Movie Mondays

I Am Legend

Book, 1954 by Richard Matheson

One of the most influential vampire novels of the 20th century, I Am Legend regularly appears on the "10 Best" lists of numerous critical studies of the horror genre.

A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider. He is the legendary monster who must be destroyed because he is different from everyone else. Employing a stark, almost documentary style, Richard Matheson was one of the first writers to convince us that the undead can lurk in a local supermarket freezer as well as a remote Gothic castle. His influence on a generation of bestselling authors--including Stephen King and Dean Koontz--who first read him in their youth is, well, legendary.

Movie, 2007 directed by Francis Lawrence

Features: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan

Tagline: The last man on earth is not alone.

Quotation: My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be at the South Street Seaport everyday at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there... if anyone is out there... I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security. If there's anybody out there... anybody... please. You are not alone.

Did you know? The movie is one of the top 50 highest grossing films of all time. There is a prequel set to come out in 2011 that will also star Will Smith.

Have you read the book or seen the movie?

Group Picture--The Time Traveler's Wife

Well, definitely not the best picture...but at least the discussion was good!

Movie and Meeting Today!

The Time Traveler's Wife movie and book discussion is today...See you at the theater!

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author (and journalist) is Geraldine Brooks.


1. She grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
2. She attended Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney.
3. She has worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
4. She won the Greg Shackleton Australian News Correspondents scholarship to the journalism master’s program at Columbia University.
5. She has also worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans.
6. Her first novel, Year of Wonders, is an international bestseller.


7. She won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March.


8. Her latest novel, People of the Book, is a New York Times bestseller.





9. She is married with 2 sons and 3 dogs.
10. She lives in both Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts and Sydney, Australia.

Have you read anything by Geraldine Brooks?

Feature Fridays

Today's classic is The Last of the Mohicans (1826) by James Fenimore Cooper.

The wild rush of action in this classic frontier adventure story has made The Last of the Mohicans the most popular of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his loyal Mohican friends Cingachgook and Uncas become embroiled in the bloody battles of the French and Indian War. The abduction of the beautiful Munro sisters by hostile savages, the treachery of the renegade brave Magua, the ambush of innocent settlers, and the thrilling events that lead to the final tragic confrontation between rival war parties create an unforgettable, spine-tingling picture of life on the frontier. And as the idyllic wilderness gives way to the forces of civilization, the novel presents a moving portrayal of a vanishing race and the end of its way of life in the great American forests.

If you've read it, quiz yourself.

If not, read The Last of the Mohicans online at The Literature Page.

The Last of the Mohicans is often criticized (especially by Mark Twain) for its length and elaborate, formal prose. What do you think? Is it too formal?

Thoughts for Thursday

What book was so good that you stayed up all night to finish it?

The one that comes to mind first is Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell. I couldn't wait to finish it. I had to find out what happened at the end. I definitely want to re-read that one at some point, but there are so many new ones that I want to read too!

Borders Bestseller

What's hot now?

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

This Is Where I Leave You opens with the death of Judd Foxman’s father, an event that marks the first time in a decade that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in the same house for an extended period. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

The typical Foxman family gathering ends with car doors slamming and tires screeching as various factions scatter to nurse their resentments in private. But this time around, the Foxmans reluctantly submit to their father’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a real family. For Judd it’s a week-long opportunity to come to terms with his father’s death, his failed marriage, and to explain the mess his life has become to a never-ending parade of people he thought he might never see again. Which would be bad enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

Jonathan is currently adapting This Is Where I Leave You as a feature film for Warner Brothers Studios. He is also the author of How to Talk to a Widower, Everything Changes, The Book of Joe, and Plan B.


Have you voted on the September Book Choices?

Weekly Word Wednesdays

foppotee
n.
simple-minded person

Mary is a foppotee for believing that you can use two mobile phones to cook an egg.

Save this word and others at Save the Words.


Have you voted on the September Book Choices?

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two teaser sentences from that page. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!

I quickly and carefully took stock of the situation and understood these things: Eve was ill, and the illness was possibly affecting her judgment, and she likely would not return for me; Denny would be home on the third day, after two nights. I am a dog, and I know how to fast.

p.51 of The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein



Have you voted on the September Book Choices?

