The latest release from Karen Hawkins, HOW TO PURSUE A PRINCESS, is both a NYT bestseller and a Publisher's Weekly bestseller!
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To be honest, and I'm always honest, when I began writing Sorority Sisters (get your copy now!), I was worried that Ms. Average Reader would have such a negative reaction to the very idea of sorority girls that she'd hate the book on sight.
Thank goodness that no one on Mt. Olympus is Average, and certainly not an Average Reader.
This is a book that is about friendship, pure and simple. It's about women. It's about how we need our friends and about how we can (and often do) get tangled up with the wrong men and how a friend will help you through that trauma, and how a friend will cheer the loudest when you stumble into the right guy.
Friends see you through. They see you through good times and bad, and they never think you're a loser. They see your frailties and they never take advantage of them. They give you a slap upside the head when you need one. They hold you when you cry.
Sororities are a place to meet women. A sorority house is a structure under which friendships are nurtured. I met my oldest friends in my sorority. We've been friends now, through good and bad, for more years than I want to admit. But you can measure it in decades.
Maybe you found your oldest friends in summer camp or in high school detention or at the local pool. Maybe you met them at church or in your childhood neighborhood or on a sports team. I don't know where you met your special group of women, but I know you met them. We all have those friends, the ones who've known us the longest, who love us the deepest, and who care with the sweetest intensity.
Sorority Sisters is about them, about those girls we travel through life with. The sisters of the heart.
Where did you meet your oldest, dearest friends?
I don’t have many close friends from school that are female, most of my dearest female friends that I have I met on Facebook. I have reconnected with some friends from church and from high school.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 7:00 am.
I think that’s amazing that you’ve made dear friends on Facebook. You really do have Facebook Friends!
That’s wonderful.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:58 am.
To be honest I am surprised and blessed with my friends. They accept the nutty side of me, just like all you goddesses here at My Oly.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:11 am.
Sorority Sisters sounds wonderful and I look forward to reading it.
I met my oldest friend when we were just tiny babies. Our mothers have been best friends since they were kids, and we grew up together, and have always been the best of friends. We don’t see each other as often as we would like, but we do talk all the time. We have been with each other through all the ups and downs of life. There is nothing that I wouldn’t do for her.
I also have friends that I met in high school and we still get together when time permits. It gets harder and harder as the years pass, with families and jobs, but we try to get together at least once a year.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 7:14 am.
That’s fantastic, Amy! A friend from the crib—now that’s an old friend. It does get tough to keep in touch with high school friends as life gets fuller and quicker and we have to run faster just to stay in place. You’ll never be sorry you took the time to keep those friendships alive.
That’s what Sorority Sisters is all about.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:00 am.
I met my nearest and dearest group mostly in elementary school, with one addition when we went to middle school, (one in preschool and one at summer camp.) We just celebrated the wedding of one of our girls, and will be celebrating another in a few weeks. It’s been at least 20 years that the 7 of us have been besties and I wouldn’t be the same without them. Others of my closest friends were met in HS, College and work. I’ll be a MOH and bridesmaid for two of them next year.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 7:17 am.
That’s so wonderful, Cail!! You’ve mastered the skill of not losing touch. It’s so easy to lose touch.
And isn’t it funny how you’re still girls to each other? I know that’s true of my gang. No matter how old we get, we’re still girls.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:01 am.
One group of My girls are my 3 guys and my sister. One guy was friends with sis, then sis made a random connection outside the neighboring parochial school that ultimately connected us to the two other guys. I was 16 when I first became part of this rag tag group, which has several fringe members. The original guy is the brother of my BFF since I was 14.
My other group (I’m blessed to have a few of these groups) is my NY book group; we’ve been together more than 10 years (I came in via work friends) There have been 4 marriages, three children and three step children and 6 of us 7 have had radical job changes that we didn’t see coming – all that ended well.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 7:50 am.
Wow. That’s so lovely. I love hearing about your groups and how strong the ties are!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:02 am.
Congratulations on your release day. I’m so excited for this book!
My oldest and dearest friends are still from high school. Just two and we rarely see each other because we live on opposite sides of town but when we do it’s as if we haven’t been apart a minute.
We’d still do anything for each other and often have.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 7:51 am.
That’s it, isn’t it? Ain’t no mountain high enough—ain’t no valley low enough . . . There’s just nothing that breaks you apart.
