Snarky and Sweet by Susan Denney

First paragraphs of Snarky and Sassy

2012-03-03T06:20:00.002-08:00

So I'm finishing up the final edit of Snarky and Sassy, the sequel to Snarky and Sweet. The first paragraphs are the most important and probably will get edited a few more times. I'd love your input. Let me know what you think!

Snarky and Sassy: A Romantic Comedy about Twins, an Earl, and a Great Big Castle

Lurlette gazed out the window at the huge city spread before her like a pop-up book. The giant green rectangle of Central Park, the gleaming silver skyscrapers and the bright blue sky made a perfect picture. She loved New York. She also loved Paris, London and other big cities like chic Milan and gutsy Fort Worth. Large cities gave her scope. But the traveling days when she could hop on a jet for a gelato in Rome or a spa day in Prague were probably over. She sighed.

She looked down at her small Cartier Tank gold watch. It was an iconic style and she knew it had cost Chang a lot of money, more than a quarter of her twin’s schoolteacher salary. But it irked her just a little that this watch wasn’t the one of a kind diamond pave watch that Chopard had designed especially for her. That one was gone. She’d sold it in December when Sotheby’s had auctioned off so many of her nice things.

Maybe this watch should have gone on the block too, but there was nothing that special about it. And besides, you had to have a watch. Using a cellphone to tell the time was a habit that Lurlette never intended to adopt.

It also irked her that she had look at her watch at all. She was looking at it because Weasel was late. He had said he would meet her here for lunch at Restaurant Georges Breton at 12:30. But it was now 12:40 and he still hadn’t showed up.

In the background she heard the tinkling of glasses and the polyglot conversations of the others seated around her. This was one of her favorite restaurants in New York City. She liked the stylish modern furniture, the subdued lighting, and, of course, the view. And the food was very French and very nice. And it was still undiscovered by the Trip Advisor crowd.

She took a sip of her Perrier with lime and thought about what she should do next.

She could leave. She usually didn’t wait for anyone. Making people wait for her was another thing altogether. Or she could wait a little longer. There wasn’t any rush. The auction wasn’t until four o’clock.

It really was out of the goodness of her heart that Weasel had been invited to the auction at all. But Lee, her twin, was too busy with her school teaching duties and William, her fiancé, was appraising some estate jewelry in Germany. So Weasel had been a last resort. It was unthinkable to show up at the auction without an escort of some kind.

Weasel had been very helpful with the sale of her other jewels in December. She guessed she owed it to him to be with her for the big auction of her diamond engagement ring. The Maharani Red, a rare five carat red diamond of the highest quality, had been her engagement present from Horatio Alger Chang, her third husband. Now that the divorce was final, she was on her own again. She needed something to live on and the auction of her other jewelry and furs had brought in a nice amount. But not enough to support her lifestyle. The Maharani was a very important part of her future financial security.

She knew people in the restaurant were starting to stare at her. Of course, men always stared at her. She was used to that. But even the waiters were beginning to look her way. Honestly, if Weasel didn’t show soon, she would have to go...

Ten Ways to Show an Author You Love Them on Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T05:32:00.001-08:00

It's Valentine's Day. Some of us of a Valentine as someone sweet and cuddly who might conceivably give us chocolate, flowers or perhaps even jewelry. But I think we should broaden our view. This is because authors have been giving us Valentines for years. Books are not easy to write. And it's not easy to put your brain child out in the open for other people to criticize or even worse, ignore. So if an author has written a book you love, they really have given you a great gift.

Many of us wish we could send fan mail to folks like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens or George Eliot. But some of our favorite authors are still alive.

So if you admire a living author who wrote a book which has given you hope, great ideas, information or even wisdom, here's a top ten list of what to do for your favorite living authors in return. Remember that nonfiction authors get a lot less fan mail than the fiction ones do which would make your note to them even more special.

1. Post an author's book on your Facebook page.

2. Tell a friend how wonderful an author's books are. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the good news about a book.

3. Like an author's Facebook page.

4. Follow an author on Twitter.

5. Write an honest review of an author's book on Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

6. Give a favorite author's book to someone else as a gift.

7. Give a copy of an author's book to your local library.

8. Pin an author's book cover or portrait on a Pinterest board.

9. Lend your copy of a favorite book to a friend to read.

10. Send the author a note telling them how much you liked the book. Tell them how it inspired you or changed you. Snail mail is grand but email costs nothing for either you or the author who might reply.

Some of these things would take only a second. I think I'm going to see if Elizabeth Peters has a Facebook page.

