Interview with Rachel Louise Snyder

Jen: Will you please share a short bio with us?
Rachel: I was born in Pittsburgh, but moved to the Chicago suburbs when I was about 12. My mother had died when I was eight and we moved when my father remarried. I had a rather “colorful” childhood. I went to an evangelical Christian school from grade 5 – 8 where I learned about all manner of illegal substance and was kicked off the pep squad for smoking! My illustrious high school career was short-lived; I dropped out in my sophomore year and my brother and my step-siblings (one stepsister, one stepbrother) were all kicked out of our parent’s house on the same day. I was the youngest – at 16. My brothers went to live at the YMCA and finished their last year of high school while living there. I don’t know where my stepsister went. I lived in and out of my car for nine months.

But after three years, it became clear that life wasn’t going to be easy if I continued working dead end jobs and living in one apartment after another. So I went to North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and explained my life to the dean of admissions – he’s a facebook friend now! His name is Rick Spencer and I credit him with helping me change my life. He accepted me and I earned my B.A. in 1992 and went on to Emerson College for graduate school. I got my MFA there in 1995.

I have to say, though, that I was so very lucky. I come from a family of writers on my mother’s side. My grandfather was a poet and journalist. My great uncle created the Addam’s Family and wrote science fiction novels. His son – my cousin – is a fantastic poet and writer named Lance Lee in California. So even in the worst of times, I always wanted to be a writer. I have many journals from when I was young – some more embarrassing than others – but what mattered was that writing always gave me a place to go, if you know what I mean. It still does.

After grad school, life was fairly normal… I traveled widely. I wrote for newspapers and magazines, and eventually ended up as a contributor to a few shows on NPR. In 2003 I moved to Cambodia to cover the war crimes tribunals, and ended up writing Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade (WW Norton). Ironically, it has nothing to do with the trials. This fall I’ll be living in Washington, DC with my family and teaching in the MFA program at American University. It’s an exciting new chapter for me.

Jen: Tell us about Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade and where it's available.
Rachel: Fugitive Denim is out in paperback this April and is available pretty much everywhere, so far as I know. Japan, England, Korea, China and a few other countries are publishing it as well. Essentially, I wanted to be able to tell a story of globalization that would explain the tangled intricacies of it in the most entertaining, engaging way. So it’s a book that follows the making of a metaphoric pair of jeans from the cotton fields – I actually spent a horrendous day picking cotton on the Iranian border – to the schwanky New York lofts of Bono and his wife’s clothing company (Edun). It’s funny and poignant and is ultimately a story of a lot of people trying to carve out their own survival in an incredibly difficult world.

Jen: At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Rachel: I wrote my first book when I was eight. It was called Mr. Stubbs Strikes Again and it was about a bear who inadvertently kept solving police crimes and every time he did, they gave him a bronze medal, which he thought was caramel and he subsequently ate them Every Single Time. He wasn’t a particularly clever bear. I still have that book. I illustrated it, too… with pencil.

I’ve kept journals my whole life. I was probably twelve or thirteen before I realized that not all kids had to keep journals growing up… “brush your teeth, put on your pj’s, write in your journal.” I have lots of that early writing and it’s completely charming until about age 13, when I began my brutal phase of teen angst poetry. But really, I just always wanted to be a writer. When I was very young I thought I could be a writer and a jockey, and I was in anguish the day I grew to be over five feet tall. So I decided to be a writer and an archeologist and in a way, writing is archeology. They’re both fields of such grand discoveries, but also tiny, sacred discovers that often matter to just a very few people.

My first official publication, beyond grad school journals and such, was an essay in Mademoiselle magazine about the struggle I had with bulimia in my early 20s.

Jen: Are there any other writers, published or not, in your family?
Rachel: I think I answered this above. I have to say, my brother Dave is an historian and mostly an academic writer, but I honestly think he’s the best writer in my immediate family. He’s not published in mass media publications, but he should be. He has a mind on fire.

Jen: Do you have a writing routine?
Rachel: In theory I do, but I have a ten month old baby who does not yet conform to mummy’s career schedule! I like to write before I’ve done anything else in the day. I’m not a particularly early riser, so often I’ll write from maybe 10 am on. If I’m on a deadline for a magazine or radio piece, I will spend eight or ten hours in my office and probably half that time is spent just sitting and thinking about the subject. My husband has walked in on me staring at the walls so many times! If I’m working on fiction or something that’s closer to personal essay, I like a routine… two or three hours a day and that’s it.

