Monday, September 17, 2012

More Like Her by Liza Palmer


Please welcome Lucie Simone, author of two novels, Hollywood Ending and Picture Perfect to kick off our newest feature: an Author Guest Review! Beginning this fall, Novel Escapes will be featuring a guest review from some of our favourite authors! We hope you will enjoy reading what your favourite authors love to read as well as we do! 


First, the synopsis of More Like Her:

What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences?

In Frances’s mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa’s too career-focused to find time for a family. And Jill’s recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage. 

Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems—like Emma’s enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. 

 Lucie Simone - Guest Review

Liza Palmer is one of my favorite authors, and I was thrilled when I actually got to meet her in person at the Romance Writers of America Literacy Signing in July, where I bought her latest book, More Like Her. One of the reasons I love Liza’s work is that her writing is just so real. It’s full of naked emotion stripped to the core. She not only delves into the psyches of her characters, but she also taps into those of her readers. You can’t help but get invested in her characters and their stories because some part of them, some aspect of their lives reflects our own struggles, heartaches, loves, and fears.

And More Like Her is no different. In this novel, Liza explores female relationships. The good and the bad. The friendships that keep us afloat and the competitiveness that breaks us down. And the truth that not everything is as it seems. Seen through the eyes of Frannie, Liza reveals the inner workings of female bonding and lays open the secrets that we keep hidden, even from ourselves.

When new Headmistress, Emma, takes over the school where Frannie and her friends Jill and Lisa work, she seems perfect. Too perfect. From her tailored wardrobe to her glamorous, globe-trotting life with her husband, whom she declares to be the next Norman Mailer, she projects an image of flawlessness. And, of course, Frannie and her friends take an immediate dislike to her. Because they aren’t perfect, and they know it. But what they soon realize is that Emma’s life is far from idyllic and that she’s been hiding a very dark and traumatic history. And when her life meets a tragic and very dramatic end, Frannie and her friends are forced to examine the lies and secrets Emma kept hidden behind the façade of her “happily ever after” life.

I found More Like Her to be an utterly absorbing read. I was sucked in from the beginning, and the pace and plotting of the story kept me glued to the pages as Frannie’s story unfolded. This book is very dark and very moving, blended with enough moments of lighthearted humor and romance to keep the reader from sinking into a depression. There’s a bit of a mystery angle as Frannie and her friends explore the reasons behind Emma’s death, which was handled very carefully, keeping the reader in suspense until the end. All in all, a fantastic read!


Thank you Lucie! 

Lucie Simone has a passion for travel, yoga, and writing. She has a degree in Journalism, a Master of Fine Arts in Television Production, and is a certified yoga teacher registered with Yoga Alliance. Her love of comedy (and living under the delusion that she might one day be an actress) resulted in a stint studying improvisation, which, ironically enough, taught her to be a better writer.
 
Her short story, A Taste of Italy, won the New York Book Festival competition for best ebook and is a bestseller at Amazon UK. The release of her debut novel, Hollywood Ending, a romantic comedy about life in Hollywood for the not-so-rich-and-famous, marked the launch of her small press, Simon & Fig, which publishes Chick Lit, Lad Lit and Women’s Fiction exclusively.
 
Lucie lives, loves and writes in the City of Angels, but considers New York City her second home and visits as often as her bank account will allow.  

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