Showing posts with label Waiting On Wednesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waiting On Wednesday. Show all posts

Sep 26, 2012

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Wisdom of Hair

It has been entirely too long since I've participated in "Waiting On" Wednesday but I'm so happy to be here today sharing the novel I've run across in my bookish travels. The book is THE WISDOM OF HAIR by Kim Boykin and it's scheduled release date is March 5, 2013. It is Southern Women's Fiction and this is Ms. Boykin's debut novel.


Here is a little about the book taken from Amazon.com -

"The problem with cutting your own hair is that once you start, you just keep cutting, trying to fix it, and the truth is, some things can never be fixed. The day of my daddy's funeral, I cut my bangs until they were the length of those little paintbrushes that come with dime-store watercolor sets. I was nine years old. People asked me why I did it, but I was too young then to know I was changing my hair because I wanted to change my life."
 
In 1983, on her nineteenth birthday, Zora Adams finally says goodbye to her alcoholic mother and their tiny town in the mountains of South Carolina. Living with a woman who dresses like Judy Garland and brings home a different man each night is not a pretty existence, and Zora is ready for life to be beautiful.
 
With the help of a beloved teacher, she moves to a coastal town and enrolls in the Davenport School of Beauty. Under the tutelage of Mrs. Cathcart, she learns the art of fixing hair, and becomes fast friends with the lively Sara Jane Farquhar, a natural hair stylist. She also falls hard for handsome young widower Winston Sawyer, who is drowning his grief in bourbon. She couldn't save Mama, but maybe she can save him.
 
As Zora practices finger waves, updos, and spit curls, she also comes to learn that few things are permanent in this life--except real love, lasting friendship, and, ultimately... forgiveness.

As a lover of all things Southern, I love reading about strong Southern women so it is easy to understand why I am so anxious for this release.  I can't wait to share it. For more information on Kim, visit her web page at kimboykin.com

To discover more yet-to-be-released books, be sure to visit Breaking the Spine for other "Waiting On" Wednesday blog posts every Wednesday.

Book Info:
Genre: Southern Fiction, Women's Fiction
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Publish Date: March 5, 2013
Length: 304 pp
ISBN-10:  0425261050
ISBN-13:  0425261057

Apr 28, 2010

"Waiting On" Wednesday 4.28.10



"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted each week by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It's a fun weekly meme where we share yet to be released books that we're excited about.

This week my can't wait to read pick is . . .


Author: Aimee Bender
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 304

Here's a description from Harper Collins -

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle).

I love books with magical realism and I am really looking forward to this one. It will also be my first Aimee Bender book. What is your can't-wait-to-read book?

Jan 13, 2010

"Waiting On" Wednesday



"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted weekly by Jill at Breaking The Spine. It is a great way to find out about new books that are are soon to released.

This week my can't wait to be released title is . . . THE WIFE'S TALE by Lori Lansens. It is set to be released in February. If you get a chance, you should really check out Lori's website - it's terrific. But in the meantime, here's what Publisher's Weekly has to say about THE WIFE'S TALE:

Lansens's hopeful and gentle third novel (after The Girls), opens in the same fictitious Ontario county as its predecessors, but the heroine's journey takes her to a vastly different landscape, both literally and spiritually. In Leaford, Mary Gooch's life is strictly circumscribed-she's even worn a rut in the carpet between the bed and the kitchen, so often has the 302-pound woman made the trip. So when Mary's handsome husband disappears on the eve of their silver wedding anniversary, Mary wonders whether her size or her aversion to adventure chased him off. With few clues, Mary leaves her small town for one of the first times in her life, venturing first to Toronto and then to the suburbs of Los Angeles, where a series of encounters with strangers shakes her out of her lethargy.... She's a wonderful character, and Lansens's handling of her eventual transformation into someone capable of compassion and acceptance is handled with a light but assured touch.

Nov 11, 2009

"Waiting On" Wednesday: 11.11.09


"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This is where we share what yet-to-be-released book(s) we are excited about. It's a great way to keep up with all the newest titles!

I'm especially excited about my pick this week. It's from an author I thoroughly enjoy reading. Here it is:


Author: Nancy Martin
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Genre: Mystery

Nancy Martin is the author of The Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series, a well-crafted mix of mystery, wit and mob-family drama and this is the start of her new series. It's a spin-off of The Blackbird Sisters and features Roxy Abruzzo, the half sister of up and coming Philly mob boss, Mick Abruzzo, the lover of Nora Blackbird from the previous series. I have no doubt that Roxy will be every bit as entertaining as Nora and I am so looking forward to meeting her. Click on the title to learn more about Roxy.


