Holiday Blog Tour: Jacqueline E. Luckett

Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett

RELEASES JANUARY 25, 2012

Publishers Weekly Book Review

It’s midnight in Paris, now and in the mid 20th century, in Luckett’s  second novel (after Searching for Tina Turner). In this dreamy and lyrical paean to all things French, a restless African-American woman with a French name (Nicole-Marie Roxane, 56), shucks routine and expectations to live out her dream of traveling to Paris. But her exotic getaway turns into a relentless search for a beautiful woman known to Nicole only from an old photo, Ruby Garrett, whose race and connection to her father are both mysterious. 

Nicole-Marie Handy has loved all things French since she was a child. After the death of her best friend, determined to get out of her rut, she goes to Paris, leaving behind a marriage proposal. While there, Nicole chances upon an old photo of her father-lovingly inscribed, in his hand, to a woman Nicole has never heard of. What starts as a vacation quickly becomes an investigation into his relationship to this mystery woman.

Moving back and forth in time between the sparkling Paris of today and the jazz-fueled city filled with expatriates in the 1950s, Passing Love is the story of two women dealing with lost love, secrets, and betrayal...and how the City of Light may hold all of the answers.

Passing Love will be available online and at major and independent bookstores everywhere. We encourage readers to ask a bookstore to order copies of PASSING LOVE if they cannot find it in their local store. Preorder available now.

In alternating narratives, Nicole uncovers secrets long held by her difficult parents, as the ferociously independent Ruby describes the freewheeling Paris of the early 1950s, where ambitious black musicians found an appreciative audience and colorblind acceptance. Luckett skips surprisingly smoothly across six decades as the narrative unfolds the mystery of Nicole’s identity. 

But the mystery is hardly the point:  Luckett weaves a fascinating portrait of women of color who defy family and tradition to follow love and chase success. Ruby’s unflinching, unapologetic choices—even her lies about her race—unsettle Nicole. But Ruby is equally puzzled that Nicole would choose the ordinary over adventure. In the end, it’s the soulful, headstrong, romantic Ruby whose passion resonates in this story of discovery and acceptance.  (Jan. 25)Inside Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett Genre:  Women’s Fiction; Literary Commercial Fiction
Target Audience:   Women, travelers to Paris, jazz history lovers


Primary Topics Discussed Paris, Langston Hughes, jazz, musicians, women traveling alone, love, race, passing, and family relationships.  Listen to the audio preview of  Passing Love,  click here.


Purchase Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett ASIN: B004RCNGY4
ISBN-10: 0446542997
ISBN-13: 978-0446542999

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Download to Nook ebook
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Book Reviews for Passing Love
Jacqueline E. Luckett

"Luckett is a writer to watch and admire."
—ZZ PACKER, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

"Lush, evocative and seductive. Only read Passing Love if you're willing to give yourself over completely to the excitement of the jazz scene of post-WWII Paris, and a woman's determination to find her place in the present-day City of Light."
—Lalita Tademy, author of Cane River and Red River
“C'est magnifique! A delicious read, brimming with hope, love, and light.”
—Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
“Passing Love is everything a novel should be: a story as complex, multilayered and rich as a French pastry and just as deceptively simple...until you take a bite. Settle back, get comfy and enjoy the journey Nicole, Malvina and Ruby (and their men) take you on through Post-WWII and contemporary Paris.”
—Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant, authors of Uptown“Luckett has written our Paris dreams come true--between two lives and two generations, this story delivers the romance and the heartbreak of all that the City of Lights has to offer. You will escape with this novel and question or embrace your own unlived lives.”
—Heidi W. Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Purchase Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett ASIN: B004RCNGY4
ISBN-10: 0446542997
ISBN-13: 978-0446542999

Order from Amazon
Order from Barnes & Noble

About Jacqueline E. Luckett 

As a teenager, Jacqueline enjoyed telling stories to her younger cousins. To this day, they describe her as a master storyteller. So, it wasn't a surprise to her family when she began writing a novel. Through her teenage years, she kept diaries, wrote poetry and had stories published in a local newspaper. As an adult, Jacqueline put writing aside and worked in corporate America.

In 1999,  she took a creative writing class on a dare, from herself, and happily found her love of writing re–ignited. By a lucky coincidence, that same year she discovered the Voices of Our Nations (VONA) writing workshops and participated over the next four years in workshops with Christina Garcia, Danzy Senna, Junot Diaz, Ruth Forman and Terry McMillan. VONA provided a safe haven for a new writer still unsure of her abilities, yet eager to learn. She attributes much of her growth as a writer to the VONA workshops.

In 2004,  Jacqueline formed the Finish Party (featured in O Magazine, October 2007) along with seven other women writers–of–color. Jacqueline calls these outstanding women her mentors and advisors, her friends and the toughest (and most loving) readers around.

Jacqueline is an avid reader and lover of books, an excellent cook, aspiring photographer, and world traveler. She lives in Northern California and, though she loves all of the friends there, she takes frequent breaks to fly off to foreign destinations.

SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER (2010, Grand Central Publishing) is her first novel. Her second novel, PASSING LOVE releases in January 2012.


Website:  http://www.jacquelineluckett.com/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/Author.JacquelineLuckett
Twitter Profile:  @jackieluckett  and  http://twitter.com/jackieluckett 

Passing Love will be available online and at major and independent bookstores everywhere. We encourage readers to ask a bookstore to order copies of Passing Love if they cannot find it in their local store.  

To learn more about the Authors tour visit: http://www.blackpearlsmagazine.com/jacquelineluckett.html

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