Another Faust by Daniel And Dina Nayeri

Here is another book I picked up at BEA 2009.  The cover of the book intrigued as well as the description in BEA’s program.  So, I got in line to get a copy and got to meet the two young authors of this work, Daniel And Dina Nayeri.  The brother/sister team wrote, Another Faust, which is due out on August 25.

The description of this book on Amazon reads:

One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish — only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary “gifts.” But as the students claw their way up — reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty — they start to suffer the side effects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary re imagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.

Now, I need to admit, I did not know what a Faustian bargain was.  But, I figured I’d figure it out when reading the novel.  I definitely got a good idea, but was still not sure of the true legend.  So, for the few of you out there that may also be in my boat, here’s a quick recap of the Faust legend (provided by Faust.com).

Faust (pronounced ‘fowst’) is a fictional black-magic sorcerer who sells his soul to the Devil.

He is a frustrated educated man who foresakes God and makes a pact with the Devil to attain forbidden knowledge and power which belongs to God. In this regard, the story of Faust can be seen as a medieval cautionary commentary on the rise of scientific inquiry, and of other great advances of the Renaissance.

Anyway, I don’t think this book has any commentary on the use of scientific inquiry, but it definitely looks at good versus evil — in a way I’ve never seen it done before.  This book is very uncomfortable, but one I couldn’t put down.  While I tended to be confused much of the time, I just kept plodding along trying to figure it all out.  It wasn’t confusing in a way that turned me off, but in a way that made me want to understand.

The five teens in this book have extraordinary powers that seem to change as they make different deals with their governess, Nicola Vileroy.  These teens, well at least four of them, do not use their powers for good, but purely for self advancement.  However, there are great prices to pay for these abilities.  It does make one wander what people are willing to give up to realize their ulitmate dreams.

The governess found these children when there were ten.  The story starts with describing the difficulties of these children’s daily lives, some of which are not physical hardships, and what they truly desire.  It picks up five years later with the teens now entering a new school to use their powers to advance their own desires.  I’m still a little shaken up with how easily the governess was able to get these children to give up their lives and be “adopted” by her.  It did make me appreciate my family.

It was also difficult to watch the treatment of the governess.  In my mind, she adopted five children she wanted to succeed.  However, that’s not the story.  Her interference in the five’s relationships with each other and the rest of the world shows just how evil she really is.  She is definitely evil incarnate.

The end of the novel offers some hope, although not as much as I would like.  It was a fitting ending and it does tie up some of the questions I had throughout the novel.  I wasn’t as confused when I got to the final page.  But, I am still unsettled by this novel.    I guess that shows what a good story and writing was involved.

I’m not sure to whom to recommend this book.  I wish someone I know had read it because I would love to discuss it.  But, it is definitely not a light, YA read as you may expect from the cover.

Guest Post — Boston Scream Pie Co-author Larry Mild

Today, I have a special guest.  One-half of the husband/wife writing team of Rosemary and Larry Mild has offered to write a little something for you all to enjoy:

Rosemary and Larry Mild coauthor the Paco & Molly Mysteries: Boston Scream Pie (new!), Locks and Cream Cheese and Hot Grudge Sunday. They teach mystery writing at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland. They’re members of Mystery Writers of America and both the Chesapeake and Hawaii chapters of Sisters in Crime. Visit them at www.magicile.com. E-mail them at roselarry@magicile.com. 

I, MANUSCRIPT

By Larry Mild

One gloomy afternoon I was feeling low, way down after a few too many rejection slips. So I picked myself up by writing the following tongue-in-cheek piece. I took the point of view of a manuscript so as not to jeopardize my future chances as an illustrious author.

Hello! I am Manuscript, a neglected one at that, and whether you know it or not, stories like mine have feelings, meaning, and purpose. My creative parents have endowed me with certain of their finest attributes, and I have an obligation to convey these to my readers. Despite my eagerness to please and inform, I am also bound to endure a long and arduous journey.