I hope you like the book! As you know, it was a labor. Of love. But still . . .
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:04 am.
Whew hooo! A new book!!
I met my two best friends in high school. I had only moved to town a few months prior and did not know anyone. As I was standing at the bus stop, a girl came bouncing over (she is one of those annoying, er, I mean ‘lovely’ morning people) and she was towing a quiet girl in her wake. The bouncy one says “Hi, I’m Debbie. I don’t think I know you. Are you new?” And just like that, those two best friends pulled me into their duo and we became a trio.
28 years later and we still keep in touch, and get together, etc. Her son just got married in May and the three of us girls had a grand time, just like we were at a high school dance!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:05 am.
Oh, that brought tears to my eyes!! Robin, what a sweet, perfect story.
Just based on that, I think you’re going to love Sorority Sisters. I hope so!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:05 am.
New release!!!! Congrats and may it hit the best seller list…
I met my 2 best friends when I started college… I was in my usual corner reading a book as usual when these 2 girls walked up to me and said, “We’ve been watching you for a week now and you’re always reading. We’re friends now so you should sit with us and read.” 20 years hence, they’re still my absolute best friends…
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:18 am.
Oh and my elder sister…. We HATED each other straight thru till adolescence. Hated as in we used to hit, bite, scratch each other…. Then we hit college and almost overnight (it seems now) we became best friends.
I’ve been doubly blessed. I have best friends from both – family and choice…
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:28 am.
OMG! That’s perfect! A friendship of READERS. LOL
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:06 am.
Congrats on the book release.
My sisters are my best friends. We don’t live close or even in the same states, but when we talk, we talk!
I have two really close girlfriends I met on FB. I’ve never met either of them in person but I love them both. Jo in Oregon and I talk almost everyday about everything and anything.I call her my “daughter” and I (& DH) think the world of her. Kim in Colorado is like another sister to me. We connected in a “cosmic” way from the first time we talked. And when we talk it’s like sisters; for hours!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:21 am.
These internet friendships are the Big Surprise of the World Wide Web. Did anyone think this was going to happen when they invented the personal computer? It wasn’t on my radar, that’s for sure. But I’ve also made dear friends on the internet. Real friends. True friends. It never ceases to amaze me.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:08 am.
Congratulations on your debut in this new arena!
I met my dearest friends in RWA and online, on a now defunct online community, Genie.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:33 am.
Thank you, Barbara. It is a new venture, with a new name to go with it! I’m equally terrified and excited, as a result I’ve completely lost my appetite—which goes down in the Plus Column. LOL
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:09 am.
I met my oldest and best friend the day she was born: she is actually my sister!
Before she was 18 we did not get on very well, due to the difference in age (I was almost 5 years older). That changed when we planned a trip to Norway for just the two of us. Our parents thought we’d fight all the way, but hello, we got along very well and had lots of fun.
Since neither of us got married, we both stayed in the house that’s been in our family for generations and still live together.
In many ways we are like a married couple. We just have to look at one another to know what we think, we share more or less the same views on important matter, and we even share the money we earn (everything goes into the pot, and that we use for all we need).
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:57 am.
That’s amazing! What a lovely story of family bonds. I hope for just that with my children.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:10 am.
Congratulations on your release day, Claudia!! That sounds like a fantastic story, so I’m going to get that one.
I have very few Sisters of my Heart, and I like it that way. They each represent a different part of me.
One sister I have had since I was in 8th grade and we are the trivia and game friends. We play trivia and puzzle games like nobody’s business…you better be brave if you want to take us on! In most cases, what she doesn’t know, I know, and vice versa.
Our dream would be to go on Wheel of Fortune… *sigh* As long as the wheel was nice, we would rake in the bucks! I think they are too scared of us to have us on though!
Another sister appeals to the book lover, history nut and Anglophile in me.
We both have European ancestry and we LOVE to read, so we can sit in companionable silence and just read together without either of us feeling the need to clutter the silence with inane conversation. We can go to all of the little antique shops or flea markets in small neighboring towns and spend all day. Or, we can chat for HOURS about all things UK.
Then, I have my sports sis. We talk sports–football, baseball, basketball, etc. The only problem is that, being from RI, she is a Pats and Yankees fan….and I love my Texas teams. It’s usually fun during those games when they are playing each other. We also have similar taste in movies and love to catch matinees together and we both love to cook.
