Peeking Between the Pages

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Guest Post with Susan Mallery, author of Already Home & Giveaway

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It is with pleasure that I welcome Susan Mallery, author of Already Home which is releasing today, to Peeking Between the Pages. I have read a few of Susan’s books and enjoyed them plus they are books I get to share and talk about with my mom as she likes them too. I’m excited myself to read Already Home because it sounds wonderful. For now though, Susan Mallery joins us with a guest post entitled Nature or Nurture…

Susan Mallery has entertained millions of readers with her witty and emotional stories of women and the relationships that move them. In her latest novel, ALREADY HOME, Jenna Stevens, still reeling from a recent divorce, is unpleasantly surprised by the arrival of her birth parents, who seem to want her to feel a family bond immediately. She was perfectly happy with the loving, traditional parents who raised her. Can she learn to love a second mother without damaging her relationship with the woman who raised her? Join Susan’s Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com for exclusive sneak peeks, short stories, and more.

In my latest novel, ALREADY HOME, a 31-year-old woman is confronted with a second set of parents – the people who gave her up for adoption when she was born. Jenna had a very happy childhood in Central Texas with her adoptive parents, a nice, normal couple. Other than during one five-minute teenage rebellion when she signed up with an adoption registry, she never wanted to meet her birth parents. She was perfectly content with the family she had. Now she doesn’t have a choice. They’re in her life, in her face, and they’re not going away.

When I was in the brainstorming stage of writing ALREADY HOME, I read a lot of first-person accounts of people who had been adopted, kidnapped, or otherwise separated at birth from their biological family. Anecdotally, I’ve read fascinating stories about twins who had been separated at birth, and ended up marrying women with the same name, etc. But do we honestly think we’re genetically attracted to people with certain names? That reeks of “coincidence,” and I was looking for something deeper.

For example, are some talents inherited? Are people more likely to be athletic, artistic, or musical if their biological parents possessed those gifts, even if they were raised by people who didn’t? In ALREADY HOME, Jenna’s adoptive mother Beth was always better at take-out than cooking, but Jenna loved food so much that she became a chef. Could it be that her love of cooking came from Serenity, her birth mother, and the long line of cooks in Serenity’s family?

In 2007, NPR did a fascinating story about 35-year-old twins who had been separated at birth. Elyse knew she was adopted and decided to look for her birth mother, only to be told by the adoption agency that she had a twin sister. Not only that, but the girls were separated intentionally as part of a study on nature versus nurture. (The results of the study are sealed until 2066 because the scientists realized that publishing their results would be incredibly controversial. I wish they would unseal the results now because, as wrong as I feel the study was, I would love to read it.)

Paula, her twin sister, says that since meeting, they’ve found genetics to be undeniably influential – “probably more than 50 percent,” she said. And the similarities go deeper than having the same tastes. The women feel they have the same basic personality.

So as I was writing ALREADY HOME, I was very conscious of the fact that Jenna’s personality would have been shaped not only by the loving home in which she was raised, but also by the shadowy reality of the birth parents she’d never met. As she gets to know those birth parents, she begins to see past surface differences – they’re vegan, she eats meat; they believe in astrology, she… doesn’t – and she would begin to recognize something of herself in them.

What do you have in common with your parents or your siblings? Do you think it’s because of genetics or environment (nature or nurture)? Why? What’s the most interesting “separated at birth” story you’ve heard? (Google “twins separated at birth” for some truly fascinating reading.)

Please join the Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com to read a free extended excerpt of ALREADY HOME!
__________

Thank you so much for the wonderful post Susan! I am really looking forward to settling in and reading Already Home!
__________

About the Book (from Susan Mallery’s website)

ALREADY HOME is one of the most emotional stories I’ve ever written, a story of a woman who learns to open her heart and, in the process, discovers that love doesn’t wait for an invitation. Jenna Stevens is still reeling from a recent divorce and recuperating from wounds inflicted by a husband who belittled her at every opportunity. A classically trained chef, Jenna no longer believes she’s capable of the leaps of creativity that once won her praise from her instructors and from food critics, so she moves back to her hometown in Texas to open a retail cooking store.

Just as Jenna’s settling into her new career and beginning to feel like she’s on even ground, her birth mother barrels her way into Jenna’s life. Jenna doesn’t want or need a second mother, especially a vegan mother named Serenity who would have named her Butterfly. But while Serenity listens to signs from the Universe, she easily ignores Jenna telling her to go away. With gentle but insistent pressure, she will find a way to open Jenna’s heart.

And once the heart is open, anything can happen!

