Title: Folds in the Map: Stories of Life’s Unlikely Intersections
Author: Jeff Bauer
Publisher: Inciteful Press
Genre: Inspirational/Essay
Pages: 166
Language: English

ISBN-10: 061589125X
ISBN-13: 978-0615891255

Folds in the Map is a collection of essays and stories by emerging author Jeff Bauer. In these pages, he embarks on an earnest, touching journey to discover the places where we feel most connected as human beings – to each other, to nature, and to the world around us. From the bottom of a bomb crater in Laos, to a refugee camp on the Sudanese border, to the side of a Panamanian volcano, and back home again to the frozen January streets of Minnesota, Folds in the Map is a moving, intensely personal exploration of shared experience and unlikely intersection.

Guest Post

“Aflame” by Jeff Bauer

Over the past few weeks, the maple down the street has changed from dingy, faded summer’s-end green to splendorous burnt orange and crimson, like blood and fire against the azure autumn sky. Every year it sparks in me a memory, or maybe something deeper than a memory; an image emblazoned in the archives of my past, filed away but far from forgotten.

There was a massive maple tree just like this one on the winding avenue that led up the hill to the house where I grew up. Every year it would ignite with the same impossible colors before yielding its leaves to the unrelenting autumn winds. I biked past it hundreds of times as a kid, returning from some friend’s house or some adventure deep in the woods, then drove past it hundreds more as a teenager, coming back from some keg-strewn bonfire in some gravel pit outside the city limits, racing to get home before curfew.

It isn’t just the image that has lingered with me, though, but all of the longing and turmoil spilling over at every moment in those days. I used to wear an old canvas army surplus jacket in the fall, full of rips and bloodstains and cigarette burns – each one hard-earned. I walked its threads like tightropes, dancing while they frayed beneath my feet. We were all so close to the edge back then and we wanted to be – to see just how close we could come, how much we could feel, how much beauty and pain and inspiration and heartbreak we could take.

I always felt those things the most in the fall, when somehow the world dying all around made me feel like I was being reborn.

But those flames have turned to embers now, glowing faintly beneath the years and layers of habit and routine. I’m not sure it’s possible to ever feel anything as intensely as we do when we’re young – or if we do, maybe it’s us who can’t last. After all, we’ve already said goodbye to some friends who tried to walk that edge for too long.

Last time I was back in the old neighborhood, I saw that they had chopped that old maple down, removing the last landmark by which I had tried to navigate my way back to the wild heart that used to beat in my chest. I sat at the stop sign blinking slowly, trying to make it reappear, until the honking of the cars behind me tore me from my reverie. For a split second, I swear I could see its jagged outline in the rear view mirror as I drove away.

This autumn is warmer and later than it should be, with the leaves in my neighborhood just starting to change and clinging tenaciously to the trees. All except the maple down the block, that is. It hasn’t been willing to wait for the colder weather to set itself aflame. It glows and burns like a personal protest against the slow death of winter it knows will come far too soon.

Though I know it, too, I just can’t seem to burn like that anymore. But I’ve still got those embers glowing somewhere inside of me, and I’ve still got a chance…

About the Author

Jeff Bauer is a community organizer, public policy advocate, and writer based in Saint Paul, MN. His blog, onlybiggerthinking.com, has been read by nearly 10,000 people from over 50 countries. Folds in the Map is his first book. In addition to his work as a writer, Jeff recently lead a successful advocacy effort, in his role as Director of Public Policy at The Family Partnership, to pass a nation-leading Safe Harbor law in Minnesota to protect children from sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. He lives in a tiny house on St. Paul’s West Side with his wife, Diane.

His latest book is the inspirational/essay book, Folds in the Map: Stories of Lifes Unlikely Intersections.

 Website * Blog

Title: Through the Withering Storm
Author: Leif Gregersen
Publisher: Createspace
Genre: Self-Help Memoir
Pages: 186
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1480205346
ISBN-13: 978-1480205345

Synopsis

Mental illness is something that is a great deal more common than many think. Statistics show that 1 in 5 North Americans will require treatment for a major disorder at some point in their lives. This means either you or a family member or friend close to you are very likely to be stricken down by a failure of our most essential and complicated organ in our bodies.

When I was first treated for a mental health issue there was so much stigma and misunderstanding about mental illness that I completely denied I had a problem. Despite that mental health issues ran in my family, no one talked about them, everyone shunned those who were different, and as a result I wasted years of my life not understanding that there was help available and that I didn’t just have to ‘tough things out’. My denial and pain was so bad at one point I tried to join the military during the first Gulf War just to find a way out of life, I thought I would either gain the discipline needed to overcome my illness or die trying. I needed neither.

