20 Questions with Author Marisa Mackle

Bestselling author Marisa Mackle joins us today for 20 Questions. Marisa's new book Along Came A Stork is the diary of a single mother and will be published in the UK on April 1st from Poolbeg Press.

Kindle or Nook? KINDLE

iPhone or BlackBerry? BLACKBERRY

Coke or Pepsi? COKE

Coffee or tea? COFFEE

Ice cream or frozen yogurt? ICE CREAM

Flats or heels? HEELS

Facebook or Twitter? FACEBOOK

Call or text message? CALL

Favorite song right now?  JUST THE WAY YOU ARE - BRUNO MARS

Celebrity crush? PAUL RUDD

Last movie you saw? THE FUGITIVE

Favorite snack food? CADBURY'S CHOCOLATE

Favorite television show right now? COME DINE WITH ME

Your most overused word or phrase? THAT'S TERRIBLE!

Your hidden talent? DIY

Your biggest pet peeve? NOISE

Favorite activity when you’re not writing? READING

Favorite authors? MARIAN KEYES and SOPHIE KINSELLA

Favorite books? THE LILAC BUS - MAEVE BINCHY and THE BEST A MAN CAN GET - JOHN O' FARRELL

Comment heard most often from your readers? YOU MADE ME LAUGH!

About Marisa Mackle

Marisa Mackle was born in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland and now lives in Dublin with her baby son and two cats. She has a BA in English from University College Dublin and now writes a column with the Evening Herald. She has written twelve books including Mr. Right for the Night, which was a number one Irish bestseller. Some of Marisa's other books include Confessions of an Air Hostess, Mile High Guy, and Living Next Door to Alice. Her books have been translated into many languages including Russian, French and Japanese. 

About Along Came A Stork

Every young girl dreams of meeting Prince Charming, but what if the prince turns into the frog instead of the other way around? Diana Kay is thirty years old, single and pregnant. A glamorous socialite, she has just landed her dream job on TV as a dating guru. But how can she advise women on their struggling love lives when she's hiding her own pregnancy? And why has the baby's father, who swore he'd love her forever, decided instead to vanish off the face of the earth? Terrified of losing her television job, Diana watches her bump grow bigger by the day. How long can she keep pretending she's developed a sudden fondness for jam doughnuts? When it all becomes too much, she flees to the West of Ireland in search of peace and privacy. Instead, she stumbles upon a dark family secret. Diana soon forgets her own personal turmoil as she delves into the past. But is it really a good idea to resurrect a shocking scandal that has been so firmly swept under the family rug?

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Can you relate to Marisa's answers? Have you read any of her books? Leave a comment to let us know. Thanks! And stay tuned for more of 20 Questions!

The Chick Lit Bee Welcomes Megan Just

We are thrilled to announce that Megan Just has joined The Chick Lit Bee as a contributor! Megan will mainly write reviews for us. Her first review will be posted soon, so be sure to check back often. We are so excited that Megan is on The Chick Lit Bee team and we look forward to her contributions. Please join us in welcoming Megan to The Chick Lit Bee!

Here's a bit more info:

Too busy with academic reading for any pleasure reading during college, Megan is now belatedly enjoying the chick lit classics from the early 2000s. She thinks the best chick lit reads are those that are subtly hilarious and have love stories that keep her up late, even on work nights. In addition, she loves reading literary novels with a women’s focus, especially those with an interesting setting or intriguing premise. By day, Megan is the editor of a weekly newspaper. By night, she writes fiction and recently finished the third draft of her women’s fiction manuscript.  When she is not reading or writing, she is running, biking, hiking, climbing, or skiing with her husband.  

To learn more visit www.meganjust.com and follow Megan on Twitter. 

