Year: 2007

  • 802 and counting …

    Finished High Profile by Robert B. Parker. It’s his latest Jesse Stone novel.

    Jesse is an alcoholic police chief who lives in a small Massachusetts town called Paradise. This time out, he’s got to solve the murders of a national radio host and his pregnant girlfriend. But really, the mystery takes a back seat to Jesse’s struggles with booze and his obsession with his ex-wife, Jenn, who claims that she was raped and is being stalked by the guy who did it. The story gets even more twisted when Jesse asks Sunny Randall, his current squeeze, to protect Jenn from her supposed stalker. (Sunny is a Boston, female P.I. who stars in another one of Parker’s series.)

    I always enjoy Parker’s books and his simplistic style. If you want to know how to do good dialogue and minimal description, Parker is your man.

    But this one had me shaking my head. Because the Jesse-Jenn relationship just doesn’t ring true for me. Jesse is a smart, attractive, funny guy. Sure, he has a problem with alcohol, but really, his main problem is Jenn — the fact that he loves her and can’t let her go.

    Jenn is no prize. She’s a serial cheater, who sleeps with men to help her career (she’s gone from TV weather girl to reporter over the last few books). Whenever things aren’t going her way, she calls in Jesse to come and fix them, like this time with her stalker. I just don’t see why Jesse would keep on loving her. He’s even gone to a shrink to help him figure things out (another one of Parker’s signatures), and he still can’t get Jenn out of his system.

    I’d had such high hopes for this after the last Sunny Randall novel, Blue Screen, where she and Jesse hook up. I thought in High Profile, they’d both move forward together. And that it would be interesting to read about the same relationship in two different series from the POV of two different people. But no, Jesse and Sunny both devolve into thinking about their exes, so much so that they decide to call it quits. (Obsessive love is another one of Parker’s major themes.)

    Sorry, Robert, but I have to give this one a thumbs down for not moving forward with your characters. Here’s hoping you go back to Jesse and Sunny in the future.

    What about you? What have you read lately? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • That chicken squawking sound you hear is me …

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    Last week, I blogged about trying to decide whether to drive or fly to RWA Nationals in Dallas this summer.

    I’ve pretty much decided to rent a car and drive.

    Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a big fat chicken because I’m nervous about flying. But honestly, flying just seems like a big hassle. And it would take me almost as long to fly back from Dallas as it would to drive (once you factor in getting to the airport two hours early and a layover in Charlotte).

    But, I didn’t entirely base my decision on my cowardice. I also had to take financial things into consideration. I could basically use the money I’d spend on plane tickets and go to another conference, namely Moonlight & Magnolias in Atlanta.

    So, that’s probably what I’m going to do … unless I change my mind again. Just ask my significant other. I’m completely wishy-washy when it comes to making decisions. 😕

    What about you? Are you driving to RWA? Flying? Inquiring minds want to know ….

  • Another bit of shameless self-promotion …

    In case you haven’t looked at my Appearances page in a while, here are the varios blogs and book signings I’ll be doing in April and May to promote Karma Girl. Hope to see you there! :cool: 

    April

    n April 28: I’ll be doing a guest blog about surviving the editing process at Magical Musings and my regular column over at Romancing the Blog.

    May

    n May 5: I’ll be appearing from 10 a.m.-noon at the Thomas Memorial Branch Library in Bluff City, Tenn.

    Then, I’ll be signing books from 1-3 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Johnson City, Tenn.

    And finally, from 4-6 p.m., I’ll be at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. signing books as part of Free Comics Day.

    n May 8: I’ll be doing a reading and signing books from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Madagascar Coffee Co. in Kingsport, Tenn.

    n May 12: I’ll be signing books from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at B Dalton Booksellers in Bristol, Va.

    I’ll be signing books from 4-6 p.m. at Books-A-Million in Johnson City, Tenn.

    n May 26: I’ll be signing books from 1-3 p.m. at Waldenbooks in Kingsport, Tenn.

    n May 27: I’ll be signing books from 2-4 p.m. at Carpe Librum bookstore in Knoxville, Tenn.

    Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about all these … 😀

  • A conference to remember …

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    I attended the Mountain Laurel Conference, hosted by the Smoky Mountain Romance Writers, in Knoxville last weekend. There were prize giveaways, free goodies, great books, great food, and several workshops (including one on media issues given by yours truly).

    And I had a blast.

    About 45 people attended the conference, which I thought was a great number. Unlike the mad crush of the annual RWA conference, you could actually talk to everyone you wanted to meet, including folks like Sherrilyn Kenyon, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Sabrina Jeffries, Jade Lee, Elizabeth Hoyt, and Jenna Peterson. All of whom were absolutely funny and charming and witty.

    Sabrina’s talk Friday night about rejections was laugh-out-loud funny. Vicki wore bunny ears for a large part of the day on Saturday. I talked to Sherrilyn about hair-care products and found out that Jenna uses kick-ass James Bond titles for her Avon books. Well, you get the idea …

    It was also great meeting everyone from the SMRW loop in person and finally putting names with faces. You ladies did a terrific job with the conference. Kudos to you all! I know it was a ton of work, but I hope you’ll have one again next year. I’ll totally be there. 😎

    Stupid me forgot to take my camera, so I don’t have any pictures to share. Bummer. It was also a bit of a bummer that I didn’t have any books yet since Karma Girl doesn’t officially come out until May 1, or three weeks from Tuesday. (Not that I’m counting down or anything …)

    But a good time was definitely had by all. 🙂

    What about you? What conferences have you gone to this year? Or are looking forward to? What’s the best/worst thing about conferences? Inquiring minds want to know …