Wednesday, March 21, 2012

BEING LARA by Lola Jaye

See If You've Won This Book!




Being Lara
by Lola Jaye

Here’s one of those books where the cover first caught my eye—it’s just gorgeous – a pretty little girl with a gorgeous robin-egg blue background. And the title had me too – what is Being Lara all about? Add to the fact that I’m familiar with Lola Jaye’s previous book, By The Time You Read This, and I knew I wanted to share this one with you guys.

So here’s the story:

At age eight, Lara thinks she’s an alien. What other explanation could there be? With her dark complexion and kinky hair, so unlike her fair-skinned parents, Lara knew she was different. At eight she finally learned the word "adopted." Twenty-two years later, a stranger arrives as she blows out the candles on her thirtieth birthday cake—a woman in a blue-and-black head tie who also claims the title "Lara’s mother." 

Lara, always in control, now finds her life slipping free of the stranglehold she's had on it. Unexpected, dangerously unfamiliar emotions are turning Lara's life upside down, pulling her between Nigeria and London, forcing her to confront the truth about her past. But if she's brave enough to embrace the lives of her two mothers, she may discover once and for all what it truly means to be Lara.

You can read the beginning pages here:  BEING LARA OPENING PAGES

The publicist of Being Lara has graciously offered THREE copies to give away here so if you’d like to win, I want to know in what way have you ever felt different. It could be when you were eight, and feeling like an alien like Lara. Or it could be like how sometimes I feel different living in Scottsdale, surrounded by all the botox, layers of make-up, face-lifts, and implants … which sounds really strange, considering that I’m the one NOT TRYING to be different, when all these other people are making obvious changes to themselves in order to be someone they’re not. Hmmm, gives me something to really contemplate.  

Anyway- when or why have you felt different in your life? Tell me and you could win one of THREE copies of Being Lara!


Remember, MaNiC MoMMy is aiming to feature great books each and every week this year, and you’ll have a chance to win it as well! Please stop by often AND MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE PREVIOUS POSTS as I’m now posting new books more than once a week! Open to US/Canada residents only, and thanks to all the participating authors and publicists for providing the books.

Check back on this post in a few days to see if you’ve been chosen, and as long as there is not a highlighted winner’s name on the top of the blog post, you may enter to win any of the previous books being offered. One entry per person as always! Please include an email address or a uniquely identifying user name when entering to win!

73 comments:

Literary Chanteuse said...

Good question. Well I'm am from Portuguese descent and have the darker hair,eyes and olive skin . As a kid I grew up in a small town and pretty sheltered but when I moved away to the city I met a girl who commented once that I was not really white. I had never encountered that reaction before. Luckily I'm pretty happy and confident in my skin so it really didn't affect me but it was kind of a shock honestly to hear it for the first time.

Margaret(singitm)

TinaPow said...

being a red head when I was younger...always made me feel different

BrendaL71 said...

I actually thought of two instances. When I was growing up as a teenager and the rest of the time that I lived at home. My parents never got me and I know everybody says that but my sister did everything they expected but not me. It was just hard. And sometimes now, a single mother. All of my friends are either married with kids or don't have any kids. so we are not quite on the same boat. So sometimes its hard.

DaphneSFL said...

I have naturally curly hair, and growing up I desperately wanted straight hair. I love it now, but still sometimes depending on the situation, I feel like odd man out, but I love my curls!

lucy872 said...

In my new neighborhood I feel out of place. My neighbors all seem to be very "put together" with their designer labels and posh hairdos and I'm just a middle class girl who still goes outside in my pjs to put my kid on the bus. It's tough to fit in.

Emily said...

After I graduated college, I went right to law school at the end of the summer. Most of my friends didn't even go on to grad school, and therefore really never "got" why I couldn't just hang out all the time, night, day, Monday, Sunday, whatever...it really caused a rift between us, and I am sad to say that we aren't really friends anymore because of that time where we led lives that were so different. I have plenty of friends, but it was weird to lose a whole group because of a career choice/the responsibility of school.

Emily116

Ally said...

When I moved from up North to a small southern town.

Ally N

Joelle said...

I have always felt different because I'm not of average size and my friends have always been thinner than me. It's hard because you want to be able to do all the girly things with them (trade clothes, shoes, etc) and yeah...that doesn't work for me. boo.

Becki**** said...

Parents should have held me back from kindergarten - I was intellectually ready but not emotionally - led to being picked on for quite awhile

Melissa said...

