Good Monday, everyone! I’ve been super busy for the past few weeks getting Second Chance in shape to go out into the world, but now I feel like I can finally get my breath!
Speaking of Second Chance Tune in tomorrow for your first look at Second Chance. I’ll be releasing an excerpt tomorrow, and one next week, as we gear up for the books’ release!
Also speaking of Ian and Penny, First Time will be out as audiobooks this month from Tantor Media. Penny’s book will release on May 31, but Ian’s is already available. And the narrator’s voice is fantastic. I kind of listened to this one with my hands over my face, blushing.
Chicago area people! Come out and see me this weekend, Saturday, May 21, from 3-5 pm at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg. You can find more information, including a list of all all the amazing authors who’ll be there, here. I’ll be signing copies of The Baby and First Time, but you’re welcome to bring your books or your Kindle covers. I also give away free stuff like pens and bracelets, and that’s always fun, so come snag some of that and chat with me, if you’d like!
My Reading Challenge Progress!
I haven’t been reading as much lately because I’ve been working, but I did manage to get a few books in. In fairness, I’m pretty sure one of them was like nine billion pages.
A Book You Haven’t Read Since High School: Fear Street Cheerleaders: The First Evil, by R.L. Stine. I don’t remember why I thought to look these books up again, but I’m glad I did. I cheated on this entry a bit; I didn’t read this book when I was in high school. I read it in seventh or eighth grade. My problem is that I don’t remember reading anything for pleasure in high school that wasn’t written by Anne Rice, and while I absolutely still treasure those books, I don’t want to taint my memory with a reread by present day, post-feud me. So, I fudged and reached back a little further. I remembered a lot of FSC:TFE as happening differently, probably from reading all three books back-to-back-to-back. I forgot like half the characters. Reading it as an adult who knows the horror formula now from other movies and books, it all came back to me pretty quickly and I was like, “Oh my gosh, how did I not see this coming?” when I got to the twists that shocked me as a kid. Still, it stands the test of time. When do we get a Fear Street Cheerleaders movie?
A Book That’s At Least 100 Years Older Than You: Anne, by Constance Fenimore Woolson. I originally picked this for “A book set in your home state”, due to the title character living on Mackinac Island, but switched categories when I found that the majority of the story takes place off the island. It is now one of my favorite books. I could write an entire post about all the things that make this book so great, but I’ll keep it brief: Anne, the eldest daughter of an elderly widower, finds herself forced into New York society through a series of various events. The drama is real. Anne becomes best friends with a glamorous woman who later becomes a romantic rival. Anne, despite being engaged to her childhood love, becomes the object of affection to not one, but two suitors. Anne becomes a teacher, a singer, an amateur botanist, a Civil War battlefield nurse, a detective, and a murder trial’s star witness. It’s just like, the biggest soap opera ever. There are definitely some “sign of the times” issues; Anne’s biracial half-siblings are frequently described as being savage or conniving due to their Chippewa heritage. I found it interesting, though, that while two of the black characters in the book were referred to with the n-word once, it was used in dialogue by a character we were meant to dislike, as proof of what a shitty person they were. It really smashed the “it was okay back then” argument for me when I read that. White people, we knew that was not an okay word that far back. Stop using that stupid defense.
A Political Memoir The Speech Writer: A Brief Education in Politics, by Barton Swaim. I wanted to pick something off the beaten path for this one. Swaim isn’t a politician, but he was hired as a speech writer for then-governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford. Though sometimes I rolled my eyes at Swaim’s self-importance (he tends to make snotty comments about the grammar of non-writers), I really enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the train wreck governor who comes off as a mix of Kevin Spacey in Swimming With Sharks, Michael Scott from The Office, and Scrooge from A Christmas Carol (Swaim describes Sanford cutting a piece from an employee’s birthday cake and walking away without even wishing the woman a happy birthday). By the time the narrative reaches Sanford’s bizarre 2009 disappearance and the revelation of his extramarital affair, I was weirdly invested, and as torn between dislike of the governor and pity for him. If you’re a fan of The Thick Of It or Veep, this book was like if Armando Iannucci wrote real life.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print right now. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but aren’t I always?