Interview with Author Jojo Moyes...

Today I'd like to welcome author Jojo Moyes to Chick with Books! She's the wonderful author that pulled at our heartstrings with Me Before You, where we originally fell in love with her character Louisa Clark and a romance that seemed eternal. Jojo has written quite a few books, and a follow-up to Me Before You called After You, but today we wanted to get some insight into her new book coming out the end of January, Still Me, where she brings back the character Louisa Clark in a whole new adventure "across the pond" and ask her a bit about her writing...

In STILL ME, you bring Louisa Clark, the beloved character you created in Me Before You, to New York City. Why the transatlantic journey? 

I really wanted to stretch Louisa in a place where she would be out of her depth. What’s one of the wildest, most metropolitan places you could land a small-town girl? The heart of Manhattan. I have spent a lot of time in the US over the past five years and most trips begin with some time in New York so I have long been viewing the city through alien eyes myself. It’s tough, exciting, challenging, and unforgiving and enormous fun. The perfect backdrop for Lou’s adventure.

NYC is far from Lou’s home in Stotfold, England—what was your research process for finding the places and experiences that Lou enjoys in the Big Apple?

As well as the time I spend on work trips, I came out in October and did a week’s solid research.  I tried to do all the things that I put Lou through—except sleep in a horrible hotel with bedbugs! A friend got me into one of the really exclusive apartment buildings overlooking Central Park, which was invaluable, and the owner then put me in touch with a very experienced realtor who gave me chapter and verse on the realities of living in one of these places. It’s VERY specific, in the same way that it would be if you were a North or South Londoner, and it was important to me that I didn’t get things horribly off-key.


Reading STILL ME is like catching up with an old friend. How did it feel to revisit the story of Lou Clark and some of the other familiar characters, such as Treena and Ambulance Sam?

I absolutely love writing Louisa. By now she does feel like an old friend. It’s really hard sometimes to find your way into a character, and with her it’s like slipping on your favorite clothes. I know her. I know how she would react to any given circumstance. She’s genuine and funny and a bit daft. But what was fun in this book was to really push her forward a bit. She grows up a lot, especially in the last third of the book. I think like many of us she is really still working out who she is.

One character remarks that New York suits Lou. What is it about Lou that makes you want to take her on new experiences? Why do you think she resonates with readers?

I think Lou is very identifiable for a whole raft of people. In Me Before You, it was about being aware that life had somehow slipped away from you and reaching an age and finding yourself leading a very small life—and not being entirely sure how you got there or whether you even wanted to be somewhere else. But in After You a lot of readers seemed to identify with her grieving process—the difficulty of everybody else expecting you to move on and be cheerful and outgoing when you really don’t feel like that at all. Most importantly, Lou is someone who really tries to do the right thing—but often does the wrong thing—which I think makes her like an awful lot of us...

Class divide is a major theme in your books—Lou often finds herself in circles far different from her working-class upbringing, with employment to the Traynors in Me Before You and the Gopniks in STILL ME. Why is this dichotomy important to you and in your writing?

I think in this book it’s much less class than money. All good narratives thrive on tension, and if you push together rich and poor or upper and working class then you have an inbuilt tension in your story. It’s a growing issue in society—the polarization of money and opportunity—and for most people we will only ever have our noses pressed against the window.

At the same time, I think a lot of us now have the lives of very rich people broadcast to us daily—whether they be Kardashians or movie stars, on Instagram or via other social media, which makes that difference more obvious. With Lou, I wanted to ask how it would feel to step into one of those lives.

There is a thread in STILL ME about a public library on the brink of closing in Washington Heights. What significance does the library play in your life and why is it important in the story?

I am passionate about libraries—they are one of the few cost-free resources that offer people not just shelter but the chance to entertain or improve themselves. I spent some time at a library in a very mixed area of Washington Heights where I saw quite how many different functions the public library performed—from a learning opportunity to a safe place, to somewhere people could make job applications, or just escape from their lives for a while. It really worries me how hard libraries are being squeezed in both the UK and the US. There are so few places that don’t require a financial transaction, that really are just about the joy of learning. Once they are gone we won’t get that resource back again.

