She said, "It;s a peculiar thing...looking back."

 Beth Moore

An incredibly thoughtful, disarmingly funny, and intensely vulnerable glimpse into the life and ministry of a woman familiar to many but known by few.

“It’s a peculiar thing, this having lived long enough to take a good look back. We go from knowing each other better than we know ourselves to barely sure if we know each other at all, to precisely sure that we don’t. All my knotted-up life I’ve longed for the sanity and simplicity of knowing who’s good and who’s bad. I’ve wanted to know this about myself as much as anyone. This was not theological. It was strictly relational. God could do what he wanted with eternity. I was just trying to make it here in the meantime. As benevolent as he has been in a myriad of ways, God has remained aloof on this uncomplicated request". Beth Moore

New York Times best-selling author, speaker, visionary, and founder of Living Proof Ministries Beth Moore has devoted her whole life to helping women across the globe come to know the transforming power of Jesus. An established writer of many acclaimed books and Bible studies for women on spiritual growth and personal development, Beth now unveils her own story in a much-anticipated debut memoir.

All My Knotted-Up Life includes:
8 pages of photos
An exploration of Beth’s childhood, love, marriage, and motherhood
Insights on what it was like when she was “waist-deep in a season of loss”
A discussion of her 2018 break with the Southern Baptist movement
Details on the origins of Living Proof Ministries
All My Knotted-Up Life is told with surprising candor about some of the personal heartbreaks and behind-the-scenes challenges that have marked Beth’s life. But beyond that, it’s a beautifully crafted portrait of resilience and survival, a poignant reminder of God’s enduring faithfulness, and proof positive that if we ever truly took the time to hear people’s full stories . . . we’d all walk around slack-jawed.

There in a theater chair, wide-eyed and filled to the brim with Coca-Cola, Beth began a lifelong love for stories. She loved to tell them, write them, and be told them. The story that captured her heart and consumed her life, however, was not told in a movie theater. It was the story told in Sunday School of Jesus, a Savior who loved children and who thought she was special. A seed was planted in her young heart that would grow to mark her life with a passionate love for Christ.

At the age of 18, Beth sensed God calling her to work for Him. Although she
 couldn't imagine what that would mean, she made it her goal to say yes to whatever He asked. Beth graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a degree in political science. She would later receive honorary doctorates from Howard Payne University and Gordon College.

She married Keith in 1978 and soon after the Lord added Amanda and Melissa to the family. As a young wife and mother, Beth served the Lord by speaking at luncheons and retreats and working at Mother's Day Out.

After years of being encouraged to develop homework by those attending Bible Study class led by Beth, she realized what she had on her hands was a ‘ministry’. Beth founded Living Proof Ministries in 1994 with the purpose of teaching women to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture.

She self- published her first book, Things Pondered, in 1993, and published her first Bible Study, A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place in 1995. Since then, the studies have been translated into over 20 languages and have reached women in countries all across the globe. In addition to her writing, Beth enjoys ministering to women at live events. Beth recently celebrated over 20 years of Living Proof Live conferences. She can also be seen teaching Bible studies on the television program Living Proof with Beth Moore, aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Beth enjoys life in the woods outside of Houston, TX with her husband, Keith. Beth is an avid reader, loves Tex-Mex, catching a movie, and being a grandmother to her three delightful grandchildren. You can find Beth spending time with the Lord while she is out for her daily walk with her beloved dogs and bringing carrots to her favorite neighboring donkey she lovingly nick-named ‘Donk’.

https://www.lproof.org/

New Series Coming by Laura Dave

Laura Dave

Real Simple says of Laura Dave's book, The Last Thing He Told Me, “A fast-moving, heartfelt thriller about the sacrifices we make for the people we love most.” 

Descript:

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn.

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes and other novels. Her work has been published in thirty-eight countries. The Last Thing He Told Me is soon to be a limited series for Apple TV+. She resides in Santa Monica.

