A strange thing has happened to documentaries dealing with energy and environmental issues, they’ve been politicized. It’s gotten to the point that we can’t talk about the weather without blasting those who belong to a different party than us. The words “global warming,” which started as a scientific term is now used as a verbal weapon to bash political rivals with. The battle lines have been drawn: either you’re a conservative who supports big business, coal and drilling and laughs off the scare-mongering environmentalists or you’re a liberal wants to save the earth, get us all back on bicycles and will fight the evil oil people who are trying to destroy us all. It’s not that there isn’t a middle ground, it’s just that the middle ground is being completely ignored. The news organizations and certainly the documentaries (regardless of whether they’re made by conservatives or liberals) deliberately ignore those whose views aren’t necessarily black and white and as a result those of us who see things in shades of grey just sort of tune out. We’re tired of the yelling and while we might want to be part of the discussion we have no interest in being part of the argument.
So when I was invited to a screening and DVD release party for the Documentary HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM: LIFE, LIBERTY and the pursuit of CHEAP ENERGY I expected more of the same. I sat down in the theater with my bottled water and waited for the film to tell me that the super villains (a.k.a oil executives) responsible for providing me with the bottle for my water were using me as a tool to ruin the earth.
That didn’t happen. Instead I saw a movie where one oil executive after another explained the industry to me from their viewpoint and rather than bashing the Democrats they expressed a very balanced view of politics. Through their eyes I got a new perspective of why foreign oil (rather than domestic) had become our main source of energy and why alternative fuels absolutely NEED to be a fundamental part of our future. This was coming from oil executives, not radical liberals, not environmental warriors, oil executives. And yes, the head of the Sierra Club was featured as well and we got a peak into the animosity that exists between those who are spear-heading the environmental movement and those who are actually providing us with our energy but we also got to see that the two groups do have some common ground (although neither group seems to be aware of that). By the end of the film I had a new, albeit begrudging, respect for the people and the industry that have been fueling our nation for so long and I also was left with the feeling that I could be pro-business AND an environmentalist. It was clear how much money there was to be made in the development of clean energy and once the country realized that and started putting pressure on our politicians the oil industry wouldn’t and perhaps more importantly, couldn’t stop us. As every single person in the film reiterated, this is a game of supply and demand. If the consumer demands alternative energy it WILL be supplied. That’s capitalism. The people in the oil industry honestly love what they do but they love making money more. If we make it clear that we are willing to pay for steam and wind energy that’s where the industry’s resources will go. But for various reasons that’s not the message we’re sending, no matter how many recycling bins we have in front of our homes.
So if you’re a Republican who is sick of being told that you’re deeply held ideals have been built out of ignorance or a Democrat who is sick of being called a tree-hugging-granola-eater because you invested in solar paneling you really should see Houston We Have A Problem. This isn’t a political movie. There is no slant or extreme bias. This isn’t a film for those who want to be part of the argument. It’s for those who want to be part of the discussion.
You can order the DVD here
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series 
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress
today!
This week I’m going to recommend an e-book (available on both Kindle
and Nook). If you have one of these handy little devices you’re going to want to download Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s The Matzo Ball Heiress. It’s one of the funniest novels in the so called Chick-Lit genre published within the last ten years. Seriously, I defy you to read this book without cracking up.
Protagonist, Heather Greenboltz is the heir to the Greenboltz Matzo fortune. Her stocks in the family business have allowed her to pursue her dream career as a documentary filmmaker. Her actual involvement in Greenboltz Matzo is limited to some minor PR work. However when the business falls on hard times Heather finds herself in the somewhat unenviable position of saving it. What she has to do is get the family together for a Passover Seder that will be broadcasted on The Food Network. The only problem is that her family, the family that has made their money supplying Passover food to Jews all over the world, doesn’t actually celebrate Passover. They are as secular as they come. Heather’s gay father is living in Amsterdam, her mother usually spends the holiday snorkeling, her cousin, who runs the company, is dating an Irish Catholic and his brother is living like the player that he is in Florida. Heather’s Passover tradition usually involves eating prosciutto and cheese sandwiches at home.
And yet, the opportunity to promote Greenboltz Matzo on a nationally televised event is not something anyone in the family can afford to pass up. Pulling together the most bizarre and eccentric group of people for this traditional holiday provides lots of laughs and a unique look at what can happen when secular and fully assimilated American Jews are confronted with their religious and cultural heritage.