One doesn’t easily forget the anxiety of being suppressed in the dark recesses of a mind—mulling, gestating, and waiting for a life on paper, or at least a trial at lip service. During my struggle to exist, I’m called many things; finally, I’m baptized with a working title. My initial exposure to the monitor is terrifying. I’m in my first draft and shaking. My prenatal experience is filled with disruptive punctuation, spelling, re-phrasing, and annoying forethoughts and flashbacks. Then, emotionally torn from my birth printer, I arrive in complete innocence—all eight-and-a-half by eleven inches and twenty-pound bond of me. If I am not perfect, how can this be my fault? I had nothing to do with my origins. In fact, I appeared on the purest of blank pages made from humble rag and mere pulp.

I crave my parents’ affection. Do they think me precious and commendable? If I’m rejected, what will become of me? I could be thrown in drawers to jaundice away, shelved to gather layers of dust, locked up in loose-leaf binders to serve some guiltless sentence, crunched and mutilated beyond repair in deep round baskets, and utterly abandoned for eternities.

I survive, but there are worse travails ahead for the likes of me. My pages are deemed worthy to travel to one or more meccas of literary processing gurus—there to be judged, not only for gems of wordsmanship, style, content, or cohesiveness; but mostly for the possible wealth and privilege I can generate in the publishing field. My touted attributes and my parents’ pedigrees are included in many initial query letters to addresses obtained on websites that vociferously solicit submissions of my particular phylum, family, and genre. I try to contain my emotions when I see these letters eliciting only a modest number of form letter responses—a few with invitations to submit in the future and a considerably larger number to effectively take a literary hike. I’m further insulted when the message is “My stable is full,” or “We’re not taking any new clients until the next millennium,” or “We are no longer accepting submissions of that genre.” The negative responses make me wonder why they are still soliciting on their websites. Yet the affirmative few turn a bright new page in my life.

What happens next? I’m forced to lose weight, shed numerous words, and even endure a physical makeover. My margins need to be girdled to accommodate some ideal figure. My header is messed with and my footer is stepped on or truncated. My pagination requires a new location. And all of these hoop jumps are the result of fickle cosmetic forces called submission guidelines that are specified on very differing guru websites. These same guidelines warn against simultaneously submitting my cloned siblings elsewhere, even though the decision on my submission may take up to a year. Good grief! At that rate, we’ll all be in the Great Filing Cabinet in the Sky before very many gurus can be queried. Only a writer who believes in the tooth fairy complies with that one.

With mixed feelings, my cloned siblings and I finally leave home for the first time, but not alone. Accompanied by an SASE, a cover letter, and an acknowledgment-of-receipt postcard, I am slipped into a manila envelope, sealed into darkness, and stamped abruptly on one shoulder before being dropped altogether in some postal receptacle. Getting there is grueling—thin air, rough handling, more stamping, and finally, I’m deposited in someone’s In basket. My package is opened, and my cover letter perused by one or more recent English majors of school-teacher proportions, who make the first level decision—either I’m someone they’d love to read or not. The nots are redirected toward the dreaded “slush pile,” unopened, but not quite refused—yet. There’s the slim chance that I’ll see sunlight again if another first-level decider wants a look before automatic rejection time. The pile containing my cohorts and me is picked over periodically, and if I haven’t been orphaned from my SASE, I am returned home to Momma with a rejection slip. Otherwise, I am listed as dead and sent to the Potter’s Field of manuscripts. All the while, my parents eagerly await word of their beloved offspring. The non-replies hurt most.

But wait! A publishing house pronounces my plot fit, of sound meaning, and full of promising dollar signs. Apparently, I also have enough luck and talent to get past first readers, editors, marketing sages, and executive councils. And so my creative parents are offered a publishing house contract. I’m so excited I can feel the words pumping through my sentences. Wow, a lowly member of the Manuscript family like me being promoted to Book! And with covers, too!

When the initial excitement wears down, I find that I have been sold on the block like some slave with neither basic nor extended rights. I learn that I’ll be indentured that way for years to come. I’m to serve in darkness, not knowing my actual publication date, nor any other milestone in my development. I have no approval in how my appearance will be altered. Suddenly, e-mails and phone calls go unanswered. Have I been forgotten? Or worse, lost? What has become of me?

