• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Hub City Press (March 1, 2012)

Library Journal says The Iguana Tree “recalls the work of John Steinbeck.” Kirkus Reviews calls it “exceptional … a haunting tale of hope and heartbreak.” 

Michel Stone’s debut novel, set against the backdrop of illegal immigration, is one family’s story of fateful decisions, risky border crossings, and a struggle for humanity. With a dream of a more prosperous life for his family, Héctor crosses into America on a harrowing journey in a welded-shut metal compartment under a delivery truck, making his way to job on a tree farm on Edisto Island, SC. He tells Lilia, his young wife, to stay behind with her newborn until he can pay for her travel. Impulsive and impatient, Lilia abandons her village, hands off her baby to a smuggler who should not have been trusted, and swims the dark Rio Grande. The tragedy unfolds across the southern United States. As Michel Stone weaves her tale of hope and human dignity, of sorrow and suffering, we see not only the devastating consequences of Lilia’s and Héctor’s decisions, but the consequences of decisions we have made as a society and as a nation. With its themes of loss, betrayal, and redemption, The Iguana Tree has the resonance of myth.

The Iguana Tree, published by Hub City Press, is a spring Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.

“Stone has done exceptional work in making real the struggles and despair, the resolute discipline and hope, driving the desire to find a better life while also illuminating unexpected connections of near-familial love among people of difference cultures who live and work together. A haunting tale of hope and heartbreak.”–Kirkus Reviews

“Michel Stone has written a stirring novel of love and courage under the most daunting of conditions. The Iguana Tree is an impressive debut by a very talented author.”–Ron Rash, author of Serena and Waking

About Michel Stone

Michel Stone has published more than a dozen stories and essays in journals, magazines, and books. Her work has appeared numerous times in the Raleigh News and Observer’s emerging Southern writers series and she is a 2011 recipient of the SC Fiction Project Award. Raised on the South Carolina coast, Michel now lives in Spartanburg, S.C.

To learn more about The Iguana Tree, visit the publisher’s website, www.hubcity.org, or visit Michel’s website, www.michelstone.com.

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Michel Stone’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, April 2nd:  Luxury Reading

Wednesday, April 4th:  Book Chase

Thursday, April 5th:  Life in Review

Monday, April 9th:  Unabridged Chick

Tuesday, April 10th:  The Feminist Texican [Reads]

Wednesday, April 11th:  The Picky Girl

Thursday, April 12th:  Indie Reader Houston

Friday, April 13th:  Raging Bibliomania

Monday, April 16th:  Book Addiction

Thursday, April 19th:  Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, April 23rd:  Book Club Classics!

Monday, April 23rd:  Colloquium

Tuesday, April 24th:  Estella’s Revenge

Wednesday, April 25th:  Book Chatter

Monday, April 30th:  Suko’s Notebook

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 27, 2012)

Haven Woods is suburban heaven, a great place to raise a family. It’s close to the city, quiet, with great schools and its own hospital right up the road. Property values are climbing, and the crime rate is practically nonexistent.

Paula Wittmore hasn’t been back to Haven Woods since she left as a disgraced teenager. Now she’s returning to care for her suddenly ailing mother, and she’s bringing her daughter and a pile of emotional baggage. She’s also bringing, unknowingly, the last chance for her mother’s closest frenemies . . . twelve women bound together by a powerful secret that requires the sacrifice of a thirteenth.

About Susie Moloney

Susie Moloney is the bestselling author of Bastion Falls, A Dry Spell, and The Dwelling. She has been published in numerous countries and assorted languages. She divides her time between the wilds of Canada and the wild world of New York City. She’s not a witch, except maybe a little in the morning.

Visit Susie at her website.

Susie’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, March 27th: Unabridged Chick

Wednesday, March 28th: A Musing Reviews

Thursday, March 29th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Wednesday, April 4th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, April 10th: Life in Review

Wednesday, April 11th: Into the Hall of Books

Thursday, April 12th: The Road to Here

Monday, April 16th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, April 17th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, April 18th: A Soul Unsung

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (August 16, 2011)

It is the middle of the twentieth century, and in a home economics program at a prominent university, real babies are being used to teach mothering skills to young women. For a young man raised in these unlikely circumstances, finding real love and learning to trust will prove to be the work of a lifetime. In this captivating novel, bestselling author Lisa Grunwald gives us the sweeping tale of an irresistible hero and the many women who love him.