Some find my story funny, some find it sad, but it is a story that is being played out among more people than you may think right now, right around all of us. Depression, Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Addiction. It‘s something we can no longer avoid, especially with America now deploying and redeploying troops en masse to combat zones where even the strongest among us can succumb to the pressure of such a situation. It is my hope that those who read this book can walk away from it having had a look inside the mind of someone who lost his mind and one day regained it, but not without first going through incredible pain and suffering. This suffering doesn‘t have to happen. What has to happen is that attitudes and knowledge have to improve.

Guest Post

My Reasons for writing:

When I look back now at when I started writing, it is a bit hard to nail down the exact thoughts I had in my head about why I wanted to write.  I think a big reason for me was that I had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and was very sensitive about getting ‘stressed’ at a regular job and thus it was very hard for me to find ways to either make money or occupy my time.  My first desires towards being a writer came from a very young age.  When I was young, my parents exposed us to classical literature and that to me was almost a religion.  I can remember being very young and my Dad gathering the family in the living room to read “Robinson Crusoe” and Faulkner’s “The Kite”.  I quickly learned to read even before I was old enough for school.  I pushed myself because I was the youngest and felt I was getting behind my siblings.

Early on in school I was set apart as a gifted child and put into special classes along with the regular workload of the grades I was in.  I loved elementary school and all the yearly events and being able to play football after school every day with friends.  When I got to junior high either my mental illness had begun to take its’ toll on me or I simply stopped caring because of the dramatic change in how my schooling was done.  Soon after getting into junior high (or middle school) my parents bought a laser disc player and we would watch movie after movie every night of the week.  I marveled at the people who wrote the stories sometimes more than the actors who played them out.

In junior high I was put into Air Cadets (civil air patrol in the US as far as I understand) and I felt that would be my career-become a military pilot or officer.  When high school came, many of my ideas changed, but a love of literature and writing stayed.  I took typing and academic English (which I failed later) and read all I could.  By the end of high school I completed the hardest academic English course and got University entrance level marks, but needed other courses to get my diploma.  That summer I spent many nights after work staying up reading everything from Julius Ceaser to Les Miserables.  I could hardly wait to get to University and get the challenge of more English courses.  But sadly I became extremely mentally ill and had to be put in a mental hospital twice.  My family relationships broke down and seeking some anchor from my past I tried to join the military, which was impossible with my mental health record.  I traveled out to the West Coast and lived in a traveller’s Hostel for some time and though I hadn’t started writing I often thought about and talked about becoming a writer.  It took a few years, but I eventually returned to Edmonton and got my hands on a book called “The Writer’s Handbook” and tried to teach myself to write stories and poems.  My reasons at first were to impress friends and family members, but then I found that there were many rewards to writing.  One of the big ones was self-understanding and self-expression.  I wrote and wrote and then one day I learned by accident that a letter I had sent to a newspaper had been chosen as the ‘letter of the week’.  I was elated, but my life wasn’t going all that well.  I would soon end up back in the hospital and I was put on medications that made me incredibly restless.  All I had at this point was a few poems and some short stories and no ability to sit down at all to write any more.

I pushed myself hard and would read all the shortest short stories from a book I had bought just to feel in some way I was working towards bettering my situation.  After some months, a new Doctor put me on a better medication and I struggled back to normalcy.  I remember meeting a young woman at a church event and asking her if she was single and she said, “I have a boyfriend, he’s going to be a Doctor.”  It kind of offended me in the way she said it and I said, “Well what if I become a great writer some day?”  It was kind of silly, but I have known a few women that I had interest in who married Doctors and felt defensive about it.  The truth of the matter is though, that a Doctor really would provide a more stable emotional and financial situations for a young woman, I just didn’t like the idea of being dismissed because of my career choices.

Back to why I write, I think that parts of me want to think that one day I will make a lot of money from my writing, but in the past few years that has changed dramatically.  I now see writing as an incredible form of communicating with anyone with the ability to pick up a book and start reading.  There are times when this is disturbing, like when people you don’t know at all have read your book and they come up to you grinning like idiots not realizing that though they may know my work, they don’t know me and I know absolutely nothing about them.  Sometimes it is disturbing, but most of the time it feels kind of good.  People read my work, they like it and they feel that I have certain talents and abilities that have eluded them.  There are many rewards to writing something, but mainly writing is its’ own reward.  Some people I have met are deathly afraid of dying, of not accomplishing anything, having nothing to leave the world.  If I were to die at my age I would have dozens of short stories, a number of books and articles and all kinds of newspaper interviews.  I will pass away with the feeling that I haven’t wasted this incredible gift of life we have all been given, and with my book “Through The Withering Storm” I have the extra hope that I have done something to ease the stigma and suffering of people like myself who are afflicted with mental illness.

