Viola Shipman gets into the groove...plus a book giveaway

Today we are thrilled to have Wade Rouse back at CLC to talk about his latest novel, written as Viola Shipman. The Clover Girls published last week and it's such a fun and nostalgic story that you will all enjoy. Check out Melissa's review. Wade's post will make you want to dig out your 80s mix tapes (we know you have at least one) and watch John Hughes films. He has a signed copy of The Clover Girls and some jelly bracelets for one lucky reader!

Wade Rouse is the internationally bestselling author of ten books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.

Wade’s novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; The Hope Chest; The Recipe Box, The Summer Cottage, and The Heirloom Garden.

Library Journal writes that Wade has “hit upon the perfect formula to tell heartwarming, intergenerational family stories by weaving together the lives, loves and history of family through cherished heirlooms.” 

Wade's books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, featured in the New York Times and on Chelsea Lately and chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers. His writing has appeared in a diverse range of publications and media, including Coastal Living, Time, All Things Considered, People, Good Housekeeping, Salon, Forbes, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest and Publisher’s Weekly.

Also a noted humorist of four memoirs, Wade was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (he lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (Wade was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson).

Wade earned his B.A. from Drury University and his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and is also an acclaimed writing teacher who has mentored numerous students to become published authors. (Bio adapted from Viola's website.)

Visit Viola online:
Website * Wade's website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:

Elizabeth, Veronica, Rachel and Emily met at Camp Birchwood as girls in 1985, where over four summers they were the Clover Girls—inseparable for those magical few weeks of freedom—until the last summer that pulled them apart. Now approaching middle age, the women are facing challenges they never imagined as teens, struggles with their marriages, their children, their careers, and wondering who it is they see when they look in the mirror.

Then Liz, V, and Rachel each receive a letter from Emily with devastating news. She implores the girls who were once her best friends to reunite at Camp Birchwood one last time, to spend a week together revisiting the dreams they’d put aside and repair the relationships they’d allowed to sour. But the women are not the same idealistic, confident girls who once ruled Camp Birchwood, and perhaps some friendships aren’t meant to last forever… (Courtesy of Amazon.)

The Clover Girls-Word Up!
by Wade Rouse

“How do you explain your childhood to your children? How do you explain what John Hughes movies meant to you growing up? It’s like explaining rotary phones, TV antennas, Walkmans, mood rings, typewriters and handwritten directions. 

They meant everything. And even more now.”

So begins my new novel, The Clover Girls, about four very different girls who meet and become best friends at summer camp in the 1980s. It’s an ode to our forever friends, forgiveness and the fragility of life. It’s also an ode to the 1980s.

I came of age in the 1980s, and I owned it!  If you were an ’80s kid like me and The Clover Girls (Emily, Veronica, Rachel and Liz), then you remember all the fashion do’s and don’ts: Feathered hair (that’s ME in the photo!), permed hair, Aqua Net, popped collars, jelly bracelets and jelly shoes, friendship pins, Drakkar Noir, Love’s Baby Soft, Gunne Sax prom dresses, Jordache and Calvin Kleins, deck shoes, Vans, Dynasty, MTV, The Facts of Life, John Hughes movies, malls, Orange Julius, Chess King, Spencer’s … shall I go on?

But music reigned supreme. It was the soundtrack to my life, just as it is to The Clover Girls, who – as girls and women – have an ’80s song to match every emotion and mood. 

Do you remember making mix tapes? 

I used to spend endless hours in my bedroom – staring at the posters of Rick Springfield and Cyndi Lauper on my wall – creating mine. I made them for friends to play in their own bedrooms, or to blast in their cars. I made them for myself to channel my own happiness, sadness, angst, unrequited love. 

I found an old mix tape while writing The Clover Girls. It was squirreled away in an old crate, along with some high school yearbooks, jelly bracelets, a bunch of friendship pins I used to wear on my shoelaces and buttons I used to wear on my favorite jean jacket. I called a friend and listened to it with her, and I nearly cried listening to Whitney and the Cure. All the teen emotions were still there! 

So I decided to make my own mix tape for The Clover Girls (most of the songs are featured in the book). I know I missed a lot of favorites, but I think it’s pretty darn Pretty in Pink memorable. Here’s mine. 

*"Open Arms"-Journey (I sang it for the longest time, “Oh, now you come to me…with broken arms…!”

*"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"- Wham!

*"Holiday"-Madonna

*"Take on Me"-A-ha

*"Total Eclipse of the Heart"-Bonnie Tyler 

*"Walk Like An Egyptian"-The Bangles 

*"Billie Jean"-Michael Jackson 

*"Don’t You (Forget About Me)"-Simple Minds 

*"I Wanna Dance with Somebody"-Whitney Houston

*"Hungry Like the Wolf"-Duran Duran 

*"The Safety Dance"-Men without Hats 

*"Blister in the Sun"-Violent Femmes

*"Addicted to Love"-Robert Palmer 

*"Love Is A Battlefield"-Pat Benatar

*"Word Up"-Cameo

*"Don’t You Want Me?"-The Human League 

*"I Want to Know What Love Is"-Foreigner

*"Don’t Stop Believin’"-Journey

What would your ‘80s mix tape sound like?

BONUS: For everyone who orders a copy of The Clover Girls this week, I will, as a thank-you, mail you a complimentary, personalized bookplate for your copy PLUS some jelly bracelets (to channel the ‘80s nostalgia and to wear while you dance to your jams)! Just email gary [at] violashipman [dot]com. 

I truly hope you love The Clover Girls and that, like a true friendship and the music of the ‘80s, it will remain in your soul forever. 

Thanks to Wade for visiting with us and for sharing Viola's 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 June 2nd at midnight EST.