Again, I strongly recommend that you download this one. No matter what your heritage is you will definitely enjoy this. Shapiro is an incredibly talented author and is now up for an Emmy for Finishing Heaven, a documentary she co-produced for HBO.
Be sure to add your recommendations as well. I need a new book to read!
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
A few months ago I was listening to a report on NPR about how alcohol sales are effected by the economy. The conclusion was that they’re not. People drink when they’re happy and rich and people drink when they’re depressed and broke but no matter what, they’re drinking. The only difference is that when the economy is good people drink is bars and clubs and when the economy is bad they buy their alcohol at the liquor stores. But the manufacturers of alcohol maintain steady sales throughout. Vodka, beer, tequila: those are recession proof industries.
Now, within walking distance to my place there are a handful of boutiques that have Friday “specials.” They mark a few things down for the day, some of the items go down as low as 20% off but I don’t think that’s what brings people into those stores on Friday. I think the attraction is that on Friday afternoons and evenings these boutiques also serve free wine to those who come in to shop. Originally there was only one store who was doing this in my neighborhood but the number has gone up to at least three or four and for good reason. The alcohol not only brings people into the store, it also lowers their inhibitions and makes them a little more reckless...with their check cards. Yes, it’s much easier to splurge when you’ve had a glass or two of wine. By the third glass you’re likely to move from, “I really shouldn’t,” to, “Why the hell not?”
That got me thinking. Maybe ALL stores should be employing this tactic. How much more likely would you be to attend Sears’ kitchen appliance sale if they were using some of those appliances to make margaritas for their customers? Sure, they’d need a liquor license but I think they could get their hands on one of those if they really tried. And alcohol tends to make people more confident so if Ikea was serving wine then you’d be more likely to look at that elaborate armoire and say, “Yes, I think I WILL be able to put that together myself!” And for the more expensive stores like Neimans or Tiffany’s, places where the price tags are more than a little intimidating, in those places they could serve shots. When it comes to my business it’s a little trickier. I don’t know if people are more likely to buy books while their drinking, particularly if their vision is getting too blurry to read the words on the page. But I do know that some bookstores serve wine at book signing events which I think is fabulous. I’m not a professional actress and nowhere near as good of a reader as the woman who records my audiobooks but I’m sure it’s a lot more fun to listen to me read from Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress after you’ve had a glass of wine. And I’ll bet that the book events that serve free wine get bigger attendance.
So there you have it. My solution to our economic crisis is to get everybody liquored up. Not falling down drunk or anything, just happily buzzed. Buzzed shoppers make good customers. It’s unorthodox but nothing else seems to be working very well so I think it’s worth a shot...preferably of Petrone.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
Okay, I’m breaking form today. This blog post isn’t going to be about publishing or about a funny little incident from my personal life. Today I want to talk about this whole Shirley Sherrod mess. It affected me so deeply that I can’t NOT write about it. But I’m not going to write about how the White House over-reacted and now seems to be taking its cues from Fox News, I’ll let Fox New’s own Shepard Smith do that. I’m not going to go on about what a jerk Andrew Breitbart is, I’ll let the Washington Post’s Johnathan Capehart do that. And I’m not even going to go off on conservative pundits for not calling Breitbart out, I’ll let Bush’s former economic speech writer and conservative blogger David Frum do that.What I want to talk about is that now, after we as a nation have managed to elect our first black president, race seems to be a more inflammatory issue than ever. Charges of racism and reverse racism (or, as I like to call it: racism) are everywhere. People who are trying to bring us together are being accused of being divisive and are fired, blackballed and ostracized. One sentence taken out of context from an 8 page speech given nine years ago is used as evidence to prove that our first Latina justice thinks Latina women are better than white men. Illegal immigration is presented as this country’s biggest problem. Now people are expressing fear over the Black Panthers, a group that hasn’t had any real power or influence since the 1970s. I mean really, the Black Panthers? And why have they come to our attention? Because two or three men who may or may not have been endorsed by that organization were making inflammatory and somewhat threatening statements two years ago outside a voting location? I’m no fan of the Black Panthers and I’m certainly against acting threatening anywhere near a voting booth, isolated incident or not, but if you’re going to be afraid of an African American group go to South Central and check out the black street gangs. They’re the ones who are actually killing people, not just threatening, and they’re the ones who still seem to have the power and influence to recruit young people into their organizations. But perhaps that’s not as newsworthy because the people they’re killing are usually other blacks which is horrible but it’s a problem that deals with one community hurting itself, not a community taking up arms and declaring war on other communities.
