summer

Harper-Collins Blog Tour for FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN by Viola Shipman

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I’m always so thrilled to be part of the Harper-Collins tours as I almost always LOVE the books I get to read for them! This was true for the latest one I just finished: Viola Shipman’s Famous in a Small Town. I love Shipman’s writing and have read many of his previous novels. The stories are ones I can connect with and I tend to love the characters. I find them heart-warming with uplifting endings. They remind me a bit of books by Fannie Flagg.

Here’s the scoop:

Famous in a Small Town

Author: Viola Shipman 

On Sale June 13, 2023

Publisher: Graydon House

Paperback Original

ISBN 978-1525804854

Price: $18.99

Buy Links: NOT affiliated with BBNB

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/famous-in-a-small-town-viola-shipman?variant=40980279459874 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/famous-in-a-small-town-viola-shipman/1142722523  

BookShop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-champion-of-good-hart-viola-shipman/18794129?ean=9781525804854 

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1525804855/keywords=fiction?tag=harpercollinsus-20 

Social Links:

Author Website 

Twitter: @Viola_Shipman

Facebook: Author Viola Shipman

Instagram: @Viola_Shipman

Goodreads

Author Bio: 

VIOLA SHIPMAN is the pen name for internationally bestselling LGBTQIA author Wade Rouse. Wade is the author of fifteen books, which have been translated into 21 languages and sold over a million copies around the world. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the working poor Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life and whose memory inspires his fiction. 

Wade’s books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, Michigan Notable Books of the Year and Indie Next Picks. He lives in Michigan and California, and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, A Literary Happy Hour, every Thursday.

Book Summary: 

Fried Green Tomatoes meets Midnight at the Blackbird Café in USA Today bestselling author Viola Shipman’s FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN, a heartwarming story about intergenerational friendship and self-discovery, set in beautiful Northern Michigan.

In 1958, 15-year-old Mary Jackson became the first woman ever crowned The Cherry Pit Spittin’ Champion of Good Hart, Michigan, landing her in the Guinness Book of World Records, and earning her the nickname Cherry Mary. Nearly 80 years old at the story’s start, Mary runs The Very Cherry General Store, a business that has been passed through three generations of women in the family. While there is no female next of kin, Mary believes the fourth is fated to arrive, as predicted by “Fata Morgana,” a Lake Michigan mirage of four women walking side by side.

Becky Thatcher (yes, like the Mark Twain character), an Assistant Principal from St. Louis, has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend and heads to Good Hart for a healing girl’s trip with her best friend. When Becky drunkenly spits a cherry pit an impressive distance, Mary urges her to enter the upcoming contest, and wonders if Becky could be the woman she’s been waiting for. 

Inspired by, and paying tribute to, Michigan’s National Cherry Festival, to the Tunnel of Trees, to lake life, and to the beauty of intergenerational friendship, FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN is “full of summertime delight…and sweet, nostalgic charm” (Heather Webber, USA TODAY bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café). 

Bursting with memorable characters and small-town lore, FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN is a magical story about the family you’re born with, and the one you choose.

“[A] charming coastal tale.”—KATIE COURIC MEDIA

“Fans of nostalgic small-town charm and quirky characters will love Viola Shipman’s latest book for summer.”

—READER’S DIGEST, Best Summer Books 2023

“Famous in a Small Town is a beautiful reminder to…fully embrace the magic that lives inside you.”

—Heather Webber, USA Today bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café

Thank you for my ARC galley and for making me part of the tour!

Harper Collins/Harlequin Virtual Tour for: THE SUMMER SET by Aimee Agresti

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Description

The real drama happens offstage in this juicy novel about a former A-list actress who must spend the summer at the idyllic theater where she got her start. But with a first love and celebrity rivals present, will this be the second chance she imagined or her last act?

Charlie Savoy was once Hollywood’s hottest A-lister. Now, ten years later, she’s pushing forty, exiled from the film world and back at the summer Shakespeare theater in the Berkshires that launched her career—and where her old flame, Nick, is the artistic director.

It’s not exactly her first choice. But as parts are cast and rehearsals begin, Charlie is surprised to find herself getting her groove back, bonding with celebrity actors, forging unexpected new friendships and even reigniting her spark with Nick, who still seems to bring out the best in her despite their complicated history.

Until Charlie’s old rival, Hollywood’s current It Girl, is brought on set, threatening to undo everything she’s built. As the drama amps up both on the stage and behind the curtains, Charlie must put on the show of a lifetime to fight for the second chance she deserves in career and in love.

With an unforgettable cast of characters and undeniable charm, Aimee Agresti’s The Summer Set is about first loves, second chances, and third acts.

If you know me, you know I love live theater — watching it and being part of it as an actor. This was a fun and funny read — Charlie is a bit of a bad girl, but you can’t help but like her and admire her pluckiness. Back with her old flame, Charlie is focused on herself and getting her way (think “diva”). At the same time we get a glimpse into some of the other characters as they share the voice in this story. Underneath it all is the imminent demise of the summer theater unless something or someone makes all the difference and breathes new life into it.

