Jennifer Trethewey's Blog, page 5

Review of The Art of Violence by SJ Rozan

Next month, I’ll be attending the Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp in West Bend, Wisconsin. It’s my favorite writers’ retreat/workshop. We didn’t meet last year because the world was hibernating, but those of us who have survived the pandemiclypse are slowly crawling out of our caves, blinking at the sun, and dipping our collective toes into pools of humanity known as “gatherings” where we laugh and talk and even hug people who don’t share our DNA.

One of those people who will be attending the Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp as an instructor is SJ Rozan, an award-winning, best-selling crime fiction writer best known for her Lydia Chin series. When SJ isn’t writing, playing basketball, or photographing her beloved streets of NYC, she is teaching writers the craft of storytelling. Because I’m looking forward to seeing SJ and other returning participants, I thought I’d post my reviews of their books during the month of July. I’ll start with SJ Rozan’s 2020 release.

SJ Rozan’s latest Lydia Chin/Bill Smith crime novel, The Art of Violence, has more twists and turns than the back alleys of New York City. One can always expect an intriguing story from Rozan, but this one turns the investigation on its head from the very beginning. Rozan immerses readers in the elite and sometimes ethically questionable business of art dealers, a particular treat. And even when you think it’s over, it ain’t over. If you’re already a fan of SJ Rozan, you’ll love The Art of Violence. If you are new to Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, you’re going to want to read the whole series. I listened to the audio version and the narrator is great!

Here’s the publisher’s blurb: Bill Smith and Lydia Chin must track down a serial killer stalking women in New York’s contemporary art scene.

Former client Sam Tabor, just out of Greenhaven after a five-year homicide stint, comes to Bill Smith with a strange request. A colossally talented painter whose parole was orchestrated by art world movers and shakers, Sam’s convinced that since he’s been out he’s killed two women. He doesn’t remember the killings but he wants Smith, one of the few people he trusts, to investigate and prove him either innocent or guilty.

NYPD detective Angela Grimaldi thinks Sam’s “a weirdo.” Smith has no argument with that: diagnosed with a number of mental disorders over the years, Sam self-medicates with alcohol, loses focus (except when he’s painting), and has few friends. But Smith doesn’t think that adds up to serial killer. He enlists Lydia Chin to help prove it.

Smith and Chin delve into the world surrounding Sam Tabor, including his brother, two NYPD detectives, and various other artists, dealers, collectors, curators, and art connoisseurs. No answers appear. Evidence is found and lost again. And more bodies turn up.

Sam Tabor might be just a crazy artist. But someone is killing people in his orbit. If not Sam, who? Why? And who will be next?

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Love Makes Monsters of Us All

Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes and Allison Saft does it right. Her YA fantasy Down Comes the Night sucked me into an alternate world of conflict and magic so deeply, so completely, it took discipline to set the story down. Her characters are drawn with a deft hand, each with their own imperfections and endearing qualities. At the center is Wren, a healer with unusually strong magical powers. She’s also been gifted with a kind heart and has, as her greatest enemy says, the courage and the strength to do the hardest thing, to be merciful. The themes of mercy and forgiveness, friendship and love, acceptance and belonging, thread throughout the story seamlessly and resolve in a satisfying, if not bittersweet, way. Lovers of fantasy and magic both young and adult will enjoy Down Comes the Night.

Here’s the Amazon book synopsis:

Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.

He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

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Blue Hawaiian by Carla Luna

Carla Luna’s Blue Hawaiian is the first in what will undoubtedly be my latest favorite contemporary romance series. Story Summary: Connor Blackwood was Jessica Chavez’s first love, but he broke her heart when she was only eighteen. Five years later, Jess and Connor are thrown together as part of a destination wedding party. Connor is still devastatingly handsome, and Jess is completely over him, sort of. But have they both matured enough to handle a brief, no strings, tropical romance? The next six days of wedding chaos could prove to be a romantic paradise, a smorgasbord of steamy encounters, a volcanic family disaster, or all of the above. I love Carla Luna’s characters. They are drawn to perfection. We know these people. We have spent time in their shoes. They make us laugh and cry. And I’m so happy I will meet them again in future novels. Put this one on the top of your To-Be-Read pile. Amazon Buy Link.