And we are being told we are at war. It’s a WAR AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. A WAR AGAINST SOCIALISM, a WAR AGAINST THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA. Our actual war in Afghanistan is barely even mentioned these days which may be why we have a 4% increase in military enlistment and a 244% increase in domestic militia groups. Now we have a self-professed Neo Nazi militia group taking it upon themselves to be Arizona’s new “border watch”
And yet perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider what our headline stories have been lately. “Obama hates white people!” becomes the new battle cry. We’re led to believe that more and more illegal immigrants are going on killing sprees (despite all evidence to the contrary)! Muslims are building (gasp) Mosques! Right here in this very country as if they have a right to a place of worship like the rest of us! Imagine!
And the the ideological pundits and biased news shows are stoking the flames, reinforcing the same message over and over again: be afraid, be very afraid.
But here’s the thing. We’re already afraid. We’re afraid because our parents have lost a huge part of the retirement income it took them a lifetime to earn in the last 2 1/2 years. We’re scared because our sisters and brothers have lost their homes to foreclosures. We’re frightened because our friends who own small businesses are suddenly unable to get the loans necessary to run ANY business despite their good credit and may therefore lose everything they have. We’re terrified because so many of us have lost or think we might lose our jobs. We’re filled with anxiety because even the big corporations who are reporting sales increases aren’t hiring.
And instead of providing us with answers, instead of coming up with solutions that might alleviate our anxiety our leaders, politicians and much of our media are telling us that we need to be afraid of immigrants, the Black Panthers and racist Tea Partiers. The plan seems not to be to help us deal with the fears we have about real issues but to distract us by making us afraid of issues that really aren’t that big of a threat. You can hate the Black Panthers, you can dislike the new mosques that are being built, you can be anti-immigration but they still shouldn’t be the headline stories. We shouldn’t be feeding our fear with more, and frequently less logical, fears. We shouldn’t be so eager to accuse someone of racism that we’ll smear their reputation and take away their job before we even bother to get all the facts. We don’t need our leaders and our media to create new fears for us. It may help get certain individuals elected but it won’t improve our current hardships. It’ll just make them worse because we’ll all be taking our eyes off the ball. We’re spending so much time shaking our fists at each other we’ve forgotten how to be a proactive and productive society.
And the really horrible irony of all this is that if you spend enough time worrying about something that isn’t really a big problem it becomes a big problem. “New research suggests that misinformed people rarely change their minds when presented with the facts -- and often become even more attached to their beliefs” is the tagline used to sum up a recent University of Michigan research study. We’re like hypochondriacs who have given ourselves a psychosomatic illness. And while we’re trying to convince our doctors that our sniffles are really the result of the swine flu we’ve forgotten to ask him about the cancerous tumor in our neck that is quietly getting bigger.
I love my country and I don’t want us to self-destruct. I hope to God that we’ll take this Shirley Sherrod incident as a real learning experience. I hope we’ll begin to see that we’re fabricating problems rather than dealing with the very real ones we have.
We don’t have to live in fear, but it would be nice if we could live in reality.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
Usually on Recommend-A-Book-Wednesday I try to review a midlist book. I want to give publicity to those who don’t have the advantage of a publisher-paid-for publicity campaign. However today I want to recommend a book written by authors who don’t really need help because the book they wrote can help a lot of authors who do.
When I was writing my first manuscript, Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, I had no professional training in creative writing. I hadn’t written so much as a short story since high school. In short, I didn’t know what I was doing which is why I went to the bookstore and picked up a bunch of how-to-write-a-novel-books. Those books were helpful to varying degrees but only one was indispensable: Self-Editing For Fiction Writers: How To Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King.
