Virtual Tour + #Giveaway: Blooming Into Life by Kristie Booker @GoddessFish

Blooming into Life

by Kristie Booker

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

BLURB:

Growing up on a farm in Brockville, Illinois, did not prepare Colleen O’Brien Adler to be the wife of a wealthy entertainment lawyer living in Chicago. It certainly didn’t prepare her to be Dinah Adler’s daughter-in-law. The stay-at-home mother of two has more than she’s ever wanted—a personal stylist, a prestigious country club membership, a multimillion-dollar home—but she finds herself not only struggling with depression and body image but also failing as a parent and fearing for her marriage. Her life is about to change when an invitation to a wellness meeting arrives in her inbox. With some coaxing from personal coach Kory Stone, she commits to a new beginning. But will she be able to overcome the things that are holding her back?

Excerpt:

Colleen tossed the other pieces of mail on the kitchen island between her freshly opened can of Diet Coke and the white-lidded paper cup that had contained a large vanilla latte. She tore through the heavy cardstock. White roses swirled up each side of the invitation.

Harborview Country Club cordially invites you to attend the Forty-Fourth Annual Spring Fashion Show — featuring Raina Rose. The event will be held on Friday, the first of April at noon. RSVP by the eighteenth of March. Spots are limited!

Today was March 17. Colleen dialed the club and was put on hold. While she waited, she thought of her doctor’s appointment scheduled on Friday, April 1. She would have to reschedule. She wasn’t missing the fashion show for the second year in a row.

The club receptionist finally returned to the line. “I’m sorry. Mrs. Adler, but the event is full.”

“Were the invitations mailed late?” Colleen said.

“I sent them three weeks ago,” the woman said. “Would you like me to add you to the waiting list?”

“But I just got mine,” Colleen said. “Who’s in charge this year?” She already knew the answer to that question — her mother-in-law, Dinah, and her porcelain-faced lackeys, Ashley Barr and Victoria Heller.

The same thing had happened last year, and Colleen had given the three women the benefit of the doubt. She believed them when they blamed the post office for the delay. This year, however, Colleen knew her invitation was sent late on purpose. 

Interview with Kristie Booker

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Blooming Into Life?

Colleen O’Brien is a farm girl that grows up and moves to Chicago. She falls in love and marries wealthy lawyer Jay Adler. Colleen and Jay have two daughters – Mabel (7) and Chloe (5). As a stay-at-home mother, she has everything she’s ever wanted but finds herself struggling with her weight and depression. She feels like she is failing as a parent and thinks Jay is cheating on her. Colleen struggles to be accepted by Jay’s mother Dinah who is a pretentious and mean-spirited woman. Colleen meets wellness coach Kory Stone through her chiropractor Dr. Metzger. Kory helps Colleen begin to recognize the things that are holding her back.

Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?

I plan to keep using my experiences as a wellness coach to write stories of personal growth. I’m currently working on a fictional story about a former professional hockey player named Matt Klein. He dies suddenly leaving behind his beautiful wife Sydney and their 10-year-old son Jack. Sydney moves with her son Jack to Chicago to be closer to her parents and her late husband’s best friend – who happens to be the hockey director of an elite hockey program in Chicago. While Sydney attempts to navigate the politics of the hockey club, deal with the absurd amount of pressure the club places on the kids, and deal with the jealous behavior of fellow parents over her son’s hockey talent, she finds herself in the middle of the power coupled Dr. Pete and Margot Deveraux’s divorce.

How long would you say it takes you to write a book?

It took me eighteen months to write Blooming Into Life but I think future books will come together more quickly. Since this was my first time writing a book, I spent a lot of time learning as I wrote by taking classes, meeting with editors and doing a lot of self-study on story craft.  I am now more efficient in my writing process and story crafting.

What is your favorite childhood book?

Frog and Toad are Friends

If you could spend the day with one of the characters from Blooming Into Life, who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do?

I would love to spend the day with Kory. She and I have a lot in common. I would love to spend the day hiking in nature and meditating with her.

What was the hardest scene from Blooming Into Life to write?

The bedrest scene and the scenes that follow because I pulled that experience from my own life.

What made you want to become a writer?

My love of expressing ideas through stories made me want to become a writer. I’ve been moved by so many stories in my life and the authors of those stories made me want to write my own.

Just for fun

(a Favorite song: Over the Rainbow

(b Favorite book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(c Favorite movie: The Parent Trap (original one with Haley Mills) or You’ve Got Mail – so hard to choose!

(d Favorite tv show: The Crown

(e Favorite Food: Neapolitan Pizza

(f Favorite drink: great coffee

(g Favorite website: https://flipboard.com/

Thanks so much for visiting with us today! 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kristie Booker is the author of Blooming Into Life, a blogger and a Wellness Coach. She enjoys coaching and inspiring women through her writing as well as in person. Kristie is a wife and mother of two sons. She grew up in rural Illinois, but now lives in Chicago. 

Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Facebook

Buy Link:

Amazon

Giveaway:

$25 Amazon or B/N GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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