Slightly South of Simple {+ Giveaway}

I’m delighted to help author Kristy Woodson Harvey spread the word (and cover) for her new book, SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE, slated to be released by Gallery/Simon & Schuster on April 25 of next year.

The cover was unveiled Friday, Aug. 5, and to celebrate Kristy is hosting a giveaway on her site, kristywoodsonharvey.com. She’s giving away a $100 Amazon gift card and several book bundles on her blog to celebrate the cover reveal.

Kristy had this to say about her brand new cover for SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE, “Please. Go ahead and judge my new book by its cover. Because isn’t it a beauty? A cover always makes a book feel real, and I am ever so excited that this one captures the essence of Slightly South of Simple oh so well!

“We are celebrating big time and wish you would join in on the fun! Enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card or one of three fabulous book bundles with reads from my favorite authors. Simply preorder or share my pretty new cover with your friends via social media! You can enter every day, and we’ll announce a winner next Friday, August 12.”

Here's what you could win:

◊$100 Amazon Gift Card OR

◊Book Bundle 1: Katie Moretti, The Vanishing Year, Kerstin March, Family Trees,  Kaira Rouda, The Goodbye Year, Amy Guertin Reichert, Love, Luck & Lemon Pie, Susan Bishop Crispell, The Secret Ingredient of Wishes (advance copy!)

◊Book Bundle 2: Amy Impellizeri, The Secrets of Worry Dolls (advance copy!), Brandi Megan Grannett, Triple Love Score, Susan Gloss Parsons, Vintage, Kathryn Craft, The Far End of Happy, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Lies and Other Acts of Love

◊Book Bundle 3: Cathy Lamb, The Language of Sisters (advance copy!) Kelly Simmons, One More Day, Aimie Runyan, Promised to the Crown, Kelly Wimmer, The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay, Lisa Barr, Fugitive Colors

To Preorder:

Call, go by or order online from your local bookstore! Kristy loves her indies!

Or order from: Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

In kicking off the celebration, Kristy explained, “I am so excited because we have already started planning the Slightly South of Simple book tour for next April and May. We’re going to do something really fun this year in honor of the fact that protagonist Ansley Murphy is an interior designer: a house tour! We will be having launch parties in homes all over the country. If you might be interested in having the Slightly South of Simple tour to come to your house (or town!) don’t hesitate to email me at kristy@kristywoodsonharvey.com for more information!”

Wondering what SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE is all about. Here’s a brief description:

From the next “major voice in Southern fiction” (New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand) comes the first in an all-new series chronicling the journeys of three sisters and their mother—and a secret from their past that has the potential to tear them apart and reshape their very definition of what it means to be a family.

Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.

Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey

For those not familiar with Kristy and her writing, here’s a bit of background on her in Kristy’s own words.

I’m Kristy, wife to the boy whose eye caught mine across the restaurant nearly a decade ago. I pronounced him my husband and haven’t looked back since – or doubted my intuition ever again! We have the most incredible four-year-old boy that is pure joy.

I’m a Southerner through and through, a North Carolina girl who loves all four seasons – especially fall in Chapel Hill, where I went to college (Go Tarheels!) and summer in Beaufort, where we spend every free moment.

I blog at Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be a catalyst for creating a beautiful life. And I’m blogging right here about absolutely everything else!

Kristy’s first women’s fiction novel, DEAR CAROLINA was released on May 5, 2015 from Berkley/Penguin Random House, and her next novel, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE was released this Spring by Berkley/Penguin Random House.

Thanks so much for stopping by today to learn about Kristy’s cover reveal. Be sure to drop by her site to enter her giveaway. Have you ever been or wanted to be an interior designer? What do you think is or would be the best part of being a designer? Don’t you want to be on the beach just looking at that book cover?

Lies and Other Acts of Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey

With what I call a pleasant sing-song writing style, author Kristy Woodson Harvey quickly entices readers into her latest novel, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE.