One thing I do that not too many writers do anymore is hand write. I use a different color ink every day, so my manuscripts look like rainbows. In Cambodia we have so many power cuts, and I’ve covered so many stories of war and natural disaster where a computer is a liability, that I’ve worked very hard to keep my ability to hand write. It also makes me slow down and think things through.

Jen: How do you shut out disruptions?
Rachel: I’m terrible at this, truth be told. But we’ve built me a sound proof(ish) office in our back garden that’s separate from the house. So that helps. But really I’m just demanding to live with in this way… we have a very quiet house.

Jen: What kind of research did you do for this book?
Rachel: Loads! Much of my traditional research took place at the Library of Congress and I had lots of help from the amazing librarians there. But also, I traveled to so many countries and just spent weeks and weeks in each of them… Azerbaijan, Italy, France, Cambodia, China, New York. It was arduous, particularly where I didn’t speak the language. I filled seven notebooks with my notes from these areas.

Jen: Do you do anything special to celebrate a sale, new contract, or release?
Rachel: Well, I’ve only had one and it came at a time of great distress for me. My husband was doing disaster relief in the Cayman Islands after a terrible hurricane, and he was hit head on by a drunk driver. Once he was stable enough to be moved, they airlifted him to Atlanta, Georgia for more treatment, and I got my book deal the first week we were in Atlanta. I think I woke him up and we smiled at each other and that was about it. Maybe I’ll come up with a ritual for the next book.

Jen: Do you have a favorite character or one that you identify most with?
Rachel: That’s a tough question. I found the idealism of Scott Hahn – on of Bono and Ali’s designers – just so totally infectious. But I also loved the melancholy and sadness of Vasif, this wildly wealthy cotton gin owner and farmer in Azerbaijan who yearned for a return to the Soviet Union. I think I can relate to his general sense of yearning. I will live my life yearning, I think.

Jen: If you could travel back in time for one year, what time and place would you choose? And if you could only take 3 things with you, what would they be?
Rachel: That’s an impossible question. But I’d probably go back to the 1910s and 20s and be with my grandmother when she was young. She was a dancer in New York – part of the troupe who went on to become the Rockettes. She met my grandfather and they eloped. I think I’d just like to be a witness to their lives and their histories.

As for what I’d bring, well… my daughter, Jazz, my best friend, Ann, and a suitcase full of blank journals. Or maybe I’d bring ziplock baggies. They’re incredibly useful; I’m sure the people in the 1920s would be wowed by ziplocks.

Jen: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Rachel: Right now I’m reading Wally Lamb’s new book, The Hour I First Believed. I just finished Marilynne Robinson’s books Housekeeping and Gilead. I feel like Housekeeping should be required reading. It changes the way I think about writing. It was so utterly beautiful, so sparse and perfect that it made me ache. I also love anything by Andre Dubus III, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Dave Eggers, J.S. Foer, Susan Orlean, Barbara Kingsolver, Dorothy Allison, Annie Proulx, etc. etc. I could go on for days with this one…

Jen: What do you do in your free time?
Rachel: It depends on if I’m in the developed world or the developing world. Since I’ve had a kid – I gave birth in Bangkok last May – I’ve spent an inordinate number of nights watching DVDs, truth be told. But before Jazz came along, we kayaked on the Mekong frequently – I got engaged in a kayak on the Mekong. But when I’m in the developed world I love, love, love to salsa dance. Though I always spend my first week just readjusting to America again… I find myself going into Whole Foods stores not because I want or need anything, but just because they’re so… beautiful and tranquil. Bad things don’t happen in Whole Foods stores, I’m convinced.

Jen: What's next for you?
Rachel: I’m about 150 pages into my novel, which is currently called: “Burgled: The Partly True and Mostly Terrible Story of One Afternoon on Ilios Lane.” I like long titles. ;) I’ve also just finished the first draft of a kids’ book, and I have a nonfiction book idea I’m looking into, but it’s just in the beginning phases.