New Coat

2012-02-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

One of the nicest things about having my book do well this past month is that I've been able to treat myself to a few much-needed things. Top on my list was a new coat. My old coat (and frankly, I have no idea how old it is. Michael seems to think that some of our children weren't born yet when I got it and the baby just turned twenty-eight) still looks fine on the outside but the lining is just shredded.

I could have relined it. That would have required buying a lot of lining fabric, cutting out the old lining, cutting new pieces from the old shredded pieces, sewing them together, doing a lot of handwork getting a new lining put in, etc. Or paying someone else a lot of money to do it.

The other alternative was to wait until the very end of the coat season and pick up a deal. Which I decided to do.

The coat situation had become rather ridiculous. I found myself going to church for the last three Sundays without a coat rather than wearing the ragged one or my every day down coat. (Fashion discipline must be maintained.)

So here is my gorgeous new coat. Even on an insane sale the coat was still an investment, but I've been taught that you buy clothing based on cost per wear. If you wear a dress once and it costs you $100, then the dress is $100 per wearing. But if you buy a coat and wear it thirty times a year for twenty or more years, then the same $100 investment works out to be...well, I promised there wouldn't be much math in this blog, but you get my drift. I definitely got my money's worth out of the old one and the new one will get good use for years to come.

NYC Anniversary!

2012-02-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If it's a really good photo, I'd say ten thousand or more. And Michael is a really good photographer. So rather than tell you how romantic and lovely a day it was, I'll just show you.

Here's the rundown on our fabulous NYC anniversary trip on Friday.

Michael loves cars, engineering and architecture. So our first stop was naturally the Chrysler building. Art Deco raised to its very highest level.

Then on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had been once before but hadn't had a lot of time. I swear this museum would make you ADD. Because as you're standing in one room looking at one of the most famous paintings in the world, you're catching out of the corner of your eye another oh-so-famous one in the next room. Very disturbing but very great experience.

I am a huge fan of Vigee-Lebrun and anytime I get to stand in front of one of hers, it's a very good day. And this one is one of her very best.

You can't look at pictures all day, so we spent some time in the musical instruments exhibit. We fell in love with this beautiful metronome.

We also ate lunch in the museum right by a very disturbing statue (from the rear) which we found out after lunch was a sort of triumph of the spiritual over the natural man. I'll sit somewhere else next time.

On the way to The Square Meal which is just a few blocks from the museum, Michael caught this shot of the Guggenheim. Very effective, I thought. It was a beautiful night. And he has such a fabulous eye.

And I think this photo he caught in Central Park was also a stunner.

And last but not least, Michael said he couldn't resist this one. Be sure and click on it to enlarge it. She was obviously clueless that she was being watched!

All these photos are copyrighted by Michael Denney. But if you want to share, just let me know and I'll see if he'll let you post them elsewhere.

Moi? A bestselling author?

2012-01-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Can you make money by giving something away? Evidently yes. My publisher asked if I wanted to enter my novel, Snarky and Sweet, in the KDP select program. It means giving exclusivity to Amazon for an ebook. (This basically means my Nook version disappears from Barnes and Noble for 90 days.) Since my book was almost completely undiscovered, I said yes. My editor then offered it for free for two days.

A minor miracle occurred. At the end of the two-day free period, my book made bestseller list after bestseller list, finally ending up on the biggie, the top 100 free Kindle books. I think my highest number was 17. I kept taking screenshots with my book on the same page as Tom Clancy, Sophie Kinsella, and Tina Fey.

The final numbers aren't in, but my book was downloaded more than 14,000 times in two days. And in four countries. Be still my beating heart!

So what happens when it's not free any more? That was the question. Right now, it's holding its own. Now I'm selling books. It's still on three bestseller lists and one of those lists is for all books, not just ebooks. This wave won't last forever, but I'm thrilled. So many people will be reading my book! And if they like it, perhaps they will buy the sequel which is coming out in a couple of months.

I kept saying silent prayers all weekend. Believe it or not, it wasn't prayers that my book would do well. It was prayers of gratitude. I didn't do this by myself. I had a lot of help.

Cheaper than a trip to Italy --The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears

2012-01-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

I have never been to Rome. Really. I've been to some fabulous cities: Paris, London, Prague, Milan, New York, Chicago, Lisbon, Montreal, New Orleans and quite a few more. But the Eternal City has never been mine. And I long to go someday even if my very significant husband doesn't seem interested.

So this beautiful gift from my daughter Morgan almost filled the bill. Just oozing with Roman sunshine, this book is a trip to Italy and a lesson in art fraud detection in one.