Movie Mondays

Interview with the Vampire

Book, 1976 by Anne Rice

In the now-classic novel Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice refreshed the archetypal vampire myth for a late-20th-century audience. The story is ostensibly a simple one: having suffered a tremendous personal loss, an 18th-century Louisiana plantation owner named Louis Pointe du Lac descends into an alcoholic stupor. At his emotional nadir, he is confronted by Lestat, a charismatic and powerful vampire who chooses Louis to be his fledgling. The two prey on innocents, give their "dark gift" to a young girl, and seek out others of their kind (notably the ancient vampire Armand) in Paris. But a summary of this story bypasses the central attractions of the novel. First and foremost, the method Rice chose to tell her tale--with Louis' first-person confession to a skeptical boy--transformed the vampire from a hideous predator into a highly sympathetic, seductive, and all-too-human figure. Second, by entering the experience of an immortal character, one raised with a deep Catholic faith, Rice was able to explore profound philosophical concerns--the nature of evil, the reality of death, and the limits of human perception--in ways not possible from the perspective of a more finite narrator.

While Rice has continued to investigate history, faith, and philosophy in subsequent Vampire novels (including The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch the Devil, and The Vampire Armand), Interview remains a treasured masterpiece. It is that rare work that blends a childlike fascination for the supernatural with a profound vision of the human condition.

Movie, 1994 directed by Neil Jordan

Features: Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst

Tagline: Drink from me and live forever.

Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars but won neither: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Music-Original Score.

Did you know? River Phoenix was originally cast for the role of Daniel but he died four weeks before he was due to begin filming. Christian Slater was cast in his place and he donated his entire salary to Phoenix's favorite charities. The film has a dedication to Phoenix after the end credits.

Have you read or seen it? What did you think?


Have you voted on the September Book Choices?

Sunday Survey

One week left to finish The Time Traveler's Wife. Anyone finished?


5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.





Have you voted on the September Book Choices?

September Book Choices!

Linda's hosting the September meeting! Here are her 3 choices. Vote for the one that sounds the best, or in this case, the most frightening!

Through the Window by Diane Fanning

Ten-year-old Krystal Surles watched in horror as her best friend was murdered at the hands of an intruder. Then with cold-blooded precision he brought a twelve-inch boning knife to Krystal's throat. With a single, violent slash, he severed her windpipe and left her for dead. Miraculously, she survived and would lead authorities to the arrest of 35-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells, a former truck driver, carnival worker, and cross-country drifter....He aspired to become "The Worst Serial Killer Of All Time." With no apparent motive and no common pattern to his inconceivable bloodshed, the elusive Sells had carved his way across the country for two decades slaughtering women, men, transients, entire families, teenagers, and even infants with ghoulish abandon. Through The Window is more than an investigation into a crime spree that stunned a nation. It's an utterly terrifying plunge into the unfathomable dark mind of a serial killer, and the heart-wrenching story of the brave child who finally brought him to justice.

Father of the Year by Glenn Puit

The Father’s Day shocker of the year—this dad was so perfect, it was frightening.

Bill Rundle may have won Las Vegas’s “Father of the Year” award, but when his wife’s corpse was found, the other side of the all-American dad was revealed: a manipulative con man, professional thief, and savage killer whose crimes reached back through the decades.


Lust to Kill by Robert Scott

Driven by rage: Sebastian Shaw was a walking time bomb. Office gossip, dirty dishes, the wrong look - anything could set him off. And once it did, nothing stopped the most terrifying killer Oregon police had ever met...A need to kill: Only murder appeased Shaw's fury. But he didn't kill the people who offended him. They were the lucky ones. Instead, he hunted down innocent victims - men, women, teenage beauties - and unleashed his bloody urge to kill...to rape...to paint in blood. A murderer's boast: Finally, with the courageous testimony of a survivor, and high-tech CSI, Shaw was put behind bars for life. But the gruesome tale didn't end there, as Shaw bragged about a dozen more murders he had never been charged with...

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Sue Miller.


1. She was born November 29, 1943 in Chicago.
2. Always busy as a single mother, she didn't publish her first book until 1986.
3. Her first novel, The Good Mother, was made into a movie in 1988.


4. Her second novel, Inventing the Abbots (1987), was also made into a 1997 movie featuring Liv Tyler.


5. Her sixth novel, While I was Gone (1999), was an Oprah's Book Club selection.


6. Her latest novel, The Senator's Wife, came out in 2008.


7. She also has a work of nonfiction entitled The Story of My Father.


8. She is now a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where she teaches creative writing classes.

What's your favorite book by Sue Miller?

Feature Fridays

Today's classic is Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you! Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch-22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy–and humor.