I’m very blessed to have those three sisters that blend with those different facets of my personality. Then, I also have my daughter, and I love hanging out with her also. We love to watch Food Network and HGTV…Cupcake Wars, Chopped, House Hunters and House Hunters International, Food Network Star, Design Star, etc.
Plus we love Disney movies and we just like taking in movies together as well.
Congratulations again, Claudia!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:22 am.
Thank you, Julie! I’m very excited about this book—it’s really has been a labor of love.
I think it’s great that you have so many dear friends and that they reflect different facets of your personality. How restful!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:47 am.
Enjoy your new release day! I can’t wait to read the book.
My best friend lived next door to me since I was 6 years old. We have gone through everything together and a couple (cough) years ago we celebrated our 40th anniversary as friends with two weeks in Hawaii (without the men). We chat every Saturday morning (she is still in Wisconsin)and nothing will break us apart.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:24 am.
That two weeks sounds like it was SO much fun, Kez! I honestly think my house would fall apart if I left the hub to his own devices for two whole weeks. It would likely take me two weeks to set it to rights when I got back.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:47 am.
Oh, my gosh!! That’s remarkable and lovely and heart-warming! It’s downright inspiring! I think you’re going to enjoy Sorority Sisters–it will speak to your life experience.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:49 am.
I have been waiting for this book! Congratulations!
I have a friend that says I told her a dirty joke in kindergarten that resulted in her being seated in the hall for a while. (How dirty could it have been?:)) We’ve been best friends ever since!
I also have a couple of friends that kind of appeared in my life when I seem to have needed them the most, whether I knew it or not. I was very athletic in school. Unfortunately I tore my ACL during a basketball game my sophomore year. Needless to say the surgeries that ensued we not successful. I spent most of my junior and senior years on crutches. Looking back at it now I’m sure I was depressed, but my field hockey and softball coach kept me involved in sports any way she could. She even made me assistant coach my senior year. After graduation she introduced me to her recreational softball team, where I became close friends with a couple more people. Even though we are six hundred miles away from each other I still talk to them and meet up with them any chance I get. I do not have real sisters, but these gals make up for it in every way possible. Our friendships have lasted over twenty plus years. Twenty plus years of laughs, tears, and everything else that goes with it! I am lucky!
Best of luck to you, Claudia. I’m purchasing it today!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:32 am.
ROFL!! What a way to start a friendship! What kind of jokes did we know in kindergarten? “What’s black and white and . . .” that was my entire repertoire. LOL
Oh, I love hearing your story of support and laughter and just catching you up and carrying you along. That’s friendship.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 9:51 am.
I cannot WAIT to read this book. It’s currently at BAM waiting for me to pick it up!
Such a great subject to write about! I met my best friends in high school through the state 4-H program. We didn’t live anywhere close to each other geographically, but most of us did go to the same college.
They’re the most wonderful group of women I’ve ever come across–and am so thankful we met. A few years ago my dad passed away–the funeral was ginormous, so we really couldn’t tell who was there, etc. When we were at the grave-site service, I was sitting by my mom, and we happened to look over and saw all of them walking side by side over the hill at the cemetery towards us. It was the perfect moment for me–Mom nailed it when she said “that looks like a scene out of a movie!”. They make an impression, and I love them! Thanks so much for writing about this subject–you’ve made me very sentimental this morning (OBVIOUSLY!).
Have a good one–and Happy Release Day!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:01 am.
Oh, Haley! That’s beautiful! Friendship is like that, is supposed to be like that. I love hearing stories like yours. Simply beautiful.
Thank you for ordering Sorority Sisters! I think it will right up your alley.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:40 am.
i met my best friend when i was just starting 7th grade. we just moved in across the street from her and i was out riding my bike up and down the street. well she was outside with another friend she had and they were making fun of me. and we argued and didnt care for each other, but once school started we became the best of friends and have been for over 20 years.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:12 am.
LOL I’m glad you found each other! Your friendship ‘courtship’ sounds a bit like a romance novel!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:42 am.
Claudia, how I love your wedding picture!
Sorority Sisters may just be MY KIND of book, as books about friendships are my favorites (over romance!), IF you can guarantee that no one dies
(It’s like, you promise no one dies, I promise to pick it up, lol!)