The story has a rhythmical feel to it as you get to know each character. The back and forth narration is smooth, easy flowing as it pulls you deeper and deeper into the lives of Lynn “Lovey” White, her five daughters, and her granddaughter, Annabelle.

The author has created such well-developed and likable characters that you feel they are like friends you wish you had (or have). With flaws and traits affecting every family, readers will be able to relate to these characters, especially Lovey and Annabelle.

Lovey is dealing with the declining health of her husband, Dan, after 60 years of marriage while adapting to new surrounds. In addition, she continues to handle the daily woes of her family’s lives and consider if a ‘white lie’ from her past should be shared before it’s too late.

As the family adjust to things with Lovey and Dan, Annabelle comes into her own set of problems. Having left one man shortly before her wedding only to marry another man she had known less than a week, Annabelle has her life turned upside down when she learns of a lie involving her husband, Ben. Then another family secret comes to light, but is it what she thinks it is? 

The author blends lies and forgiveness, heartache and joy with strength and endurance for a tender story that will touch your heart. The author tackles the issue of how lies (big and small) impact our lives whether saving us from hurt or tearing families apart.

Written with a touch of Southern flare, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE has light-hearted, humorous moments that enhance the serious tone of the story. The characters come alive on the pages and pull you in for an overall well-balanced story. 

Filled with love, understanding and the struggles of life, this book will leave you considering the white lies we tell ourselves and those we love. Through tears and laughter, the characters and tone of the story will stay with you long after the book is closed.

Lies and Other Acts of Love by Kristy Woodson Harvey, Berkley, @2016, ISBN: 978-1101987063, Paperback, 352 Pages 

FTC Full Disclosure – A copy of this book was sent to me by the author in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. The thoughts are completely my own and given honestly and freely.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope I’ve enticed you to further check out Kristy’s book, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE. You may remember Kristy joined us here on March 28th to talk about her writing room. If you didn’t get a chance to visit then, I hope you’ll check it out today. Do you find yourself telling others (and yourself) white lies from time to time? Is there one white lie you tell yourself over and over again? Right now, my continuous white lie is I’m going to exercise more … tomorrow. :-)

Kristy Woodson Harvey: My Writing Room {+ Contest}

It’s my pleasure to welcome author Kristy Woodson Harvey back to Thoughts in Progress today to talk about her upcoming April release of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE.

While visiting with us, Kristy will also be talking about her ‘writing room’ and how that changed when she became a mother. In addition, Kristy has an awesome contest going on prior to the release of her new book. Please see the end of the post for more details on the contest. Now, here’s a brief synopsis of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE:

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey presents a new novel about what it really means to tell the truth . . .

After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies.

Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves . . .

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Kristy as we find out about her writing room. Welcome, Kristy.

When I decided to write a novel, one of my first considerations was how that would look. What would I wear? Where would I sit? Would I wear glasses instead of contacts to look a little more literary? 

I was leaving a corporate job, so I remember actually going out and buying little skirts and tank tops that I thought would be cute yet comfy. (I hadn’t learned yet that pajamas were considered perfect acceptable author gear!) 

I picked the perfect sunny window with a gorgeous view, splurged on the desk I thought I couldn’t live without, lit a candle, made some tea, and got down to writing. I learned pretty quickly that I don’t see nearly as well out of my glasses as my contacts, so that bit was a no-go. And, for the first year or so, my peaceful, routine-driven writing went very well.

Then I had a baby. It is so cliché that a baby changes everything, but it’s cliché for a reason. A baby did, in fact, change everything. Even the way I wrote.

I had this image of the baby sleeping beside me in the bassinet while I jotted down a couple thousand words. That was a total fantasy. As it turned out, the only place I could get said baby to sleep was on my body. And I could complain about it. Or I could figure it out. So I learned how to write while nursing. And type one handed with a baby sleeping in one arm. Or on my lap in the car when he was snoring in the car seat, or fifteen minutes at a time while something besides me actually caught my son’s attention. 

