Monday, May 9, 2011

HERE, HOME, HOPE: REVIEW AND BONUS ENTRIES

GIVEAWAY ENDED
HERE, HOME, HOPE
BY KAIRA ROUDA

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK:
Desperate Housewives meets Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place in HERE, HOME, HOPE

Kelly Mills Johnson is a 39-year-old mother and wife stuck in the rut of her middle-American suburban life.  A routine relationship with her lawyer husband, two uber-successful businesswomen for best friends to envy and an all-around predictable existence motivate Kelly to reinvent herself.

In an often-times humorous manner, Kelly begins diving into new projects (armed with Post-it notes and a Things to Change list), revisiting old memories and rediscovering passions.  Whether she is taking care of the anorexic teenager dumped on her doorstep, making up with an old high school friend or avoiding the boozy advances of her divorced neighbor, Kelly’s insistence on moving her life in a new direction and finding the perfect blend of home and career is inspiring and entertaining.

Rouda’s ability to capture the realities of a mid-life crisis will have readers laughing, crying and planning their own reinvention. The book comes complete with a Things to Change (TTC) list in the back so readers can get started on their own life makeover or new career endeavor.

PRAISE FOR HERE, HOME, HOPE:
"Reading Kaira Rouda is like getting together with one of your best friends - fun, fast, and full of great advice! Here, Home, Hope sparkles with humor and heart." 
-- Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love Dogs and the upcoming Best Staged Plans

“I loved Kaira Rouda's book. I love its irony and its courage and humor. . . It’s the real thing.” 
-- Jacquelyn Mitchard, bestselling author of Still Summer and Deep End of the Ocean

“Endearingly honest, consistently upbeat, Here, Home, Hope is an inspiring read that left me feeling genuinely hopeful.” 
–- Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers, and one of Oprah's Thirty Favorite Women Writers

“Relatable and inspiring. A perfect read for anyone experiencing one of life's "what's next?" moments.”
--Robyn Harding, Author, Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis
 
"A warm, witty, and engaging debut that had me laughing out loud. Rouda has created a lovable and perceptive heroine who navigates her struggles with honesty and awe-inspiring determination to succeed. A fun and totally satisfying read." 
-- Amy Hatvany, author of Best Kept Secrets

“Things to Change (T2C):  Make more time to read – starting with Kaira Rouda’s Here, Home, Hope, a story about how women can have it all if we own it all.”
—Kelly Meyer, mom, philanthropist and one of O Magazine’s Power List

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Due to the career ladder of her professor father, Kaira was born in Chicago (Northwestern), moved to L.A. (USC), then to Austin (University of Texas), Boston (Harvard University) and finally Columbus (The Ohio State University) where Kaira, her mom and her siblings put their collective feet down and grew roots. Kaira spent the remainder her childhood in Columbus, and following graduation from Vanderbilt University, returned to spend another 20-plus years in Central Ohio in the marketing and publishing fields. She believes she has written just about everything: for public relations and advertising clients, including copy for electronics manuals (yawn), press releases for dog ice cream and hamburgers, carpet cleaning television and radio spots, to real estate websites and more; for business newspapers, regional and national magazines and blogs; for countless charities near and dear to her heart; a business book for women entrepreneurs; and now, finally, she is writing what she dreamed of writing since fourth grade: novels of her own. Here, Home, Hope is the first of several novels, all set in the fictional suburb of Grandville, that will be published. Kaira is ecstatic her dreams are coming true.


Kaira is a philanthropist who started Central Ohio’s first homeless shelter for families in the early 1990s, served two terms on the board of the MidOhio Food Bank, the YWCA, The Wexner Center for the Arts and numerous other charities, with a particular interest in empowering women and girls. The creator of the Real Living Real Estate brand — one of the fastest growing in the country — Kaira has earned numerous awards in business. For more on her career, please visit RealYouIncorporated.com.


Two years ago — of course not following her oldest child who had picked a college there — Kaira and her husband and four kids moved to Southern California where she is busy writing, volunteering, and growing new roots.
Bio info on Kaira Rouda from her website at: www.kairarouda.com 

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW: 
HERE, HOME, HOPE welcomes readers to Grandville where Kelly Mills Johnson, a stay-at-home mom, lives with her husband and two adorable sons. The Johnsons live in a gorgeous home in these suburbs where Kelly’s husband is a successful attorney and loyal, supportive spouse. Their two boys are appropriately active, well-adjusted and right now are off at summer camp. Grandville is not a real place but with author Kaira Rouda’s rousing plot, readers might all want to live there by the time they finish reading the book, but will have to settle by knowing that HERE, HOME, HOPE is the first in a series that will center around Grandville.