Title Troubles: Naming That Novel

As you may or may not know, I'm working on my own chick lit novel. I'm almost finished with my first draft. Three chapters to go! I'm really excited that I'm getting closer and closer to writing "the end," which is really only the beginning. My manuscript has been untitled so far. I have a working title and some other titles that I have tossed around. Last week, I decided that I needed to finalize a title since I'm almost done with my first draft. Big mistake. Instead of actually writing, I became consumed with figuring out a title. I spent so much time scouring the Internet looking at titles of other books in the genre, reading song lyrics, looking through titles of TV show episodes, and even reading some poems. I was all over the place and what happened? I realized that a title is not going to jump out at me no matter how many love songs/break-up songs I listen to or no matter how much time I spend obsessing over this. I was trying so hard to think of something clever, but all I wound up with was a long list of mediocre titles that didn't really fit with my story. At one point, I was convinced that I had a great title. I thought it was "the one." I was so excited about it, but after a few hours, I wasn't so sure anymore. Needless to say, I've been on a roller coaster and I've been totally indecisive. All of this reminds me of when I first started writing my novel and I was choosing character names. I frequently visited Think Baby Names and tried several combinations of first names and last names until I liked all of the names together. At the time, I thought that was a long process, but it actually wasn't that difficult compared to coming up with a title.

 

So, what have I learned? I know now that I have to look within my own story for a title. I learned that I don't have to try so hard to be clever because when you try really hard, it never comes out as witty as you hoped. It just seems like you tried too hard. I also learned that sometimes I have to be less of a perfectionist, no matter how difficult that might be, because simplicity can actually be best. There aren't any right or wrong answers when it comes to creativity. My novel is still untitled, but that's okay... for now.

 

Have you had a similar experience? How did you come up with titles for your novels, short stories, poems, etc? I would love to hear about it!

 

Nancy

20 Questions with Author Cavanaugh Lee

Have you ever wanted to ask your favorite authors 20 questions to get to know them better? We came up with a fun way to do just that! 

Today, author Cavanaugh Lee joins us to kick off our newest feature, 20 Questions. We couldn't be more excited! Thanks, Cavanaugh!

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Kindle or Nook?  Can you believe that I have neither? I wrote my first novel, SAVE AS DRAFT, entirely in emails, texts, tweets, Facebook status updates, and on-line dating profiles, and I don’t have a Kindle or a Nook which is arguably the best literary venue to read SAD.  It’s almost sacrilege.  I just love the hard cover format that I’m not ready to venture into the electronic one… yet…

           

iPhone or BlackBerry?  Blackberry, but the moment I have enough money saved I am SO buying an iPhone because I think it’s the coolest thing since… sparkly lip gloss and such things.

Coke or Pepsi?  Can I pick 7-Up?  I’m a fan of fizzy see-through drinks.

Coffee or tea?  I gave up coffee after vacationing in China this past December.  Everyone there drinks hot tea.  Now I’m a 95% tea consumer (and 5% coffee drinker).

Ice cream or frozen yogurt?  One of my best assets is that I don’t have a sweet tooth.  I do, however, love salt which cancels out my lack of a sweet tooth.

Flats or heels?  Heels.  Stiletto, if possible.  I’m 5’4” and strive to be 5’7” so heels makes that possible (flats do not).

Facebook or Twitter?  BOTH, of course!  You can find me on Facebook under “Save as Draft” and on Twitter under “cavanaughlee”!

Call or text message?  Duh, haven’t you heard of SAVE AS DRAFT?  Obvi text message, however the whole theme of my novel is that we should text less and call (or meet in person) more often so… I’m trying to pick up the phone to connect a little more these days!  

Favorite song right now?  “Forget You” by Cee-Lo   

Celebrity crush?  Kiefer Sutherland (well actually Jack Bauer who is played by Kiefer Sutherland)

Last movie you saw?  “The Adjustment Bureau.”  I’m a sucker for a good romance that revolves around fate.

Favorite television show right now?  I don’t watch TV shows, because that’s my writing time.

Favorite snack food?  Cheese.

