The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

Book of the Month Club Pick, Indie Next Pick, Publishers Lunch Buzz Book, Top 10 Washington Post- Publication November 7, 2023-Zibby Books-Women’s Fiction-376pp

Book Summary

Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the balls—and yet clinging to her sense of humor. Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who’s determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor. When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time? When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free? The Last Love Note will make readers laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart—and in love itself.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Last Love Note is considered a rom com, but that pigeonhole is not a good fit for me. This novel is about losing. Losing love, jobs, babies. Sounds depressing right, but the novel is about so much more. The setting is Australia, so the places were unfamiliar, but Emma Grey’s sense of place takes over! At the novel’s core is the journey of a widow through grief, the understanding and acceptance of the self-sacrificing actions of others, and the mosaic of the human heart. There are secrets, low points and turning points-all revealed through love notes. Readers will long remember the overall theme that ‘love outlives death.’ This novel is full of humor and scaffolded grief shrouded in wisdom.

Emma is a novelist, feature writer, photographer, professional speaker and accountability coach.
She has been writing since she first fell for Anne of Green Gables at fourteen and is the author of YA fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. She wrote her first adult novel, The Last Love Note, in the wake of her husband’s death. It’s a fictional tribute to their love, an attempt to articulate the magnitude of her loss and a life-affirming commitment to hope. Emma lives just outside Canberra, where her world centers on her two adult daughters, young son, loved step-children and step-grandchildren, writing, photography and endlessly chasing the Aurora Australis.

Here is the link to the Zibby Media page featuring Emma Grey and The Last Love Note. Readers will find the book club kit, bonus content, a play list and much more! https://zibbymedia.com/blogs/our-books/the-last-love-note

Wednesdays at One by Sandra A. Miller

Publishing July 11, 2023-Zibby Books-Psychological Thriller-312pp

Book Summary

Dr. Gregory Weber appears to have an enviable life. He’s a renowned clinical psychologist residing in an elegant home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife, Liv, and their two kids. But Gregory feels increasingly disconnected. His marriage is strained, his children are distant, and he can’t stop fixating on an unforgivable mistake he made when he was seventeen. Something no one else knows about.

So when an unscheduled client named Mira starts to appear in his office each week with knowledge about his past, Gregory quickly grows obsessed with her. Is she a new patient? A secret referral from a colleague? Someone connected to his teenage transgression?

As his attraction for Mira grows more intense with each session, so does her probing scrutiny of him. Soon Gregory’s professional boundaries begin to dissolve, and he becomes the patient, desperate to uncover his connection to this mysterious woman and find out what she wants from him.

In searching for the answers, Gregory risks losing everything that matters: his career, his family, and his mind.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Wednesdays at One is the rollercoaster of disquieting, unnerving memories of seventeen-year-old Greg, a mistake that changed his life and his lie of omission. The impact of hiding the truth for thirty years is revealed in the shattered lives of Greg, his family, and his friends. The healing powers of acceptance and forgiveness are splayed in gripping dialogue and partial flashbacks; never quite revealing the whole truth until it’s too late. Or is it?

Sandra Miller puts relationships based on fear and lies under the sometimes too powerful lens of a psychiatrist’s microscope. Through puzzling, unresolved conflicts and therapeutic sessions readers will discover satisfaction like the cool, sheltered sanctuary of Greg and Liv’s weeping willow tree.

Sandra A. Miller is the author of the award-winning memoir, TROVE, and the forthcoming psychological thriller, WEDNESDAYS AT ONE.

Her essays and articles have appeared in hundreds of publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, Spirituality & Health, Modern Bride, Yankee, Family Fun, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe Magazine, for which she is a regular correspondent. Sandra has lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Luxembourg. She currently teaches English at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and lives outside of Boston with her husband, Mark Santello.

Hedge by Jane Delury

Published June 6, 2023-Zibby Books-

Hedge was highlighted by Oprah Daily as one of the Best New Books for Spring and by PEOPLE Magazine as one of the Best Books For Summer!

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In 2012, Maud is in a disintegrating marriage balancing the demands of motherhood. As a landscape historian in California, she takes on the restoration of Montgomery Place, a 19th century estate in New York’s Hudson Valley, which becomes a geographical and marital separation. Delury’s novel is filled with intricate historic gardening details and planning as Maud’s summer contract involves working with Gabriel, an archaeologist opening a dig in the same area. Reuniting at the end of their California school session, daughters Ella and Louise join Maud at Montgomery Place. The angst and instability of teenage daughter Ella adds a layer of turmoil to Maud’s developing relationship with Gabriel. Funding future projects depends on another budding relationship between wealthy recluse Alice Lincoln and Maud. Each of Delury’s slow growing, needy characters create emotional suspense layered with a hedge of secrecy.
Delury’s plot, twisting and turning like the garden labyrinth at Montgomery Place, sheds light on therapy for teenage fears and anxieties, marital communication and counseling, truth and trust in relationships, forgiveness, and finding a satisfying life path.

Jane Delury holds a BA in English and French literature from UC Santa Cruz, a maîtrise from the University of Grenoble, and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. A professor at the University of Baltimore, she teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts and directs the BA in English. She lives in Baltimore with her daughters and her partner, the writer Don Lee.

