Author Interview: Debra Ginsberg (What the Heart Remembers)

Today I welcome Debra Ginsberg, author of What the Heart Remembers, an amazing thriller from the first page which came out last week.  I started it yesterday afternoon and by the time I went to bed I could hardly put it down and was over halfway through (and trust me my evenings don't leave much time for reading so this was definitely a gripping novel).  I plan on diving back in as soon as I get home from work today and posting a review tonight, but for now, enjoy hearing straight from the author.

  

What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

I like to read, but unfortunately don’t get much time to do it for pleasure.

But what I spend most of my free time doing these days is baking.

 

What's your favorite season?

Summer. Without question.

 

Describe your ideal reading space (no expense spared here).

Any place that has good light, something to lean against, and a cup of tea at the ready.

 

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Scotland. The Outer Hebrides, to be more specific.

 

What three things do you need in order to write?

1. Order. The space has to be clean and tidy.
2. A walk beforehand.
3. Coffee.

 What's the first sentence of What the Heart Remembers?

 “Del Dios Highway was a bitch in the rain.”

Do you have a favorite line in What the Heart Remembers?

I don’t, but the one I just wrote isn’t bad!

Tell us what is What the Heart Remembers about.

It’s the story of two women; Eden, the recent recipient of a heart transplant and Darcy, a young widow of a much older husband. After Eden’s heart transplant, she is disturbed by dreams that seem to have come from another person and no longer cares for the people (her fiancé, Derek), things, or places she used to love. She is drawn to San Diego where she meets Darcy and the two strike up an intense but strange friendship. Each has secrets she is hiding from the other, but as the friendship progresses and Eden gets closer to discovering the identity of her donor, those secrets begin to push their way to the surface.

Dish, who’s your favorite character?

Darcy, because she is the most complicated.

 

How did you feel when you finished What the Heart Remembers?

Relieved!

For all of us impatient readers, what is up next for you?

I’m working on a new novel, but there are other projects in the hopper.  Wish I could be more specific, but I can’t!

Thanks Debra for joining us today!

I'm still here . . .

I'm just on a bit of a hiatus at the moment.  I will try and keep up with interview posts and some reviews at the moment, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with life and just trying to take it all in and enjoy it.  My boys are going to two different schools this year and I really didn't realize how much this would change things.  Add to it the fact that I feel better, I'm leading a more active lifestyle and role in their lives and it keeps me off this computer and away from books more than it use to.  Something I am very happy about. But I will be around, I will still post reviews and I will still have interviews and giveaways.  So I am still here.  Just catching my breath.  Refocusing and trying to figure out where to take the blog from here.

So stay tuned.  I've read some great books lately, some I've just read for pleasure, something I haven't done in awhile.

What are you doing?  Do you have any tips for a busy Mom with kids in two different schools (one is in elementary and one is in middle school).  And the ultimate question for me today is do I join the middle school PTO?  I never did join the elementary school PTSO, and I really don't have the time with a full-time job, one in boy scouts, one in cub scouts, Bible Study, church committee and then just life in general.  So I'm thinking no, but what do you say other Mom's out there?  Is it worth the time?

Book Tour and Review: And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman

TITLE:  And When She Was Good

AUTHOR:  Laura Lippman

PUBLISHED BY:  William Morrow (Harper Collins)

PUBLICATION DATE:  August 14th, 2012

ISBN:   ISBN-10: 0061706876  ISBN-13: 978-0061706875

GENRE:  Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery

# OF PAGES:  320

REVIEW:
I love Laura Lippman books and And When She Was Good did not disappoint.  Ms. Lippman has her own way of building suspense, it's simple, it's deceptive. She creates the story, sucks you right into it and then throws the surprises at you but not in a thriller type way. No her way is more sedate, but definitely wonderful.  I love her books and look forward to her new releases each year so I jumped at the chance to read this one.


I will confess that since it was Laura Lippman, I didn't read the synopsis.  I love her that much and sometimes I don't want to know anything about the book, I like to be surprised.  Well this was a surprise of a good kind.  I enjoyed getting to know Heloise through the present and her past.  I like this style of writing and getting to know the character and building the story.  I could feel the intensity of the storyline building through each chapter as new secrets and facets of Heloise's life were revealed.  I liked Heloise as a character, she's strong, she's been through a lot, but she keeps on moving.  I also like the secondary characters and the facets Ms. Lippman adds to them to tell the story.