 

Your most overused word or phrase?  “Done and done.”

Your hidden talent?  Massively failing in the romance department.  Oh wait, that’s not actually a hidden talent anymore since I wrote a book about it!

Your biggest pet peeve?  Flakiness.

Favorite activity when you’re not writing?  If I’m not working my day job as a federal prosecutor, then I’m writing.  If I’m not writing, then I’m working my day job.  I’m thinking of taking a cooking class though… and I do love to enjoy a couple glasses of red wine with my girlfriends on a Friday or Saturday night. 

Favorite authors?  Harper Lee and William Shakespeare 

Favorite books?  Hands-down, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

Comment heard most often from your readers?   “That is the most awesome cover ever!” and “What an ending! Not what I was expecting!”

About Cavanaugh Lee

After graduating top of her high school class in San Francisco, Cavanaugh Lee decided to “go for it” and moved to Los Angeles to become an actress.  After graduating from UCLA School of Theatre, she worked steadily as a “wactress” (waitress/actress) for four years, writing and producing an autobiographical play called ROCKSTARNERD and authoring a screenplay. True love (or so she thought) then led her to the deep south of Mississippi, but when that relationship crashed and burned, she changed course and soon found herself graduating from UNC Law School. Now, by day, she works as a federal prosecutor where she puts the bad guys behind bars. She writes, of course, by night. After recently toying in the world of cyber-dating, finding true love, becoming engaged, and then becoming unengaged (yes, he’s got the ring, she’s got the dress), she decided to parlay her modern romance experiences into a hilarious, heart wrenching novel that all young women will relate to and enjoy.  Oh, and by the way, this girl’s still very single, so count on a sequel!

Learn more about Cavanaugh here, follow her on Twitter, and "like" her on Facebook.

About Save As Draft

Lee, a federal prosecutor by day, makes a foray into chick lit with this autobiographical novel told entirely through e-mail, text, and Web exchanges. Early chapters, during which bubbly protagonist Izabell "Izzy" Chin connects with an eHarmony hopeful named Martin, give way to a winning mix of humor and pathos. After a successful first date, Izzy dumps Martin for her best friend Peter; the two fall hard and get engaged, but the whirlwind coincides with Peter getting a demanding new job. E-mail, Facebook, or text missives show the spark fading as Peter gives in to his workaholic boss's demands and Izzy drifts back to Martin. Lee's inherently intimate format succeeds most when a character's thoughts are revealed in unsent e-mails ("save as draft"), revealing the outcomes that could have been had more fearless actions been taken and how matters are misinterpreted and misunderstood. Lee further complicates things with comic exchanges between friends addressing online dating and the true nature of marriage with decidedly mixed results. 

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Can you relate to Cavanaugh's answers? Have you read Save As Draft? If not, do you want to? Leave a comment to let us know. Thanks! And stay tuned for more of 20 Questions!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To celebrate St Patrick's Day, let's get to know some Irish chick lit authors a little bit better. Irish chick lit is very popular, so this is a great time to learn more about these authors and this area of chick lit. Enjoy!

Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes, one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time, studied law and accountancy until she started writing short stories in 1993. She did not plan on writing a novel, but sent her short stories to a publisher with a note saying that she had started working on a novel. When the publishers replied asking to see the novel, she began to write what became her first book Watermelon. It was published in Ireland in 1995, where it was an immediate success. Its appeal spread to Britain and Marian's book are now published in thirty-three languages. Her eleven novels include Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story, Anybody Out There, The Brightest Star In the Sky and This Charming Man. All of her books are bestsellers around the world, selling a total of twenty-three milllion copies to date. Anybody Out There won the British Book Award for popular fiction and the inaugaral Melissa Nathan prize for Comedy Romance. This Charming Man won the Irish Book Award for popular fiction. Rachel’s Holiday is being developed for film while Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married has been made into a sixteen part television series. Watermelon was a made for TV movie in 2003, and Last Chance Saloon became a French film called Au Secours J’ai Trente Ans in 2004. In addition to novels, Marian writes short stories and articles for various magazines and other publications. She is also involved with various charities. She was born in Limerick in 1963, and spent her twenties in London, but is now living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband. 