One day, my text, clothed in a fixed format, arrives for proofreading. My parents examine me line-by-line and my faults are duly noted and transmitted back in record time. Weeks pass, and an out-of-nowhere cover design turns up. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I can live with it. Hey, I’ve got an ISBN number and a price tag now. And my parents’ names, they’re in large print. That’s got to mean something. Still no publication date yet.

That is, until a package finally finds its way to the front door. Undressing me from my plain brown wrappings, my parents find a revelation within. I have my arty covers and hundreds of printed pages. I am dedicated and acknowledged as well. I am truly Book.

La Petit Four — More YA

My friend, Stephanie, offered me La Petite Four by Regina Scott since she knows how much I like YA fiction.  Am I trying to relive my youth?  Am I living vicariously through these books?  I often wonder why women in their 30s with young families connect so well to YA fiction.  I know I’m not the only one.

Anyway, this is a historical YA romance mystery.  Yes, it has a little of everything.  It’s about four young girls who have recently graduated from a finishing school and they can’t wait to enter society.  However, Lady Emily finds herself engaged to an awful Lord Robert who the girls think is “up to something.”  They launch their own investigation in hopes of rescuing Lady Emily from this marriage.

This is a cute, quick read.  I think it’s actually appropriate for young adults as there are no sexy scenes.  There’s some innocent kissing, but that’s fine for a young teen, right?  It doesn’t go beyond that.  The book strives to stick to the protocol of old England.  There’s a hierarchy, titles, and proper etiquette as well as the protection of the maidens.  The author does a pretty good job keeping the historical time accurate for the readers.

The story is fun.  The authors does attempt to provide alternatives to the bad guys.  However, her hints throughout the novel make the ending rather predcitable.  I don’t think this is a bad thing, though.  I actually liked the ending and it hinted at more romance for Lady Emily in the future without totally making it a “happily ever after.”

At 231 pages, this book packs in several genres and does it with flair.  I enjoyed the mystery, the coming-of-age worries of the girls, and the budding romances, not to mention the historical aspects.  In this novel, we get to use our imaginations a little more in the romance department, which was fun.

This is a quick, fun, summer read.  Enjoy!

House of Night Series

My mother has struck gold!  She recently brought over the first five books in the House of Night Series by P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast (a mother/daughter writing team).  I was hooked immediately and finished all five in less than a week (it would have been even shorter if life didn’t get in the way!)  And, now I’m sorta mourning that I don’t have more of them to read.  This also happened whenever I finished a new book in the Twilight series.  I don’t know what’s with me and young adult vampire series.  I think I need therapy!

Anyway, this series of books is about a young fledgling vampire, Zoey Redbird, and her “adventures” at The House of Night, a vampire high school.  Zoey is very gifted and starts training to become a High Priestess at school.  She is constantly called to fight evil.  Fortunately, she has a close group of vampire fledgling friends who are also quite gifted and very loyal.  As the series progresses, the dangers become, well, more dangerous.  By the fifth book, Zoey is trying to save humankind from a vampire/human war.  Very intense!

This is definitely a series that pays to read in order.  Thankfully, my mother knew about all the books and gave them to me labeled 1-5.  While the authors do try to recap in the beginning of each novel, I’m sure I’d be confused had I not just finished the book right before.  So, proceed in this order:

1. Marked
2. Betrayed
3. Chosen
4. Untamed
5. Hunted
6. ****Tempted (due out in October, 2009  YEAH!!)

This book has typical teenage angst.  It’s just added to with the whole vampire changing thing.  The authors really captured teenagers from thoughts and actions to actually speech.  It was fun reading the whole book from Zoey’s point-of-view.  The authors definitely succeed in making her authentic.

As for the plot, very engaging.  Although, I have to admit it was sometimes a little confusing.  A major event would occur and I would just not remember it happening.  It turns out, the authors just would throw it in there as Zoey updating someone on what’s been happening at school.  That was a little annoying.  Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the plot lines of all books and I was not putting these books down, if I didn’t have to.