I felt different many times as a teenager when I tried to do the right thing, but everyone else didn't. Melissa Rem

absolutahnie said...

take your pick - height (tallest in class through grade school) weight (over weight then & now) my naturally curly hair that i used to fight with but now embrace and the fact that i was single and rarely dated until 5 years ago and i'm 47!!!!

Lizett34 said...

For the most part I think I have always felt different. I grew up in a fairly 'white' neighborhood and being hispanic, I didn't relate to a lot of the things my friends were doing.

lizett34@yahoo.com

Jessica said...

I guess I feel different around Valentine's Day because I hate flowers and every other girl seems to love them.

Sorry, my brain is not working today and I couldn't come up with anything else!

Thanks,
Jessica M
walkingcorpse11@hotmail.com

ncsuloges said...

Having super ugly feet and walking funny. I used to cry and cry and cry about it. I have had surgery on both my feet now so it is a little better but still noticeable to me. We are our own worst critics. :)

accidentalgypsy said...

Um, yeah. Here we go...I have curly hair, my last name is eleven letters long and hard to pronounce, I was always the "tall one", I could read before kindergarten, I hardly ever dated anyone, I live with my boyfriend, I'm 31 and not married and don't have kids, I've never had the money (or the fashion sense) to buy nice clothes, I've always been the "good girl", I've never done drugs (nope, not even pot), and I hate being in the same place very long (whether it be job or location--I get the "I want to crawl out of my own skin" feeling to be somewhere else about every 12-18 months).

Dani In Chicago said...

I had short hair when i was a little girl. My mom cut it off because it was so curly and got tangled in knots all the time. I hated it!

Sslinsky said...

I guess there's always a time when I feel a little different. It might be when I'm with my skinny friends, or when I'm with my older Mom friends or when I'm with the friends that have money to spend. I definitly find myself feeling different.

Sarah

Bridget said...

When I was in junior high. I have curly hair and my mom always kept it short, made it more curly. When I was in junior high, everyone had long, straight hair. I let it grow out all thru high school

Iambtinrb

Karen said...

I am a Christian conservative in a family of liberals. They are all slim...I'm not. I've asked my mother if I'm adopted numerous times...and she swears I'm not. This caught my eye as I have a sister named Lara (spelled that way, too) and I loved the cover as well. Looks like a great story. ktmixon315

TaraUB said...

I was the first in my class to get glasses - it was in 1st grade. I'll always remember that I was worried about being teased and my brother who is 10 years older than me gave me permission to hit anyone who did. It was so powerful. This was about the same time I started to become the sarcastic person I am today. Guess I used my words instead of my fists with the dimwits.

Tanya Quilts in CO said...

I felt the most different when I was in high school. I did not fit into any of the numerous cliques!

Mom'sLove said...

Very good question.. I am hard of hearing. Not deaf, not hearing. Kinda in between. My family and most of my friends are hearing. I feel left out/different in most conversations.
Amanda
byacourt at gmail dot com

Ready To Be A Momma said...

I always felt different when I was younger because my parents are divorced, Growing up in a very small town (27 in my graduating class), I was the only one in my class with divorced parents and I always felt weird telling my friends about it.
Qweska8402

Megan said...

I felt different as a child since my mother made my clothes and my father was a pastor. Now I know it's awesome and lovely!
eloisepeaches

Amy R said...

I'm half Thai and half American. So when I'm in Thailand I appear heavier than the average petite Asian girl. Needless to say I feel like a heffer. And my Thai family likes to rub it in too grrr

Anonymous said...

Ha! When my Aunt made the comment at her daughter's wedding (my younger cousin), that I shouldn't worry, maybe next time it would be my turn. What? I was 23 at the time....hardly an old maid!

BTW...the hubby....totally worth the wait!

Colbey J

susieqlaw said...

I have naturally curly hair. When I was a child, everyone called me Shirley Temple. When I got a haircut, In high school, I just was not sure what to do with my hair. Finally, as an adult, I absolutely love it! It takes about 5 minutes to fix my hair!

Bernadette7 said...

I have to be honest I can't really think of a time when I felt different. I have 6 sisters so I've always been part of a pack and if an outsider said or did something different from me I assumed they were different and not me.

Margie said...

I was very shy as a young girl, and sometimes found it difficult to fit in.
Margie T

Emma S. said...

I'm adopted and am from South Korea, so there have been many moments throughout my life where I've felt different. It normally doesn't really bother me. I guess I notice feeling different every time I go to a new doctor and they ask for my family medical history, and I always have to reply unknown. When I was younger, I used to rattle off my family medical history, then I would remember I don't share the same genetic makeup as my family, so I would have to call the doctor's office and tell them to void all the information I gave them.

buttah said...

