel: I have a few! My friend and crime writer, @CathRyanHoward, @bloomandwild (letterbox flowers), and @hellosunshine for wonderful bookish positivity!

Heather: Comedian @celestebarber, incredible seamstress and costume designer @virtuouscourtesan, and French pastry chef @cedricgrolet!

 

18. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

Hazel: ‘Last Christmas in Paris’. It would be Santa-suit red, and packaged in a gorgeous rose gold case. Ooh la la!

Heather: I mean, I have nothing more to say after that answer. I’d buy up a whole case of Last Christmas in Paris!

 

19. Current #TBR pile?

Hazel: I’ll take the top three! The Tattooist of Auchswitz (Heather Morris), The Last Year of the War (Susan Meissner), The Moon in the Palace (Weina dai Randal).

Heather: Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker, The White Rose by Kip Wilson, and Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen

20. Best advice you’ve ever received?

Hazel: Always have a bottle of champagne in the fridge. I can’t remember who said it, but it’s excellent advice!

Heather: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

 

Follow Hazel:

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Follow Heather:

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Open Book with Laurie Gelman

Attention all Mom’s!  You know school is just around that corner and that means lunches, homework, school politics!  Laurie Gelman is back again with You’ve Been Volunteered, another chapter for her heroine Jen Dixon!  Jen is the girl we all want to be “Mom” besties with and this book is the perfect anecdote to the back to school blues.  I am psyched Laurie took the time to be my latest Open Book!  When you see her Celeb Book Club picks, you will understand that really no explanation is necessary ❤

via Amazon ~

In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Laurie Gelman’s “irreverent and hilarious” (The New York Post) hit Class Mom, brash, lovable Jen Dixon is back with a new class and her work cut out for her

If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it―most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home.

She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle.

Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Dixon’s next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what’s really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions, and have you laughing along with her the whole way.

 

1. What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a bookclub with? Tina Fey, Norah Ephron and Phyllis Diller. I don’t believe an explanation is necessary.

 

2. Current binge series? Broadchurch!! Three seasons in five days.

 

3. Last favorite book? The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 

4. What 3 things to you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?  Where is it?

 My Kindle, my favorite sun hat and sunscreen so I can enjoy my vacation on a remote, beautiful beach where it’s always sunny but never too hot. If you know of a place like that, please tell me!

5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly? After the week I’ve had? US Weekly Baby.

 

6. Last person you sent a text message to? My daughter confirming I will pick her up in front of the movie theatre. My other job is Uber driver.

 

7. Book you read that you wished you wrote? The Nightingale By Kristin Hannah

 

8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer? Yes, my high school journalism teacher, Jane Rowe not only encouraged me to write, but she also gave me my first writing job at her family’s local golf magazine. My fiction writing came much later and absolutely no one encouraged me to do that!

 

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who? I generally don’t listen to music, but if I do I just ask Pandora to play classical music. Listening to lyrics messes  me up.

 

10. Describe your writing space? It changes. In the summer I find writing on a quiet beach very inspiring. But I also like to write in shared workspace places like Spacious because I feel less alone. Writing can be a lonely business.

 

11. Coffee or tea? Tea. English Breakfast in the morning and iced green tea from Starbucks in the afternoon.

 

12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift? I love to give Time and Again by Jack Finney and The House On The Strand by Daphne DuMaurier. They are my two favorite time travel books.

 

13. Book that you wished they would make a movie out of? I spend most of my time wishing they wouldn’t turn books into films…except mine of course. If anyone wants to do that, I’m all for it!

 

14. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?

Feeling Good by Nina Simone. Its slow, soulful beat and jazzy trumpets make me feel like a total badass in some sort of action movie. And, the title is a nice thing to always aspire to.

15. What/Who inspires you? Any woman of a certain age who is brave enough to try something new. They give me courage every day to do the same.

 

16. Bravo reality TV- yes or no?

No! The only Bravo show I watch is “What What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” He’s my spirit animal.

17. Favorite Instagram account?

@AnimalsDoingThings. It makes me laugh every time.

18. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

I would make a lipstick duo called Pride and Prejudice. Pride would be a light pinky beige shade and prejudice a darker purple.