Apr 29, 2009

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Last Child

"Waiting On " Wednesday is a weekly even hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we talk about upcoming book releases that we're excited about.  

My can't-wait-to-read book this week is John Hart's THE LAST CHILD due to be released May 12th. 


From Publishers Weekly:

A year after 12-year-old Alyssa Merrimon disappeared on her way home from the library in an unnamed rural North Carolina town, her twin brother, Johnny, continues to search the town, street by street, even visiting the homes of known sex offenders, in this chilling novel from Edgar-winner Hart (Down River). Det. Clyde Hunt, the lead cop on Alyssa's case, keeps a watchful eye on Johnny and his mother, who has deteriorated since Alyssa's abduction and her husband's departure soon afterward. Whena second girl is snatched, Johnny is even more determined to find his sister, convinced that the perpetrator is the same person who took Alyssa. But what he unearths is more sinister than anyone imagined, sending shock waves through the community and putting Johnny's own life in danger. Despite a tendency to dip into melodrama, Hart spins an impressively layered tale of broken families and secrets that can kill.
Doesn't that sound like a great book? What new release are you waiting on?

Feb 4, 2009

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Sarah Addison Allen


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we share titles that are soon to be released that we can't wait to read!


My pick for this week's can't wait to read title is Sarah Addison Allen's new book, THE GIRL WHO CHASED THE MOON. Here's a description from Amazon:


In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestelling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world…no matter how out of place they feel. Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. For instance, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? Why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life.Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth and in the hope of bringing back the love she fears she’s lost forever. In Julia, Emily may have found a link to her mother’s past. But why is everyone trying to discourage Emily’s growing relationship with the handsome and mysterious son of Mullaby’s most prominent family? Emily came to Mullaby to get answers, but all she’s found so far are more questions.


Is there really a ghost dancing in her backyard? Can a cake really bring back a lost love? In this town of lovable misfits, maybe the right answer is the one that just feels…different.

THE GIRL WHO CHASED THE MOON will be published by Bantam Books on May 12, 2009.

Dec 31, 2008

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Roanoke by Margaret Lawrence



"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we share titles that are soon to be released that we can't wait to read!

My pick for this week's "Waiting On" Wednesday is:
ROANOKE by Margaret Lawrence.
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: January 27th
Pages: 416
About the book:


In the spring of 1585, seven English ships sailed around Cape Feare and up the windswept coast of Florida.. Their mission: to gain a foothold in the Americas, a gateway to riches, an island fortress against the Spanish. But within ten years, the vibrant new colony had vanished without a trace.… In Hampton Court, Elizabeth is under siege—surrounded by sycophants, spies, and assassins who stalk her every move. Among those charged with protecting her is a tall, charismatic spy named Gabriel North…and when the queen’s advisers persuade her to send ships to the Americas, North is given a job for which he is perfectly suited: to seduce Roanoke’s Secota princess and gain information about a fabled treasure hidden in the wilderness.In Princess Naia, North meets a woman who bewitches him utterly—and he soon sees the dangerous deceptions from which his mission was born. As war and calamity crash down on Roanoke Island, Gabriel North becomes a wanted man in a desperate hunt that will lead back across the Atlantic—into a trap set by his enemies, and into a shocking act of treachery that swirls around Elizabeth herself….With the grace of a master storyteller, Margaret Lawrence brings to life a cast of brave hearts and blackguards, petty criminals and grand schemers, who play their roles in a searing drama of conquest, rule, and rebellion.

Is there a book you're waiting to be released?

Dec 3, 2008

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy




"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we share titles that are soon to be released that we can't wait to read!

