All posts filed under: Shout Outs

Sunday Shout Outs, Tuesday Teasers, Winning Wednesdays, competitions and other general blog posts related to books, reading and reviewing.

SHOUT OUT: LIVING WITH THE LOCALS (NLA PRESS)

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Recently I was sent a copy of Living with the Locals by John Maynard & Victoria Haskins. The book comprises accounts from white people “who lived and worked closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities over months and years”. While the stories contain biases and sometimes “sensationalist additions”,  they can still be regarded as valuable sources of information. Here’s the blurb: Living with the Locals comprises the stories of 13 white people who were taken in by Indigenous communities of the Torres Strait islands and eastern Australia between the 1790s and the 1870s, for periods from a few months to over 30 years. The shipwreck survivors, convicts and ex-convicts survived only through the Indigenous people’s generosity. They assimilated to varying degrees into an Indigenous way of life and, for the most part, both parties mourned the white people’s return to European life. The authors bring fresh insight to the stories and re-evaluate the encounters between Indigenous people and the white people who became part of their families. I have not read this book – my …

WRITING THE DREAM BOOK LAUNCH

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During 2016, I’ve been involved in the production (as publisher, editor and a contributor) of an amazing book called Writing the Dream (Serenity Press). Here’s a write up about the launch by one of the contributors, Sandi Bowie. PS. Her story made me cry. PPS. You can buy Writing the Dream from Serenity Press, Booktopia, Book Depository and Amazon … and more. If you’re a writer, you will love this book.

STORIES ON STAGE 2016

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Stories on Stage 2016 at Koorliny Arts Centre is about to get under way in Perth’s southern suburbs, with writers Susan Midalia and Laurie Steed kicking off a year of book-ish events on March 16. They will be discussing the art of writing short stories as well as reading from their own works. I’ve just read Susan’s Feet to the Stars and it’s finely crafted and beautiful reading. Laurie is someone I’ve come to admire through workshops, in which he shares his knowledge with writers of diverse experience. As someone who is working on her own novel, as well as a number of short stories, I am really looking forward to this event, as much for me as everyone else! For those who don’t know, Stories on Stage is held five to six times a year. I created the event in 2012, as much from a desire to share my love of books, as one to bring authors and literary events to an area known for its high unemployment, socio-economic disadvantage and poor literacy and numeracy levels. Working in an arts …

COVER REVEAL: HOT STUFF SURFING LOVE

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What happens when four authors write love stories with the common theme of ‘surfing’? Hot Stuff: Surfing Love, a new anthology of love stories via HarperCollins, is what happens. The book, which is set to be released digitally on December 14 features Australian writers Tess Woods, Alli Sinclair, Carla Caruso and Maria Lewis. Tess and I met a few months ago at a romance writers’ morning tea in Perth and she told me about this story on that day. Imagine my surprise when two months later she got in touch and asked me to reveal the cover. Check this out. It oozes Aussie summer, with that warm golden light, beachy background … and the surfer boy in his boardies. Here’s the blurb: Hot sun, warm bodies, tight skin, electricity on the air … four top romance authors give you their take on summer. From Carla Caruso – A chance meeting with a pro-surfer on an island getaway … From Maria Lewis – The world of women’s surfing throws two recent bedmates together … From Alli Sinclair – …

COVER REVEAL: ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US BY SARA FOSTER

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There’s a new book on the horizon for Sara Foster and it’s going to be terrific. I say this, because I’ve read all of Sara’s books and they are all terrific – she has a knack for delivering delivering taut, suspenseful reads bursting with family secrets and hope. I have every confidence that All That is Lost Between Us, due in February 2016, will deliver the same. Today’s the day of the cover reveal, which the good people at Simon & Schuster Australia and Sara Foster have chosen me to do after a friendly competition between book bloggers. So (imagine me pulling aside a heavy red curtain while Hitchcock-inspired music builds to a climax), here it is: I like the cover. The vignette-style hints at dark secrets, and the foggy, blurred background suggests uncertainty. It’s a change from the woman on the cover style that has been popular of late. What do you think? The blurb is equally enticing: Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret – one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell …

SUNDAY SHOUT OUT: RAKOFF, MOGGACH AND HAMMER

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Sunday Shout-Out aims to acknowledge books I’ve been sent by publishers that I am unable to review, due to time constraints arising from my own writing projects. Sunday Shout Out is a bookish meme hosted by Monique of Write Note Reviews. If you’re a book blogger and you want to join in, just: Share the title, author, blurb and image from a book (or more than one) you want to acknowledge Share the genre, price and link to the publisher so readers can follow up if they like the sound of the book Ping back to Write Note Reviews in your post. ♦♦♦ 1. A Fortunate Age by Joanna Rakoff, Bloomsbury, RRP $32.99AU A group of young graduates chase their dreams in the rapidly changing Brooklyn of the late 1990s, a compelling, deeply affecting story that captures a generation. Living in crumbling Brooklyn apartments, holding down jobs as actors and writers and eschewing the middle-class sensibilities of their parents, graduates of the prestigious Oberlin College, Lil, Beth, Sadie, Emily, Dave and Tal believe they can have it …

TEASER TUESDAY: IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT BY JUDY BLUME

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Growing up, I loved Judy Blume’s books. I was especially fascinated by Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret because I could completely relate to Margaret’s desire to grow boobs! Moving on to more adult matters, here’s a teaser from Blume’s latest novel for adults, In The Unlikely Event. Here’s the teaser: Somewhere Miri had a father but she didn’t know where. What kind of guy leaves his seventeen-year-old pregnant girlfriend and never even sees his baby? (p29) Here’s another: The fathers took turns driving their daughters to and from events, a get-together in someone’s finished basement, a dance at the Y, a Saturday night movie. Miri was the only one without a father. Not that any of her friends asked about him. Here’s the blurb: “She held the baby close, feeling the warmth of his little body, kissing his soft cheek. He looked right into her eyes. Outside the window, the wing broke away from the plane. Then they were falling . . . falling diagonally out of the sky.” When three planes crashed …

TEASER TUESDAY: LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT BY TESS WOODS

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It’s pure coincidence that this teaser and my previous one (Adultery by Paolo Coehlo) include themes of infidelity, among others. No, this is not my theme of the month. In fact, I didn’t even finish Adultery – I just couldn’t get into it because I could not connect with the character/narrator’s voice. With Love at First Flight, I found myself wanting to follow the story through because I wanted to understand the two characters’ emotions. Knowing that her topic of choice is one that many find uncomfortable, author Tess Woods has written a thought-provoking guest post on Book Muster Down Under called “Why is writing about infidelity taboo but brutal murder isn’t?” It’s worth a read. Here’s the teaser: Yesterday I was carefree, excited. I was normal then. Now everything was different. Matt had changed everything. How could I go back to normal now? (35%) And here’s another: ‘”The verb love is what counts, not the feeling of love. When you feel love, it’s selfish, it’s just for you and affects nobody but you. But …

TEASER TUESDAY: ADULTERY BY PAOLO COEHLO

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I love Paolo Coehlo’s The Alchemist and I find many of his quotes inspiring. His most recent novel Adultery took me aback because of the name. Did I want to read it? Was this a subject matter that I wanted to dig into? One of my friends, a big Coehlo fan, wasn’t keen; another read it and loved it. I decided it was time to see for myself. Note, the tag line “Sometimes you must lose yourself to discover who you are” might help those who are on the fence with this one. Here’s the teaser: It’s odd how whenever we meet up with school friends, we always think they haven’t changed at all, even if the weakest has grown strong, the prettiest has ended up with a monster for a husband, and those who seemed closest have grown apart and not seen one another for years. (p62) And another, just because: There is nothing more important we can give than the Love reflected in our own lives. That is the one universal language that allows …

TEASER TUESDAY: CHARLIE, PRESUMED DEAD BY ANNE HELTZEL

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Charlie, Presumed Dead was supposed to on the bottom of my review pile, being the last book received. It didn’t even make it to the pile. I flicked through, read a chapter … and then I was finished. Let me warn you – there is a big twist. Here’s the teaser: Then she turns, and we both part for our separate cars. I’ve almost reached mine when I turn to watch her recede into the crowd. The thing I can’t figure out – the thing this whole crazy idea I had depends on – is whether I can trust her. Because I know she can’t trust me. (p34) Here’s the blurb: In Paris, family and friends gather to mourn the passing of Charlie Price, presumed dead after a horrific accident. At the funeral, his two girlfriends—Lena and Aubrey—uncover their boyfriend’s shocking betrayal. Charlie led a double life, and they are the casualties. Over the course of a week, the girls embark on a mind-bending search for answers. Is Charlie still alive? What else was he …