19. Current #TBR pile?

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Disclaimers, The Year Of Needy Girls

 

20. Best advice you’ve ever received? Keep your eye on the prize, but don’t let it stop you from enjoying the journey.

Follow Laurie:

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Open Book with David Bell

Summer thrillers are always a yes for me and we have a BB&B favorite and thriller master on the blog today!  David Bell’s latest, Layover, is intense, gripping and not something that should be read during a heatwave 🙂 unless you are holed up in air conditioning- it’s that pulse pounding.  He is my latest Open Book which I am thrilled about because he is the first MALE author to participate- history in the making people!

via Amazon ~

In this high concept psychological suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter, a chance meeting with a woman in an airport sends a man on a pulse-pounding quest for the truth.

Joshua Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights, Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a missing person.

What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey filled with lies, deceit, and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why Morgan has vanished from her own life. Every time he thinks one mystery is solved, another rears its head—and his worst enemy might be his own assumptions about those around him.

 

 

What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a bookclub with?  

–Abraham Lincoln, Sarah Silverman, and John Lennon

 

 

Current binge series? 

 

–“Black Mirror” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”

 

 

Last favorite book? 

 

—Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy by Giles Milton. A brilliant history of D-Day.

 

What 3 things do you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?

–A good book, a bathing suit, and another book

 

Where is it? 

–Someplace with a view of the water

 

 

Sunday NYT or US Weekly? 

 

–Sunday NYT

 

 

Last person you sent a text message to? 

 

–I pretty much only text my wife.

 

 

Book you read that you wished you wrote? 

 

—The Three Musketeers. Think of the royalties after 180 years!

 

 

Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer? 

 

–Several…but I’ll never forget my high school teachers Mr. Hendrick and Mr. Hussong.

 

 

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who? 

 

–I do…I usually listen to music from the 70s and 80s. As far as music goes, I’m stuck in the past.

 

Describe your writing space? 

–I have a giant former dining room table that looks out a huge window at our front yard and street. I can watch the rabbits play and the joggers go by when I’m supposed to be writing.

 

 

Coffee or tea? 

 

–Definitely tea

 

Do you have a favorite book that you gift? 

–If I know someone wants to write I give them a copy of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

 

 

If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why? 

 

–I like to imagine that the “Star Wars” theme plays whenever I sit down to write. It makes sitting at a computer all day seem much more dramatic than it really is.

 

What/Who inspires you? 

–More than anything I just enjoy the day-to-day process of writing. It begins and ends there. If I didn’t enjoy writing then it wouldn’t be worth doing all the other things associated with a writing career. So I try to remind myself to enjoy the daily work of writing.

 

 

Bravo reality TV- yes or no? 

 

I love “Project Runway,” which started on Bravo. Would I like to see a reality show made of my life? It would be pretty dull…

 

Favorite Instagram account? 

–I love following all the people who post about books and reading on IG. It’s great to see such a vibrant book community online.

 

 

If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

 

–I’m a little out of my depth, but how about The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? Try fitting that on the top of a lipstick tube!

 

 

Current #TBR pile?.

 

–It consists of about five thousand books…but I hope to get to Red Metal by Mark Greaney and Ripley Rawlings, Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle, The Two Lila Bennetts by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, and Lock Every Door by Riley Sager.

 

Best advice you’ve ever received? 

–My dad once told me, “If you want to be a writer, get out of bed and write.” That about sums it up.

 

Follow David:

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Open Book with Bethany Chase

One of my favorite authors, Bethany Chase, has a fabulous new book out and I am adding it to my list of beach read MUSTS!  One Night at the Lake is part drama, part love story told from alternate perspectives.  Chase, since her debut novel, The One that Got Away, has a special way with words and storytelling that makes her books unputdownable.  This is no exception.  I am thrilled she is my latest Open Book and am obsessed with the fact that she picked Amy Sherman-Palladino in her dream book club!  Gilmore and Maisel for life ❤

via Amazon ~

A tragedy on a hot summer night at a lake house forever alters the lives of two best friends—and the man they both love. But the truth isn’t as simple as it appears in this intricate novel of love, friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Leah has been waiting for this moment a long time: Her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s home on Seneca Lake for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating, and barbeque. The couple have been together four years, and Leah is convinced that Ollie is finally going to pop the question. Leah can’t wait to share the joyous news with her best friend, June, who is joining them on their getaway, and whose presence will make everything feel more real.

