Remember Us//Debut Novel

Hi friends!

For those of you who have been following our journey for awhile you’ll have heard bits and pieces of this story and the updated punchline is: my (Laynie’s) book Remember Us (which I co-wrote with my friend Lindsay) is now officially for sale!

(In Canada you can get it at Chapters and in America you can get it through Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, etc.. …as well as independent bookstores - support local when you can!)

Writing has been a little dream of mine for many, many years and it’s been humbling to see this little experiment turn into something I can hold in my hands. (In much the same way it used to be incredibly special to hold a newspaper with my photos in my hands, holding this book is so satisfying - tangible proof of all the long and exhausting hours we put into this creative project.)

We’ve had so much support and encouragement along the way and we are nothing but GRATEFUL. Thanks everyone who has believed in us along the way.

AND for any of you who are in a book club or want to start a book club or know someone in a book club…Lindsay and I have made a goal to visit 100 book clubs who have read our book this year.

Here’s the full excerpt from our website:

We are excited to announce the Blake & Beckner 100 Book Club Challenge!

We are challenging ourselves to meet with 100 Book Clubs that choose to read Remember Us to discuss and answer any questions. 

Layne and I (Lindsay) will make ourselves available to you, our reading audience. If possible, we are happy to come in person! Layne lives in Southern Ontario but visits her home state of Kentucky regularly, and Lindsay lives in Omaha, Nebraska. If it’s not possible to meet in person, we would love to Facetime or Skype in to your group with our own glass of wine in hand.

We will post about each Book Club experience on our blog!

Remember Us has a page of Book Club discussion questions (don’t read beforehand!!!! …if you insist, even knowing there are spoilers, well then, that’s on you.)

So if you are part of a book club, starting a book club, considering joining a book club, or looking for your next read for your book club, please keep Remember Us and Blake & Beckner in mind.

Would your Book Club help us reach our 100? Email us at lindsayblake@gmail.com or thelaynejames@gmail.com to have us visit your book club. Let’s make a date!

Thanks, as always, for your help and support on this journey. We wouldn’t have made it this far without you! 

An Advent of Books//Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve over here and we’ve opened The Very Last Advent book - appropriately ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Baby is now the happy owner of 25 new books, a whole new library that has cumulatively been THE BEST GIFT EVER. We’ve loved opening some classics and learning about some children’s books we didn’t know about before.

We will remember this forever and are so, so grateful for the amazing group of people who made this happen! A special thanks to Susan and Sarah who spearheaded the organization of it!

Seeing so many of our friends come together to gift us something so huge has been incredibly meaningful and special and we hope to pay it forward in the years to come.

So here’s for a season of giving and loving. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

xo.