I am an award-winning, national best-selling author who loves reading as much as I love writing. Combine that with a good, smooth bourbon and it’s a win-win. Like my literary journey, my love for bourbon has been filled with surprises and challenges. Romance writing found me. I didn’t go looking for it. The journey introduced me to great writers and amazing stories and taught me to write better. Distilleries could extol the health benefits of bourbon, but I discovered it can be subtle, soul-searing, and pairs beautifully with a good meal and an even better book. Like my writing, bourbon leaves you feeling like you’ve had a great meal and threw in dessert!
This book is the embodiment of great storytelling. Guy Johnson takes us on a journey that is profound and addicting.
The characters are beautifully constructed against a backdrop of historical fiction, adventure, and romance. They are flawed, and you find yourself rooting for them at every turn. This is the first book I read that taught me how to better push the constraints of my own writing and to simply write what might feel personal but is also necessary.
Johnson was also the first author I ever reached out to, to say how much the book meant to me and he responded with the most engaging words of encouragement and advice for my own stories.
I’d highly recommend this book for anyone looking to escape in the pages of an epic tale that reads as if it is on the big screen. It’s masterfully written and makes for a soul-searing read.
Raised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, LeRoi "King" Tremain, caught up in his family's ongoing feud with the rival DuMont family, learns to fight. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains' fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana.
King thus embarks on an adventure that first takes him to France, where he fights in World War I as a member of the segregated 369th Battalion—in the bigoted army he finds himself locked in combat with American soldiers as well as with…
Before being published I was very much a romance snob. I was a bookshelf elitist who thought that good literature did not include romance.
When my first book was labeled a romance novel, romance fans quickly let me know that what I’d written wasn’t true romance, but they loved the book. So, I had to learn how to write romance and what better way than to read it.
Night Song was my first foray into historical romance with characters who looked like me. It was life changing and one of the most beautiful tales I had ever read. Lesson learned! The romance genre includes incredible stories, superb writing, and bourbon-sipping storylines and I had been missing out.
Cara Lee Henson knows no soldier can be trusted to stay in one place—and that includes handsome Sergeant Chase Jefferson of the Tenth Cavalry. Dallying with the dashing man in blue could cost the pretty, independent Kansas schoolteacher her job and her reputation. So Cara is determined to repel Chase’s advances—even though her aloof facade barely masks her smoldering desire.
A Blazing Passion . . .
Never before has Chase longed for a woman the way he ached for lovely Cara Lee. The strong-willed ebony beauty, however, will not surrender easily. But with tender…
Liam was orphaned at the age of two by a group of giant carnivorous insects called the chitin. Taken in by High Councilor Marcus and his wife, Lidia, Liam was raised with their older son, Randolf in New Olympia, the last remaining city on the planet Etrusci.
I love Walter Moseley and have read everything he’s written.
I discovered his books when former President Bill Clinton mentioned him during a State of the Union address and curiosity took me down to my local library to see what all the fuss was about. It was love at first line with his book Devil in a Red Dress.
Those that followed were equally impressive but there was something about The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey that took the storytelling to a whole other level. Part drama, part science fiction, it was a mesmerizing tale and again, showed the importance of storytelling that pulls a reader in and refuses to let them go.
I’d recommend this book if you’re looking for great writing, an air of mystery, and dynamic drama. It has that and so much more!
Soon to be an Apple Plus series starring Samuel L. Jackson, a masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from one of the true literary icons of our time.
Marooned in an apartment that overflows with mementos from the past, 91-year-old Ptolemy Grey is all but forgotten by his family and the world. But when an unexpected opportunity arrives, everything changes for Ptolemy in ways as shocking and unanticipated as they are poignant and profound.
Discovering my affinity for Historical Fiction, and then discovering the writings of Vanessa Riley was a dream come true.
Island Queen hit all the right buttons for my writing spirit. It was lyrical, poetic, engaging, and one of the most beautifully written books in my personal library. It was storytelling at its very best and I’d recommend this book for that reason alone. But it also has great personal significance for me.
My 85-year-old mother who only learned to read late in life was an avid reader. These past few years her reading has slowed, the process becoming difficult for her to do. I recommended audiobooks for her, and Island Queen was her first. Watching her become completely lost in the story, tears sometimes streaming down her face, or the lilt of a giggle rolling off her lips was everything.
This is a story that tugs at your heartstrings and pulls every ounce of emotion from you. It sometimes requires a two-finger pour to celebrate just how good it is!
"Riveting and transformative, evocative and immersive...by turns vibrant and bold and wise, discovering Dorothy's story is a singular pleasure."--The New York Times
A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free Black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies.
Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom-and that of her sister and her mother-from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and…
Every picture tells a story, but it’s not always the one we expect or remember. Christmas Actually is a festive drama about family and forgiveness and a snapshot of modern family life, addressing Instagram to motherhood and everything in between.
Why Christmas? My publisher wanted my new novel to have…
Don’t tell, but I have a thing for the supernatural. I love a good vampire, zombie, demon tale. Those are the stories I go to when I’m writing, and on deadline, and I still want to read. Reading Minion was how I discovered I loved a great supernatural tale and Banks can tell a story that rivals the best of them.
I’d recommend this book for anyone wanting good writing that delves into a world you neither expect nor know you needed. It’s a stiff drink, a warm blanket, and a nightlight in the corner kind of read that does not disappoint. Once you’re finished, you can’t wait to get your hands on the rest of the series to see what comes next. That’s great storytelling!
There is one woman who is all that stands between us and the eternal night. Here is an account of her legend....
All Damali Richards ever wanted to do was create music and bring it to the people. Now she is a Spoken Word artist and the top act for Warriors of Light Records. But come nightfall, she hunts vampires and demons—predators that people tend to dismiss as myth or fantasy. But Damali and her Guardian team cannot afford such delusions, especially now, when a group of rogue vampires have been killing the artists of Warriors of Light and their…
Murder on the bayou...forcing rivals to unite... When a young woman is found in a Louisiana swamp, police detective King Randolph finds his investigation hindered by private investigator Lenore Martin. He's loath to share the murder investigation with such a problematic person. But despite mutual distrust, they forge a combative alliance. Soon, as more bodies drop, heat rises between the partners. And grave danger threatens from every corner of New Orleans.
Dolça Llull Prat, a wealthy Barcelona woman, is only 15 when she falls in love with an impoverished poet-solder. Theirs is a forbidden relationship, one that overcomes many obstacles until the fledgling writer renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his bestseller.
The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.
This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United States…
