Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

In a USAToday story, Bush hopes her story has an impact like the Diary of Anne Frank. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.
Jenna Bush’s ANA’S STORY: A Journey of Hope, based on her experiences working with UNICEF in Central America, focusing on a seventeen-year-old single mother who was orphaned at a young age and is living with HIV, with photographs by Mia Baxter, to Kate Jackson at Harper Children’s, for publication in fall 2007 (Harper says they’ll print about 500,000 copies), by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly (world). Her proceeds will go to UNICEF, where she is working as an intern.

Let’s hope Ms. Scott is a former lawyer or knows one because legal thrillers, while popular, take great license with the practice of law and that is better done when you know the rules first
Kimberly Scott’s first novel, UNDERTOW, a legal thriller set in Boston, and the first in a series, originally published in Australia by Pan Macmillan under the pseudonym Sydney Bauer, to Carole Baron at Madison Park Press (for an exclusive six-month window) and to Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley, by Harvey Klinger at Harvey Klinger (NA).

Must be for the Nocturne line.
Rhyannon Byrd’s WHEN DARKNESS CALLS, about a man who never believed his mother’s tales of ancestors who were more than human, nor her predictions of a hidden darkness that lives within him - until a psychic who bears messages from the dead tracks him down, warning that his own awakening is about to begin, to Ann Leslie Tuttle at Harlequin, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency (world).

Will this be about three white women examining race? Or three women of color? Because three white women examining race in contemporary Altanta sounds questionable.
Susan White’s BOUND SOUTH, in which three women struggle to find their place in contemporary Atlanta, examining race, class, gender, and religion in a land where deeply sown beliefs continue to uproot, by Trish Grader at Touchstone Fireside, in a two-book deal, for publication as a trade paperback original in summer 2008, by Shana Kelly at the William Morris Agency.

I’ve never heard of this romance author.
Kristina McMorris’ romance BETWEEN THE LINES, currently on submission to publishers, to Toby Jaffe at Original Films, producing jointly with Atchity Entertainment International, by Ken Atchity at AEI Literary Management.

Kind of interesting
Martha O’Connor’s TINK, a reimagining of Tinkerbell from Peter Pan as a fierce Gaelic faerie born as a changeling to a band of 19th-century gypsies, to Peternelle van Arsdale at Putnam, in a pre-empt, for publication in late 2008 or early 209, by Mary Evans at Mary Evans (NA).

There are not enough funny stories about people in cubicles.
Cofounder of the Believer Ed Park’s debut PERSONAL DAYS, a comic novel about a group of office workers who suspect there is a mole in their group, to Julia Cheiffetz at Random House, in a pre-empt, for publication in May 2008, by PJ Mark at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (world).

Great news. I would love to revisit Grant County
Karin Slaughter’s next two books in the Grant County series and a new stand-alone, again to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell, in a major deal, for seven figures, by Victoria Sanders at Victoria Sanders & Associates (NA).

McCarty’s online readership should propel her to stardom much like Lora Leigh.
Sarah McCarty’s Western historical Promise series and her paranormal Dark Haven anthologies, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley, in a very nice deal, in a four-book deal, by Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency (world).