And it wasn’t perfect. But it was progress. Some way, somehow, I got through the draft of DEAR CAROLINA. And, even more amazingly, managed to edit it, which, for me, is the part that is much more time consuming and requires infinitely more concentration. Then I started writing LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE too. And the progress was slow, much slower than the days when it had been my desk and my candle and my view and me. Much slower than when I would wake up and wash my hair and put on my make-up and get dressed before I arrived at my desk.

The coolest thing of all is that, when I quit worrying about what a writer was supposed to look like and sound like and be like, I became my very own kind of writer. And, instead of trying to sound like a writer, I started sounding like me.

And guess what? I got my first book deal.

Fast-forward to now, the toddler years. I write at Starbuck’s during preschool because my son’s school is thirty minutes away from our house. And I get in a few hundred words during Sesame Street. And, yes, if that occasional nap happens in the car, I’m always ready with my laptop. 

Upon a rare occasion, I do get to luxuriate at that perfectly chosen desk with the gorgeous water view. And, during those times, sometimes I even light my candle and have my tea. But, through babyhood and toddlerhood and all of the distractions that life throws our way, I’ve learned that being a writer doesn’t have to look a certain way. It just has to sound like you. 

Kristy, thanks for joining us today and sharing this insight into how your writing changed from your first perspective of what it should until what it is now. Sometimes if we just let things come to us, the natural order of life flows much smoother than we ever imaged. Seems like your writing has developed that way.

Now for those who aren’t familiar with Kristy, here’s a bit of background on her.

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. She holds a degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s in English from East Carolina University. 

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and son.

For more on Kristy and her writing, visit her website and connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE is available at the following sites: IndieBound. Amazon. Barnes & Noble. Books A Million. Powell’s. Google Play. Walmart. Hudson Booksellers. Kobo.

CONTEST DETAILS:

Order LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE and send a picture of the receipt to kristy@kristywoodsonharvey.com between now and April 10 to be entered to win a $1,000 Shop Design Chic gift card. Everyone who enters will receive copies of four gorgeous printable quotes from the book! Order or pre-order from an independent bookstore or Indiebound for two contest entries!

Thanks so much for dropping by today during Kristy’s visit. If you’re a writer, please share what your first writing room (space) was (or is) like. If you’re a reader, how do you envision a writing room should look?

Lies and Other Acts of Love Giveaway

I’m excited today to share a giveaway with you for the upcoming April release of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE by Kristy Woodson Harvey.

In celebration of the upcoming release, Kristy is offering not one, but two ARCs of her book for the giveaway (open to all). For those not familiar with ARC, that’s an Advanced Readers Copy of the book. What that means is that the book may not have received its final proofing nor cover. It’s a wonderful way to read the book before it’s released by the publisher to the general public. It’s a great way to have a unique copy of the book that others won’t be able to have. Please see the end of the post for more details about the giveaway.

Here’s a brief synopsis of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE:

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey presents a new novel about what it really means to tell the truth . . .

After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies.

Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves . . .

Kristy will be joining us on Monday, March 28, to talk more about her release and her writing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. She holds a degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s in English from East Carolina University. 

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and son.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Thanks to Kristy, this giveaway is for two (2) ARCs of LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE. The giveaway is open to anyone and will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, March 22.

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. A winner will be selected by the Rafflecopter widget and I’ll send an email with the subject line “Thoughts in Progress Giveaway.” The winner will have 72 hours to reply to the email or another winner will be selected. PLEASE be sure to check your spam folder from time to time after the giveaway ends to make sure the notification email doesn’t end up there. If you win and you’ve already won the book somewhere else or you just decided for whatever reason you don’t want to win (which is fine), once again PLEASE let me know.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you’ll mark your calendars and be sure to visit with Kristy when she stops by on March 28^th. What are your thoughts about little white lies?