Of course, there is a love triangle (or should I say square or hexagon?)  Our little Zoey is quite the amorous one.  She seems to fall for several guys and all at the same time.  At first, I thought it was getting a little ridiculous when she was onto the third guy, a teacher.  But, the resolution of that one kind of helped it out.  Plus, I just watched a Hannah Montana with my daughter about Miley being in love with two guys at once.  I must have forgotten how these things are for teenagers.  Once I got passed that, I starting enjoying the love square.

As for young adult, I’m not sure I’d want my young ones reading this.  It is quite sexy.  Certain sexual activities are discussed early and there is some erotic scenes (not all with acutal sex, but quite sexual).  It’s definitely for an older crowd.

So, I’m waiting patiently (okay, not patiently, but waiting) for the next in this series.  Should I head over and pre-order?

First Entry for Everything Austen Challenge

Yes, that’s right.  It’s the first day of the challenge and I’m logging in my first entry.  Okay, I technically finished two days ago but I thought I’d wait for the official start to the challenge.  I just couldn’t wait!

I read an ARC of Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan.  The book is due out in September, 2009.  I picked it up at BEA 2009 because I just can’t pass up anything Austen-related.

Six months into his marriage to Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy is still awestruck by his beautiful wife and their unparalleled love and passion.  For Darcy, each day offers more opportunities to surprise and delight his beloved wife.

Elizabeth has quickly adapted to being the Mistress of Pemberley, charming everyone she meets and handling her duties with grace and poise.  Just when it seems life can’t get any better, Elizabeth gets the most wonderful news.

This book is different from the Austen “sequels” I’ve read.  It reads more like a Harrlequin romance novel.  Elizabeth and Darcy are quite amorous and their are love scenes every few pages.  And, while a few were well done, I found most of the loving lacking.  Maybe it was just too much.  A few well-placed scenes are always appreciated, but too many just kill the tension!  I think this book suffers from too much of a good thing.

The story covers a few months in the Darcys’ marriage after the couple hear they are expecting.  The Darcys go to London for part of the season and to introduce Elizabeth to the ton.  There are many characters during this time.  It was helpful that the author provided a “cast of characters” at the beginning of the book to identify them all.  After the season, the Darcys travel some through the county.

Throughout the story, the author refers to an illness Elizabeth suffers after Darcy is in a duel.  Yet, they never give the details of this “mysterious” event.  This wasn’t in P&P and I just don’t remember, was it?  I kept waiting for the author to reveal the information, but she never did.

The couple does face one  hardship near the end of the novel that I won’t describe here.  There is some foreshadowing of the event in the novel.  The author does write this part well and I was sitting on the edge of my seat during the episode.

The ending of the novel is a little disappointing.  We never make it to the birth of the baby.  Was it a girl or a boy like they assumed?  Was Darcy still as helpful and involved after the baby arrives?  So many questions that were never addressed.

As for Darcy,  he’s a different man since marrying Elizabeth.  I think he’s a little too different.  We see very brief glimpses of the Darcy of P&P, but instead some lovesick man.  It was just a little over the top.

Over all, I’m not sure I’d recommend this one for you Austen fans out there.  But, if you love a lusty romance, definitely pick this one up.

Book Tour — Beyond the Code of Conduct by K.M. Daughters

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Beyond the Code of Conduct

by K. M. Daughters

Here’s another addition to my summer blog tours for Pump Up Book Promotion Tours.  Beyond the Code of Conduct by K. M. Daughters came out in paperback in April, 2009.    Correction: This book is written by a sister/sister team.  I would definitely feel more comfortable writing the sexy scenes with a sister (I think, as I’m an only child). But, the two ladies got the job done, and did it well.

FBI Agency Brass and Sullivan family connections force Special Agent Bobbie Leighton into an undercover operation with inactive Homicide Detective Joe Sullivan.  Posing as a wealthy Texas cattleman and his arm-candy wife the two are assigned to infiltrates Bradley Sterling’s black-market operation.  Suspected of baby -trafficking, Sterling may be connected with Jimmy Sullivan’s murder.  How do Bobbie and Joe adhere to their professional code of conduct living under the same roof?  Can they forget their personal history, ignore their volatile feelings for each other and ensnare their target when they might be next on Sterling’s victims list?

