Vote for Love Under Cover!

LOVE UNDER COVER is up for "Most Intriguing Trailer" Award!

But we need your help to snag the official title.

Just think of it as the "People's Choice Award" for book trailers...

:)

Please vote here!

http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/

It's entry #4.

Thanks!!!

Guest Star: Hank Phillippi Ryan

My Guest Star author this week is Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of the Charlotte McNally Mystery series, Prime Time, Air Time, and Face Time.

About AIR TIME, the latest in the series:

Star reporter Charlotte (Charlie) McNally enters the glamorous and high-stakes world of high fashion ...and soon discovers when the purses are fake, the danger is real.

To break her latest big-money blockbuster, Charlotte must go undercover--but what if the bad guys recognize her? This savvy TV journalist must face more than her fear of flying when her inside scoop on designer duplicates suddenly turns deadly.

Carrying a hidden camera and dressing to deceive, Charlie finds she's not the only one disguising her identity. Nothing--and no one--is what they seem. And that means nothing--and no one--can be trusted. In her high-risk job and in her suddenly steamy love life, how can she tell the real thing?

Charlie is forced to make some life-changing--and life and death--decisions. With only a split-second to act and with her own life in the balance, Charlie knows if she chooses wrong it will be the last decision she ever makes.

Real-life investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan devises a scheme so timely and innovative you'll wonder why someone hasn't tried it. AIR TIME takes you behind the scenes of TV news--and reveals what can happen when a savvy, sexy journalist turns from hard-working reporter into becoming a killer's target.

And here's an awesome interview with Hank!

1. Charlotte (Charlie) McNally is an investigative TV reporter, and so are you! What qualities do you share with Charlie, and how are you different?

When my husband talks about Charlie, he calls her "you." As in--when "you" are held at gunpoint, when you track down the bad guys, when you solve the mystery . . . and I have to remind him, "Sweetheart, it's fiction. It didn't really happen."

But a couple of things: I've been a TV reporter for more than 30 years. (Yes, really.) And so it would be silly, in writing a mystery about TV, not to use my own experiences. Think about it--as a TV reporter, you can never be wrong! Never be one minute late. Never choose the wrong word or miscalculate. You can never have a bad hair day, because it'll be seen by millions of people! It's high-stakes and high-stress--literally, people's lives at stake--and I really wanted to convey that in the books.

And everything that TV people do and say in the books is authentic and genuine. (Of course, Charlie can say things I can't say, and reveal things I can't reveal.) We're both devoted journalists, and over-focused on our jobs.

But Charlotte McNally is different, too. She's single--I'm happily married. She's ten years younger than I am, and so is facing different choices and dilemmas. She's braver than I am, certainly. Funnier. And a much better driver.

2. Charlie has some exciting adventures in your mystery series--going undercover, confronting some really bad guys. Tell us about some of your adventures as an investigative reporter.

There's a huge been-there-done-that element to the books--I've wired myself with hidden cameras, confronted corrupt politicians, chased down criminals . . . been in disguise, been stalked, and threatened and had many a door slammed in my face. I've had people confess to murder, and others, from prison, insist they were innocent. So when that happens to Charlie, it's fair to imagine me. Although the plots are completely from my imagination, those are real-life experiences.

3. Your job sounds very demanding. How (and when) do you find the time to write? Do you ever take a vacation, and, if so, what do you do with your time off?

Short answer--no. I don't take vacations anymore. We used to! We love Nevis, a tiny island n the Caribbean with empty white beaches and nothing to do. We love to go to western Massachusetts, to Tanglewood, to go to plays and the symphony and museums. We love to go to Cape Cod, to Truro, to sit on the beach with pals and read, then go out to wonderful dinners. All in the past. Now, I write. And Jonathan lounges in the back yard. Luckily, we have a lovely yard, with a pool and beautiful gardens.

4. Charlie is afraid of flying, and the airlines are constantly losing her luggage. When you write in Charlie's voice about these dilemmas, you sound like you're writing from experience. Is this true?

