Good happy Minnesota morning. It is a gorgeous morning here and my COFFEE CUP quite literally runneth over… good friends, good home, good family, good commitments. You get the point. 😉
I was thinking about the book Expo today… after all I have this juicy pile of books that I cant wait to dig into and thought I would start telling you about each one and why it came home with me.
Jane Green has a new book out called The Sunshine Sisters. LOVE LOVE LOVE the title….
Ronni Sunshine left London for Hollywood to become a beautiful, charismatic star of the silver screen. But at home, she was a narcissistic, disinterested mother who alienated her three daughters.
As soon as possible, tomboy Nell fled her mother’s overbearing presence to work on a farm and find her own way in the world as a single mother. The target of her mother’s criticism, Meredith never felt good enough, thin enough, pretty enough. Her life took her to London—and into the arms of a man whom she may not even love. And Lizzy, the youngest, more like Ronni than any of them, seemed to have it easy, using her drive and ambition to build a culinary career to rival her mother’s fame, while her marriage crumbled around her.
But now the Sunshine sisters are together again, called home by Ronni, who has learned that she has a serious disease and needs her daughters to fulfill her final wishes. And though Nell, Meredith, and Lizzy have never been close, their mother’s illness draws them together to confront the old jealousies and secret fears that have threatened to tear these sisters apart. As they face the loss of their mother, they will discover if blood might be thicker than water after all…
Sound summery good?
I think so too.
So how did this jewel or a gorgeous book come home with me from New York? Well that is a GREAT story.
I absolutely love author meet ups. I love to spend time one on one with authors in smaller more personal groups. When the invite came by email to have a lunch with the author at a small park in New York while I was at the Expo the answer of course was yes. YES.
The day of the luncheon the weather was absolutely beautiful. My consistent and awesome Book Expo room-mate and partner in all things BEA Candace (Beth Fish Reads) and I made our way from the Javitz Center the short walk to the park. Jane Green could not have been more personable and AWESOME. She welcomed each of us with a beautiful sack lunch and then personally signed a book for each of us. She then had a great photo op with props (I LOVE props!!!) which was a lot of fun.
We sat down to an amazing lunch. I had the chicken salad which was in a canning jar with apples, grapes, chicken, lettuce and a little dressing… shake it up and grab a fork… wow. The potato chips were organic rosemary and the dessert was made my Jane herself, with the recipe included in the bag.
Of course meet ups are made even more fun when you run in to fellow Bloggers who you chat with on-line…. Stacy (The Novel Life) and Deb(Reader’s Buzz) joined us and that was the icing on the Jane Green Luncheon cake… errr… salad..dressing on the salad I mean… 😉
This was one of my favorite things at the Expo…. sitting in the sun, enjoying a great lunch with friends. Can’t wait to dig into Jane’s book!
Book Journey 
I totally agree about author meet-ups. Besides my blog, I also run a book club in which the author comes to the store to answer questions and sign books. We are blessed in Northern California to have an unbelievable stable of really good authors. Our members love having the author to talk to.
Hey 🙂 Love that and I bet you do have a good area for authors!
Maybe I’ll read that one next! Have the ebook from the library! Funny story (kinda). I knew that the book had been released, so I searched for it repeatedly on the cloud library ebook library app. but I looked for The Summer Sisters instead of The Sunshine Sisters. I even just entered Summer. I guess I should have entered Sisters…Good to see you blogging again 🙂
That is funny as I types in “Summer” as well when I started this post…. lol
Hi Sheila,
Sounds like the Book Expo was a great trip for you this year. I’m green with envy. lol I just finished reading The Sunshine Sisters. It was a very good read, and the story line evolved as you got into it. I couldn’t put it down, not wanting it to end. Enjoy!
It really was Joan, I am in a better frame of mind then I was last year… still fighting every day but learning to walk along side grief instead of letting it consume me. I am excited to read it!
Oh….I love this post, Sheila. Wonderful to see your amazing posts again. Your posts are always so newsy and interesting. THANKS. HUGS.
The picnic sounds like such fun.
I read THE SUNSHINE SISTERS and enjoyed it. I think you will too and probably even more since you met Jane Green. 🙂
Have a good weekend. It was sunny here earlier, but now a summer rain storm came through.
Elizabeth
Thank you Elizabeth, I am trying to get back to consistent 🙂
Looks as if you are getting back. So happy to see you smiling.
Sheila…you look so happy in these pictures! I read the last Jane Green big book, and then shared it with a now`new citizen/ then Congolese refugee, and her take on it was fascinating to say the lease. I am in the queue for the library copy….so share share when you are done please
Thank you Andrea… it is a weird thing to be … happy. Honestly it makes a lump come into my throat to even say that word or hear it used to describe me… its ok – I suppose in a way I am… or learning to enjoy what life I have been given…
Maybe it is a new kind of happy.
I love author meet-ups…and I hope to attend BEA again someday. I’ve only ever attended once, in 2008, when it was in LA.
I love Jane Green’s books, and have an e-book copy of The Sunshine Sisters. I’m eager to read it!
Would love to meet you at BEA some day Laurel 🙂 Enjoy the book!
Oh, the Jane Green event sounded like so much fun. How great to have the opportunity to meet with her. Speaking of lunch, have you had a chance to peruse her cookbook? It’s absolutely gorgeous!
I have not looked through her cook book! I have much to catch up on 🙂 And yes, there is something about meeting authors and having time with them…. makes me love them all the more 🙂
Sound like you had a great time and I am so glad! Looking forward to this book.
Hey Nise, I do too!!!!
Wonderful post! How lovely it must be to participate in this great event! I love the bright photos. I have not yet had lunch in a jar. 😉
I’m interested in reading The Sunshine Sisters (it’s just a question of when)..Have a good weekend, Sheila!
I actually pulled two jars out of storage Suko so I could do this – it was so easy and delicious!
That sounded like so much fun – I was bummed that I had to miss it.
I really missed seeing you Kathy! Hopefully next year 🙂
What an amazing day with Jane Green and fellow bloggers. And the food looks and sounds yummy. The Sunshine Sisters is on my radar and hope to read it sometime.
She (Jane)is so sweet! Glad the book is on your radar – I think many will be reading this one 😉
It was a great lunch and Jane Green was was gracious and fun.
It really was… gorgeous day gorgeous park!