From his earliest days as a “practice baby” through his adult adventures in 1960s New York City, Disney’s Burbank studios, and the delirious world of the Beatles’ London, Henry remains handsome, charming, universally adored—and never entirely accessible to the many women he conquers but can never entirely trust.

Filled with unforgettable characters, settings, and action, The Irresistible Henry House portrays the cultural tumult of the mid-twentieth century even as it explores the inner tumult of a young man trying to transcend a damaged childhood. For it is not until Henry House comes face-to-face with the real truths of his past that he finds a chance for real love.

About Lisa Grunwald

Lisa Grunwald is the author of the novels Whatever Makes You Happy, New Year’s Eve, The Theory of Everything, and Summer. Along with her husband, journalist Stephen J. Adler, she edited the bestselling anthologies  Women’s Letters and Letters of the Century. Grunwald is a former contributing editor to Life and a former features editor of Esquire. She and Adler live in New York City with their two children.

Join Lisa at LisaGrunwald.net and on Facebook.

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Lisa Grunwald’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 8th:  Unabridged Chick

Thursday, August 11th:  The Broke and the Bookish

Monday, August 15th:  Nomad Reader

Tuesday, August 16th:  Luxury Reading

Wednesday, August 17th:  Jenn’s Bookshelves

Friday, August 19th:  The Literate Housewife Review

Tuesday, August 23rd:  Melody & Words

Wednesday, August 24th:  BookNAround

Thursday, August 25th:  Life in Review

Monday, August 29th:  Book Club Classics

Monday, August 29th:  Knowing the Difference

Wednesday, August 31st:  Write Meg!

Monday, December 20th:  Elevate Difference

Tuesday, December 21st:  The Maiden’s Court

Wednesday, December 22nd:  Girls Gone Reading

Thursday, December 23rd:  Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

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Stay With Me by Sandra Rodriguez Barron

Monday, December 20th: Rundpinne

Tuesday, December 21st: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, December 22nd: Book Addiction

Thursday, December 23rd: Chefdruck Musings

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Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag

Monday, December 20th:  Man of La Book

Tuesday, December 21st:  I’m Booking It

Wednesday, December 22nd:  Rundpinne (Deeper Than the Dead)

Thursday, December 23rd:  Rundpinne (Secrets to the Grave)

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The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel by Paulo Coelho

Monday, December 20th: Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity

Wednesday, December 22nd: nomadreader

Thursday, December 23rd: she reads and reads

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Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello

Monday, December 20th: In the Next Room

Tuesday, December 21st: Tales of a Capricious Reader

Wednesday, December 22nd: Books Like Breathing

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The King’s Daughter by Christie Dickason

Monday, December 20th: Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesday, December 21st: Shhh I’m Reading

Wednesday, December 22nd: Thoughts From an Evil Overlord

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The Wisdom to Know the Difference by Eileen Flanagan

Monday, December 20th: Serenity & Style

Tuesday, December 21st: Always Well Within

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Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Monday, December 20th: Debbie’s Book Bag

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The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

Monday, December 20th:  You’ve GOTTA Read This!

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Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Tuesday, December 21st Cogitamus and LitBrit

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A Secret Gift by Ted Gup

Wednesday, December 22nd: In the Next Room

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• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Original edition (November 30, 2010)

In 1979, five toddlers were found alone in a luxury boat tied to a dock in Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane. No one knew who they were or where they came from. Raised by different families, they remained connected by a special bond—always considering themselves siblings, despite their unknown blood relations.

Now adults, Taina, Holly, Adrian, and Raymond have been summoned by the fifth, David, to an island off the coast of Connecticut and the family home of David’s ex-girlfriend, Julia. But along with the joy of reuniting comes the exposure of raw places, jealousy, and childhood sorrows. Having been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer—and experiencing flashbacks to the time before the hurricane—David believes that healing his relationship with Julia and discovering his origins will strengthen his ability to endure and survive. David pushes the people he loves the most to their emotional breaking points in order to uncover the truth about the mystery that both unites and divides them.