You can follow her on Instagram @lauradaveauthor

The Last Three of the Ten

 

We are down to our last three "Female Sleuths" of the ten. There are so many great "Female Sleuths" that have been created and published in books, but we feel like we have brought you some great "Female Sleuths" and the authors that created them. Be sure and let us know if you read any of these great series and which one if your favorite.

Deanna Raybourn novels have been nominated for numerous awards including the Edgar, two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, and a Last Laugh. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist.  Veronica Speedwell is one of the "Female Sleuths" she has created.

J.D. ROBB is the pseudonym for #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts. She is the author of over 200 novels, including the futuristic suspense In Death series. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print. She is the creator of Eve Dallas, "Female Sleuth"

Gigi Pandian writes the Secret Staircase mysteries, Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries. Her debut novel was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant, she's been short-listed for the Edgar Award, and her mysteries have won Anthony, Agatha, Lefty, and Derringer awards.

These are just a few books in the Deanna Raybourn Veronica Speedwell Mystery series who is an intrepid adventuress, butterfly-hunter, and amateur sleuth. If you like the Victorian Era, you will find Veronica Speedwell series exciting.

Eve Dallas, a New York City police detective is the "Female Sleuth" in this In Death series and features her tycoon husband, Roarke. J. D. Robb has created a very indepth back story which is intriguing to say the least.

  

Jaya Jones, the "Female Sleuth of Gigi Pandian's Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries is part cozy with the other part an action-adventure. Mystery, humor and perhaps a touch of Indiana Jones.

We hope you have enjoyed this week looking into some of the best "Female Sleuths" and the authors who created them.

We hope you found some you would like to read and perhaps some you've read but would like to reread.

Let us know what your favorites are!

Three of The Ten

 

There are some great "Female Sleuths" out from the past and the present. Finding the author you like who writes the books with "Female Sleuths" however isn't easy. There are so many great ones out there. Be sure and let us know which ones you like.

Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of internationally acclaimed novels, published across 30 countries. She’s also had four books become TV movies (At the Midnight Hour; The Perfect Husband; The Survivors Club; Hide) and has made personal appearances on TruTV and CNN. https://www.lisagardner.com/

These are just a few books in the Lisa Gardner's D. D. Warren series. I have found her books to be riveting as most readers have. Gardner's "Female Sleuth" is D. D. Warren a Detective with the police department in Boston.

Kristen Lepionka is the Shamus Award-winning author of the Roxane Weary mystery series. She grew up mostly in a public library and could often be found in the adult mystery section well before she was out of middle school. Kristen cohosts the podcast Unlikeable Female Characters, in which feminist thriller writers have conversations about women who don't care if you like them. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats--Spenser, named for the Robert B. Parker character, and Snapple, named for the delicious bottled iced tea.

Kristen Lepionka "Female Sleuth" is Roxane Weary of the Roxane Weary Mystery series. She is a private investigator with problems of her own. One might say this "Female Sleuth" is quite stubborn.

Allison Brenner Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award winning author of three dozen thrillers and numerous short stories. She was nominated for Best Paperback Original Thriller by International Thriller Writers, had multiple nominations and two Daphne du Maurier Awards, and is a five-time RITA finalist for Best Romantic Suspense. Allison believes life is too short to be bored, so she had five kids and spends all her non-writing time as a sports spectator, chauffeur, and short-order cook for her munchkins. She has a dog, two cats, and three chickens. Allison and her family live in northern California.

Lucy Kincaid is her "Female Sleuth", an FBI agent in her Lucy Kincaid Novels. This is an exceptional series. Her Female Sleuth went from victim to an FBI agent.

If you have read any of their books, let us know which ones you like!

Two Top Female Sleuths~ Sue Grafton and Tess Gerritsen

 

I loved reading Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series with Kinsey Millhone as her "Female Sleuth". My mother-in-law introduced me to her and for years she, my sister-in-law and my self, read the series and always talked about the ones we were reading or had just finished. As soon as Grafton released a new book we were at the store getting our copy and rushing home to devour it. Needless to say we enjoyed the camaraderie these books gave us, especially since they were in Wisconsin and I was in Tennessee. 