Sigh. Yes. I am a luggage-loss magnet. If they can lose my bags, they will. It's almost funny. Almost. As for fear of flying, yes, I am afraid. (Although not as much has I used to be. I've worked very hard and tried a lot of things to get over it.) I was once covering a very bad plane crash, in a major airport, and was in a room with a lot of the bleeding and upset survivors of the crash. I often wonder if that bad energy someone affected me.

5. Even though Charlie has a love interest, basically she's married to her job. You are married to a very successful criminal defense and civil rights attorney. Is it difficult to maintain a balance between the demands of your careers and your relationship, or do your exciting careers help "keep the fire going."

Fire? Well, hey. We both really respect each other, and we each think the other is really attractive and funny. We each understand when the other is immersed in work--in a story, or a writing a book, or handling a big case. We think each other's work is fascinating. Jonathan is incredibly patient. An endlessly interesting. It's wonderful for me to have in-house counsel to make sure my books are authentic when it comes to legal issues--and it's fun for him to have a writer-wife who had advised him on his dramatic closing arguments.


Click here to order Air Time on Amazon!

Visit Hank online at: www.HankPhillippiRyan.com

Everyone Loves Free Lingerie!

Jennifer Hunter, the main character of my two novels and fidelity inspector extraordinaire, has quite a selection of uber sexy lingerie...especially given her line of work.

That's why to celebrate the UK release of my second novel The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Men (Titled: Love Under Cover in the US, my UK publisher and I have teamed up with Figleaves.com (a popular lingerie online retailer) to offer one lucky winner a £500 shopping spree at Figleaves.com. And the best part is...the giveaway IS available for US residents too! Just visit www.figleaves.com/goodgirl to find out how you could win.

AND...that's not all! In conjunction with the book release, between now and October 14, EVERY shopper can get 10% off their next Figleaves.com order plus FREE shipping to both US and UK residents. Just enter GOODGIRLS when you get to the checkout for your exclusive discount.*

*Offer valid until October 14th, 2009

Make sure to head on over there and check it out!

Also, if you live in the UK, don't forget to order your copy of The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Men by clicking here. It releases on October 2. (Don't worry US

Booklist loves LOVE UNDER COVER!

This is always the most nerve wracking part of the publishing process, watching all the early reviews start rolling in. I'm so grateful to have received another awesome one...this time from Booklist.

Here's what they have to say:

"Those who enjoyed Brody's debut will be eager to catch up with Jennifer, but newcomers will be intrigued, too...an honest, witty portrayal of modern love."

Thanks Booklist!!!

Guest Star: Joanne Rendell

Our Guest Star author this week is Joanne Rendell, author of the new novel, Crossing Washington Square, which I had the pleasure to read an advanced copy of earlier this year. And so I can say with authority that it's a fabulous read!

And if you head over to Free Book Friday before Thursday night, you can enter to win a free autographed copy!


Here's what the book is about:

A story of two strong-willed and passionate women who are compelled to unite their senses and sensibilities, from the author of The Professors' Wives' Club.

Professor Diana Monroe is a highly respected scholar of Sylvia Plath. Serious and aloof, she steadfastly keeps her mind on track. Professor Rachel Grey is young and impulsive, with a penchant for teaching relevant contemporary women's stories like Bridget Jones' Diary and The Devil Wears Prada, and for wearing her heart on her sleeve.

The two conflicting personalities meet head-to-heart when Carson McEvoy, a handsome and brilliant professor visiting from Harvard, sets his eyes on both women and creates even more tension between them. Now Diana and Rachel are slated to accompany an undergraduate trip to London, where an almost life-threatening experience with a student celebrity will force them to change their minds and heal their hearts...together.


And here's my interview with the author!

1. Any fan/fan mail stories you care to share?

My first novel was The Professors' Wives' Club. A couple of months after its release, a woman contacted me and said she'd read and enjoyed the book. She told me she was a professor's wife and after a few emails, she revealed that she was the wife of a very distinguished professor of cultural studies whose work I'd read, who I'd seen giving keynotes talks at conferences, and whose work greatly influenced the writing of Crossing Washington Square. Not really a "rock star" moment, but still exciting to know the wives of influential professors (professors I really dig!) read my book.