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Saving the Scot is available for Pre-Order!

So glad to see that SAVING THE SCOT, book 4 of my Highlanders of Balforss series, is available for pre-order on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and iTunes Books. As usual, the print and audio versions will be available soon after the official release date: March 25, 2019. You can check out some very nice reviews I received on Goodreads by clicking HERE

Meanwhile, check out the book blurb:

SAVING THE SCOT by Jennifer Trethewey

If they survive this trip, it’ll be a miracle.

Louisa Robertson’s father is furious when he finds her acting on stage. Now, she’s being shipped off to America to marry some stranger her father thinks will bring out the “lady” in her. Luckily, Louisa’s maid agrees to switch places with her! Her maid will marry the American and get the wealthy lifestyle she’s always wanted, and Louisa can do whatever she damn well pleases––for the first time in her life.

Highlander Ian Sinclair needs an army commission, and the only way he can get one is to safely deliver the general’s Daughter-from-Hell to her intended in America. Easy, right? It would be if the lady’s companion Louisa didn’t wear breeches and do everything the exact opposite of what he orders. It’ll be a miracle if the sparks flying between Ian and Louisa don’t set the bloody ship afire before they arrive in America.

But just when Louisa thinks her plan is going to give her the acting career she wants and a Highlander to boot…Ian discovers her secret.

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Living on the Lam

A lot has happened since we got off the train and, despite a few glitches and poor decisions, we are having a fantastic time. The first night, we had dinner with with Patrick and Ruth Short of Portland ComedySportz. So much fun to have them all to ourselves. 

The next day, we drove from Portland to Seattle. On the way, we stopped to see Dick’s cousin, Hilary. She lives with dogs, cats, and horses (two of each). Fantastic time roaming around her ten acre farm. Plus she did our laundry. Thanks, Hil. Side note: Hilary, I have a pair of your underwear. I’ll send them to you for Hanukkah. 

 

 

Downtown Seattle can be pricey, so when I found a ridiculously affordable two bedroom, two bath condo on Expedia, I snatched it up. My first mistake was using Expedia. Second mistake was buying the insurance. Third mistake was renting the affordable condo. It’s glorious. We love it. This is our view. But the guy who rents it out isn’t supposed to. It’s against the condo rules. Only after we rented the thing did we find out we had to sneak in and out of the building, never talk to anyone, and under no circumstances ask the doorman for assistance. We were busted the moment we entered. We felt like criminals. Fortunately, the doorman was really nice (his name is Jet) and did not throw us out. But the guy who rents the condo is gonna get evicted.

Meanwhile, we had a great time in Seattle even though they got 1 inch of snow and everyone freaked out. The whole city shut down. Apparently, they have never seen snow before. We saw the Seattle CSz guys, Bogan and Alex. Yay! They have such a cool venue for their shows and workshops. 

 

 

 

 

We went to see Richard Thompson live in concert, too. A-MA-ZING.  

Strolled around the Public Market…

             

Did you know they have brass pigs and donuts the size of your head there?

   

And had dinner at Ruth’s Chris.

Seattle is awesome!

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Train Pong

I never fail to be surprised when things don’t turn out in real life like they do in the movies. I had a ridiculously romantic idea of how this three day/two night train ride would be. 

This is how I imagined the sleeper car would be:

 

This the reality:

  

I’m not complaining. Really. This is what I expected to see out the observation car:

And this is what we saw:

 

But guess what, we slept like babies, we had delicious meals with lovely and sometimes delightfully weird people, we got bounced around a lot but, to our credit, neither of us actually fell down!