Jen: Where can you be found on the web?
Rachel: On my website: http://www.globalgrit.com, though the site’s currently being rebuilt, so it’ll take a month or so. NPR and Marketplace also have a few of my stories posted, which can be fun to listen to.

Jen: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Rachel: This is probably terribly selfish to ask, but one of the problems with Fugitive Denim from the start has always been how to describe it that accurately captures what it is… a often funny and sometimes irreverent book on globalization that reads like a novel, but is researched like the nonfiction chronicle that it is??? That just doesn’t quite sound right… So for those who read it, I’d be interested in knowing how YOU’D describe it!

Also, I love to hear what compels different readers about the books they read… is it character? Plot? Topic? Authorial recognition? The writing itself?

Jen: Thank you Rachel for stopping by Book Talk this week. Readers, we have an extra special contest this week. Rachel has been busy and has wrangled up not only a copy of her book for the winner, but she's also gotten Loomstate (big shout out to Scott Hahn and Rogan Gregory) to give away an organic cotton T-shirt and a pair or organic cotton jeans. So, to enter this week's contest, leave a comment here since Rachel will be around all week to answer your questions. Then (and this is the important part!), email me at admin.bookblog@gmail.com and include your mailing address and clothing size. A winner will be chosen on Thursday, April 9 from those who completed both parts of the entry process.

Excerpt from "Fugitive Denim" by Rachel Louise Snyder

I. The Subversive Ecosystem

In a downtown New York loft industry and whimsy dominate the landscape in the form of two items: orchids and skateboards. But not just orchids – many, many orchids. Orchids dripping from a desk and clambering toward the windows. Orchids vying for light, and taking root where they find themselves. Fuchsia, ivory, lemon. And not just skateboards, but many, many skateboards, wheel-less, waiting for the freedom of movement. They are piled under chairs like diner trays, stacked against the desk and atop bookshelves, lining walls like skirting board. Paint has been splintered and splattered on some, carefully swirled and brushed on others. Orchids and skateboards. Beautifully sloppy, full of light and life, and always inviting movement. In this office, they are Rogan Gregory’s perfect foil.

Rogan is a fashion designer. An accidental designer, in fact, who could just as happily be planting trees in the north woods of Canada, one of the few landscapes he probably wouldn’t feel the urge to redesign. A founder of the clothing label that bears his name and another called Loomstate, he is the creative visionary in a business partnership with fellow New Yorker and good friend, Scott Hahn.

Rogan made a name for himself with his own high-end clothing line; he’d worked at Tommy Hilfiger, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, the Gap, Daryl K and others. He was known for his funky jeans, his upscale menswear, his urban style. “Anonymous,” Scott called it once, meaning it was both familiar and new. But he also became known, through Loomstate, which uses only organic cotton, for a business model that was environmentally conservative, ethically conscious and aesthetically progressive (“subversive, sustainable agriculture,” Scott calls it).

One afternoon in the fall of 2004, Rogan and Scott got a visit to their small showroom in Manhattan, a rustic space painted a weathered white; the room was all light and windows, big timber beams carry scars from old tenants--rusting nails, splinters, carved out fissures. Scott and Rogan received lots of visits from buyers and sourcing agents and stylists and deliverymen and models, but this one was different. This one was a panic-inducing, pressure-cooker of a visit, if they were the type to betray such things, which they aren’t. This visit was from Ali Hewson, an elegant, earthy Irish woman known for her activism, and her husband. Bono.

Contest winners

First up is the redraw of Lesli Richardson's contest. And Cathie M is the winner of a e-gift card to Lyrical Press. She's been contacted.

Next up, we have a winner of a copy of Gil Trudell's book "JC and Mr. T". RobynL, you're our winner. Please contact me at admin.bookblog@gmail.com by next Sunday, April 12 to claim your prize.

And last, I still need to hear from last week's winners. Tessy won a copy of Misty Evans' "I'd Rather Be in Paris" and Hope4Change won "The Obama Revolution" by Alan Kennedy-Shaffer. Both people need to contact me (at admin.bookblog@gmail.com) by Thursday, April 9 or new winners will be chosen.

