Archives de catégorie : Women’s Fiction

THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART de Pim Wangtechawat

The Joy Luck Club meets The Time Traveller’s Wife with the power of The Immortalists in this story that explores the ramifications of choices made by the generations of a British-Chinese family of time-travellers. A heart-warming, richly poetic novel, brimming with tenderness, joy and loss. Pim Wangtechawat strikes a perfect balance between vulnerability, fallibility and warmth.

THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART
by Pim Wangtechawat
Oneworld UK, Spring 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Father: Joshua understands the strict rules of time travel: only observe, things cannot be changed. But things are changing quickly for him. When the opportunity of a lifetime comes to attend university in London and leave the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong behind, he finds the courage to take it. From there, he feels it: this is where life begins. Stepping on that plane is the first decision that will have ramifications for generations to come.
Son: When Tommy’s parents travel to the past and never reappear, it feels as though time has stopped. But as it slowly restarts and everyone else moves forward, Tommy looks to the past. Struggling with the loss of his father, Tommy falls in love with a girl from the 1930s. Although his gifts allow him to walk through time, Tommy’s inability to confront his own history in the face of tragedy begins to affect his present, and has severe ramifications for the people who can truly bring him happiness.

Pim Wangtechawat is a Thai-Chinese writer from Bangkok with a Masters in Creative Writing from Edinburgh Napier University. Her short stories, poems, and articles have been published in various magazines and journals such as The Mekong Review, The Nikkei Asian Review, and YesPoetry. She has performed her poetry at events in Edinburgh hosted by Shoreline of Infinity and the Scottish BAME Writers Network, and has given talks about her writing at Chulalongkorn University and Ruamrudee International School. She is currently working on her second book and aims to tell stories that reflect our shared humanity and bring more Asian writers to the forefront. THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART is inspired by the author’s family. She would like to note that her family are not time travellers, even though she wishes they were.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING de Julia Whelan

From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
by Julia Whelan
‎ William Morrow, August 2022
(via Park & Fine)

For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.
On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.
As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.
If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.

Julia Whelan is a screenwriter, lifelong actor, and award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. While she was in England, her flirtation with tea blossomed into a full-blown love affair, culminating in her eventual certification as a tea master. 

MEANT TO BE d’Emily Giffin

A restless golden boy and a girl with a troubled past navigate a love story that may be doomed before it even begins, in this “glorious, satisfying” (Adriana Trigiani) new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All We Ever Wanted and The Lies That Bind.

MEANT TO BE
by Emily Giffin
4th Estate, May 2022
(via Park & Fine)

The Kingsley family is American royalty, beloved for their military heroics, political service, and unmatched elegance. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But Joe III is a free spirit—and a little bit reckless. Despite his best intentions, he has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation, as well as those of his exacting mother, Dottie.
Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged.
When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?

Emily Giffin is the author of ten internationally bestselling novels: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, Heart of the Matter, Where We Belong, The One & Only, First Comes Love, All We Ever Wanted, and The Lies That Bind. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children.

SUPER BLOOM de Megan Tady

For fans of Emily Henry’s Beach Read and Maria Semple, SUPER BLOOM is a heartwarming and hilarious debut novel about a 30-something massage therapist enlisted by an infamous romance novelist to dish the dirt on the not-so-pristine world of luxury spas.

SUPER BLOOM
by Megan Tady
‎ Zibby Books, Summer 2023
(via The Friedrich Agency)

Icing her hands. Grieving her boyfriend. Trying not to get fired. Each day feels the same for Joan Johnston. Her life gets a boost of excitement when a new massage client—Carmen Bronze, a high-maintenance romance novelist—corners Joan into becoming her research assistant for her next bestseller.
Joan’s notes start off as expected—demanding clients, inane spa rules, wacky colleagues— but she soon finds herself journaling about the sudden death of her boyfriend. What’s more, she starts writing their relationship back into existence through a romance novel of her own. But the longer she spends crafting her own fictional happily ever after, the more she risks losing the possibility of that in real life…

Megan Tady is a writer and editor running the company Word-Lift, and her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post and Ms. Magazine, among others. She was a finalist for the 2021 Penguin Random House Student Fiction Award. Megan lives in Western Massachusetts with her family. SUPER BLOOM is her debut novel.

A VERY TYPICAL FAMILY de Sierra Godfrey

A woman must return to her hometown of Santa Cruz, CA to inherit her family home after her mother dies, and is reunited with her estranged brother and sister, whom she was responsible for sending to prison 15 years earlier. An upmarket, darkly funny family saga.

A VERY TYPICAL FAMILY
by Sierra Godfrey
Sourcebooks Landmark, February 2022

Natalie Walker is the reason her brother and sister went to jail over 15 years ago. As a result, she hasn’t spoken to her family since. On the same day she expects to be promoted at her job (until her boyfriend Paul swoops in and takes the position), Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer in Santa Cruz saying her mother has died and the only way for her children to inherit their family’s large, historical home is for all three adult children to come back and claim it.
Natalie drives to Santa Cruz, expecting to sign some documents, see siblings Lynn and Jake, and get back to her life in Boston. But Jake, now an award-winning scientist, is missing. And Lynn, working as an undertaker in NYC, shows up with her teenaged son. While Natalie and her nephew look for Jake—meeting a very handsome Spanish scientist in the process—Natalie takes stock of her life and the guilt she has held dear for so many years. Though no one can change the past, every day is an opportunity to change how you want to live in the future.

Sierra Godfrey is a tech editor by day who loves writing stories about complex relationships. She lives in the foggy wastelands of the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, sons, and a bevy of animals, all of which seemed like a good idea at the time.