I'm so happy to bring my good friend and fabulous author Lisa Verge Higgins back to The Reading Frenzy. She has been present for some of my most memorable firsts, she was the first author I hosted on this blog last year for the monthly book club read when it moved from the now defunct Barnes & Noble book clubs and now here she is debuting at my Goodreads forum too.
I hope you enjoy our chat and it's not too late to sign up and participate in the Goodreads July Book club read. Click the link for details.
Right now there is a sale on the e-book version click the book for the $3.99 sale
Reading Schedule
Week One July 7th - 13 Chapters 1-9
Week Two July 14th -20 Chapters 10-19
Week Three July 21 - 27 Chapters 20-end
Week Four July 28th-end Thank You Week!
Week Two July 14th -20 Chapters 10-19
Week Three July 21 - 27 Chapters 20-end
Week Four July 28th-end Thank You Week!
Lisa Welcome to the
Goodreads forum I’m so excited to be reading as a group your novel, Random Acts
of Kindness.
Thanks,
Deb. I’m thrilled to be among the
ex-pats! I’m looking forward to
connecting with old friends as well as new.
Lisa most of us reading are all old friends from both B&N and my blog but there are some new peeps that will be joining in.
So for those newbies or just those of us who need memories refreshed give us a bit of who is Lisa Verge Higgins.
So for those newbies or just those of us who need memories refreshed give us a bit of who is Lisa Verge Higgins.
Sure,
here’s ‘Lisa Verge Higgins’ in a nutshell:
Once upon a time there was a wild twenty-something by the name of Lisa
Ann Verge who penned a dozen sexy historical and contemporary romances– until
she stumbled into her own perfect romance with her rugby-playing Mr. Right,
settled down, and had three daughters in rapid succession. Those lovely sprites filled her world, so she
put aside writing for a while. When
finally she put pen to paper again, a different kind of story gripped
her—stories about groups of strong women struggling with real-life issues
who—with the help of good friends—find the courage to take risks and grow in
joy and wisdom.
I
think I just saw my life flash before my eyes.
;)
Lisa you’ve written many stand
alone novels.
Is this your first series?
Is this your first series?
Actually,
it’s my second series! As Lisa Ann
Verge, I wrote a medieval paranormal series called The Celtic Legends series,
two books and a novella. All my other
books have been stand-alone, until this Pine Lake Sisterhood series.
Was there a
particular reason you decided to write a series?
Yes,
there is! I love reunions. High school reunions, college reunions,
middle school reunions, I just adore them.
Not just because my buddies and I end up communing with our younger
selves by dancing uninhibited to “It’s Raining Men” . . . but because at such
gatherings there are so many stories. It
amazes me that people who come out of the same background can end up in so many
different places. Not always in good
places, either.
So,
for a while now I’ve been itching to encapsulate that experience by writing a
set of novels about a larger group of connected women—in this case, twelve
women who graduated from the same small-town high school, Pine Lake High. Fortunately, the rise in the popularity of
series novels over the last few years helped me when I set out to pitch the project.
For those of you who
don’t
know Lisa’s
daughter has just signed a book deal. Congrats!!
Lisa when I interviewed you in March for the book’s release we chatted about this a bit.
Can you tell us when we can expect to see it on shelves?
Lisa when I interviewed you in March for the book’s release we chatted about this a bit.
Can you tell us when we can expect to see it on shelves?
I’d love to! *Proud
Mama.* My eldest daughter Caitlin, who’ll will be writing as C. A. Higgins, recently inked a three-book hardcover deal with Del Ray to write a science fiction series. She doesn’t have a firm pub date just yet,
but the first book, EQUILIBRIUM, will be out in mid-to-late 2015. It’s about a young female mechanic on a
top-secret military spaceship who discovers that her ship has been boarded by
two mysterious strangers—one who may be a terrorist, and another who disappears
from his cell completely.
... and I have to tell you all this story: Some of you may remember that I was a chemist
before I was published in my 20s. Well,
Caitlin was a physicist before she was published . . . in her 20s. Life is stranger than fiction.
Lisa your women’s fiction novels deal
with friendship.
Where does your great friendship insight come from?
Where does your great friendship insight come from?
I
had an epiphany of a sort about ten years ago, after the death of a good
friend. He’d died young and left behind
a wife and a five-year-old daughter. Our
mutual friends from all over the country convened for his memorial service, to
celebrate his life and mourn his death, and the event evolved into a long
weekend of both tears and laughter. That
weekend sparked a realization in all of us: It shouldn’t take a death to bring
us back together.
In
the intervening years we’ve all made extraordinary efforts to reunite whenever
we could—school reunions, of course, but also landmark-birthday gatherings,
quick coffee in the city during business trips, sleepovers during college-tour
road trips, etc. I once gave a friend
and her family a midnight tour of New York City during her airport layover
between Amsterdam and Atlanta, Georgia.
We were together for about four hours and it was worth every minute.
Can you give us a
little hint about book two in the series?
I’d
love to! SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY is the
next book in the series, and two secondary characters in RANDOM ACTS OF
KINDNESS are the main characters here.
The first is Riley, the owner of Camp Kwenback, who is struggling with a lot more than the survival of the Adirondack camp she inherited. The second is the notorious Theresa Hendrick,
who you all may remember (if you’ve read the first book already) as a bit of a
wild-child whose fate remains a mystery. This isn’t a spoiler so I’ll tell you the crux
of the book: In SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY, Theresa finds
herself compelled to return to Pine Lake to track down a runaway—the daughter
she gave up for adoption at birth.
The
book has cameos of some of the characters in RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS, and that
was a lot of fun to write!
Lisa lastly thanks so
much for agreeing to be a part of our little group in July, I’m excited and I know the rest of the group is to.
Til then take care!
Til then take care!
Thanks,
Deb! I’m looking forward to the
discussions.
Here is my review of Random Acts of Kindness courtesy of RT Reviews Magazine
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
Genre: Mainstream, General Mainstream Fiction
RT Rating
Higgins’ latest wonderful, page-turning novel further confirms her status as a master storyteller. Her narrative beautifully chronicles the relationships and adventures of former friends with a heady mix of belly-deep laughter, tears and empathy. Higgins offers a close, poignant perspective of the characters, places, emotions and things that populate her novel, all while telling a fabulous story. The intersection of her characters’ lives is outstanding, and readers will get a glimpse of tales to come.
Three high school friends who haven’t laid eyes on each other in a number of years, all at a crossroads in their lives, suddenly find themselves car-mates on a cross-country road trip. Jenna, the shy misfit whose world is quietly falling apart; Claire, the bohemian whose search for answers has her asking more questions; and Nicole, the life coach whose own life is chaotically spinning of control, are all attempting to recapture something of who they were. But is it possible to go home again? (GRAND CENTRAL, Apr., 368 pp., $15.00)
Reviewed By: Debbie Haupt
This sounds wonderful! Thanks for the great interview!
ReplyDeleteHi Kindlemom, thanks :)
DeleteAws I loved her little bio. Totally got me snagged in :)
ReplyDeleteAwe thanks Anna. I think you'd like this novel :)
Deletexo