Interview with Gil Trudell

Jen: This weekend we welcome Gil Trudell to Book Talk. Gil, will you please share a short bio with us?
Gil: I grew up in southern NJ. I went to Saint Joseph’s University and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. I am currently working on my Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at Wilmington University. I have been working at The Ski Bum in Chadds Ford, PA since 2004. I try to snowboard at least 10-20 days during the winter season. I am currently student teaching in South Jersey and I am learning a lot from those little 5th graders

Jen: Tell us about JC and Mr. T and where it's available.
Gil: JC and Mr. T is a about a boy named JC who gets adopted into a new foster family. None of JC’s other brothers liked him. Mr. T, JC’s new dad, had to try to find a way to connect with him. Mr. T. decides to take JC snowboarding. This opens a door for their relationship to grow. It is currently available online at my publisher’s website. www.5ivestarpublications.com. I also have a few copies and I am currently trying to get it into some bookstores in DE and PA.

Jen: At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Gil: The only writing I ever did was for papers in college. But I found out that I am pretty good at making things up. I am being published for the first time this year at the age of 24. I stumbled across writing this book because I had to do it for a grad school class that I was taking. My professor really liked the book and referred me to her friend who was a publisher.

Jen: How does your family feel about your career?
Gil: Writing is not a career for me. It is more of a hobby. It is something that I do for fun. I wouldn’t mind if my writing became popular and it became my career.

Jen: How do you approach your writing? Do you plot or go with the flow?
Gil: Something will usually pop into my head. It could be something I read or something I saw on TV. When I get a topic I just start writing. It just comes to me.

Jen: How many hours a day do you write?
Gil: I don’t have a set schedule for writing. I could write once a week or once every few months. It just depends on what else is going on in my life at the time.

Jen: What kind of research did you do for this book?
Gil: No real research was done at all. I just write about things that I know.

Jen: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Easiest?
Gil: The most challenging aspect of writing is probably coming up with what to write. I try to write about things that haven’t already been written about. The easiest part is coming up with the rest of the book. I just start writing and it doesn’t stop.

Jen: What’s the most rewarding aspect?
Gil: That would have to be seeing the kids smile and like the book. Some of the questions that I get are hilarious. I just love seeing the kids happy.

Jen: Where do you draw your inspiration?
Gil: I draw them from life experiences. I used to work at a facility for troubled youth. A lot of the kids were once apart of foster families. They would tell me stories about what happened and I would feel sorry for them. I knew there had to be stories of foster situations going right. So I decided to write about it. Snowboarding is one of my few passions that I have. So I figured why not combine the two.

Jen: Do you have a favorite character or one that you identify most with?
Gil: Im a bit partial to Mr. T. I try to share snowboarding with anyone and everyone. Im always trying to get friends and family to go with me.

Jen: What's next for you?
Gil: I actually have another book in the works. It is about my father. He is legally blind. He has a degenerative disease in his eyes that get worse with age. So by the time I was born he could not drive. And without him driving it was hard for him to work. So my mom would go to work and my father would stay home and take care of my brother and I. The book is just a little story about the fun we had and the lessons he taught us.

Jen: Where can you be found on the web?
Gil: You can find me on www.5ivestarpublications.com or you can go to my blog http://giltrudell.blogspot.com. I will have any updates, news, or other stuff that is going on will be posted there.

Jen: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Gil: Keep a look out for me and the other authors at 5ive Star Publications. I know there are a lot of good reads coming out for people of all ages.

Jen: Thank you Gil for stopping by Book Talk this weekend. Readers, Gil is giving away a copy of JC and Mr. T to a random commenter. So, leave a comment and you'll be entered in the drawing. I'll pick a winner on Sunday, April 5 around 5 pm PST.

Excerpt from "JC and Mr. T" by Gil Trudell

There once was a boy name JC.

He was a normal kid like you and me.
He liked to have fun, and his homework was never done.

He was the baby of a big family.
There was Trevor, Angel, Demetrius, Bobby,
and we can’t forget about Chris, Vince, Duquan, and Steve.
They were all apart of the Hope family.

Trevor was the oldest,
And liked to play football.
Angel liked to rollerblade,
but he would always fall.

Demetrius liked to dance,
And Bobby liked to sing.
Chris loved to skateboard,
and Vince wore lots of bling.

Duquan was always hyper,
So he got into lots of trouble.
Steve loved to eat ice cream,
He would always say make mine a double.