Claudia Carroll 

For fourteen years, Claudia Carroll played the part of Nicola Prendergast in the long-running Dublin soap opera, Fair City. She wrote her first novel, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me in her dressing room when she was supposed to be learning her lines. It was published in 2004 to critical acclaim and became an instant bestseller. In 2005, she followed this up with The Last of the Great Romantics, which became another bestseller. The following year, her third book, Remind Me Again Why I Need a Man was published and then optioned by Fox for a TV series in the US allowing Claudia to quit her day job and write full-time. In 2007, her fourth novel, I Never Fancied Him Anyway was released and became another bestseller, which was optioned by CBS for a movie. The movie is currently in pre-production, with a screenplay adapted by Academy Award nominee, Robin Swicord. In 2008, her fifth novel, Do You Want to Know a Secret was published and remained on bestseller lists for several weeks. In 2009 and 2010, she followed this up with If This Is Paradise, I Want My Old Life Back and Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother. Claudia was born in Dublin, where she still lives and where she’s worked extensively both as a theatre and television actress in addition to writing novels. 

Cecelia Ahern

At twenty-one years old, Cecelia Ahern wrote her first novel PS, I Love You, which was sold to over forty countries and was also made into a film of the same title starring Hilary Swank. PS, I Love You was one of the biggest-selling debut novels of 2004, reaching number 1 in Ireland and in the UK Sunday Times bestseller list. It was also a bestseller throughout Europe and the USA, staying on the best-seller list in Germany for over 52 weeks. In November of 2004, Cecelia's second book Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie/ Rosie Dunne in the US) also reached number 1 in Ireland and the UK, remaining at the top of the Irish bestsellers list for 12 weeks and again a bestseller internationally. Her third book If You Could See Me Now was published in November 2005, became an international bestseller, and was optioned for film. Cecelia won the 2005 Irish Post Award for Literature and a 2005 Corine Award for her second book Where Rainbows End. In May 2007, Cosmopolitan US honored her with a Fun Fearless Fiction Award for If You Could See Me Now. Cecelia’s fourth novel, international number one bestseller, A Place Called Here (published under the title There’s No Place Like Here in the US) has been optioned by Touchstone for a TV Drama series. Cecelia was a co-creater and producer of the ABC half-hour comedy television show, Samantha Who? Cecelia has also contributed short stories to anthologies for which all her royalties go to charity. Cecelia's fifth novel Thanks for the Memories was published in April 2008 and was nominated for a British Book Award for Most Popular Book. Her sixth novel The Gift was published in October 2008 and was the second highest selling hardback of the year in the UK. She was voted Author of Year in the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in 2008. That same year, Cecelia's first play, Mrs Whippy, a one woman show, opened and is currently touring Ireland. Cecelia's seventh novel, The Book of Tomorrow is available now. 

Cathy Kelly 

Cathy Kelly began her journalism career at the Sunday World, Ireland's biggest tabloid newspaper. While still a journalist, she decided to start writing a novel. Her first novel Woman to Woman went straight in to the Irish bestseller list and stayed there for eight weeks. Since then, Cathy has written ten more novels. Once In A Lifetime, her tenth novel, was published in paperback in September 2009 and went to number one within days of its release. Her books are international best sellers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Her upcoming novel Homecoming will be released later this year. Cathy is also an Ambassador for UNICEF in Ireland helping to raise awareness of children orphaned in Africa through Aids. Born in Belfast, she currently lives with her partner, John, and six-year-old twin boys in Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