This short novel, at 169 pages, is a quick read, fun read.  There is definitely lots of sexual tension between the characters that is acted upon in a few sexy scenes.  The authors slowly unfold the backstory between the two main characters which adds to the tension between the couple for the reader.  Hints were given about their previous relationship and it’s end without giving the full story until later.  I kept wondering, “what’s with these two?”  Of course, the authors  let us know in bits and pieces until it all makes sense.

The thriller part of the book seemed secondary to the romance.  It was more about how the romance was affected by the case rather than the actual case.   Nevertheless, the baby-trafficking bad guy did add more suspense into the book.

Overall, I would say this is a light, fun read for the beach season!

Thanks, K.M. Daughters, for the authographed book and chance to read your novel.

I Finished!! Finally! But it was worth it!

Well, I started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss about three weeks ago.  I finished it yesterday.  I never take that long.  I did revisit a couple of old favorites while I was reading this one and I was very busy at home.  But, still, three weeks?!

I read this book on  a recommendation from Fuzzy Cricket.  You should definitely checkout her review of this book.  I often add books to my TBR after looking around the blogosphere, but this review had me heading to to the library immediately.

This is a fantasy book about a man(?) named Kvothe.  He is a legend in his world, but is now trying to retire as an innkeeper.  A Chronicler finds him and Kvothe decides to tell his story.  Kvothe tells the Chronicler it should take at least 3 days to tell his story.  The Name of the Wind is only the first day (at 665 pages).

I have to admit, it took awhile to get into this book.  When Kvothe was describing his childhood as a troupe member and his earliest teacher, I had trouble getting interested.  I think part of the problem is the names of the characters.  I always struggle when  there are unusual names to remember that aren’t like Joe, Mary, etc but are Kvote, Bast, Tehlu…. That’s my issue, though.  This is a fantasy book after all.

Once Kvote reaches the University, the story really picks up.  There is a lot going on and it is very intriguing.  Kvothe really starts to mature as a character.  He is so amazing you start to wonder if he’s man or something more.  He is very kind until he is crossed.  The author does a great job showing Kvothe’s development while still including the angst that a teenager feels at age 15.  This really added to the development of the character.

I think all the characters were well done (and there were many of them).  While only Kvothe is done is such depth, the author provides many other people that add to the story overall, especially Denna.  She is such an interesting character and plays an important role in the story.  But, the author leaves us not quite understanding her.  He provides some suggestions, but the reader is still having to guess right along with Kvothe.

There seems to be several interlocking ministories.  They add some mystery to the book.  It wanted me to keep reading to find out how it all fit together.  Of course, we aren’t given all the answers in book one.

As I finished the book, I was left thinking about what exactly the author was trying to say.  It was a wonderful story, once I got into it.  The importance of names was a big theme in the novel.    The author talks alot about how Kvothe is know by different names for different reasons.  Kvothe spends time trying to study with the Master Namer at the university to learn more about the power of names.  I’ll have to think about this some more.

Thank you, Fuzzy Cricket, for the recommendation.  The book was a challenge for me, but one I’m glad I took!

Up for the Austen Challenge

My good buddy over at Stephanie’s Written Word is hosting a challenge right up my alley.  It is everything Jane Austen.  As my regular readers know, I LOVE Jane Austen and and anything Jane Austen-esque.  If you search through this blog, you will see numerous entries in this genre.  In fact, I thought I wouldn’t have anything to add to join this challenge.  But, of course, I was able to find some really good suggestions that I haven’t read/seen yet.  So, I’m in!!!

Here’s my Austen-plan:

1. Read two of Jane Austen’s original novels I haven’t read yet (I recently bought a compilation of Jane Austen’s seven novels, so I’m all set there).

