Julie Valerie's fabulous fate....plus a book giveaway

Photo by Kim Brundage

We're thrilled to have Julie Valerie back at CLC to celebrate the publication of her sophomore novel, The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks (reviewed here), which is the second in her Village of Primm series. While it can work as a stand-alone, you're best off reading Holly Banks Full of Angst to become familiar with the characters and the village itself. Julie is here today to take on our ten year letter challenge. Her letter to her 2010 self is so much fun to read, just like her novels! Julie has one signed copy of The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks for a lucky reader!

Julie Valerie is the bestselling author of the Village of Primm series. She serves on the board of directors for James River Writers; earned an editing certificate from the University of Chicago Graham School; and has a master’s degree in education, a bachelor of fine arts in fashion, and certification in wilderness first aid. A former trend forecaster, Julie enjoys books, the study of wine, hikes on the Appalachian Trail, and travel. She married her college sweetheart, and they live in Virginia with their four children and two English Labradors. Holly Banks Full of Angst released December 2019 with Lake Union Publishing. The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks, the standalone second installment in the Village of Primm series, is now available, also with Lake Union Publishing. Learn more about Julie and join her author newsletter at her website.

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Synopsis:

Holly Banks is on a desperate mission to have it all, but nothing in life goes according to plan. She’s quickly learning that keeping up with the Joneses is a full-time job, especially when the women of Primm, her new neighborhood, seem to have it together all the time.

With her husband’s job in flux, her daughter’s difficulty with learning to read, and her mother’s new zest for dating, Holly’s life is already anything but picture perfect. Then her dog digs up an old artifact in the village center, and the mishap draws the attention of local media. Because of course it would.

Holly finds herself at the center of a mystery between two rival towns that, if solved, could change the Village of Primm forever. Attention is the last thing she needs as she’s launching a new business, the village-wide “Parade of Homes” is approaching—though she’s hardly unpacked—and she needs to submit her entry for an upcoming film festival. Can Holly still create her perfect (looking) life? Or is fate about to go off script and give her a story she never could have imagined? 

“Picking up where Valerie’s first novel, Holly Banks Full of Angst, left off, this will fit right in with loyal Kinsella readers, fans of Tom Perotta’s Mrs. Fletcher, and those who enjoyed the suburban intrigue of the Netflix show Dead to Me.” 
—Booklist

“Valerie combines laugh-out-loud situations with heart as Holly navigates her newest challenges…Recommended for those who enjoy reading about relatable heroines and parents who are trying to have it all.” 
—Library Journal

“Both down to earth and beautifully surreal, Holly Banks’s latest adventure is a story about courage, family, and friendship that had me hooked from the very first page.”
 —Lea Geller, author of Trophy Life

Melissa, thank you for inviting me to Chick Lit Central with a guest post “letter to myself either ten years in the past or future.” It was hard to decide, but I chose to write a letter to myself set ten years in the past.

Here goes . . .

November 24, 2020

Dear Julie,

It’s November 24, 2010, and you have NO CLUE the Lake Union imprint at Amazon Publishing will publish your second novel on this day in 2020. Likewise, you have no clue about the many things that will transpire in 2020. If I told you, you’d never believe it, and it would probably scare you. What a wild ride 2020 is going to be . . .

It turns out, a lot of crazy things have happened on November 24th throughout history. In the year 1759, Vesuvius erupted. Yup. Same Vesuvius that erupted in 79 AD, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum. On November 24, 1874, a patent was granted to Joseph Glidden for barbed wire. But sadly, on November 24 in 1963, the world watched the first live murder on TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald. On the bright side, Apollo 12 returned to Earth on this day in 1969.

So here we are. It’s November 24, 2010, and you’re busy with four kids, one husband, two dogs, two cats, two beta fish, and too many carpools to count. The house is a wreck, the laundry’s piling up, and you’re juggling 200 college students in the courses you’re teaching in the art school at your alma mater. There’s hardly time in your day to catch your breath. But catch that breath because I’m about to deliver some really great news.

In ten years, you’re going to wake up on November 24, 2020, and witness the publishing of The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks, the second installment in the Village of Primm series your agent sold to Lake Union Publishing. Your first novel, Holly Banks Full of Angst, pub’d less than a year ago, on December 1, 2019.

I know this is hard to believe considering the stage of life you’re in on November 24, 2010, but it’s true. So raise a glass. Hug your kids and kiss your husband. You did it, girl.

Okay, STOP. 

You have to call for pizza because it’s 2010. You’re running solo with the kids because your husband’s out of town for work again and there’s nothing to eat. But it’ll get better. 

In ten years, you’ll still be busy, but the kids will be ten years older, and though they'll still need you, they won't be tugging at your pantleg quite like they are right now. Try to capture these crazy days in fiction so other women who are just like you and living this wild and crazy life can read your stories and escape the mayhem of motherhood for a bit. Maybe laugh. Maybe, feel understood.

Yours truly,
Me.

From the future. From that awful, dreadful 2020, writing this letter to show you a bright day in a dark, dark year: November 24. 

Thanks to Julie for visiting with us and for sharing her book with our readers.

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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Giveaway ends November 30th at midnight EST.