About the Author (from Susan Mallery’s website)


Susan Mallery is the New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred romances and women’s fiction novels, and she has yet to run out of ideas! Her funny and sexy family stories consistently appear on the USA Today bestseller list and have landed as high as #5 on the New York Times list. She has won many awards, including the prestigious National Reader’s Choice Award. Her books have been named to the Top 10 Romance Novels lists of 2007, 2008, and 2009 by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association, and she was the only author on the list all three years. Because her degree in Accounting wasn’t very helpful in the writing department, Susan earned a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction.

Susan makes her home in the Pacific Northwest where, rumor has it, all that rain helps with creativity. Susan is married to a fabulous hero-like husband and has a six pound toy poodle…who is possibly the cutest dog on the planet.

Visit Susan’s website.
Like Susan on Facebook.
Follow Susan on Twitter.
Buy your own copy of Already Home at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of Already Home by Susan Mallery to share with my readers. To enter…

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
  • For 2 entries follow my blog. If you already do, let me know in your comment as the extra entry is yours as well.
  • For 3 entries tweet or blog this giveaway and spread the word!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents (no PO boxes) only and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Good luck to you all!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thanks for the opportunity to win this book…it looks great!
    I am a follower via GFC.
    I also tweeted this giveaway!

    kimbers10[at]yahoo[dot]com
    twitter.com/kdaze10

  2. Wow another gorgeous cover! How do yo get all the books with beautiful covers?
    I am very excited about this giveaway, looks like a great book.

    I am a follower
    I posted it on my sidebar.
    forevereading at gmail dot com

  3. This sounds like a fabulous book. I love the story line. Imagine dealing with two sets of parents. I struggle with one.I love the cover too. Gorgeous. Good luck to the winners.

  4. Nature versus nurture is always a fascinating topic to discuss. We have quite a few friends who've adopted children and it's interesting to see how their children grow up.

    I subscribe in Google Reader.

    kathy(at)bermudaonion.net

  5. As much as it pains me to say it, I can see a lot of my mother and grandmother's qualities in me. I sometimes have to stop myself from having the knee jerk reactions that they have, and have to consciously change my pattern of behavior and thoughts to get away from the nature of what has been passed on. This was an extremely interesting and thoughtful post, and I really loved it! I would love the chance to be entered in this giveaway for a chance to win this book. Thanks Dar, and Susan!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

    I follow through google reader!

  7. Thank you so much for hosting me here today! Before I forget, I want to be sure everyone knows about the contest I'm holding for bloggers who post the ALREADY HOME widget to their sidebars. You could win $100 to the bookstore of your choice! You'll find details in the Contest box on the right side of my home page, http://www.susanmallery.com.

  8. KimberlySue, thank you! I'm so glad you think ALREADY HOME looks great. I'm excited to see what readers think. So far, it's been getting reviews that make me feel good to be me. 🙂

  9. Wall-to-wall books, Isn't that cover amazing?! The artists in the art department at MIRA Books are very talented. I want to eat at that table! Drinking wine from the vineyard nearby. Sounds like heaven, and a great way to celebrate the release day of ALREADY HOME! 🙂

  10. Vivienne, sounds sort of like a nightmare, doesn't it, having two sets of parents? Imagine the holidays! And when Jenna marries, her husband will have two sets of inlaws. The horrors!

  12. Kathy, that must be very interesting, watching your friends' adopted children grow up, looking for similarities and differences between them and their parents. And you have to wonder, too, whether we're changing them simply by looking for differences. It's all very interesting.

  13. Zibilee, Oh yes, I have moments where my mother takes over my body, too… but I don't know whether it happens because of nature or because she raised me. Would I still behave in those same ways if I'd been adopted and raised by someone who was neurotic in a whole different way?

  16. Love the cover, great reviews, on my wish list!!
    GFC follower.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol[dot]com

  17. The nature/nurture discussion fascinates me. I read the book she references and it was very interesting to realize the part that genetics played with Elyse and Paula's similarities. This book sounds terrific.

    I follow you in google reader.

    je2kids(at)gmail(dot)com

  19. Holly, Thank you! I'm just fascinated by Elyse and Paula's story. Seems like, if they were interested, they should have the right to see the results of that study, even though the scientists elected not to share them. They were subjects of the study without their knowledge, and without the knowledge of their parents and guardians. That seems wrong on every level…. but since the study has been done, I really, really wish they would release the results to the world. So intriguing!

