a lifetime of sins,

just because they have Alzheimer’s?

Island Girl by Lynda Simmons

Island Girl by Lynda Simmons is the emotionally riveting story of a 55 year old mother, Ruby Donaldson, fighting to reunite her family as she struggles with the diagnosis of early on-set Alzheimer’s.

Facing the terrible reality of her illness, Ruby refuses to let the disease control her future.  But before she can take any final action, she must find a way to convince her older daughter Liz to grow up and come home; to take her place as head of the family in order to secure the future of their home on the island, and ensure that Liz’s younger sister, Grace, will be cared for in the only place that is safe for her.

But Liz and Ruby are estranged for good reasons, and now Liz wonders why she should forgive her mother just because she’s sick.  Does Alzheimer’s somehow grant Ruby instant immunity, a moral get-out-of-jail-free card?

Ruby always thought she’d have a lifetime to make things right, but suddenly time is running out.

“…Simmons exhibits an exquisitely deft understanding of the extraordinary difficulties that unitl a family, and her portrayals of the three women, told in alternating first-person chapters, enable satisfying connections with each.” Publisher’s Weekly

Read an excerpt of Island Girl HERE.

Please fill out our super-short registration form by June 30th and register to win a set of up to ten copies of Island Girl!  We will randomly choose a winner 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!

Here’s one to make your heart race!

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by August 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Think of a Number by John Verdon for your book club!

Arriving in the mail one day is a taunting letter that ends with a simple declaration “See how well I know your secrets-just think of a number.” Eerily, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly.

For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial-murder investigation.

Brought in as an investigative “consultant,” Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that have local police in awe. Yet, with each taunting move by his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney feels his tragedy-marred past rising up to haunt him, his marriage approaching a dangerous precipice, and, finally, a dark, cold fear building that he’s met an adversary who can’t be stopped.

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Some great literary fiction that will prompt discussion.

Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by August 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Finny by Justin Kramon for your book club!

Before I started writing my novel, I fell in love with some great coming-of-age books: The World According to Garp, Great Expectations, Catcher in the Rye, and several others. For me, these books brought back the excitement of reading. I loved their intricate and suspenseful plots, the slightly-larger-than-life characters, the humor, and the sense of bigness and adventure I got from even the opening sentences. I felt like these classic novels were treasure chests of funny characters and surprising moments and beautiful insights about the world.

And I realized: These are the kinds of books I want to write, books filled with unforgettable characters, books that make me laugh and cry (even at the same time), books that give me an almost childlike sense of wonder.

But one thing I noticed about a lot of these books is that they’re about young men. So I was interested in what it would be like to tell one of these big classic stories about a young woman coming into the contemporary world. And that’s how the idea for FINNY started.

Finny herself is a lonely, defiant young woman, with a wonderful sense of humor, and a great ability to cut through other people’s pretensions. She’s a character I’ve loved from the moment I met her, and I wrote this book that follows her over twenty years because I wanted to find out everything that happened to her. The book is a love story, about Finny’s relationship with a young man named Earl, but I also wanted Finny to live in a rich and detailed world, full of interesting and lively and sometimes mysterious characters, such as a narcoleptic pianist, a seductive New York heiress, and an unlikely mother figure with tastes for exotic Asian fruits and Irish fiddle music.

I hope this book will allow readers to completely immerse themselves in Finny’s world and her adventures, and leave them with the sense of enchantment I’ve found in my favorite books.

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Register your book club with TLC Book Tours by August 31st and you could win up to 10 copies of Hothouse FLower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin for your book club!

HotHouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire is one woman’s journey from the modeling and advertising world of New York City to the rain forests of the Yucatan Peninsula. From the hot and steamy plant dealers in the Union Square Green Market, to the curanderos, herbalists and shamans of Southern Mexico.