Intensely gripping and lyrically written, Stay with Me is a magnificent blend of romance, suspense, atmosphere, and intrigue that brilliantly explores the true meaning of family and the remarkable ways a personal history can paint a future.

About Sandra Rodriguez Barron

Sandra Rodriguez Barron is the author of The Heiress of Water, winner of the International Latino Book Award for debut fiction. The recipient of a Bread Loaf Fellowship and a National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Grant, she was born in Puerto Rico, lived in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, and now lives with her family in Connecticut.

Find out more about Sandra’s story and her first book at her website.

Sandra’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Tuesday, November 30th: Amused By Books

Thursday, December 2nd: BookNAround

Tuesday, December 7th: Debbie’s Book Bag

Thursday, December 9th: In the Next Room

Monday, December 13th: Reviews from the Heart

Monday, December 20th: Rundpinne

Tuesday, December 21st: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, December 22nd: Book Addiction

Thursday, December 23rd: Chefdruck Musings

Tuesday, December 28th: Colloquium

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (November 23, 2010)

“It was an old dream of mine to have The Alchemist as a graphic novel. This version exceeds my expectations and is a beautiful manifestation of what I originally imagined while crafting this story.”  —Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho’s classic novel of self-discovery transcends the written word in this stunning new graphic novel adaptation. Artist Daniel Sampere’s evocative illustration brings readers alongside Andalusian shepherd Santiago as he journeys from country to country learning the truths of life and experience. The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel is perfect for everyone who has found inspiration in Coelho’s many allegorical novels, such as The Pilgrimage, The Valkyries, By the River Pedra, and others, and is an ideal introduction for readers new to the magic of Coelho’s powerful vision.

About Paulo Coelho

The Brazilian author Paulo Coelho was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theater director, actor, lyricist, and journalist.

Coelho wrote song lyrics for many famous performers in Brazilian music, such as Elis Regina and Rita Lee, yet he is best known for his work with Raul Seixas. Together they wrote such successes as “Eu nasci há dez mil anos atrás” (“I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago”), “Gita,” and “Al Capone.”

His fascination with the spiritual quest dates back to his hippie days, when he travelled the world learning about secret societies, oriental religions, etc. In 1982, Coelho published his first book, Hell Archives, which failed to make any kind of impact. In 1985, he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism, although he later tried to take it off the shelves, since he considered it “of bad quality.” In 1986, Paulo Coelho did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage.

In the following year, Coelho published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the bestselling Brazilian books of all time.

Other titles include: Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitled Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika Decides to Die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), a compilation of traditional tales in Stories for Parents, Children and Grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006), and a compilation of texts gathered under the title Like a Flowing River (2006).

He also adapted The Gift (Henry Drummond) and Love letters of a prophet (Kalil Gibran).

The Alchemist has sold 40 Million copies worldwide in 71 langauges and Paulo has sold more than 115 million copies in more than 160 countries.

Find out more about The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel and Paul Coelho HERE.

Connect with Paulo Coelho:

• On his website
• On his blog
• On Twitter: @paulcoelho
• On Facebook

Paulo Coelho’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Monday, November 29th: One Book Shy

Thursday, December 2nd: The Zen Leaf

Monday, December 6th: There’s a Book

Wednesday, December 8th: The Brain Lair

Friday, December 10th: Colloquium

Tuesday, December 14th: Wise Owl Book Review

Tuesday, December 14th: Sophisticated Dorkiness

Wednesday, December 15th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Thursday, December 16th: In the Next Room

Monday, December 20th: Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity

Wednesday, December 22nd: nomadreader

Thursday, December 23rd: she reads and reads

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (December 28, 2010)

Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator.  She survived.  Her attacker did not.  Now Lucy’s goal is to join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she’s volunteering with a victim’s rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law.  But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy.

With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy, Lucy discovers she’s a pawn in someone’s twisted plot to mete out vigilante justice.  She joins forces with security expert and daredevil Sean Rogan, and together they track their elusive quarry from anonymous online chat rooms onto the mean streets of Washington, D.C.  But someone else is shadowing them:  A merciless stalker has his savage eye on Lucy.  The only way for her to escape his brutality may be another fight to the death.