Sue Grafton, New York Times-bestselling author is published in twenty-eight countries and twenty-six languages--including Estonian, Bulgarian, and Indonesian. Books in her alphabet series, begun in 1982, are international bestsellers with readership in the millions. And like Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, Grafton has earned new respect for the mystery form. Readers appreciate her buoyant style, her eye for detail, her deft hand with character, her acute social observances, and her abundant storytelling prowess. She has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America (2009) and is a recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award (2004). 

Tess Gerritsen, Internationally bestselling author is known for her pulse-pounding medical thrillers such as Harvest, as well as her bestselling Rizzoli and Isles mystery series, Tess Gerritsen started out as a physician before becoming a full-time writer. Her novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT television series "Rizzoli & Isles" starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. With over 30 million copies of her books sold, Gerritsen has appeared on bestseller lists worldwide. Some of her top titles are The Surgeon, Die Again, and The Sinner.

Here are two more of the ten "Female Sleuths."

 

Boston detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are the "Female Sleuths" in this series by Tess Gerritsen. I am sure we all watched the television series of Rizzoli and Isles.

Have you read books by Grafton or Gerritsen? If so, what do you remember most about the "Female Sleuths" in their books? 

Have you read books from either of these authors? What do you remember most about the "Female Sleuths"?

Kinsey Millhone is the "Female Sleuth" in Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series. She is definitely a female to be dealt with. Every book takes you on an exciting adventure. Newsweek said, "Grafton has created a woman we feel we know, a tough cookie with a soft center, a gregarious loner...smart, well paced, and very funny."  

Two of the Ten Female Sleuths

 

This week we are looking at Female Sleuths according to Strand Magazine. Although their list is not all of them by far. As in all books,  we have our favorites, that we have read.  

Both author have more than these books and in new series and stand alone books. 

Rachel Howzell Hall is the critically acclaimed author and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for And Now She’s Gone. A New York Times bestselling author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, Rachel is an Anthony, International Thriller Writers and Left Award nominee and the author of They All Fall Down, Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series. She is a past member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America and has been a featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast; she has also served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and the Association of Writers Programs. Rachel lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. For more information, visit www.rachelhowzell.com

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the co-authored Fox and O’Hare series, the Knight and Moon series, and the Lizzy and Diesel series as well as twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, Troublemaker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

Below is the first two of the authors who write series with "Female Sleuths":

Rachel Howzell Hall be sure and visit this page to read more about the author. The "Female Sleuth in this riviting series is Los Angeles homicide detectiveHomicide Detective Elouise "Lou" Norton.

Janet Evanovich be sure and visit this page to read more about the author. Her "Female Sleuth in this series (29 books so far and a new one on the way) is Stephanie Plum. Her 29th book in this series is Going Rogue. Released November 2022. Stephanie Plum breaks the rules, flirts with disaster, and shows who’s boss in this “fast and fun” (Publishers Weekly) thriller.
Have you read any of their books? Do you like books with Female Sleuths? 

Are You Tenacious and Self-Reliant?

If you are tenacious and self-reliant then there is a possiblity you can be a female sleuth!

The Madison Public Library in Wisconsin stated the past few years have shown an increase in the number of mysteries featuring a woman sleuth.(As we all know a sleuth is a person who investigates crimes.) This may be a police officer and or a private detective; however, books and movies and series have been coming out for years showing a woman sleuth as a professor, attorney, nun, librarian, doctor, and even an office worker. We have hair salon owners, tea shop owners, a woman who knits and a housewife. You name it and odds are someone has written a book about that profession.


The one thing all have in common is they are tenacious, self-reliant and I believe nosy. Regardless of who tries to prevent them from sleuthing they will not be stopped until they find out "who done-it".

Here are some of the new releases with "Female Sleuths":

J. D. Robb's new book, Encore in Death with Eve Dallas. The homicide cop with a passion for justice returns in the captivating crime thriller series by the #1 New York Times bestselling author. It was a glittering event full of A-listers, hosted by Eliza Lane and Brant Fitzhugh, a celebrity couple who’d conquered both Hollywood and Broadway. And now Eve Dallas has made her entrance—but not as a guest. After raising a toast, Fitzhugh fell to the floor and died, with physical symptoms pointing to cyanide, and the police have crashed the party.

