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Jennifer Petkus

Goodreads Author

Website

http://janeactually.com/

Twitter

JenniferPetkus

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Romance

Member Since

April 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jenniferpetkus

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Jennifer Petkus divides her time creating websites for the dead, writing Jane Austen-themed mysteries, woodworking, aikido and building model starships. She has few credentials, having failed to graduate from the University of Texas with a journalism degree, but did manage to find employment at the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper as a police reporter, copy editor and night city editor before the paper died in 1986. She lives in fear of getting a phone call from her dead Japanese mother. Her husband is the night editor at The Denver Post. Her best friend is a cop. She watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon live.

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Jennifer Petkus’s books

Average rating: 4.04 · 179 ratings · 52 reviews · 7 distinct works • Similar authors

	My Particular Friend (A Charlotte House Affair, #1) 4.09 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jane, Actually or Jane Austen's Book Tour 3.94 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Good Cop, Dead Cop (The AfterNet, #1) 4.05 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Narrowboating for Beginners: What Americans need to know when considering a narrowboat vacation in the UK 4.14 avg rating — 14 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Mutual Friends: A Charlotte House Affair (Volume 2) 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cycling the Canals of Britain: or The Adventures of a Solitary Cyclist: West Midlands 3.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Boating, Biking and Hiking the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jennifer Petkus's Blog

Austen Authors relaunch; Jane, Actually giveaway

To celebrate the relaunch of Austen Authors (of which I am a member), I will be giving away Kindle copies of Jane, Actually on Jan. 24th and 25th. Just visit this link to get the book for free on those dates. And be sure to visit Austen Authors to learn more about your favorite Jane Austen fan fiction writers. There you can find Regina Jeffers, Sharon Lathan, Jeanna Ellsworth, Elizabet

Series by Jennifer Petkus

A Charlotte House Affair (1 book)
by

Jennifer Petkus (Goodreads Author)

4.09 avg rating — 58 ratings

The AfterNet (1 book)
by

Jennifer Petkus (Goodreads Author)

4.05 avg rating — 43 ratings

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Excerpt from Jane, Actually (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated May 13, 2015 06:34PM

Description: Jane, Actually is my next novel about the AfterNet and follows Jane Austen, the actual Jane Austen, promoting her just completed novel Sanditon on her book tour

Jennifer is Currently Reading

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Roadrage

by M.J. Johnson (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jennifer Petkus said: " I don’t like Roadrage by Martin Johnson; couldn’t put it down

Roadrage is really not my cup of tea, a psychological thriller in the vein of Cape Fear or Play Misty for Me or The Talented Mister Ripley or Rear Window. I don’t like the idea of a decent I don’t like Roadrage by Martin Johnson; couldn’t put it down

Roadrage is really not my cup of tea, a psychological thriller in the vein of Cape Fear or Play Misty for Me or The Talented Mister Ripley or Rear Window. I don’t like the idea of a decent person persecuted for no particular reason because it’s just so upsetting an idea, which makes this a good novel but one I just cannot honestly say I enjoyed, even though I stayed up late several nights reading it.

I think, sadly, that we’re all accustomed to the idea of being the victim of one person’s homicidal rage, as in the numerous school, movie theater, church and shopping center shootings. It has become so common in America that too many just shrug their shoulders and put such horrors in the same category as being struck by lightning or dying in an airplane crash. And we’ve all seen movies where someone sees something they shouldn’t have—the classic wrong place at the wrong time that Alfred Hitchcock did so well—or the district attorney or cop who is targeted by a criminal seeking revenge. Those movies (or the books on which they were based) usually involve the hero in some way being complicit in the horror that will rain down on them.

Gil Harper in Roadrage, however, is in no way liable for the punishment he receives at the hands of author Johnson. He’s a good and decent man (doesn’t cheat on his taxes, gives to charity) who’s finally coming to terms with the death of his wife five years earlier. He’s a book illustrator of some renown, currently writing his own book and he’s even dating again. But a bizarre incident of road rage after coming home from spending Christmas with his in-laws starts a chain of events of which he’s unaware. Yes, it has an element of Hitchcock’s wrong man at the wrong place, but it progresses precisely because Gil Harper is a good and decent man, and that, to me, makes this a truly horrifying novel that I can never really like, but I can heartily recommend.

A good part of this book can simply be read as a romance between Gil and Sally Curtis. It slowly develops despite the threat from Sally’s abusive ex-fiancé and it survives despite the death of Gil’s good friends and another death in which both Sally and Gil are possible suspects. The book has a pretty high body count and throughout the novel you’re worried who will die. Gil’s dog Spike, a Jack Russell terrier, is a particular joy in the book, as is author Johnson’s knowledge of the theatrical world (Johnson is a Royal Academy of Dramatic Art trained actor).

By far the most disturbing aspect of the book is the interstitial comments by Gil’s nemesis, a nemesis of whom Gil is unaware for the majority of the book. At first I found these comments annoying, and then I realized that I really found them horrifying. If this were a movie, we‘d be seeing this nemesis going about his machinations, but as a book, it makes more sense to simply go inside his head, and that’s really much more awful.

You may also enjoy Johnson’s previous book, Niedermayer & Hart, which is a supernatural horror story that I very much enjoyed. ...more "

Sep 23, 2013 02:49PM · see review

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Our Mutual Friend

by Charles Dickens

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Jun 25, 2013 06:54PM

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography

by Nick Rennison

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Jan 01, 2014 05:51PM

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Jennifer’s Recent Updates

Jennifer Petkus is now friends with Maria Marcaigh
May 07, 2020 01:36PM · like
Jennifer Petkus and 1 other person liked Laura Hile's review of Narrowboating for Beginners: What Americans need to know when considering a narrowboat vacation in the UK: "Hats off to Jennifer Petkus for crafting such a helpful guide! I enjoy Jennifer Petkus' fiction, and I am one who loves "messing about in boats," so of course I had to have this ebook. Now I want to go narrowboating, and my goodness, am I prepared! Th" Read more of this review »
Aug 24, 2019 11:13AM · see review

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