AUTHOR INTERVIEW: The Nobodies

TITLE: The Nobodies

PUB DATE: 9/10/2019

PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books

AUTHOR: Liza Palmer

About the Book:

“Liza Palmer's voice is fresh, exciting, and necessary. She's a must-read author.” 

―Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & the Six

Wunderkind journalist Joan Dixon took an internship at the Los Angeles Times straight out of high school and never looked back. That is, until the newspaper business collapsed, leaving her to patch together soulless freelance gigs and live with her parents. Desperate to get back on her feet, Joan takes a job as a junior copywriter at the tech startup Bloom, where her bosses are all a decade younger and snacks and cans of fizzy water flow freely. But once a journalist, always a journalist. As Joan starts to poke beneath Bloom’s bright surface, she realizes that she may have accidentally stumbled onto the scoop of her lifetime. Is it worth risking everything for the sake of the story?   

About the Author:

Liza Palmer is the internationally bestselling author of Conversations with the Fat Girl and several other novels. An Emmy-nominated writer, she lives in Los Angeles and works for BuzzFeed. Like Joan in THE NOBODIES, she never went to college.

I am so excited to present Liza Palmer's Interview to the NURSEBOOKIE BLOG

Q: Your leading lady, Joan Dixon, is closer to 40 than 30, single, living with her parents again, and starting over at an entry level job. Is there anything of yourself in there?
A: It’s the new thing, right?  Being somewhere new, starting a new job, starting a new school, being the new kid… even trying a new hobby or food?  It’s all so tender and vulnerable. I hate not knowing how to do things – I’d like to be perfect on the first try, right? But, of course… that’s not how it works. And that’s what this book and Joan and I really went through together. That being bad at something is actually something we should try from time to time.  Letting ourselves learn and staying curious and not knowing everything?  Is actually – and annoyingly – exhilarating. I had that experience when I started at BuzzFeed and I infused that begrudging bewilderment into Joan.

Q: Joan works at a fictional tech startup, Bloom. Even though it's completely made up, everything about it, from the impossible to navigate coffee machine to the weird lingo, feels real. What is startup culture made up of? How can you spot it?
A: It’s a world people THINK they know because it’s been depicted a certain way in pop culture, but in most cases those were portrayals drawn by people not on the inside. You can tell. Or at least, I can after almost five years at BuzzFeed. The office itself is a lot quieter than people think – feels like a library, actually. One thing they do get right: there is a lot of La Croix.

Q: Joan meets some very awesome and some very terrible people at Bloom. Who was your favorite employee to write?
 A: I love and would throw myself in front of a car for Hani Khadra.  Her pure joy, her gooey kindness, her exuberant shiny-penniness… she’s a beacon of light and goodness.  Every time she was in a scene, she made it brighter and better.

Q: It's not a spoiler to say that it's not always great to work at Bloom, and it's definitely not Liza's dream job. What's the worst job you've ever had?
 A: I once temped at a local convention center from 6AM – 2PM.  I would count the revenue from the various events.  Upon arrival, my manager put butcher paper up on the windows by my desk “so I wouldn’t get distracted” and after I’d counted the revenue, she would then go through and recount everything I just did “just in case.”  It was… a low point.

Q: You're written eight (WOW. Eight.) novels. Has it gotten easier?
 A: It has not and I think that’s a good thing.  What I’ve begrudgingly begun to understand about myself creatively is that my next book should always be a little bit past my fingertips – both with craft and subject.  If I’m scared/excited and more than a little uncomfortable as I wade in, then I’m in the right place so that what I make will continue to be authentic.

Q:  Anything I didn't ask you that you wish I had?
A: I could teach WITH EASE a 3-day intensive workshop on Why The Great British Bake Off is the best show on television.

You may find Liza Palmer in Twitter @lizapalmer and on Instagram @lizapalmer

Book Review: THIRTEEN

TITLE: Thirteen
GENRE: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Courtroom Drama
PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books
PUB DATE: Aug 2019
SERIES: Eddie Flynn Series Book #4 (but this is a great stand alone book)


SYNOPSIS: THE SERIAL KILLER ISN'T ON TRIAL.

