Let's Catch Up

It's been awhile.

I have a teenager living in my house. Yes, said teenager is my son and he’s tall and his voice is cracking and he’s so stinking cute, but sometimes, at fourteen, he feels like a complete alien. The other day, I turned to my husband while we were having coffee and said, “I feel like I need a manual for how to parent a teenager. I don’t know if I’m doing this all wrong, and I want someone to teach me all the right things to say and tell me when I’m being overbearing and when I’m being reasonable.”

My husband shook his head like I was missing something obvious. “No one knows how to do it right. You just get thrown in and do your best.”

We tell our kids this all the time. Just do your best. But why does your best never feel like enough with your kids? Alas, I’m trying to morph into a chill parent of a teenager the way I morphed from a journalist to a novelist — but it’s just so emotionally taxing. Any advice for how to handle the teenage years?

In the spirit of “doing your best”…let’s discuss my next book!

I haven’t had a chance to tell you, but All the Summers in Between was given a STARRED review by Library Journal. I’ve been so busy writing essays and interviewing authors on Dear Fiction that it slipped my mind. Read the full review below. You may not realize this but for an author, getting a starred review is like being handed a trophy, or an extra pat on the back. It means they truly loved the book!

Woot! I love the librarians for this! Thank you!

Look at this cool drone footage my teenage son (lol) took of me and my book in the Hamptons where my novel is set.

We took this video over Easter weekend because we were visiting eastern Long Island, which is where All the Summers in Between takes place. Before you get all silly and start making fun of the funny Long GHILAND accents, let me tell you that this story is set in the tony Hamptons, a place I love because of its natural beauty. It’s rare to hear any accent here unless its British or French.

I like to say that my dual timeline historical fiction novel is where Christine Mangan’s Tangerine meets Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane. Think of the book like this: You know the friend that got away? Well, imagine she comes back ten years later, and you’re forced to reckon with all of these secrets you thought you left in the past. Sometimes old friends aren’t meant to come back in your life. Or are they?

By the way, a little plug here. Authors rely heavily on preorders, so if you think you’re interested in All the Summers in Between, please order now! I’m running a special contest in my next issue and only those that preorder can enter. More on this next week!

What is the update on my Martha’s Vineyard novel, better known as book four?

I’m so glad you asked! This fourth novel, still untitled, is a complicated family drama set in Martha’s Vineyard in 1965 and 1978. It centers on a political family with three daughters who return to the island in adulthood and are forced to reckon with the truth about who their illustrious family actually was. I love this book so much even though it’s very slow going and the story is still being shaped.

I’ve been deep into revising all winter, and the characters are much sharper. Lots has changed in the novel the last several weeks, too. For one, my agent read a very early (awful) draft of the novel and she told me that the youngest daughter does too much ruminating. Nothing happens in her storyline. Ruminating is what I do in my writing when I’m figuring out who a character is. In the newest version, I went back through all of that character’s sections, cut all of the boring ruminating, and then worked to show her story rather than tell it.

This kind of revision is like running a marathon really really slowly. Every sentence needs to be stripped to its core sentiment, then it’s sneakily placed in either dialogue, actions, small victories or huge setbacks. What’s a good book without a hundred obstacles getting in your character’s way?

On balancing writing with putting out a new novel.

My biggest challenge right now is spending time revising my fourth book while getting ready to put out All the Summers in Between. Authors are expected to build their brand to help sell books (eek!), and so in between plot points, I’m doing all sorts of things to spread the word about my novel, and you just feel icky sometimes promoting yourself, even if it’s part of the job.

I laughed about the ups and downs of book promotion with the amazing historical fiction novelist Lisa Barr (The Goddess of Warsaw) as we worked to put together a MEGA historical fiction giveaway for this Memorial Day weekend. Stay turned!

I’ve also been sending out emails to partner with other authors on events or marketing. I’m posting more often about my book on social media, I’m corresponding with book stores to set up events, then figuring out what I’m going to do with my kids when I attend them. I’m being interviewed on podcasts. It’s a super busy time! Read: I’m losing my marbles.

I’ve kvetched with several other writers recently about how sometimes putting out a book makes you feel like a hustler working the streets. With so much of the traditional review space fractured and book coverage shrinking, the landscape for book promotion is tough. My first two books were featured in People, Entertainment Weekly, Coastal Living, Town & Country, Parade, among others. So I’m hoping there’s a similar trajectory for my latest but all I can do is wait. Gah!

Lastly, I don’t think I told you about my blurbs, did I?

There are so many incredible authors I admire who were kind enough to read an early copy of All the Summers in Between and give me an endorsement. I adore these women and their writing, and I cannot tell you how much these blurbs mean to me. See below!

“A mesmerizing story of the complexities of female friendship and the yearning of women to live full lives. Foster depicts the 1970s with sensitivity and a rich command of detail, and as the pace picks up toward a perfectly executed denouement, you won’t be able to turn away.”
—Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of the Summer Wives

“This intense and beautifully written tale of complex female friendship, bonded by a dark secret, transports the reader to the upscale Hamptons of the sixties and seventies for a delicious taste of glamor and intrigue.”
—Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author

"Another engaging and thrilling novel for summer! All The Summers In Between takes us to 1977 in The Hamptons when Margot blows back into Thea’s life after ten years, and we know everything is going to change. With a bygone-Hamptons setting, deep friendships that return in a roar, and love that can survive it all, Brooke Lea Foster carries us with skill and suspense into a glittering world [that] has it all: mystery, friendship, secrets, enchanting setting, and of course love. With a reminder that women must find what is most important at the core of their own lives, make room in your beach bag for this mesmerizing book.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

“Foster's crisp delineation of character, skill at suspense, and ability to evoke an intriguing time and place hit a new high: I simply could not put this mesmerizing book down. Two friends, two very different decades (the 60s and 70s), and all the mounting tension and trust issues that friendships in our youth can uniquely forge and sustain long after they may have run their course. In Thea, Foster's very real and relatable protagonist, readers will see themselves and experience her every hopeful move and misstep as girlhood pal Margot re-enters her calm domestic life ten years later like a time bomb. Another beautifully written historical fiction from a great storyteller, just in time for summer.”
--Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society & the forthcoming Every Time We Say Goodbye

"A taut, dynamic examination of friendship, marriage, and the inescapable consequences of who we choose to trust and love. With everything to keep the pages turning—complex and vulnerable characters, perfectly flawed relationships, and an overwhelming sense of danger that lurks around every twisted corner—Foster’s stunning prose and inspired details almost made me forget just how fast my heart was beating. This is a summer book to read all year long! An amazing story! "
—Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Matchmaker's Gift

How are you doing these days? Have you read anything you’re loving? xo