THE TRUTH ABOUT BEN AND JUNE by Alex Kiester - Review & Giveaway

 

Author Alex Kiester, digs deep into the mental state of postpartum emotions in her novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT BEN AND JUNE (ParkRowBooks). It's hard to believe this is a debut novel when you read Kiester's insightful narrative about the highs and lows of marriage and parenthood without any judgement.

June and Ben are deeply in love. June is a ballet dancer with a prestigious company and Ben is a lawyer. Shortly after getting married, they find out they're pregnant. They give up the city for white picket fences in the suburbs. This all happens despite the fact they haven't discussed what they want from their marriage. It's just assumed June will put her career aside and stay at home, while Ben works 80 hour weeks at the firm to keep them in a wealthy lifestyle. They've lost each other, but don't realize it until something devastating happens.

THE TRUTH ABOUT BEN AND JUNE explores marriage and how a woman struggles to keep her own identity while a man faces societal expectations. Most importantly, the nearly 20-percent of women who suffer from the stigma of postpartum depression will feel seen after reading THE TRUTH ABOUT BEN AND JUNE.

Did you know one in seven moms and one in ten dads suffer from postpartum depression? You are not alone and you are not to blame. Help is available. You will get better.

Call the helpline to connect with knowledgeable providers near you.

1-800-944-4773

www.postpartum.net

Alex Kiester is the author of Audible Original, In Her Skin.

From the beginning, Alex felt things very deeply and she learned early that the best thing to do with all that emotion was to turn it into fiction. Some of Alex’s earliest memories, in fact, are of wandering her neighborhood barefoot while narrating fictionalized versions of her life in her head. All her old diaries are full - not with writing of her childhood - but made-up stories.

While she always dreamed of becoming a novelist, Alex wasn't exactly sure how to get there. She graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN with a degree in creative writing along with a few hundred dollars cash from bartending and promptly moved back into her childhood room in her hometown of Austin, TX. Her first job was as a technical writer for a distressed properties institute, which to this day, Alex still has no idea what that means. She eventually got a copy editing job at the journal for the Texas House of Representatives, which was exciting for the first few months and then wasn't.

From there, she became a book editor at a boutique romance publishing house, which, yes, is a euphemism for erotica (sorry, Dad). As Alex worked on book after book that she had not authored, she increasingly felt that she could work on one that she had. During her lunch breaks, she began writing her own romance novel, which, no, is not a euphemism for erotica (you’re welcome, Dad). While her novel was pretty bad, by writing it, she’d proved to herself that she could. And now she had the bug.

Over the next few years, she worked a slew of jobs to bankroll her novel-writing habit, from Zumba instructor to casting assistant and eventually, writing coach. And then, after years of writing and multiple manuscripts on the shelf, she finally got her first book published. Her debut, In Her Skin, came out as an Audible Original in 2019. Her next novel, The Truth about Ben and June, will be out from Park Row in 2022.

Alex lives with her husband in Austin, TX. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading in the bath, talking on the phone with her mom, taking long walks, watching too much TV, or watching squirrels from her writing desk. She continues to feel things very deeply and she’ll continue to write these feelings down for a very long time to come.

Thanks to Kathleen Carter Communications we have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us about the most recent novel you've read about marriage and parenthood. We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please.