For Bookclubs

CJ loves to talk books! She’s available to visit your bookclub in person if she’s in town, as well as via telephone or Skype. If your bookclub would like to host CJ, contact her at cjlyonsbooks@gmail.com

CJ also has bookmarks and bookplates available to bookclubs, just let her know what you need!

AND, CJ is now on Book Club Queen’s site with info on both LIFELINES and WARNING SIGNS.

LIFELINES’ Discussion Guide:

• As a pediatric emergency medicine physician, CJ Lyons lived the life she writes about in LIFELINES. How do her real life experiences bleed through into the fictional world of Angels of Mercy Medical Center? Did you find LIFELINES to feel authentic without becoming too technical? Did the medical details detract or enhance the novel?

• LIFELINES follows the stories of four women. How do they compare and contrast? How do they become each other’s lifelines through the bonds of friendship formed during the novel? Where do you see their relationships going?

• Lydia Fiore is a scarred and flawed hero. What psychological price does she pay when she gets involved with the people she discovers in her new city? What reward does she reap? Is it worth the price?

• Matthew and Ezekiel both act from the same motivation, a desire to fulfill Sarah’s dream. How does their love for Sarah become tainted by their own agendas? How do their actions contrast and compare with the actions of Lydia’s mother when she was young?

• CJ Lyons has said that her inspiration for LIFELINES’ plot was a photo depicting an elderly VFW member, a decorated soldier who had shed blood for this country, holding a sign at a gay-rights protest. The sign read: Freedom includes the right to hate. How does this theme impact the novel’s plot? Does it resonate with society today?