CLP Blog Tour: The Holdout

When I read what Laurel Osterkamp's latest novel was all about, I was intrigued. I immediately signed up for the CLP Blog Tour and hoped The Holdout would deliver. It did! I was so interested and invested in this novel and I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it.

Here's the synopsis:

Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so she gave it her all, challenge after challenge. Then she fell for Grant, with his irresistible eyes and heartbreaking life story. But Grant was only using Robin as they competed for a million dollars. Once home, Robin wants to hide from the humiliation as episodes of The Holdout are aired, and she worries her family was right all along; she's not a survivor. Or maybe she'll have the last laugh Besides, Robin now has jury duty. And as she forges ahead, confronting her demons about bravery, justice, and romance, Robin will come to decide which is more important: the courage to stand alone, or the strength to love again. 

I have to admit that I was a little worried about reading another of Osterkamp's novels as I read Starring in the Movie of My Life a couple of years ago and didn't love it. Still, I thought her newest sounded interesting and boy am I glad I gave it a shot. It was so good. I loved the way she played with the reality show novel - that was probably my favourite part of the whole book. I have never watched a full season of Survivor but it's been around for so long that everyone has at least a vague idea of what goes on during the show. Even though that's not my reality show of choice, I still found Robin's story, and her time on the show, interesting. I liked that we learned what the whole process could be like and that Osterkamp gave us all the background information we needed. 

There were two things that stood out for me that kept me from giving this book five stars. One was the way Robin acted during jury duty. I felt like she had a lot of lingering issues with the way the show played out and every once and awhile she'd think about which of her other jurors would get voted off first if they were on The Holdout. I don't blame her, I'm sure being on a show like that can really mess with your head, but I wish that had been toned down just a tad. It made her seem a little unstable and I don't think that's what Osterkamp was trying to go for. The other issue was with her family. I totally loved that she had a large family and they sort of supported her in their own weird way, but I feel like there were too many of them...I got a little confused. There were some side stories involving them that didn't feel as complete as they could have and it just didn't flow well for me. These issues are not deal breakers, though, and I'd still wholeheartedly recommend this book.

I appreciated that the romance in this novel took a total backseat. I could kind of tell how things would end up but Osterkamp kept me guessing until the very end. I liked that. Robin didn't go into the show looking for a romance but it happened, just like real life and good chick lit-esque novels. The romance just happens along the way and that's what happened in The Holdout. 

Even if you're not a Survivor fan, which I am not, I still think you would really enjoy The Holdout by Laurel Osterkamp. It's interesting look at the way we view two seemingly very different things - justice and reality TV. Osterkamp did a good job of weaving together the two into a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Check it out! It won't disappoint.

Guest Post: Laurel Osterkamp

Welcome to a stop on the November Surprise CLP Blog Tour! Since I have oodles of things happening right now, I didn't quite have the time to read the novel by Laurel Osterkamp but I wanted to spread some awareness of this book so today I have a guest post from Laurel for you all to read. Most of you reading this will know that I'm Canadian so since the upcoming election will not directly affect me I haven't been immersed in political thoughts or conversations at all. Confession: I'm also not really into politics anyway. I've voted but I don't really have a super strong feeling for any of our parties. All of these thoughts kind of made me curious about what made Laurel want to write a book that has a side story that's all about politics. Thank you to Laurel for writing this great post! And make sure you check out the main page for this tour to read some reviews so you can see if you'd want to read this novel yourself.

November Surprise – a Political Romance

I've gotten some wonderful and much appreciated feedback on my latest novel, November Surprise. However, the premise seems to confuse a lot of readers. It’s political, and a romance? A political romance? What is that?

I think of it as a romance first, and as political second. My goal in writing it was not to influence anyone, or to put forth some sort of agenda. The main characters in all my novels always resemble me in some way, and Lucy resembles me in that she’s a political junkie. It’s how she relates to the world. It would be unrealistic to have someone so obsessed with politics to not have firm opinions and ideologies, so I gave her mine. However, I specifically stayed away from some of the more subversive issues (abortion, for example) and I made sure to create at least one likeable Republican character.

