A Book on the Brink...and Other Updates

 *A major giveaway of Happy Any Day Now is up and running on the review site Goodreads. Click on over to Goodreads and enter to win one of twenty-five copies of the book.  It's a great place to check out reader comments about all the latest releases. And you can post reviews of your favorites.

 *On another front, I’m thrilled to let you know that Happy Any Day Now will be out as an audio book, produced by Tantor Media and narrated by Donna Postel. You’ll probably recognize Donna’s engagingly warm voice from the thousands of commercials she’s done and the many audio books she’s recorded. In a recent email to me, she wrote: “I finished recording today, which is normally a cause for celebration, but I just didn't want this one to end!”  I can hardly wait to hear the story read aloud by this wonderful voice-over actress.

*Also, a reminder that as we head to the August 6^th pub date, Happy Any Day Now is currently available for pre-order at online booksellers (there are hotlinks to a slew of them on my website 's homepage) and in traditional “brick and mortar” bookstores. Readers can choose from a smorgasbord of formats: trade paperback for those of us who still like to turn pages, electronically for e-readers such as Kindle and Nook, plus the aforementioned audio book, and in MP3 for download. Whatever the device, there should be version designed for it.

 *My heartfelt thanks to Romantic Times for awarding  Happy Any Day Now four stars in its "mainstream fiction" category. RT's advance review says, “This humorous tale of love and life...will have you laughing one minute and tearing up the next.” And no, HADN is not a romance novel, but love always plays an important role in my characters’ lives, and with two flawed but fascinating men vying for her attention, Judith Soo Jin Raphael gets caught up in a sizzling triangle that rewrites her past and threatens her future.    

 *Sometimes you need to take a break from writing and move to something that's also creatively satisfying, but high in calories. My most recent bout of cooking fever was inspired by two books. Last January, I fell in love with and blogged about Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients http://midlifepassions.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html  Now, its luscious sequel, The Lost Art of Mixing, propelled me back into the kitchen, and Nancy Baggett's All-American Dessert Book provided the recipe for a summer fruit cobbler (visit Nancy's  blog http://www.kitchenlane.com/)that was a sweet hit at a dinner party this weekend.

 *Finally, I love talking about Happy Any Day Now--the book's characters, plot and themes, how I came to write the story (a grandmother I never met and a cousin I hardly knew were major inspirations), and the joy and pain associated with creating a novel. My calendar is starting to fill, so if you're interested in having me speak to your organization, book club or group, drop me a line at midlifepassions@gmail.com.

 And I always enjoy hearing from you and about you on this blog.