The plot was amazing to me.  It's intense without making you feel too edgy and I like that.  It's subtle.  I like that. The focus is on the characters, mainly Heloise and telling her story leading up to the present and what is going on in her life now.  The changes and events of the story.  It's thrilling and wonderful and a great story to me.  It had me enthralled, yet I wanted to carefully read, not scan to hurriedly get to the end.  

This was a book to enjoy, to get the nuances of, not to just read and find out what would happen.  And that is what I did.  I will still admit I read it in a little over a day, but I read it slower than I read a lot of books.  I savored And When She Was Good.  And it was good, I have to say I highly recommend it!



MY RATING: 4.5/5.0

SYNOPSIS:

Perennial New York Times and nationally bestselling author and acclaimed multiple–prize winner Laura Lippman delivers a brilliant novel about a woman with a secret life who is forced to make desperate choices to save her son and herself. 

When Hector Lewis told his daughter that she had a nothing face, it was just another bit of tossed-off cruelty from a man who specialized in harsh words and harsher deeds. But twenty years later, Heloise considers it a blessing to be a person who knows how to avoid attention. In the comfortable suburb where she lives, she's just a mom, the youngish widow with a forgettable job who somehow never misses a soccer game or a school play. In the state capitol, she's the redheaded lobbyist with a good cause and a mediocre track record. 

But in discreet hotel rooms throughout the area, she's the woman of your dreams—if you can afford her hourly fee. 

For more than a decade, Heloise has believed she is safe. She has created a rigidly compartmentalized life, maintaining no real friendships, trusting few confidantes. Only now her secret life, a life she was forced to build after the legitimate world turned its back on her, is under siege. Her once oblivious accountant is asking loaded questions. Her longtime protector is hinting at new, mysterious dangers. Her employees can't be trusted. One county over, another so-called suburban madam has been found dead in her car, a suicide. Or is it? 

Nothing is as it seems as Heloise faces a midlife crisis with much higher stakes than most will ever know. 

And then she learns that her son's father might be released from prison, which is problematic because he doesn't know he has a son. The killer and former pimp also doesn't realize that he's serving a life sentence because Heloise betrayed him. But he's clearly beginning to suspect that Heloise has been holding something back all these years. 

With no formal education, no real family, and no friends, Heloise has to remake her life—again. Disappearing will be the easy part. She's done it before and she can do it again. A new name and a new place aren't hard to come by if you know the right people. The trick will be living long enough to start a new life.

AUTHOR BIO:   

Laura Lippman has been awarded every major prize in crime fiction. Since the publication of What the Dead Know, each of her hardcovers has hit the New York Times bestseller list. A recent recipient of the first-ever Mayor’s Prize, she lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and New Orleans with her husband, David Simon, their daughter, and her stepson.

AUTHOR SITES:

  Website

  Facebook   

  Harper Collins

PURCHASE LINKS:   AMAZON link    B&N link

  

PHOTO CREDIT (author):  Jan Cobb

EXCERPT:

Monday, October 3

SUBURBAN MADAM DEAD IN APPARENT SUICIDE

The headline catches Heloise’s eye as she waits in the always-long line at the Starbucks closest to her son’s middle school. Of course, a headline is supposed to call attention to itself. That’s its job. Yet these letters are unusually huge, hectoring even, in a typeface suitable for a declaration of war or an invasion by aliens. It’s tacky, tarted up, as much of a strumpet as the woman whose death it’s trumpeting.

SUBURBAN MADAM DEAD IN APPARENT SUICIDE

Heloise finds it interesting that suicide must be fudged but the label of madam requires no similar restraint, only qualification. She supposes that every madam needs her modifier. Suburban Madam, D.C. Madam, Hollywood Madam, Mayflower Madam. “Madam” on its own would make no impression in a headline, and this is the headline of the day, repeated ad nauseam on every news break on WTOP and WBAL, even the local cut-ins on NPR. Suburban Madam dead in apparent suicide. People are speaking of it here in line at this very moment, if only because the suburb in question is the bordering county’s version of this suburb. Albeit a lesser one, the residents of Turner’s Grove agree. Schools not quite as good, green space less lush, too much lower-cost housing bringing in riffraff. You know, the people who can afford only three hundred thousand dollars for a town house. Such as the Sub­urban Madam, although from what Heloise has gleaned, she lived in the most middle of the middle houses, not so grand as to draw attention to herself but not on the fringes either.