• Persuasion
• Mansfield Park

2.  Read the ARC I picked up at BEA 2009 this year:

• Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan

3.   Get Stephanie to lend me a copy of the this book after she posts her review:

• Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

4.   Check out Fuzzy Cricket’s ideas for Jane Austen (it sounds like it could become a series!!):

• And This is Our Life: Chrionicles of the Darcy Family Book 1 by Carey Bligard

5.  And, as a throwback to the years of choosing pick your own adventures books, I’m choosing a Jane Austen version:

• Lost in Austen-Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by  Emma Campbell Webster.

While that’s only a list of five, it’s six bullets!!  I will read these all before January 1, 2010.  Maybe I’ll even throw in a movie here or there!

I look forward to reading everyone else’s posts for this challenge.  I would love to add to my Jane Austen obsession.

Thanks, Stephanie!!

Guest Post — Soup In the City author Kelly Hollingsworth

A few weeks ago, I reviewed a new chick-lit book, Soup in the City, by Kelly Hollingsworth.  I really enjoyed the book, but had made a comment about how over-the-top I thought the main character was.  I said I find this happens in many of the chick-lit books I’ve read and I wondered why.

Well, Kelly asked me about these comments.  I responded to her and then asked if she would be willing to write a guest post on this subject from the author’s point of view.  I thought it would be interesting to hear an author’s thought about her protagonist.  So, with no further ado, here is what Kelly had to say>>>>

Is She Done Yet?

A not-too-serious analysis of overblown chick lit characters

In her recent review of Soup in the City, my first novel, Nicole Baker wondered why chick lit characters are so often “a little overdone.”

This question scattered my thoughts in a zillion different directions, which surprised me, because I’m usually pretty solid in my opinions. Immediately upon reading Nicole’s review, however, I felt the following simultaneous and somewhat paradoxical emotions:

• embarrassment that my character was so overdone;
• complete denial that anything about this character was overdone;
• smug confidence that the character was just the right amount of overdone;
• freaked out that I have no idea what I’m doing as an author.

I wasn’t at all worried about the freaked-out part, because if I wanted to feel good about myself, I definitely wouldn’t have become a writer. But the feelings about whether or not this character was overdone were so conflicting they fairly screamed for further examination.

In the face of my angst, Nicole generously offered to let me analyze my thoughts on this topic in a guest blog spot. I’ve been pondering over-the-top characters for the last few weeks, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

First, for those of you who haven’t read Soup in the City, Avery is a well-meaning but misguided NYC girl who decides a sable coat will catapult her into the social life of her dreams. She finds a gently used sable on E-Bay and picks it up for a cool fifty grand. This purchase, coupled with the abrupt end of her income, topples Avery’s house of credit cards. She winds up homeless in the high-rent district, squatting at her friend’s ultra-high end apartment but without money for basic necessities like food or even bus fare to look for a job.

Is this over-the-top? The evidence certainly points that way. The fraction of women who are able to buy any sable coat, whether used or new, is infinitesimally small. In doing research for this book, I tried on a new sable at a Fifth Avenue fur salon. The coat was on clearance, but it still had a six-figure price tag ($130,000, to be exact). Even among those women who could afford such an extravagant purchase, most would put the money to better use (although with the state of the markets today, I’m not quite sure what that use would be). In any case, under these facts, I must admit to writing an over-the-top character. There’s just no way to sidestep this accusation.

But the more important question is whether this was necessary. After much analysis, I’ve decided that it was, for a few reasons.

First, I wanted to explore several themes with this book, and illumination is usually found in the extremes.

Of course it’s over-the-top to buy a sable coat thinking it will change your life, but most of us have purchased something we couldn’t afford (shoes, handbags, $180 jeans) to impress someone or simply to maintain our place in the social circle we inhabit. Our purchases and credit-card problems aren’t as notable as Avery’s, so we generally accept them as a necessary part of life.

But are they really? Probably not. I wrote Soup in the City as America’s financial crisis was just gathering steam, and I was kicking myself for all the seldom-worn, sadistic sandals in my closet. When I plunked down the cash for these shoes, I thought they would change my life. But the shoes seemed quite silly once mortgage payments and health insurance premiums were breathing down my neck like hungry wolves.