What I wanted to do was to revisit the last six presidential elections, and use them as a symbol of the times. The goal was to chart Lucy’s growth through these times, and to illustrate her progress as she discovers things about herself, and the world. At the base of it all, there’s a love story. Two people connect and feel a mutual attraction, but time and circumstance keep them apart. Can they wade through the hubbub and find each other? Can they find themselves? These are the questions I aimed to answer in November Surprise. The politics were more about setting and character development than anything.

I'm really glad I wrote it, because I had a lot of fun, and I learned things through my research that I didn't already know. Plus, it was a challenge, and I love challenges. Still, I'm worried that the politics may scare off potential readers, even though I've had positive reviews from both conservatives and apolitical people. But in the end, I feel the only books I can finish are the ones that are bursting to come out. November Surprise is what was bursting at the time.

Author Guest Post: Laurel Osterkamp

This past week I had the pleasure of reviewing Laurel Osterkamp's novel Starring in the Movie of My Life (you can read my review here). Laurel was kind enough to write a guest post for Books Etc. I hope you all love it as much as I do. I totally agree with what Laurel has to say - what do you guys think? Bonus points if you've seen Citizen Kane too!

Cauliflower, Citizen Kane, and Chick Lit

When I was a kid I refused to eat vegetables. Honestly, the only vegetables I wanted to eat were raw carrots and salad. This drove my mother crazy, but eventually she decided a vegetable is a vegetable, and she started serving me raw carrots for dinner every night. At least I got my Vitamin A, even if I didn’t get variety.

I’m still not a huge vegetable fan, but I have expanded my horizons. I love certain spinach dishes, asparagus, leeks, and anything with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms. Recently I’ve learned to love roasted cauliflower with a little hot-pepper sauce sprinkled over it. Yummy.

So what does this have to do with books and film? Recently there has been some controversy on the blogosphere over two NYTs film critics’ statement that certain films are “vegetables” – valuable not so much as entertainment but as something to appreciate. What’s controversial about that? Well, certain people took offense, saying that these artistic, high brow films are entertaining and enriching. The two, they say, don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

I teach film studies, so I’m not unfamiliar with this concept. Every year when we start our unit on Citizen Kane, my students are aghast at the idea that it is considered to be the best movie ever made. “Do you think it’s the best movie ever made?” they’ll ask me.

I tell them, “I think it’s hard to label one film as being the best ever made. Do I go home on Friday nights and watch it while eating ice cream? No. Do I think it has influenced film-making in hugely substantial ways? Yes. All I hope is that by watching it, you can appreciate what it has to offer.”

There’s that word again…appreciate. I’ve learned more from watching Citizen Kane then say, Mystic Pizza, but I’m always pleased to happen upon Mystic Pizza when I’m channel flipping. I guess for me the vegetable metaphor holds true. Vegetables are nutritious yet hard to enjoy at first. But once you acquire a taste for them, you love them. Sort of like me with roasted cauliflower.

So while I don’t think enjoyment and appreciation have to be mutually exclusive, I do think they’re often separate experiences. But not always…it’s all about variety. For instance, if you’ve been on the road and have ingested a lot of fast food, don’t you start craving salad? Similarly, if you all you’ve watched in the last month are romances, don’t you feel more ready to try an art house flick? Sometimes what you appreciate can be entertaining, what you crave can be nutritious, and what desire can be exactly what you need.

This leads me to another thought. There are lots of real quality romances out there, and there are also some very poorly done art house flicks. There are also salads covered with dressing and bacon that are unhealthy and lean cuts of beef that are both delicious and good for you. But people seem to have trouble with this concept. For instance, when I’ve gotten good reviews for my books (which I always appreciate, no matter what), people are likely to say “It’s not your typical chick lit”, or “I don’t usually read chick lit, but this was really good.”

