Lisa and I began communicating roughly a year ago to discuss a possible blog book review and as soon as she sent me the book synopsis, I knew this was a book I wanted to read. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be released until June and I had to wait a looooooong time to get my hands on a copy.  It was an exciting day when this lovely book arrived in my mailbox!

Full disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book to read and review for my blog.  All opinions are my own.

Giveaway details will be given at the bottom of this post!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It’s Sophie Bloom’s forty-second birthday, and she’s ready for a night of celebration with Gabe, her longtime, devoted husband, and her two besties and their spouses. Dinner is served with a side of delicious gossip, including which North Grove residents were caught with their pants down on Ashley Madison after the secret on-line dating site for married and committed couples was hacked. Thirty-two million cheaters worldwide have been exposed…including Sophie’s “perfect” husband. To add insult to injury, she learns Gabe is the top cheater in their town.

Humiliated and directionless, Sophie jumps into the unknown and flees to France to meet up with her teenage daughter who is studying abroad and nursing her own heartbreak. After a brief visit to Paris, Sophie heads out to the artist enclave of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. There, for the first time in a long time, Sophie acknowledges her own desires—not her husband’s, not her daughter’s—and rediscovers her essence with painful honesty and humor, reawakening both her sensuality and ambitions as a sculptor.

As she sheds her past and travels the obstacle-filled off beaten path, Sophie Bloom is determined to blossom. Allowing her true self to emerge in the postcard beauty of Provence, Sophie must decide what is broken forever…and what it means to be truly unbreakable.

My Thoughts:

One of the best books I’ve read so far in 2019.

I truly LOVED it.  Everything about this book was great…the characters, the storylines, the settings, all of it.  I devoured this book!

It was REAL. Lisa Barr wrote from her heart without holding anything back. It was scandalous, it was sexy, it was heartwarming, it was AWESOME.  The storylines were detailed and complex, the characters were well developed, and the overall messages delivered through the book were clear, deep, and thought provoking.  It was so beautifully written.

Can we talk about it’s gorgeous cover?  Stunning.

I truly loved everything about this book and I’ve already recommended it to so many people.  It’s WONDERFUL.

Over the course of the past year, Lisa and I have gone from author/blogger to real life friends.  We have yet to meet in person but I can promise that I am saving one massive hug for this beauty when we finally do!

And check out what she said to me…here is a direct quote from one of her emails:

“You’re the absolute best and you need to quit your day job, ignore your kids, and do a podcast … all that personality cannot be a suburban best-kept secret.”

Ha LOVE it! Anyone out there want to help me start a podcast?!?  I’m so down.

Here’s a bit about Lisa:

Lisa Barr is the author of THE UNBREAKABLES (HarperCollins) and the award-winning historical thriller, FUGITIVE COLORS, a suspenseful tale of stolen art, love, lust, deception and revenge on the eve of WWII. The novel won the Independent Publisher Book Awards gold medal for “Best Literary Fiction 2014” and first prize at The Hollywood Film Festival (Opus Magnum Discovery Award). In addition, Lisa served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, managing editor of Today’s Chicago Woman, managing editor of Moment magazine, and as an editor/reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. Among the highlights of her career, Lisa covered the famous “handshake” between the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and President Bill Clinton at the White House. Lisa is also the editor and creator of the popular parenting blog GIRLilla Warfare (www.girlillawarfare.com), and has been featured on Good Morning America and Today for her work as an author, journalist and blogger. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and their three daughters.

How beautiful is she???

A Conversation with Lisa Barr, in her own words:

How did you create the idea for your book?

It was 2015, and the Ashley Madison cheating scandal just broke after hackers exposed ALL 32 million names on the infidelity website. I was out with a small group of friends having dinner and reading off the list of Ashley Madison cheaters  in our community together (I know, awful, right? Not proud, people, not proud). Needless to say,  I was shocked, but there it was—neighbors, high school and college friends, acquaintances, etc—on this exposed list of cheaters. It was the train wreck that you knew you should just look away, but simply couldn’t. The story began to form in my mind … The Unbreakables is sexy, but it also tackles betrayal, second chances, mother-daughter bonding, reinvention, finding love again. My protagonist, Sophie Bloom, is a hot mess turned badass … and I kinda fell in love with her.  Did I mention that my “research” was in the South of France? Torture, I know … This book was truly a labor of love.

What audience would be most interested in your book?

It’s sexy women’s fiction geared toward … wait for it … WOMEN. While the novel is steamy, it is also feminist, artsy, passionate, and empowering. Women – especially Moms – will really connect to it. That said – the Millennials and MEN are reading this book. I have received lots of emails and texts from Moms and daughters reading it together, and I love that. And the men … crazy … I attribute this to it’s like reading their sister’s Cosmo in the bathroom. I’ve had at least a dozen men or more write me that they stayed up all night reading my novel and loving it, which means the world to me. The book is very relationship-y – it’s great that men are connecting to it too.

Where can your book be purchased? 

It can be purchased in bookstores nationwide, Costco, airports, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Books-a-million, and directly on HarperCollins book site.

Use 3 adjectives to describe your book: 

Sensual, Empowering, and Emotionally-gripping

Any additional information that you would like to provide about you or your book:

Life for all of us has many twists and turns. When everything falls apart, there still is a Second Act, new leases, new beginnings. Everything my protagonist has been through, I, too, have been through on a different level. Years ago, I lost everything and had to seek a new life when my old one fell apart. My fave sentence in the book, which sums up what I really want my reader to gain, comes from one of my minor characters – a French millennial artist named Lea (love her). She and Sophie Bloom become friends (and yes, more) … Sophie has opened up to her about the devastating pain of her broken marriage. Lea looks at her and says: “My mother used to tell me when I doubted myself that no one wants to be with a shell. Be the pearl, Sophie, and you will find you again.” Here’s the takeaway: No matter what happens … it’s the spirit that is truly unbreakable.

***GIVEAWAY DETAILS***

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