I am naturally a blonde, and have really hated it all my life...blonde jokes, blondes have more fun, blondes are easy (big eyeroll!). So after my little one was born 6 years ago I decided I was over being blonde. So I went RED for a while, that didn't last long, so now I'm a dark brunette and LOVE IT. So I guess I wanted to be different from the way I have always been...but I'm still blonde, but only at the roots!

Erin G said...

I'm feeling like I don't fit in right now in our neighborhood.

Carly said...

I really felt different or more like an outcast when I moved and switched schools in junior high. I had been with my friends from elementary school and I knew pretty much everyone at my school until I moved. I knew no one and being shy I don't think I knew more than five people by the end fo the year. It was rough.

Carly H

Unknown said...

The summer between my sophomore & junior years in high school. My boobs decided to just grow imensely and I didn't know how to handle it. Overnight I went from a B to a DD. It was so traumatizing & NONE of the other girls had boobs as big as mine. It was not a blessing until I was old enough to handle it.

J said...

i was a nerd growing up. it's now cool to be a nerd, but back then, not so much!

Melissa said...

I felt different when I went to the Coast Guard Academy and was in the minority as a woman!

-tmd636

Lindsay Elizabeth said...

When I was younger I felt different because I grew up in a town where most people's parents weren't divorced so mine being divorced made me stand out a little!

Crystal said...

I am an only child. My parents are divorced. I was VERY overprotected. My mom and I lived with my grandparents. I NEVER had friends over. I never slept over at anyone's house (till I was probably about 17).

I am hispanic and from "the hood". Yet I did not get pregnant in high school, I got a degree, and I'm doing pretty good in my career.

Being different isn't really all that bad. :)

crystal717

JeffieT said...

I'm a pale redhead. When I was younger I always wished I could be tan. Now, I appreciate all the sunscreen I had to slather on, as I don't look like a wrinkled piece of leather like some of the others in my class.

Coleen said...

I have always felt different cause I was born with a heart condition. I was never able to do things that others were able to do. Most days I am able to do things everyone else does but there are occasions where I am unable to and then I feel left out. For example, my family and I recently went to disneyworld and I had to rent a wheelchair for the parks. Everyone thought it was the coolest thing except me. I would have loved to walk the park but I knew that I would never beable to do that.
I am able to do more than doctors ever thought possible but wish I could do more sometimes.

Bev V said...

I was always overweight, even as a child, and it's hard not to fit into all the "hip" clothing that your friends are wearing. Even now, I'm still struggling, and I'm finding that I still can't find nice clothes to wear!

Bev V (shaggy552@gmail.com)

Tallulah A. Scribbles said...

In high school, I wanted to be part of an engineering club. There was only 1 in my county. It was part of a Boy Scouts group. I joined despite the fact that were no girl members. I stood out like a sore thumb at every meeting and event.

Katie said...

Sometimes I feel different because I am in school again getting another degree and don't have the same free time as my friends. I have to work a different schedule than my friends in order to fit with school and I miss out on alot. I also miss out on alot of time with my husband and other couple friends.

Lesley davis, esq said...

Being an only child.

Kelleyc said...

I felt different growing up b/c I didn't have a religion and didn't go to church. All my friends went to church, made their communions/confirmations, etc... I just felt out of place when they were going through that, and I couldn't relate, and didn't really even understand it at the time!

Terri said...

I felt different when I moved to Arizona and was the new kid in the third grade, when I compare myself to the other Mom's at the kids' school (I'm the divorced, trying to make it to the next paycheck chick instead of the rich private school Mom in her workout clothes ready to head to the gym), and at work - being HR, you have to set yourself a little apart from the other employees sometimes, which is really a struggle for me. I guess I gave three answers since there's 3 books. Haha!

Terri M.

GoGreen said...

When I went to high school, I chose to attend a different high school from the one that my 7 older siblings had attended. My sister always used to make a big deal of this, I'm not sure why. So that was one time when I felt different.



Bonnie

Kimmi said...

I come from very conservative, traditional parents. Me....not so much. And I have no idea how it got that way. lol

Kim W. said...

Probably when I was young, elementary school age. I was the only red head in our class so I got "carrot top" a lot. As I got older I grew to appreciate the red locks, but back then I hated it! I wasn't teased in a mean way, but just enough at that age to make me feel a bit different.

kewalker1972@gmail.com

Christina said...

When I was working in London, people could always tell I was from the US. I felt like I fit in pretty well, but somehow they could always spot the American!

ChristinaL

Anonymous said...