Last Saturday I had my birthday party. One of my friends from University said she went to another party last weekend and there was only two people. And mine there were over 40, so many, we had to add an extra table to the five we already had. She asked me why, and I didn’t know how to answer that. I just have A LOT of friends. And most of these friends come from school. I have a group of friends that come all the way from 6th Grade, when I changed schools. I was new there, and though shy, I decided I was going to be loud and fit in, so, I started talking to the loudest and most scandalous girl of all. Thirteen years later she’s still the loudest and most scandalous, and we’re still best friends. Over the years, many girls have joined our group. We’re eight. A few have left. We stayed. Then, one my University friends said, “I don’t have any friends from school.” And I just can’t imagine my life without mine.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:39 am.
LOL B, that’s not my wedding photo. That’s a photo of me the day I pledged my sorority—but they do look similar, don’t they? I was 18 in that photo.
No promises. The story covers 25 years, after all. No promises made of any kind.
It’s so great you have so many friends! Happy Birthday!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:44 am.
Not picking up the book, then, sorry
I don’t read to love and lose :/ Shame, though. I think I’d really like that.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:42 am.
You like what you like.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:57 pm.
Congratulations on your new release!
I have some friends that I have known for a long time, but I think with all my moving about, we grew apart. I have newer friends that I have made along the way that have become special to me, though I am sure that group will change a bit again with yet another out of state move. The ones Ihave kept in touch with are still there and we chat like we have never been apart, but it is not the same. If that makes an sense.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:55 am.
It’s hard when people move. Moving itself takes so much out of you! It’s stressful.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:58 pm.
Congrats on the your release of Sorotity Girls. Sounds wonderful. I’ll be adding it to my list for sure.
I have a few great friends one of which I meet in the 7th grade during studyhall. We should of been being studying our homework but we talked for the whole hour and have not stopped talking since! LOL
I have another great friend who I meet on the internet on a book page. I have never meet her and lives in Indiana, but she is an amazing woman and I’m glad to call her a friend.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:03 am.
I love that you met in study hall! Not what the teachers had in mind, right? But you’re the richer for it!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:59 pm.
I have a good friend I met in college, reconnected with a few high school friends on FB, but the closest friends I have now I met in a play group about 11 years ago…made other friends through my kids’s schools. One of my cousins is close to me, too. We call each other “sister-cousins”.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:14 am.
Oh, that is so sweet! I love that.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:59 pm.
Wait! I forgot to wish you best of luck with Sorority Sisters. I’ll be dl’ing it tonight. It sounds like something the book group will enjoy, some of them being sorority girls. I’ll let you know if they “green light” it. Congratulations on this new venture!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:18 am.
Oh, thank you, Fresh! I really appreciate that. There are questions in the back of the book, designed for book clubs. I’m available for phone conferencing if you guys want!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:01 pm.
Best wishes on your new release, Claudia. I hope it’s a bestseller on all the lists. I have a place reserved for it on my Kindle.
I’ve been fortunate to have four close friends. The first lasted from ninth grade until we were in our thirties when distance and life’s problems drew us apart. The second began on a plane ride to California with a woman I’d known before but never taken the time to really understand. Our friendship lasted for several years until she moved to Hawaii and we lost touch. Friend number three used to be my boss when I was a pharmacy technician. We’re still close and appreciate each other’s sense of humor and life’s desires. My BFF lives in my building and we’ve been friends for several years now. We share a love of baseball, although she favors the Yankees over my Mets, a love of books, and The Walking Dead. She pulled me into that one. HaHa She cooks for me to meet the specifications of my renal diet that could only be a labor of love. She’s the best of the best.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:19 am.
Isn’t it tough? Distance can really be the biggest issue in trying to maintain friendships. The internet really helps with that.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:02 pm.
The Internet is wonderful, but I can’t find either one of my two lost friends.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:25 pm.
My two oldest friends and I met through our parents, who belong to the same organziztion. We have been friends for over 30yrs and have been there for each other through all the good times and bad times. We have added a few more friends along the way to our “Merry Little Band” of gal pals. We have had many a good time together and we always, always try our hardest, beceause we all live a distance aways from one another now, to get together for our “Gal Pal” weekend. even if it’s only two or three of us.. It still counts..
