New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
There’s still time to take advantage of a great deal. All 11 of my Diversion backlist novels, plus my new book, Three Blonde Mice, are on sale in their ebook editions until tomorrow, 9/13. Marked down from their usual $4.99 price, the novels are $2.99 for just another 24 hours. Not that I’m impartial, but I’d jump on this, people, if you haven’t already.
With some people already receiving their pre-ordered copies of my new novel, Three Blonde Mice, I’m counting down to the book’s actual publication day, August 2nd, and getting excited! And on August 6th at 2:30 ET, my book launch party will be underway at Arethusa al tavolo, one of the best farm-to-table restaurants not only in Litchfield County, Connecticut but in the entire state. I hope anyone in the CT area will stop by for an afternoon of book chat and samples of the dessert that was created by Arethusa pastry chef James Arena exclusively for the novel and figures into the story. The recipe is in the Author’s Note at the end of the book, but it’ll be pretty cool to be one of the first to taste it. Here’s the official invite:
SAVE THE DATE!
Join New York Times bestselling author Jane Heller on Saturday, August 6th at 2:30 p.m. to celebrate the publication of her new novel, Three Blonde Mice, and sample a very special dessert!Set at a fictional farm resort in Litchfield, Connecticut, Three Blonde Mice is a comedy featuring three best friends who take a “haycation” together, learning how to milk a cow, make cheese, forage for wild edibles and take cooking classes with a famous farm-to-table chef….only to discover that one of their classmates is out to murder the chef.
A big part of Jane’s research was spending time at Litchfield County’s own Arethusa, both the dairy farm and the restaurant. Figuring into the plot is a chocolate-and-beets dessert created especially for the book by Arethusa al tavolo’s pastry chef, James Arena (recipe included!).
Dan Magill, Arethusa al tavolo’s executive chef and James Beard semi-finalist, and pastry chef James Arena will be on hand to offer samples of the dessert and answer any questions, and the Hickory Stick Bookshop will provide copies of the book for purchase and for Jane to sign.
When: Saturday, August 6th, 2:30 p.m.
Where: Arethusa al tavolo, 828 Bantam Road, Bantam, CT 06750 www.arethusaaltavolo.com
What: Book signing for Jane Heller, author of Three Blonde Mice (Diversion Books/August/$13.99) www.janeheller.com
How: Hickory Stick Bookshop www.hickorystickbookshop.com
Media Contact: Deborah Broide, Deborah Broide Publicity, DeborahPub@aol.com
And now there’s more from Arethusa al tavolo. The restaurant has agreed to make Chef Arena’s “Three Blonde Mice” dessert an off-the-menu “special” during the month of August. In other words, you can order it and indulge in its deliciousness any night of the week during August! I’ve heard of entrees being named after celebrities (I think Nora Ephron had a meat loaf named after her and I know there are tons of famous names attached to various deli sandwiches), but I believe this the first time a dessert will be named after a book. So come and enjoy!
Starting December 3rd, the ebook editions of the following 11 of my novels will have a new lower, very sweet price just in time for Christmas, New Year’s and into 2014! They’re going from $4.99 to $2.99 in an effort to make them more affordable for a wider audience. I do love these stories and I continue to hear from readers who are discovering them for the first time, as well as from those who go back to them for a re-read whenever they need a smile.
So….on 12/3, look for price reductions at all e-tailers (Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo) on Best Enemies.…
The novels aren’t part of a series and they aren’t the stuff of serious literature, but they’re smart, sassy romantic comedies with an element of suspense (sometimes there’s a murder, sometimes not), and they’re all about relationships, whether between a couple in love, a pair of sisters or a mother and daughter. And they’re all meant to take readers away from their daily grind and offer up some laughs. There’s never been a better time to try one!
In all the flurry about seeing movies this pre-Oscar season, I neglected to post about how much I loved – no, revered – Donna Tartt’s new novel, her first in 10 years. The hubbub surrounding “The Goldfinch”‘s publication, combined with its 800+-page length made me wary of diving in, but once I did I was hooked. I can’t even write about the novel because I’m afraid of sounding pedestrian when compared to Tartt’s gift with language; it’s gorgeous.
Suffice it to say, “The Goldfinch” is a mesmerizing, Dickensian, utterly enveloping tale, set over the course of many years, about a Manhattan boy who loses his mother in a violent tragedy, is orphaned, takes up with a cast of exquisitely interesting characters (especially a risk-taking Russian boy with a heart of gold) and nearly dies before deciding not to. The story is about love lost and never quite regained, about survival, about friendship, about art and its power to uplift and transform. I can’t rave about this book enough without sounding like I’m getting paid to do it. I only know I can’t wait for it to settle in my mind a bit more so I can dive back in and read it again.