If you've read it, take a quiz to test your memory.

Slaughterhouse-Five is often banned from American lit classes due to its tone and obscene content. Have you read it? Do you think it's obscene?

Thoughts for Thursday

What's your favorite book in the historical fiction category? Or what historical fiction book have you been wanting to read?

My favorite would be Water for Elephants, of course!










Cold Mountain is on my 100 books list (which I've been neglecting lately) and I'm definitely looking forward to reading it. I'm sure it will be very good...I loved the movie with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.








Find other thoughts at BTT.

Borders Bestseller

What's hot now?

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

Heather graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent the last sixteen years working with students of all ages and is currently an Instructional Coach, an educator who provides curricular and professional development support to teachers. She lives in Dubuque, Iowa with her husband, three children, and German Shorthaired Pointer Maxine. The Weight of Silence is her first novel.

Weekly Word Wednesdays

mecography
n.
measurement of the dimensions and weight of body parts

Ever since the boom in breast enhancement surgery, Bob has enjoyed his new position as Chief of Mecography at Beverly Hills Hospital.

Adopt this word and others at Save the Words.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two teaser sentences from that page. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!

Allison knew she was alone in the house, so it startled her fully awake when she heard a sudden noise from beyond the kitchen. At first she thought it might be the cat getting in, or perhaps her dog, Killer, a wiry mut with black fur, knocking into something, but she quickly discerned the sound of footsteps moving through the house.

p.158 of The Unmasking: Married to a Rapist by Kevin Flynn

Movie Mondays

The Beach

Book, 1996 by Alex Garland

Synopsis:

In our ever-shrinking world, where popular Western culture seems to have infected every nation on the planet, it is hard to find even a small niche of unspoiled land--forget searching for pristine islands or continents. This is the situation in Alex Garland's debut novel, The Beach. Human progress has reduced Eden to a secret little beach near Thailand. In the tradition of grand adventure novels, Richard, a rootless traveler rambling around Thailand on his way somewhere else, is given a hand-drawn map by a madman who calls himself Daffy Duck. He and two French travelers set out on a journey to find this paradise.
What makes this a truly satisfying novel is the number of levels on which it operates. On the surface it's a fast-paced adventure novel; at another level it explores why we search for these utopias, be they mysterious lost continents or small island communes. Garland weaves a gripping and thought-provoking narrative that suggests we are, in fact, such products of our Western culture that we cannot help but pollute and ultimately destroy the very sanctuary we seek.

Movie, 2000 directed by Danny Boyle

Features: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle, Virginie Ledoyen & Guillaume Canet

Tagline: Paradise has its price.

Quote:

My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok.

Did you know? 20th Century Fox altered the natural setting of Ko Phi Phi Leh Beach to make it more "paradise-like." They were later sued by environmentalists when they were unable to return it to its natural state. The 2004 tsunami supposedly improved its look and almost returned it to its original form.



Have you read the book or seen the movie?

The Beach is one of Brad's favorite movies. He has the soundtrack too. I liked it, but not as much. I didn't realize it was based on a book until now...think I'll pass on reading it, though.

Sunday Survey

What do you think of The Time Traveler's Wife?

5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Sue Monk Kidd.

Quick Facts:

1. She was raised in Sylvester, Georgia.
2. She graduated from Texas Christian University.





3. Her first works were non-fiction and included God's Joyful Surprise and When the Heart Waits.












4. Her third book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, is a memoir exploring feminist theology.


5. She then turned her attention to writing fiction and enrolled in a graduate writing course at Emory University.
6. Her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, was published in 2002 and is quickly becoming a modern classic.


7. Her second novel, The Mermaid Chair, was published in 2005 and has sold 2 million copies.


8. Firstlight, a collection of her early writings, was released in 2006.


9. Her newest book, Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story, co-authored with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor will debut September 8, 2009.


10. She has a black lab named Lily.

Which of her books have you read? What's your favorite?

Feature Fridays

Today's classic is Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Through the story of the brilliant but conflicted young Raskolnikov and the murder he commits, Fyodor Dostoevsky explores the theme of redemption through suffering. Crime and Punishment put Dostoevsky at the forefront of Russian writers when it appeared in 1866 and is now one of the most famous and influential novels in world literature.