And yes. We’d do it again. We have to. It’s our only way home.

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Polar Vortexit

Yup. Richard and I have had enough of this Wisconsin nonsense. We’ve jumped the cold and snow ship for a cozy  train to Portland, Oregon where people stoically brave out the winter in sweaters.

Fortunately, I have an amazing and generous brother who, without the need of too much groveling, agreed to come and live at our house while we’re gone. To stay busy and keep from catching cabin fever, he’s doing things like caulking our cabinets and putting sweeps on doors to keep out the cold. Thank you, Chris!

Unfortunately, the polar vortex decided to delay our train by a day. No worries. More time to hang with my brother. We left the following day. But when we got to the Amtrak Intermodal Train Station, it was, like most of Milwaukee, still shut down. The only things open were the doors to the lobby and the vending machines.

We asked the security guard if our train was cancelled. She covered her mouth and whispered, “Your train is coming in late, but don’t tell anyone.” Then I asked her what Intermodal Train Station meant, but she had disappeared into the throng of people who’d been living in the train station for two days.

Finally, our train got to the station, we made it on board with the help of our porter, Corey, and we began our trip.

More about our tiny sleeper car and our wobbly train legs tomorrow (if I can find an internet connection).

 

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Play the Cookie Exchange Hop

Big Cookie Exchange Hop today. Play along with us and enter to win cash and books! Watch my whole video either here or on my author Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/jennifertretheweyromance/

Then go to the next participant on the list below. Visit all these links, collect all the recipes and enter the drawing for the grand prize. After you have visited each site to collect the cookie recipes, e-mail the list of authors and their cookies to Heather@HeatherMcCollum.com with the subject line “Romance Authors Sure Can Bake” to be entered into the grand prize drawing. A winner will be selected randomly and announced Monday, 17 December by noon ET. Happy Holidays! Have fun.

https://jennifertrethewey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/MediumHoliday_Cookie_Hop_2018_266369240_480x480_F24.mp4

Holiday Cookie Exchange Hop Links

Lara Archer

http://laraarcher.com

Katharine Ashe

https://katharineashe.com/extras/cookies-fit-for-a-prince/

Lori Ann Bailey

http://loriannbailey.com/christmas-eve-cookies/

Tammy L. Bailey

https://www.tammylbailey.com/

Katherine Bone

https://m.facebook.com/AuthorKatherineBone/

Liana De la Rosa

https://www.facebook.com/LianainBloom/

Elizabeth Essex

https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.essex.37/

Tina Gabrielle

https://www.facebook.com/TinaGabrielle

Virginia Heath

https://www.facebook.com/virginiaheathauthor/

Piper Huguley

http://piperhuguley.com

Julie Johnstone

https://www.facebook.com/authorjuliejohnstone/

Kris Kennedy

https://www.kriskennedy.net/Blogsm

Elizabeth Keysian

https://elizabethkeysian.com/

Tara Kingston

https://www.facebook.com/TaraKingstonAuthor/

Eliza Knight

https://eknightauthor.com/2018/12/cookie-exchange-hop/

Elizabeth Langston

http://www.elizabethlangston.net/holiday-hop/

Jeannie Lin

http://www.jeannielin.com/blog/

Diana Lloyd

www.diana-lloyd.com

Nicole Locke

https://www.facebook.com/NicoleLockeAuthor

Alanna Lucas

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlannaLucas/

Deb Marlowe

http://www.debmarlowe.com/historical-holiday-cookie-hop.html

Madeline Martin

http://www.madelinemartin.com/blog/

Heather McCollum

https://www.heathermccollum.com/kitchen/

Maddison Michaels

https://www.facebook.com/MaddisonMichaelsAuthor/

April Moran

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAprilMoran

Kate Parker

https://www.facebook.com/Author.Kate.Parker/      

Emma Prince

https://www.EmmaPrinceBooks.com

Vanessa Riley

http://vanessariley.com/blog/2018/12/04/3-ingredient-peanut-butter-cookies/

Ava Stone

http://www.avastoneauthor.com/ava-s-scandalous-oatmeal-cookies

Jennifer Trethewey

https://www.facebook.com/jennifertretheweyromance/

Victoria Vane

www.victoriavane.com/blog

Harmony Williams

www.harmonywilliams.com/xmas-hop

Happy Holidays!