For some reason I avoided Meg Wolitzer’s bestselling novel. I like her writing a lot, and I’d certainly read wonderful reviews of her latest book. I guess it was the idea of the story – that a group of kids at an artsy summer camp in the 1970s would call themselves “The Interestings,” It felt smug and turned me off.
But as my business trip to Arkansas approached, I realized I didn’t have plane reading for my Kindle so I went on Amazon, found the book and hit “Buy.” I was pleasantly surprised and found myself completely immersed in the story, couldn’t stop reading and finished it this weekend. I don’t know how Wolitzer managed to juggle such a large cast of characters over such a sweeping period of time and make each one so multi-layered, but she did.
I loved reading about these people and their lives – from their teenage years through their 20s and into their 50s. Jules is the awkward one who wants to be an actress/comedienne but doesn’t have the talent, settling for a career as a therapist in New York, married to Dennis, an ultrasound technician, envying her more exceptional summer camp friends. Ash is the beautiful, delicate one, raised by parents to excel. Her brother Goodman is the charismatic screw-up, believing he’s exceptional but acting like a pain in the ass and never getting his act together. Jonah, the son of a famous bohemian folk singer, is the sensitive, unknowable one whose musical talent was suppressed during his youth by an unscrupulous father-figure. And Ethan is the genius cartoonist, unattractive physically but so talented and ethical that people are drawn to him and his wealth and power.
This core group moves through many time periods and passages, and Wolitzer gets all the background details just right. She presents their dramas in a way that allows them to take their turns telling the story but she maintains a third person narrative voice. Not easy to do. When I got to the last page, I was sorry the novel was over: the mark of a very good book.
What an intriguing premise for a novel…..A woman who appears to have the perfect life (happy marriage, great kids, lovely home, engaging personality) is rummaging around in the attic when she stumbles on a letter, written by her husband and addressed to her with the caveat: “To be opened after my death.”
How odd, she thinks. He isn’t sick. He isn’t dying. When could he have written this and what could possibly be so secret that he doesn’t want me to read the letter now?
Since hubby is on a business trip, she debates whether or not to open the envelop and read the letter. Suffice it to say that she does read it and that it will rock her world and that of her children and the members of her close-knit Australian community.
The book begins as three inter-connected stories, each focusing on a different woman. It’s not immediately clear why Moriarty takes us away from the compelling tale of the wife who’s debating whether to read her husband’s letter, but eventually we see what’s in store and the results are riveting.
“The Husband’s Wife” is one of those compulsively readable novels, part thriller, part domestic drama, part woman on the edge of a breakdown. Moriarty gets the details just right and her characters ring true. I’ll probably go back and read her earlier books.
I’m not even a dog lover and I loved this book. What a gem. In a few spare words, Jill Ciment tells the story of 48 hours in the lives of an elderly couple, their beloved dachshund and the NYC walk-up apartment where they’ve lived for most of their adult lives and which they’ve put on the real estate market for sale – all while the city is in a state of panic over a potential terrorist on the loose. Ciment somehow manages to make a domestic drama read like a thriller, a comedy of manners and a love story. She even gives the dog a few chapters to narrate.
Ruth, a retired schoolteacher, and Alex, an artist who has trouble getting up and down the stairs, are readying their apartment for the realtor’s open house the next day when they notice that Dorothy, the dachshund, can’t move her back legs. They tenderly carry her out of the apartment on a cutting board and attempt to travel uptown to the animal hospital, only to find traffic at a standstill because of a gas tanker that’s stuck in the Midtown Tunnel, causing gridlock around the city. Is the driver of the tanker a terrorist? How will an attack affect the real estate market? Where will Ruth and Alex go if they do sell their apartment? What will become of poor Dorothy?
It’s all described in perfect prose, right down the bidders on the apartment, the other dogs at the animal hospital, the couple with whom Ruth and Alex have dinner in the midst of all this chaos, and, of course, their long and loving relationship.
What a treasure. I’m so glad a friend recommended it.
Pandora (yes, that’s the name of the novel’s observant and witty narrator/heroine) is happily married to Fletcher, raising his two children from a previous marriage and running a very successful business that makes talking dolls (long story). While it’s true that Fletcher’s taken on an irritatingly spartan lifestyle, eating only super healthy foods and bicycling for long distances, and she’s put on 20 pounds without realizing it, their life together in Iowa is mostly companionable – until her revered jazz musician older brother Edison flies in for a visit from New York. Surprise: he’s 300+ pounds, has no job, no money and no place to stay. Trouble.
Edison ends up staying for two months during which he and Fletcher grow to despise each other and during which he eats and eats and creates a path of destruction by just sitting down in a chair. When it’s time for him to fly back to New York, Pandora can’t let him go. She makes it her mission to get him down to 160 pounds. Fletcher is not amused.
What follows is a brother-sister act revolving around food – or the lack thereof. Both siblings embark on a drastic diet and learn a lot about each other and themselves in the process.
