Summer 2020 Book Giveaway
“She wants to unburden herself, I can see that. Most people do. We all carry some burden or another, pressing into the tender spot between neck and shoulder, invisible to others, which we wouldn’t mind shucking off for a blessed moment. But we rarely do. To shuck off our burden is to show it to the world, and then what would the world say? The world would judge that burden, that’s what. The world would judge it, and how you’ve carried it all these years, and whether your burden is more or less than any other person’s, and what all this says about you. Sometimes you’re just better off carrying the damn thing into eternity.”
So begins the electric adventure in Beatriz Williams’ yet to be released novel Her Last Flight.
Just like the years covered in Her Last Flight, 2020 has not been for the faint of heart. Nearly any and every upheaval we could have imagined has transpired. It’s hard to believe with all that has happened around the world this year that we’re actually more than half way through it. Summer has officially begun.
Here at Whiskers on Kittens, summer is a time for soaking up the sun with some good tunes and some great reads. And, as luck would have it, one of the featured authors here at Whiskers- one who I can’t help but associate with summer (see post here)- is releasing her latest novel next week.
Beatriz Williams is who I’m referring to, and her latest novel is the superb Her Last Flight. I was fortunate enough to snag an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC), and I promise you, Beatriz Williams’ newest novel is not to be missed.
As per her usual, the story takes place in two different time periods with two separate heroines. However, as she is so skilled at doing, the novel is knit together between these two strong women to unveil a myriad of secrets- passionate ones, sorrowful ones, empowering ones, and inspiring ones.
We start at the beginning of the year in 1947, when an intrepid woman discovers the wreckage of an Amiot 143* in the badlands in Navarre, Spain. She’s traveled to this godforsaken area with purpose: to find out what happened to pilot extraordinaire, Sam Mallory.
Back in the ‘20s, Sam Mallory’s name was synonymous with adventure. He was a pilot who out flew death, even when death came for him with vengeance. He’d survived impossible wrecks on sea and land. But, as his star peaked, another rising star took his place and his name somehow got lost in the annals of history. It would appear that no one cared what happened to this devil may care aviator. No one, that is, until photojournalist Janey Everett picked up his trail.
But, in order to really understand what happened in the latter years of Sam Mallory’s life, Janey has to discover the other aviation enigma: what happened to Irene Foster?
And that’s where our second heroine enters, only it’s not 1947. We meet Irene in the dawn hours on a California beach in 1928, newly emerged from the waves with her surfboard in hand.
You see, Irene Foster and Janey Everett’s stories are inexplicably entwined.
Both women are excessively independent. They are hardened by what life has thrown at them. They wear their pain and disappointments like the choicest armor. It takes a lot to rattle these women’s cages.
Who can blame Janey for her worldweary attitude? She was a photojournalist during World War II. Performing that sort of coverage is only bound to render a body tough as nails.
But what’s Irene’s story? She was the AVIATRIX (imagine an Amelia Earhart type, if you will). The woman who broke the mold that most women lived their lives by. The woman who blazed across the front pages of newspapers all over the world declaring how intrepid the female spirit really could be. The woman who flew the most dangerous, death defying missions. The woman who cheated death at the side of Sam Mallory and then on her own. The woman who inexplicably disappeared off the face of the earth without a single trace.
This is how I read my books during the summer now. Little man in tow. Train up a child when they are young, so they say. Little man will be a reader, I guarantee it.
And with her disappearances, a whole raft of questions were left unanswered. Chief amongst them is what happened to Sam Mallory? But then there are the more intimate ones, like what really happened between Irene Foster and Sam Mallory?
The press had theories. They even had photographs that seemed to back those theories up. But, there’s a difference between what is printed on the page and presented as truth and what actually is true.
As usual, Beatriz Williams delves deeply into the psyche of her heroines and those in their lives. She explores the fabric that makes up how people make decisions for good or bad in their lives. She doesn’t shy away from the messiness of life or the foibles of the characters she fleshes out. You love them, yes, but you see their faults. Perhaps you love them all the more because they have those faults.
I promise you that this story is one of the best I’ve read by Beatriz Williams. That’s saying something coming from me as I have really loved nearly everything I’ve ever read by Williams.
However, I’m not gonna just leave you hanging. That would be cruel in a year that’s been filled with way too many cruelties. Whiskers on Kittens is celebrating the arrival of summer with a GIVEAWAY!!!!!
I’m particularly excited about hosting this Giveaway as Whiskers is working in conjunction with the our newly opened local bookstore, The Oxford Comma Bookstore. (If you’re wanting to help support a local bookstore, but don’t happen to have one near you, please hope over to The Oxford Comma Bookstore’s Bookshop page. You can order whatever books you’re wanting, they’ll be shipped directly to your door, and you’ll be helping a small business, too.)
Now, onto how you can snag your copy of Her Last Flight.
From today- June 24, 2020- through July 1, 2020 you can enter to win a brand spanking new copy of Her Last Flight.
To enter for a chance to win Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams:
You must be a subscriber to Whiskers on Kittens. If you are a current subscriber, move on to Step 2. If not, sign up with the form at the bottom of this post. (If you’re leery of having your inbox flooded, fear not, that’s not the sort of thing we do here at Whiskers. You’ll receive an email at most once a week, but more likely bi-monthly.)
Leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of THIS post telling me why you’re interested in reading this novel. Are you a Beatriz Williams fan? Do you like historical fiction? Are you drawn to aviation like I am? Does the idea of seeing an aviatrix take flight during a time when women didn’t do such things get you excited to crack open this novel? Do you just like the chance of winning books? (I can relate to that, dear readers!) Let me know in the comments below and then cross your fingers.
Now for the technical bits— The giveaway is open to all legal residents in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia from today, June 24, 2020 to July 2, 2020 at 11:59 PM (CT). Winner will be announced on July 3, 2020 via email and on the blog. Sign up for a chance to win one of my favorite things: Beatriz Williams’ Her Last Flight. (Don't forget to leave a comment to ensure your complete entry.) Giveaway open to all U.S. residents. Winner will be selected at random. Winner will be verified. Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond. If no response is received in that time limit, a new winner will be chosen. Void where prohibited.
To be alive today requires the spirit of an adventurer, a dreamer who is willing to put their actions behind their words. After all, that’s what an adventurer does. Beatriz Williams’ book Her Last Flight embodies that spirit fully. It drips from the pages. It’s just the sort of book to be tucked into your bag for lounging by the pool or at the beach or wherever we find ourselves in the post-COVID-19 summer. Particularly as Irene Foster and Janey Everett’s adventure will truly take you around the world, and since more than likely we’ve all have to kibosh our summer vacation plans for things closer to home, the sort of escape provided in Her Last Flight can sub for your missed traveling opportunity.
Post Script ~ In keeping with one of Whiskers on Kittens favorite things, Her Last Flight even has a very special guest appearance by a feline adventurer, Sandy, who finds herself on a trans-Pacific flight that encompasses a few more stops than the flight plan called for. Unlike any of the felines who reside in my household, however, Sandy is a calico. But, hopefully the cats who make their home here will possess Sandy’s longevity and good health.
* I’m guessing the Amiot 143 is the airplane to which Williams is referring as she drops delicious historical clues one can tether together to make such an educated assumption, i.e. “This airplane was obsolete almost as soon as it was built, a slow, clumsy ship nicknamed the Flying Coffin by the Spanish loyalist airforce…” Page 2 of Her Last Flight.
