Who/what do you love?

This month, I'm focusing on love.

Girl Forgotten feels the love

Not only is Girl Forgotten a finalist for an Oregon Book Award, the Delaware Diamonds Award, and the Arizona Grand Canyon Readers Award, but it has just been named a finalist for an Edgar Award. The Edgars are chosen by committees of professional writers who volunteer their time to choose the best of the best. The winners will be announced at a black tie gala May 1 in New York City.

In 2017, The Girl I Used to Be was a finalist for the Edgar, and there was an exciting second or two when they announced that the winner was “The Girl” (I gasped and started to stand up) “in the Blue Coat” (I sat back down and Monica Hesse went up.)

Necklaces inspired by love

My mom, Nora Henry was my biggest champion. For many years, she was the only one who read my writing, and she always believed in me. She used to make these amazing necklaces of buttons and buckles purchased for pennies at garage sales. This past month, I spent a couple of rainy weekends making necklaces the way she did (although my buttons came from eBay, including some from a coat that in 1885 belonged to a girl named Alice).

Stay Dead is also loved

Stay Dead, my latest teen thriller, will publish May 28. It’s about sixteen-year-old Milan, who is the only survivor after a bomb goes off on the private plane carrying her senator mother and her staff. After the plane crashes in the Cascade mountains, Milan is forced to navigate a perilous descent in freezing conditions while outwitting everything from a drone to wild animals. With relentless assassins on her trail, she must untangle a web of deceit and save herself and countless others. Will she piece together the truth in time?

The book has gotten some amazing blurbs, including this one from Vincent Ralph.

A book I loved

I really liked Taylor Adams’ The Last Word, which had a couple of twists I didn’t see coming. (And it’s very hard to sneak a twist past me!) It’s a mystery that includes sections of another book (something I did in Eyes of the Forest).

Winner, winner, chicken dinner (or maybe a book)

If you'd like to win an advanced reader’s copy of Stay Dead, just tell me someone/something you love. Runner up will receive my copy of The Last Word.

Last month’s winner was Bethany. She sent me this photo of her at her school library, demonstrating that the random number generator obviously picked the right choice.