About Allison

Allison Brennan is the New York Times bestselling author of many romantic thrillers, including Carnal Sin, Original Sin, Fatal Secrets, Cutting Edge, and Sudden Death.  A four-time RITA finalist and Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Brennan enjoys spending her free time reading, playing games, watching high school sports, and researching her novels.  She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association, and Internation Thriller Writers.  Allison Brennan lives in Northern California with her husband, Dan, and their five children.

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For more information, visit Allison’s website or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Allison Brennan’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, January 3rd:  Bewitched Bookworms

Tuesday, January 4th:  Dren’s B-Spot

Wednesday, January 5th:  A Bookworm’s World

Thursday, January 6th:  Musings of an All Purpose Monkey

Monday, January 10th:  Chaotic Compendiums

Wednesday, January 12th:  Under the Boardwalk

Thursday, January 13th:  Rundpinne

Monday, January 17th:  Jen’s Book Thoughts

Tuesday, January 18th:  Fiction State of Mind

Wednesday, January 19th:  Along the Way

Thursday, January 20th:  Reading with Martinis

Friday, January 21st:  Inside of a Dog

Friday, January 21st:  Inside of a Dog author guest post

Monday, January 24th:  My Life in Not So Many Words

Tuesday, January 25th:  Cafe of Dreams

Wednesday, January 26th:  Bookaholic Does Blogging – author interview

Thursday, January 27th:  Bookaholic Does Blogging

Friday, January 28th:  Wordsmithonia

Monday, January 31st:  Drey’s Library - review and author guest post

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; Reprint edition (September 2, 2010)

The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change and When to Let Go explores how to apply the message of the Serenity Prayer, accepting the things we cannot change and changing those we can. Endorsed by the Dalai Lama, the book is full of stories of people from different spiritual traditions finding the courage to change their lives (and sometimes the world), as well as stories of letting go and finding peace.

After its hardcover release last year, The Wisdom to Know the Difference won a Silver Nautilus Book Award in the category of Personal Growth/Psychology. It was also first runner up in the Coalition of Visionary Resources award in the spirituality category. It was recently released in paperback by Tarcher/Penguin.

About Eileen Flanagan

A leader in her Quaker congregation, Eileen has spoken on television and radio, at national conferences, to religious congregations, and on a variety of college campuses. Eileen’s articles have appeared on the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, and the Washington Post’s On Faith column, as well as a variety of print magazines. She holds a B.A. from Duke and an M.A. from Yale and teaches at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. You can read more about her work through her website www.eileenflanagan.com.

Eileen Flanagan’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Wednesday, December 1st: Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, December 2nd: Constantly Evolving

Wednesday, December 8th: arriving at your own door

Wednesday, December 15th: Awake is Good

Thursday, December 16th: she reads and reads

Monday, December 20th: Serenity & Style

Tuesday, December 21st: Always Well Within

Tuesday, December 28th: emilyism.com

Wednesday, December 29th: Evolving Beings

Thursday, December 30th: Liz Lamoreux

Wednesday, January 5th: I’m Just F.I.N.E.

Thursday, January 6th: Evenstar Art

Friday, January 7th: Enchanted Oak

Friday, January 7th: change therapy

Monday, January 10th: Knowing the Difference

How to Live Large Every Day and Kick Butt Along the Way!

How does a girl who was originally predicted to live a wheelchair-bound existence become adventurous, self-assured, successful, and . . . unflappable? Standing 4 feet 2 inches tall in flats (which she would never be caught dead in, anyway), Lauren Ruotolo has spent her thirty-four-ish years seeing the world from a unique angle—upward facing. Lauren was born with McCune-Albright syndrome, a mysterious and rare genetic disease that researchers say occurs in anywhere between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in 1 million people. Some people with the condition tend to go the wheelchair route, but that was never a road Lauren wanted to travel. Her preferred method of transportation, instead, includes stiletto heels. Lauren has avoided the label of ‘disabled’ through uniquely discovering who she really is, and now you, too, can learn the secrets to living life in a big way.

