TOP's Tuesday ~ Everybody's Talking About Sisterhood!

3/4/2014

In The Moon Sisters, her second novel, Therese Walsh wanted to write about one sister’s quest to find will-o’-the-wisp light, which was her mother’s unfulfilled dream. Also called “foolish fires”, these lights are sometimes seen over wetlands and are thought to lead those who follow them to treasure. Despite the promise, they are never captured and sometimes lead to injury or even death for adventurers who follow them. The metaphor of that fire – that some dreams and goals are impossible to reach, and that hope itself may not be innately good – eventually rooted its way into deeper meaning as the Moon sisters tried to come to terms with real-world dreams and hopes, and with each other, in their strange new world.

Olivia and Jazz Moon are polar opposites: one a dreamy synesthete, able to see sounds and smell sights and the other controlling and reality driven. What will happen when they are plunged into 24/7 togetherness and control is not an option? Will they ever be able to see the world through the other’s eyes and confront the things they fear the most? Death. Suicide. The loss of faith and hope. Will they ultimately believe that life is worth living, despite the lack of promise?

The writing of The Moon Sisters was a five year journey and at times author Therese Walsh felt like it was her own “foolish fire”. But remember, some fires are worth the chase!

Fun ways to interact and learn more about The Moon Sisters

1.   Book Club Materials – Theresa has some great book club materials here: http://www.theresewalsh.com/the-moon-sisters/book-clubs/ We also heard a rumor that in the future there will be a contest just for book club members that includes a Skype visit by Theresa to their book club meeting

2.   Personality Quiz – Find out which character from The Moon Sisters you are most like here
http://www.theresewalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Personality-Quiz.pdf

3.   Name Generator – If you were a train hopper (read The Moon Sisters to learn more about train hoppers) what would your name be? Find out here http://www.theresewalsh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ng.jpg

Link to Muffin book review – We reviewed The Moon Sisters at The Muffin on Wednesday, February 19.
The link is here: http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2014/02/the-moon-sisters.html

A Flashback of Sisterly Love...

I'm happy to have so many memories and photographs to choose from for this blog tour. The challenge was which one to share with all of you. Since no one particular instance stand outs, I decided to share a generalized memory of the sisterhood I had with my sister.

"Had" is the key word. Nearly twenty years ago my only sister, Heidi M Allen, was abducted from her place of employment on Easter Sunday. She remains missing today with one man serving a 25 to life sentence for her kidnapping and presumed death. Why do I tell you this? To emphasize the importance of memories with your sisters, whether they are your blood sisters or your Christian sisters. Only God knows what tomorrow holds, so we need to cherish our time with our loved ones, especially our sisters. A sister's bond is like no other.

After I lost Heidi, I never thought I'd experience the joy, comfort, and love of a sister again. I have four sister-in-laws who love me yet couldn't open myself up to let them in. It wasn't until I started to trust God again that I was able to open my heart for the bond of sisterhood again. I have eighteen years of memories with Heidi and since her disappearance, I slowly learned to make memories with my girlfriends, my sisters, and embrace this bond and gift from God. I lost Heidi, and will always miss her because there is nothing like the love of your sister but for those who don't have a sister, our friends and sisters-in-Christ are priceless blessings.

My first book, Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey, shared my journey after Heidi's kidnapping. I'm currently working on the sequel, taking a deeper look into life without my sister and the affect it has on my life, still today. The joy and hope is this, with God in the equation, there is no where to go but up. So my portion of this blog on sisterhood is to encourage you to embrace the sisters in your life, whether they are blood relatives or those you choose ~ these are priceless gems in your life.

Thanks for reading, be sure to leave a comment - one of your names will be entered into the drawing for a free copy of The Moon Sisters, by Therese Walsh. Good Luck!

Visit Therese Walsh’s website: http://www.theresewalsh.com/

ENTER TO WIN!!! Attention readers - enter a giveaway for The Moon Sisters here on my blog and on all the blogs participating in Everybody’s Talking About Sisterhood.

A complete list can be found on The Muffin - http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

So you can enter to win The Moon Sisters dozens of times if you like!