We’ve come to many forks in the road in our lives. Whether it was deciding between two job offers out of college and meeting your soulmate at the one you did choose(Liz!) or deciding to do a second internship that led to an illustrious career. (Lisa!) Or when we put our hesitations aside and launched Chick Lit is Not Dead. It’s decisions like these that shape our lives. But what if we had decided differently? And if you had the chance to take a peek into what that other life looked like, would you?
We’re ecstatic to have the fab Ellen Meister sharing her Do’s and a Do-over on the site today. Her third book,The Other Life, is a thoughtful and engrossing novel that we weren’t able to put down.
Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision, she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice—not only that, she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments—like her mother’s suicide—Quinn hasn’t been tempted to slip through…until she receives devastating news about the baby she’s carrying.
The grief lures her to peek across the portal, and before she knows it she’s in the midst of the other life: the life in which she married another man and is childless. The life in which her mother is still very much alive.
Quinn is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. Will she stay with the family she loves and her severely disabled child or rediscover her exciting single life and reconnect with one person she thought she’d lost forever-her mother. But Quinn can’t have both lives. Soon, she must decide which she really wants—the one she has…or the other life?
We highly recommend The Other Life and have FIVE copies to give away to lucky readers! Just leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win! Yep, it’s that easy. We’ll choose the winners after 6pm PST on Thursday, March 17th.
And we think you’ll love her Do’s and a Do-over. She provided photographic evidence!
CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: ELLEN MEISTER’S 5 DO’S AND A DO-OVER
DO’S
1. Listen to your mother, no matter how old you are. She’s always right.
2. Leave the dirty dishes in the sink … to get up and dance … or make love … or take a phone call from a friend. The dishes will still be there when you’re done.
3. Say yes to the things that scare you. You will never regret facing your fears.
4. Spend more time with the people you enjoy and less time with the people you don’t. Life’s too short.
5. Say “I love you” the moment you think it.
DO-OVER
Despite that I wrote THE OTHER LIFE, a novel about a woman with the ultimate “Do-over” (my protagonist gets to slip through a portal to the life she would have had if she never got married and had a child), I try not to indulge in regrets. Indeed, I’m one of those people who believes that whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
Still, I’ve never been able look back with any fondness on a certain spiky, henna-drenched, 1980′s mullet …
I’m attaching a suitably ridiculous photo!
You were rocking that mullet, Ellen! xoxo, L&L
To read more about Ellen, head on over to her website or find her on Twitter and Facebook.
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What a fantastic sounding book! Hope I win a copy!!!
Book sounds really good, can’t wait to read it
I already have this one on my “to read” list so I would love to win a copy!
Love the mullet Ellen! ;)
This sounds like a great book and am adding it to my to read list (but do hope that I win a copy). :D
i would love to win this book! i really like the five things ellen has listed on her “do” list. it would be scary and kind exciting to see what my “other life” would be like…
Loved the photo…I have a ridiculous one from High School too! Mine was a Mia Farrow haircut (remember how short that was!?!) & to make matters worse I dyed it white blond…oh my! :)
That was one brave hairstyle. :) I love the premise of this book.
What a great idea! There are SO many things I wish I could do over in my life. I can’t say I’d always do them differently (or even that I’d often do them differently) – but what a scary thought that you could know, and always choose between them.
Ooh! I just bought the ebook copy on my Nook this weekend and can’t wait to read it (as soon as I finish Emily & Einstein tonight)
Can’t wait to read this book…who hasn’t wondered how things would’ve turned out.
Sounds like a good read!!
Well since I recently lost mine I totally agree with #1 and would add don’t take her for granted! And agree with all the rest also they are so true! And I rocked big hair in late 80′s early 90′s -my yearbook is just full of hair!!
this sounds like a great read!! thank you for the opportunity to win a copy.
sounds fantastic! I hope the book can travel to the Netherlands! we would be so happy here!
I must read this book – I so hope I win! Thanks for the giveaway.
I am excited about your book Ellen, what a great idea for a story!!!
Have read another of Ellen’s books and enjoyed her writing. I have been watching the buzz on this one and I would like to read it.
Thank you.
I’m excited about your new book Ellen, what a great idea for a storyline! I wish you the very best, love and prayers, Shelia Burket
Sounds like an interesting read! Love the photo! LOL
The premise is so tempting – What if . . .
I am adding it to my “to-read” bookshelf – Thanks for the chance to win!
This book looks wonderfully awesome! I’m so excited to read it.
I love the premise of this book – I read one with a sort of similar premise and I love the idea of the alternate life, if you’d made the other choice… And I agree with all of her Do’s and Do-Overs. Life is short – take advantage of everything you can!
I am adding this book to my wishlist! it sounds very interesting. I love finding new authors to read.
This is going on my to-read list right now! Thanks!
Sounds SO intriguing. I’d love to read this!
I loved the pre-published version of this book and have already purchased the e-book copy as well as a physical copy for my brother who loves this type of genre. Now my mother wants a copy, my sisters want copies, and I would LOVE to be able to win a copy for one of them. My husband lost his job so purchasing more books just wouldn’t be practical at this time, and with us having 5 children of our own it wouldn’t be responsible of us to make those purchases either. I have supported this book since I read the pre-published version, being the first to review it on the Barnes&Noble website, as well as publicly advertising on Facebook, from encouraging people to read it to posting the trailer for the book onto my site. This book has become one of my all-time favorites.