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 11:22 am.
Gal Pals! I love it! It’s so great that you still work at getting together. It’s never easy.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:03 pm.
My oldest best friend is my younger sister, who’s 4 years younger than me. It’s always been that way. I was her favorite person when she was born. Unintentionally, it’s left our sister whose between us feeling left out. She’s a lot different than us. Since the 3 of us are “the redheads” as our baby sister refers to us, there are a TON of pictures of the 3 of us together. The middle sister is almost always standing a little bit away, while the younger sister and I are always close – hugging, holding hands, etc.
My other oldest best friends are from elementary and middle school. We don’t get to see each other much, but when we do it feels like time hasn’t past at all.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:24 pm.
That happens sometimes between siblings. I think it’s great that you and your younger sister are so close–some personalities just mesh more easily than others.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:04 pm.
I’ve know my oldest, dearest friend since we were both in 7th grade, but we became good friends in 10th grade, and best friends by 12th grade. So that’s 30 years now. Wow.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 12:57 pm.
Wow! That’s awesome! You’ve been friends forever!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:04 pm.
I’ve met my nearest, dearest friends at all stages. One is my best friend from high school. Another is one I met when I started writing. Another I met in the middle of my public service stint. And of course, my real sisters, who are closer to me than anyone else.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 2:08 pm.
That’s lovely. You have your whole life represented.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 4:46 pm.
My oldest friend I met in fourth grade. She didn’t speak any English (her family had managed to escape Castro’s Cuba), and she seemed so lost. We live in different states now, but when we talk, it’s like we saw each other yesterday.
My next oldest friend gave me a place to stay until I could get settled when I first moved to Annapolis to be closer to my sweetheart. She, married her midshipman 37 years ago yesterday, I married mine 37 years ago tomorrow, and she was in my wedding party. Through deployments, pregnancies, illnesses, and everything in between, we’ve been friends. In fact, I wrote my first book because of something she said. The book is feeding the roses. The friendship lives on.
Dear bud #3 I met when my son dated her daughter. Just yesterday we realized we’ve been buds for two decades now. The kids split. We didn’t.
And then there is my CP, the newest in my cadre of dear friends. Serendipity brought us together, the parallels in our lives smoothed the road (and sometimes amaze us), and the things we share oil the wheels.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 2:49 pm.
So many people, so many connections! I’m still close friends with the mother of the boy Only Girl dated more than a decade ago. It’s nice when that works out.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 4:48 pm.
Hi girls. Congratulation on your new book Claudia. :Ö)
To be honest, I´ve never been good at making friends. My
best girlfriends will always be my three sisters (one older, two younger). We have been through a lot together and I thank
God every day that we all get along very well 95% of the time :Ö)
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 4:34 pm.
You have your friends in your sisters! That counts.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 4:49 pm.
That´s good to hear :Ö) You also look very beautiful in your gown :Ö) I don´t think I wore a dress (or a skirt) the whole 3,5 years I was in college XÖD
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 5:30 pm.
My sisters are among my best friends. Then I have some friends I knew in grade school, and a couple that have lasted since college. One of my best friends I met when I first moved here and our kids were both little–I think we met in a Moms’ group.
Big congrats on the book! How exciting to reach the big day with it.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 6:01 pm.
Thanks, Madeline. I’m excited.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:04 pm.
Good luck with the book. Have not seen it in a store yet.
No biological sister, had a sister-in-law for 18 years.
She worked for my family’s business for 11 years.
My best friend I met on the school bus in high school. She worked for my family from May 2006 – March 2010. We even had her mom work for us the first summer.
Since my mom passed, I spend Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day weekends with her family.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 8:54 pm.
Oh, what a lovely friend! She’s your sister in every way that counts.
I sure hope you can find the book! Figures that they’ve hidden it in the stockroom.
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:05 pm.
College. I am still friends with many people I knew then, and I hope I always will be.
I have your book, Claudia! And I’m READY TO READ, too!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:18 pm.
I met mine at a pig roast in college 30 years ago!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:37 pm.
As I type, my sister (blood and sorority) is being helped hrough a divorce by multiple sororrity sisters. I wish I could be more there for her, but some of our (mutual sororityI) sisters have personal experience which is helping her more than I (blood sister) could. Thank you Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha!
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 10:40 pm.