Sinead Moriarty 

Sinead was born and raised in Dublin where she grew up watching her mother write children's books. From then on, her dream was to write a novel. At the age of thirty, while working as a journalist in London, she began to write creatively and joined a creative writing group. Her first novel The Baby Trail has been translated into twenty languages. Her second book A Perfect Match (The Right Fit in the US) has been published worldwide. Her third novel From Here to Maternity is the final instalment of the Emma and James trilogy. Her fourth book In My Sister’s Shoes is about two sisters who help save each other. Her fifth book has been published under two different titles: Whose Life Is It Anyway? in Ireland and Keeping it in the Family in the UK. Her sixth book, Pieces of My Heart, about a family dealing with a terrible crisis, has recently been published. Sinead moved back to Dublin where she lives with her husband, two sons and baby girl.

Sarah Webb 

Sarah Webb is the author of nine bestselling novels including Always the Bridesmaid, Anything for Love, and The Loving Kind. Her books have been published in many different countries including the U.S. and Indonesia. She has also written many children's books, has contributed short stories to several collections and has compiled and edited two charity collections of her own. She writes a popular series for readers ages 10+ called Ask Amy Green. Three books in the series have been published so far. After attending Trinity College in Dublin, Sarah worked in publishing for many years as a children's book buyer. She now combines writing with schools visits, speaking engagements and giving workshops at festivals, and reviewing children"s books for the Irish Independent. She has also run many successful readers' days and is on the board of Children's Books Ireland. Sarah is currently working on her tenth adult novel and her fourth Ask Amy Green novel. She lives in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, with her partner and three children. 

Are you a fan of Irish chick lit? Which books have you read? Who are your favorite Irish authors? Are there any Irish authors that you would add to this list? Leave a comment & share your thoughts with us. Thanks!

Stories from the Hart: Buyer Blues, Part 3

Buyer Blues by Shannon Hart
Part 3

If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.
If you missed Part 2, you can read it here. 
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Five deep breaths later, I was in my zone, finally working on those order revisions. It wasn’t so bad. As it turned out, I didn’t have to make that many changes. But just as I started to key in numbers half way, Lana knocked on my door.

“Not now, Lana. I’m running on a tight deadline.”

Lana just stood there. She didn’t know quite what to say or how to say, I guess, so she just stood there looking as if she had just seen a ghost.

So did I when I noticed Vin standing behind her.

“You’ve got a really nice office, Janie. I can’t believe I’ve never seen it before,” he said, sporting his all-too-familiar smolder.

I wondered what he was doing here, but I couldn’t get the words out. I just sat there, as dumbstruck as Lana was, with my mouth hanging wide open.

He welcomed himself into my office and winked at Lana as he closed the door. Willingly, she stepped back and let us have some privacy, even though the look on her face told me she was dying to know why the ex-boyfriend-but-soon-to-be-brother-in-law made a surprise visit to our office.

“I’m sorry to just barge into your office like this. I didn’t know where else to go and who else to talk to. I’m just…”

“I can’t talk to you about this,” I cut him off straight away knowing exactly what the whole conversation would lead me to.

“Give me one reason why.”

“I can name you fifteen! It’s weird. It’s complicated. I don’t want to get stuck in the middle of this and Amanda already thinks I’m taking your side. I can’t do this!” I spoke to him in a high tone, but couldn’t actually look him in the eyes. It just felt too strange to be talking about his impeding marriage and pre-marital dilemmas. Besides, if I was supposed to be on Amanda’s side, I should be mad at him too, right?

“So you can talk to Amanda about this but not me?”

“She’s my sister! How can I not talk about this with her?”

Vin sat down on the black leather couch and buried his face in his hands. He wasn’t crying or anything, but I could tell he was just as frustrated as Amanda was.

I tried to recall a time when he was this devastated over a problem that we had while we were dating, but I couldn’t. I had never seen him so bothered, so miserable before. Either he wasn’t that serious with me, or he is just that much more in love with Amanda now. The latter sounded better.

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this. “Lana,” I buzzed. “Could you help me with something?”