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About the Author

From a young age I showed promise in writing and poetry, and did well in school. Even in grade five I used to draw and write stories for my own comic books and post them on the bulletin board in class. When I got to high school, I began to read voraciously, and though I failed my first academic English course, I took continually more advanced courses and got higher and higher grades in them. I was hopeful to attend University and study English, but before I finished school I was stricken with a severe breakdown and had to be hospitalized where I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. From that point, family and friend relationships broke down and I ended up sort of drifting until I signed up for Flying School in Vancouver, BC. In the middle of this training, I took off for the US with a friend and tried to join the US Army as a helicopter pilot. All of these adventures are detailed in my memoir, which covers my life from the age of 13 to 21 which was the point at which I decided I had to stay in one place (I had returned to Edmonton near my home town and where my parents lived) and I took treatment for my disorder and began to write seriously. I spent some years just studying and writing poetry and then moved on to short stories, and my book, “Through The Withering Storm” is actually partially short stories I wrote and collected at that time. Now, since I turned 30 I have been living in an assisted-living house for males with Psychiatric Disorders and life has gone quite well. I landed a great job doing labour work/stage hand/security work for the stage and screen Union, IATSE. I have seen many concerts, worked closely with some big stars, and made enough money to continue writing and self-publishing my books, which have already paid for themselves in sales for the most part.

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Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes – A Lilly M. Mystery #1 (Lilly M. Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
File Size: 428 KB
Print Length: 341 pages
ASIN: B0054EAM5A

Synopsis

Turning forty, menopausal and single mystery writer, Lilly M. needs a little excitement in her life now and then. So, when her aunt Fran turns up missing, Lilly decides playing amateur detective might do the trick. Of course, she would have to keep her snooping from Irene, her adopted mom. She thinks Lilly will snoop herself right into trouble. It doesn’t take a crystal ball or Irene to predict Lilly’s fate; most of the time, her life just turns out that way.

Excerpt

“Some days I hated my life. Turning forty, pre-menopausal migraines, single, gaining ten pounds in six months, not to mention having three, sometimes overbearing mothers,  and an editor with no compassion.
On the other hand, I had Kline, sort of, and there was my career, or what was left of it. I had a dog that idolized me, even if no one else did, and a house of my own. Those pluses should sustain me through my crises. So now, I would go home and write. It’s what I do. — Lilly Millenovanovich”

The windows were huge, covering the entire front wall of the building. Once we turned the lights on, anyone from the street could see us. Not a good idea.

“Mona, wait. Maybe we should …” My words ended in muted garble as I tripped. A large object like a rolled up rug came into contact with my foot. Before I knew it, feet, legs, and then the rest of me fell to the floor, along with the large vase I grabbed hold of in a desperate attempt to remain standing. Mona heard my grunt, a thud, and the crash of shattered pottery as I landed.

“You okay?” She whispered, despite all the clamor I had just made.

“I’m fine! Can you reach that light so I can see my way up off this floor?”

I heard the flip of the switch and blinked when light filled the store. As soon as my eyes adjusted, I looked down at the object causing my fall. My hand, sticky, wet, and red, lifted off the so-called rug. I stared at it for a second until the message registered in my brain, then I screamed. I scrambled backwards on all fours in crablike motion to distance myself.

“Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick all over again.”

Mona turned and took in the scene. “Is that …?” she started.

I forced myself to look at the body with a bullet hole in the middle of the forehead and nodded.

Review

I think this is a series that has a lot of potential but I felt like there wasn’t a good introduction to the characters for the first book in a series. It seemed like many things were revealed about Lilly throughout the book that maybe could have been done in the beginning when introducing her as the main character. The storyline was fun and the characters engaging (and quirky!) and I will read the 2nd book to see if the writing style improves.