By the time I picked up Brown & King’s book I had already written the first draft of my novel but their advice helped me see my manuscript with fresh eyes and I realized that I had a lot of work to do. After reading their insights about point of view (third person vs. first) I went back and rewrote the entire manuscript so that it was told in first person. I also realized what I needed to cut, what I needed to clarify and how to make those clarifications without treating my readers like idiots incapable of picking up on subtlety. Little things like when to use brand names and when to just call it a jacket were explained as were how to use internal monologue without over-doing it. By the time I had implemented all the lessons I had learned from Self-Editing For Fiction Writers I had a manuscript that was a hundred times stronger than what I had started out with. Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, my first attempt at a book earned me a three book deal and within a month I had another contract for So Much For My Happy Ending.
Five years have passed since my first book hit the shelves and last month I celebrated the release of my 6th book, Vows, Vendettas And A Little Black Dress. And yes, while I was writing Vows I thought back to all the things I had been taught by Browne & King and before I ever handed it to my editor I made sure I had stayed true that early training.
So for all my aspiring author friends and for my published author friends who think they could use a refresher course, I really recommend that you check out Self-Editing For Fiction Writers. For me, that $10 book translated into advances that have, over the years, totaled well over $100,000. If that’s not a good investment I don’t know what is.
As always I encourage you to leave your book recommendations in the comment section. I think all of us here are constantly on the look out for engaging and entertaining reading material. I know I am!
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
Recently I Facebooked/Tweeted that their were rumors Janet Evanovich was going to be leaving St. Martin’s Press, possibly in favor of self-publishing, due to their refusal to meet her request for a $50,000,000 advance for 4 books. I’m not going to get into whether or not that’s a fair sum. Even if she doesn’t get her asking price, Evanovich is one of the top 10 most successful authors in the world and she’s one of the very, very few who can even bring up a number like $50,000,000 without being laughed out of town. But it did become clear to me by the response I got from my followers and FB friends that most people, aspiring authors included, have no idea what authors make or how many books must be sold to be on the New York Times bestseller list. The word “millions” came up a lot in those responses. In short, people seem to be applying Hollywood numbers to the world of publishing and the publishing industry ain’t Hollywood.
For instance, it is absolutely possible (and depending on the month of your book release, probable) to make it onto the New York Times bestseller’s list top fifteen if you can sell 5,000 hardcover books in a week.
Stop and think about that for a moment. If every student in a large high school bought your book in the same week they could make it one of the top selling novels in the country. 5,000 highly motivated readers, that’s all you need. It seems like such an accessible number. When you hear 5,000 books everything appears to be within reach. I can see myself now, standing in front of the Hollywood Bowl at a Depeche Mode concert surrounded by boxes upon boxes of Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress cheerily selling copies to about 1/4 of the attendants. 1/4 of the attendant at one Depeche Mode concert could make my book one of the bestselling novels of my multinational publishing house. If it was 1/4 of a Lady Gaga concert and I'd be up there with James Patterson.
Except it's unlikely that 1/4 of the attendants of one rock concert are going to want to buy a book. Any book! It's hard to find 5,000 motivated readers in a country where (according to a recent poll) the average citizen reads 1 book a year. By the way, I didn’t say the average American buys 1 book a year. A lot of those books are borrowed. And some statistics suggest that 1/3 of high school students won’t read another book in their lives after they graduate. In the meantime everyone in Hollywood is wondering if Tom Cruise’s career is over since Knight And Day only made $20,000,000 in its first weekend. Which just goes to show that, despite escalating ticket prices, the vast majority of Americans would still prefer to watch a movie that will entertain them for 2 hours than buy a $8 paperback that could last them 2 weeks. And that explains why the top 10 best paid authors are making a hefty chunk of their considerable income from film adaptions of their work (not just book sales).
The irony is that while (according to some recent polls) over half of Americans won’t even buy a book this year 80% of them want to write one.
Funny how that works.
So you have an industry that every waiter, lawyer, beautician and politician wants to be competing in. And yet only half of those would-be competitors will actually support this industry that they aspire to be a part of through their own patronage.
There are some signs that e-books actually get people to read more not less but the data in that area is too young to be truly meaningful yet.
No wonder the average author advance is under $10,000/book. It’s not that the big-bad publishing houses don’t want to support their talent. They simply don’t have the profit margins to do so.
