Blog Tour: Leaves by Michael Baron (Review and Interview)

About the Book

Published by:  The Story Plant
Release Date:  September 2012

Welcome to Oldham, CT, a small town rich in Colonial heritage while being utterly contemporary. Situated along the Connecticut River Valley, Oldham bursts with color every fall, as the leaves on its trees evolve into an unmatched palette of scarlet, orange, purple, yellow, and bronze. For more than three decades, the Gold family has been a central part of Oldham in the fall, its Sugar Maple Inn a destination for “leaf-peepers” from all over the country, and its annual Halloween party a stirring way to punctuate the town’s most active month.

But this year, more than just the leaves are changing. With the death of their parents, the Gold siblings, Maria, Maxwell, Deborah, Corrina, and Tyler, have decided to sell the Sugar Maple Inn, and this year’s Halloween party will be the last. As October begins, the Golds contend with the finality that faces them, and the implications it has for a family that has always been so close. For some, it means embracing new challenges and new love. For others, it means taking on unimagined roles. And for others, it means considering the inconceivable. Complicating it all is a series of “hauntings” that touch each of the Gold siblings, a series of benign interventions that will remain a mystery until October draws to a close.

Filled with romance, tension, and unforgettable family drama, LEAVES is the first in a series of novels about a world and a family that readers will want to make their own.

My Thoughts

Once in a while a book that touches your heart comes along and that's what Leaves is for me.  I loved every minute of this book.  Each character is crafted in a special way that weaves a place in your heart.  I found myself truly caring for these fictitious characters.  I wanted to know what was going to happen to them.  

The story moved along at a nice pace.  I never felt one minute of boredom.  I truly wanted to know what would happen to each character and if they would each get their happily-ever-after.  I love family sagas like this, but I haven't read one in a long time.  This reminded me of what I was missing. 

I already have many of Michael Baron's books downloaded on my e-reader.  I plan to read them all.  Each one looks like a great read.

This book has the makings to be a classic that will live forever in your heart.  Beautifully written!

FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

For reading challenges:
A-Z Reading Challenge 2013
2013 ARC Reading Challenge
2013 E-Book Reading Challenge
Where are you reading? challenge (Connecticut)

Excerpt

The River Edge Café had been open for business since the late ‘90s, when a husband-and-wife team made a killing during the tech stock boom and decided to “chuck it all” and follow their passion for fine food. Located on the water between Oldham and Essex, it was popular for its ambitious menu, its beautiful setting, and its attentive staff. However, it had recently lost two executive chefs in quick succession, leading to rumors that the owners were impossible taskmasters and maybe even a little abusive. Deborah didn’t necessarily believe these unfounded stories, but they made her wary through the entire interview process, and even now, in her third meeting with the couple, she wondered if there was something less than genuine behind Carla Bonner’s ubiquitous smile or Vince Travers’s persistence.

“We want you here, Deb,” Vince said. People didn’t really call her “Deb,” but Vince seemed to insist on it. He had been doing so since they first met half a decade ago. “There are maybe two dishes on the menu we think we need to keep. The entire rest of the menu would be yours.”

“It would be like having your own restaurant without the hassle of ownership,” Carla said. Deborah had been in precisely that situation her entire adult life, so she wasn’t sure why Carla thought this was a selling point.
“I’m completely willing to wait until the middle of November if you want to take a couple of weeks off between jobs,” Vince said. “Trina’s an excellent sous chef and she’s doing a great job of holding the fort for us. To be honest, if we weren’t so intent on recruiting you, we’d give her the job right now.”

“That’s very flattering,” Deborah said, wondering how resentful Trina would be of her if she decided to take the position.

This wasn’t the first offer Deborah had received, though it was certainly the most aggressive. She got a couple of calls as soon as word got out about the sale of the Inn. The people buying the Sugar Maple even made her an extremely attractive offer to stay precisely where she was. She never seriously considered it, though. It was hard enough cooking there now that both of her parents were gone. It would be impossible to take direction there from someone else and even harder to watch the inevitable changes they made. Deborah imagined herself collapsing into tears the first time they replaced a table lamp. She was convinced that when she walked out of the Inn at the end of the Halloween party she would never again set foot in the place just so she could remember it forever the way she wanted.

None of the offers she’d received so far had seemed very appealing. She knew that she was running the risk of seeming like a prima donna and she also knew that she should be eternally grateful for the attention, but she couldn’t allow herself to take a position unless it sang out to her. She even considered trying to find a job in a diner or a coffee shop somewhere – something completely one-dimensional with little or no room for personal investment – just to recalibrate. But of course that was ridiculous. How long could she flip burgers before she started slipping exotic ingredients into the ground beef? She had enough money saved to get by for about six months, and if it took that long to find the right spot, that was fine with her.