Lana came walking in, almost dancing perhaps at the thought that she would be able to listen in on a thing or two. Too bad all I wanted her to do was help me with my orders so I could still send everything in on time.

“Everything marked in blue in the books needs to be changed from 15 to 20 in the quantity column and everything marked in pink needs to be cancelled in the orders because the products got cancelled. I need you to help me do everything before noon. I’ve done it halfway, you’ll only have another book to do and it’s really not much.”

“Sure, sure…” Lana nodded.

“Great, thanks, Lana.”

She smiled and hopped out of the room, but didn’t close the door before sending me an I-want-to-hear-everything look.

“Look, Vin,” I began, as I closed the door. “I don’t know why this is such a big deal for you. I mean, I understand that the stay-at-home wife kind of thing has been like this lifelong goal for you or something but come on, it’s 2011 for crying out loud. Things have changed. It’s not a sin to be working a full time job, you know.”

Vin sighed.

“She just wants to make something of herself, you know. It’s not wrong to want to have a career. Imagine if you guys were to one day get a divorce and she had nothing to fall back on. Or if, let’s say, for some reason you can’t work anymore. What happens to you guys? She’d have to work, right? She’d have to support you guys.”

“Well, since we’re talking ‘what-ifs’ here, what if she takes this huge job and just gets too busy for us to have kids? What if she gets too busy loving her job that she forgets to love me?”

I suddenly felt the urge to slap him. It felt way too much like it did back when we were fighting and his nonsense was getting on my nerves.

“Are you even listening to what you’re saying? Do you even hear how ridiculous you sound right now?”

“Look, Janie, I know this is sort of a sore subject for you but my fears aren’t irrational.”

I had my arms across my chest, tightly locked, so that I wouldn’t send him a good right hook.

“What you don’t know about me and my family is that my mom is not actually my mom. Cathy is my stepmother. My real mom left us when I was two years old. She was some corporate big shot who decided she wanted to just focus on her career and that her husband and two boys were weighing her down. She just packed up her things one day and told my dad she didn’t want to be a wife or mother anymore. None of us have heard from her since she left and… I guess I haven’t really healed.”

All of a sudden, I wished Vin would slap me instead. I felt so stupid for mocking him. His fears did come from a real place. I couldn’t have known, but still.

“I know that my mom might have been a one-off case and that Amanda would never do that, but it’s hard for me to just forget everything that happened to my family. Amanda is a great person and I love her to death but…”

My urge to hit him had been replaced by an urge to hug him instead. So, I did. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for him and his family – the feeling of being abandoned, the sense of loss. No matter how inappropriate it was, I stood on my toes and wrapped my tiny arms around him to let him know that I cared.

“Vin, why haven’t you told anyone about this before? I mean, this is something you should be telling Amanda, not me.” I wanted to say that it could have saved our relationship if he had told me sooner, but considering that his and Amanda’s wedding was only days away, it seemed hardly worth mentioning.

“I just… wanted you to know why it’s such a big deal for me. Why I couldn’t stand it when you got so busy with your job and why I chose to end our relationship before I got hurt. But with Amanda, I don’t want to end this. I want to marry her, Janie. I want to figure out how to work this out. She isn’t answering her phone when I call, but she listens to you. She looks up to you more than anyone else in the world.”

“Well, you’re about an hour late. She was talking to me but she thinks I’m on your side, so she’s not speaking to me either at the moment.”

“Why does she think you’re on my side?”

“Well, because I told her to look at it from your point of view… to find middle ground, to talk to you and compromise. I don’t know how that got translated into being on your side, but whatever.” I shrugged. “I guess I learned from what happened to us.”

Vin smiled.

I hated it when he smiled. He looked so damn gorgeous.

“Can’t you try again? Just pick up the phone and talk to her. She’ll listen to you, I’m sure of it.”

“Fine. After the deadline, I’ll call her. But I’m not making any promises, Vin.”