I won’t say more about the plot because there are twists and turns the reader doesn’t see coming (this reader didn’t). What I can say unequivocally is that “Big Brother” is a superlative novel. Lionel Shriver is a beautiful writer even as her razor-sharp wit cuts through sentimentality, and she tackles the subjects of food and obesity in an unflinching way I’ve certainly never come across before. I’d be tempted to go back and re-read the book if I didn’t have so many other promising ones lined up on my Kindle, but maybe when there’s a lull….
I loved Caroline Leavitt’s previous novel, the New York Times bestselling Pictures of You, so I was excited when her new one came out. It did not disappoint, and I enjoyed it even more than the last one.
Set in suburban Massachusetts in the 1950s, it’s the story of Ava, a beautiful, divorced mother of a 12-year-old boy named Lewis. They’re the only Jewish family in their small town, a place of Eisenhower Cold War paranoia where anybody who’s “different” provokes suspicion. When Lewis’ friend and classmate, Jimmy, goes missing, the neighbors shun Ava entirely. The fact that she has a jazz musician for a boyfriend doesn’t help, and when he breaks off their relationship Ava is more isolated than ever.
But the novel is very much about Lewis too and how he tries to cope over the years with his friend Jimmy’s disappearance as well as his father’s disinterest. All the characters in the novel are richly layered, and the story builds to a surprising climax. Just when I thought I knew how things would go, Leavitt took the plot in another direction. She has a wonderful way of turning tragedy into compelling reading and of turning a flawed woman like Ava into someone you truly root for.
It’s so satisfying to finish a book and be able to recommend it without reservation to others, and I do recommend it. Leavitt is a beautiful writer and I can’t wait until she spins her next tale.
Where do I begin? I loved, loved, loved this novel. I haven’t stopped talking about it to everyone I know. I haven’t stopped thinking about it and laughing at some of its more outlandish plot twists. Talk about inventive. Talk about funny. Maria Semple’s wit is so dry it practically makes you pass out.
Bernadette Fox is a genius architect with a small problem: she can’t function in the real world. To say she’s not a people person would be an understatement. She’s eccentric and talented and, above all, a loving mother to her daughter Bee, even if that love often takes the form of odd behavior.
She’s married to Elgie, who works at Microsoft, and the family of three lives in Seattle, which Bernadette despises. Her send-ups of Seattle private school mothers, Seattle’s many five-way intersections, Seattle’s lack of sun, Seattle’s Prius-driving recyclers, are hilarious. And that’s just the beginning.
Bernadette’s run-ins her neighbors, her trouble with the law, her seeming nervous breakdown and her subsequent disappearance all make for a madcap tale involving a trip to Antarctica that I found fascinating, not knowing much about Antarctica.
I wish I could sum up this book and give it an actual review, instead of all these random impressions, but the story defies summary. Semple, who wrote for “Arrested Development” and other TV shows, is my new funny-woman-author- fave. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
I just finished Melanie Gideon’s novel – my first encounter with her work, having not read her memoir or her young adult fiction. She’s lots of fun, and Wife 22 is the perfect summer read.
It’s the story of Alice Buckle, a 40 something wife and mother of two, whose life has taken a downward turn. Her husband has lost his job at the ad agency and distanced himself from her. Her son may or may not be gay and she’s constantly trying to figure out how to ease his supposed coming out. Her daughter may or may not have an eating disorder with an ex-boyfriend who may or may not be stalking her. And her work as the drama teacher at school isn’t as satisfying as it used to be, given her own frustrations as a playwright. Into this mix comes the opportunity for Alice to volunteer to take an online survey about marriage. Complications ensue. Not only does she find the experience of unburdening herself to an anonymous researcher a turn-on, but she begins to fall for the researcher himself – and he for her.
What’s especially entertaining about this setup is that much of the novel is written in the shorthand of social media, since the questionnaire is completed online, Alice’s exchanges with her researcher are almost exclusively on Facebook and she’s constantly googling herself/people/subjects just as we all do. Her style has been compared to that of Helen Fielding in the Bridget Jones books and I can see the parallels. It all makes for an engaging, fast-paced read with surprising insights about marriage and a nice twist at the end.
Sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up to what the rest of the world is reading. I’m too busy with my own stuff to keep up. But after I finished the Agassi book I was ready for some fiction and decided to download “Water For Elephants” on my Kindle. Sara Gruen’s novel has been a fixture on bestseller lists and will be a movie next month with Reese Witherspoon. I figured I’d better get with the program.
So far, I’m loving it. What a unique voice Gruen has and what a fascinating backdrop. If you told me I’d be reading about a circus, I’d say, “Nah.” But I was hooked from the first page and have stayed hooked.
If there’s anything else I should put on my Must Read list, please let me know. I love recommendations.
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.
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.