Another prominent theme in STILL ME is the struggle for women to “have it all.” Louisa finds herself between the pull of New York high society and her life in England; Mrs. De Witt was torn between her fashion career and family life; Agnes struggled to maintain her old friendships after marrying into wealth. Why is a woman’s unique balance to play many roles in life while staying true to herself important to discuss?

When I was a girl I assumed I was the equal to any boy and that I would be treated the same as an adult. For the most part that was the case—until I had children, at which point I discovered that there is always a choice to be made, always a compromise, and that in most cases that belongs to the woman. I’m lucky enough to have a husband who supports my work and does his best to be an equal partner in all ways—but I am a rarity. I know elderly women who had to give up their careers to follow their husbands, and I know younger women who gave up their jobs because their partners couldn’t be home for the children. I hope that one day we can find a way to make this a little more equitable. It’s good for men, too!

Fashion is a significant element in Lou’s story, notably the red dress and bumblebee tights in Me Before You. In STILL ME, Louisa becomes involved with an East Village vintage emporium, and Mrs. De Witt is revealed as a former fashion magazine editor. What is your interest in this world?

Well, most of my friends would laugh at the idea that I was massively interested in fashion. My default uniform is shirt, jumper, jeans, boots. I rarely wear anything else. But it feels like such an integral part of Louisa’s character, and over the past few years I have discovered a love of vintage clothes. I have a number of vintage outfits—and suppliers—and I find them so much more enjoyable, both to buy and wear, than just a chain boutique. It’s partly textural—the work that goes into some of these older clothes—beading, cutting, stitching—is just beautiful. Even I can appreciate it!

In a couple of your books, including STILL ME, you created dogs that, much like your human characters, have distinct personalities and quirks. Why do your animal characters receive such prominent roles?

I guess because animals are such a fundamental part of my own family. We joke that if we didn’t have our animals we’d have nothing to talk about. All our animals have distinct voices that we use for them (for some reason Eric, our shorthair cat, has a Spanish accent, whereas BigDog, our rescue Pyrenean, has a more lugubrious tone). I think anybody who has close contact with an animal knows that they have just as much personality and just as many expressions as humans do. If I’m writing one into a story, I can’t see why it shouldn’t have a fully formed character in the way that a human does.

Your books always evoke a wide range of human emotion—on one page, you leave readers laughing out loud and on the next, reduce them to tears. Is it a difficult process to combine such an accurate portrayal of the comedies and tragedies of life? How do you create such deep characters and storylines?

Thank you! I consider that an enormous compliment. I guess it comes from the fact that I try to write the books I like to read—and if a book can make me laugh or cry then that author earns my undying loyalty. The key to writing them, I think, is that both laughter and tears have to come from a place that is honest—something that feels true to the character. If I know the character then as I write their experiences I feel what they are feeling—it then becomes easier to translate that emotion onto the page.

What was the Me Before You movie experience like? If you were to cast STILL ME, who do you see playing some of the new main characters?

Writing and being part of the filming of Me Before You was, without doubt, the best—and most challenging—experience of my professional life. I was on the steepest learning curve and I worked flat out for months. But I loved the cast and crew and the director, producers and I are still good friends, so it never really felt like work.

If I were to cast STILL ME I would obviously want Emilia Clarke to return as Lou. And having Sam Claflin as Josh would be a lovely way of bringing him back in! I have no idea who would play Margot—but I always saw her as looking a little like Iris Apfel, the famous NY society fashion icon.

What's next? More adventures for Lou?

I’ve been saying no, as I would hate to be seen flogging her to death. But when I think about never writing her again I feel ridiculously sad. Maybe a short story?

About the Author... 
Jojo Moyes was born in 1969 and grew up in London. After a varied career including stints as a minicab controller, typer of braille statements for blind people for NatWest, and brochure writer for Club 18-30, she did a degree at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. In 1992, she won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to attend the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University.

Jojo worked as a journalist for ten years, including a year at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and nine at The Independent where she worked variously as News Reporter, Assistant News Editor and Arts and Media Correspondent.

Jojo has been a full time novelist since 2002, when her first book, Sheltering Rain was published. Since then she has written a further eleven novels, all of which have been widely critically acclaimed. Jojo has won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice, and Me Before You has been nominated for Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. Me Before You has since gone on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide.

Presently, Jojo lives (and writes!) on a farm in Essex, England with her husband, journalist Charles Arthur, and their three children.

