Photo Credit: EdwinSantiago.com

All of us at She Reads are extremely saddened by the passing of the beloved Liza Palmer. Liza was a two-time Emmy nominated, internationally bestselling author. Liza’s older sister, Alex, wrote a gorgeous tribute sharing more about Liza. You can read it here.

We want to take a moment to honor her and highlight her tremendous talent by sharing some of our favorites. 

For anyone in the Sacramento area who would like to honor Liza’s legacy, a celebration of life will be held at Capital Books.

Details:

Date and time: August 1st, 5PM – 7PM
Duration: 2 hr
Public  · Anyone on or off Facebook

A Celebration of Liza’s Life and Books will be held on what would have been her 56th birthday, August 1st, at Capitol Books, 1101 K St., Sacramento at 5pm. Fellow writers will be joining us to read some of their favorite passages from Liza’s many books.

See more details here.

A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents 

Since her mother passed five years ago, Grace Hawkes has not spoken to her close knit family. After her father walked out on them when she was thirteen, her siblings grew even closer to their mother. After years of no contact with any family, Grace is needed by her dad who has just had a stroke. Grace is horrified to realize she has done exactly what her father has done–abandoned the family. While her father is in the hospital, an uncomfortable conflict is occurring between the original Hawkes family and their father’s second wife who is not as nice as she tries to appear. With the help of her siblings and their bond that was not lost to time, they work to uncover the lies of the mysterious second Mrs. Hawkes, giving Grace the chance to stand up for her family once again. 

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon

The Nobodies

Joan Dixon has to start over again. The one thing she is confident in are her skills as a journalist but she has been laid off from another newspaper. Living with her parents, single, and nearing forty were not the plans she had for herself. She finds a job as a junior copywriter at a young, hip Los Angeles startup called Bloom. Though her bosses may be a decade younger than her, Joan has a job and a steady paycheck. She even makes friends with her coworkers, but an investigative itch leads to Joan discovering what could be the scoop of her lifetime. The only catch is that she would have to risk everything she has rebuilt for a story. 

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Young Fools

Helen Hicks has a comprehensive plan to become a successful author by the time she turns thirty. Getting accepted into the Hayward Writing Intensive program at twenty-four is a sign to Helen that she is on track. There Helen meets Cherry, an eclectic but ambitious writer. Together Helen thinks that they will become literary sensations and set the publishing world ablaze. However, by the time she is thirty, Helen has no debut novel to publish. She thinks that Cherry is going through the same struggle but instead finds out that her best friend is a published author that wrote and published a book under her nose. Helen and Cherry’s years-long friendship is collapsing but it’s fueling Helen’s fire, giving her exactly what she needs to finish her book. 

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Family Reservations

No one pays attention to retirement rumors more than Maren Winter’s daughters. After all she is a world renowned restaurateur and her daughters will continue her legacy. However, a line is crossed and there is an embarrassing family meltdown at Maren’s annual New Year’s party. Talks of this disaster spread through the restaurant world. There is now a chance for one of the daughters to step into her mother’s role and a chance for greed and doubt to ruin their relationships.  

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon

Conversations with the Fat Girl

Maggie feels like she’s falling behind. At twenty-seven, all of her friends are getting married, having kids, and finding work success but Maggie is still serving coffee at Joe’s. Olivia, Maggie’s best friend since grade school, is getting married too. Maggie is super excited when Olivia asks her to be her maid of honor but she also can’t stop comparing herself to Olivia’s new look. A long time ago, they became friends and bonded over struggling with their weight but since then Olivia has had gastric-bypass surgery. Things start to go wrong as Olivia’s wedding nears and Maggie realizes that true happiness has nothing to do with a number on a scale. 

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon

The F Word

Olivia Morten’s life is put together from the outside and disorganized from the inside. Her body is perfect, though she’s starving herself to get there. Her business as an elite publicist to L.A.’s famous is booming even though it has taken over her life, leaving her with little free time. Her husband is hot and a doctor but she never sees him. She also might be hiding a big, embarrassing secret from high school but hopefully no one remembers. All that hoping doesn’t work when Ben Dunn, Olivia’s bully, from high school appears and causes her perfect facade to fall. Maybe Leah will realize that sometimes the masks we use to protect ourselves must crumble so we can be who we really are.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon