Here in Maine I should say almost mud season!

Sorry for the long time between posts and also for not answering emails as quickly as I used to. In the immortal words of Marcia Brady: "Something suddenly came up." And in my case, it's a doozy. I'm now trying to remember what that was for her–a date with a cuter guy or was she just lying to get out of something? Anyway, I do apologize for not responding to the many emails I've gotten in the past few weeks asking about another Abby Foote mystery. It's made me so happy to know that Abby has her fans! In LOVE YOU TO DEATH, there's a note at the end that says another Abby Foote mystery is coming, but that book went to press before we could change that. 

I may come back to Abby and Ben in the future, but when I sat down to write a new novel about them, a different set of characters kept popping up on the page and there was no way to integrate their world and story in Abby's, so I decided to back burner Abby and write something completely new. Those characters were Ruby and Stella Miller, twin sisters who couldn't be more different, and who embark on a very long and bumpy road trip from Maine to Las Vegas, where Ruby may or may not get married in an Elvis wedding chapel. She won't if Stella has anything to say about it, and Stella never shuts up. Will she, won't she, does she, doesn't she are just some of the questions both sisters face in QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING, which will be published in early June (check out the very cute cover to the left). The book is available for pre-order on Amazon. If you check it out on Barnes & Noble's site, note that it is NOT a Christian novel, despite the category above the title. That's an error my publishing house is working to correct. QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING is good ole chick lit at, I'm hoping, its irreverent finest. 

This spring so many novels by my favorites are coming out. I can't wait to get my hands on the new Elizabeth Strout, the new Jennifer Weiner (Certain Girls, which I believe is a sequel to Good In Bed), the new Emily Giffin, the new Sarah Dessen, and the new Jhumpa Lahiri. Is it not time for another Anne Lamott? I wish there would be a new Anne Lamott once a week. I have a back log of books already out that I've been unable to get to, like the new Sophie Kinsella, who always makes me crack up. And trust me, a good laugh is exactly what I need these days. 

Hope your March has come in more lamb like. We are constantly under storm threat. And two more are scheduled this week. Late spring and the entire summer in Maine are worth every inch of snow.

:) Melissa 

Singers have American Idol. Writers have American Title, which debut author Jenny Gardiner won last year. RT Bookclub Magazine hosts the competition, in which readers actually vote every month on the best first paragraph, best scene, best dialogue, etc. Brilliant idea. The winner receives a publishing contract, so huge congratulations to Jenny (who is a very nice person, besides being very talented! I have this book on order (love the title) and can't wait to read it. 

Here's the scoop on SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER, which has just been published:

Claire Doolittle is not a happy camper. The married mother of five seems to have lost her way in life. Swept off her feet years earlier by Mr. Right, she’s dismayed that husband Jack has turned into Mr. Always Right, and the only sweeping happening in her life involves a broom and a dustpan. Jack’s officious, perfunctory way has left fun, spontaneity and laughter at the doorstep, and Claire is beginning to wonder if she’s actually married to a modern-day version of Ward Cleaver, the stuff-shirted father figure from Leave it to Beaver sitcom fame.

Worse yet, she’s so bogged down by her overwhelming life and so turned off by the idea of getting it on with her stodgy father-figure of a husband, she’s simply blocked out all of her memories of the Claire-who-used-to-be. Cue a former fiancé, who re-enters her life when she desperately needs to figure out who she was, who she is, and who she wants to be. And if she wants to salvage her sagging marriage, or fall back on her old fiancé, who’s wooing her with promises of what could have been. Throw in a predatory hottie from Jack’s office who’s set her sights on Claire’s ho-hum husband, and you’ve got the recipe for a mid-life crisis of epic proportions.

Jenny Gardiner’s novel, winner of Dorchester Publishing’s American Title III contest, is sure to lure you into the mundane yet compelling world of Claire Doolittle and will leave you cheering for her marriage.

Okay, so in honor of my upcoming novel QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRIAGE, I asked Jenny Gardiner to give me her top five questions that couples should ask before saying I Do. Here's what she said:

That's an interesting challenge, particularly because SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER revolves around a stale marriage in need of life support.

Thanks, Jenny! 

Visit Jenny's website: JennyGardiner.net for more information!

I have two earthly pleasures to write about. The first was watching the Giants beat the Patriots, which makes me feel a little guilty now that I'm a New Englander myself and not a New Yorker anymore. I've never watched a Super Bowl before (never watched a football game before, if you can believe that), but did watch the last hour. Really exciting stuff!