My pick for this week's "Waiting On" Wednesday is from an author who has been around forever yet I've read none of her books. Her name is Maeve Binchy and her new book is titled HEART and SOUL.
From Amazon: With the warmth, humor, and compassion we have come to expect from her, Maeve Binchy tells a story of family, friends, patients, and staff who are part of a heart clinic in a community caught between the old and the new Ireland.Dr. Clara Casey has been offered the thankless job of establishing the underfunded clinic and agrees to take it on for a year. She has plenty on her plate already—two difficult adult daughters and the unwanted attentions of her exhusband—but she assembles a wonderfully diverse staff devoted to helping their demanding, often difficult patients: the infectiously cheerful nurse; the indispensable office manager who can’t quite manage her own life; the Polish girl who’s come to Ireland to put a bad love affair firmly in her past and the booming Irish economy in her future; the young doctor who has a special touch with his patients; the physical therapist who undertakes a very different kind of therapy involving a local priest and a stalker.Before long they manage to establish the clinic as an essential part of the community and Clara must decide whether or not to leave a place where lives are saved, courage is rewarded, and humor and optimism triumph over greed and self-pity.

Heart and Soul is Maeve Binchy at her heartwarming storytelling best.

Although the book has already been released and is currently #1 in Australia, the UK, Ireland and Canada, it won't be published here in the States until February. I'm looking forward to getting to know this most adored author.

HEART AND SOUL
Maeve Binchy
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 432
Release Date: February 17, 2009

Nov 26, 2008

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Bound South (Paperback)


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we share titles that are soon to be released that we can't wait to read!

My pick for this week's "Waiting On" Wednesday is BOUND SOUTH by Susan Rebecca White. I love southern fiction and I'm really looking forward to this debut novel. There is no available cover image as of yet so you'll just have to picture it in your mind.
From Publishers Weekly: White's wonderful debut charts the clash of Southern tradition with present-day issues from the perspective of three white females over the years of 1998–2008: Louise Parker, a frustrated, pampered matron living in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood; Caroline, her rebellious teenage daughter; and Missy Meadows, the young daughter of Louise's impoverished housekeeper, Faye. While Missy yearns to reconnect with her father who abandoned the family to become a preacher and Christian TV soap star, Caroline embarks on a scandalous affair during her senior year with Frederick Staunton, her high school drama teacher, and they run off to San Francisco. The relationship fizzles, but Caroline chooses not to come home; back in Georgia, Missy and Charles, Louise's gay son, make a fateful journey to Durham, N.C., to surprise Missy's father. White's wit and graceful prose yield sharp insights about family, friendship and faith in the ever-changing South.
Author: Susan Rebecca White
Publisher: Touchstone
Pages: 368
Release Date: February 9th, 2009
(I have no idea why my spacing isn't working on blogger, so you'll have to excuse the crammed-up look - Ugh!)

Oct 29, 2008

"Waiting On" Wednesday - My First


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we share titles that are soon to be released that we can't wait to read! This is my first time participating and I'm very excited to share my pick.


My first 'can't-wait-to-read' selection is . . .

THE MUSIC TEACHER
Author: Barbara Hall
Publication Date: February 9, 2009


From Amazon:


In The Music Teacher, a penetrating and richly entertaining look into the heart and mind of a woman who has failed both as an artist and as a wife, Barbara Hall, award-winning creator and writer of such hit television series as Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia, tells the story of a violinist who has accepted the limitations of her talent and looks for the casual satisfaction of trying to instill her passion for music in others. She gets more than she bargains for, however, when a young girl named Hallie enters her life. For here at last is the real thing: someone with the talent and potential to be truly great. In her drive to shape this young girl into the artist the teacher could never be, she makes one terrible mistake. As a result she is forced to reevaluate her whole life and come to terms with her future.


Hall has crafted a thoroughly engrossing novel that examines the pitfalls of failure and holds up a mirror to the face of a culture that places success and achievement above all else


There are several reasons this book appeals to me. First, its publisher, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill is my favorite publishing house. I've read many of their books (i.e. MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan and TOMATO GIRL by Jayne Pupek to name a few) and have been impressed with them all. Particularly because they publish wonderful books of southern literature which, as a Southerner, I'm drawn to.

Another reason is that music is near and dear to my heart. When I was young, I was involved in our school's music program and participated in our school band. It was a wonderful experience. There is something about the dynamic between teacher and student that is fascinating and it makes you want to try harder and be better.

Barbara Hall, the author, is another positive point. Not only is she an accomplished writer of television's Judging Amy, Joan of Arcadia, and the author of eight other published books, she also wrote for the show, Northern Exposure, which was one of my all-time favorite shows back in the mid 90's. I think it's one of tv's most underated programs - I loved the humor, the characters and the stories. And . . .

Lastly, I LOVE the cover!

So that is my first 'Waiting On Wednesday"' pick. What book are you excited about?