Mary Stone and Lori Rhodes new book, Shadow's Force (Shadow Island FBI Mystery) with Sheriff Rebecca West. Twelve hours earlier, Interim Sheriff Rebecca West was enjoying a casual lunchtime burger. Now she’s preparing for a hurricane headed straight for Shadow Island. While hauling sandbags and calming town officials, the last thing she needs is a stunned man stumbling into the sheriff’s department. Covered in blood.

Hope Callaghan's new book, Divine Double Trouble (Divine Mystery Series #10.) with Joanna Pepperdine. Shortly after completing Joanna Pepperdine’s “Second Chance” program for former female inmates, Leah becomes a suspect in the murder of her new supervisor. Meanwhile, double trouble has arrived in the form of twin sisters. Could one of them hold the key to clearing Leah’s name?Determined to help clear Leah’s name, Jo soon realizes the new resident’s special challenge might actually be a “Divine” gift and the key to solving the mystery. Recipe included!

Cathy Pickens new book Murder at Luna Lake ( Blue Ridge Mountain Mystery) with Attorney Avery Andrews. Andrews has returned to her humdrum hometown of Dacus, South Carolina, leaving her job at a powerful law firm in the rearview mirror. But with her Donna Karan suits she’s struggling to fit back in. Is it still a place she’s able to call home now that she’s swapped her prestigious clients for high school bullies and formidable aunts?She finds sanctuary in her grandfather’s cabin on Luna Lake until police arrive to investigate a mysterious rumor.But more than secrets lie beneath the dark surface of Luna Lake . . .A body is pulled out of the murky waters and Avery finds herself drawn into the investigation.

Do you enjoy reading the books headed by "Female Sleuths"? 

This week we will be looking at authors and their "Female Sleuth's".

Strand Magazine posted an article naming the "Top Ten Female Sleuths" by Melinda Leigh March 30, 2020...

Check out tomorrow's post to see who the top ten author's and their "Female Sleuths" are.

A Gift That Keeps On Giving!

 

Larry B. Gildersleeve

Typing – a gift that keeps on giving

The world’s most successful novelist, James Patterson, eschews the use of a computer and writes all his books longhand – in pencil. As did the late Pat Conroy, whose bestselling works of fiction were many times the word-count of Patterson. It’s something that as a relative newcomer (four novels published over the past eight years) I struggle to get my mind around because I learned early-on how essential constant editing and re-writing are in the process.  

I regard my computer’s software as a “comb” at my fingertips to remove the tangles and smooth things out until the finished product looks just the way my editor and I want. Conroy obviously had a different editor relationship than mine, once quoted as saying: “I send her (Nan Telese) the manuscript and she finds the book in it.”  

When I was a junior in high school decades ago, I enrolled in typing class. My mother thought the skill would come in handy in my future, and I anticipated befriending girls in a classroom setting I might assume were otherwise unapproachable. Both of us were right. I still remember the phrase the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog uses every letter in the alphabet, and to this day I remain a fairly fast touch-typist who isn’t slowed down looking at the keyboard.

I owe my mother, a librarian, my love of reading, and my typing. Just wish she’d still been with us to read my books. Her opinion would have meant so much to me, and I think she might’ve been just a little bit proud.

 

Studying authors – as well as their writing

Authors, especially fiction-writers, are constantly encouraged to be avid readers, especially in their genre(s). Sage advice I follow, as well as reading outside my genre to study how other authors, the likes of Robert Parker and Stuart Woods, weave dialogue into their storyline. But over the past few years, I’ve also begun reading about the authors I’ve come to admire, recently and over time.

Stephen King reveals himself in his On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft, for my money, the best book ever written on the subject. I felt I really got to know Pat Conroy in the biography My Exaggerated Life, with which he cooperated, and A Lowcountry Heart, published after his passing. There’s Mockingbird about Harper Lee, published in 2008 while she was still alive and updated following her death. In 2022, James Patterson released his autobiography with his name as the title, and Kurt Vonnegut – The Making of a Writer, was published by one of his longtime friends.

