Teaser Tuesday: The Woman in the Park by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist

It was amazing how much of a difference seeing Lawrence made, and not simply in the ways she would have expected. . . . She founded a wonderful new thrill to keep so vast a secret from her friend; Laura's natural inquisitiveness only made it that much more of a challenge, as though getting through an interview with her might somehow prepare Sarah for the more daunting task of concealing the affair from her husband and her therapist. 

– The Woman in the Park by Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist. This psychological thriller finds a Manhattan wife and mother at the center of a woman's disappearance from the park, but nothing is as it seems.

Co-author Tullan Holmqvist wrote about what it what like to collaborate with another writer on a novel, here on Holmqvist's author's blog.

The Woman in the Park is published by Beaufort Books, an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

When Manhattanite Sarah Rock meets a mysterious and handsome stranger in the park, she is drawn to him. Sarah wants to get away from her daily routine, her cheating husband and his crazy mistress, her frequent sessions with her heartless therapist, and her moody children.

But nothing is as it seems. Her life begins to unravel when a woman from the park goes missing and Sarah becomes the prime suspect in the woman’s disappearance. Her lover is nowhere to be found, her husband is suspicious of her, and her therapist is talking to the police.

With no one to trust, Sarah must face her inner demons and uncover the truth to prove her innocence.

A thriller that questions what is real. With its shocking twists, secrets, and lies, The Woman in the Park will leave readers breathless.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by The Purple Booker, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Three New Books by Women Writers

What books came into your house last week? I got three new books, one that is out already and two that will launch in the next weeks:



Birds of Wonder by Cynthia Robinson. This debut novel is a murder mystery and complex family story set in upstate New York. It starts when a teacher discovers the body of her dead student and calls the police to solve the crime -- the police detective being her own daughter. It looks amazing!



A Place in the World by Amy Maroney. This is the last book in Maroney's Miramonde series of historical novels about a female artist in the 1500s and the modern art historian tracking her down. The book launches on September 26.

The Miramonde series starts with The Girl from Oto, continues with Mira's Way, includes a preqel novella called The Promise, and concludes with A Place in the World.

Read my interview with Amy Maroney about her series, female artists, and what drew her to historical fiction.



This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story by Jackie Shannon Hollis, a new memoir will be available October 1 from Forest Avenue Press, by a woman who made the complicated decision not to have children when she married a man who did not want kids.

For those in the Portland area, the official book launch for This Particular Happiness is October 4, 2019 at Powell's City of Books from 7:30 - 9:00 pm. Laura Stanfill, the delightful and inspiring leader of Forest Avenue Press, will be on hand to introduce Jackie and her book.

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.

Book Notes: Last, Now, Next - What I'm Reading in September

I've enjoyed playing around with Instagram book posts lately. Instagram inspires me to take more pictures, obviously, and the bookstagrammers start discussions or post hashtag challenges that give me ideas for blog posts and the creative energy to sit down and write them.

This morning I had fun with a hashtag challenge on Instagram called #lastnownextread where participants list the book they just finished, the book they are currently reading, and the book they plan to read next.

My last read was The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World's Happiest People by Meik Wiking. I thought it was interesting, approached important ideas in a creative way, and was more substantive than his earlier book, The Little Book of Hygge, which I adore. I didn't agree with all his conclusions. For instance, while some programs might work in Denmark, I don't know that they would transfer or scale up for other countries. But I like that he is thinking about and discussing what makes people happy and how to achieve that on a broad scale. It’s a book I’d like to discuss with people face to face, which would be a very lykke thing to do.

My current read is The Small Room by May Sarton. I’m enjoying this one a lot because I love “campus novels” and middlebrow, Midcentury fiction. This is set in a women’s college in upstate New York, contemporaneous to when it was published in 1961. So this one is my exact cup of tea! I keep this list of campus novels if others share my enjoyment for Ivy Tower fiction.

My next read is Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. I read this in college, and I’m slowly, in fits and starts, rereading some of the classics I read so long ago.

The three are stacked on one of my favorite needlepoint pillows because fall is here and I dug out that pillow to toss on the living room sofa.

So, what are your three? Feel free to share.

Book Beginning: Generation Share: The Change Makers Building the Sharing Economy by Benita Matofska & Sophie Sheinwald

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS
THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

What is the sharing economy? What does sharing mean to you?

Generation Share: The Change Makers Building the Sharing Economy by Benita Matofska and Sophie Sheinwald, a new release from Policy Press. Interviews and photos highlighting 200 case studies of the new worldwide sharing movement.

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week. Sorry I didn't get the post up early this week! My law partner and I had our office party yesterday evening to celebrate her becoming a partner, changing our firm name to Dumas & Vaughn, and our firm's fifth anniversary. We were setting up for the party and I forgot to post!

SOCIAL MEDIA: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up. Please find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

In this 24/7, on-demand, screen-obsessed era, we are exposed to more information in one day than our predecessors experienced in a lifetime. For Gen Z, the Sharing Economy is the economy -- as much a part of them as they are of it and so innate they may not realize it.

It's hard to know from this snippet where this idea is going. I can imagine, but don't know, how modern technology and sharing fit together.

While I read on to figure it out, I'll share this picture of me and my law partner Ashley Vaughn, from our party last night. I hope you share your Book Beginnings and Friday 56 teasers!

Teaser Tuesday: Winded: A Memoir in Four Stages by Dawn Newton

I didn't like to tell strangers who learned about my cancer that I was a non-smoker. Dealing with strangers was always tricky.

– Winded: A Memoir in Four Stages by Dawn Newton. In her new memoir, Dawn Newton writes about living life to the fullest after she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

Winded is available for pre-order. It releases on October 1, 2019 from Apprentice House Press, the nation's first entirely student-managed publishing house, located at Loyola University Maryland.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

When Dawn Newton, an adjunct professor and mother of three, gets a terminal lung cancer diagnosis, the path forward appears rutted. The Great Recession has left her exhausted and juggling multiple jobs. Then she learns of her cancer's mutation. She can take a pill each day to live longer.

Fifteen months into survival, she feels overwhelmed by the effort of staying alive. She longs to embrace moments and display gratitude yet can't find words to articulate her needs. Regardless of any control she exerts over her body's frailties, her emotional life asserts its own disruptive trajectory. Even as she labors to anchor herself to the love of family, she faces a blasphemous question: "If no cure is available, and death lurks around the next corner, is more time really worth it?"

In Winded, Newton describes life with terminal disease, exploring dark crevices of the psyche as she tries to assess the value of a life. The final lessons she imparts to her family may not be about resilience but about illuminating vulnerability and embracing the imperfect.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by The Purple Booker, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.