Lila Nova is a 32-year-old adverting copywriter who lives alone in a plain white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila has a simple mantra: no pets, no plants, no people, no problems. But when she meets David Exley, a ruggedly handsome plant dealer, a country-sexual, as she calls him, her lonely life turns into something far more colorful. From the harsh streets of Manhattan to the verdant jungles of the Yucatan, Hothouse Flower is the story of a woman who travels beyond sense and comfort to find out what she really wants.

A note from the Author

The story is based on a relationship with my good friend Armand who was kind enough to give me permission to use his name on these pages. Over the years Armand taught me a lot about life and relationships and plants. I’ve taken some of that knowledge and created this novel. I would say that the circumstances of the book are fictional in specifics and very real in the abstract.

Take it for what you will. Read it in whatever way gives you the most pleasure.

Please sign up HERE by August 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!

TLC Book Tours is partnering with HarperCollins to provide 5 bloggers with a chance to have tea with Adriana Trigiani during Book Expo America (BEA) in New York City in May 2010. You must already be attending BEA to participate. The tea will take place on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at a time to be determined at the gorgeous Alice’s Tea Cup.

To enter to win, bloggers need to review/feature/blog about Very Valentine, the new paperback from Adriana Trigiani and Brava, Valentine, the new hardcover from Adriana Trigiani, between January 1, 2010 and March 31st, 2010 April 30, 2010, as well as post in your sidebar the I Heart Adriana Trigiani badge for that same time period.

A copy of Very Valentine and Brava, Valentine will be provided to bloggers who wish to review the books in order to participate in this contest.

If you have already reviewed Very Valentine, you could do something else to announce that the paperback is on sale, such as:

• run a giveaway – HarperCollins has generously provided up to 3 copies of the paperback per blog
• talk about the new recipes inside
• talk about the sneak peek to Brava, Valentine that’s inside
• post the Book Club Girl On Air Show with Adriana Trigiani about Very Valentine. Alternatively, you can participate in the Book Club Girl On Air Show and then blog about it!

Information that you can include in your posts about Very Valentine and Brava Valentine includes:

1. Provide your readers with the links to browse inside to each of the books (Here’s the link to Very Valentine. The link to Brava, Valentine, will be up shortly.)
2. Embed Adriana’s Walking Tour of Greenwich Village Video
3. Provide Adriana’s Tour Schedule for the paperback and the hardcover
4. Participate in and post about Book Club Girl’s On Air show with Adriana for Brava Valentine, which is taking place on March 31st at 7:00pm EST.
5. Link to this previous show with Adriana and Book Club Girl discussing Very Valentine

If you want to participate in this contest, please leave a comment on this post.

At the end of this contest, HarperCollins will randomly choose 5 participants to have tea with Adriana Trigiani. Winners will be announced on this site (TLC Book Tours), as well as www.bookclubgirl.com.

These rules can also be found at the HarperCollins website.

About Very Valentine

Poignant, funny, warm, and red hot, Very Valentine is a wonderful treat for Adriana Trigiani fans—a “delightful” (Boston Globe), “romance-soaked novel” (Marie Claire) from much adored playwright, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and New York Times bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia; Rococo; and Big Stone Gap. The adventures of an extraordinary and unforgettable woman as she attempts to rescue her family’s struggling shoe business and find love at the same time, Very Valentine sweeps the reader from the streets of Manhattan to the picturesque hills of la bella Italia. Already a national bestseller and soon to be a Lifetime movie, here is a valentine from the incomparable Trigiani that you can take into your heart.

About Brava, Valentine

Award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker Adriana Trigiani returns with Brava, Valentine, continuing the heartwarming and hilarious story of Valentine Roncalli, her family, her love life, and the Angelini Shoe Company. Following on the heels of the New York Times bestseller Very Valentine (hailed by People magazine as “Sex and the City meets Moonstruck”), Brava, Valentine is another tour-de-force from the beloved author of bestselling novels Lucia, Lucia,  The Queen of the Big Time, and the Big Stone Gap series.