The implication of course is that chick lit is inherently bad. As a writer of chick lit I don’t agree with that. I think you can find things to both appreciate and enjoy about pretty much any well written book, well made movie, or well prepared meal, no matter what its genre, subject, or ingredients.

So there you go. Prepare yourself some cauliflower and steak, turn on the TV or open a book, and enjoy your day.

And after you’ve eaten all your vegetables, don’t forget dessert.

Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour: Starring in the Movie of My Life

I'd like to start off by thanking Samantha at Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours and author Laurel Osterkamp for allowing me to be part of this blog tour!

And also...my apologies for being AWOL for awhile! I've been trying to get into a routine that has to include the occasional late work meeting, going to the gym, keeping up with reading, and, you know, having a life! I plan to do better. You can hold me to it!

Now, back to the point of this post! Here is the synopsis of Starring in the Movie of My Life from Goodreads:


I've been trying to nail down exactly what I thought and felt about this book. I'll be honest - I didn't love it and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps this post will help me figure it out!

If you like a lot of drama, you'll like this novel. While I enjoy some drama every once and awhile, this was a little too much for me. Marriage problems? Check. Ex still in the picture? Check. Troubled high school student? Check. Car accident? Check. Pregnancy? Check. Attempted rape? Check. Bullying mother? Check. Absent mother? Check. See what I mean? I do have to say though, that even with all of these issues (and then some!) happening at essentially the same time, the storyline doesn't really get confusing or off track.

I found myself rooting for Nate for pretty much the entire novel. Even though he is the one the two women are fighting over (and I use the term "woman" loosely when it comes to Melody as she's still very much a high school student), we never really hear his side of the story. We get Sam's and Melody's perspectives and really find out the reason and rationale behind their actions. Speaking of which, I really liked that each chapter switched between characters. It allowed for me to really understand why they were acting the way they were and because every chapter switched I didn't feel like I was stuck on one character for too long. I thought this element of the novel was well done.

Samantha and Melody are essentially fighting over Nate for the majority of the novel. Why? Because they both think that he can "save" them. Both women are quite flawed at the beginning of the novel but by the end they are able to find themselves. While doing so, I think they realize that they never really needed Nate in the first place. Both Sam and Melody are strong females and I would think they would appreciate that they could save themselves on their own without any help.

As I said, I didn't really know why I didn't like the book. I gave a very in-depth synopsis of the book to a coworker this week. When I finished she said, "And you didn't like the book?" That got me thinking...it was a lot of drama and I couldn't easily find something to connect with in Samantha or Melody. When it's difficult to really identify with the characters, it is hard to get completely engrossed in the story.

Overall...I didn't love this book. I think it was just too drama filled for my taste. I am looking forward to seeing what others have to say about it because I think it would be a great read for lots of others. Check out the list of all the reviews here!

Stay tuned to Books Etc. because on Tuesday I have an amazing guest post from Laurel! I love it and I hope you all will too :)

Thirty-five-year-old Samantha acts without thinking. Her heart is huge while her sense of purpose is small; she's willing to fight for those she loves, but she's never learned to fight for herself. Eighteen-year-old Melody is cold and calculating, and she's driven by the desire to better herself. As these compelling yet deeply flawed women battle for the affections of twenty-five-year-old Nathan, he becomes increasingly confused and torn between them.
Nathan is Melody's English teacher, and after he saves her from being raped, she becomes attached. Melody longs for the affection she's never felt, so she involves people in her self-invented drama, making sure she is at once the star and the director. Meanwhile, Samantha is newly married to Nathan. But Samantha has hang-ups about motherhood and lingering feelings for her ex. To make sense of the world, Sam relates her life to the themes of her favorite movies, while she independently makes a documentary to jump-start her non-existent film career.
Stylistically influenced by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, Starring in the Movie of my Life is told alternately from both Samantha's and Melody's points-of-view and relates two complete yet combined stories about love, acceptance, and redemption. It speaks to our universal desire to be saved by the ones we love, and the monumental effort required tosave ourselves.