We are celebrating the release of She’s Gone Country by Jane Porter --- the latest from the bestselling, award-winning author of Flirting with Forty about a former top model returning to her Texas roots --- with a special contest. 25 readers will have the opportunity to each win one copy of the book, which will be in stores on August 23rd, for their group. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, September 8th at noon ET.
More about She's Gone Country:
Shey Darcy, a 39-year-old former top model for Vogue and Sports Illustrated, led a charmed life in New York City with a handsome photographer husband until the day he announced he'd fallen in love with someone else. Left to pick up the pieces of her once happy world, Shey decides to move back home to Texas with her three teenage sons. Life on the family ranch, however, brings with it a whole new host of dramas starting with differences of opinion with her staunch Southern Baptist mother, her rugged but overprotective brothers, and daily battles with her three sons who are also trying to find themselves.
Click here to read all the contest details. Click here for the reading group guide.
We are celebrating the paperback release of The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell --- a witty debut about an aging travel writer desperately searching for a place he can call home --- with a special contest. 50 readers will have the opportunity to each win one paperback copy of the book, which is now in stores, for their group. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, September 8th at noon ET.
More about The Breaking of Eggs:
Sixty-one-year-old Feliks is a naturalized Frenchman, a displaced Pole and former Communist --- and a curmudgeon --- who has made his living writing a yearly travel guide to the countries behind the Iron Curtain. In 1991, with the Curtain now fallen, Feliks finds his beliefs beginning to crumble around him. When a rapacious American publisher offers to buy out his life's work, Feliks must travel to the country he has long despised, and so begins the wry and moving tale of a man who awakens from self-imposed isolation into a changed world he must get to know all over again. So unfolds a story of family, war, politics, a second chance at love, and one man's quest for himself.
Click here to read all the contest details. Click here for the reading group guide.
My Hollywood is a wonderfully provocative novel from the much-loved author of Anywhere But Here and A Regular Guy, her first in 10 years. It tells the story of two women whose lives entwine and unfold behind the glittery surface of Hollywood. In a novel at turns satirical and heartbreaking, where mothers’ modern ideas are given practical overhauls by nannies, we meet a vast network of fellow caregivers, each with her own story to tell.
A deeply compelling novel that explores the true meaning of family, Leaving Before It’s Over is masterful and provocative fiction from Jean Reynolds Page, the author of The Space Between Before and After and The Last Summer of Her Other Life. Fans of Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard will be moved and enthralled by Page’s Leaving Before It’s Over, as a 1970s family is thrown into turmoil when a previously unknown son and brother is brought into the fold.
Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At 35, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she'd be: thin.
One of the greatest loves of all time --- between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley --- comes to life in this vivid novel. They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults and for 30 years were the center of each others' lives. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes. His Last Letter tells the story of this great love...and all that would remain unfulfilled.
Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right; he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interesting, resulting in Hebe leaving him and his beloved tortoise “runs” away. The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise is a quirky, original and transportative love story with an unforgettable cast of characters --- human and beast alike!
Acclaimed author Syrie James approaches Bram Stoker's classic Dracula with a breathtaking new perspective --- as, for the first time, Mina Harker records the shocking story of her scandalous seduction by Count Dracula. Struggling to hang on to the pure love she's found with her husband, Jonathan, she is inexorably drawn into a secret, passionate affair with a charismatic but dangerous lover.
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 so long. Women in her family had always died young --- from cancer --- and she and her sisters had grown up in time's shadow. 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.
Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz: This sweeping tale of romance and forgiveness will envelop readers as it takes them from a Kentucky fort through the vast wilderness to the west in search of true love for Morrow Little.
Ransomed Dreams: Side Roads, Book 1 by Sally John: A diplomat’s wife returns to Chicago after living abroad, and now must confront the tangled life she left behind as well as her father’s vast estate.
The Seeker by Ann H. Gabhart: Gabhart brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers, and the ravages of war to weave a touching story of love, freedom and forgiveness that will stick with readers.
There are no registered book club contests for August. Please check back next month. If your group is not registered, and you are interested in future monthly contests, click here to register.
After the Fall by Kylie Ladd: In her page-turning fiction debut, neuropsychologist Kylie Ladd delivers a searing portrait of two marriages united and betrayed by friendship.
The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle: From Katrina Kittle, the critically acclaimed author of The Kindness of Strangers, comes a wry, engrossing and moving story of a veterinarian’s journey through the aftermath of divorce amidst a motley crew of beasts.
Broken by Travis Thrasher: Laila was living a charmed life as part of Chicago’s social elite until some bad decisions put her on the streets, and in the center of a murder investigation.
Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz: This sweeping tale of romance and forgiveness will envelop readers as it takes them from a Kentucky fort through the vast wilderness to the west in search of true love for Morrow Little.
The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha: Family members ponder forgiveness as the execution date for the man who murdered their son approaches.
The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson: A poignant and magical story set in 18th-century England, The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson is the tale of two baby elephants and the young man who accidentally finds himself their guardian.
Exit by Liliana Badd: Exit is a compelling story about passion, life, death and the mystery of a woman’s heart with an unexpected twist at the end.
The Family Beach House by Holly Chamberlin: A quartet of siblings bickers over the family beach house after hearing the news that their father intends to remarry, and jeopardize their inheritance.
Fatal Loyalty by Sue Duffy: The daughter of a prominent political activist tries to escape his large shadow, but just as her life returns to normal, an old foe reappears.
A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer: Penicillin operates as the source of romance, murder and melodrama in Lauren Belfer's evocative, ambitious WWII-era novel that follows a journalist during the drug’s inception.