The plot eluded me somewhat. I think I read it too fast. Which means I get to go back and read it again. And the relationship between Flavia and Jonathan is just right. Not too hot, not too cold.

If the words "erudite" and "intellectual" send little thrills up your spine, this lovely book is for you.

Cool Christmas Reads

2011-12-25T04:38:00.000-08:00

Read my blog post at the Alaskan Book Cafe here! And Merry Christmas everyone!

The Skinny on the Charles Dickens Christmas Books

2011-12-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why "A Christmas Carol" is the only one of Charles Dickens's Christmas stories to get a lot of attention? He wrote five of them after all.

The answer to this is that overwhelmingly, that story is his best. But if your Dickens holiday fix isn't filled by that wonderful story, here's my ranking of all five so you can decide if you want to pick them up this season. All except the last have a supernatural element which is satisfyingly mysterious.

1. A Christmas Carol. Hands down the winner of all the books. If you can read nothing else this season, this would be your book. It is more wonderful than any movie adaptation could ever be. One of my favorite lines is from the description of a grocery store during Scrooge's visit with Christmas Present. "There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish Friars, and winking from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe." No time to read it? I just discovered a new audio adaptation of the book. I haven't been able to listen to all of it but the beginning is marvelous.

2. Cricket on the Hearth--A Fairy Tale of Home. Easily the winner of the cheesiest movie adaptations. This is sad because it's a very good story. But I guess if you give a filmmaker a lovely blind girl who makes dolls and a poor father who creates a rich, imaginary world for her, said filmmaker can't resist the maudlin. But the center of the story is not Bertha and her father Caleb. The central characters, John and Dot Peerybingle, are mismatched in age and John begins to doubt Dot's love for him. A beautifully written story, all is happily tied up at the end but not before several of the characters have gone through depths of human despair. Ignore any sappy movies you've seen and read it. It's so worth it.

3. The Chimes. This story paints the bleakest picture of the poor in all the Christmas books. Instead of a miser, Dickens uses a man named Trotty for his main character. In a very "It's a Wonderful Life" way, he learns what the consequences of his actions might be. His daughter is in love, but he doesn't believe that the marriage should go forth because of their poverty. I find this story distressing. The main character is such a nice little man and the visions he receives so horrible, that at the happy end, I find my heart still broken.

4. The Haunted Man. In this story, a bitter professor named Redlaw is haunted by past grievances and hurt. When a ghost offers him the opportunity to forget all his wrongs, he accepts. But something unexpected happens. He is still angry but doesn't know why and he spreads his bitterness to others. It has a satisfying happy ending and there are some memorable characters to make the story go along. The book is very atmospheric but doesn't have the appeal of the top three.

5. The Battle of Life. No supernatural beings in this one. Just interesting folks who seem to be in love with the wrong people. Dr. Jedlar and his two daughters, Grace and Marion, live on a former battlefield. Dickens suggests that the memories of the battle haunt those who live on it.The character of Clemency Newcome, who is Dr. Jedlar's servant, is delightful and she gets her happy ending too. This one to me is the least Christmas-y and perhaps that's why I like it least.

All these stories are in the public domain. But if you want a hard copy, the Oxford Illustrated Classics version has all the original illustrations! And it's small enough to stick in a tote bag or backpack for some reading while waiting in line at the dentist's office or grocery store.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Its Movie Version

2011-11-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

Before it was a movie, it was a remarkable book.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott award in 2008. This made the book automatically unique. The Caldecott honors illustrations in children's books. The winner is almost always a picture book. Brian Selznick's book is hard to classify. It's part graphic novel, part text, but is full of illustrations, 284 to be exact. I lifted this quote from Wikipedia:

"Selznick himself has described the book as 'not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.'"

The illustrations have the beautiful etched quality of 19th century drawings and are wonderfully detailed. A wonderful draftsman, Selznick should be well-known for his illustrations alone. But the story in The Invention of Hugo Cabret is even more powerful than the drawings.

You will love figuring out all the mysteries in Hugo's life and you will go on an emotional journey with him as he tries to find out more about the family he has lost. The less I tell you about the plot, the more you will enjoy the book. But I will tell you that the central theme is finding your own place in your world.

The new movie "Hugo" by Martin Scorcese (which you should really see in 3-D, by the way) looks like an instant classic to me. I was incredibly impressed by the vision that Scorcese created of a Paris of long ago. The walls of the train station even have beautiful period graphic advertisements. He creates magic using every trick that a film maker has that a novelist does not. He uses lighting, facial expression, and camera movement to give you a fascinating and gripping experience. But the novel has just as much power as the movie. And the illustrations make you want to read it again and again.