The concept sounds intriguing. I can’t wait to read it!
I already have a copy of this, but if I win it I’m going to pass it along to someone who really needs it in her life right now. Those of you who are putting it on your wish lists: I envy you the experience of reading it for the first time.
A friend read it and said it was fabulous.
A friend read it and said it was fabulous.
This is topping my “must read” list right now! It’d be great to win a copy!
This sounds like an AMAZING book. Thank you for “introducing” me to it! :)
Cant wait to reads your book it sounds awesome!!
Sounds like a fabulous book!
Love the list and would love to read this book….it sounds like a great read! Thanks for the chance to win.
Always looking for something new to read
I’d love to win! I already know my mother is always right so I’m on board :)
Sounds like an wonderful read. Hope I win it!
Ellen is a friend from high school and I would love to read her book!
This sounds like a page-turner! Love her “dos”… and the mullet is a riot. Adore her honesty. :) Thanks, L and L!
Love the list and the book sounds great! I always leave dishes in the sink. LOL!
I’m definitely interested in reading this one. :)
I am so excited to read this book!!!
The books sounds like a lot of fun and I can’t wait to read it.
This is on my wish list….would love to win a copy…
Your write up is impossible to resist– a truly magnetic premise! Consider it added to the “Must-Read” list in my house, too!
Thanks for the scoop, L&L!
My ideal alternate reality = margaritas and donuts instead of a mirror and the gym.
It sounds like a neat parallel universe story! I’m wondering which side of the portal Quinn will stay on! WOW! What an awesome read Ellen’s book will be!!
I’m already picturing what my life would be like if I made all the different choices. Not sure which one I would choose.
i love your ‘do list.’ thanks for the chance to read this fabulous novel :)
I want to read this book so badly! It has been on my Amazon wishlist for a while now, waiting for money to purchase it :). Who wouldn’t love the ability (for awhile at least) to live two separate scenarios of your life and see how each would turn out? What a unique gift that could be.
Regarding the “do list”, I love it! Ms. Meister obviously believes in concentrating on what is important and really living your life instead of being bogged down by the “have to do”s. Thanks for the opportunity to win the book!
Sounds like a good book. Would love to win a copy.
Not only do I want to read this book, I want to live this book!
Im so pleased the hair survived the mullet to look as great as it does now!
Love the hairdo: I commited similar fashion crimes back in the day :-)
Love the sound of the book, can’t wait to read it.
I’m trying to learn to do #4 more and more. Good advice! Sounds like a great book.
We will be reading this next month in my mom’s group book club. You know what they say about mullets, it’s business in the front and a party in the back. Sure hope I win. ;)
Wow, this book sounds like a great read! And I enjoy reading the comments, like Amanda’s, which support that!
I would love to win a copy…
This book is already one of my must reads! Would love to win a copy! I too had a mullet when I was younger, the one and ONLY time my father took me in to get my hair cut!
You did rock that mullet – better than I rocked a spiral perm. Your book sounds great.
This was the best list yet!!! I’m definitely reading this book :)
So exciting! The book sounds great! Will post on my FB wall to share too! However, I do hope I win!!
I have had this book on my wish list FOREVER, and since I have been banned from buying books for a while ( I may have gone a little overboard LOL) I would LOVE to win a copy. I am loving the mullet pic. I think we have all been there. In fact, when I was about ten or eleven, I was somehow convinced it was be so totally awesome to get a mushroom cut (or bowl cut, whatever you want to call it) and if that wasn’t bad enough, I had them shave a star into the back. I must have completely blocked it out because two years ago my friend mentioned it and I was like “Oh, no. That so was not me!” But alas, I found proof among family photos. I am so ashamed LOL.
This is an upcoming book club pick for out reading group. We are so looking forward to reading THE OTHER LIFE!
Love, love, love that list of “Do’s.” I think I need to post it to my bathroom mirror. THE OTHER LIFE has been on my to-read list a while now. I’d really, really like to win a copy!
I would enjoy that book.
And I always listen to my Mom. Well. Except for when she told me to get rid of my Little Debbie snacks.
Loved her other book and can’t wait to dive into this one!
I’m going to recommend this book as my book club’s next read. It sounds wonderful.
This is definitely on my TBR list this month…along with 10 or so others. There are way too many good books out this month!
I love number 3. I have tried it and it works!
looking forward to reading this!
What an intriguing summary…and concept – can’t wait to read this one!
i am in the midst of a “what if i had done xxx” so this title really jumps at me!
Imagine being able to see your life ahead of time. I can’t wait to read your book!!
Awesome introduction!!
This sounds like a great book, I can’t wait to read it!
This sounds like another to add to my TBR pile!! Many times I have often wondered what life would be like IF I took the other road?! But I am just thankful for each new day that I can get up and breathe on my own… The rest is NOT important!!
Sounds like a great book! Please count me in. Thanks for the chance!
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Congrats to ABookishMind@gmail.com, ashes8604@yahoo.com, jaidahsmommy@comcast.net, candc320@gmail.com, shannonjean14@yahoo.com!!! they’ve each won a copy of THE OTHER LIFE! Thanks to all who entered!!! xoxo, L&L