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Dear Carolina {+ Giveaway}

Families come in many shapes and sizes. Familiar are much more than DNA and blood.

Author Kristy Woodson Harvey recently visited Thoughts to talk about her new release, DEAR CAROLINA, which deals with both sides of adoption. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on this heartwarming story. In addition, Kristy is giving away one print copy of DEAR CAROLINA to a lucky reader (and it’s open internationally!). Please see the end of the post for more details. Now here are my thoughts …..

DEAR CAROLINA by Kristy Woodson Harvey

The bittersweet and wonderful sides of adoption are examined in author Kathy Woodson Harvey’s stunning debut novel.

The story is told in letters written to baby Carolina from both her birth mother and her adopted mother. The story weaves back and forth from each woman sharing how their role in her life came to be.

Related to begin with, the two southern women forge an even stronger and close-knit family through their love for Carolina. Theirs is an open adoption that demonstrates “you can never have too many people to love you.”

Frances “Khaki” Mason appears to have it all – successful interior design career, a loving husband in Graham, an adorable toddler named Alex, and homes in North Carolina and Manhattan. But she desperately wants a second child and the couple’s efforts seem futile. 

Jodi, Graham’s 19-year-old cousin, has lived a hard life growing up with an alcoholic mother after her father died of cancer. Jodi turned to drinking and ended up living with a loser. Fresh out of rehab, Jodi finds herself pregnant and alone when her boyfriend runs out on her when she needs him the most.

Khaki reaches out to help Jodi when she decides to keep her baby. But when the pressures and temptation overtake Jodi after the baby is born, she asked Khaki for the ultimate favor. What follows changes everyone’s lives in ways they never imaged.

Harvey has created amazing characters that are realistic, likable and well-developed. She has captured the small town atmosphere, as well as the hectic lifestyle of Manhattan combining the two together with great ease.

Readers are quickly drawn in as the two mothers share their thoughts, fears, and joy with baby Carolina. The dialogue is rich and flows smoothly keeping readers’ attention as the group experiences highs and lows while becoming a blended family.

DEAR CAROLINA will tug on your heartstrings and have you laughing all at the same time. The mix of emotions leaps off the page and surrounds you. Harvey has captured the essence of what a real family is all about. Can’t wait to see where she goes from here.

Dear Carolina by Kristy Woodson Harvey, Berkley, @2015, ISBN: 978-0425279984, Paperback, 320 Pages 

FTC Full Disclosure – A copy of this book was sent to me by the author in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. The thoughts are completely my own and given honestly and freely.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

This giveaway is for one print copy of DEAR CAROLINA. The giveaway is open internationally and will end at 12 a.m. on Thursday, July 23. 

To enter, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and following the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load, so please be patient. The winner from this giveaway will have 72 hours to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. The email will have ‘Thoughts in Progress Dear Carolina’ in the subject line, just so you know what to watch for (in case it goes into your spam folder).

I do so appreciate you stopping by today to find out more about this delightful book. What are your thoughts on open adoption? Do you think it should be for every adoption or depend on the circumstances?

*This post contains affiliate links.
 
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Author Kristy Woodson Harvey – Taking Advice From Characters

It’s a sheer delight to welcome a fellow Southerner and author Kristy Woodson Harvey to Thoughts in Progress today.

Kristy joins us to talk about her debut novel, DEAR CAROLINA. This a heartwarming story you won’t be able to resist. Here’s a brief synopsis of it:

One baby girl.
Two strong Southern women.
And the most difficult decision they’ll ever make.

Frances “Khaki” Mason has it all: a thriving interior design career, a
loving husband and son, homes in North Carolina and Manhattan—everything except the second child she has always wanted. Jodi, her husband’s nineteen-year-old cousin, is fresh out of rehab, pregnant, and alone. Although the two women couldn’t seem more different, they forge a lifelong connection as Khaki reaches out to Jodi, encouraging her to have her baby.