Life is good for Kelly but as she nears her fortieth birthday, she becomes restless as she begins to feel her talents are being wasted and yearns for a more passionate and productive existence. Kelly knows how fortunate she is to be able to work out of her home if she wants, and with the children growing up and not needing her as much, she wants something to do to validate herself and feel personally more worthwhile. Not one to sit and do nothing, Kelly sets out on a plan to recreate a new and improved Kelly by starting a business based on her love of decorating.

Kathryn and Charlotte, Kelly’s two best friends, are not only gorgeous but also successful businesswomen. They have it all, Kelly thinks, with their prosperous husbands and fascinating, validating careers and Kelly aims to be more like them as she knows she can. Kelly pledges to make changes both in her professional and personal life, and so begins to put Post-It Notes all over her home as reminders.  A note maker myself, I was really interested in this part. As with much of HERE, HOME, HOPE, many of these notes added to the humor in the story but also some were a little sad at times showing Rouda’s commitment to creating realistic characters. Kelly creates a “Things to Change List” as well and I must admit that much of it was pretty good advice. Rouda has the list printed out in full at the end of the book for readers‘ convenience.

One other major part of the story is that before Kelly can really get into this life changing period, Kelly’s friend Kathryn asks if her anorexic daughter can stay with Kelly for a while. Kelly agrees never realizing all that this entails as she now must deal with an emotional teen who tries Kelly’s patience but who also shows the difficult issue of the disease and the pain Melanie is going through. This part of the story will give the reader much to think about and is part of the more sobering aspect of this real life tale that Kaira Rouda has written.

Kelly’s “rebirth” includes not only the problems of Melanie‘s anorexia, but also issues such as divorce, betrayal, forgiveness and more, Rouda adds just enough seriousness to the story to bring it the authenticity of real life.

As Kelly realizes who she is and all that she has, she is able to deal with many emotional issues as well as hilarious situations,  all of which lead her to being the new woman she becomes. Kaira Rouda writes with a comforting confidence and her characters are so real that they come to life, imperfections and all. With a few good twists and turns, and a lot of laughter (like the laugh out loud kind!), HERE, HOME, HOPE is an honest and captivating novel that held my attention and entertained until the end.
 


GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO JESSICA AT BOOKSPARKS,
I HAVE ONE COPY OF HERE, HOME, HOPE
TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY WINNER 
IF YOU MISSED MY INTERVIEW WITH 
THE AUTHOR ON SATURDAY, GO HERE
TO READ IT AND GET MORE ENTRIES
TO WIN THE COPY OF THE BOOK 
 
--U.S. 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 THOUGHT ABOUT THE DESCRIPTION, PRAISE, AND REVIEW OF HERE, HOME, HOPE AND WHY YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ON KAIRA ROUDA'S WEBSITE BY SEARCHING HER WEBSITE HERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY THAT YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN GIVE THEM ALL AS LONG AS THE COMMENTS ARE SEPARATE TO COUNT FOR THE GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, MAY 23!

 

55 comments:

debbie said...

I enjoyed your review. I really like it when authors treat issues like anexoria realistically. I would like to read the book.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

debbie said...

I am a email subscriber
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

debbie said...

I am a gfc follower.
debbie
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

lag123 said...

I want to win this book because it sounds like the perfect storyline of the midlife crisis.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

lag123 said...

Tweeted: http://twitter.com/lag32583/status/67545817694748672

lag110 at mchsi dot com

lag123 said...

Kaira's favorite classic is The Great Gatsby.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

lag123 said...

I subscribe via email.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

lag123 said...

I follow you on twitter. @lag32583

lag110 at mchsi dot com

Unknown said...

I enjoyed your review. The books sounds really good. Please enter me in contest. I am a follower and email subscriber. Tore923@aol.com

Carol N Wong said...

Description:
I am a big post it notes fan so that made me curious about this book! I didn't notice before that there was a things to change place in the back. Sounds like a good idea.