Seven years later, the moment June has been dreading has finally arrived: Her fiancé, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s lake house. But this is not an ordinary visit to an ordinary place; it is a house haunted by June’s long-buried memories of her lost friend Leah—and the connection that appears to remain between Leah and the man for whom June’s love is as deep as her grief.

Alternating between the two women’s vibrant voices, One Night at the Lake is an emotional novel that explores a complex tangle of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, all driving toward one question: Can love overcome what happened on that hot summer night?

Advance praise for One Night at the Lake

“Captivating and compelling . . . This is the perfect book to slip into your weekend bag for your own trip to the lake this summer.”—Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost

“With gripping prose and a setting that is as sentient as the characters who inhabit it, Bethany Chase draws a tale that is immediate and real, the kind of story you’ll feel to your gut.”—Michelle Gable, New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment

“Chase has crafted the perfect blend of fully realized characters and a burning question I couldn’t wait to have the answer to. You won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough.”—Tracey Garvis Graves, New York Times bestselling author of On the Island and The Girl He Used to Know

 

 

1. What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a book club with?

Neil de Grasse Tyson, Amy Sherman-Palladino, and John Cleese.

 

2. Current binge series?

Nothing right at the moment, but I can’t wait for the new season of Stranger Things, and I’m beside myself over how good His Dark Materials looks.

 

3. Last favorite book?

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley. She’s an incredible writer.

 

4. What 3 things to you pack in your bag for your dream vacation?  Where is it?

My guidebook, my rain jacket and my hiking boots–we are going to Scotland!

 

5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly?

New York Times!

 

6. Last person you sent a text message to?

My five best girlfriends. We have a running text thread of encouragement and jokes.

 

7. Book you read that you wished you wrote?

Anything by Deb Caletti; she’s the author I read with a pencil in hand so I can underline passages of her gorgeous and thoughtful prose.

 

8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer?

At the school I went to from 7th-12th grades, I had two periods of English a day, not just one. Plus Latin and French. It definitely cultivated my underlying tendency to be highly verbal!

 

9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who?

I’ve been mainlining Maggie Rogers for most of my current work-in-progress.

 

10. Describe your writing space?

My office is in the attic bedroom of our house in New Jersey, tucked under the eaves next to a dormer window. So basically the kind of place I always dreamed about as a kid.

 

11. Coffee or tea?

Coffee, please.

 

12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift?

To any pregnant friends, Expecting Better by Emily Oster. She breaks down the studies and data behind the never-ending list of do’s and don’ts in pregnancy in a very rational and reassuring way.

 

13. Book that you wished they would make a movie out of?

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. He writes beautiful, fascinating historical fantasy and I am pining for someone to bring his work to the screen.

 

14. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?

“Happy” by Pharrell. Gratitude and joy are what sustain me and motivate me.

 

15. What/Who inspires you?

Visually creative people. Aside from writing, my other career has been in interior design, which of course is adjacent to art, textile design, furniture making, architecture, print-making; I love being surrounded by craft and makers and I find it constantly fascinating and inspiring.

 

16. Bravo reality TV- yes or no?

I haven’t had cable since 2010. 🙂

 

17. Favorite Instagram account?

I have gradually accumulated a feed full of floral designers and flower growers, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It truly brings me so much joy. I particularly love the seasonality as everyone’s posts move from hellebores and ranunculus to daffodils and tulips to peonies to roses to hydrangea and annuals and then the long glory days of dahlias.

 

18. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what shade would it be? 

The Language of Flowers, and it would be a clear, beautiful light pink.

 

19. Current #TBR pile?

Truly too long to list!

 

20. Best advice you’ve ever received?

I had always been hesitant about having children because I was very aware of the enormous demands that they can place on parents’ personal space/time, identity, career, and even mental health, and I was afraid I would find it unbearably draining. My buddy Erika told me “You don’t have to feel 100% sure about it. If you feel even 10% like you want to do it, then just do it.” My husband and I decided that we were much more likely to regret not having had children than we were to regret letting go of our childfree life… and now the thought of a life that didn’t include our son is horrifying.

