“You can do this, little girl,” he said. “You will be a good mother.”
“But how, Father? How can I be a mother when I’ve had no mother to guide me?”
With a kiss to her brow, he smiled. “Never say that. Always be thankful for your mother, even if all she taught you was who not to be.”
~ From Twisted River (Hope or High Water Book 2)
Latest News
Yes, you read that right—Broken Lines is finished and off for beta reader review! But I’m not taking a break. This is the month to clear my mind so I can start final edits with fresh eyes on March 1. In the meantime, I am re-reading Across Oceans and Twisted River as a refresher, making notes of anything I might have overlooked while writing Broken Lines and tying up loose ends for the next and final book in the series. Continuity is key! I’m also starting the task of requesting library research materials and hopefully will get through another fictional read just for fun if time allows. In the coming months, I’m eagerly anticipating the opportunity to advance read new material from some of my favorite authors, and can’t wait to share my reviews with you all. So if you’re wondering why you don’t see me on social media as much, I simply don’t have a breath to spare! I promise I’ll always report on the important things though and if you ever have a question or comment, e-mail me. I check my messages nearly every day.
Recommended Reads
Some people can’t stand retellings, but when done correctly, I think they’re wonderful. It’s always interesting to see a well known story with a different imagining. Chanda Hahn’s Of Beast and Beauty is the first in a series of fairytale retellings around Lady Eville, a literal witch of a mother who plans to use her magical daughters to extract revenge against the seven kingdoms. She sends her beautiful daughter, Rosalie, off to marry Xander, a beast of a prince, in order to take down his kingdom from within. Little do they know that no plan is without fault, secrets run deeper than the blood their truth can draw, and everyone is wearing a mask … but whose true colors will be revealed first? From the minute of Rosalie and Xander’s first meeting, I enjoyed that the author didn’t conceal that they were both up to no good. They each had their own selfish motives and I’m not sure she actually wrote their characters to be likeable. Yet it didn’t take long before I actually liked them both. The historical fantasy world Chanda Hahn creates is quite believable, and the banter between the characters kept me interested and sometimes guessing. Being a retelling, I assumed at some point everything would turn around, they would get their act together, and finally become honorable rulers. But did they? You’ll just have to read and find out. All I’ll say is the story definitely had a couple twists to the usual tale, and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.
For more information on Chanda Hahn’s books, visit: https://www.chandahahn.com/
Upcoming Events
University City Library Local Author Event – February 25, 2020
Broken Lines Book Launch – April 25, 2020 – Location TBD
St. Charles City-County Library Local Author Fair – Spring 2020 – Date TBD
ACFW Conference Storyfest – September 18-19, 2020 (Please note, I will be attending this event as a reader and will not have a sale table. However, I would love to meet up with any readers on a one-off basis. Please send me a message.)
Do you know of an organization, book club, fair, coffee shop, book store, etc. that would be interested in hosting an author talk, book signing, or needs an event speaker? I would love to meet some new faces! If so, send me a note via the contact page.
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I love a good time travel novel. It’s one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately, most of them simply fall short. But when I started reading Lisa T. Bergren’s River of Time series about two 21st-century sisters who are transported to 14th-century Italy through the remains of an ancient Etruscan tomb, I blew through all five books within the month. Since I spend a LOT of time reading about the early 20th century, I don’t often find myself choosing a novel set during the middle ages, and I definitely learned some interesting new facts about the time period. If you read the author’s notes at the end of each novel, you’ll learn that she spent tons of time in research, actually traveling to Italy to experience it firsthand.
This month’s main event was PennedCon, 190 authors and around 1,000 readers coming together to raise money for charity. Thank you to everyone who came out for the conference, whether you purchased my books or not. This year you helped raise $13,366 for Action for Autism. More incredible, on the final day of the conference, an anonymous donor matched that amount for a total of $26,732, bringing the conference’s six year total to over $89,000! That’s simply amazing! We’re helping change children’s lives all through love of reading.
With Halloween coming up next month, I decided to feature The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Part murder mystery, part ghost story, this dual timeline novel follows journalist Fiona Sheridan in 2014 as she searches for answers to her sister’s murder over twenty years ago. Juxtaposed with her story is that of four friends in 1950 at Idlewild Hall, a boarding school for troubled girls and also the location of Fiona’s sister’s murder. Although the convicted killer sits in jail for the crime, Fiona can’t shake the feeling that there is more to the story. As she digs deeper into the mystery, she discovers long buried secrets within the school and learns that she may not be the only one seeking justice.
I also jumped into my PennedCon purchases this past week. Wanting something fun, I chose Chris Cannon’s The Dating Debate, the first in her Dating Dilemmas series. In short, it’s about Nina, a teenage girl who doesn’t believe in Valentine’s Day, loves books, and is searching for someone who is fluent in Harry-Potter-nerd-speak. And wouldn’t you know, the perfect guy just happens to live next door! Nina and West are cute and humorous together and have some equally entertaining sidekick friends (who are the leads in the next book). Although most of the novel is not mentally taxing, the author does address the issue of mental illness through West’s mother’s hoarding. The scenes where he discusses how her illness influences his life actually took me by surprise and were some of the most moving of the book.
