The Undomestic Goddess Dialed into my Stressful Pandemic Life
Sophie Kinsella’s novel, The Undomestic Goddess, starts off with the question, “Would you consider yourself stressed?” I smiled when I saw that. It was a question the main character Samantha reads on an intake form before her massage appointment. And it so resonated with me considering this stressful pandemic life I’ve been living, that we’ve all been living, since 2020. I couldn’t stop reading. I mean, my answer to that question was “yes, without a doubt!” As the massage starts, Samantha grows so worried about an email she forgot to…
Spencer Quinn’s Mystery Makes Me Laugh, and Sleep Well
One of my nightly rituals is reading in bed before I fall asleep. It’s my favorite time to read. The house is quiet, the work’s done for the day, the daily chores are taken care of. But too often, I find myself reading dark novels, I mean really dark novels, that stress me out and make me worry. This hasn’t been good for my psyche. If I try to sleep while feeling anxious or sad, I toss and turn. My mind races. Those dark novels are better read during the…
Harvesting the Sky Hits Shelves in September!
Hey everyone, Just a quick note to let you know my new novel Harvesting the Sky has a cover! Here it is above. I’m very excited. The talented Jessica Dionne, who created The Forgetting Flower, also designed this one. It’s ominous and threatening and mysterious and I love it. Here’s the jacket copy: Botanist Andre Damazy lands on the opportunity of a lifetime when he discovers a rare medicinal apple in Kazakhstan and brings back tree cuttings to his hidden greenhouse in Paris. Growing the cuttings into trees is personal…
News About My New Novel, Harvesting the Sky
Hi everyone, I’m excited to tell you my new novel, Harvesting the Sky, will be published in fall, 2021! This book holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons. The First Novel That Melded my Plant Passion With Fiction Some of you know that I resisted focusing on plants in my fiction for years. I saw plants as soothing and beautiful, which they are, and so I struggled to find the darkness. Then I reworked the novel that was my MFA thesis with a botanist at the…
Wendy Webb Reveals Secret Spirits in a Dangerous Lake
Hi readers, just a quick note to let you know that I interviewed the author Wendy Webb for the November, 2020 issue of The Big Thrill magazine! Wendy writes suspenseful stories set in the upper Midwest, Minnesota to be exact. Some folks call her the “Queen of Northern Gothic” fiction and for good reason. She knows how to spin a tale that dovetails eerie history with contemporary times. Lake Superior: A Dangerous Force All Its Own The setting for many of her novels is a fictional small town in Minnesota,…