Saturday, September 22, 2007

SECRETS WE KEEP

October sees the publication of Jackie Braun's final story in the SECRETS WE KEEP trilogy, FOUND: HER LONG-LONG HUSBAND.

This is a classic Jackie Braun story, full of warmth and emotion. Claire, her heroine has been dominated by her family all her life and finally she's fighting back.

She's already making a stand even before she meets Belle and Simone on her tough charity cycle ride. Her father does that patronising stuff -- the metaphorical patting on the head -- and suggests she send a cheque. But her friendship with Belle and Claire makes her face up to the fact that there's something more she has to do before she can break away from the past, stand on her own two feet. She has to find the man she used, hurt, and tell him that she's sorry. She's hoping he'll forgive her. But what she needs most is to forgive herself.

If the journey through the Himalayas was a roller-coaster ride, then her return is an even tougher one. Meeting Ethan again makes her realise that she threw away something very special. But maybe, if she can convince him of that, they might still have a future together.

I love Jackie's writing. Her heroine's seem to have that little bit extra, a tiny core of steel that makes them special and Romantic Times seem to agree with me, giving FOUND: HER LONG-LONG HUSBAND, a very special 4 1/2 stars.

WOMEN'S FICTION FESTIVAL, MATERA

I'm off to Italy so I won't be around for a while. I've been invited to present the prize to the winner of the translation prize at the Women's Fiction Festival in Matera -- they used The Cinderella Valentine as the text.

It'll be a wonderful chance to mix with authors -- so far I have Ann Roth, Kayla Perrin and Rosemary Laurey in my diary -- as well as talking to editors, publishers, agents.

The Festival is concentrating on crime writing this year so, maybe, I'll be inspired to get out all the notes for my own crime novel and get on with it. Or maybe I'll just stick to sight-seeing. If possible, I'll blog from the conference, but if not, I'll be posting photographs and telling you all about it when I get back



5 comments:

Tam G. said...

Now is it Found: Her Long-Long Husband or Found: Her Long-Lost Husband?

Sarita Leone said...

This sounds wonderful. I love stories where the characters get a second chance! :)

Anonymous said...

Hope you had a great time in Italy, Liz!

Liz Fielding said...

Hi Tam! Each of the books has a colon in the title, so it's Found: Her Long-Lost Husband. Unfortunately, blogger won't let me put it in the tags!

Thanks, Sarita. I hope I do her justice.

It was great, Julie. I will be blogging -- first I need to catch up on the laundry!

Michelle Styles said...

Oh good, I am glad you will be blogging as I am looking forward to hearing all about it.