Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2013

Thanksgiving. Seriously. (19 years ago today, I was diagnosed with #lymphoma)

Nov 28, 1994, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and told I should not expect to live more than 5 years. My kids were 5 and 7. Getting my first book published was still a pipe dream. My husband Gary Rodgers was my life raft. Nov 28, 2013, I'm still here, my kids are grown and gorgeous, 7 of my first 14 books are NYT bestsellers, and the Gare Bear and I recently celebrated our 30th anniversary. Life is good, and I am profoundly grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Colleen Thompson's serial thriller THE BEST VICTIM = #YesPlease (with a bullet!)

Colleen Thompson is doing what she does best in her new serial thriller, The Best Victim , taking us back to the intense emotion, taut plotting, and eerie atmospherics that makes critics to invoke Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen. Smart serial publishing by Amazon's Montlake imprint doles the story out one tantalizing episode at a time at a price that's easy to click. The timely story is just the right amount of gruesome: a vicious online stalker called the Troll King gets his jollies by relentlessly dogging vulnerable young women until they commit suicide. And that can really piss a big sister off... I've been waiting for the series to launch, which it did today! BAM. Check it out!

#2MinRevu CITY OF LOST DREAMS by Magnus Flyte = magical, mystical nerd-a-palooza

City of Lost Dreams is the magical mystical sequel to City of Dark Magic , which I raved on and recommended last year . Drawing on the art, music and history of Vienna, it follows the adventures of Sarah, a young musicologist on a mission to help her friend, a pianist with a sixth sense. Terrifically spirited (pun intended), well-written, and intelligent. I ended up babbling a bit when I tried to sum up the complex plot, but trust me, it works. Highly recommending you read City of Dark Magic first.

What I learned when I learned to play the piano (from the Earth to Joni archives)

Tomorrow morning, piano movers are coming to pick up the vintage Acrosonic piano that's lived in our dining room for about 15 years. Esmerelda, as I called her, will be going to a wonderful family, and Gary and I will be one step closer to our goal of owning nothing larger than a suitcase. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I thought I'd share a tidbit from Earth to Joni, my syndicated column of yore. This piece originally ran in newspapers in January 2003. The Piano Lesson On my twenty-first birthday, I made a list of goals for the next twenty years. Approaching my forty-first birthday last week, I had to accept that I was not going to Harley across India, learn to speak French, or procure a third child by Wednesday. Fortunately, I came in just under the wire on one item. At this unlikely age, I’m learning to play piano. We purchased the secondhand spinet two years ago, envisioning our 12-year-old daughter Jerusha thundering Bach and Rach. Unbelievably, Lil' Miss Bad Seed had the n...

The Best Victim Begins November 26th

If you're like me, there are a few special shows you're so hooked on, you tune in every week and never miss an episode. My next full-length romantic thriller, The Best Victim , will be released in that same fashion, with each weekly episode ending in cliff-hanger fashion, beginning with Episode One's release on Nov. 26th. Here's the cover copy, to whet your appetite: You don’t deserve to live. The ugly words delivered online finally hit their mark. The younger sister of web security specialist Lauren Miller took the taunts to heart—and took her own life. Devastated, introverted Lauren has nowhere else to turn but the arms of a man who shares a similar pain…and a burning need for vengeance. FBI agent Brent Durant is determined to unmask the Troll King, a vicious Internet stalker he suspects of preying on the weak, goading his victims into suicide. Victims like Lauren’s sister. Working off the grid as a rogue agent, Brent risks it all—even his freedom—to bait...

THE POETS LAUREATE ANTHOLOGY educates, entertains, and on occasion, confuses

As a record of poetry,  The Poets Laureate Anthology  is groundbreaking, charting the course of American poetry over the last seventy-five years, while being, at the same time, a pleasure to read, full of some of the world’s best-known poems and many new surprises. Elizabeth Hun Schmidt has gathered and introduced poems by each of the forty-three poets who have been named our nation’s poets laureate since the post (originally called Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress) was established in 1937. Poets range from Robert Pinsky, William Carlos Williams, and Elizabeth Bishop to Charles Simic, Billy Collins, and Rita Dove. Schmidt’s spirited introductions place the poets and their poems in historical and literary context and shine light on the interesting and often uneasy relationship between politics and art. This is an inviting, monumental collection for everyone’s library, containing much of the best poetry written in America over the last century. 43 black-and-white ...

ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME by Julie Berry is like Speak meets The Crucible

Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.

ELEMENTS OF STYLE by Strunk & White is the best book to have on your shelf

Every English writer knows Strunk and White's  The Elements of Style . The book’s mantra, make every word tell, is still on point. This much-loved classic, now in its fourth edition, will forever be the go-to guide when in need of a hint to make a turn of phrase clearer or a reminder on how to enliven prose with the active voice. The only style manual to ever appear on bestseller lists has explained to millions of readers the basic principals of plain English, and Maira Kalman’s fifty-seven exquisite illustrations give the revered work a jolt of new energy, making the learning experience more colorful and clear.

MARCH Book One by John Lewis aims to get youth politically involved

MARCH is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.  Book One spans John Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.  Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

Help Me Celebrate Another Book Birthday: The Colton Heir

I hope you'll help me celebrate another book birthday! Today's the long-awaited release for my latest Harlequin Romantic Suspense, The Colton Heir.   This book is #5 of 6 in the popular Coltons of Wyoming miniseries, and although it stands alone, I think you'll enjoy the others just as much as I have! It was so wonderful, working with so many talented authors and our amazing editor, Patience Bloom, on these stories. Book One: The Colton Ransom, by Marie Ferrarella Book Two: Colton by Blood, by Melissa Cutler Book Three: The Missing Colton, by Loreth Ann White Book Four: The Colton Bride, by Carla Cassidy And don't miss next month's exciting conclusion to the series: Book Six: Colton Christmas Rescue, by Beth Cornelison One final note: Today is the release of the e-book edition. Paperbacks should be in stores by Tuesday, Nov. 5th.