I got a relatively late start in life as a novelist, and I have so much to learn. For me, reading about authors in addition to their work makes it a much richer experience.    

Finalist: Writers Digest 2022 Rhyming Poetry Contest



Bronze Award: Illumination Awards - Romance Fiction Category



Blue by You tells the uniquely romantic story of a man who falls in love with the same woman twice, decades and a thousand miles apart, but is a total stranger to her both times.

Daniel, a former D.C. trial attorney, has fled to Colorado following the cancer death of his young wife, a woman he'd known since their childhood. It's in a rural mountain setting two years later that a chance encounter results in a one-week love affair with Paula, a lifestyle writer from Nashville.

Paula is a person of faith; Daniel was while his wife was alive, but no longer. There is a soft-touch Christian theme throughout the book, especially about the power of prayer and the reality of redemption.

Paula leaves after the seven days, promising to return, but doesn't. And Daniel never hears from her again. They are reunited over twenty years later in Nashville, but a rare illness has deprived Paula of any memory of Daniel.

The two former lovers have been living very different lives over the years before they're brought together again by an up and coming country music singer who might be their daughter.

Daniel struggles with reliving his Colorado memories while falling in love with the same woman again who now can't share those memories with him. Together, they make new memories they can share -- until time runs out.

The book's title is wordplay on the song Blue Bayou, with Blue being an Australian Shepherd Paula comments is often by Daniel's side.

Larry B. Gildersleeve

American by birth and Southern by the Grace of God, Larry was born in Knoxville, TN, and raised and educated in Virginia and Kentucky. A three-decade corporate career took him across the country and around the world before he returned to Kentucky in 2014 to realize his long-deferred dream of becoming a published author. His three Parchment Series novels were released between 2016 and 2019, and his fourth novel, Blue by You, was published in mid-2022. All of Larry's works of fiction will be in the Christian and Inspirational genres. He is a member of the Association of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Academy of American Poets, the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Author's Guild and the Bluegrass Writer's Guild. Larry is married; the father of two and grandfather of four.

https://www.larrygildersleeve.com/

Carlene O'Connor~Murder On An Irish Farm

 

Murder on an Irish Farm
In this enchanting new read in the fan-favorite series from a USA Today bestselling author. Siobhán O’Sullivan and Macdaras Flannery, are about to get married at last. But just as the rowdy O’Sullivan brood and all the regulars of the local bistro have gathered at the church, the nuptials come to an abrupt halt when the discovery of an unidentified skeleton puts the wedding on pause…

If only her mother could be here! The entire O’Sullivan brood—not to mention the regulars from Naomi’s Bistro—have gathered at St. Mary’s Church for the wedding of Siobhán and Macdara. It’s not every day you see two garda marrying each other. Only Siobhán’s brother James is missing. They can’t start without him.

But when James finally comes racing in, he’s covered in dirt and babbling he’s found a human skeleton in the old slurry pit at the farmhouse. What farmhouse? Macdara sheepishly admits he was saving it as a wedding surprise: he purchased an abandoned dairy farm. Duty calls, so the engaged garda decide to put the wedding on hold to investigate.

James leads them to a skeleton clothed in rags that resemble a tattered tuxedo. As an elderly neighbor approaches, she cries out that these must be the remains of her one true love who never showed up on their wedding day, fifty years ago. The garda have a cold case on their hands, which heats up the following day when a fresh corpse appears on top of the bridegroom’s bones. With a killer at large, they need to watch their backs—or the nearly wedded couple may be parted by death before they’ve even taken their vows. . .

USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television.

http://www.carleneoconnor.net

Delightful Cozy Mystery by Amanda Flower

A delightful 'Cozy Mystery' by author, Amanda Flower.


When the biggest catch at the annual Ice Fishing Derby is the body of brewmaster Wallace, Shiloh must reel in the killer before her farm goes belly-up.