Look for Jojo Moyes newest book, Still Me, out on January 30th! In the meantime, for more information about Jojo and her books, please visit the webpage here.

The Sunday Salon and Fall into Reading... Must Reads for this Fall!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week where Bloggers from all over get together virtually to talk books in The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by Kim of The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. So, find a comfy chair, grab a cup of joe and let's talk books...

It's the beginning of September which marks the end of summer. Why does it always seem that the summer comes and goes in the blink of an eye? This summer has been the hottest summer I can remember too. But Fall really is my favorite season. And with Fall comes cooler temps and NEW BOOKS!

I'm always on the lookout for books that sound interesting. Sometimes I get books in the mail from some generous publishers, or I'll be in a bookstore and open up book or two that seem to be calling my name. This week I went to my local independent bookstore, Byrd's Books, and found a few YA books I wanted to read and I found a couple of books through some "Fall Reading" blurbs. First, my YA finds that you should be reading...

Hundred Percent by Karen Romano Young... Byrd's Books was having a release party the saturday before last, because Karen is a LOCAL author! Yay to local authors! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the release party, but I was able to pick up a signed copy at the store yesterday! What's special about this book is not only is a local author, BUT Hundred Percent has gotten a zillion great reviews! Even Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review (which is great). It's a YA book, written for ages 10 and up, but if you were ever a twelve year old girl, you know that awkward stage, then you should be able to relate to this book. And I loved the writing that I sampled too. Here's the blurb from the publisher...

"The last year of elementary school is big for every kid. In this novel, equal parts funny and crushing, utterly honest and perfect for boys and girls alike, Christine Gouda faces change at every turn, starting with her own nickname— Tink—which just doesn’t fit anymore. Readers will relate to this strong female protagonist whose voice rings with pro- found authenticity and absolute novelty, and her year’s cring- ingly painful trials in normalcy—uncomfortable Halloween costumes, premature sleepover parties, crushed crushes, and changing friendships."

This is on top of my reading pile. After I finish what I'm reading now (A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth L. Ozeki, short listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013), I'll be cracking open Hundred Percent. (Hmmm, I may just start this now instead...)

Drama by Raina Telgemeier... There was a display at Byrd's Books of banned books for Banned Books week, which is coming up Sept. 25. I alway like to read a banned book in "honor" of our right to free speech, and I saw displayed Raina's book Smile, which reminded me about her book, Drama. I asked if they had a copy of Drama, which they did in the part of the banned book display only visible from the front window. I didn't realize that Drama had been tagged as banned and asked why it was banned. They didn't know offhand, but quickly looked it up and told me it was banned because of it being "gay". I hadn't known that it had any gay characters, so I investigated a little further and here's what I found at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund site...

 "a small but vocal minority have objected to the inclusion of two gay characters, one of whom shares a chaste on-stage kiss with another boy. Negative online reader reviews have accused Telgemeier of literally hiding an agenda inside brightly-colored, tween-friendly covers, but in an interview with TeenReads she said that while she and her editors at Scholastic were very careful to make the book age-appropriate, they never considered omitting the gay characters because “finding your identity, whether gay or straight, is a huge part of middle school.”

I feel that most "banning" of books is done out of fear. Fear that your child is going to become "gay" because they "read about it in a book", Fear that your child is going to start taking drugs because they "read about it in a book", Fear about almost anything you can find in a book. I feel that parents should take an active part in their children's lives, and that includes what they read, to either determine that a book is not appropriate for THEIR child or to open a conversation about what is in a particular book. In any case, I'm reading Drama for my banned book choice this year, but more on that during Banned Book Week. BTW, if you are a fan of Raina Telgemeier, who writes books for middle school readers, her next book Ghosts (it's another graphic novel) is due out Sept. 13th. You can read more about it at her website, Go Raina.

Now onto a few "adult" books...

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles... Immerses us in another elegantly drawn era with the story of Count Alexander Rostov. When, in 1922, he is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the count is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.


Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

I initially glanced past this when I was looking at fall book recommendations. I was thinking this was going to be a historical fiction story about an exiled Count and how he survived his circumstances. But what this description does not tell you is that Count Alexander Rostov strikes up a lasting friendship with a young girl named Nina, who also lives in the hotel. When Nina grows up, marries and the man she marries is exiled to Siberia (Wasn't Russia doing that to everyone in those days!), Nina deposits her six year old daughter, Sophie with the Count. When Nina does not return, the Count raises Sophie as his own daughter. It's that twist that intrigued me and so this is now on my TBR list. This book is also on quite a few "must read" fall book lists. Published by Viking, it is on the shelves in bookstore this tuesday, Sept. 6th!

The Mothers by Bait Bennett... "All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season."

It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

The fall book recommendations I was looking at yesterday, were from a list on Literary Hub. It's a pretty cool site for all things literary (you should check it out), and they asked their favorite booksellers what books they were excited about coming out this fall. The Mothers had 5 booksellers recommending it, and the premise intrigues me. I can't find any reading samples, so I don't know if I like Bait Bennett's writing style or not, but I'm sure after it's October 11th release, I'll be able to find a chapter or two to read before making a decision to purchase it or borrow it.  Published by Riverhead.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett... One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Ann Patchett is a wonderful storyteller and this looks to be one of those interesting stories that developes into something beyond the seed of the story that starts it all. This book is also on many lists for anticipated releases this fall. Published by Harper and due out Sept. 13th!

Other Notables...

The Journey Hardcover by Francesca Sanna... "At first glance The Journey seems to be a picture book for children but quickly reveals itself as a troubling mirror for adults today. This masterpiece—and I do not use that word lightly—is a story of a refugee family escaping their unnamed country in pursuit of safety. What is unsaid speaks volumes, and the illustrations will remain in mind long after The Journey ends." –Cressida Hanson, Kepler’s

A picture book aimed at 3 - 7 year olds, with beautiful illustrations by the author herself, who studied at Lucerne School of Art and Design with a Master of Design  in Switzerland. Published by Flying Eye Books and in bookstores, Sept. 13th.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman... "Alice Hoffman does something different and beautiful with each novel she crafts. Faithful is a rich, heartbreaking story about two friends and the devastating tragedy that separates them. Hoffman is so adept at exploring the depths of human emotion, especially in young women, that her characters seem to pulse on the page." –Mary, Newtonville Books

Alice Hoffman is also a wonderful storyteller, and I can't wait to read this one!  On my wish list, published by Simon & Schuster and coming out Nov. 1st!

You can read the full list of bookseller Fall Reading recommendations from Literary Hub at Lithub.com.

Do You Read Banned Books for Banned Books Week? 

What Do You Think About Books Being Banned?

Weekly Update...

As much as the week before was a big reading week, this week was a bit slower. My reading group met this past week to discuss our pick, which was The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens, which everyone loved. I was waiting until after the meeting to review this, but I enjoyed it so much I read Allen Eskens next book, The Guise of Another, which I loved and reviewed on August 9th. 

During the week I also spent some time researching Man Booker Prize winners and books that made the shortlist. (Here is a list of the longlist for 2016) This was for my reading groups Book Bingo cards, which we decided we were going to read something for. I had read The Driver's Seat by Muriel Sparks for my Bingo Square, but there are plenty of interesting books that have won and/or been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and for this book club selection, we are choosing whatever book we want to read and we will discuss them all at the next meeting. It should be a fun meeting! I decidced I was going to read another book for this... A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki about a young girls diary carefully preserved and swept up by the 2011 Tsunami and deposited on a beach across the Pacific and into the hands of a novelist, who starts to read the diary and wonders the fate of the girl who wrote it. This book was shortlisted in 2013, and I've been wanting to read it for so long. (P.S. For January I posted the Chick with Books Bingo card for 2016. I need to update it with a few more squares I read for,  but HERE'S the bingo card if you'd like to check it out. I have 4 more squares to fill in for a total black out! What about you? How many squares could you fill in so far this year?)

I began to read N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto... "A celebrated Japanese writer has committed suicide, leaving behind a collection of stories written in English, N.P. But the book may never be published in his native Japan: each translator who takes up the ninety-eighth story chooses death too -- including Kazami Kano's boyfriend, Shoji. Haunted by Shoji's death, Kazami is inexorably drawn to three young people whose lives are intimately bound to the late writer and his work. Over the course of an astonishing summer, she will discover the truth behind the ninety-eighth story -- and she will come to believe that "everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful enough to make you crazy." 