He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and whispered a soft thank you before he disappeared, leaving me sitting on my desk all dazed and confused.

It was funny how he and I connected better today than we did when we were a couple and even though I fully realized how much it made me feel like a terrible human being, I felt a pang of jealousy that he was so willing to fight for her but didn’t fight for me. Just as I did about an hour ago, I found myself contemplating yet again whether or not I should call my sister, only this time it was for entirely different reasons. I wondered if it would even make a difference. She didn’t seem like she wanted to talk to me, what good would another phone call do? But on the other hand, this time, I felt like I really could help her.

“Janie, you are going to call her, aren’t you?” Lana asked, buzzing me and interrupting my not-so-deep thoughts.

I snorted. Lana didn’t have to wait for me to tell her the full story at all. She amazingly managed to eavesdrop on the whole thing without getting caught.

“I don’t know yet, Lana. I’m still thinking about it.”

“What’s there to think about? Make the damn call! You can save this wedding, Janie. Come on!” Lana cheered me on and after about five minutes of listening to her, I finally made the decision to call – perhaps more because I wanted to shut Lana up, but whatever.

Trust my sister to be insanely unpredictable though. Instead of listening to me and understanding the situation with Vin when I said, “Amanda, you really need to hear this. Vin came by and he said that his mom’s not really his mom,” she started crying hysterically. And I mean hysterically. Even Lana, and her apparently bionic ears, almost fell over when she heard Amanda crying and screaming at the top of her lungs, telling me how I had betrayed her by seeing Vin behind her back at a time like this. In a nutshell, she was outraged that Vin came to me instead of going to her with the mom story, and didn’t even believe the story at all. My sweet, normally gentle sister actually used the words “a load of crap” – a term I had never heard her use before in my entire life. Oh, and she managed to slip in words like “backstabbing hypocrite” too. It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t tempted to just slam the phone and hang up on her. It seemed like such an easy exit: hang up and let her rot in her misery, and never have to bother about the stupid wedding again. But then I remembered what Vin looked like. And I listened to all the words behind Amanda’s screams and yells. No matter how harsh her words were to me, I kept hearing the same thing over and over again, even though she never used the exact words: she loved him so much it hurt. So I decided, it was time to use the middle name.

“Amanda Louise Garrett! Will you shut up for five minutes and let me talk?” I felt this odd sensation as I matched her high-pitched tone. It was… power? I noticed that Amanda suddenly stopped talking. She stopped crying. Heck, she probably even stopped breathing for a few seconds there. It went dead silent on the other end of the line, and so I quickly took that as my cue. “First of all, the only reason Vin came here was because he was desperate. He kept trying to call you but you would answer his calls. Go ahead and check your phone. You’ll find at least a dozen missed calls from him.”

“But I…”

“Shut up! I’m still talking!” I demanded. Geez, I sounded so much like my mother it gave me goose bumps. “Second of all, the minute I saw him, I told him I didn’t want to talk to him because I was on your side. You’re my little sister; I would never take his side.” I could tell she wanted to interrupt me again but probably decided otherwise due to the fact that I was being scary as hell at that point. I had never, ever, in my entire life, been that hard on her before. “Now, even as I tell you this, I am not on his side. I repeat – I am not on his side. But I do feel obliged to tell you what he told me because I don’t want to see you guys fall apart. You guys are so great together even when you’re both too pigheaded to listen to each other.”

I heard Amanda make a little sound that sounded like a mixture of a laugh and a sigh.

“For the first time in his life, he revealed to me that Cathy, his mom, isn’t really his birth mother. His birth mother actually left him and his family when he was about two years old to go pursue her career further. He was just a kid when it happened. He never got over it. Their family doesn’t even talk about it anymore, like she never existed. But he was hurt badly and it traumatized him. That’s why he’s always wanted to be with someone who would never put a career ahead of family.”

“But I’m not her, Janie.”