Shiloh Bellamy still expects the last few Winter months to be busy with repairs, spring planning, and networking with local businesses. She might even be able to broker a new partnership with Fields Brewery and its organic brewer's association. Well, she could if the owner, Wallace, wasn't found murdered at the county Ice Fishing Derby.

Once again, Shiloh gets tangled up in the investigation when the police ignore an entire crop of suspects to blame one of her friends. She'll have to dig deep to find the truth, reel in a killer, and convince her city-slicker pug to wear his winter boots. But with Bellamy Farm still struggling, can Shiloh spare the time to look into the town's fishy characters? Or will her dream farm be the next thing floating belly up?

Book 3 of Farm to Table Mysteries.

Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over thirty-five mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, Hallmark Publishing, Crooked Lane Books, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for fifteen years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their two adorable cats.

Visit her at www.amandaflower.com

Perfect Book for Ages 6-8~Meet Mango and Brash

John Patrick Green's goofy graphic novel series follows the super spy alligator duo the InvestiGators as they travel through the sewers and fight the forces of evil.

Book for ages 6-8

MANGO and BRASH are the INVESTIGATORS:
sewer-loving agents of S.U.I.T.* and scourge of supervillains everywhere!

With their Very Exciting Spy Technology and their tried-and-true, toilet-based travel techniques, the InvestiGators are undercover and on the case! And on their first mission together, they have not one but two mysteries to solve! Can Mango and Brash uncover the clues, crack their cases, and corral the crooks—or will the criminals wriggle out of their grasp?

John Patrick Green grew up on Long Island and has worked in New York City ever since graduating from School of Visual Arts for Graphic Design in 1997. He was the comics consultant for Disney Adventures magazine, and in addition to Disney has written, illustrated, or otherwise worked on comics for Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Scholastic, DC Comics, and First Second Books. John is the writer and artist of the graphic novels Hippopotamister, the Eisner-nominated Kitten Construction Company series, and the New York Times-bestselling InvestiGators series. He is also the artist and co-creator of the graphic novels Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden, and Teen Boat!, both with writer Dave Roman. 

See more of John's work at www.johngreenart.com.

Connecting With Others

Christie Tate

A moving, heartwarming, and powerful memoir about Christie Tate’s lifelong struggle to sustain female friendship, and the friend who helps her find the human connection she seeks.

Heidi Stevens, Tribune News Service said of the author Christie Tate, "Tate catapulted onto the literary scene in 2020 with Group, a gorgeous, brave, vulnerable memoir about group therapy and all the ways it scared, shaped and saved her. . . B.F.F. carries that torch, and uses it to illuminate the unexpected, unexplored corners of friendship and isolation, belonging and insecurity."

After more than a decade of dead-end dates and dysfunctional relationships, Christie Tate has reclaimed her voice and settled down. Her days of agonizing in group therapy over guys who won’t commit are over, the grueling emotional work required to attach to another person tucked neatly into the past.

Or so she thought. Weeks after giddily sharing stories of her new boyfriend at Saturday morning recovery meetings, Christie receives a gift from a friend. Meredith, twenty years older and always impeccably accessorized, gives Christie a box of holiday-themed scarves as well as a gentle suggestion: maybe now is the perfect time to examine why friendships give her trouble. “The work never ends, right?” she says with a wink.

Christie isn’t so sure, but she soon realizes that the feeling of “apartness” that has plagued her since childhood isn’t magically going away now that she’s in a healthy romantic relationship. With Meredith by her side, she embarks on a brutally honest exploration of her friendships past and present, sorting through the ways that debilitating shame and jealousy have kept the lasting bonds she craves out of reach—and how she can overcome a history of letting go too soon. But when Meredith becomes ill and Christie’s baggage threatens to muddy their final days, she’s forced to face her deepest fears in honor of the woman who finally showed her how to be a friend.

Poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, and emotionally satisfying, B.F.F. explores what happens when we finally break the habits that impair our ability to connect with others, and the ways that one life—however messy and imperfect—can change another.

