Today we are participating in the Rumors Blog Tour hosted by the Book Enthusiast Promotions. We have a review and Stephanie is hosting a signed book giveaway below!
Check out the rest of the tour schedule here!
Published December 29th 2012 by Xlibris Corporation
Where to Find Rumors:
Where to Find Stephanie Abrams:
***3 Stars***
This is a little tale about how rumors can impact lives. All of the characters become entangled with each other because of unsolicited rumors.
1) Frank and Maisy. This is one of the first couples we meet...on their wedding day. We discover, quickly, that because this couple seems to be such misfits for each other there are many rumors swirling about why exactly they are getting married (one day after Maisy graduates from high school). I must admit, I can see why there would be rumors--he's so harsh and she seems so clueless; she's playing house and he doesn't seem to care; he gets in over is head at work and she has no idea. The only real communicating they seem to do is primarily in bed.
2) Dave and Allison and David and Allison and Dave and Sylvia. With these four people, it's not a love triangle, it's a love square...or something like that. Dave and Allison are the beautiful, well adjusted, happily married couple (or so it seems). Through a series of phone calls and overheard conversations we learn that not everything is at it seems but it's also not what rumors make it either. Because of one particularly salicious rumor, life as they know it changes drastically. Enter David and Sylvia. These two end up benefiting from the demise of Dave and Allison, at least in the immediate aftermath.
3) Melanie. Melanie is an uncommonly kind and generous and good at what she does. There is no reason to question her motives, she's just a good person doing good deeds for those in need around her. But, of course, in this book those good deeds are no help against the rumor-mongers. Melanie is inexplicably inserted in a marriage busting rumor. Once she finds out that she's been falsely attributed actions, she takes a superb opportunity to leave those rumors behind.
Intertwined with these primary characters, we 'overhear' the gossip and assumptions that people in this community create in order to fill time, connect dots, or maliciously hurt others. All of this to show us just how powerful and corrupting rumors can be.
*3 Stars*
This tale was very interesting in that it reminds me of all of the gossip and rumors that go along with living in a small community. Rumors wasn't necessarily set in a small community but it surrounds the connections with people in a family and a church. The lack of communication with these poor people was astounding.
1) Frank and Maisy. Wow. I can relate to them by getting married two weeks after I graduated high school, but the similarities definitely stop there. I am hoping there is a side to Frank that wasn't portrayed or I guess Maisy was as clueless as she seemed, because he was an overall odd guy. Frank is mostly trying to get to "easy street" and thinks his new job opportunity is going to take them there. They were seriously the oddest little couple in the book.
2) Allison & The Davids. Poor Allison. She gets the shortest end of the stick and the worst part of the rumors. And little does she know that after all she does for her church that not one person (namely her husband) asks her what is going on. The whole situation is jacked up but definitely drives the point home that rumors are the worst! and the grass is usually not greener on the other side. She worked hard for everyone: the church, the sick, her husband, and her kids, and enjoyed a little attention from David. She and Dave were a total trainwreck as well! Note to self: don't hire an au pair...! ;)
3) Melanie. She was my favorite part of this story. She is well off due to her father leaving her a lot of money, but she does good for people simply because she has a good heart. She is sort of the centerpiece for the story as well, because she is the common connection. She is Maizy's cousin, she goes to church with Allison, and she works with David King. She also gets sucked into the rumor mill in a bad way like Shelley said, and even when she sets the record straight no one wants to hear it. More proof that some people suck! If it hadn't been for the mentioning of cell phones I would've also wondered what time period we were in during Rumors because of the closed mindedness of the congregation, community, and some business associates toward African American people and women. I suppose that these things still go on all over the place, but it sucks.
I liked Rumors and it's a fairly quick read even though it's 346 pages. It is fun to try to figure out how all of these lives are connected, and even when it's small it has a purpose. I also thought that it was pretty well wrapped up so we'll have to see what is going to happen in the next book Secret, and who that could be about!
About the Author:
Stephanie Abrams is recognized worldwide as a travel expert and has been rated as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Travel. She is the executive producer and host of two nationally syndicated radio shows about travel and has appeared on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC1 Radio and BBC1 TV. She is a sought-after motivational speaker and has given seminars for the last nine years at the NYTimes Travel Show. She is a journalist whose work has appeared in TRAVELHOST, travelgirl, Fido Friendly and WHERE NY. She travels widely globally and in the US and has an award-winning website, which includes the family of brands www.sAbrams.com, www.travelers411.com and www.JetSet411.com.Abrams has been the recipient of honors, awards and recognitions for her signature business legacy and accomplishments in the travel industry and her philanthropic work sponsoring travel experiences for people whom she identifies as “needing to go someplace of significance to them who otherwise would not get there,” and for needy and homeless children to have the opportunity to travel both in the US and abroad to expand their horizons and assist them in raising the bar in creating their own life goals. Recognitions and awards have come from the Saint Patrick Centre in Northern Ireland, the Mid-Atlantic Community of the Sisters of Mercy, the Giving Tree Outreach Program that rescues homeless and needy children, the Big Apple Project Pearl Legacy, the Euro-American Women’s Council, the City of Athens and the island of Mykonos, Greece as well as the Greek National Ministry of Tourism, and the Greek Hellenic Parliament.
Abrams launched her travel career after following a path she describes as “what was expected of me.”
After receiving her BA and Master of Science degrees, Abrams taught every level from elementary school children through college where her focus was on developing a curriculum concentration in the field of Travel & Tourism. In the travel industry, she rose to the position of Executive Vice President of a $1.5 billion global travel company and has been recognized with many prestigious awards including being honored as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Travel by Travel Agent Magazine.
Stephanie Abrams first novel, "Rumors," while a work of fiction, presents characters and events inspired by her world travels and observations of life's experiences, creating fictional but believable characters and incidents with unexpected twists and turns. The quiet lives of ordinary people are thrown into chaos that all beings with rumors among friends, family, strangers and colleagues driven by greed, egos and the search for power. Life appears to be imitating art as recent real news events seem to be copied from directly from the pages of Rumors as the first character, Herbert Holmes, is introduced as Mr. Bodyparts.
Abrams is currently working on the first in a series of travel guides which is a new approach creating perfect days traveling in Ireland which will be immediately followed with a sequel to RUMORS called SECRET. Abrams favorite things in life are traveling with her husband, Mark, producing exciting radio programming about inspiring destinations for her national audience, finding occasions to speak French, visiting with her son, Dru, in California, writing stories and poems for and about her granddaughter, Piper, and kissing her English Springer Spaniel, Maggie McGee, on the nose.
Uh yeah, Courtney, this definitely sounds like our hometown. Rumors seems like an interesting story. Glad you two liked it!
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