Local Author Visits Jan’s Paperbacks April Book Group

BEAVERTON, Ore. - April 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Jan’s Paperbacks is hosting local author, Cathy Lamb, at their monthly book group on Sunday April 21st at 2pm.  The informal book group meets the third Sunday of each month to discuss a variety of books.  On April 21st the group will be discussing JULIA’S CHOCOLATES by Cathy Lamb.  Ms Lamb will be joining the group and helping lead the discussion of her book as well as answer questions and sign books.  All are welcome.  

Cathy Lamb is the author of 6 novels as well as a contributor to 5 anthologies.  JULIA’S CHOCOLATES is her first novel, published in 2007.  For more information, visit her website http://cathylamb.org/.

Summary JULIA’S CHOCOLATES:

Julia Bennett is on the run. First, however, she must rid herself of her fluffy wedding dress. Tossing it repeatedly into a dead looking tree on a dusty, lonely highway in North Dakota doesn’t work. The dress, with its oversized bodice, keeps tumbling back down on her head. She ends up laying face down in the dirt, tears streaking down her cheeks. The only thing that makes her get up again is the vision of buzzards gnawing on her dead body.

After escaping an abusive fiancé at the last second, Julia heads to Oregon and her Aunt Lydia, the woman who offered her the only peace she had during a tumultuous, difficult childhood. With giant ceramic pigs in her front yard who are all named after men she doesn’t like, toilets filled with flowers, and a bridge on the lawn painted like a rainbow, Aunt Lydia welcomes Julia with open arms.

Aunt Lydia has painted her house pink, “Like a camellia. Like a vagina,” and the door black, “to ward off evil spirits, disease, and seedy men.”  With hundreds of chickens strutting about, Julia begins to find peace. She is joined on her journey by Caroline Harper, a psychic who hears the screams of the world and has her own secret to hide, Lara Keene, a minister’s wife who feels trapped in her too-narrow world and has to leave her home to find herself, and Katie Margolin, a mother of four who finally finds the courage to leave her alcoholic husband and provide a better life for her children and herself.

The women bare their souls during “Breast Power Psychic Night,” “Getting To Know Your Vagina Psychic Night” and “Your Hormones and You. Taking Over, Taking Cover, Taking Charge,” and find kindred spirits in each other and true friendship.

In a town struggling to survive and townspeople who are both caring and eccentric, Julia Bennett finds love, laughter, the power of chocolate and, finally, a place to call home.

Jan’s Paperbacks is an independently owned bookstore specializing in selling and trading paperback books in-store as well as selling new and eBooks through their online store www.JansPaperbacks.com.  The store has been a staple in the Aloha community for over 32 years.
Visit Jan’s Paperbacks at 18095 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha, Oregon 97006, call 503-649-3444, or go online at www.JansPaperbacks.com.