I would give this 3 1/2 paws

About The Author

Kathryn Long is a recently retired school teacher who has enjoyed writing mysteries for several years. Credits include mystery shorts, “Betrayal in an Envelope” and “A Good Man”, both published by The Piker Press. Long has ventured into self-publishing the cozy Lilly M. mystery series with titles Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes and Gangs, Illegals, and a Rose Tattoo, as well as a series of YA novels, Cinderella Geek, Not So Snow White and Alice in Realityland under the pen name Jennkrist. Dying to Dream is her latest mystery gone to print with indie publisher, Mainly Murder Press. Future publications include a romantic suspense novel titled A Deadly Deed Grows, which will be coming out next year with The Wild Rose Press.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

December 2 – Brooke Blogs – Interview, Giveaway 
December 3 – According to Squenn – Review
December 4 – Queen of All She Reads – Review, Giveaway 
December 5 – Books-n-Kisses – Review, Giveaway 
December 6 – Darla King Series – Review
December 8 – Socrates’ Book Review Blog – Review, Giveaway 
December 9 – readalot blog – Review, Giveaway 
December 10 – StoreyBook Reviews – Review, Giveaway 
December 11 – rantin’ ravin’ and reading – Review, Interview, Giveaway 
December 12 – Dr. Pepper Diva – Review, Giveaway

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Art of Being Rebekkah is an Intricate Tale of a Woman’s Struggle with a Troubled Marriage, the Love of Her Life, Faith and Her Unborn Child

When 20-something Rebekkah Gelles suspects her husband, Avram, not only of lying and stealing, but also of contriving to bar her from having the children she so desperately wants, she realizes her marriage is imperiled.

The Art of Being Rebekkah by Karoline Barrett (e-Lit Books; December 2013; 6.99) tells an emotional and heartbreaking story of loss, love and faith as Rebekkah tries to rebuild her trust in men and establish independence for the first time in her life.

Devoted to her Jewish faith, Rebekkah’s values come into question when Nick Rossi – a tall, dark and Catholic, New York City detective enters her life. Convinced they can never be together, Rebekkah shuts him out, even after they share an unforgettable night of passion.

In the midst of her divorce – a difficult process for a Conservative Jew – Rebekkah must deal with a number of challenges, including the mystery surrounding her new career as an artist and reconnecting with old friends, now distant, casualties of a controlling husband.  Even more disquieting, Rebekkah learns she’s pregnant, though not via the Jewish man she’d always imagined as the father of her children.  The father is Nick, the man she believes is off limits.

Rebekkah must decide what’s most important – true, unadulterated love or raising her baby in the Jewish faith and culture she’s always cherished. As the young woman embarks on some serious soul-searching, a shocking confession further complicates matters as Rebekkah learns her biological mother may not have been Jewish after all.  Rebekkah, strong but vulnerable, leans on her adoptive parents and Nick, all of whom offer unconditional support.

In a final twist, Nick’s dangerous profession intervenes just when all the pieces are falling into place.  Rebekkah fears Avram may have been behind an attack on the detective’s life.

Together, Rebekkah and Nick must find a way to merge their lives and fight the negative forces that could keep them apart. Barrett tells a deep, rich story that creates a very real Rebekkah and provides a look into the thoughts of a compelling, young Jewish woman.  She also paints a clear picture of the New York City neighborhoods in which the story is set.

About the Author

Karoline Barrett loves writing and reading women’s fiction and romance.  Her short stories have been published in various outlets, most recently in Every Day Fiction.  She is also a poet.  Karoline was born in upstate New York and has lived in South America, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  At the moment, she lives in a small Connecticut town with her husband.  When not writing, Karoline reads, spends time by the water, watches the New York Yankees, indulges her Coca-Cola addiction and does anything that has nothing to do with math. www.karolinebarrett.com

About e-Lit Books

E-Lit Books is a ground-breaking publishing company of YA, NA, adult fiction and non-fiction books from emerging and established writers. It offers topnotch titles by fascinating authors supported by a leading national marketing and PR team. E-Lit Books presents the perfect combination for readers seeking engaging books and writers making their mark on the literary world.

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Title: Return of the Cowboy Doctor

Book 2 in the Wyoming Legacy series: United by family, destined for love

Author: Lacy Williams

Publisher: Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical line

Pub date: December 2013

Synopsis

Review

I thought this book was a sweet western romance! Apparently this is a series but isn’t one that necessarily has to be read in order but always good to not spoil anything!  I think the previous book is about a different family member and his story on how he met his wife, but I don’t think that it has to be read to enjoy this book.

Communication seems to be the biggest problem between Hattie and Maxwell (isn’t that always the case?!) plus Hattie is very proud and stubborn and Maxwell has a problem talking to women, which is actually kind of sweet!  Despite everything they work through their issues to find love.

We give it 4 paws and suggest it next time you are looking for a western romance book.

