Jenna Bush Hager, news personality, author, journalist, daughter of George W. and Laura Bush and co host of Today (the fourth hour of NBC’s news program), and actress, producer and entrepreneur, Reese Witherspoon have had a wonderful impact on the success of so many books by choosing them for their reading lists.
The sought after publicity is golden for authors, and monthly recommendations come fast a furious for us readers…not always so easy to keep up!
Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck may be walking off the field, but he is sure to keep busy with his book club that has been going on for several years.
The Andrew Luck Book Club encourages younger and older folks, he calls them rookies and veterans, to read each month, and with over 15,000 followers on instagram, #ALbookclub is accomplishing its mission!
Here are some of these book gurus’ recommendations:
Can you forgive and repair old friendships and have them be as strong as they used to be? In this Agatha Christie-like murder mystery where everyone is a suspect, Kate wants to know who killed her mother, Lily, and who is sending her threatening notes. Her old best friend Blaire returns to her life after being estranged, ready to help, but does she have her own agenda? And is Kate’s husband, Simon having an affair? Is her dad keeping a secret? Is the nanny being honest? Set in the world of old money and generational wealth of Baltimore, Kate has suffered more than one tragic loss and her family and friends support her, yet one of them could be a murderer. Filled with lots of twists and turns, this whodunnit keeps you on your toes! The Last Time I Saw You‘s author, Liv Constantine is the master of deception and lies, with this fast paced psychological suspense, perfect for a day on the beach!
I was fortunate enough to attend a book talk with the authors and learned about them and their writing process.
Liv Constantine is the pen name for Lynne and Valerie Constantine, the dynamic duo sisters who write together over FaceTime; one lives in Maryland, the other in Connecticut. They figured out the secret to success with their huge best seller, The Last Mrs. Parrish, and are back with a new psychological thriller that will keep you flipping through the pages, called The Last Time I Saw You. Lynne and Val started working together 20 years ago in person and enjoy having each other as writing partners. They split the writing pretty evenly but both have their own strengths, as Val is best at setting and scene and Lynne is the pro on writing dialog. They come up with the story line and characters together and luckily, they rarely disagree.
The theme of The Last Time I Saw You is friendship, and it is dedicated to the Tuesday ladies, the special group friends who spent time with their mom and aunt, always elegantly dressed with nice shoes, fancy hair and makeup.
After a big splash in the book world with Mrs. Parrish, there was considerable pressure to follow suit. This sophomore book took them one and a half years to write, and according to the authors, it was like pulling teeth all the way! Revisions were plentiful as their publisher told them they needed one more twist in the plot, and then the decision to change who the murderer was in the third draft led to some rewriting. Lucky for us, the book is complete and out in the world! FYI, their third book, about a wife stalker, only took four months to write and is in edits now!
When asked about the attention received for The Last Mrs. Parrish, Lynne and Val told a few stories.
(Lynne, sorry about this photo with your eyes closed licking your lips…you must be thinking about Patrick Dempsey!)
When The Last Mrs. Parrish was chosen for the People Magazine pick, the sisters were ecstatic and ventured out to CVS to buy up a bunch of copies. Unfortunately Harvey Weinstein was on the cover and they got a lot of strange looks from observers!
When they were notified that Reese Witherspoon chose Mrs. Parrish for her book club, over the phone, they screamed with delight but were then told they had to keep it quiet for close to three weeks. They lied to one of their husbands who was in the room at the time, making up some story about how someone was going to write an article about them. He thought they were a bit dramatic but they stuck to their story. Ultimately Lynne and Val were thrilled when Witherspoon announced her pick of The Last Mrs. Parrish and they had the pleasure of connecting with Reese on Instagram.
The most recent, exciting news is that Amazon is developing a series based on Mrs. Parrish, but mums the word on details as of now!
Liv Constantine is the pen name of USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and international bestselling authors and sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine, co-authors of the Reese Witherspoon book club pick, THE LAST MRS. PARRISH. Separated by three states, they spend hours plotting via FaceTime and burning up each other’s emails. They attribute their ability to concoct dark story lines to the hours they spent listening to tales handed down by their Greek grandmother. Their next book, THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU, was released on May 7, 2019.
If YOU feel the need to be informed and want to keep up on GREAT READS I can help. First, sign up to follow Book Nation by Jen, and then take a look at these links below.
Books in photo are currently participating in the Bedside Reading Program where books are placed at the bedside in luxury hotels, as a complimentary gift to all the guests.
BOOK AWARDS
In addition, there are also many literary awards that recognize talent, and below are some of the latest winners.
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction published in the United States the previous year.
The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai Best Fiction 2019
The Edgar Awards, Named after Edgar Allen Poe, honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theater and are presented by the Mystery Writers of America.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English the previous year.
