After all, there is no better time to love again than Christmas.
~ From Twisted River (Hope or High Water Book 2)
Latest News
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I spent the past few weeks completing last minute shopping, spending time with all sides of our family (three days of craziness and fun!), and celebrating Christ’s birth at our church on Christmas day. We even had a wonderful surprise of nearly seventy degree weather, giving our family some much needed time outdoors including an energetic battle with cloth snowballs. I also presented about my books at the Stephens College Alumnae Club’s holiday luncheon, having the opportunity to meet and chat with so many wonderful women from my alma mater. Honestly, it’s been so busy that I haven’t had time any time for reading, let alone editing Broken Lines. But this weekend I plan to battle through at least ten more chapters, catching up to my planned timeline.
Speaking of which, in last month’s newsletter I announced that Broken Lines now has a publication date of April 25, 2020. Well, there’s even more good news this month—a cover reveal and pre-order link! This cover took far longer to design than the first two books, requiring several versions (and meticulous editing) before finally settling on the one you see below. In fact, I purchased, mocked up covers for, and returned three separate outfits before I finally located this maroon dress. Luckily, my perseverance paid off as the style fits the main character, Amara, perfectly. One of the advantages of being an indie author though is the ability to make changes, so I welcome your feedback on the current design.
Ebooks are available for pre-order via this link, so make sure to grab yours today. Unfortunately, I am unable to mark the paperback for pre-order just yet, but there will definitely be one available. More details to come in future newsletters!
And if you’re visiting my newsletter for the first time, welcome! You can read the full description of my third novel here.
Recommended Reads
This month’s recommended read is perfect for historical fiction and contemporary fiction lovers alike. Reminiscent of The DaVinci Code and National Treasure, Anne Fortier’s Juliet weaves a tale of intrigue that beautifully merges historical fact with fiction. Julie Jacobs, a no-name American with a love of Romeo and Juliet, receives a summons from her late aunt to go to Sienna, Italy and reclaim the contents of Julie’s mother’s safe deposit box. Inside she discovers that not only is Romeo and Juliet’s story true, but her given name is actually Guilietta Tolomei, directly descended from the house of Juliet. The family feud is still brewing, the curse is still upon both their houses, and only deciphering her family’s secret past can save her future. But if she’s Juliet, where is Romeo? And, when she finds him, will he be cast as the true hero or another cleverly disguised villain?
At first, I’ll admit I wasn’t completely convinced by this novel. The first two days I only made it through 70 pages. My eyes were blurring in an attempt to keep the abundance of Italian names straight. But then something magical happened around page 100 and I couldn’t put it down, finishing the remaining 340 pages in two days. You can tell the author spent a considerable amount of time researching this novel, and I recommend that readers not skip her end note acknowledgements. The writing contains some dense descriptions like scenes from Tolkien, yet lyrical using descriptors that I could only hope to dredge from my mind while writing. I loved the author’s ability to tell two different stories side by side (Julie in modern day and Guiletta in 1340) and hold the reader entranced in both worlds.
IMDB lists the cinematic version of this novel as “Pre-Production.” I hope they decide to move this to production soon; it would make for a wonderful film!
For more information on Anne’s books, visit http://www.annefortier.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.
It feels like this summer flew by, doesn’t it? Much of my time this month has been spent getting back into the swing of regular school days and the excitement of matron of honor duties for my friend’s upcoming wedding. For part of her bachelorette party, we painted wooden signs, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.
A Man Called Smith