There was only one thing different about them,
Mr. T and his wife couldn’t have children,
So they decided to adopt and raise the little boys into men.

Alan Kennedy-Shaffer contest winner

Hope4Change, your name was chosen from those who left comments at the blog today. To claim your copy of The Obama Revolution, please email me at admin.bookblog@gmail.com. Include your mailing address in that email. I need to hear from you by Thursday, April 9 or a new winner will be chosen.

Interview with Alan Kennedy-Shaffer

Jen: We have a special guest today, Alan Kennedy-Shaffer. Alan, will you please share a short bio with us?
Alan: Alan Kennedy-Shaffer served as a regional field director for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in Virginia. Educated at Yale University and William & Mary Law School, Kennedy-Shaffer is the author of The Obama Revolution and Denial and Deception: A Study of the Bush Administration's Rhetorical Case for Invading Iraq. Kennedy-Shaffer’s writings have also appeared in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, the Patriot-News, and the Virginia Gazette. Alan lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.


Jen: Tell us about The Obama Revolution and where it's available.
Alan: The Obama Revolution is the first book written about the most organized campaign in American history by a former campaign staffer and provides an in-the-trenches look into the movement that made Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States and changed the world. From the late-night phone calls and data entry to the grueling treks across traditionally Republican territory, The Obama Revolution tells a side of the story rarely told.

The Obama Revolution is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. More information about the book is available through Phoenix Books.

http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Revolution-Alan-Kennedy-Shaffer/dp/1597776386/
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Obama-Revolution/Alan-Kennedy-Shaffer/e/9781597776387/
http://www.phoenixbooksandaudio.com/books/bks_prodcuts/obamarevolution.htm

Jen: How did you get into politics?
Alan: I have always been interested in politics as a way of creating change on a local, national, and global level. Our public officials have a duty to represent the long-term interests of the people of the United States and the values that we share as members of the human race. I got involved with the Obama campaign by attending more rallies than I can count, listening to more speeches than I can name, and hoping that I would be able to join the movement.

Jen: Please tell us a little about your experience with the Obama campaign.
Alan: I volunteered to serve in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as an Obama Organizing Fellow, and was then hired to work for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in Virginia. My experiences on the campaign became the foundation for The Obama Revolution, a book that comes out of the Obama campaign's emphasis on the 50-State Strategy and outreach in every state, every city, and every county. You never knew which phone call or door knock would put Obama over the top.

Jen: Why did you write this book?
Alan: My first book, Denial and Deception: A Study of the Bush Administration's Rhetorical Case for Invading Iraq, examined the relationship between the rhetoric of President George W. Bush, public opinion, and the war in Iraq. When Barack Obama came along and challenged the mindset that led us down such a disastrous route in Iraq, I knew that a new story about the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans needed to be told. That is what The Obama Revolution is all about.

Jen: Describe your writing in three words.
Alan: Powerful, poignant, and hopeful. (At least that's what my mother says.)

Jen: Do you have a writing routine?
Alan: I wish. My friends say that I am a first-class procrastinator. For The Obama Revolution, I worked day and night until the day when I had to send my manuscript to the editor. WaWa made enormous profits from my late-night coffee breaks.

Jen: How do you shut out disruptions?
Alan: For me, I either have to be in a room with no disruptions at all--close the door, turn off the radio, stop incessantly checking my email--or I have to write in a crowded coffee house where the background noise blends together.

Jen: What’s the most rewarding aspect?
Alan: The most rewarding aspect of The Obama Revolution is knowing that my book is one of the first accounts of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the first book by someone who worked on the campaign. With any luck, my book will inspire future generations of believers to commit themselves to turning their hopes and dreams into change for a better world. If one person reads The Obama Revolution and is inspired, I will have been successful.

Jen: What did you do to celebrate the sale of your first book?
Alan: To celebrate the arrival of The Obama Revolution, I enjoyed Margaritas with a few of my friends in Williamsburg.

Jen: Who has inspired you as an author?
Alan: Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Alice Walker, Howard Fast, Bob Woodward, Molly Ivins--and so many progressive authors who changed the way we look at the world.

Jen: What's next for you?
Alan: The Daily Show. Hello, Jon Stewart--did you lose my phone number?

