Vera Stein Is Fine | August Book Club

Once upon a time, when I was younger and less informed, I thought people over the age of say, sixty, to be somewhat innocent, delicate…easily shocked and offended. You too?

Now that I’m an official “senior citizen,” I realize that not only is it NOT true for MY generation, it couldn’t possibly have been for those very people I thought it of. Those folks lived through multiple cultural revolutions; the birth of rock and roll, bikini’s, Bohemianism, Woodstock, Haight-Ashbury - the list goes on and on.

Turns out I was the naive one.

The protagonist of my August book club pick, Vera Stein Is Fine, by Julie Murphy, is going to have her eyes opened at a muuuch younger age than I.

From #1 New York Times bestseller Julie Murphy comes a heartfelt and hilarious tale of a woman who thinks life and love have passed her by until she’s thrown into her grandmother’s quirky world of octogenarian free love and gets a second chance with the one man she never expected to see again. Perhaps it’s never too late to play the opening credits…

Welcome to Starlight Palms, a favorite retirement facility among Hollywood actors and industry professionals tucked away just outside of sunny Palm Springs. Filled with forgotten scream queens, eccentric screenwriters, and heartthrobs of the past, it has a brand-new resident: Vera Stein, age forty.

Vera knows she’s missed her chance at a life worthy of the silver screen, just like she missed her chance at ever finding true love. But Vera isn’t one to take chances. She’s spent most of her adult years caretaking for her dying mother and her movie star boss’s ego. Now abruptly houseless and jobless, Vera has nowhere to land, so to grandmother’s house we go!

The Starlight Palms Senior Living Center is midcentury Hollywood down to its pastel-painted bones. This desert gem isn’t lacking in saucy plot twists (swinging seniors, anyone?) or a leading man: Elias Buckley, the on-site doctor and Vera’s former ill-fated college fling and—for reasons that will stay in Vegas—legally her ex-husband according to the state of Nevada.

It’s not long before Vera falls into a job as the activities coordinator and under the spell of a certain smart-mouthed doctor… Suddenly all those empty years in LA look less like mistakes and a lot more like backstory. With a fresh start at her fingertips, Vera begins to see that even with all the detours she’s taken, there’s still a Hollywood ending (and maybe even a happily ever after) in sight…

Talk about a FUN poolside read!

Summer hasn’t even reached its peak yet. We’ve got weeks of soaring temps ahead of us, so lather on the sunscreen, don that wide-brimmed hat, and stick your feet in some water. Once you’re all settled in, pick up Vera Stein is Fine, and add some giggles to the summer sizzle.

Vera proves it’s never too late to rewrite your story. How does your next chapter go?

Pick up your copy of: VERA STEIN IS FINE

Someone Is After Lulu Dupree | August Book Club

Ah summmmmatime! The excitement felt during early days of the season when sunshine and light evenings were a novelty has waned a bit. Now we’re tired. Tired and hot. My list of Things To Do this summer has long since been completed. August, once morning chores are done, is more about lazing around and keeping cool - both in temperature and temperament.

I can only handle bored kids underfoot for so long, then it’s into their swimming suits and off to the creek we go. There they can splash and play for hours as I sit in the shade and read. I stumbled upon the perfect little book for such an occasion,

“Someone Is After Lulu Dupree”,
by Josie S. Kilpack,
my August Book Club choice.

It’s about Lulu, who suffers a traumatic brain injury and loses a chunk of her memory as a result. Finding it impossible to return to a life she no longer understands (or wants) in Seattle, she decides to relocate and begin anew in Sedona, Arizona. Just one problem, someone is after her.

“For LuLu Dupree, what she doesn’t remember might just be the death of her.”

Jump into this great summer read and meet conflict avoiding, hyperfixating, neurodivergent Lulu, lover of crochet, desert night-hiking, eco-friendly cleaning business owner… and target of repeated attempts on her life.

”If she’s going to survive she’ll need to confront her past—both what she can remember, and what she’s managed to forget.

Determined to find answers before she is silenced forever, LuLu and her reluctant attorney begin navigating through clues and suspects, inching closer to confronting the shadows of her former self and apprehending the person who doesn’t want her to have this simple and peaceful life she’s worked so hard to build.”

Hide from the summer sizzle with this delicious escape following the clues as they are uncovered and see if you can figure out who’s after Lulu before the answer is revealed.

I enjoyed it so much, and am even more excited to learn this is book number 1 in the Lulu Dupree Mystery series—meaning there will be more to come!

ORDER: Someone Is After Lulu Dupree

The Art of Love and Lies | August Book Club

Last month I dropped multiple books titles on you hoping summer would inspire you take some time to lose yourself between the pages of a good story (or three!). This month we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming, and I’m sharing just one; one really GOOD one!

It’s a work of historical fiction entitled,The Art of Love and Lies, by Rebecca Anderson.

In it, a free-spirited artist teams up with a no-nonsense detective to capture a thief who has stolen a priceless Michelangelo painting.

”Manchester, England, 1857

Rosanna Hawkins is one of Manchester’s finest artists, even though no one knows her name. She reproduces “parlor versions” of classic masterpieces with near-perfect precision, which her employer then sells to the emerging upper-middle class families.

When the largest art exhibition ever to be held in England opens in Manchester, Rosanna is excited to visit. She meets the handsome Inspector Martin Harrison, who is head of security, and is immediately intrigued by his charm, confidence, and portrait-worthy good looks.

The two spend many a flirtatious afternoon exploring the exhibition hall, discussing art, and sharing their secret hopes. Rosanna dreams of painting something original and meaningful, and Martin hopes to one day shed the shadow of his father’s notorious past.

But when they discover the theft of some of the paintings—and all the evidence points to Rosanna—she must convince Inspector Harrison she is innocent and proposes a plan to capture the real art thief.

It is a daring race to catch the criminal before he disappears with the most priceless piece in the collection—Michaelangelo’s The Manchester Madonna. If Rosanna and Inspector Harrison fail, not only will the painting be lost forever but so will their chance to paint their own happily ever after.”

I hope some part of each day finds you parked in the coolness of a big shade tree - or at least in front of an air conditioning unit! And when those moments arrive, I hope you’ve got a chilled beverage beside you and a book in your hands!

The Art of Love and Lies is the perfect story to get lost in while the heat of August rolls over us. Get your copy today!

ORDER: The Art of Love and Lies