 

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Open Book with Randy Susan Meyers

Boston writers are some of the best and Randy Susan Meyers is no exception.  Her latest, Waisted, tackles women’s body image issues and female empowerment when a group of women join a weight loss camp to find out it is not all it seems.  Meyers, who always so brilliantly takes on issues that are at our forefront, is my latest Open Book and of course she is AH-mazing!  From Nora Ephron (my favorite!) to Dead to Me (it’s a must-binge) to an empowering bookish lip color, Randy is a wonderful author and woman (follow her on SOCIAL!) and my guess would probably be a fabulous coffee date ❤

via Amazon ~

In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and compelling novel, seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary discover self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the exploitative filmmakers.

Alice and Daphne, both successful and accomplished working mothers, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.

Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned only slimness earns admiration at her mother’s knee. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.

The two women meet at Waisted. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

1. What three celebrities/authors/figures- living or dead, would you want to have a
bookclub with? Roxane Gay, Nora Ephron, & Whoopi Goldberg.
2. Current binge series? Dead to Me
3. Last favorite book? Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
4. What 3 things do you pack in your bag for your dream vacation? Kindle (I couldn’t
possibly pack enough paper books for a vacation.) Airy cotton caftan. Bathing suit.
Where is it? Santorini islands in Greece.
5. Sunday NYT or US Weekly? Sunday NYT
6. Last person you sent a text message to? My BFF
7. Book you read that you wished you wrote? Homegoing by Yaa Gyassi
8. Do you have a teacher who encouraged you to become a writer? Miss Leanza in 2 nd
grade.
9. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, who? I need total silence when writing.
10. Describe your writing space? I write in my family room where I rotate between a comfy stuffed club chair and perfectly worn couch. There I’m surrounded by many pots oforchids, two overgrown Boston ferns, an aloe plant ready to take over the house, and jadeplants. The oriental rug had many shades of red and best of all is a view of my garden (otherwise known as my therapist.)
11. Coffee or tea? Coffee!
12. Do you have a favorite book that you gift? The Unstoppable Ruth Ginsburg: American
Icon
13. If you could have one song as the theme song of your life what would it be and why?
I Will Survive, because at every worst point in my life I worked to find the strength no
matter how deep I had to dig.
14. What/Who inspires you? Gloria Steinem—because she’s never stopped working for
justice.
15. Bravo reality TV- yes or no? No
16. Favorite Instagram account? @bklynlibrary
17. If you could name just one lipstick after a book, what would you call it and what
shade would it be? I’d name the lipstick Determination after The Women of Brewster
Place by Gloria Naylor. The color would be a clear strong shade of cherry.
18. Current #TBR pile? Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zukoff, The Floating
Feldmans by Elyssa Friedland, The Secrets Between Us: A Novel by Thrity Umrigar.
19. Best advice you’ve ever received? My grandmother’s advice to be kind.

 

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Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum + Author Q &A

 

All I can say is WOW!  I just finished Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum and I feel like this should be required reading for teens and adults.  Buxbaum is the author of multiple adult titles as this was her first YA novel and it was truly a gem.  Thankfully I heard through the grapevine she is at work on her next YA which is great news for us as this book solidifies her as a YA pro.  I will say I was hooked from the first page, the authors note, as it gives a glimpse into the inspiration behind the book as well as an emotional touch from Julie.  I felt it was the perfect key to unlock the world that is all Tell Me Three Things.

At the heart of the novel is Jessie who lost her mom and is uprooted to California to live with her dad’s new wife and son.  Planted into the “privileged” life, Jessie is homesick and missing her best friend, Scar.  She starts at a new private school where the boys are dreamy and the girls are snooty.  One day after school Jessie receives an anonymous text from “SN” aka “Somebody/Nobody”.  SN can see Jessie is struggling at fitting in and decides to form a friendship via text messages, all the while keeping his anonymity.  Jessie is intrigued and can see they have lots in common but she really has no clue who he is.  In the meantime Jessie does start to form friendships and really tries to fit in with the boys and the girls.  As the relationship between SN and Jessie develops she starts to see how important he is to her and how much she relies on him.  She finds her self caught in a triangle of three boys who all have the potential to be SN but Jessie isn’t sure who she wants to reveal their real identity.