Finding Jeena by Miralee Ferrell: Jeena Gregory thinks she has it all after landing her dream job until persistent rumors cast her new employer in an unfavorable light, followed by a mysterious disappearance.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson: The worldwide bestseller introduces crusading journalist Mikael Blomqvist and hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander in the first volume of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger: Following her breakout bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger returns with a haunting tale about the complications of love, identity and sibling rivalry.
The Homecoming by Dan Walsh: A war veteran is invited on a USO tour but would prefer to spend time at home, especially after meeting his son’s new nanny.
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer: A Jewish architecture student is forced to return to his native Hungary along with his girlfriend at the beginning of World War II.
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard: The unforgettable story of a mother and son forever changed during a long summer weekend when a mysterious man comes into their lives.
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver: Beloved bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver returns with perhaps her most ambitious work yet: a sprawling historical epic of art, war and politics featuring some of America’s most influential figures.
The Last War by Ana Menéndez: From the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to the strange, shimmering streets of Istanbul, The Last War is a “seductive meditation” (O, The Oprah Magazine) on cruelty and violence, love and identity from Pushcart Prize-winning author Ana Menéndez.
Leaving Before It’s Over by Jean Reynolds Page: A searing family saga from the author of The Space Between Before and After hinges on the uneasy relationship between estranged brothers.
Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr: Written with bestselling memoirist Mary Karr's relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, Lit is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up.
A Love of Her Own: Heart of the West, Book 3 by Maggie Brendan: April McBride heads to the untamed wilds of the Montana frontier for a wedding, only to find her own love in the rough-and-tumble crowd.
Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin: Li Cunxin was taken from his home in rural China at a young age by the Chinese government and became an international ballet star before defecting to America.
Mozart’s Blood by Louise Marley: A talented musician goes to great lengths to conceal her romantic and spiritual ties to the legendary composer.
Mothers and Other Liars by Amy Bourret: Ruby leads an idyllic life with her daughter, Lark, in New Mexico until Lark stumbles upon a magazine article that shatters their lives.
My Hollywood by Mona Simpson: An L.A. housewife forms an unlikely bond with her Filipino nanny, and both receive an education in family, class, culture and friendship.
The Other Mothers’ Club by Samantha Baker: You can choose your family --- but are you sure you want to? That’s the question Samantha Baker poses in The Other Mothers’ Club --- a fresh, funny and touching fictional look at stepmotherhood, an often-misrepresented aspect of female life.
Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey: Flora Dempsey returns home to handle her father’s literary estate only to discover a cache of love poems to a mystery woman with her own sights on the estate.
The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi: A captivating story of love across cultures, and the meaning of raising a hybrid family between England and India.
Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole: A young woman versed in poisons becomes entangled in a treacherous web of romance, violence and politics in Renaissance-era Rome.
Ransomed Dreams: Side Roads, Book 1 by Sally John: A diplomat’s wife returns to Chicago after living abroad, and now must confront the tangled life she left behind as well as her father’s vast estate.
Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson: A new page-turning novel from an award-winning author Melanie Dobson is packed with a fast-paced plot that skillfully weaves together history and suspense.
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is a perceptive, funny and eye-opening debut novel of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria, perfect for fans of Half of a Yellow Sun or The 19th Wife.
The Seeker by Ann H. Gabhart: Gabhart brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers, and the ravages of war to weave a touching story of love, freedom and forgiveness that will stick with readers.
She’s Gone Country by Jane Porter: A former model returns to her Texas roots after her glamorous New York City life crumbles, and leaves her searching for perspective.
Snakewoman of Little Egypt by Robert Hellenga: A winning new novel from the bestselling author of The Sixteen Pleasures --- whose engaging, emotionally true characters could be right at home in the pages of Alice Munro or Bobbie Ann Mason.
So Cold the River by Michael Koryta: A struggling filmmaker accepts an offer to make a documentary of a wealthy industrialist in a small Indiana town that harbors many secrets.
Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren: In this explosive memoir, Lauren recounts her route from NYU undergrad to concubine in the royal court of Brunei.
Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb: An overweight woman undergoes a radical weight loss thinking it will change her fortunes in friendship and love, but still struggles to find both.
To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition by Harper Lee: This special edition celebrates Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic of race, class and justice in a small Southern town.
The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart: A Beefeater is tasked with managing a zoo within the Tower of London, complicating his marriage in this quirky love story.
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell: A Ukranian family immigrates to Canada and struggles to keep their farm afloat in the face of bigotry and the elements.
The Unexpected Son by Shobhan Bantwal: A New Jersey housewife receives a startling letter from her native India, setting in motion a series of grueling decisions.
What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman: A teenager moves in with his aunt, uncle and ravishing cousin after his parents commit suicide just hours apart following separate encounters with a neighbor.
You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir by Neela Vaswani: Vaswani recounts her upbringing as the child of an Irish-Catholic mother and Sindhi-Indian father as the family moved from country to country.
Whether your book club is just a few months old or has been around for a while, you might be in need of a Book Club Makeover from ReadingGroupGuides.com. After reading your emails --- and talking to book clubs across the country --- we see that book groups often can fall into a routine and need a bit of livening up. It’s ReadingGroupGuides.com to the rescue! We’ll select groups each month for makeovers, review the problems, and make suggestions. Interested in a Book Club Makeover for your group? Click here for details.
Contest
Win Copies for your Book Group
This month's prize: Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Click here for more
Win a Copy of SHE’S GONE COUNTRY by Jane Porter for Your Group
Win a Paperback Copy of THE BREAKING OF EGGS by Jim Powell for Your Group
