A great read -- and more Justine! If ever a character deserved to jump the turnstile and take off with her own book, it's smart, funny, compassionate Justine Wofford, who first showed up in Colleen Thompson's "Beneath Bone Lake." As always, Thompson delivers the goods with engaging characters, zingy dialogue, great atmosphere, and plot that makes like a freight train.
Don't let the cheesy clinch cover fool you. (Or do!) This book has a lot more grit than the average romance. Or romance novel.
Originally posted on Amazon.com as Joni L. Rodgers
Beneath every innocent small town, with its friendly faces, the familiarity of family, and the comfort of acquaintances known since childhood, exists an alternate world of greed, gossip, petty jealousy, and personal failures that can easily slide into a touch of evil.
Sheriff Justine Wofford's personal failures have left her alone raising her nine-year-old, autistic son, Noah. She also finds herself under investigation by Texas Rangers when financial problems prompt her to accept without question extraneous funds that appear in her late husband's bank account. Too late does she realize the good `ole boy network of business men in Dogwood, Texas expect a return on their investment in the form of awarded county budget contracts and her "looking the other way" when necessary.
She's even blown the only good thing to come into her life recently, Dr. Ross Bollinger, an emergency room doctor who won Noah's trust and Justine's heart. But he broke it off with her after a torrid, six-week affair, leaving her once again alone.
A rash of hangings at Bone Lake, which appear to be suicides, leaves Justine with little time to focus on anything but her job, which includes butting heads with her red-necked deputies who believe the sheriff should be a man.
Ross Bollinger has been away for several months, incapacitated with a heart virus, and is shocked to find that his young cousin Laney has not only lost her boyfriend, but is the only surviving member of her zydeco band, the others all dreadfully dead by their own hand. When Laney is threatened, and Justine is attacked, Ross must again deal with his feelings for the town's sheriff, a woman who refused to give him anything but hot sex when he wanted so much more.
Justine doesn't believe the hangings are suicides, and will not close the files. Instead, she broadens her investigation, checking for similar deaths in the state, looking for any signs of foul play. When a deputy is shot, and her young son is threatened, the sheriff will risk all to solve the crime, including life and love.
Colleen Thompson has written the quintessential romantic suspense novel, filled with mystery and intrigue, situations that shimmer with ambiguity, only to come into clear focus when explained, and a romance filled with impossible conflicts overcome by the intensity, heat and emotion of true love. This is an exciting page-turner, with a stomach clenching climax and a sigh-of-relief ending.
A few weeks ago, I posted my home-brewed book preview video for my brand spanking-new (as of today) release, Touch of Evil. After checking it out, several people asked me how to do it, so I thought I'd share what I've learned about the process.
This isn't meant to be expert or in-depth advice, just a few quick tips to get you do-it-yourselfers started. I also don't mean to hold up my book video skills as a super-fabulous example but as an illustration of some of the techniques I describe. (And if you're inspired to rush out and buy my new book, so much the better. I'll cop to that.)
1. If you're running Windows XP or higher (I'm presuming it's still on Vista and Win7), you should have a program on board called Windows Movie Maker. Here's a link from Microsoft to help you get started. Or if you want something more basic, try Wendy Russell's About.com post here.
Or if you're like me and hate reading instructions, open the program and start playing with it, then look up the questions that come up as you're floundering through the process.
2. Come up with a very brief, provocative way to share your story's hook. Looking at movie trailers, TV listings, and other book preview videos (there are tons on Youtube) will give you an idea what you should be after. Hint: Words are not your friend here. Get rid of every one you can.
3. Think about what images will best get across your message. Then legally obtain them. It's fine for you to use your book's cover art to promote your book. That's the way it's licensed. What's not cool is lifting material without permission and using it in your video. There are many places to find stock photos online, from istockphoto to Getty Images to many, many more. Prices vary widely, so be sure to shop around - and don't get carried away with too many images. Instead, focus on a very few to improve their impact. (You can use Moviemaker's special effects to add interest, as I've done here by using color shifts and zoom.
4. Find and purchase the right to use a piece of music that conveys the mood/tone you want in a compelling way. I recommend Productiontrax.com but there are many others out there. Just type royalty free music or royalty free production music into your favorite search engine. And don't confuse "royalty free" with "free." You will need to pay a set fee (varies from about $9.99 to $99.99 or more, depending on your choice) to avoid paying a royalty each time the file is accessed.
5. Remember, keep your "commercial" short. You just want to entice viewers with a taste, not risk losing their attention. And simple's best, too, or you risk losing your message with too many fancy tricks.
6. Check, recheck, and check some more with your friends (beta-testers.) Tweak as necessary before posting the file to your website, blog, favorite online bookseller, publishers, social networking site, and/or Youtube.
Though you can save money and have fun (if you enjoy this sort of thing, as I do) there are many compelling reasons to hire the pros to create a book preview video for you. (One of the best I know of, Circle of Seven Productions, has packages at many different price points, starting at $350. Check 'em out.) If you do decide to do your own, take extra care to avoid a cheesy look with 1. too much telling, 2. badly-handled use of images/effects, 3. self-aggrandizing over-selling 4. excessive length, and you can find your book video preview one more great tool for introducing readers to your book.
For the last few days, I've been working on my own book video preview for my upcoming romantic thriller, Touch of Evil (Lovespell, March 2010.) It's been an intriguing exercise, full of technical challenges, visual and audio choices, and the boiling down of close to one hundred thousand words of text into one minute that captures the novel's tone, central conflict, and heroine in what I hope is an appealing and memorable package.
In other words, it's storytelling in a completely different format. I opted to stay away from self-agrandizing author credits and quotes from some of the (lovely, thank goodness) reviews the book has so far garnered, and stick to what I hope potential readers want to see while keeping my message as concise as possible.
Update: I've revised the video to get rid of the scrolling text and added a neat effect in the final frames. Hopefully, this one will be a bit smoother. Thanks so much for all your feedback!
This week, I've been interviewed at The Examiner, where author Teri Thackston asks me about getting started as a writer and my upcoming release, Touch of Evil (Lovespell, 2.23.10). Those of you who click through and leave a comment by Jan. 30th will be entered in a drawing to win an autographed copy of one of my backlist titles.
I'd appreciate if you'd stop by so I won't feel so lonely.
A great read -- and more Justine!
