"No Good Deed" Author Interview

I was recently interviewed by Christina Hamlett for her blog "You Read it Here First".  Please check it out at:  http://fromtheauthors.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/no-good-deed

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book that will keep you reading late into the night. "Gone Girl" follows a "he said/she said" format which begins on the fifth anniversary of Nick and Amy Dunne's marriage and continues until the astounding and unexpected ending. You will follow one path, only to suddenly veer to another, then another. The writing is outstanding, the characters perfectly drawn, and the cleverly woven plot will make you think you understand it all, until you don't. To say more would spoil it. This is a book you won't forget once you're finished. I'd give it more than five stars if I could.

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Book Review

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book while on a cruise ship, late at night. Maybe it was the setting, or the beautiful red and black book binding, but it was a very enchanting book in my opinion. The circus opens only at night. Everything about it is mysterious, including the use of only black and white colors, and the various performers who appear to do things that humans aren't supposed to be able to do. There is a fierce competition between two aging magicians and their young proteges. When these proteges fall in love, their future appears doomed, until an interesting intervention takes place. There are many colorful characters who are well described by the author. The midnight dinners, held in a lovely mansion, are written about in such a way that you feel you're there. The author was able to make an unbelievable story very believable. I highly recommend it.

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Holiday Greetings To My Readers

I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays with family and friends, in whatever manner you celebrate. As a Christian I'm celebrating Christmas and all it means to me and my family. I haven't posted for a while due to the busyness of the days between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. Also, my husband and I were able to take a ten-day cruise early in December, which was just the relaxing experience we needed after having water pipes burst in our house just before we left. We're still waiting for wall repairs to be made but at least the pipes are fixed. I did a lot of reading on the cruise and will be posting reviews soon. I also did some book promotion. Most cruisers are avid readers and many seemed to be interested in my two novels. Until I write again, my best wishes for a happy and healthy new year - and happy writing!

Book Review

Taken by Robert Crais
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I recently finished T. Jefferson Parker's "Jaguar", about the Mexican drug cartels, kidnapping, ransom, and killing. I was ready for something new, but was drawn to Robert Crais's latest, "Taken", about Mexican drug cartels, kidnapping, ransom, and killing. But this is where the similarity ends. In "Taken" we have my favorite sleuth duo, Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. No matter how dangerous a situation might be, Pike is stoic, and Cole has a smart mouth. Cole is hired to find the daughter of Nita Morales, who has been kidnapped with her boyfriend by Mexican bajadores. They happened to be stargazing in a remote area when smuggled illegal immigrants were dropped off near them, and subsequently taken by bajadores, who then hold these people for ransom, followed by killing. Krista Morales and her boyfriend are swept up in the group and find themselves hidden in a safe house under primitive and dangerous conditions. There are so many bad guys that it's hard to keep up. Spanish isn't the only language spoken. Koreans and Arabs are in the mix, which introduces Jon Stone, fluent in these languages and many more. Cole and Pike are separated as they search for Krista, Cole is kidnapped and brought to the same house as Krista, and Pike and Stone join forces to seek them out. It's a race to the finish and Crais is at his best in keeping the reader turning pages. If you've read Crais before, you know that in the end Cole and Pike willl survive to fight another day, but how they survive is what keeps you on the edge of your chair.

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A Critique of a Critique

As writers we strive to do the best work possible. What we produce seems like our "children" since we've labored for months before we see the results.  When our work is praised, we're thrilled. When it gets only lukewarm comments, we're disappointed. Regardless, and speaking only for myself now, I always welcome feedback. Constructive criticism is part of that package, and is welcomed, as long as it's constructive. But what if the criticism happens to be one person's personal opinion of how characters are presented, even though this person said she enjoyed the book.

A lady from Montreal read my second novel, NO GOOD DEED. She had read the first book in the series and said she liked it. However, she took issue in NO GOOD DEED, that my protagonist Linda, now engaged to her college love, David, did not live with him. Anyone who has read either book knows that David's life is a bit unsettled now, and that he travels quite a bit. When he finally was able to stabilize his life, he found a small apartment. My reader couldn't believe that he just would't move in with Linda. To her, the norm is unmarried couples living together, even though I explained that wasn't the value system of Linda and her fiance. The reader also took issue with Linda's relationship with her mother, who comes to visit Linda for two weeks. Their relationship has always been strained, and Linda's mother, a bit naive and old-fashioned, manages to get Linda in trouble through comments she makes to a journalist, at a time when Linda is handling a sensitive and highly publicized criminal case. According to my reader, women today, no matter how old, are very "with it", on facebook, computer savvy, etc. etc. so Linda's mother should have been portrayed in a more modern way, the way the "real world" is. Since she wanted to re-write my book, it makes me wonder how she ended up enjoying it.

I thanked her for her opinion and reminded her that the beauty of fiction is that it's fiction. There are a variety of value systems in the world and I chose to write about one that I think is still common, while recognizing that many others live as she describes.

If any of you have had similar experiences, how have you handled it?  Did it change your writing style, and if so, in what way?  Looking forward to your comments.