And yes, Heloise knows that because she has followed almost every news story about the Suburban Madam since her initial arrest eight months ago. She knows her name, Michelle Smith, and what she looks like in her mug shot, the only photo of her that seems to exist. Very dark hair—so dark it must be dyed—very pale eyes, otherwise so ordinary as to be any woman anywhere, the kind of stranger who looks familiar because she looks like so many people you know. Maybe Heloise is a little bit of a hypo­crite, decrying the news coverage even as she eats it up, but then she’s not a disinterested party, unlike the people in this line, most of whom probably use “disinterested” incorrectly in conversation yet consider themselves quite bright.

***I received this book from the publisher through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***

New Ebook Release and Giveaway: Kiss of the Moon by Lisa Jackson

Pocket Star is releasing some great books in ebook format this month and they are letting me host giveaways for each of these new titles, so be sure to check back daily for the next few days for a new title to win. They have lots of great new books. Thrillers, Fantasy and Romance and make sure to check out their website for more exclusive content from bestselling and debut authors.

Here's today's offering:

Kiss of the Moon by Lisa Jackson

Pocket Star, August 2012
eBook, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1476705062
ISBN-13: 9781476705064

Description

Dear Reader,

KISS OF THE MOON is filled with magic, curses, heroes, and villains. It's set in medieval Wales, an intriguing place filled with deep magic, dark castles, brooding heroes, and strong-willed heroines.

Adventure, allure, and avarice hide in the shadows of shadowy forests and candlelit towers of Castle Prydd where an ancient prophecy is fulfilled when Sorcha of Prydd comes into the world:"born during a tempest, with hair the color of a raven's wing, eyes the blue of midnight, and the kiss of the moon on skin like alabaster..."It's said that whoever is born with the KISS OF THE MOON birthmark upon his skin will rise to become the savior of Prydd. No one ever expected the chosen one to be a woman! Not only is this heresy, but an outrage. Surely the fates are wrong...or are they?

Years later, Sorcha's courage is sorely tested when she must save her kidnapped sister and in doing so enters Hagan of Erbyn's bedchamber. Never intending to be seduced by the arrogant and handsome lord, she places a knife to his throat. But that is just the beginning -- and soon her pulse pounds whenever he's near. Though she warns herself that Hagan is her sworn enemy, Sorcha can't convince her wayward heart.

KISS OF THE MOON is a tale of curses and lies, trust and betrayal, and, ultimately, the power of love. I hope you are captivated by it.

-- Lisa Jackson

Thank you to the marketing team at Pocket Books for allowing me to host this giveaway!  Open US/Canada only, ends 9/8.

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New Ebook Release and Giveaway: Outlaw by Lisa Jackson

Pocket Star is releasing some great books in ebook format this month and they are letting me host giveaways for each of these new titles, so be sure to check back daily for the next few days for a new title to win. They have lots of great new books. Thrillers, Fantasy and Romance and make sure to check out their website for more exclusive content from bestselling and debut authors.

Here's today's offering:

Outlaw by Lisa Jackson

Pocket Star, August 2012
eBook, 368 pages
ISBN-10: 1476705054
ISBN-13: 9781476705057

Description

Now available as an eBook for the first time ever, a classic romantic adventure set on the turbulent border of Wales, where a rogue knight and a lady clash with passionate intensity….

Stealthy and dangerous as the name he bears, Wolf, outlaw knight of Abergwynn, has no quarrel with the struggling young beauty in his arms. He has come to Tower Dwyrain to take his revenge against her bridegroom, a brutal nobleman Wolf has sworn to dishonor. Through this woman, Wolf thought he could carry out a carefully wrought vengeance. Instead, he finds a different fate—a lady to fight for and to ennoble his dark, wayward soul.