Banana Yoshimoto is a wildly popular contemporary Japanese writer. I read that this book was going to be reprinted May 2017, which piqued my curiosity since I have enjoyed her writing before. The story sounded interesting, so I found myself a used copy, because I didn't want to wait!

That about does it for this week! Hope you found something interesting to read here today! And please, share what great books you're reading here too!

Happy reading... Suzanne

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Memoir Monday... The Lovers by Rod Nordland

An astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about women’s rights in the Muslim world.

Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but they grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. By the time they were young teenagers, Zakia, strikingly beautiful and fiercely opinionated, and Ali, shy and tender, had fallen in love. Defying their families, sectarian differences, cultural conventions, and Afghan civil and Islamic law, they ran away together only to live under constant threat from Zakia’s large and vengeful family, who have vowed to kill her to restore the family’s honor. They are still in hiding.

Despite a decade of American good intentions, women in Afghanistan are still subjected to some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Rod Nordland, then the Kabul bureau chief of the New York Times, had watched these abuses unfold for years when he came upon Zakia and Ali, and has not only chronicled their plight, but has also shepherded them from danger.

The Lovers will do for women’s rights generally what Malala’s story did for women’s education. It is an astonishing story about self-determination and the meaning of love that illustrates, as no policy book could, the limits of Western influence on fundamentalist Islamic culture and, at the same time, the need for change.

The Sunday Salon and Reading Anticipation (With Giveaways to Come…)!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! It's the day of the week we virtually talk about that thing we love… READING! And finally, in Connecticut, we can step out of the house and not into a foot of snow! It's a beautiful sunny day here and it just makes me feel refreshed and ready for a new reading season! So let me ask you...

Do you get excited when you hear that a favorite author or series is coming out with a new book?! I do and so today I thought we'd talk about one such series that is wrapping up with the final chapter… Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy! And what's even more fun is that the publisher is celebrating as well with a giveaway! And to top that is, you can enter the giveaway and read a guest post by Deb, right here starting June 6th! Don't miss it, it's going to be a blast!

So what is the All Souls Trilogy?! Take one part Anne Rice mix that with the Twilight series and a good helping of historical fiction, and you have an idea what you're in for with the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. An enchanted manuscript, known as Ashmole 782, a reluctant witch and a sexy vampire…

A Discovery of Witches (Book 1)… "When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well."

Shadow of Night (Book 2)… "Book Two of the All Souls Trilogy plunges Diana and Matthew into  Elizabethan London, a world of spies and subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night.  The mission is to locate a witch to tutor  Diana and to find traces of Ashmole 782, but as the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them they embark on a very different journey, one that takes them into heart of the 1,500 year old vampire’s shadowed history and secrets. For Matthew Clairmont, time travel is no simple matter; nor is Diana’s search for the key to understanding her legacy.

Shadow of Night brings us a rich and splendid tapestry of alchemy, magic, and history, taking us through the loop of time to deliver a deepening love story, a tale of blood, passion, and the knotted strands of the past."

The Book of Life (Book 3!)…  "After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago."

I don't know where I was at the beginning of this trilogy, but I'm a good ways into book 1, A Discovery of Witches, and I am hooked! From the very beginning when I found myself in an old dusty library with Diana Bishop I did not want to come out! For a reader, who wouldn't love a story set among old dusty books. And even though Diana is a witch (she's a reluctant witch), this book doesn't seem to rely on that as its sole plot, there just feels like so much more substance to this story. More of a historical fiction feel with a bit of spice. So, if you haven't read this series you need to catch up! The Kindle version is only $2.99 right now for  A Discovery of Witches: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy, Book 1) and $4.99 for Shadow of Night: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy, Book 2). Book 3, The Book of Life comes out July 15th by Penguin Group, so you and I both have time to read up to the final chapter in the series.

I am lucky though, because I just received this series in the mail courtesy of Penguin Books! And I can't wait to share my thoughts after reading each book. But from the looks of it, I'm going to be liking this series A LOT! And I'm going to love participating in the celebration so some of my Chick with Books readers can win some cool stuff! OK… it's back to the books for me! You come back this week to learn more about those great giveaways!

Happy reading… Suzanne