August storms, killer books, + a pupdate
+ scene cards and the spookiness my 6-year-old is loving
Hello, my fellow bookish friends! Please note, on this rare occasion, this is the same newsletter my “author newsletter” subscribers will be receiving. If you’d like to subscribe to that newsletter (where I send out bookish recommendations, info about future books I have releasing, + cute dog photos, click here).
How is summer nearly over already?!? It seems like every time I hop on social media, I see another first day of school! photo. Halloween candy has arrived in my local grocery, and I kid you not, we have trees already changing color here in Washington State! I think this is the earliest autumn we’ve had (or maybe summer is just feeling spiteful??), though we are supposed to get some 80 degree days next week. Look at this wild storm that rolled in while we were at the beach last week! Very fall weather for us here in the PNW.
One of my most favorite parts of fall are the spooky books that start publishing in September and go straight through till the holidays. Why is it that we find ghosts and ghouls so cozy? Or is that just me?
Writing Update
The next book is WRITTEN! And now I’m neck deep in revising. This process is different with every book, and for me, right now, it means lining up “scene cards” that include a couple bullet points of what happens in the scene. It’s a great way to take a big step back and see my book as a whole instead of one individual chapter (or line) at a time. It also helps me identify those pesky scenes where nothing happens. I mean, things happen, but nothing that changes the character, her world, or her inner thinking in a significant way. It’s led to me deleting a couple chapters, combining others, and finding weak points in my plot (where I’ve added another twist or two!).
Before I began writing books, I never thought about this part of it—the nitty gritty behind-the-scenes details. But every author goes through this process with every book. Now, I wonder what scenes were deleted in my favorite novels!
Book Stuff
I’ve had a few readers ask which one of my books they should start with. Since they are all stand-alone psychological thrillers, I have a hard time answering! Do they like serial killer novels? Medical thrillers? Do they lean more domestic suspense? Here are my one liners I share in case you, too, have been wondering which book to pick up:
Make Me Disappear - A woman arranges for her own kidnapping to escape her sociopathic, narcissistic boyfriend—but nothing goes as planned, and when she realizes there is no escape, she decides to turn the tables on him.
The Lucky One - A woman tricks her would-be serial killer into letting her, but a decade later realizes she never really escaped them, and that, in fact, they’ve been closer to her this entire time than she could have ever expected.
The Good Doctor - Grey’s Anatomy (hot doctors, smart nurses, and a few sexy scenes)… but with murder.
Never Trust the Husband - A nocturnal runner with a voyeuristic streak, Rebecca peers through the open windows of her neighbors, but there’s one couple in particular she loves to watch—Gwyn and Benjamin. The reason she’s back in Seattle is because someone named Madeline was murdered, and she’s pretty sure one (or both!) of these people is to blame. After all, Gwyn was Madeline’s best friend—Benjamin her husband—and now they’re to be wed. Rebecca worms her way into their lives, becoming a trusted friend, as she races against the clock to solve Madeline’s murder before she becomes the next victim.
A Question For You
A lot of authors offer a freebie to their newsletter subscribers (and also to attract new readers to their newsletter). This might be a deleted scene from a book, a diary entry from a character, a short story—or something else. Is there anything you’d like to see in particular? Any character you’d love to see featured? You can comment below or just reply to this e-mail and let me know! Thanks!
What I’m Reading
I have two killer recommendations for you!!! —> Pun absolutely intended.
I did not purposefully read these books back-to-back, but alas, I did.
Killer Potential is one of the fastest paced, character-rich, edge-of-your-seat books I’ve ever read. Here’s the quick summary:
Decisions were made: I made them. Violence was done: I did it. Crime scenes were fled: I fled them. People were hurt: I hurt them. Someone was loved: I loved them. Not everything I did was bad. Just most of it.
A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she'd be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.
Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for a weekly lesson at the Victors' Beverly Hills mansion to discover pure carnage: the bloody remains of Mr. and Mrs. Victor sullying their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help from within the walls of the family's estate.
Within moments, Evie and the woman go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives. Anointed the new Charles Manson by the press, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter hoping to spark a class war, Evie is finally someone.
At the heart of a nationwide manhunt, Evie is desperate to clear her name. But first she'll have to break down the barriers of her new companion - who is inscrutable, surprisingly skilled at being on the run, and quickly becoming the most important person in Evie's upside-down life.
How to Kill a Guy in 10 Ways was one of those books with an utterly relatable yet awful main character (think Dexter, who you love even though they are doing bad things). It’s also hilarious at times, and I know we could all use a laugh. Summary:
After one too many terrifying encounters, Millie Masters sets up a hotline for women who feel unsafe walking home alone at night: Message M.
But very quickly she realises that there’s much more to be done to help the women who call in. Because the men just do it again the next night, and the next, and the next…
And when her own sister is assaulted on a night out, the temptation to take the law into her own hands becomes too much to resist.
Because M can also stand for murder…
Click the links above to order. How to Kill a Guy in 10 Ways is out now, and Killer Potential will be out in coming months, but is a great book to pre-order!
New Section Alert! What my kid is reading!
We nabbed this book at Browser’s Bookshop in Olympia. She adores spooky things. It is a simple, sweet tale, with wonderful imagery along the way. A tiny bit spooky, but my 6 year-old promised she wasn’t, “too scared.” Buy it here.
Pupdate
The kiddo and I took Penny and Maggy on a 4 mile hike through a PNW rainforest last week! I don’t think I’ve seen the dogs so excited in a long time. They ate ALL the grass!