  The second is EARTHLY PLEASURES, the debut novel by Karen Neches. LOVE this book! So funny and whip-smart. Karen is not only a member of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, a group of authors who blog about each other's new books, but she is our fearless leader and founder. She's also incredibly talented and nice!  So, I proudly present EARTHLY PLEASURES by Karen Neches: 

"…Appealingly unorthodox… a heaven where angels lust, drink and follow terrestrial celebrity gossip… A tangled story of cold ambition and true love unspools. Neches’s funny and sweet novel shows that to err is human and angelic as well." –Publishers' Weekly

Welcome to Heaven. Use your Wishberry to hustle up whatever you want. Have an online chat with God. Visit the attractions such as Retail Rapture, Wrath of God miniature golf and Nocturnal Theater, where nightly dreams are translated to film. Your greeter might just be Skye Sebring who will advises her newly dead clients on what to expect now that they’re expired. “Heaven is like a Corona Beer commercial” she assures her charges. “It’s all about contentment.”
So different than Earth where chaos reigns. Unfortunately for Skye, she’s been chosen to live her first life. She’s required to attend Earth 101 classes, which teach all of the world’s greatest philosophies through five Beatle songs.

Skye has no interest in Earthly pursuits, until lawyer Ryan Blaine briefly becomes her client after a motorcycle accident. Just as they are getting to know each other, he is revived and sent back to Earth.

She follows his life via the TV channel “Earthly Pleasures” but discovers he has a wife as well as a big secret. Why then does he call a show for the lovelorn to talk about the lost love of his life?

In Earthly Pleasures (Simon and Schuster, February 2008, $14) great love can transcend the dimensions, narrowing the vast difference between Heaven and Earth.
Advance Praise for Earthly Pleasures:

"What a treat!  Earthly Pleasures more than lives up to its name.  I was glued to the pages of this delightful little gem of a novel, and wish it could have been twice as long!"
– Megan Crane, author of Frenemies

”Karen Neches' Earthly Pleasures is a rare treat. I laughed from the first page and cried in all the right places. Do yourself a favor and curl up with this book. Heaven knows, you won't be sorry!" –Julie Kenner, author of Demons Are Forever

About the Author
Karen Neches was single for over twenty years. She used to tell people she was in the “hospice stage” of being single as she never expected to recover. Then at the age of forty-three she finally met her soul mate. Earthly Pleasures is dedicated to him. She maintains a web site at www.karenneches.com
Neches also writes under the name Karin Gillespie and is the nationally bestselling author of The Sweet Potato Queen’s First Big-Ass Novel with Jill Conner Browne and three novels in the critically acclaimed Bottom Dollar Girl series. She’s founder of the virtual tour The Girlfriend Circuit as well as the grog for Southern authors A Good Blog is Hard to Find. She is a former lifestyle columnist for the Augusta Chronicle.

Enjoy! 

My email program (melissa@melissasenate.com) linked to my website has the flu or something, because every email I send seems to end up in spam folders or doesn't go through at all! If you've emailed me and didn't receive a reply in over a week-ish, that's why!

I've received so many emails in the past few weeks asking when the second Abby Foote book is coming out. I'm so glad to know so many of you loved Abby and were looking forward to more of her and her nutty family and hot Ben and a fun mystery. There won't be another book for the forseeable future–I had planned to write another Abby book and my editor was on board, but when I sat down to plan a story, some other characters kept showing up and pushing Abby out the way. Those characters turned out to be Ruby and Stella, twin sisters and main characters of my next book, QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING, which will be published the last week of May. Stella, a professional muse and face reader, thinks Ruby is making a BIG mistake by marrying her buttoned-up fiance, and off they go on a long and bumpy road trip to Las Vegas, where a wedding may or may not take place, but where some very other interesting and unexpected events DO take place. I may come back to Abby in the future. Who knows what 2008 will hold….

Hope YOUR 2008 is filled with all sorts of good things!

:) Melissa 

Wishing you all a joy-filled holiday and the happiest of new year celebrations! I will be typing away on a new novel and making a list of new year's resolutions (one of which includes: never buy moon sand for five year old son again).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

: ) Melissa 

Looking for a great young adult book (for ages 12 and up) to curl up with for the holidays (or maybe give as a gift). The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit (a group of very talented female authors of all genres who "tour" each other's new books on our blogs, is proudly presenting bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz's new hardcover, PROJECT 17:

PROJECT 17

by LAURIE FARIA STOLARZ

Breaking in was easy.  Getting out will be harder. High atop Hathorne Hill, near Boston, sits Danvers State Hospital. Built in 1878 and closed in 1992, this abandoned mental institution is rumored to be the birthplace of the lobotomy. Locals have long believed the place to be haunted. They tell stories about the unmarked graves on the premises, of the cold spots felt throughout the underground tunnels, and of the treasures found inside: patients' personal items like journals, hair combs, and bars of soap, or even their old medical records, left behind by the state for trespassers to view. On the eve of the hospital's demolition, six teens break in to spend the night and film a movie about their adventures. For Derik, it's an opportunity to win a filmmaking contest and save himself from a future of flipping burgers at his parents' diner. For the others, it's a chance to be on TV, or a night with no parents. But what starts as a playful dare quickly escalates into a frenzy of nightmarish action. Behind the crumbling walls, down every dark passageway, and in each deserted room, they will unravel the mysteries of those who once lived there and the spirits who still might.

Check out the Book Trailer for Project 17, made by Mike Dijital: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2Nkt9p0eLDMCheck out this Fan-created Book Trailer for Project 17, made by M2 Productions:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=wakkVfTrcJg

Advanced Praise for Project 17:

“Page-turning action, genuine scares, and a satisfying conclusion should make this a hit with teens, particularly those who enjoyed the suspense of Stolarz's "Blue Is for Nightmares" series (Flux). – School Library Journal 

"Stolarz takes a delicious cast of characters on a terrifying thrill-ride. A harrowing adventure in an abandoned mental hosptial, PROJECT 17 is sexy, funny, poignant and blood-chilling." - R.A. Nelson, author of Teach Me and Breathe My Name 

Can't wait to read! 

  My first novel for teens,  THEODORA TWIST, is now out in paperback! The New York Post calls it "realistically raw, yet endearing" (interesting!) and Publishers Weekly says: "Senate sets up a tantalizing premise, and the plot is equally entertaining." Bestselling author Sarah Mlynowski says: "THEODORA TWIST has sugar and spice and everything nice. I loved it!" And Teen People magazine hails it "a fun read."

The novel is about the unexpected friendship that develops between two 16-year-old girls when one, a teen queen movie star with a serious image problem (think Lindsay Lohan, Britney or just take your pick), moves into the house and bedroom and life of an ordinary (or so she thinks) high school junior. Check out an excerpt!

I set this one in New Jersey, since that's where I spent my teen years. I wasn't doing anything as exciting as Theodora and Emily when I was sixteen. My thrilling existence consisted of hanging out in two places: Friendlies in Ridgewood, and the Paramus Park Mall, where I met my very first boyfriend, a high school fencing star (oxymoron?).  

Sneak peek of the adorable cover of my next novel for adults (will be published next June), QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING, coming soon! Love the cover.  

:) Melissa

  I loved, loved, loved Chicks With Sticks (It's a Purl Thing) by Elizabeth Lenhard. So real, funny and honest, and it made me want to give knitting another try (I am the world's worst knitter.) There are three books in the series, and the latest has just been published: Chicks With Sticks (Knitwise). Look who else who also loved it:  “Chicks with Sticks reminded me of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but in this book, the girls don’t need magical pants to get what they want . . . they make their OWN magic! I can’t recommend this fun read enough. I know you’re going to love it.”
– Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries series and Jinx
 
The Chicks trilogy began in 2005 with Chicks with Sticks (It’s a purl thing) (Dutton). Fifteen-year-old Scottie lives in a cool, Chicago loft, goes to a progressive-to-the-point-of-wacky private school—and she’s miserable. Her former best friend, trust-fund princess Amanda, is just that—her former best friend—and her mom has become an It girl in Chicago’s art world. Meanwhile, Scottie just wants to blend in.

Then she discovers knitting, and it’s as if she’s been thrown a cashmerino lifeline. Soon Scottie and Amanda find themselves hanging at their local yarn store, bound together by a yen for yarn and a hunger for friendship. They make two more knitty friends: Bella, a new age yoga goddess, and Tay, an indie tomboy with “anger issues” in the wake of her parents’ divorce. The friends’ stitches and their relationships become so intertwined that it’s hard to remember which came first: the girls or the purls.

Chicks #2, Chicks with Sticks (Knit two together), could be called the Chicks’ boy book. At sixteen, Scottie is finally smitten and thrilled to have her first boyfriend—or does she? Amanda’s heart is broken when she wakes up one day and finds that she’s a trophy girlfriend. Tay wonders if her b.f.—an adorable basketball player who knits on the side—is a cling-on. And Bella swears off boys altogether. Drama ensues—all, of course, to the tune of the girls’ click-clacking needles.

And now, there’s Chicks with Sticks (KnitWise).  For Scottie, Amanda, Bella, and Tay, life in Chicago has been all about seeking shelter. They’ve found it in their firelit stitch ’n bitch at Joe Coffee; in the halls of their quirky private school; in the arms of boyfriends—and always in the comfort of the friendship that bonds them together.