In Unstoppable in Stilettos, Lauren offers you ‘Lauren’s Lessons,’ in which she shares her hard-earned wisdom and life experiences to offer you a unique brand of life philosophies that you can apply to any of the rights of passages you may be experiencing as a Twenty-first Century Woman, including:

• Navigating social pressures
• Avoiding the label game
• Overcoming insecurities
• Combating career confusion
• Turning rejection and obstacles into triumph
• Dealing with toxic people
• Discovering true self-expression
• and so much more.

With Unstoppable in Stilettos you will have the tools to carve out your own path to self-confidence, success, and individualism . . . and have a blast along the way.

About Lauren

Lauren Ruotolo is the director of entertainment promotions at Hearst Magazines in New York City, where she is responsible for developing strategic key partnerships with television and cable networks, music labels, and movie studios. She recently helped produce E!’s Style Network show about the inner workings at Marie Claire fashion magazine and is working on two one-hour specials with Scripps Networks for Esquire and Food Network Magazine. Lauren joined Hearst Magazines from TV Guide magazine, where she was the director of consumer marketing and promotions and created the first-ever newsstand promotion in the United States with a CD on the cover. Ruotolo’s first-person essay, ‘Get Shorty,’ which shared her philosophies on living with the rare genetic disorder McCune-Albright syndrome, was published in Marie Claire magazine in 2009 and was one of the most responded-to articles in the magazine’s history. Ruotolo is on the advisory board of GlamourGals Foundation, Inc., Love Our Children USA, and is an active member in the New York chapter of Women in Communications.

Connect with Lauren on her website, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

Lauren Ruotolo’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, October 25th:  Juggling Life

Thursday, October 28th:  Stiletto Storytime

Tuesday, November 2nd:  The House of the Seven Tails

Wednesday, November 3rd:  Simply Stacie

Wednesday, November 10th:  In the Next Room

Monday, November 15th:  A Nut in a Nutshell

Thursday, November 18th:  Girls Gone Reading

Tuesday, November 23rd:  Amy’s Creative Side

Wednesday, November 24th:  The 3 R’s Blog

Friday, November 26th:  Rundpinne

Monday, December 6th:  Daydream Believer

Thursday, January 13th:  Silver and Grace

Book Club of the Month Contest for October!

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A frightening legacy, a difficult decision. Book club members will ask each other, ”What would you do?”

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by October 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of What We Have by Amy Boesky for your book club!

At thirty-two, Amy Boesky thought she had it all figured out: a wonderful new man in her life, a great job, and the (nearly) perfect home. For once, she was almost able to shake the terrible fear that had gripped her for as long as she could remember. Women in her family had always died young-from cancer-and she and her sisters had grown up in time’s shadow. It colored every choice they made and was beginning to come to a head now that each of them approached thirty-five-the deadline their doctors prescribed for having preventive surgery with the hope they could thwart their family’s medical curse. But Amy didn’t want to dwell on that now. She wanted to plan for a new baby, live her life. And with the appreciation for life’s smallest pleasures, she did just that. In What We Have: One Family’s Inspiring Story About Love, Loss, and Survival, Amy shares a deeply transformative year in her family’s life and invites readers to join in their joy, laughter, and grief.

In a true story as compelling as the best in women’s fiction, written with the sagacity of Joan Didion and the elegance of Amy Bloom, Amy Boesky’s journey celebrates the promise of a full life, even in the face of uncertainty.

For more information on Amy, visit her website, www.Amyboesky.com.

Please sign up HERE by October 31st and let us know which book your club would prefer!   We will randomly select winners at the end of the month.  This contest is open to clubs in the US and Canada only (our apologies to friends in other countries).

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A bittersweet portrait of a long term marriage set in a unique and beautiful community

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by October 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel for your book club!

Set against a vivid and lush South Florida background during the years of Miami’s coming-of-age, Stiltsville offers a gripping, bittersweet portrait of a marriage—and romance—that deepens over the course of three decades.

One sunny morning in 1969, near the end of her first trip to Miami, twenty-six-year-old Frances Ellerby finds herself in a place called Stiltsville, a community of houses built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay. On the dock of a stilt house, with the dazzling skyline in the distance and the unknowable ocean beneath her, she meets the house’s owner, Dennis DuVal—and a new future reveals itself.

