I’ve been a fan of J. Courtney Sullivan’s work for quite some time, that why when I heard she’d written a new book called The Engagements, I did a little happy dance (kind of like this one)
Then in early 2013, I got the opportunity to see the cover. It’s fair to say that I was a fan…
A couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t even started reading the book and I found out that Reese Witherspoon may appear in and produce a movie adaptation of the book, which of course had me even more intrigued.
Now I’m in a very unique position, because I work for the publisher. That means that I’ve got my hands on a very early copy of an advanced reading copy. When I started reading it, I thought “Yay Reeder, you made the right choice in picking up this book.”
Needless to say, I’m devouring this book and I can’t wait to find out how it ends…
Be sure to visit your bookstore on June 11th and come back to this blog to read my full review around the same time.
Here’s a description of the book to create added excitement.
From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding.
Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own.
As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything.
A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.
After the Fifty Shades phenomena, I hesitated picking up another erotica book, mostly because I wanted to stick with what I know and because I tend not to read “romance” novels, I opted to stay away from the genre for a little bit. Then I received an email saying that I had to read a new erotica book called S.E.C.R.E.T, written by L. Marie Adeline. After hearing countless colleagues talking about it, I printed off the manuscript and brought it home to read. When I started reading it, I quickly discovered that this novel is about women understanding other women, but more importantly, it’s about regaining one’s sexual self and owning it!