Tell Me Three Things is a blend of love, family, loss and friendships.  Jessie is the girl who you will root for right until the last page.  She is real, vulnerable and strong- she is who we should all aspire to be like or at least raise daughters to be like.  Buxbaum brought me back to the world of high school and all the drama it entails, but oh what those years meant to me 🙂  As I said before she solidified her place in the YA world with this novel and this is because the plot is rich with complex characters and real, tangible feeling.  I was so excited to be able to ask Julie a few questions about the inspiration for the book as well as some fun questions about Julie herself.  See below!

 

Q & A with Julie Buxbaum

1. Based on the authors note, which I loved, it sounds like this novel had a personal connection. What made you want to write about this now?

 

I’ve written a lot about mother loss throughout the years in both novels and essays, but until recently, I’ve never felt comfortable going back and revisiting that really tough time when I first lost my mom. It seemed easier, somehow, to talk more about the long term aftermath of grief (how it impacted planning my wedding, for example) instead of really thinking about and remembering the day-to-day of high school and what it was like during those crucial years when the loss was so fresh and raw. I think maybe becoming a parent myself, which for the first time made me feel like I was truly an adult—not just someone who adulted on the side—gave me the courage (and perhaps triggered the need in the first place) to revisit and come to terms with that part of my past.

 2. Were you like Jessie as a teen? If not, what was your favorite part in developing her?

 

I have to be honest: Jessie is so much more poised and cooler than I ever was as a teenager. She’s also tougher too. I don’t think I would have handled being dropped into a whole new family and new school with nearly as much grace as she does. And though I definitely borrowed from some of my own experiences and memories of what it felt like to be 16, my favorite part of writing her was getting to create someone so much cooler than I was, someone I had wished I had known and been more like at that age.

3. It says at the end of the novel you had received an anonymous email.  Care to share any details to your readers?

 

When I was in my early 20’s, I received an anonymous email from what I guess could best be described as a secret admirer. It came completely out of the blue. I never found out who he was, but oddly enough, like with Jessie, his note arrived exactly when I needed it most. I was feeling down and insecure and had never before thought of myself as someone who other people noticed, and then all of a sudden, there was this ridiculously sweet, almost magical email! It sounds crazy now, but it changed my life.

4. You really kept the reader guessing with who SN was.  Without giving spoilers, did you know in beginning who Jessie would be with or did it change over time?

 Yes. I knew before I even sat down to write the book who SN was going to be. Usually, I’m very much a fly by the seat of my pants kind of writer, but I don’t think it would be possible to coherently write this sort of book (and keep the voices distinct) without knowing the identity of such an essential character. I love when surprises pop up while I’m writing, and that’s how some of the red herrings came about, but I never wavered about the true SN.

5. As a writer, where is your favorite place to write?

I was a coffee shop writer for years—almost all of Tell Me Three Things was written at a local café—but very recently I joined a writer’s room near my house. It’s sort of my version of heaven. All day coffee and tea and wifi and a CLEAN bathroom–I can’t tell you how key a clean bathroom is after having to use a public one for so long–and a room full of writers banging away at their laptops. I love it, and it’s a miracle that it sprung up just a few blocks from my house. Seriously, it’s like a dream come true.

 6. Name 3 blissful things that you can’t live without?

 

1. My family.
2. Coffee.
3. Books.

 7. What is the first thing you do when you complete a book?

 I celebrate for about five minutes, and then I start to panic. Is it any good? Is it boring? Is there anything here? Usually, I wait a week or two, re-read it, and then start editing. That’s when the best stuff comes—when a book really becomes a book for me—later, during the editing.

8. What was the last book that you read?

I’m currently reading NIGHTFALL by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski and so far, I’m totally hooked. It’s creepy and foreboding and I’m already terrified even though nothing scary has happened yet.

9. While on tour what is a must-have beauty product in your make-up bag?

 Undereye concealer. Without it, I tend to scare young children.

10. Are you looking forward to any books that are coming out in 2016?

Yes! Kerry Kletter’s The First Time She Drowned just came out last week, and I can’t wait to dig into that one. Also, Jennifer Gilmore’s YA debut, We Were Never Here.

*Tell Me Three Things was sent to BBB for review purposes.  Thanks to Delacorte Press!