I’m not writing this to discourage anyone from trying to get into this industry. I firmly believe that if you love writing you should try your hand at it. Nothing ventured nothing gained and you never know if you’re going to create the book that the majority of those one-book-a-year people read. You have to try. But that said, it’s going to be tough. And don’t be insulted when you get your first offer from a publishing house and they want to give you a $5000 advance. Don’t cry when you find out that your book has a print run of 7,000. Those aren’t bad numbers in this business. You’re in the game. And there’s always a chance that, given time and a little bit of luck, you’ll not only be in the game, you’ll be one of its winners.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
I frequently gear this blog to those in the publishing world or female readers. But this post is dedicated to all the single guys out there. I’m here to help you out.
See I’ve been talking to my fellow single female friends and as it turns out, the vast majority of you guys are clueless. I’m not sure you’re aware that you’re clueless but take it from me, when it comes to single women, you are. So I figured I’d take this opportunity, early in the day on Friday, hours before you hit the clubs or pick-up that chick whose number you plugged into your phone last week and give you a few basic rules to live by. This isn’t about how to romance a girl or make her fall in love with you. This is just a little cheat sheet that might help you avoid looking like a complete moron. So in no particular order:
Rule #1: If she’s wearing fuck-me-pumps you’re going to have to spring for the valet at the restaurant. If you try to save a few bucks by parking three blocks away from the restaurant those fuck-me-pump will immediately transform into kick-you-to-the-curb-pumps.
Rule #2: If you find a cute picture of a girl on an online dating site read her profile before you email her and WAY before you IM her or have your first phone conversation. Yes, I know, reading is hard. But if she used the first paragraph of her profile to tell you that she spent the previous year traveling all over India teaching people English and you ask her during your first phone conversation if she’s ever been out of the country she’s going to think you’re
A) an illiterate idiot
and
B) less interested in getting inside her head than getting inside her pants.
Assumption A is a bit unfair...B? Not so much.
Rule #3: If you had a good date with a woman and you want to see her again be sure to contact her within 48 hours of that date. If you’ve already let a week go by you might as well lose her number. She’s busy
Rule #4: Do not make fat jokes about women who are a few sizes bigger than your current date and expect her to feel flattered or superior. Chances are she has been that size at one point in her life or is concerned she WILL be that size at some point in the future. You’re just giving her a complex (and revealing yourself to be a butthole). Conversely, commenting that another woman is too skinny will earn you major brownie points. It’s a girl thing. Embrace the hypocrisy.
Rule #5: If you take a woman out to a restaurant/club/bar do not complain about the price of the entrees/cover/drinks at said locations. You probably picked those spots because you wanted to make an impression and if you complain about the cost you ARE making an impression...a memorable one that will be shared with all her friends.
Rule #6: Don’t brag about your previous exploits with women. This should be obvious but apparently for some of you it’s not.
Rule #7: Put your iPhone or blackberry AWAY! Do not answer the phone, do not text your buddy at work, do not check your email. Just keep the damn thing in your pocket. The only excuse for chatting on your phone during a date is if there is a life or death emergency. Your sister just went into labor, your son killed the babysitter’s hamster. See? Life and death. That’s it. And your pregnant sister and your kid’s hamster-owning babysitter should have a different ring tone so you can pick up for them and ignore everybody else. If you can’t live for three hours without tweeting or Facebooking something then at least wait until she uses the ladies’ room. And remember, she probably has an iPhone too, with a FB app which she’ll be checking while you’re in the men’s room. So if your status update is “hoping to get lucky tonight!” you won’t.
Okay, that’s it. Have a fun weekend and try not to make too much of a fool of yourself. If any of these rules are new to you please print this post out, shrink it down, laminate it and put it in your wallet. The female population of the world will thank you for it.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
Tuesday’s blog was about publicizing your books using social networking. Staying in the same vein I thought I’d reveal another secret truth about book publicity: Publicity and the results of any publicity campaign are completely ambiguous.
Have you ever heard Obama defend the stimulus plan? Have you heard him say the economy would be even worse if that plan hadn’t been implemented? He might be right but he can’t prove it. All we, as American citizens, see is that the economy is pretty bad right now but whether or not it is better than it would have been if we had done things differently can never be anything more than speculation.