Before going to the movie, I was worried that the mystery and the disorienting strangeness of the book would be lost on the screen. One of the best things about the book was discovering page by page the mystery surrounding Hugo Cabret's life. Happily, there is plenty of mystery in the movie as well, even if you have already read the book.You may be a person who prefers seeing the movie first and reading the book second. I am the opposite. But either way you follow, both the novel and the movie should be experienced.

Selznick's website is one of the best author websites around. And you can find more information about automatons there. And their story is as fascinating as fiction. The Invention of Hugo Cabret's website will tell you much more about the automaton which inspired the book.

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The Only Ones by Aaron Starmer

2011-11-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

It is very difficult to talk about The Only Ones by Aaron Starmer without producing spoilers. I can only talk in the vaguest terms about the plot because one of the absolute strengths of the book for me was its unpredictability. The reader really is taken for a ride and cannot know what happens next. It is a true page-turner and I found myself really interested in what happened to Martin, the main character and to some extent, some of the secondary characters. I was impressed by Starmer's vision of a group of teens reimaging the world in a fair and cooperative manner. I was particularly taken by Starmer's view that each of the characters had a special strength or skill which made him or her essential to the well-being of the group. That's a pretty nice message to send out to the young in the world today.

The beginning is satisfyingly atmospheric and mysterious. The central portion of the book is a variant of the "last men on earth" genre and the ending I felt tied up too many loose ends and was unrealistically happy.

The Only Ones is marketed as a middle grade novel, but I consider it to be far too sophisticated for that age group. The main character, Martin, is a thirteen-year-old through most of the book and there are enough instances of teen worries, problems and desires for me to be unable to recommend it for pre-teens. There is no sex but a lot of boy girl interest and there is also enough violence to make me not recommend it to pre-teens. It also requires a highly developed sense of logic to unravel the plot. Younger readers might enjoy some of the actions in the book, but would have no real understanding of the workings of the plot.

Behold, Here's Poison

2011-11-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

Lots of people who love Georgette Heyer's romances probably don't know about her mysteries. This is a shame. Her mysteries are charming reads. Always about the gentry, they open the door into a world that most of us will never experience.

Behold, Here's Poison starts with the murder of Uncle Gregory, an irascible soul that almost everyone was glad to be rid of. Then a cast of memorable characters verbally spar as the police try to figure out how and why he was murdered.

Two of my favorite Georgette Heyer characters appear in this book. One is the ditsy penny-pinching sister of Gregory. Miss Harriet Matthews runs the home on spartan principles. She dithers a lot. Another memorable personage is Mrs. Zoe Matthews, the sister-in-law of Gregory who is very canny and scheming and walks around saying completely insincere things like "It is always such a mistake to condemn people's little foibles. One should try to understand, and help them."

My favorite Inspector Hannasyde and his side kick, Sergeant Hemingway add to list of memorable people you will meet in this novel.

Of course, there is love interest. This is Georgette, right? And all comes to a satisfying close with a person you really didn't like being stuck with the murder rap.

A delicious read and well worth your time, Behold, Here's Poison was originally printed in 1936. A lot of us Georgette Heyer fans have gleaned copies from used bookstores and have re-read them to the point that they are held together with rubber bands. My copy is a reprint from 1987.

But, luckily for you, it is now available new from Amazon and Barnes and Noble and is in Kindle and Nook format as well. This means you don't have to keep yours in one piece with a rubber band.

Oh, and the new cover has absolutely nothing to do with the book. This isn't bad when you consider that the picture on the front of my cover gives away an important plot element if you look at it closely!

Interstellar Pig --A Creepy Halloween Read

2011-10-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

Mwah-ha-ha! Today is a good day for finding a chilling and frightening read. Call me naive, but this YA book, Interstellar Pig, really scared me. In a good way. I read it as an adult and one would think I wouldn't have gotten so caught up in it. But I did. I was really surprised by some of the plot turns and was very satisfyingly creeped out by it. I really like that shivery feeling you get when a book really plays with your mind.

Interstellar Pig has to do with a beach house, some teens, some interesting neighbors and a fantastic and eerie board game. I like the idea of the game that sucks you in. I loved Jumanji and Ender's Game as an adult reader. And when I was small, the croquet game in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland made me very satisfyingly uncomfortable.