Seriously, though, I do have a lot of book signings and interviews coming up. My publicist seems to think that people are actually into this Obama fellow. Go figure.

Jen: Where can you be found on the web?
Alan: http://www.alankennedy-shaffer

Through my website, readers can learn more about The Obama RevoThe Obama Revolution, find out when and where my next book signing will be, and read what the critics have said about the book. Alternatively, readers can join The Obama Revolution on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

Jen: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Alan: What are you doing to change the world?

Jen: Alan, thanks so much for making a stop on your blog tour here at Book Talk. One lucky commenter today will win a copy of The Obama Revolution. Due to shipping costs, the contest is only open to US residents. If you'd like to be entered in the drawing, leave a comment today and I'll pick a winner around 6 pm PST.

Review: "Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues" by Jacquie Rogers

Review by Caffey (http://caffeys-reads.blogspot.com/)

Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues by Jacquie Rogers is one funny and romantic contemporary western romance book! A rodeo clown crew who performs for the audiences at rodeos is made up of a mule Socrates, a descent-ed skunk Guinevere, a Australian Shepard Dog Perseus, a half Collie and Half Bloodhound dog Beauty, and even a porcupine named Mrs. Pretty Bottom along with their boss, clown, and rodeo cowboy, Brody. With adventures, romance and comedy, Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues is a creative and unique romance read with a 'pick me up feel good read'!

Set in a town called Gasmer in Idaho, the hero in Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues, Brody Alexander, is a rodeo cowboy on the mend from a recent rodeo injury. Having a past of numerous broken bones and injuries that he had endured through the years from his profession, he continues to work as a Rodeo Clown as he heals. Brody and his hired hand Luke are assisting their neighbor Judy when Rita returns home for a visit to help her mom through a surgery. While home again, Rita is facing many memories of a difficult past of memories of her dad, that creep up on her more and more and she's determined to return back to a city with a more modern living and her career in a business field. She's also engaged to a man named David, who also requires Rita's attention and time. Rita also has her hopes up high to set up a home for children in Gasmer while she is visiting, so that children had a home to stay where they had the support of their own town, community and friends.

Brody's mule Socrates is a leader of the rodeo crew of animals and guides his crew as a team to lead Brody into a romance. Each chapter starts with the mule's thoughts and ideas on putting plans into place to put Brody and Rita together. With a whole bunch of laughter throughout the book from their antics, there is never a dull moment! Topping that with a romance of Brody and Rita, who also bring laughter and comedy into the story with their romance, there is another tender romance and story about Rita's mom Judy that was so fitting and important in this book. Brody too has a past that no one knows of and never wants to be known, but things start to crumble little by little that is making him face this all. Brody's love for the outdoors, his animals, his ranch and his career as a rodeo rider is one that he wants to remain in, while Rita wants to run from. Also fitting was a single character Phyllis that I can envision in a future book with the things she did for her community and the children. Here's hoping her story will be told some day too.

Even with the great elements of the animals in this book, there is an outstandingly written romance of Brody and Rita that is a huge part within this book. Being an emotionally involved story and romance many feelings will be felt for both Rita and Brody as they are surrounded by and continue to endure issues from their past as well as growth in their relationship. This all makes for a very moving romance. When together, Brody and Rita's romance was very intense throughout the book. The tension of the romance was also growing and building as they slowly let down the resistances that were keeping them from being together. With Rita's facing her past with her dad, previous rejection and jealousy of Brody, their love grows as they both faces the truth as well as understanding of what their future holds for them. There was no way to give this book, Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues anything lower than an A. It had so much in this book that the reader will be thinking about this book, scenes and characters for days and weeks to come after reading it. Again, a beautiful romance!

Winner Announcement

I'd like to thank everyone who came by the blog to support Misty Evans this week. And we have a winner to announce. Tessy, your the proud new owners of an e-copy of "I'd Rather Be in Paris". Please email me at admin.bookblog@gmail.com by next Thursday, April 9 to claim your prize or a new winner will be chosen.

And I never heard from last week's winner of Lesli Richardson's contest. So, it's time for a redraw. If you'd like to win a $5 e-certificate to Lyrical Press, the shoot me an email at admin.bookblog@gmail.com. Please put Lesli Richardson in the subject. I'll pick a winner on Sunday afternoon.