Great question. I've pretty much always felt different and out of place. I grew up in a small town wanting much more which wasn't really understood. It created conflict.
writeoncindy(at)yahoo(dot)com
cindy in miami

your invisible pixie said...

I've felt different pretty much my entire life...I'm kind of a strange duck, so a good chunk of the conversations I have with people get me weird looks.

Kristi said...

As a kid I always felt different because I loved reading so much. It obviously wasn't cool back then to be so addicted to reading but I was. Some things never change!

aggiekristi04

equinn726 said...

I've always been a pretty strict rule follower and there have been times when friends have wanted to do things that pushed the boundaries of certain rules. While it doesn't happen often, it definitely makes me feel uncomfortable and different.

EBrowning said...

I feel different when I'm at the gym sometimes. There are a lot of tanned, implanted, perfect women and built guys there. I am definitely not tanned, implanted or in "perfect" shape by any means, so I try to go about my business and hope I'm not sticking out like a sore thumb! :)

robynn78 said...

Ever since I got a tattoo on my arm which has deep meaning & a nose ring, I have been looked at differently by older people.. its a small diamaond stud, and my tattoo is a tribute to my family, but I guess its a lil out of the norm for the older genereation.

karenk said...

my mom used to make a lot of my clothes when i was little.

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Amelia said...

my kids are blondish and blue eye like my husband and I have brown hair/brown eye so when I get mistaken for the nanny I feel different (but that is better than when I am mistaken for the grandmother

Dawn in CA said...

I've never felt more different then when I went through Sorority Rush week in college. Hundreds of girls were put into groups and herded around to the sorority houses where we were sized up by the sisters then voted on. If they liked you, you were invited back for the next round. I felt so silly trying to make impressive conversation with these girls in order to "win" their friendship. I felt like they could see right through me and know that I am being a phony. Needless to say, I did not get asked to pledge a sorority, but I wasn't disappointed, either.

keltban said...

My hair is a curly, frizzy mess and when I was younger-I had no idea how to contol it. I so wanted straight flat hair that you could wear barretes in. I always felt different b/c it stuck out. Now I love it.

Leslie said...

I'm not sure I have ever really been different (although I am quite short). I feel like I am not as put together as the other moms though at times. I dress ok and my house is fairly clean, but it seems when I walk into a neighbors house everything is always perfect. I work fulltime and a single parent, but still I don't always feel quite together enough. LeslieGC

Jenn3128 said...

I feel different everyday! Isn't that the fun of being human?

Krystal said...

It was a whole new world for me when I moved from a small, farming community to the city! I've lived here almost ten years and still don't feel like myself.
kndyer

Susan @ The Book Bag said...

I remember when I was in first grade, my family moved from one town to another. It was in the middle of the school year and friends had already been made. I felt like such an outsider and it took awhile for me to feel like I was one of them and not different.

Amelia said...

when i am mistaken for my children's nanny

Tiffany Drew said...

I always feel different. I am extremely shy and I always feel out of place in social settings. Thankfully my husband is more than outgoing so he helps me out quite a bit.

Anonymous said...

I don't seem to fit in at work. I am a busy bee at work and all my coworkers seem to be slackers. I'm not happy at my job.

-Donna W.

Zinnia said...

returning back into the world after losing my 2nd child. He passed away an hour after he was born due to complications. Its been hard enough dealing with it and now i am at peace, however people do not know how to act around me. the worst is when they try to avoid the whole thing which i think is disrespectful. I know they dont know what to say, and I don't expect them to say anything really, but an acknowledgement that there was a baby, he was born into this world, and he is now in heaven. that's it.

Wohlski said...

My parents divorced when I was four so I grew up in a single parent home. We didn't have a lot of money so I always felt left out when kids would come to school with new clothes and I got thrift store finds. Now i'm a thrift store junkie! I just didn't appreciate it when younger.

Carie Casey said...

Picking my daughter up from school. The moms are either in their super cute matchy work out gear or they are in heels and really put together. I stroll up in jeans and a t shirt.

Carie

betsy_blixt said...

I always fell different at work. I see people my age who are extremely professionals and I just don't ever see myself in that way. I have a good job in AP and I love it but I just never fell that I am living up to what I should be in a professional sense.

Dolly said...

I first felt different when I was six and had to get glasses.

jcsites2002 at hotmail dot com

Kristin said...

There have been a couple times. Being an only child growing up was strange as my best friend had a little sister and pretty much every kid in my neighborhood had siblings.

And after my son was born and I dealt with postpartum depression. That was probably the time I felt most different. Already having a little girl and having not felt that way with her. It was hard...