What I'm Reading

For those of you who haven't seen The Guardian article about Nora Roberts, you have missed some staggering statistics about what this woman has done for the romance genre. She is a publishing powerhouse, which has many of us shaking our heads and marveling at her prolific productivity. If I could be 1/3 as productive as she is, I would be a grateful and satisfied writer, indeed.

I had a Nora book in my TBR pile and this article prompted me to pick it up and read it over the holiday weekend. Homeport takes place in Maine and Italy, which are two of my favorite places. I think I would have picked the book up regardless, but with Nora at the helm it was a suspenseful story with a yummy hero and a satisfying romance. When you've read a Nora book, it's easy to see why she's the queen!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

I sometimes think about online dating and what a true leap of faith it is to trust that the great someone you've met through a dating site is actually the person he or she claims to be. In one conversation I've had I mentioned that for all you knew, that guy could be just like Clark Rockefeller, looking the part, sounding the part, acting the part -- embracing the part so well, how could he be anyone else?

I just finished reading The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Impostor by Mark Seal. It is a remarkably researched and well-told story that peels back all the layers of that question.

Truth is stranger than fiction, and it is hard to believe that this man, often referred to, in hindsight, as a psychopath in the book, duped so many people. But it was pre-Internet, and without those resources at one's fingertips I think it would have been incredibly hard to fact check all the information he spun at people. Then again, he had his details correct and his facts straight, so who knows if the vast amount of online information available would have been helpful in detecting him more quickly, or if it would have just helped him become more armed and dangerous.

It is a fascinating story of how one man was driven to become the somebody he always wanted to be and the price that so many other people paid for it.

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

I am such a fan of Elizabeth Adler but don't seem to come across her books as often as I used to, so when I saw There's Something About St. Tropez in my local bookstore, I grabbed it up. I love that her books have intrigue, suspense, murder, and great characters with everything taking place in some fabulous part of the world. In St. Tropez, she introduced an ensemble cast that had me rooting for each one.

With winter fast approaching, who wouldn't want to escape to St. Tropez?

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

A while back I won a book through the Chick Lit Is Not Dead blog (always the best and most fun surprise!) and I finally have had the chance to read it. I was intrigued by the book, because it is loosely (supposedly) based on the writer's living in close proximity to Danny Moder and his ex, before he became Mr. Julia Roberts, and she wrote it wondering how awful it must be to lose your husband to one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Sounds pretty horrible to me!

As if that very public break-up in the book wasn't hard enough, the main character faces a number of other life-altering events throughout the story. At times both funny and sad, Irene Zutell's Pieces of Happily Ever After will have you cheering for a happy ending.

xoxo,

bex