About the Author

Synopsis

In Small Town Trouble, the first in my mystery series, you get acquainted with Kim Claypoole’s irreverent ways of dealing with the peculiar characters and events that seem to follow her around. Claypoole’s misadventures begin as she leaves her home in the Smoky Mountains to help save her kooky mother Evelyn’s from financial disaster. Setting off to assist Evelyn, AKA “The Other Scarlett O’Hara,” with her newest personal crisis, Claypoole leaves her Gatlinburg doublewide and the Little Pigeon, the restaurant that she owns with her partner and sometimes best friend Mad Ted Weber as well as a steamy love affair with TV diva Nancy Merit.

Claypoole’s savior complex leads to more trouble when she bumps into an old flame in her hometown who asks for help clearing her hapless brother of a recent murder charge. In true Claypoole fashion, she gets more than she bargained for when she gets dragged into a complicated quest to find the true killer that involves topless dancers, small-town cops, a stream of backwater character and even a meeting with the Grim Reaper. We’re never sure if Claypoole can muddle her way through the murky depths of this bizarre murder mystery before it’s too late. With biting humor and wit, Small Town Trouble will leave you guessing what’s around the next corner in the quirky world of Kim Claypoole and looking forward to her next adventure.

Review

This isn’t quite a cozy but sort of borders on one. Interesting characters, strong female lead with a very quirky family. Fun read, some laugh out loud parts and reads pretty quickly. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on and would never have guessed who was behind all the murders and other happenings!

We give this 4 paws!

About Jean Erhardt

I was raised in the small rural town of Amelia, Ohio, about twenty five miles out of Cincinnati.

I wrote my first mystery story when I was in fourth grade. It was about a kid a lot like me who heard strange noises coming from the attic and became convinced that the attic was haunted. Eventually, the mystery was solved when she investigated and found a squirrel eating nuts in a dark corner. It wasn’t a terribly exciting conclusion, but my teacher gave me an A anyway.

As a teenager I worked at a lot of different jobs. I worked at a gift shop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is a frequent locale in my books. I was a swimming instructor and a lifeguard where my primary goal was to never get wet. I did a stint in a stuffed animal gift shop at the Kings Island amusement park where I actually sort of met the Partridge Family when they shot an episode there. After graduating from high school, I went on to attend Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, a stone’s throw from the Great Smoky Mountains.

In high school and college I played basketball and I graduated from Maryville College with a degree in Phys Ed. I went on to teach at Amelia Junior High, the same junior high that I had attended. There was something a little weird about passing by my old school locker every day when I walked down the hall as a teacher. Plus, some of the teachers I’d had back when I was in junior high were still working when I started to teach. Some of them had been none too fond of me as a student and I don’t think they were much fonder of me as a teacher! I coached the girls’ basketball and volleyball teams which was the best part of my job.

In my late 20’s I moved to the West Coast to get a broader perspective on life or something like that. I ended up working in retail security, or loss prevention, as it is now known, at an upscale Northwest retailer. I kept getting promoted and with each promotion, the job became less and less fun. It was a lot more fun catching shoplifters than sitting in endless meetings and crunching budgets. After ten years of that, I quit to try my hand at some serious writing. I wrote two books of fiction (not mysteries), Benny’s World and Kippo’s World, as well as a book of not-especially-reverent poetry called A Girl’s Guide to God and numerous short stories, articles and poems which have appeared in The Sonora Review, The Quarterly, Word of Mouth, Blue Stocking and 8-Track Mind.

After that, it was time to go back to work. I got my private investigator’s license and hung out my shingle. At first, I took a lot of the cheaters cases. It seemed to me that if a guy thought his woman was cheating, he was usually wrong. On the other hand, if a woman thought her guy was cheating, she was almost always right. Eventually, I moved on to take mostly criminal defense investigation work which often involved trying to figure out what the client did and didn’t do and then minimize the damage of what they usually did do. There were so many crazy ways that people could get themselves in trouble. In one case, the attorney I was working for represented a wife who had gotten so enraged about all of the time and affection her husband lavished on his pet iguana that she shot the poor iguana and killed it. The husband was furious and wanted the district attorney to press charges. The wife was eventually charged with reckless endangerment and took a pretty sweet deal because even the DA felt sorry for the fact that she was married to such a schmuck.

It was an interesting ten years. Somewhere in this time period I began to write the Kim Claypoole Mystery Series, which was a great distraction and a lot of fun. I liked the idea of having many of the same characters appear in each book. So here I am now, working on the fifth book in the series. I hope you’ll come along for the adventures of Kim Claypoole.