Praise for the book:
The one that I loved the most was Claire Cook's. She described the book as like getting together with your friends.

Carol N Wong said...

OOOOOOOOOps! Please count this as part of the previous reply!!! I must be click happy today.

Review: I love to make notes too. Also, I like that you said that the characters come alive in the story and there were some laugh out loud moments. Also that it is an honest and captivating novel. Some books, you have to push yourself to read and it is disturbing when you read something that just doesn't sound true.
Great job!

CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Carol N Wong said...

My Twitter name is Carolee888 and I tweeted

http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/2011/05/here-home-hope-review-and-bonus-entries.html Giveaway of 'Here, Home, Hope'

CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

http://twitter.com/#!/alterlisa/status/67584160742641664

(\___/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I am a email subscriber
(\___/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

Carol N Wong said...

I checked her blog again and saw that resilence is very important to her writing life. Without that I think most authors would give up. The trip from the idea to book is full of hurdles and worse so you really need to have resilence to producing a published novel.

CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Carol N Wong said...

I follow your blog with an e-mail subscription.


CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Carol N Wong said...

I follow your blog with
Networked Blogs.


CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Carol N Wong said...

I follow your blog with an RSs on my IGoogle page.


CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

Colleen Turner said...

Thank you for the review, it makes me want to read it even more :)! I think what draws me to this story, and others like it, is the realism involved. It sounds like she has presented an entertaining and funny story but not one that leaves out the bitter in life while only presenting the sweet. It takes both parts to make a real life so I prefer both parts in stories I read.
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I learned from the author's website that she has a kitten named Buttercup. Since I already knew she had a new puppy as well, I find this interesting as she and her family must be big animal lovers (which I am too).
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I am an email subscriber.
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I am a GFC follower (Colleen Turner).
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I am a Networked Blogs follower.
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I am a Facebook follower (Colleen Turner).
candc320@gmail.com

Colleen Turner said...

I follow you on Goodreads.
candc320@gmail.com

traveler said...

This book would be captivating and special. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

I am an e-mail subscriber. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

traveler said...

The author is an animal lover. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

petite said...

A great review which appealed to be. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com

petite said...

I am a follower. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com

petite said...

The author is resilient and talented. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com

Connie said...

Hi! I really loved your review about this book. What intrigued me was how she is trying to reinvent herself and how many post it notes she uses. :)

aliasgirl1976@yahoo.com

Connie said...

I am a loyal GFC follower. :)

aliasgirl1976@yahoo.com

Linda Kish said...

I like her list of authors she likes.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

The praise makes it sound so inviting and humorous, too. I'd love to read it.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Pamela Keener said...

As always your reviews make me want to get this book post haste & read on.
Love & Hugs, Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I follow your blog via Google Reader
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Pamela Keener said...

I am an e-mail subscriber to your blog
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net

Liz V. said...

Liked your warning about need for tissues. I'd ask that unfair question--which book is her favorite.

Commented on Steel's 44 Charles St., Lippman's I'd Know You Anywhere; Angelina Ballerina; and Potluck Cookbook.

Margie said...

I think I'd enjoy the list-writing part of this book. I'm a list maker, and I usually make a to-do list each morning (but I don't necessarily follow it!)
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

The author spent 20-plus years in Central Ohio in the marketing and publishing fields. She believes she has written just about everything. But this is the first of several novels to be published.
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

follower via GFC
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

follower by Networked Blogs
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

mamabunny13 said...

I loved all the reviews onHere, Home, Hope! I want to win this book because I love to laugh and I think this book can do the trick
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I find it interesting that her inspiration for fiction novels is Susan Isaacs
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow you via gfc - mamabunny13
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow by email subscription
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow on twitter @mamabunny13
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow by reader
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow on facebook-mamabunny shelor
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

mamabunny13 said...

I follow on networked blogs-mamabunny shelor

mamabunny13 said...

Tweet http://twitter.com/#!/mamabunny13/status/69126007340269568
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. It talks about a midlife crisis. Tore923@aol.com

mamabunny13 said...

May Bonus entry
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good book for those with eating issues and so real..plus I would love to know what to do with those post it notes

pattifritz2000 at yahoo dot com
thanks bunches

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