Because Avery enjoyed a rather fantastic income, she was able to indulge the tendencies we all have, but in a much bigger way. When a closet full of fancy shoes, clothes and handbags failed to impress, she decided to bludgeon her way into a Carrie Bradshaw-like existence with one purchase so noteworthy everyone would have to sit up and pay attention.

And guess what? It didn’t work, and the catastrophic consequences of her failed one-upmanship were abundantly clear. By drawing Avery in the extremes, I hoped to illustrate the folly of our own, more mundane financial decisions, and how damaging they can be.

The same goes for the nature of addiction, another theme explored in the book (in Avery’s case, extreme dieting and the crazed binging that inevitably follows). Lots of chick lit books deal with addiction of one sort or another, and addiction is necessarily extreme, particularly when it’s not white-washed with social editing. If you know an addict, you probably don’t know the depths of her problem, because it’s highly sanitized for public consumption.

With an addictive fictional character, on the other hand, you get to live in her head. You get to see, first-hand, the self-destructive things she does to herself, and how out-of-control she really is. This rare glimpse into someone’s private thoughts is bound to seem overdone, because it’s not diffused through the politeness screen that filters almost every conversation.

I also think it was necessary to make Avery a little larger than life for the pure entertainment value that creates. We all know lots of girls with credit card problems, a few extra pounds they’d like to lose, and slimy boyfriends they should lose. That’s the stuff of everyday life, and not what inspires us to pick up a book and read it from cover to cover. Most of us use fiction as a means of escape—we want to be taken somewhere new, and perhaps witness something a little outrageous in the process.

For all of the foregoing reasons, Avery is a little outrageous. But I love her and stand by her, just the same.

The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax

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THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER

by Wendy Wax

I was lucky enough to have a chance to read this new book which came out in paperback on June 2.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes the bestseller list and it would be no accident.

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at their very first writers’ conference. Ten years later they’re still friends, survivors of the ultra-competitive New York publishing world. Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose bestsellers support a lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason is a single mother juggling two jobs, two kids, and too many deadlines. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of inspirational romances: no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims’s once-promising career is on the skids—and so is her marriage. Her sales are dismal, her new editor detests her work—and her husband is cheating. Barely able to think, let alone meet her final deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won’t let her face this trial alone. Together they collaborate on a novel using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will ever discover the truth behind their words.

No one is more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal…as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they’ve truly known each other.

I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it, especially to book lovers who have an interest in how the whole publishing world works (which means all you bloggers out there who went to BEA).  This book offers so much:  believable characters, interesting story,  a little romance with some suspense thrown in for good measure.

The four main women in this book were unique.  Coming from such different places, I was a little surprised how close their relationship with each other really was.  Thinking about it objectively, the group doesn’t seem believable, but somehow the author made me believe it and enjoy it.  These four women moved mountains to help each other.  It was comforting to see such love between women.  However, I deal feel the extent of the secrecy between them all was a little much.  With such intimacy on other levels, I was a little surprised how far the women went to keep secrets from each other.  But, of course, this secrecy drove the plot.

As for the plot, I couldn’t believe how drawn in I was.  When reading the synopsis of the book when it was offered to me, I thought it would be mostly a character-driven book (which I usually enjoy).  But, there was a real plot.  You’re only half way through the book when the novel the characters collaborate on is published.  There’s still a lot more to the story.  The author builds the suspense throughout the book.  I couldn’t to see what happened when the other shoe dropped, as you knew it would.  She didn’t disappoint me.

The inside look at the publishing industry was also fun.  I have a friend trying to get in the door and I never realized all the hurtles she has to face.  And, I just figured once a book was sold you had it made.  Not true.  The struggle only just begins.  I loved riding the roller coaster publishing with these four authors.

I think this book would have been great for my book club.  These four women are much more interesting than the four women from The Ten Year Nap (Can you tell that book really bothered me for some reason? I can’t stop talking about it even though I didn’t like it).  Anyway, this book also offers lots of topics to discuss with friends.

One little note, the book talks about writing love scenes a lot, but never gives us a real taste of these sexy scenes.  That may have been nice!