I'll be honest, I haven't re-read it since that first time many years ago. It left a powerful impression on me but I think it's one of those books that you wouldn't enjoy as much the second time as you know how the plot turns out. And if you do decide to read it, for goodness' sakes, don't look at any reviews that might have plot spoilers. You want to be surprised.

So if you're in for a quiet Halloween evening and have read all your Poe short stories to death, check this out of your local library or borrow from a friend. I may have to go to the Kingston library and pick up the sequel called Parasite Pig.

Another way to find a good book--Write your own!

2011-10-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I decided that the only way to read the chick lit novel I was looking for was to write it myself. Which I did. Snarky and Sweet was the product of my first Nanowrimo contest. I've done two more since then and have signed up for another year. National Novel Writing Month is one of the craziest and most amazing ideas ever. You have one month to write 50,000 words. Sounds impossible but divided up into small chunks it's more than possible.

I strongly encourage anyone who loves to read to give this a shot. And if you've ever wanted to write a novel, this is your big chance. I've learned more about creativity from Nanowrimo than from anything else. Knowing that you have to write X number of words each day really makes those juices flow. Some days it was awful. I thought I was writing junk. Some days it just seemed to flow into unforgettable art. Strangely enough, when I went back to re-read my stuff, I found that the junk and the art were pretty much the same quality. Both needed heavy rewriting, but both had some pretty fun stuff that just popped out of my brain and ran to my fingers.

Join me in this adventure. You won't regret it!

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

2011-10-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

Photo by Damon White

If you are longing for a good, long read I cannot recommend more highly A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Written in English, it is according to Wikipedia the longest novel in English published in one volume. But its claim to fame is far more important than its stupendous length.

The novel tells the story of four Indian families in the 1950s. Written with grace, wit, humor, some satire and great historical detail, the novel centers around one character's search for a suitable husband for her daughter, Lata. Mrs. Rupa Mehra leaves no stone unturned in her search for the right husband for her daughter. Lata is equally determined to make her own choice. But besides this central plot there are also the stories of four families, three of whom are Hindu and one Muslim. The book gives the American reader an insight into an ancient and complex culture.

There are disturbing incidents in the book. No saga of four families can be without tragedy. But there are also sublime moments of joy and even lighthearted fun. Throughout, the importance of family is a thread which ties the whole book together.

Vikram Seth's first book was in verse and you can see the influence of his poetic skills on the prose in the novel. While A Suitable Boy was written in 1993, it is topical to review it now because the sequel, A Suitable Girl, is due in 2013.

You may or may not be surprised by Lata's choice. I was. But you will be surprised by the depth and breadth of A Suitable Boy.

The Grand Georgette Heyer

2011-10-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Who else would I choose but Georgette Heyer as my first author in this blog about books that make you feel good? Georgette Heyer was a twentieth century English author who wrote mysteries and historical romances. Most of us love her best for her Regency romances. She wrote about the fascinating period in English history at the beginning of the nineteenth century so well described by Jane Austen. If you loved Jane, you will find Heyer's romances charming and entertaining. Although not the works of art that Austen's books are, Heyer's books use witty dialogue, a romantic setting and a deep understanding of human nature to produce an enjoyable read.

I read her books for the first time as a junior high school girl. They were recommended by my librarian. Then I forgot about them until graduate school told me she loved them for late night reading when she couldn't sleep. So I started looking for copies, all of them out of print. For the longest time, I guarded my copies found in used book stores. Most were held together with rubber bands. Then the Internet appeared and I could replace the most fragile ones on eBay. Now many of them are being reprinted for a new audience.

I couldn't possibly pick my favorite Georgette Heyer novel. But The Grand Sophy would be in the top ten. Amazon sells it here as either a print or Kindle book. . And find it at Barnes and Noble here in print or Nook versions. And, of course, you can find used copies floating around on the Internet as well.

In this novel, a troubled family receives a visit from their unfashionably tall and impossibly liberated cousin, Sophy Stanton-Lacy. She quickly decides to remedy the family's ills while finding romance for herself. She pulls out all the stops to get her cousins well-married by defying convention, meddling, matchmaking and generally creating havoc. And, of course, since it is a romance, all of her plans work out exactly as she wished. I love Sophy's style, her determination and her outrageous sense of humor.

I read and reread my Georgette Heyer books. They're witty. That's so hard to find in literature today. And they're fun. And they are squeaky clean in terms of language and sex. Read the ones in print and then seek out the ones out of print. Abebooks, one of the largest online used bookstores, lists her here in their top ten authors ahead of J. K. Rowling and Charles Dickens. You won't be disappointed.