“I’m not trying to flatter you,” Vince said. “I’m trying to employ you. Your customers will flatter you every time the waitstaff delivers one of your inventions.”

Deborah smiled. The “Deb” thing aside, she’d always liked Vince and she wished the rumors weren’t causing her to question his sincerity. That was the pernicious thing about rumors.

“The package you’re offering is great,” she said, nodding to both Vince and Carla. “I’ve always been fond of this restaurant, and you have a great kitchen. I just need a couple of days.”

“Of course,” Carla said. “Take as long as you must.”
Vince patted her hand. “We’re here for you, Deb. Call me anytime if you have questions. I gave you our home number, right?”

“You did, yes. I just want to take a little longer to think. I’ll call you on Monday.”

Deborah stood and shook their hands. The fact was, she already made her decision, but it didn’t seem polite to turn them down flat. The River Edge Café was a fine restaurant and it did have a sensational kitchen. The more time she spent there, though, she realized there wasn’t anything about this place that felt like home.
She drove through downtown Oldham on the way back to the inn. Waiting for a couple of pedestrians to cross Hickory, she noticed the sign for Sage, the gourmet shop that had opened a couple of weeks earlier. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t visited it yet. When a car pulled out of the parking space across from the store, she decided the time was right. The store was in a moderately large space between a music store and a bookstore. Deborah had a hard time remembering what was in the space before (there had been several shops there over the past few years), but the new owner had done a great job of remodeling it. Lots of blond wood fixtures, warm lighting, and handwritten signage. There was a refrigerator case housing artisanal cheeses and sausages in understated, small-production packages.

Deborah liked being here immediately. Maybe it was the slack-key guitar music coming from the sound system or that one of the front tables was dedicated to the small Tuscan pasta manufacturer she “discovered” a couple of years ago and had used exclusively at the inn ever since. Deborah knew this would be a place she’d visit often. She’d been to all the gourmet shops in the area, and was frustrated by the sameness of them. It was almost as though some food rep came along and set each one up based on some model. This place had a decidedly individual point of view, though. The shelf of spices was an asymmetrical jumble of bottles and tins of different sizes. Next to it was a card that read, “This might not be the prettiest display of spices you’ve ever seen, but it’s hopefully the best. I’ve compared everything on this shelf to the competition and only carry the ones I love the most.” Deborah agreed about the mustard seed, the ground coriander, and the smoked paprika, but she would have chosen a different Telicherry peppercorn.

A man walked up to her while she was standing at the display. “Find anything you like?”
She turned to look at him. He was a little over six feet and lean. And he had very expressive eyes. “Krendahl has better peppercorns,” she said.

“You’re right, but they only sell from their catalog. I tried, believe me. They also import this fabulous five spice powder, but again, I couldn’t get it. Think I should change the card in the spirit of full disclosure?”
Deborah laughed. “Your secret is safe with me. You’re the owner?”

He extended his hand and Deborah took it. “Sage Mixon.”

“Deborah Gold. So the store is named after you and not after” – she reached for a bottle – “Brookfield’s hand-rubbed Albanian.”

He smiled. “You obviously know your spices. Are you in the food business?”

 “I’m the chef at the Sugar Maple Inn – at least I am until the end of the month.”

“Moving on to bigger and better things?”

Deborah rolled her eyes. “That part isn’t at all certain at the moment.” She turned toward another display. “I’ve never seen these preserves before.”

“They’re incredible. They’re all made by a single dad out of a barn in New Hampshire. He sweetens them with a ‘proprietary blend’ of fruit juices and balances each with some kind of spice or infusion. The lemon marmalade is mind-boggling.” He picked up a jar and handed it to her. “He adds a touch of Thai basil. It’s amazing what happens.”

Deborah examined the jar in her hand. If nothing else, Sage was an excellent salesman. Of course she would buy this. Before she did, though, she spent another half hour in the store walking from display to display. Sage stayed with her when he wasn’t helping other customers, and it became obvious that there was a story behind everything he carried. She hoped the visitors who flitted in and out appreciated the thought that went into this. More importantly, she hoped that – appreciative or not – the visitors were plentiful. Oldham needed more stores like this one.

By the time she’d finished shopping, Deborah had the marmalade, a salsa from Nogales, a bottle of raspberry thyme vinegar made a half hour away, and a package of stroopwafels made in Montana, of all places. She didn’t need any of it. She certainly had access to just about everything she wanted from the network of suppliers she’d developed over the years. But it was fun buying here and she definitely wanted to support the place.