BURST By Mary Otis

Publishes April 4, 2023-Zibby Books #3 – 280pp.- Literary Fiction

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A debut novel that spins the relationship between Charlotte and her daughter Viva like a tilt-a-whirl, slowly spinning at a sluggish speed then slamming the reader into the atmosphere. Bizarre behavior, sobering, accurate analogies, painful consequences, rare musical ear syndrome MES; rolled into a mother-daughter relationship over a lifetime of connection, mistakes, fond memories, and a mysterious missing father. Themes of mother-daughter relationships, mistakes, and seeking control intertwined at a maniacal pace. Triggers: addiction, abandonment

DESCRIPTION:

Viva has always found ways to manage her mother’s impulsive, eccentric, and addictive personality. She’s had to—for her entire life, it has always been Viva and Charlotte against the world.

After accidentally discovering an innate ability for dance, Viva chases her new passion with the same fervor with which her mother chases the bottle. Over the years, Viva’s talent becomes a ticket to a life of her own, and as she moves further away from home to pursue her dream, Charlotte struggles to make peace with her own past as a failed artist and the effects of her addiction. When tragedy strikes, Viva begins a downward spiral and must decide whether she will repeat her mother’s mistakes or finally take control of her life.

Mary Otis is the author of the novel, Burst, from Zibby Books, as well as the short story collection, Yes, Yes, Cherries (Tin House Books). Her stories and essays have been published in Best New American Voices, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and in many literary journals and anthologies. Originally from the Boston area, Mary lives in Los Angeles.

Fable & Fire: A Bookshop Bistro

Book Store Visit #21: Rockwall, Texas, -December 15, 2022

Rockwall, Texas is now home to this beautiful, unique bookshop & bistro. The vibe is warm and cozy-everything a book lover wants, all in one place: coffee & pastries, a bar for cocktails and a chat, an ever expanding menu for lunch or dinner, and best of all? BOOKS, VINYLS, and more BOOKS! There are comfortable chairs and sofas, conversation areas for book club discussions, even an outdoor patio for warm weather!

**Rolling Bookshelf Barn Door and Vinyls**

#22in22Challenge Books, Bed & Breakfast in Vicksburg, Mississippi

Bookstore Visit #20-Lorelei Books, Vicksburg Mississippi

We returned from Charleston, South Carolina to Dallas, Texas by way of Birmingham, Alabama then to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I’m sure there are some wonderful book stores in Birmingham, but we arrived in the evening and had to push on to Vicksburg the next morning. We did enjoy seeing the sites along the Mighty Mississippi River and ate some delicious Red Snapper while watching the sunset. The lovely hostess at Oak Hall B&B assured me that a visit to Lorelei Books was a must-see on historic Washington St. Here are a few photos from the visit. I bought Lessons in Chemistry so I could see for myself what all the buzz is about!

Lorelei Books

Oak Hall Bed&Breakfast in Vicksburg, Mississippi

#22in22Challenge Buxton Books & Charleston Preservation Society

Visit #18 and #19- Charleston, South Carolina

We were in Charleston for the South Carolina vs. Texas A&M game at the invitation of dear friends who live in Charleston. There were 9 couples; some traveled to the game in Columbia, while some stayed in Charleston to visit bookstores, attend the Zibby Owens event at the Charleston Library Society and shop on King Street. On this particular day the bookish events won out over Aggie game day for this “grateful reader.” Also, I do admit that shopping had a bit to do with the decision. It was a great trip with lots of walking, shopping, and eating! Here are the two bookstores I was able to visit, both on King Street!

BUXTON BOOKS, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

THE CHARLESTON PRESERVATION SOCIETY

#22in22Challenge Muddy Water Bookstore

#17 Navasota, Texas

For visit #17 we stopped in at this quirky small town Texas bookstore called the “best little bookstore in Texas!” Owner, Suzie Linnenbank was on site during our visit. The inventory is diverse and covers many genres. Suzie explained that she deals mostly in used books, but there was a selection of new books in the front window display. As usual I’m drawn to the children’s section and new historical fiction. Luckily for me, Suzie’s neighbor loves historical fiction and had read the 2022 release The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin, so I snapped it up! A fun bookstore I’ve been meaning to visit on our many trips through Texas. I’m glad I finally got there! Isn’t that corrugated steel awning the cutest?

**Muddy Water Bookstore, Navasota, Texas**

#22in22Challenge-Independent Bookstore Day, April 30, 2022

Bookstore Visit #9-Interabang Books

My favorite local bookstore is INTERABANG in Dallas. This is where I order all my print copies to support authors. I was one of the designated Zibby Books Ambassadors and thoroughly enjoyed my role. The store was busy and everyone was enjoying the snacks and shopping! I was thrilled to see so many guests and loved hearing all the bookish conversations and delightful laughter.

**Interabang Books, Dallas, Texas** http://interabangbooks.com

**Gift from Interabang for being a Zibby Books Ambassador!**

#22in22Challenge

Bookstore Visit #8-Beausoleil Books in Lafayette, Louisiana

**https://www.beausoleilbooks.com/ 302 A Jefferson St, Lafayette, LA 70501**

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

I travel to south Louisiana many times each year. Lafayette is where I was born and my family and relatives still live in that area. Now that I’ve found Beausoleil Books I have another reason to visit! The bookstore has a wonderfully curated collection of books, a lovely, inviting coffee bar and sitting area, plus adjoining is The Whisper Room for cocktails! This is a heavenly place for book clubs and private events. The Whisper Room was closed for a private event the day I visited but I’ll be back! Alexis, the manager, spent a great deal of time explaining her role and I spent a great deal of time sharing information about Zibby Owens, her new publishing company and quest to support independent book sellers. Of course I told Alexis about the #22in22Challenge for #Zibbybooks and #bookambassadors! Beausoleil Books is perfect for bibliophiles-visit the square in downtown Lafayette!