But as Jodi struggles to be the mother she knows her daughter deserves, she will ask Khaki the ultimate favor…

Written to baby Carolina, by both her birth mother and her adoptive one, this is a story that proves that life circumstances shape us but don’t define us—and that families aren’t born, they’re made…

Now please join me in giving Kristy a warm welcome as she talks about taking advice from one’s characters. Kristy, welcome.

I never thought I’d be taking advice from my own characters. But, sometimes, you end up writing what you need to hear the most. Recently, a friend of mine made me these amazing printable quotes from DEAR CAROLINA to share with readers. They were some of her favorite takeaways from the story. 

One of those quotes is from Khaki, the adoptive mother in the story’s, Dad. He tells her, “The only thing to do in life is to be open. You have to keep saying yes.”

I’ve reminded myself of that more than a few times over the past several months. Because, you see, when this dream of getting to be a published author finally came true, I promised myself that I would give it my all. I thought that might involve getting out of my comfort zone a bit. But I was going to keep saying yes no matter what.

So, for example, when someone asked me, seven months ago, to speak to a crowd coming into town, it was easy to say, “Sure, I would love to.”

It was easy because it seemed so very far away. The day before the talk, on the other hand, it didn’t seem like quite as good of an idea. In fact, it seemed like a terrible one! The thoughts of having to stand up there in front of all those people and talk about anything—even this book that I loved so much—suddenly seemed terrifying.
 
But I thought of Daddy Mason. He would have said to do it anyway. He would have said to face the fear because that’s how we find out all the best things in life.

And so, I put on my bravest smile, swallowed hard, and got behind that podium.

And you know what? It wasn’t bad. In fact, after the first minute or two, it was kind of fun. They laughed in all the right places, smiled attentively. A minute or so after that I found that I wasn’t even using my notes any more. 

And, when it was over, as relieved as I felt about the idea of getting down off of that stage, I felt even more relieved when they asked if I could please read them a little bit of the story too. 

This wonderful group of people were so complimentary about my little talk, which, without a doubt, will make it exponentially easier to get up on that stage the next time and the next and the time after that. And almost every person in that group bought a copy of DEAR CAROLINA, which, of course, is the best compliment you could possibly pay a writer. The sight of all those copies of my brand new book in all of those hands filled me with pride. It was a moment I had dreamed of since I first thought of writing a book. 

And I smiled to myself realizing that that moment made me think of another one of those quotes from the book. It’s a moment when Buddy looks at Jodi, the birth mother in the story, and says, “Sometimes, you can’t make a dream come true all by yourself.”

Kristy, thanks for dropping by today and sharing this look at Dear Carolina. I love the quotes that were pulled from the book. They say so much about life.

Now here’s what some others are saying about this intriguing novel.

“Kristy Woodson Harvey weaves a story around characters with rich, complicated lives we all identify with…beautifully shows how a family comes to be.  Not only by blood, but also by choice.” -- New York Times Bestselling Author Jodi Thomas

"A story of motherhood told by two mothers of the same child, DEAR CAROLINA is Southern fiction at its best. Lovely and lyrical, with the strong voices of the two female narrators taking us deep into the heart of what being a mother is about. It shows us that love is not without sacrifice, and there’s little in life that doesn’t go down easier with a spoonful of jam. Beautifully written." -- New York Times Bestselling Author Eileen Goudge

Here’s a bit of background on Kristy.

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the author of Dear Carolina. She blogs at Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life and loves connecting with readers at kristywoodsonharvey.com.

She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's school of journalism and holds a Master's in English from East Carolina University. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine and Houzz. 

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.

DEAR CAROLINA can be purchased at any of the following locations: BARNES AND NOBLE | INDIEBOUND | BOOKS A MILLION | AMAZON | POWELLS | TARGET | iTUNES | GOOGLE PLAY | KOBO

Thanks so much for stopping by during Kristy’s visit. Have you wrote letters to your children (whether or not they are adopted) telling about their birth or early years? What are your thoughts on this idea?