But now the Chicks are staring down the end of high school and it's time to contemplate life beyond the protective web of their knitty ensemble. Will the stresses of college applications and service projects, debutante balls and long-distance loves, mean the end of the Chicks? Or can this unlikely foursome bind-off the happy ending that only true friendship can craft?

The Chicks with Sticks books aren’t just for crafty types (though each book does include several original knitting patterns and projects). They’re for anyone juggling the works-in-progress that are friendship, first love, and surviving high school; for anyone who’s ever found friends in the most unlikely place—or wanted to. Sometimes you just need some string and sticks—with some full-fat hot chocolate on the side—to get you there.
 
About the author…

Elizabeth Lenhard grew up in Atlanta and studied English and creative writing at the University of Michigan. She’s been a features reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a contributing dining critic for Chicago magazine, and the author of more than thirty series books for teens and children. Elizabeth lives with her husband and daughter in Atlanta. Now that the Chicks are college-bound, she’s assuaging her empty nest syndrome with lots and lots of knitting.
 
Links. . .

Elizabeth’s website: http://elizabethlenhard.com/Blog: http://elizabethlenhard.typepad.com/ MySpace page: http://myspace.com/elizabethlenhard 

Happy Reading! 

  The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit (a group of female authors from all genres who blog about must-read new books) is happy to present a fun young adult novel: THE BOYS NEXT DOOR by Jennifer Echols

Lori has spent every summer on the lake, swimming and wakeboarding with the three boys next door, and working at the boys’ family marina. Lori is close to Adam, the “baby” of the family, who's her age. But secretly, she’s always had a thing for the middle brother, Sean. And this summer, Sean actually seems to be—dare she think it—flirting with her. She figures he’s only being nice because they're like family, since he’s not into younger girls. Until he steals Adam's (even younger) girlfriend. 

Lori and Adam team up to get Adam’s girlfriend back, and to get Sean for Lori. But then Lori begins to notice ADAM. He’s grown taller.  More mature. And Lori thinks Adam is interested in her, too. And that’s when their ploy finally works. Adam gets his girlfriend back, and Lori gets Sean. The right couples are finally in place, and everything should be smooth sailing.  So what’s with all the waves?

Jennifer Echols is the author of the National Readers Choice Award-winning Major Crush, about a high school pageant queen turned band geek in a small southern town. Boy in Blue, about a rebellious teen who is sentence to accompany a police officer on his night shift patrol—and falls for him, will be published by MTV Books in February 2009. Growing up on beautiful Lake Martin in Alabama, Jennifer learned to water-ski when she was five (wakeboarding wasn't invented yet). She now lives high and dry with her husband and son in Birmingham. Visit her on the web at www.jennifer-echols.com.

Happy Reading!

:) Melissa 

I read and adored I WAS A TEENAGED POPSICLE (who could resist such a title?) by Bev Katz Rosenbaum, who is a sweetheart of a person, and now I can't wait to read the follow-up:  

BEYOND COOL by Bev Katz Rosenbaum

Woohoo–Beyond Cool, the sequel (which can also be read as a stand-alone) to Bev Katz Rosenbaum’s phenomenally successful young adult novel, I Was a Teenage Popsicle, is finally here!  (Sarah Mlynowski, author of Bras & Broomsticks, said Popsicle was, “Fresh and fun—an absolute blast!”  Melissa Senate, author of Theodora Twist, described Popsicle as, “Cool, clever, and full of charm!”  Girlslife.com called it “super cool”.   Popsicle was also recommended on Meg Cabot’s blog and included in a book quiz on seventeen.com!)

So, the story…

 Floe Ryan was frozen for ten years.  Crazy, but true.  She was vitrified at sixteen because of a rare disease.  Now she’s been thawed back to her normal self, but absolutely everything else has changed.  Her little sister’s older than her, her teachers are now holograms (but still annoying), and instead of learning to drive a car, she’s trying to master a hovercar.  And just when she starts warming up to this new scene, everything falls apart…

Her boyfriend is giving her the, er, cold shoulder, and worse, Dr. Dixon at the Cryonics Center tells her that people who were frozen are more susceptible to illnesses.  The one doctor who can cure this immune system weakness has gone AWOL.  Now it’s up to Floe and her brainy friend Sophie to find him.  But they’re not the only ones looking for him–and this time, Floe could be iced for good…

 Bev Katz Rosenbaum is a former fiction and magazine editor who found her calling when she fell in love with the books her kids were reading and the TV shows they were watching.   She lives in Toronto with her family.   Be sure to check out her awesome website at www.bevkatzrosenbaum.com and her myspace page at www.myspace.com/bevkatzrosenbaum, where she also blogs weekly.  (You can also catch her occasional blog posts at www.teenfictioncafe.blogspot.com.)