That’s how book publicity is. You do an enormous amount of work and hope that it’s helping. Even if your sales aren’t as strong as you’d like you don’t really know what they would be if you had done things differently. For that matter if your sales are amazing you can say it’s because of a stellar publicity campaign but it’s hard to find the direct evidence. There are certain plugs that definitely help. When Jon Stewart plugs a book it shoots up to Amazon’s top ten list within an hour. Direct cause and effect. Not very many publicity stunts work that way. If you see a review for a book on your friend’s blog you might buy that book, but are you going to hop in your car and run over to the bookstore and buy it that day? Will you, after reading a Tweet on your iPhone while standing in line at the grocery store, pull out your credit card and click the Amazon link? Or are you simply more likely to buy the book if you happen to come across it in the bookstore?
Most product marketing involves repetition. Consumers have to hear a product’s name again and again. They have to see the ads over and over again until something clicks in their brains and they start believing (despite all logic) that lots of advertisements are indicative of a very good product. And then the hope of say, the people who market M&M’s is that the next time you’re in line at the drug store you’ll see the M&M’s new chocolate covered pretzels and think, “Oh yeah, I saw an ad for those. Maybe I should buy a package.”
Publicity is the same way. You need the repetition (which is why I encourage everyone to stop reading for a moment and say Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress three times fast). Kidding...sort of. Anyway, my point is that one review in one newspaper isn’t going to cut it nor is posting one book trailer. But if people have to see lots of PR before they buy then you’re not going to see immediate results when you start your campaign and it’s going to make success of said campaign more difficult to measure.
And yet there aren’t very many successful authors out there who don’t do some kind of publicity and if your sales are strong it’s probably realistic to assume that your publicity campaign helped with that. And if your sales aren’t what you’d like them to be...well, maybe the publicity campaign could have been better...on the other hand there is a very distinct possibility that without the campaign things would be a lot worse. Perhaps you had the right campaign but bad store placement. There’s a very good chance your campaign would have yielded bigger and better results if your publisher had supplemented your efforts with a better publisher-funded marketing campaign (or as is the case for many midlist authors, ANY marketing campaign) and that your publicity efforts are the only reason anyone found out about your book at all. That’s speculative of course, but that’s the nature of the beast.
The harsh truth is that living with that kind of ambiguity and speculation is part of being an author or any kind of artist and the inability to deal with uncertainty will destroy the careers of more authors, artists, and entrepreneurs than this recession ever could stimulus plan or no. On the other hand, if you can handle and accept the ambiguity that comes with any creative profession, if you are willing to invest your time, energy and yes, sometimes money, in trying different things without any guarantees of what the results will be your chances of being successful in your career (and personal) pursuits will go way up.
So here's to perseverance and to the willingness of talented artists and authors everywhere to take a deep breath and...for lack of a better term, suck it up and deal. I'll be rooting for you.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
I have always enjoyed Melissa Senate’s books. They feature flawed but relatable protagonists, humor and heart. The Secret Of Joy is no exception.
Senate has a way of taking a familiar theme (in this case we have a woman, Rebbecca, who travels from New York to Maine to try to connect with a half sister whose existence she has just discovered) and turn them into truly unique, thought provoking and incredibly funny stories. Yes, this is another book in which the big-city gal “finds herself,” in a relatively small town but her journey is far from predictable. Rebbecca’s half-sister, Joy, isn’t immediately interested in bonding but reluctantly invites Rebbecca on a singles bus tour that she hosts. And that’s where things get really interesting. Through the people Rebbecca meets on this journey she begins to re-examine the nature of family, romantic relationships and the causes of infidelity. The subject of why certain relationships fail and other succeed is explored in an interesting and unconventional way and as Rebbecca discovers a new approach to her own search for contentment and...well, joy, the reader is likely to apply the themes of this novel to her own life. At the very least it will give you pause for thought. As a bonus the book is entertaining. There are lots of giggle worthy moments and it could easily fit the category of Beach-Read...a beach read with depth.
What more can you ask for in a book?
As usual I encourage you to add your own book recommendations in the comment section. There are so many great books out there that get little to no media coverage. It’s up to the readers to bring them to the attention of other readers. Otherwise not only will the careers of many talented authors be in jeopardy but the reading public as a whole will be missing out on some amazing novels...and we can’t have that.
Bestselling Author of:
The Sophie Katz Mystery Series
and
So Much For My Happy Ending
Order
Vows, Vendettas & A Little Black Dress today!