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Create a New Holiday Tradition

Last night, Tami and Laura came to my house with armloads of groceries and gifts. Tami brought the ingredients to make Chicken with Caramelized Onion and Cardamom Rice. Laura brought everything for one of her signature salads, and all I had to do was stock up on chardonnay and set out some cheese and crackers.

So, while Tami caramelized onions..      

Seasoned the chicken with cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon, and braised the chicken thighs…

Seasoned the rice and let everything cook…

Laura supremed oranges and put together a tasty salad.

In between cooking steps, we drank wine and snacked on yummy things.

Oh, did I mention that Tami also brought dessert, homemade bread, and gifts from her kitchen: homemade pasta, peach chutney, and blackberry jam!

Thank you, my dear Foodie Friends. This will have to be our new holiday ritual! Next year, Tami’s house.

Bon appetit!

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It’s All About the Swag!

A friend invited me to her book club. I was so incredibly flattered. The members all purchased and read BETTING THE SCOT. We sipped warm cider and talked about romance, and publishing, and Scotland, and “how the heck did I go from producing theater to writing novels?” The book club members were curious and welcoming and the time flew by!

I doubt many book clubs include popular romance in their reading lists. I was pleased these savvy women chose to do so, and honored they chose my book. They were, like many folks, shocked to discover that Romance represents a third of all fiction sales (that’s a conservative estimation), which means mystery, thrillers, crime novels, paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, inspirational, historical ,and all literary fiction comprise the other two thirds (the smallest portion attributed to literary fiction).

Yes. Love makes the world go ’round. And romance definitely makes the publishing industry go ’round.

You would not be surprised to discover that 86% of Romance Readers are women. However, you might be surprised to discover that the majority of Romance Readers are well-educated, middle to upper class, between the ages of 30 and 60, and, most importantly, they purchase and read TWICE as many books as the average fiction reader.

Romance novels have evolved along with women’s changing roles in society. The genre is inextricably linked to the women’s movement, reflecting ever-changing views on sex, ambition, and self-determination. In the 18th and 19th centuries, fiction or novels were all referred to as romances (something I learned very recently). Sir Walter Scot, for instance, wrote romances. Novels written by women were the way women spoke to each other from distances, from different cultures, and across time. However, women were actively discouraged from reading fiction because the content could lead to the corruption of one’s moral fiber. Or worse, romance could cause a woman to go insane. Seriously. There were clergymen who insisted this was true.

Today’s Romance Readers want demand strong female characters who are smart, step outside boundaries, and are the agents of change. They want to read about consensual, loving relationships with people who respect each other. They want to read about attentive, adventurous, and generous lovers. And they want to read intimate scenes that are deeply grounded in emotion.

In the past, Romance has gotten a bad rap. It’s been dismissed as Guilty Pleasure, Bodice Rippers, Lady Porn, etc. But not so anymore. Many young women learn about relationships and intimacy through reading romance novels. I like to refer to Maya Rodale’s comment in her non-fiction work, DANGEROUS BOOKS FOR GIRLS.

Romance novels feature nuanced portrayals of female characters having adventures, making choices, and accepting themselves just as they are. When we say these stories are silly and unrealistic, we are telling young girls not to expect to be the heroines of their own real lives.

Like you, I want our daughters to know that they deserve—that they should expect and demand—loving, respectful partnerships.

Here are three recommendations for romance novels that I think are as close to perfect as they come: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale, and The Governess Game by Tessa Dare.

 

 

 

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