HE'S ON THE JURY...

They were Hollywood's hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.

This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.

All the evidence points to Robert's guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie's mind.

What if there's more than one actor in the courtroom?

What if the killer isn't on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?


THOUGHTS: “THIRTEEN” is the 4th of the Eddie Flynn series following ‘The Defence’ (February 2016), ‘The Plea’ (April 2017) and ‘The Liar’ (November 2017). This is an amazing book that is a hybrid of a murder and court room drama which I absolutely enjoyed. The chapters alternate from Eddie Flynn (first person narrative) the lawyer and Joshua Kane (third person narrative) the murderer. It works amazingly well and you get a great sense of the characters’ thoughts, actions and behaviors. The story is split up into days as the story is told over a weeks’ time. Flynn is an exceptional lawyer who cares nothing about ego but instead the drive to protect the innocent, and risking his family and life in the process. He is the ideal in moral and character. I find myself rooting for him and feel every bit of his pain and agony as he goes through this trial of the century. The opposite goes for Joshua Kane who feels no pain whatsoever and is one of the scariest character I have ever read and you will be amazed how this character was written with absolute brilliance!! A true psychopath, cold killer, meticulous, cunning and an expert impersonator! Overall, I highly recommend this novel to those of you who enjoy reading thrillers and legal/courtroom drama. It’s a fast-paced, high-energy novel, with a really unique storyline and characters. This book is one-of-a-kind and original, and I was hooked from the start. I will definitely be reading all the other Eddie Flynn series.


AUTHOR:

Steve Cavanagh was born and raised in Belfast before leaving for Dublin at the age of eighteen to study Law. He currently practices civil rights law and has been involved in several high profile cases. Selected for the Amazon Rising Stars programme 2015. ACES award winner 2015 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The Defence is his debut novel.

Book Review: LAST ONES LEFT ALIVE

AUTHOR: Sarah Davis-Goff

GENRE: Sci-Fi, Fiction, Dystopian, Horror

PUB DATE: 8/27/2019

PUBLISHER: FLATIRON BOOKS

SYNOPSIS: LAST ONES LEFT ALIVE is the story of Orpen, a young woman who must walk on foot across a ravaged Ireland in the desperate hope of saving herself, and her guardian Maeve, from the zombie-like menace known as the skrake.

Growing up on a tiny island off the coast of a post-apocalyptic Ireland, Orpen's life has revolved around physical training and necessity. After Mam died, it's the only way she and her guardian Maeve have survived the ravenous skrake (zombies) who roam the wilds of the ravaged countryside, looking for prey.

When Maeve is bitten and infected, Orpen knows what she should do - sink a knife into her eye socket, and quickly. Instead, she tries to save Maeve, and following rumours of a distant city on the mainland, guarded by fierce banshees, she sets off, pushing Maeve in a wheelbarrow and accompanied by their little dog, Danger. It is a journey on which Orpen will need to fight repeatedly for her life, drawing on all of her training and instincts. In the course of it, she will learn more about the Emergency that destroyed her homeland, and the mythical Phoenix City - and discover a starting truth about her own identity.

THOUGHTS: "Last Ones Left Alive" by Sarah Davis-Goff is a story about a post apocalyptic Ireland where the fight to survive and endure means to live another day.

From the first line of this novel, I knew I was hooked. The story alternates from current to the past on how Orpen, the protagonist, was raised in an island called Slanbeg off the coast of Ireland by her mother and her mother’s partner Maeve. Orpen was trained how to fight and survive against what Davis-Goff calls the zombies or “skrakes”. Once bitten, your fate will be met with demise. The novel opens with Orpen pushing a wheelbarrow with Maeve and her dog by her side to find help and other survivors.

I love anything Zombie and I knew I would be a fan of this. I love that women are strong and resilient, and the story is told to understand the human relationships and survival.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron book for the ARC ebook copy of this wonderful story.

RATING: 4/5