Spotlight & Giveaway: Dear Eliza by Andrea J. Stein

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Andrea J. Stein to HJ!

Hi Andrea and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Dear Eliza!

 
Thank you! So happy to be here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Dear Eliza is the story of 26-year-old Eliza Levinger, who lost her mom to cancer when she was only 16. Unsurprisingly, this shook her world, and it’s taken her a while to find her feet. Now, all seems to be under control and going well…but when the book opens, her father—with whom she’s had a challenging relationship, particularly since her mom’s death and his remarriage—has died unexpectedly. Even more unexpectedly, her mom’s sister gives her a letter that her mom wrote to her, with instructions that it be delivered after her father’s death. The letter contains a secret that turns everything Eliza thought she knew about her family upside down. As she struggles to deal with this, she finds an unexpected source of support in her brother’s best friend, who just happened to be her first crush from high school…
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“…that wasn’t how life worked. No exchanges, no returns. Not even if what you got was defective.”

“…whatever scars her parents had left her with weren’t going to keep her from risking her heart. Not anymore.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Things Eliza and I have in common: We and I both hate coffee and are devoted tea drinkers! And we’re both skeeved out by baked apples…weird, I know!
• The dress Eliza wears to the gala is a real one I found online .
• The fall-themed cocktail Eliza drinks is inspired by one in a local restaurant in my town.
• Here’s my Dear Eliza playlist, including both songs that are mentioned in the book and some that just make me think of Eliza and her world: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6GerMUIxGpKOba55UFINTx

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Dear Eliza is women’s fiction with a thread of romance…so with that said, Josh and Eliza were first attracted to each other as teenagers. Eliza was attracted to Josh because he was kind and paid attention to her, unlike any of her brother’s other friends, and they both appreciated each other’s humor. Josh sees Eliza as strong—someone who can get through adversity and keep going.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I laughed at a lot of the text exchanges between Eliza and Josh, like when she teases him about his “old man” texting style (he’s just 2 years older than she is). One of my favorites is when she’s stuck in an elevator and they end up playing, “Would you rather?” via text.

Readers should read this book….

…if they enjoy women’s fiction with a thread of romance, slow burn, brother’s best friend, with an emotional component and family drama.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I just started my next novel, so it’s very much in the nascent stage. It’s women’s fiction, and I anticipate that, like both Dear Eliza and my debut, Typecast, it will be a blend of family drama, romance, and the main character’s own development. It’s about a woman, Jules, who is compelled to move back to New York City, where she grew up in a non-traditional family arrangement, temporarily. She has a lot of baggage around those relationships—and growing she needs to do. Meanwhile, Jules is looking forward to reconnecting with an old friend—but when she meets her friend’s brand-new fiancé, it turns out he and Jules have a history…
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One print copy of DEAR ELIZA, open in the U.S. only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever learned a family secret? Did it change your perception?

 
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Excerpt from Dear Eliza:

This is from Chapter Two, and Eliza is at her brother Josh’s apartment, the day after their father’s funeral.

“Eliza?”
She’d nearly made it to the hall en route to the bathroom when she heard her name and looked up. Her already rapid pulse increased. It was Josh, Scott’s best friend from high school. She blinked at him, still in escape mode.
“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly.
She remembered that sorrowful expression from when he’d worn it after Laura’s death, whenever he looked at her—which wasn’t very often. Somehow, Josh never seemed to be at the house after that. Scott was always out meeting him somewhere instead. Eliza figured Josh thought hanging around the death house was a buzzkill.
The rest of him looked the same, too—if anything, only better with time. His brown hair was thick and just the right amount of unruly. His shoulders seemed a little broader under his suit jacket than she remembered. Not that she remembered him all that well, she reminded herself.
Josh reached toward her, and she let him hug her, trying not to notice the scent of his aftershave.
“I couldn’t believe it when Scott told me. Your dad looked great at the wedding.”
Josh had been Scott’s best man a few years earlier, and had come to the wedding with an attractive brunette. If high cheekbones and big green eyes were your thing. Eliza had coveted her silky emerald-green dress that draped just right across her hips. That day, Eliza wore a strapless bridesmaid dress that was inexplicably brown. She hadn’t asked the guy she was seeing at the time to be her plus-one. The thought of all the assumptions that would spark had given her dry heaves.
Eliza shrugged. “I know. He seemed totally fine.” She hoped he didn’t notice the clog in her throat, but he touched her arm.
“You hanging in?” he asked softly.
She glanced at the worried expression in his eyes.
“You know. What can you do?” She tried to be flippant, but treacherous tears forced her to blink rapidly.
Josh’s hand on her arm tightened. “Come on. Let’s go sit somewhere.”
Unable to come up with a plausible excuse to extricate herself, she let him guide her back into the belly of the beast and pour her another glass of wine. She hadn’t drunk this much in a long time. She pushed aside the thought that it was probably not the best idea.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

Ten years after her mother’s death, Eliza Levinger never imagined she’d hear from her again. But then The Letter arrived.

Eliza’s world broke apart when she was sixteen and her mom died of cancer. Now, years later, she has rebuilt her life to include a director-of-development job at a nonprofit, a Manhattan apartment, and an easy-on-the-eyes bedroom buddy—just the kind of no-strings relationship she wants, even if it’s less than her best friend, Mo, thinks she deserves. But when Eliza’s dad dies unexpectedly, her beloved aunt Claude arrives at the shiva with a letter from her mom—to be opened only after her father’s death. Inside the letter? A bombshell.

Suddenly, all of Eliza’s relationships are upended. Her brother is angry, her stepmother is threatening to disinherit her, and Mo—who has always been her rock—doesn’t seem to understand what she’s going through. But as Eliza struggles to cope with the shocking news, she finds an unexpected ally—her brother’s best friend, Josh—her high school crush, whom she’s tried hard to forget. It’s not in Eliza’s nature to trust . . . but maybe it’s time for that to change.

Perfect for fans of Emily Giffin, Katherine Center, and Jennifer Weiner, Dear Eliza explores the meaning of family, the complexities of grief, and the beauty in finding your way again.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Andrea J. Stein is a lifetime lover of books. Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in New Jersey before attending a small, quirky liberal arts college and a large, preppy university, both in New York State. A book publicist by profession, she lives with her husband and sons in suburban New Jersey.
Her award-winning debut novel, Typecast, was featured in Buzzfeed and ScaryMommy.
Andrea spends an inordinate amount of time taking pretty photos of books. Things that make her happy include strong tea, turtles, sunshine, sheep, and the ocean.
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