“I know you’re not and he knows it too. That’s why he kept trying to call you, to tell you why he went all crazy about your wanting to take that promotion.”

Amanda fell silent, this time not just because I forbade her to speak.

“Sissy, are you OK?”

“Janie, that’s why he chose me over you, isn’t it? Because he thought that you’d chose your career instead of family? Which means that if he had told you this a long time ago, you guys would have somehow worked it out and still be together.”

Then, it was my turn to fall silent. Those thoughts had already been roaming around in my head the last half hour or so. All the what-ifs had already gone in and out of my head. But I knew better than to let the what-ifs bug me. After all, I had seen with my own eyes how much Vin wanted to save his relationship with my sister. “He came to me to fight for you. He asked me to help him because he wanted to fight for your relationship. He could have fought for ours back then but he didn’t. He’s fighting now and that’s all that matters.”

I heard Amanda start to cry again, but this time, it was no longer the cry of angst and desperation. It was no longer a cry of pain and agony. This time it was a happy cry.

So, my little sister was happy again. And when she would call Vin, they'd both be happy, and they’d kiss and make up and get married on Saturday as planned. My mom would be over the moon, and then she’d have a blast at the wedding she’d been dreaming of giving ever since she first found out that she was pregnant with me.

Then, at the thought of all of that, I cried too… for me.
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Book Review: Pretty Little Liars

Nancy's Review of Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Pretty Little Liars explores the lives of four high school girls in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Their story begins in the seventh grade when Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna (the Liars) were friends with Alison who was considered the "queen bee" of their group. They shared everything with Alison. When she vanishes at the end of seventh grade, they assume that the secrets they shared with her have vanished as well. The Liars cut ties with each other shortly after Alison goes missing. Three years later, they all start receiving mysterious notes, emails, instant messages, and text messages from someone anonymously called "A." The messages taunt the girls with secrets that only Alison knew, but she is still missing. They all wonder if she is back and is playing some sort of trick on them.

This is the first book in a series of eight books that was recently extended to twelve books due to the success of the TV show that is based on the book series. In this initial installment, the Liars are introduced, varying by chapter, to give the readers background information about them and their lives. Spencer works hard in school but stealing her sister's boyfriends causes her family to think much less of her, despite her academic pursuits. Aria just moved back to Rosewood from Iceland where she went with her family for her dad's sabbatical. She gets romantically involved with a man who turns out to be her English teacher. Emily is questioning her sexuality when a new girl at school catches her eye. Hanna gets herself into trouble when she shoplifts and steals her boyfriend's car. She worked so hard to transform herself from an overweight nerd to a thin popular girl and she's desperate to stay that way. 

Pretty Little Liars is a captivating story full of mystery and intrigue. It is a page turner that will keep readers guessing and wanting to find out more about the Liars and all of their secrets. The Liars' stories are exquisitely intertwined. This first book in the series slowly brings the Liars back together as the troubling messages from "A" get more and more detailed. The Liars' realize that they need each other because even though Alison is gone, they are still connected because of her. The book has important messages about friendship, love, morality, sexuality, and body image. Pretty Little Liars is an exploration of adolescence, the ups and downs and definite gray areas. This book is only the beginning.

Sara Shepard is the author of eight books in the Pretty Little Liars series with four more coming soon. Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, Unbelievable, Wicked, Killer, Heartless, and Wanted are available now. Twisted will be released in July. Shepard is also the author of the young adult series The Lying Game, which was just picked up as a new ABC Family TV series. The Lying Game is available now and the second book in the series Never Have I Ever will be released in August. Additionally, Shepard has written one novel for adults called The Visibles. For more information about Shepard and her books, please visit http://www.sarashepardbooks.com and http://twitter.com/sarabooks. 

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Have you read any of the Pretty Little Liars books? Have you watched the TV show? Have you read Sara Shepard's other books? Are they on your list of books to read? Leave a comment to let us know. Thanks!