“Come again soon,” Sage said as he packaged her purchases. “I will. Definitely. Hey, come by the Inn for dinner sometime in the next month.”

“I might just do that. I mean if you know this much about food, you might actually be able to cook.”
Deborah laughed. “Yeah, it’s a possibility.”

He smiled and his eyes danced. Deborah would definitely be back soon.

 About the Author

 I grew up in the New York area and I’ve lived there my entire life. I worked in retail and taught high school English before I got my first book contract. I have gotten several additional book contracts since then, which is fortunate because I didn’t have the patience to work in retail and, while I quite enjoyed teaching, my approach was a bit too unconventional for most school systems. One school administrator told me that, “there are more important things than being a dynamic teacher.” Since I couldn’t name any of those things (at least in the context of school), I figured I didn’t have a long-term future in the profession. Hence, I became a writer, where I believe people appreciate a certain level of dynamism.

Though I started with nonfiction, I have always loved fiction and I have always wanted to write it. Since I can remember, I've had a particular affection for love stories. In fact, the very first book-length thing I ever wrote, when I was thirteen, was a love story. Mind you, it was the kind of love story that a thirteen-year-old boy would write, but it was a love story nonetheless. I have a deep passion for writing about relationships – family relationships, working relationships, friendships, and, of course, romantic relationships – and I can only truly explore this by writing fiction. These novels have given me a way to voice the millions of things running through my head.

My wife and kids are the center of my life. My wife is the inspiration for all of my love stories and my children enthrall me, challenge me, and keep me moving (and have served as the inspiration for several of the kids I've written about). One of the primary reasons I wrote my first novel, WHEN YOU WENT AWAY was that I wanted to write about being a father. Aside from my family, I have a few other burning passions. I’m a pop culture junkie with an especially strong interest in music, I love fine food (as well as any restaurant shaped like a hot dog), and I read far too many sports blogs for my own good.

Interview

 

1)   What was your first published book?

My first published book as Michael Baron (I use a pseudonym for fiction because my nonfiction is so different) was the novel When You Went Away, which came out in 2009. I’d been living with that story for a long time, so it was something of a shock to see it out in public after all of those years in my head.

I’d wanted to write fiction since I was a teenager, but had always avoided it until then. I worried that I couldn’t get the emotion on the page and that I couldn’t make the characters come alive. When I finally committed to writing fiction, though, I found it was exactly what I wanted to do and that I was very comfortable doing those things I had originally feared. There’s a kind of expression that fiction offers a writer that nonfiction never could. I find it very exciting to explore matters of the heart from a variety of perspectives.

2)  Do you have any favorite authors or genres?

I love character-driven fiction, so anything that focuses more on the characters than the story tends to appeal to me. I’m much more interested in relationships and how characters evolve than I am in working out a puzzle or seeing the bad guy caught. For a long time, I worried that my plots weren’t distinctive enough, but then it dawned on me that most of the novels I love have thin or even predictable plots, but rich character development. I’m sure plenty of people read my novels and say, “Not much is going on here.” However, I’m hoping that most readers don’t notice, because they care about the characters.

If I had to name a favorite contemporary writer, it would be Pat Conroy. I love what he does with characters and I love what he does with sentences. He turns the character-driven novel into an art form, and that is something I can only aspire to.

3)   What was your inspiration for writing Leaves?

My wife and I were visiting a bed-and-breakfast on the Connecticut River Valley during the fall, and we’d gone for a walk. That’s a magical place in October, because the leaves change in a wide variety of colors. My parents had recently died, and I was concerned about whether my siblings would stick together now that the center of the family was gone and we all had families of our own. I found the symbol of changing and falling leaves to be an apt metaphor for my concerns. By the time we got back to the inn, the basic plot of Leaves – a family facing its future against the backdrop of the change in seasons – was fully formed in my head.

4)  Did you do any research for Leaves?  Such as the setting or were already familiar with the area?

As I was writing the novel, we made several trips to the Connecticut River Valley, so I suppose that counts as research. I think my wife and kids saw it as “going out for the day.” One of the main characters is a chef, and we certainly did our share of fine dining during the creation of Leaves. I’m not sure that counted as research, but I should probably discuss it with my accountant. As with my other novels, Leaves is primarily about the people in the story. I wanted to get the details right, so any discussion about trees, or New England geography, or piano lessons required some Internet searching, but most of the story really came from my heart.

5)  Since Leaves is the first book in a series, when could we expect the second book?  Any hints?

The plan is for the second book in the series to come out in fall 2013. I’m working hard right now to make that a reality.