THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 

GIVEAWAY ENDED

THE PROPER CARE AND

MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP

BY LISA VERGE HIGGINS

ABOUT THE BOOK:

What makes a wife a lover? 
For Kate, the spark went out of her marriage long ago but her husband doesn't seem to notice. Their role as parents consumes their lives so they need to rekindle the romance they once shared. 

What makes a woman a mother?
For Jo, a high-powered career has led her to believe that she doesn't have a single maternal instinct. When an orphan unexpectedly enters her life, she is forced to confront her own unhappy childhood and the walls it has built around her heart. 

What makes a man the love of your life?
For Sarah, home is the steamy jungles of Africa while the man of her dreams waits in the air-conditioned confines of Los Angeles. Her longing for this man from the past is blinding her to a new love standing right in front of her.

What these women all have in common is a friend with a generous soul, an irrepressible spirit- and a serious illness. In her final letters, Rachel raises one last question: What makes a friend live in our hearts forever?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

While studying for her Ph.D. in chemistry, RITA finalist Lisa Verge Higgins penned twelve romance novels under her maiden name. THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP is her first foray into mainstream women's fiction.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband, an attorney, and their children.

READING GROUP GUIDE:

By visiting Hachette Book Group site HERE, you can open the Reading Group Guide and find some wonderful questions to lead a group discussion. This book is made to order for book clubs and I hope you give it a try. In that Guide, you will also see a note from Author Lisa Verge Higgins and I wanted to share it with you, so here it is:

Dear Reader,
 

If you’ve been to a college reunion lately and noticed a bunch of crazy women in the local pub singing bad eighties rock . . . and, if you’re in a certain upstate New York college town, then it’s a good bet that those are my friends, and I’m the one in the middle, dancing badly.
 

We’ve been doing this every five years since we graduated. As a group, we celebrate the memorable times we spent together lolling on grassy quads, as well as the years after graduation, where, cash-strapped and struggling, we suffered through one another’s horrid first jobs, romantic relationships, and roach infested apartments. Now we’re scattered all over the country and settled into marriage, mortgages, careers, and family life. When we get together, we tend to embarrass our children.
 

We’re an odd and varied bunch: One raises money for charity by biking in 100-mile marathons; another, a gregarious working mother, juggles incredible responsibilities yet throws fabulous parties; and a third started her own landscaping business in midlife.
 

Honestly, I don’t remember how we were drawn together all those years ago. We’re a jumble of religions and races and socioeconomic classes and political beliefs. There are rough edges, old hurts, and fundamental disagreements. There’s also respect, humor, and empathy. It’s a recurring miracle that we’ve maintained our bond despite the distances of both time and geography. We know we are blessed. That’s why, every five years, we make Herculean efforts to reunite at our alma mater.
 

Magic occurs when we are in a room together. We talk about politics, sex, money, religion—all the things you’re not supposed to talk about in polite company. We roll out the old stories, and then tell new ones until we laugh ourselves to tears. By the wee hours of the morning, we’re at the college pub singing hair-band power-ballads and dancing as if no one is watching. 

And by the time we return exhausted to our regularly scheduled lives, we are sure of one essential truth: Life has taken us in very different directions, yet we all strive for the same goal—joy in our work, our marriage, our parents, our children . . . and our friends. This novel, The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship, is my little valentine to all of them.

MY REVIEW:

THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP by Lisa Verge Higgins is a perfect title for a book about what friendship among women is really all about. For anyone who has had the great fortune to be able to share that very special bond of friendship with a woman or group of women, this is a book that should not only be on your TBR pile, but rather on the top!

In Jo, Sarah, Kate, and Rachel, readers are bound to find parts of themselves and their friends as Higgins has created unforgettably genuine and believable characters who are long time best friends. As they have worked at keeping their friendship in tact over the years, none is prepared for the challenge brought to them when one of them is taken  unexpectedly and far too soon. Rachel lived her life as the other three wished they could have lived theirs, and her inspiration was what led them to not really be surprised at her final request for each of them. In letters left for each of the trio, Rachel asks them to do something that she knows will have them facing perhaps their greatest fear but also will in turn improve their lives. Thus, Rachel is leaving them with a gift that as each reads their letter, only the reader and Rachel will really deep down understand why it is specifically meant for them.

But will Sarah, Kate, and Jo really be able to face this challenge? How can they not? Rachel thought about what would improve something vital in each of their lives and amusingly, each thought THEIR request was the most difficult or demanding upon first reading them. At one point, they even wondered if perhaps the attorney may have mixed up the letters! Among Sarah, Kate, and Jo, one will find out if doubting decisions made in her past will ever allow her to find happiness again; another will find out if she is capable of being a mother when she long thought her dreadful childhood would never make that possible; and lastly, can one of them find the person she once was before becoming a mother had taken up all her time? Would each friend follow through with Rachel’s final request? What extent would you go to in order to carry out your best friend’s dying wish?

After reading THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP, I would challenge readers to look inside themselves and ask about the importance of their friendships and how well they are treating these very special people in their lives. What a special gift a true friend is. I highly recommend book clubs read THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDSHIP as it will not only give way to a stimulating and moving discussion among your group, but I would think it would have some looking long and hard at the special people in their lives and making sure they appreciate those bonds. Lisa Verge Higgins has given women everywhere a wonderful gift with this moving, emotionally uplifting, and very special story.
 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO BRAD AND THE GOOD

FOLKS AT HACHETTE BOOK GROUP,

I HAVE 2 COPIES OF THIS WONDERFUL

BOOK TO GIVE AWAY

 

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW

+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO LISA VERGE HIGGINS' WEBSITE HERE AND COMMENT ON SOMETHING INTERESTING YOU FOUND THERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT IF YOU HAVE A VERY SPECIAL FRIEND THAT YOU THINK OF LIKE THESE WOMEN DO IN THE BOOK. DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HONOR A REQUEST LIKE THIS FROM THAT PERSON? YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER THIS AS I AM SURE THESE ARE PRIVATE THOUGHTS BUT JUST COMMENT THAT YOU HAVE AT LEAST THOUGHT ABOUT MY QUESTION IN ORDER TO RECEIVE AN EXTRA ENTRY

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, FEBRUARY 5!

GOOD LUCK!