Forty is the new twenty for Liz and Lisa...plus a book giveaway

This is the year I turn the big 4-0, and it started off with a fabulous early birthday gift....seeing my name in the acknowledgements section of Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke's latest novel, The Year We Turned Forty (reviewed here), which publishes on April 26th.

Today, I'm turning to them for insight on turning forty and they affirmed how I already feel about it. Only three more months to go...

Thanks to Atria, we have one copy of The Year We Turned Forty for a lucky US reader!

To learn more about these wonderful women, visit their website, which also contains their blog. Then visit them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for some more fun!

Synopsis:
If you could repeat one year of your life, what would you do differently?

This heartwarming and hilarious novel from the authors of The Status of All Things and Your Perfect Life features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty—the year that altered all of their lives, in ways big and small—and also get the opportunity to change their future.

Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he's getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time.

Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires.

Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love.

But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…. (Courtesy of Liz and Lisa's website.)



Forty vs. Twenty

We’d pick forty over twenty any day

If forty and twenty got into a brawl, forty would definitely win. While many people might think twenty would be victorious because it’s younger, we don’t agree.

Forty might be older. But forty is smart. Forty is secure. And forty looks pretty darn good. (If we do say so ourselves.)

The year we turned forty was a good one. (We published our first novel, Your Perfect Life!) We decided to embrace our new age bracket. Because, what was the alternative? To cry into our overpriced anti-aging creams and wax nostalgic over the days when we could survive on two hours of sleep? Not our style. We realized turning forty was inevitable, so we agreed, why not welcome it with a big fat kiss? Or for Liz, with a big ol’ party with friends and family that included a food truck and a band that covered Bon Jovi and Pink. And for Lisa, a trip to Paris where she toasted the big 4-0 with a glass of champagne atop the Eiffel Tower.

The reality is, we couldn’t have done these things at twenty. We could barely afford boxed wine or a meal that we didn’t charge on a credit card. But at forty, we can do special things because we’ve worked hard for the past twenty years. We’ve settled down with our families. And we’ve started to learn what really matters. Hint: It isn’t being wrinkle free. (Although we aren’t averse to it!)

But that being said, it’s not like we have it all figured out. We still consider ourselves works in progress. And know we always will be. And maybe that knowledge is what comes with age—understanding that each mistake or misstep is a learning opportunity, that the soft spots within us that we tried so hard to hide in our twenties and thirties might actually be the best part of ourselves.

Thanks to Liz and Lisa for the motivational "speech" and to Atria for sharing their book with our readers.

~Introduction by Melissa Amster


How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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US only. Giveaway ends April 27th at midnight EST.