Turning away from her life, Frances moves to Miami to be with Dennis. Over time, she earns the confidence of his wild-at-heart sister and the approval of his oldest friend. Frances and Dennis marry and have a child—but rather than growing complacent about their good fortune, they continue to face the challenges of intimacy, and of the complicated city they call home.

Stiltsville was called “an exquisite debut” by Publishers Weekly, and “a perfect balance of wit, weakness and tenderness . . . wonderfully buoyant” by BookPage.  Susanna Daniel interweaves the beauty, chaos, and humanity of Miami with an enduring story of a marriage’s beginning, maturity, and heartbreaking demise.

Learn more about Stiltsville at the author’s website.

Please sign up HERE by October 31st and let us know which book your club would prefer!   We will randomly select winners at the end of the month.  This contest is open to clubs in the US and Canada only (our apologies to friends in other countries).

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The redemptive power of the human spirit to love, grow, and change despite family history..

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by October 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller for your book club!

Sylvia Sandon is at a crossroads in her life. A wife and mother of two daughters, she and her city-planner husband are grappling with the escalating renovation of their antique farmhouse—a situation that mirrors the disarray in Sylvia’s life. Facing a failing marriage and a stalled career as an art teacher, Sylvia finds herself suddenly powerless to the allure of Tai Rosen, the father of her most challenging art student. As their passion ignites, Sylvia is forced to examine her past, and the seeds of betrayal that were sown decades earlier by her mother’s secret life.

Eloquently written and deeply thought-provoking, Ostermiller’s OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD crosses many years and miles—from the California brushfires in the 1970s to New England during the first half of this decade. Raised Seventh Day Adventist, Sylvia must reconcile the conflicting values exhibited by her parents—a mother involved in an extramarital affair and a father who was emotionally distant and abusive—while coming to terms with her own troubling role in her family’s dissolution and father’s tragic death.

While infidelity is a subject often explored in fiction, Ostermiller shines a razor-sharp lens on the gray areas surrounding betrayal, the interplay of religion, and the legacy passed down from one generation to the next. At the same time, she reveals the redemptive power of the human spirit to love, grow, and change despite family history.

View the Reader’s Group Guide HERE.

For more information about Outside the Ordinary World, visit the author’s website.

Please sign up HERE by October 31st and let us know which book your club would prefer!   We will randomly select winners at the end of the month.  This contest is open to clubs in the US and Canada only (our apologies to friends in other countries).

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A coming of age memoir set in NYC during the 70s and 80s

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by October 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Lost Lustre: A New York Memoir by Josh Karlen for your book club!

Muggings on Avenue C, punk bands at CBGB, youthful romance in Greenwich Village, parties in a nascent SoHo, dropping out from the famous Music & Art High School.  In this episodic, coming of age memoir, Josh Karlen chronicles growing up in New York’s Greenwich Village, East Village, and crime-ridden Alphabet City in the 70s and early 80s.  Lost Lustre recaptures a downtown Manhattan at a pivotal time of the city’s history, when New York was suffering its gravest financial crisis and soaring crime, yet also was home for a spectacular resurgence of the arts.  Karlen shares a fascinating personal history of the punk rock scene through a prism of The Lustres, a band that played venues such as CBGB a few years after its stage had held the Talking Heads, Patti Smith and the Ramones.  In the title chapter, Karlen poignantly pays homage ot the band’s charismatic and talented lead singer, whose life in many ways seemed to mirror his times in both its shining creativity and nihilistically destructive force.

“A window into a darker, grittier version of the city…[Karlen's] memories of living in the rough neighborhood known as Alphabet City are vibrant…”–Publishers Weekly

“Lost Lustre is a reverberant, strata-rich memoir, written with a relaxed and endearing fluency and modesty. I was engrossed.”–Edward Hoagland, author of NOTES FROM THE CENTURY BEFORE

Listen to basement tapes of The Lustres, circa 1980!

EggshellsRunning My WayTake the Bus

Please sign up HERE by October 31st and let us know which book your club would prefer!   We will randomly select winners at the end of the month.  This contest is open to clubs in the US and Canada only (our apologies to friends in other countries).

Best of luck!

We LOVE Book Clubs!