2. Where do you write?

I write at my desk at the front of our apartment. We live on a very busy street in Manhattan so my writing is "lulled" by taxis honking, firetrucks hooting, and jackhammers pounding. With all this practice, I could probably keep writing through a asteroid shower!

3. What was your inspiration behind your latest novel?

The idea for Crossing Washington Square evolved over a few years. As someone who has lived the academic life (I have a PhD in literature and now I'm married to a professor at NYU), I've always loved books about the university - novels like Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys, Richard Russo's The Straight Man, Zadie Smith's On Beauty, and Francine Prose's Blue Angel. But what I noticed about such campus fiction was the lack of female professors in leading roles. Even the female authors like Francine Prose and Zadie Smith's novels focus on male professors. Furthermore, most of these male professors are disillusioned drunks who quite often sleep with their students! I wanted to write a novel with women professors taking the lead and I wanted these women to be strong and smart and interesting – instead of drunk, despondent, and preoccupied with questionable sexual liaisons!

4. What line or section of your novel are you most proud of?

Rachel Grey and Diana Monroe are both literature professors in the old boys club of Manhattan University. While this should create a kinship between them, they are very much at odds. Rachel is young, emotional, and impulsive. She wrote a book about women's book groups which got her a slot on Oprah and she uses "chick lit" in her classes. Diana is aloof, icy, and controlled. She's also a scholar of Sylvia Plath who thinks "beach" fiction is an easy ride for students. My favorite scene is where these two women face-off in a department meeting. Neither of the professors is a shrinking violet and thus sparks really fly! The scene was such fun to write.

5. If you were in charge of casting the movie adaptation of your book, who gets the call?

Crossing Washington Square loosely echoes Austen's Sense and Sensibilty - with one professor being led by her sense, the other by her sensibility. I love the Ang Lee adaptation of Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet playing the two very different Dashwood sisters. I'd love Emma and Kate to play my professors too!


Praise for Crossing Washington Square:

"Joanne Rendell has done it again! Crossing Washington Square is a book that will stay with you long after you turn that final page. Curl up on a park bench somewhere, watch the leaves fall, and spend some much beloved time with Rachel and Diana."
-Jessica Brody, bestselling author of The Fidelity Files and Love Under Cover

"For every reader who has ever wondered why nineteenth century novels about women are called ‘the canon’, but contemporary novels about women are called 'chick-lit' comes a charming, witty and cerebral novel about Rachel Grey, an Austen-worth heroine fighting for love and respect in the academic shark tank."
-Nicola Kraus, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Nanny Diaries

Click here to order Crossing Washington Square on Amazon!

About the Author:

Joanne Rendell was born and raised in the UK. After completing her PhD in English Literature, she moved to the States to be with her husband, a professor at NYU. She now lives in faculty housing in New York City with her family. Visit Joanne's website at: JoanneRendell.com

I heart Publisher's Weekly!

So here I am on a lazy Monday Labor Day morning, just scrolling through my meaningless junk emails when I stumble across a Google Alert that appropriately "alerts" me to the fact that LOVE UNDER COVER has just been reviewed in Publisher's Weekly. Imagine my surprise when I didn't even KNOW they were reviewing it!

So with shaky hands, I clicked to read the review and two minutes later I was promptly hopping about the room like Tigger on steroids.

Here's the clincher:

"With a complicated, sympathetic protagonist, worthy stakes and a clever twist on the standard chick lit narrative, Brody will pull readers in from the first page."

Yay! This was a HUGE relief given that this book was SO difficult for me to write (they call it the second book curse!), keeping me up nights, causing me to pull my hair out on several occasions and many, MANY gallons of frustrated tears. It's just so great to know that at least all the pain was worth it!

If you want to read the full review, you can do so by clicking here. (There are many books reviewed on this page, make sure you scroll down until you find "Love Under Cover")

Thanks, PW. You are my new best friend!