NEW RELEASE
Families and Other Nonreturnable Gifts - Claire LaZebnik (2011)
While Keats Sedlak may have a weird name, she's actually very sane. The most sane person in her family, actually. Her parents are eccentric to say the least and her siblings don't seem to exist on planet Earth. So, needless to say, Keats tries to keep herself grounded and as normal as possible. However, when her mother makes an announcement that shocks everyone to the core, she is forced to look at her family in a different light. Are they all really as bad as she thought? It seems as though they were always trying to tell her she could be better, but Keats saw it as not being good enough. So, when she meets a man who inspires her to be her best, she has to re-evaluate her relationship with the only boyfriend she's had since she was 15 and her ever-present family. Does she really love him? Or is she too scared of change to leave him? This is a poignant story of love, loss, passion and finding out the true meaning of family when times are toughest. It's definitely one you won't want to put down until the very last page! (AS)
Claire LaZebnik's next novel, Families and Other NonReturnable Gifts, proves again that you can choose your friends, but not your family. The summary says: "Despite her name, Keats Sedlak is the sanest person in her large, nutty family of brilliant eccentrics. Her parents, both brainy academics, are barely capable of looking after themselves, let alone anyone else, and her two uber-intelligent siblings live on their own planets. At least she can count on one person in her life, her devoted boyfriend Tom. Down-to-earth and loving, he's the one thing that's kept Keats grounded for the last decade. But when Keats' mother makes a surprise announcement, the entire family is sent into a tailspin. For the first time, Keats can't pick up the pieces by herself. Now she must re-evaluate everything she's ever assumed about herself and her family - and make the biggest decision of her life." Families and Other NonReturnable Gifts is out in September.