Christie O. Tate is a Chicago-based writer and essayist. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Pithead Chapel, McSweeney’s, Motherwell, Entropy Magazine, A Perfect Wedding, Together.com, Brain, Child and others. Her debut memoir, Group, published in October 2020 was a Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller.

https://christietate.com/

Searching For Your Children

 

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery is a “celebration of motherhood and female resilience” (The Observer).

“A powerful novel that explores how freedom and family are truly defined”—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Real Simple, Goodreads, AARP, Boston.com, BookBub and BookRiot

Her search begins with an ending.…

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children—the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.

Eleanor Shearer splits her time between London and Ramsgate on the coast of Kent, so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea.


As the granddaughter of Caribbean immigrants who came to the UK as part of the Windrush Generation, Eleanor has always been drawn to Caribbean history. Her first novel, RIVER SING ME HOME (Headline, UK & Berkley, USA) is inspired by the true stories of the brave woman who went looking for their stolen children after the abolition of slavery in 1834.

The novel draws on her time spent in the Caribbean, visiting family in St Lucia and Barbados. It was also informed by her Master's degree in Politics, where she focused on how slavery is remembered on the islands today. She travelled to the Caribbean and interviewed activists, historians and family members, and their reflections on what it really means to be free made her more determined than ever to bring the hidden stories of slavery to light.


https://www.eleanorshearer.com/

Do You Imagine The Worst?

Jennifer Hillier imagines the worst about people and then writes about it. Born and raised in Toronto and a proud Canadian, she spent eight years in the Seattle area, which is where all her books are set.


This book is coming in Paperback May 2023. It was printed in
hardcover in 2022. If you like nail biting and gripping you will want to read this.

She's the USA Today, Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star bestselling author of THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK. Her six previous novels include LITTLE SECRETS, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Anthony Award, and JAR OF HEARTS, which won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel and was nominated for the Anthony and Macavity Awards.


Things We Do in the Dark is a brilliant new thriller from Jennifer Hillier, the award-winning author of the breakout novels Little Secrets and Jar of Hearts. Paris Peralta is suspected of killing her celebrity husband, and her long-hidden past now threatens to destroy her future.

When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she'll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it's not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it's only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future.

Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby Reyes, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that riveted Canada in the early nineties. Reyes knows who Paris really is, and when she's unexpectedly released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris's secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally confront the dark past she escaped, once and for all.

Because the only thing worse than a murder charge are two murder charges.

"I'm Filipino-Canadian, born and raised in Toronto, but I spent eight amazing years in Seattle which is where I first became a published writer. . I’m a Seahawks fan but I married a Packers guy. We have a young son who looks most like me when he’s crying. I’m afraid of the dark and can’t sleep unless I’ve checked the locks on the doors several times. I love writing when it’s raining, sleeping when it’s sunny, and reading after everyone else has gone to bed. I cherish my family (those who read, and those who don’t), and my friends (those who write, and those who don’t). I’m a cat person without a cat, which makes me sad. But I’m now back in the Toronto area permanently with my family, which makes me happy.

https://jenniferhillierbooks.com/

Inspired By A True Story~Council of Books In Wartime

 

The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war.

Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture exchange program in Germany. For a girl from a small town in Maine, 1933 Berlin seems to be sparklingly cosmopolitan, blossoming in the midst of a great change with the charismatic new chancellor at the helm. Then Althea meets a beautiful woman who promises to show her the real Berlin, and soon she’s drawn into a group of resisters who make her question everything she knows about her hosts—and herself.

Paris 1936. She may have escaped Berlin for Paris, but Hannah Brecht discovers the City of Light is no refuge from the anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathizers she thought she left behind. Heartbroken and tormented by the role she played in the betrayal that destroyed her family, Hannah throws herself into her work at the German Library of Burned Books. Through the quiet power of books, she believes she can help counter the tide of fascism she sees rising across Europe and atone for her mistakes. But when a dear friend decides actions will speak louder than words, Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live—or die—for.

New York 1944. Since her husband Edward was killed fighting the Nazis, Vivian Childs has been waging her own war: preventing a powerful senator’s attempts to censor the Armed Service Editions, portable paperbacks that are shipped by the millions to soldiers overseas. Viv knows just how much they mean to the men through the letters she receives—including the last one she got from Edward. She also knows the only way to win this battle is to counter the senator’s propaganda with a story of her own—at the heart of which lies the reclusive and mysterious woman tending the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.

As Viv unknowingly brings her censorship fight crashing into the secrets of the recent past, the fates of these three women will converge, changing all of them forever.

Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime—the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war of ideas”—The Librarian of Burned Books is an unforgettable historical novel, a haunting love story, and a testament to the beauty, power, and goodness of the written word.

Brianna Labuskes was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Brianna Labuskes graduated from Penn State University with a degree in journalism. For the past eight years, she has worked as an editor at both small-town papers and national media organizations such as Politico and Kaiser Health News, covering politics and policy. 

Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts and Washington Post best-selling author.

Visit her at www.briannalabuskes.com.

Live Like The French~Everyday

Danielle Postel-Vinay is an American writer who has lived extensively in France. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with her Parisian husband and children.
Danielle was born in Wisconsin and made her first trip to France at the age of sixteen. She fell head over heels in love with France, but noticed that the French had very different ideas about everything from diet to manners to love. She met her first mentor in the art of French living soon after, Jacqueline Manon, an expatriate woman who had brought her French sensibility to her Midwestern home. They became close friends, and for the next decades Danielle became a passionate student of all things French. Danielle became intimately connected to the inner workings of French life when she met her husband, Hadrien, a filmmaker who grew up in Paris and Brittany. It was through the Postel-Vinay family that she was introduced to the private culture of French life, with all its beautiful rituals and unspoken expectations.


Daniel is the author of the delightful book,
Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home. I can highly recommend this book if you like things "French". Might be fun to make our homes more French like.

French Women Don’t Get Fat meets The Little Book of Hygge in this lively, sophisticated, and practical illustrated lifestyle guide that shows how to enjoy la belle vie—to live like the French every day—transforming your house into a home defined by beauty, family, and accessible elegance.

How do the French create the elusive and alluring sanctuaries they call home? This question long intrigued Danielle Postel-Vinay. Thanks to a chance encounter with a French expat in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and years of immersive research, she embarked on a quest to discover the secrets of the French home aesthetic.

Experiencing first-hand la belle vie—the beautiful life—Postel-Vinay now shows everyone how to create their own French sanctuary, a home sweet maison, no matter where they live. Providing more than just interior decorating and design tips, Postel-Vinay teaches you how to foster the warmth, beauty, and rituals inherent in the French home and create an environment better suited to living a rich, full, connected life. At the center of the book is the idea that your house should be a reflection of you, your hobbies, your family history, your rituals, all the things that make your life unique. A happy home is a home that expresses your rituals and your taste, not one that relies on prefab décor from a mass retailer.

Home Sweet Maison takes a room-by-room approach to show how the French view: The Aesthetic: why the objects in your home matter, why minimalism is overrated, and why the French always choose the perfect décor for their salons
The Practical: how to use mise-en-place, or the French art of organization, in your kitchen, and how to find the right stain-removing potions to create your own French laundry
The Sensual: the way the French employ scent in their home as a personal signature
The Philosophical: the idea that every room in a French house has a specific purpose, and that the activity in one room should never bleed into the others

Home Sweet Maison encapsulates the very heart of the French way of seeing the world: set the table formally, adhere to all the conventions of ritual and tradition, then take pleasure in indulgence. It’s about using French concepts and routines to change our homes, our relationships, and our lives for the better.

In case you don't recognize her she writes under the name Danielle Trussoni.


Danielle Trussoni is the author of literary gothic novel THE ANCESTOR and the ANGELOLOGY series, a New York Times and Internationally bestselling series published in over 32 countries. She is also the author of the memoirs THE FORTRESS and FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH, which was selected as one of the Ten Best Books of 2006 by The New York Times Book Review. She writes the Gothic & Horror column for The New York Times Book Review. You can follow her on twitter Twitter and visit her website here:

http://www.danielletrussoni.com/

Her new book, under the name Danielle Trussoni, releases in June. It is titled The Puzzle Master.