New Books and Reviews

In about a month I'll be celebrating a new book out for readers. Small Town Girl is scheduled for release on July 1, but usually I get to enjoy that new book smell when I open up a box the UPS man brings to my door a few days before July. It's always exciting to actually hold that new book in my hands. That's the reward for about a year's worth of work on this particular story and a lifetime of work trying to write well enough to be published and find readers.

One of the exciting things about having a new book come out are the reviews. These days you can find reviews all over the internet. Everybody has an opinion and in the book business, a lot of them post those opinions out there somewhere for the world to read.

I just read my first review of Small Town Girl. My publisher sent me a review from Publishers' Weekly. I held my breath while I read it, hoping for good. It wasn't bad. No wow, that's the greatest story ever remarks, but all in all a favorable review. See what you think.

Gabhart continues the story of the Merritt family, first introduced in Angel Sister. Kate’s the middle sister—the sensible one, the fixer of other people’s problems. She encounters her own problems when older sister Evie marries their pastor, and his childhood friend, Jay Tanner, comes to Kentucky to stand as best man . On the surface, Jay and Kate have nothing in common. She’s a third generation Rosey Corner resident; he’s a drifter. Kate stands strong in tense situations; Jay is prone to pack up and leave when things get tough. She’s a woman of faith; he’s not sure what he believes. Still, the attraction is immediate. While the ending is predictable, Gabhart plants enough roadblocks to make the story interesting. In dealing with Jay’s spirituality, she raises legitimate issues of faith and shows understanding of those who do not easily accept a Christian religious message. And while Kate is the undisputed protagonist, young Lorena Birdsong, an abandoned child unofficially adopted by the Merritts, certainly has her share of scene-stealing moments. Agent: Wendy Lawton, Books and Such Literary Agency. (July)

Would any line in that review encourage or discourage you from reading the book? What blurb would you pull out to convince someone that they should give this story a try?

Back in 2005, when Scent of Lilacs first came out and was my first book in the internet age, I hunted down reviews for it and read them all. There weren't that many. I floated up in the air when reading the good reviews and then got knocked back to the ground when a reviewer had a complaint about the story. Thankfully there weren't many unfavorable reviews for that book early on. Too many bad reviews might have been too discouraging for me while I was trying to get started in this Christian fiction genre. 

By the way Scent of Lilacs has since been reissued and gotten lots of reviews. It's also been nominated for fiction book of the month on The Book Club Network. If you take part in the book fun on that site, I hope you'll consider voting for my book. Lots of great books were nominated this month, so I won't be discouraged if I don't win. I've learned not to let bad reviews discourage me. I might stew about them a little, but then I move on to the next story. Or I remember some of the kind comments you have made here. You're the readers I'm trying to keep happy.

Thanks for reading. I do so appreciate each and every one of you who follow my on-line journal. I'm planning a visit from Sue Harrison next week. You won't want to miss that!

The Blessed on Tour

The Blessed is on tour this week, visiting reviewers' blogs in lots of places. I'm here at home, watching from afar and hoping the reviewers will like Lacey's story. It's always interesting reading those first reviews, but that's all it can be - interesting. A writer doesn't want to invest too much energy in tracking reviews. Good or bad.

Some writers don't read reviews at all. I do. I can't seem to help myself. I want to know what people think when they read my stories. But then I say "great" when the reviewer likes my story and sigh and say "too bad, but oh well" when a reviewer is not enamored with my plot line or characters. It's fun to get those "must read" or "can't put it down" or "a recommended read." It's not as much fun to get the negative comments, but at the same time, while you certainly hope everybody in the whole wide world will love your book, that's probably not going to happen. 

Sometimes you're wondering if the reviewers really read your book since in their reviews they get the characters' names wrong or totally miss all your beautiful scenes. Or you think maybe they had a stomach bug or a headache or their teenagers were throwing fits while they were reading. You never think that when they say good things. Oh no, then you think they are wise and intuitive and know exactly what they're talking about. Especially if they color in all those stars on the review pages.

I once printed up a page of blurbs from reviews of my novel, The Scent of Lilacs and was using it to try to convince a reader to give my book a try. The savvy lady handed it back to me without reading the first line and said, "You wouldn't have put anything bad on there." And she was right. 

So The Blessed is out there making the rounds and getting read. But you know, whatever the reviews, I've turned that story loose. I can't do any more to it now. I told Lacey's and Isaac's stories as best I could and then I moved on. I've got a whole new bunch of characters now. A new story to tell. And I'm trying to tell it in such a way that someday it will be out there making the rounds in blogosphere world.

I was a guest on Divine Detours yesterday. Kathy Harris has come up with a great idea for a blog and asks those she interviews if we've ever found ourselves sidetracked from the path we planned to take.  Oh, and she's a dog lover too, so she asks about my dogs. That was a fun question to answer. But I also liked thinking about my divine detours that have brought me to an unplanned or unexpected destination that turned out to be a better place. Maybe I'll tell you about some of those detours in a future post.

 Meanwhile I'll enjoy going blogging with The Blessed. Hope you're enjoying your week too. I sent out a newsletter today. If you're not on my newsletter list, you can sign up from my website. Ann's website

Happy reading! Hope you're enjoying the heart of summer.