Website * Author Facebook Page * Book Facebook page

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

TELL ME WHEN

By Stina Lindenblatt and Carina Press

Coming January 20, 2014

New Adult Contemporary Romance

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Amber Scott should be enjoying life as a college freshman. She should be pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian. She should be working hard to make sense of her precalculus math class.

She shouldn’t be waking up her college roommate with screaming nightmares. She shouldn’t be flashing back, reliving the three weeks of hell she barely survived last year. And she definitely shouldn’t be spending time with sexy player Marcus Reid.

But engineering student Marcus is the only one keeping Amber from failing her math course, so she grudgingly lets him into her life. She never expects the king of hookups will share his painful past. Or that she’ll tell him her secrets in return, opening up and trusting him in a way she thought she’d never be able to again.

When their fragile future together is threatened by a stalker Amber thought was locked away for good, Marcus is determined to protect her. And Amber is determined to protect Marcus…even if that means pushing him away.

Excerpt

I glance back at Emma, who’s busy looking through a rack of fleecy pajama bottoms, then walk out the store and into the solid wall of a person.

“Kitten,” the wall says as I step back. Marcus’s gaze jumps to the store’s name and his mouth slides into an amused grin. “You don’t need to get sexy underwear for our tutoring sessions, but I won’t say I don’t appreciate it.”

“Ass,” I mutter, momentarily forgetting the ass helped me learn a math concept I’d been struggling with.

“Anything to make you happy, Kitten.”

I somehow manage not to roll my eyes at the name. Telling him not to call me that hasn’t helped. It’s only encouraged him to use the name more. I narrow my eyes instead. “I thought you said you weren’t stalking me.”

“I’m not.” He lifts a plastic bag from the bookstore, and removes a book with a teenage girl and a male angel on the cover. “I was buying a birthday present for my friend’s sister. And now that you mention it, how do I know you’re not stalking me?”

From the corner of my eye, I spot a guy checking me out. Marcus brushes a strand of hair from my face. I flinch when his fingers touch my cheek, but then I see the other guy scurry away.

I think of Marcus’s reputation for not getting attached, of the way he jumped between me and that guy at the party. I take a deep breath, almost positive that what I’m about to do is incredibly stupid. “What are you doing Friday night?”

About the Author

Born in England, Stina loves to travel, and has lived in England, the US, Canada, and Finland. She spent a semester in graduate school living in central Finland, and a summer during her undergrad degree working in Helsinki. She has a Master’s of Science degree in exercise physiology and has worked with elite athletes. In her free time, Stina is a photographer, mother of three adorable kids, and devoted wife. She currently lives in Calgary, Canada.

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Click on the image above to read an Excerpt of this book!

Synopsis

The countdown to college has begun.

When Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment at the beginning of summer, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: TV, microwave, mini-fridge. She can’t wait to escape her New Jersey beach town, and her mom, and start life over in California.

The first note to Lauren in San Francisco comes as a surprise; she had requested a single. But if Lauren’s learned anything from being the oldest of six, it’s that you can’t always get what you want, especially when what you want is privacy.

Soon the girls are emailing back and forth, sharing secrets even though they’ve never met. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives…and each other.

About Sara

Sara Zarr is the acclaimed author of five novels for young adults, most recently The Lucy Variations, which the New York Times called “an elegant novel.”  She’s a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her books have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, the Guardian, the International Reading Association, the New York Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library, and have been translated into many languages. In 2010, she served as a judge for the National Book Award. She has written essays and creative nonfiction for Image, Hunger Mountain online, and Response as well as for several anthologies, and has been a regular contributor to Image‘s daily Good Letters blog on faith, life, and culture. As of summer 2013, she’s a member of the faculty of Lesley University’s Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. Sara also hosts the This Creative Life podcast. Born in Cleveland and raised in San Francisco, she currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, and online via her website.

About Tara

In addition to my most recent novel, THE BEST NIGHT OF YOUR (PATHETIC) LIFE, I’m the author of three previous books for Young Adults, including DREAMLAND SOCIAL CLUB, which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Books for Teens of 2011, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS and WHAT HAPPENS HERE.

Next up is ROOMIES, a novel I cowrote with Sara Zarr (Little Brown, December) and then my middle-grade debut, THE BATTLE OF DARCY LANE (Running Press Kids, May 2014).

I live in Queens, New York, with my husband and two young daughters, Ellie and Violet.  You can also visit her website