Megan of Dwyrain has been haunted by a sorcerer’s prediction that her castle would be destroyed, her arranged marriage doomed, and her enemy made her beloved. Now, in the iron grasp of the abductor who invaded her wedding, she beholds eyes that glitter not with hate but with devilment and spirit. She will challenge him, try to escape him, and yet find in him a Wolf she hungers to tame—a knight who inspires a love that nothing, not dungeons dark nor the risk of death itself, can end.

Thank you to the marketing team at Pocket Books for allowing me to host this giveaway!  Open US/Canada only, ends 9/7.

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New Ebook Release and Giveaway: Capturing Angels by V.C. Andrews

Pocket Star is releasing some great books in ebook format this month and they are letting me host giveaways for each of these new titles, so be sure to check back daily for the next few days for a new title to win. They have lots of great new books. Thrillers, Fantasy and Romance and make sure to check out their website for more exclusive content from bestselling and debut authors.

Here's today's offering:

Capturing Angels by V.C. Andrews

Pocket Star, August 2012

eBook, 384 pages

ISBN-10: 1451689543

ISBN-13: 9781451689549

Description

V.C. Andrews, queen of Gothic fiction for twenty-five years, explores a new genre in her women’s fiction debut—available exclusively as an eBook. A young mother struggles to keep her marriage together in the wake of her daughter’s kidnapping…and to keep hope of her return alive.

Grace is the doting mother of Mary, an angelic five-year-old who charms everyone around her. But in one tragic moment at a local shopping mall, Grace looks down to discover that Mary is no longer at her side…and can’t be found anywhere. She and her husband wait by the phone for a ransom demand that never comes. For months Grace believes that Mary is somewhere, alive and safe, waiting to come home to her—but as her family and friends give up hope, Grace’s marriage begins to crumble. Only one detective, Sam Abraham, shares her determination to find Mary…but could his motives be less than altruistic?
As Sam and Mary work together to track Mary’s disappearance, they discover clues that this was more than a random kidnapping—and that Mary may have been special to more than just her mother…
Thank you to the marketing team at Pocket Books for allowing me to host this giveaway!  Open US/Canada only, ends 9/6.

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New Ebook Release Giveaway: Worth Dying For by Cindy Gerard

Pocket Star is releasing some great books in ebook format this month and they are letting me host giveaways for each of these new titles, so be sure to check back daily for the next few days for a new title to win. They have lots of great new books. Thrillers, Fantasy and Romance and make sure to check out their website for more exclusive content from bestselling and debut authors.

Here's today's offering:

Worth Dying For by Cindy Gerard

Pocket Star, August 2012

eBook, 352 pages

ISBN-10: 1451671776

ISBN-13: 9781451671773

Description

A two-volume collection featuring Into the Night and Man Around the House—two early classic romances by New York Times bestselling author Cindy Gerard, now available again in eBook!

Into the Night –Winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award!
It began as a gimmick to promote their new radio show, but the spirited sparring between Jessie Fox and Tony Falcone soon has listeners demanding to know more about their steamy romance. Jessie swears that the fire burning in Tony’s eyes can’t be real—until he sets a seductive trap she can’t escape. Can Tony persuade Jess he’s never letting her go?
With an irresistible blend of humor, passion, and a bit of suspense, Cindy Gerard creates a memorable love story to cherish.

Man Around the House –Winner of the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a RITA Award Finalist!
Answering his neighbor’s cry for help, Matthew Spencer finds himself rescuing a sassy blue-eyed temptress. Katie McDonald is a walking disaster who falls off ladders into his arms and awakens his hunger with the speed of a summer storm, and her infectious spirit has him rediscovering the joy in life.
Matthew makes her feel too much, want more than she can have, and dare to dream of being loved, but Katie knows she’s all wrong for a man with a child. Despite the passion between them, Matthew needs someone nice and normal, not wild and reckless. And once he learns her deeply buried sorrow, can he love her for all time? An unmatchable blend of tenderness, humor, and light suspense as only Cindy Gerard can write it!

Thank you to the marketing team at Pocket Books for allowing me to host this giveaway!  Open US/Canada only, ends 9/5.

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