News, Reviews & Views
An author blog from a Texas girl who’s seen the world…
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BOOK REVIEW: First Course by Jenn Bouchard

Janie Whitman, the protagonist in First Course, undergoes a life-changing twenty-four hours. First, she loses her job in Chicago and the boyfriend/boss there breaks up with her. Then, hard on those happenings, her parents die in a plane crash, and her sister, Alyssa,...

Enter My Holiday Giveaway!

One lucky participant will win: A hand-made cozy scarf A signed copy of A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE Bookish print swag Click here to enter, or use the widget below. No purchase necessary. The more ways you enter, the more your chances of winning. Good luck and have fun!...

A Halloween story: Morrigan

  Morrigan © Suanne Schafer A whistled song disturbs my sleep. Just outside the churchyard, I lie, warm and drowsy, buried within the earth, roofed by a grove of dark pines whose fallen needles and verdant mosses quilt my bed. Loath to leave a lovely pleasure, I...

New Book Trailer! Hunting the Devil

In case you missed it in my newsletter and here on the front and book pages of my website, here's the new goosebump-inducing book trailer for Hunting the Devil. I hope you love it as much as I do! 😈📚🎬

Enter My Summer-Into-Fall Book Lovers Giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive a signed paperback copy of A Different Kind of Fire, a handmade beaded velvet bookmark, and a Hunting the Devil book bag. Ends at Midnight/CT on September 5th Good luck and have fun! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter My First Springtime Giveaway

More daylight = more time to read, so it felt like the perfect occasion for a new bookish giveaway! 🌞📚One lucky winner will receive an eBook copy of A Different Kind of Fire, and a $10 Amazon gift card. This one ends a week from today, so get in while you can. Click...
-Blog Updates-
Book Review: How Fires End by Marco Rafalà

Book Review: How Fires End by Marco Rafalà

How Fires End is Marco Rafalà’s debut novel, and a stunning one it is, all about families and secrets and trauma. Told in reverse chronological order, How Fires End begins with the story of David, the son of a Sicilian immigrant in Middletown, CT. David’s mother died...

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Book Review: Derailed by Mary Keliikoa

Book Review: Derailed by Mary Keliikoa

Derailed is author Mary Keliikoa’s debut novel. Kelly Pruitt, a woman in her early thirties, has taken over her late father’s private detective agency. She's never lost the "baby fat" she gained when pregnant with her daughter eight years ago and is physically...

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Interview: Lisa Braxton, author of The Talking Drum

Interview: Lisa Braxton, author of The Talking Drum

Today I'm chatting with Lisa Braxton in a socially-distanced web interview. Lisa is an essayist, short story writer, and author of the debut novel, The Talking Drum. She is also a “debutante,” one of five debut novelists chosen for the Debutante Ball, a group blog for...

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Book Review: Don’t Speak by J. L. Brown.

Book Review: Don’t Speak by J. L. Brown.

Written in 2015 and independently published in 2016, Don’t Speak (Jade Harrington series, book # 1) reflects the political scene in America at that time. This thriller has a female, Whitney Fairchild, running for president against a conservative male incumbent whose...

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Interview: Rosey Lee, author of Beautiful, Complicated Family

Interview: Rosey Lee, author of Beautiful, Complicated Family

Author Rosey Lee joins me today in a virtual, Covid-19 safe interview. She writes uplifting fiction stories about family and friendship. A native of the Westbank of New Orleans, Louisiana, Rosey is a fan of good foods and good times. As a child, she dreamed of a...

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Book Review: Pride of Eden

Book Review: Pride of Eden

Pride of Eden, released March 17, 2020 by St. Martin's Press, is a gritty book inhabited by even-grittier characters. Author Taylor Brown pulls together a diverse cast of mostly-unlikable characters. Anse Caulfield is a Vietnam vet and retired racehorse jockey. He is...

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Book Review: What’s Left Untold

Book Review: What’s Left Untold

Two girls with totally opposite personalities, Anna and Lia, find an unlikely friendship in high school, one that survives even their interest in the same boys. They have a falling out in college—and Lia walks out of Anna’s life without further word. That event...

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Interview: Stephen Cox, author of Our Child of the Stars

Interview: Stephen Cox, author of Our Child of the Stars

Stephen Cox and I are meeting in a virtual, therefore social-distance-safe interview. He was born in America of British parents, spent nearly his entire childhood in Bristol in the West of England, and now lives in London with his partner. His son has left home and...

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Book Review: Remaining Aileen by Autumn Lindsey

Remaining Aileen is author Autumn Lindsey’s debut novel. Lindsey provides new nuances to vampire lore as she twists women’s fiction and vampire paranormal to produce a unique blend that is at times light-hearted and at others vampire-dark. It's a Twilight meets soccer...

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Interview: Mary Keliikoa

Interview: Mary Keliikoa

Mary Keliikoa spent the first eighteen years of her adult life working around lawyers. Combining her love of all things legal and books, she's created a twisting mystery where justice prevails. She had a short story published in Woman's World and is the author of the...

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Interview: Natasha Tynes, author of They Called Me Wyatt

Interview: Natasha Tynes, author of They Called Me Wyatt

The good news is that Covid-19 isn't completely stopping human communication! Today I am meeting with Natasha Tynes, a Jordanian-American author and communications professional based in Washington, DC. Her debut novel They Called Me Wyatt was published in April by...

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Review: Queen of the Owls by Barbara Linn Probst

Review: Queen of the Owls by Barbara Linn Probst

Barbara Linn Probst’s debut novel, Queen of the Owls, is stunning: gorgeous prose highlighting a book about creativity, seeing and being seen. As a former photographer and artist, this book has everything needed to intrigue me: Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Steiglitz,...

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Interview: Samantha Heuwagen, author of The Starless Series

Interview: Samantha Heuwagen, author of The Starless Series

Samantha Heuwagen and I, in keeping with the pandemic's restrictions, are meeting virtually today. She is a bilingual marriage and family therapist and best-selling author based in Atlanta, GA. When not working with clients, she sparks discussion about mental health...

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Book Review: American Dirt

Book Review: American Dirt

American Dirt has been mired in so much controversy, I almost didn't read it. In the end, though, curiosity pulled me in so I could make up my own mind. The #MeToo and the #OwnVoices movements have caused a fundamental shift in America and in American literature. As a...

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Interview: Heather Frimmer, author of Bedside Manners

Interview: Heather Frimmer, author of Bedside Manners

Appropriate for the Covid-19 pandemic, Heather Frimmer and I are meeting virtually. She's a radiologist specializing in breast imaging. She uses her medical knowledge to create fictional windows into the world of medicine. In her debut novel, Bedside Manners...

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Book Review: If She Had Stayed by Diane Byington

Book Review: If She Had Stayed by Diane Byington

If She had Stayed is Ms. Byington’s sophomore book and was such a joy to read I whizzed through it in one sitting. She successfully blends women’s fiction with time travel while fan-girling over scientist Nikola Tesla. Kaley Kline, a mid-thirties woman, having never...

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Interview: Carolyn M. Walker, author of the Immortal Series

Interview: Carolyn M. Walker, author of the Immortal Series

I'm having a Corona-safe interview via the internet with Carolyn M. Walker today. She is a California native and lover of all things literary. An avid reader, she enjoys new and exciting reads. As an avid storyteller, her mission is to bring that same joy to her...

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Book Review: The Unexpected Spy

Book Review: The Unexpected Spy

Tracy Walder’s The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists is her memoir of her years as a counterterrorism officer in the CIA and a special agent in the FBI in the post-911 world. She makes it...

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