A fun read that is a light romance, this was a great choice for the summer! I will admit to sometime being confused when the point of view switched, but I figured it out!

Thank you for making me part of the tour and for my ARC!

Here’s a bit about the author:

Aimee Agresti is the author of the Gilded Wings novels, Illuminate and Infatuate. She is also an entertainment journalist whose work has appeared in People, the Washington Post, Mademoiselle, and the New York Observer. As a staff writer for Us Weekly magazine, she interviewed many celebrities and penned the magazine’s coffee table book Inside Hollywood. She lives in Washington, DC.

THE THINGS WE WISH WERE TRUE by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

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I found this title as a deal of the day on Amazon for my kindle. It was a really captivating story about a group of neighborhood friends who are affected by near-tragic circumstances one summer. It is told through multiple points of view, and with each chapter, you discover a little more about each person as the layers are lifted away. There’s a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, a bit of intrigue. I really enjoyed this read and the ending was quite satisfying! Honestly, it’s the perfect summer read!

Here’s the overview from Amazon:

In an idyllic small-town neighborhood, a near tragedy triggers a series of dark revelations.

From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.

Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts—until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of the neighbors’ intertwined lives begins to unravel.

During the course of a sweltering summer, long-buried secrets are revealed, and the neighbors learn that it’s impossible to really know those closest to us. But is it impossible to love and forgive them?

 

Saturday Snapshot: Bolton Fair

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If you’ve read me for a while, or are a facebook friend, you know I volunteer on the committee to run an agricultural fair in our small town of Bolton. The fair has been going for over 130 years. I organize the music/bands for the weekend.

Last weekend was the fair and a friend took this shot of my kids on one of the midway rides:

fair photo

They were just coming in for a landing!

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Here’s my music tent. We have bands in it all day! (where did that baby bottle come from??)

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I love the fair at night! So pretty!

Since I’m in the tent all day, I don’t get out too much, but there are some very cute baby animals at the fair every year, and a lot of 4-H kids with their animals. The pig races are a huge hit, though I missed them this year; and people pack in for the demolition derby at night and the (really really LOUD) monster truck rallies (fair photo):

fair photo monster truck

 

Though I have to say, I’m just kind of the quiet, music type!

Is there a fair in your town in the summer?

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at http://www.westmetromommy.blogspot.com

See her site for participation info.

YA Review : WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart

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I had heard some buzz about this book, so I ordered it from Amazon for my Kindle for when it was released earlier this month. This is the kind of book that people say, “I can’t talk about it without giving it away”. Okay – that’s true, but I can say this: this was one of those books that you start to read and can’t put down. I read it almost entirely straight through as I was trying to figure out what was going on. It’s memorable and heart-breaking and just really, really good – all at the same time.

In WE WERE LIARS, Cadence Sinclair has grown up as the eldest grandchild of the wealthy and well-known Sinclair family. They spend their summers together on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. They play, they argue, they exist as a big sprawling family. Cadence spends her long summer days with her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and their friend Gat. Then one summer, while they are in their teens, things change. Decisions are made and actions follow which have devastating consequences.

Loved loved loved this book. I’d suggest it for older teens (and adults – if you read YA, and you should!).

Can’t say more without spoilers, but I’ve added a You Tube clip of the author reading from the novel:

Review: ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS by Meg Donohue

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I had the chance to hear Meg Donohue read from her new book at my local fave indie bookshop (The Concord Bookshop) where I purchased her ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS. This is a great summertime read as it’s set on the Jersey Shore.

Three longtime girlfriends, Kate, Dani, and Vanessa, reunite for one long weekend at the beach. Each one has her own issues and problems: Kate’s fiance has just broken up with her and she then learns she is pregnant; Dani has substance abuse problems and can’t keep a job, meanwhile she is trying to write a cathartic novel; Vanessa is feeling tied down as a stay at home mom and has learned that her husband has strayed. All three are still feeling the loss of Kate’s twin brother, Colin, who tragically drowned when they were last at the shore several years earlier. Each of them also carries her own guilt and secrets about that final night, too.

All in all I liked this book. Ms. Donohue’s writing is fluid and the characters are well-developed. I did feel a bit “old” reading this. The characters are all twenty-nine and still getting their lives together. (I’m in my forties and twenty-nine seems a long time ago!). They all also have experienced a lot of drama! While I liked the subplot of the secrets surrounding Colin’s death, I didn’t feel like I got to really know him as a character. He was definitely headed for self-destruction, and I wasn’t entirely sure why each girl blamed herself so much for his death, but I did like the theme of self acceptance and self forgiveness that came through at the end.

If you are looking for a summer read about friendship and self growth, then take a look at ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS!