We woke up to a snow day in New York, and even as I write this, fluffy snowflakes are falling outside the charming square window in my study. The kids are home, and I’m about to make banana bread. But first, I wanted to share some news.
Goodreads is running a giveaway (GIVEAWAY!!) for fifty copies of my next novel ALL THE SUMMERS IN BETWEEN. Five months before it releases! Woot! This is always exciting because it creates the first early readers of the book, generates the earliest reviews and gives authors and publishers a taste of how a novel is going to do in the marketplace. If you’re interested in entering, you can pop your email into the Goodreads giveaway page. Also, if you’re willing to share the giveaway with a friend, I’d be grateful!
A Really Amazing Blurb
You know how I told you all that my favorite novel of 2023 was The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry? Well, imagine my absolute joy and surprise when she sent over the most fantastic blurb about my new novel. Jumping up and down. There’s something particularly special when an author you admire likes your book. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Patti!
What I’m Reading
My book club is currently reading We Are Not Like Them; I’m listening to it on Audible. It’s about two best friends: one white, one African American. The white woman’s husband is a police officer, he accidentally shoots a black child (ahem), and the book tracks the strain put on the friendship as the women work through the entire country’s racial upset together. It’s so hard to read, but there are so many good questions that will emerge from the discussion. I asked my book club friends to come ready to talk about some squirmy subjects. But if we don’t talk, the world doesn’t change, right?
I picked up Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren at the bookshop the other day. It won the Booker Prize and it has such a gorgeous cover that I got curious and read the first page. I couldn’t put it down in the shop so I bought it, but I’m forcing myself to stop reading it temporarily because I want to finish Asha Lemmie’s amazing new book The Wildest Sun. I’m absolutely LOVING this one, too; The Wildest Sun follows a young woman searching for her answers about the father she’s never met…who she suspects is Ernest Hemingway. Yes, Papa! I’m loving this one so much. Asha’s writing is so vivid.
New Year, New Readers and YOU!
The Goodreads giveaway put me in an extra generous mood, and for a short period I’m offering my long-time readers a gift subscription of Dear Fiction to give a friend. This means that you get to give free access to all of DF’s stories with the click of a single button below. Everyone loves a good freebie, including me.
One More Thing: DF’s Most Popular Posts of 2023
We won’t celebrate our one year anniversary until April; can you believe we published our first post only eight months ago? It’s been a JOURNEY with all of you. I went looking back through the archives to pinpoint some of our most popular posts. Enjoy!
-I Got A Surprising Email From My Publisher
-What to Do With a Box of Old Diaries?
-How I’m Preparing for Paperback Pub Day
-An Extraordinary Summer at the Beach
Thanks for reading everyone! See you next week!
Congrats on your new book! I was just approved for it on NetGalley and can't wait to read it.
Thank you for the book recs. Stunning cover for your upcoming ... sadly giveaway is only for USA. Best wishes.