  27. This one sounds great! Thanks for the chance to win!!

    I also follow!!

    areallibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com

  28. I have read a great deal about this topic. I read the book that Elyse and her sister wrote about their experience. I also read and watched interviews about twin brothers and sisters separated at birth who later meet. It was fascinating. When I lived back home I saw an interview with a brother and sister who just met after 40 years, identical twins, one in Can and one in the U.S. Heartrending. I think we are shaped by so much. Our upbringing and parents for sure but I am not like my brother and sister at all. Best wishes. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com

  29. Thank you for stopping by, Sherri, PoCoKat, faefever25, rhonda, traveler, and a real librarian! 🙂 Good luck in the contest.

  30. Petite, It really is heartbreaking, isn't it? In ALREADY HOME, Jenna's situation is made more complex by the fact that she has two younger brothers she never met. Even if she wanted to turn away from her birth parents because they gave her up for adoption, would she want to turn away from her brothers, who hadn't even been born yet when that happened?

  34. Love Susan's books! I read the excerpt and it sounds like another hit!

    Lisa B
    modokker at yahoo dot com

    I am a follower of this blog.

  35. Colleen, that's so great that you've been seeing ALREADY HOME all over the blogosphere! That's very nice to hear, and I'm glad you're looking forward to reading the book.

    Nise, Thank you! And please thank your daughter for me, too. 🙂

  36. Rachel, Oooooh, the word "fabulous" makes me feel giddy inside. Thank you! I'll be very interested to hear what you think of my take on nature versus nurture, from a twin's perspective. I hope you'll write to me via my website, http://www.susanmallery.com.

    Hi, Lisa! Good to see you here. 😀 Glad you enjoyed the excerpt of ALREADY HOME.

  39. What a gorgeous cover, and a great sounding read as well. Please enter me Dar.

    bibliophilebythesea AT gmail DOT com

  40. I would love to be entered into your giveaway. Thank you for the chance to win.

    Smiles & Blessings,
    Cindy W.

    countrybear52[at]yahoo[dot]com

  43. I'm a GFC Follower (Brenda Rupp)I also follow by email.

    Please enter me!

    dancealert at aol dot com

  45. Forgot first post, I'm not a twin, but found my biological father at age 26 and he's been in my life ever since. I wish he'd been my father from the beginning as I had an alcoholic for a Dad who never did though throw in my face that I wasn't his. I found out when I was 16, never went looking for my bio father until I was 26 and the man that raised me died from cancer.

    dancealert at aol dot com

  46. This book looks interesting. Enter me please and I am a follower. 🙂
    treewaterduchess at yahoo dot com

  47. what a cool cover – sounds like a great read – thanks for the chance
    msboatgal at aol.com

  49. Brenda, wow, what an emotional story! Thank you for sharing it.

    Thank you so much, everyone! I had a great time. If you're a member of a book club that chooses ALREADY HOME, feel free to contact me via my website if your group would like to talk to me about the book over the phone!

  50. I would love to win this book. I can be reached at kelly(dot)baker92 (at) gmail (dot) com. I also follow your blog.

  51. I also just wanted to say that I am looking forward to reading a book by an author who is so friendly and accessible. Thank you Darlene for hosting Susan Mallery.

  52. I love Susan Mallery. Would love to read this book.
    aploughery (at) yahoo (dot) com
    I also am a GFC follower

  56. The premise sounds awesome!!! I've never read anything by this author! Thanks for the guest post and giveaway opportunity!

  59. What a BEAUTIFUL book cover, so soothing and serene. It seems like such an interesting and warm story, I'd love to have a chance to read this book. Thank you for hosting this giveaway!

    Entry #1 – Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
    Twitter: @inluvwithbookz

    Entry #2 – I'm a GFC Follower (Enamored Soul) & confirmed email subscriber.

    Entry #3 – I tweeted the giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/inluvwithbookz/status/53367456424669184

  65. I am a follower through email.

    I love this author and would love to read this book!!

    susandyer1962 at aol dot com

  72. Hi Dar, I removed my comment above because I put in my full email (my fault)…and was getting some spam.

    "My daughter is a huge Susan Mallery fan. I have read a couple of her books."

    I follow.

    nisethusfarATyahoo

  73. I can't imagine not knowing your parents and background! It makes up so much of who you have become! I have heard of Susan before but not read any of her books. Looking forward to reading this one!

    lknott@partnercom.net

  76. I am such a Susan Mallery fan and can't wait to read her new one! Count me in!

    BornajhawkATaolDOTcom

  82. I think both genetics and environment play a part in who we are. My sister and I feel the same about some things and are completely different in other ways. I love reading about twins. I have twin grandsons. Thanks for the giveaway!
    mittens0831 at aol dot com

  86. I think traits are definitely inherited. This sounds like a great book!

    lag110 at mchsi dot com