Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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A Twitter Friend Has Written A Novel!

March 22, 2011

What a pleasure it is to bond with someone on one of the social networking sites. I never expect to and yet it’s happened to me numerous times. You discover you have interests in common and start communicating back and forth and suddenly you’re “friends.”

In the case of “Bayla Highland,” which is a pseudonym for my Twitter buddy, we found out that we not only rooted for the Yankees but were both writers. A physician, she’s more at home with medical backdrops than the more domestic settings most often found in my novels, but she, too, is writing both fiction and nonfiction.

Her first published novel is an e-book thriller available from amazon for a whopping ninety-nine cents. Don’t you love these prices?

Here’s the description from its amazon page:

Thirty-two-year-old Lisa Caprelli seems to have the perfect life: loving father, doting husband, and a powerful satisfying job that has made her wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. But beneath the surface lie many secrets and deceptions.

Lisa has just found out her husband has been having an affair and is about to issue divorce papers. Her fury over being deceived would be more understandable were it not for the fact that she has been conducting her own extramarital affair with her younger, extremely handsome Executive Assistant, Jeff. But regardless of her own actions, she feels betrayed and acts quickly to dissolve her farce of a marriage.

Before the divorce papers are signed, Lisa suffers a near fatal car accident causing temporary memory loss. Her husband Roger spends his days at Lisa’s hospital beside, and his nights with his mistress Kelly. With Lisa in a vulnerable state, Roger’s feelings towards her soften, enraging Kelly, driving her to take matters into her own hands.

Lisa’s father and her lover Jeff step in to help. Now it is Roger and Kelly who are in mortal danger. This is where the fun begins. That is if you consider fun heart pounding suspense, with unexpected reversals of fortune and surprises at every turn. The novel is compelling until the very last word, with an ending that is unexpected yet satisfying.

Who wins and who loses? Rest assured, they all get what they deserve.

Sounds pretty intriguing to me. My Kindle is ready for a download.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Mainly Jane, Wellness Tagged With: Amazon, Bayla Highland, e-book, fiction, Kindle, Marriage of Deceit, thriller, Twitter

I Did It. I Crossed Over.

February 17, 2011

(Courtesy: Galley Cat)

I feel traitorous for having bought a Kindle the same week that I was moaning about Borders’ bankruptcy, but it had to happen. Not only was I curious about e-readers after so many people had written to me saying they had just downloaded this book or that book of mine, but also I thought that owning a little device would be practical for me. I buy a lot of books, both for pleasure and research. My local independent store doesn’t always have what I need in stock and my Borders has closed, as I’ve mentioned. I can order from amazon but I hate paying those shipping costs, and who wants to wait for the books to arrive?

So now I’ve joined the club and will be purchasing my very first e-book soon. Of course, there’s one tiny problem. I don’t know how to “work” a Kindle. I’m not especially tech savvy, so this should be interesting. I’m assuming you just order the book, it appears on your screen and you hit “Read?”

I didn’t think so. OK, so maybe it comes with a manual. Or more likely there are instructions on amazon’s site. I hope the thing is waterproof. It’s supposed to be delivered outside my door tomorrow and we’ve got a 99% chance of rain. Maybe I should have ordered one of those snazzy cases for it.

(Courtesy: geeksugar.com)

Filed Under: Mainly Jane Tagged With: Amazon, Borders, e-books, e-readers, Kindle

Sad About Borders

February 14, 2011

I keep meaning to write about this, but I guess I’ve been blocking it out. So here goes. Yes, it’s about Borders Books.

(Photo: Daily Sound/Victor Maccharoli)

It was gut-wrenching enough when our store in downtown Santa Barbara closed last month, but now the company is preparing to file for bankruptcy? Not really a surprise since they haven’t been paying their bills, but I really hoped it wouldn’t come to bankruptcy and re-structuring and closing stores and laying off people and….Well, what it means is that there will be fewer brick-and-mortar stores where readers can find the books they want to read.

Don’t get me wrong. Independent bookstores are wonderful. Libraries are essential. Amazon and other online retailers are convenient. But one less chain is not a good thing for the book business – or for us authors.

Besides, I always liked Borders. I remember when one of my publishers flew me to their headquarters in Ann Arbor to meet with their buyers, who were all book people as opposed to bean counters. They were young and well-read and didn’t treat me like an interloper. They cared about my opinion and said flattering things about my novels and didn’t sit there judging whether a particular book cover should have a different background color. In other words, they weren’t full of themselves the way I’d always found the Barnes & Noble executives to be.

Before I became a writer of books, I actually worked for Borders as a freelancer writer and promoter – only the company wasn’t Borders then. It was Waldenbooks and they were based in Stamford, CT. I used to interview authors for their consumer newsletters and come up with articles about various genres. Walden stores were small stores, like B. Dalton stores, and they stocked mostly just the bestsellers. Then Borders came along and bought Walden and everything changed – for the better, I thought.

But now look. Barnes & Noble is said to be eying Borders for a possible merger. How would I feel about that prospect?

(Images.com/CORBIS)

Yeah, that’s how. I’ve never been wild about putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. We need Borders to get healthy again so they can function on their own. I’m rooting for them. Clap clap clap.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Amazon, B. Dalton, bankruptcy, Barnes & Noble, Borders, libraries, Santa Barbara, Waldenbooks

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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