Authors I Will Read in 2007

I swear this is not a plug for my own work! I just had to show off this gorgeous cover. (Ahem) But if you want to buy the book, it will be in stores May 2007.

Now onto the business at hand ... this is a partial list. I didn't do repeats from my Top Ten because you already know I love them, and I have a room full of gifts that need to be wrapped before this weekend.

6. Margo Candela will make her debut with Underneath It All next month. Read her. You won't be disappointed!

5. The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason, in Hollywood-speak is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Jane Austen." Ever since I found her on MySpace and then read the teasers about her new book, I've been anxiously waiting for this one to hit stores next month.

4. Anne Mallory and I met as brand new Avon authors back in 2004. But having read her historical romances, I know she's going to be a best seller and I'll have the bragging rights to say I read her back when. (And that we were bought by the same editor!) Unfortunately I have to wait till August 2007 when her next book, What Isabella Desires, is released. But I won't ask Avon for an ARC or a freebie. Yes, I will purchase it from my favorite bookseller!

3. Sonia Singh's Goddess for Hire came out two years before my first book and after I read it, I wondered why Avon Trade bought me. I mean, I wasn't as good as her! (Author insecurity is a terrible thing.) So when Josie Brown got us together to tour the Hard Rock Cafes, I was a little intimidated. But then after one drink too many at the Hard Rock Cafe in L.A., (it was my first night out without my then five month-old baby and husband) I blurted to Sonia that she needed to start writing more explicit sex scenes because she never showed us what the guys look like naked. It was one of those make or break moments where you could end up with a drink in the face or a laugh. Sonia laughed and we've been buddies ever since. Having said that, even if Sonia continues to toy with us in her next book, Ghost,Interrupted, I'll still read it!

2. Marsha Moyer is in the pantheon of my all-time favorite authors. After reading her first two novels (The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch and The Last of the Honkytonk Angels), I was crushed to discover that her third book had not been scheduled for release. But just the other day, when I went to her website to see what she was up to, I realized there is a publishing God. Her third book, Heartbreak Town is coming in June 2007! Read the first two and you will be mesmerized.

1. Sacha Boutros is a jazz musician not an author and since this is my list, I figure I can fudge the rules a bit. When I was writing the character of Sela from "Till Death Do Us Part", I could only hear her voice for the longest time. Usually I see my characters first and then hear their voices. But it made sense that Sela (who is a struggling jazz singer and musician) had a very clear, distinct voice. Later when I heard Sacha on MySpace, I went very still like a ghost had just walked into my room. She sounded just like Sela. If you read "Till Death Do Us Part", I highly recommend that you do so with Sacha's gorgeous serenade.

Cheers,
Mary