The poverty-stricken Raskolnikov, a talented student, devises a theory about extraordinary men being above the law, since in their brilliance they think “new thoughts” and so contribute to society. He then sets out to prove his theory by murdering a vile, cynical old pawnbroker and her sister. The act brings Raskolnikov into contact with his own buried conscience and with two characters — the deeply religious Sonia, who has endured great suffering, and Porfiry, the intelligent and discerning official who is charged with investigating the murder — both of whom compel Raskolnikov to feel the split in his nature. Dostoevsky provides readers with a suspenseful, penetrating psychological analysis that goes beyond the crime — which in the course of the novel demands drastic punishment — to reveal something about the human condition: The more we intellectualize, the more imprisoned we become.

Here's the beginning:

On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge. He had successfully avoided meeting his landlady on the staircase. His garret was under the roof of a high, five-storied house, and was more like a cupboard than a room. The landlady, who provided him with garret, dinners, and attendance, lived on the floor below, and every time he went out he was obliged to pass her kitchen, the door of which invariably stood open. And each time he passed, the young man had a sick, frightened feeling, which made him scowl and feel ashamed. He was hopelessly in debt to his landlady, and was afraid of meeting her.

If you've read it, test your memory with a quiz.

If you haven't read it, but want to, go to Bartleby.com.

Have you read Crime and Punishment? Was it a requirement in school?

Thoughts for Thursday

Are you a fan of poetry? What's your favorite poem?

I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I do remember reading a lot of Edgar Allan Poe's poems during high school and college. The one that stands out the most is "The Raven." It's about a man that talks to a bird (the raven) about the loss of his love, Lenore. Sound weird? Here's the beginning:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."

Read the rest of it at The Literature Network.

Find other thoughts at BTT.

Borders Bestseller

What's hot now?

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand


Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.

Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

All of Elin's novels have been set on and around Nantucket Island where she lives. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and was previously a teaching & writing fellow at the University of Iowa.

Weekly Word Wednesdays

inveteratist
n.
one who resists reform; one who holds to tradition

Her inveteratist father did not take too kindly to the idea of a Goth Wedding.

Save the Words!

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two teaser sentences from that page. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!

The rebuilt man could use it to pee standing up. But it didn't grow hard on its own, it didn't really get any bigger.

p.121 of Trans-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian

Movie Mondays

The Horse Whisperer

Book, 1995 by Nicholas Evans

Synopsis:

One morning while teenage Grace Maclean is riding Pilgrim, her goofy, loveable pony, she has a horrendous glass-shattering, bone-splintering, ligament-lynching meeting with a megaton truck that leaves her and her four-legged friend damaged in mind, body, and spirit. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, her jaded, brilliant, bitchy mom, Annie Graves is working out a wrinkle in her self-absorbed existence when she gets a call at her plush, Manhattan office about Grace's accident. Racked with guilt, Graves makes it her calling to find the mythical horse whisperer, an equine Zen master who has the ability to heal horses (and broken souls) with soothing words and a gentle touch. Just when it seems he can't be found, what do you know, she finds him. He arrives in the form of Tom Booker-- a rugged, sensitive, dreamy cowboy who helps Pilgrim and Grace repair their fractured selves. To add more mesquite to fire, Booker has a way with not-so-injured, attractive, married women--like Annie. As the plot thickens, so does the familial strife, which threatens to undo Booker's healing work.

Movie, 1998 directed by Robert Redford

Features: Robert Redford, Krisin Scott Thomas, Scarlett Johansson

Awards: Nominated for 2 Golden Globes (Best Director & Best Motion Picture Drama) but won neither.




Watch the trailer:



Have you read or seen The Horse Whisperer? Did you like it?

Sunday Survey

What do you think of The Time Traveler's Wife?

5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Brenda Janowitz (I first heard about her on Free Book Friday).

Quick Facts:

1. She is a native New Yorker.
2. She attended Cornell University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Human Service Studies, with a Concentration in Race and Discrimination.
3. She attended Hofstra Law School.
4. She worked as a lawyer handling cases in the areas of trademark, anti-trust, internet, and false advertising.
5. She earned a federal clerkship with the United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
6. She has worked as a career counselor at two New York City law schools.
7. She has been published in the National Law Journal, the New York Law Journal, the New York Post and Publishers Weekly.
8. She teaches creative writing at Mediabistro.
9. She is the author of two novels, Scot on the Rocks and Jack with a Twist.

About Scot:

When her ex-boyfriend, Trip, gets engaged to Hollywood's latest It Girl, Manhattan attorney Brooke Miller plans to attend the wedding. Who says a modern girl can't stay friends with her ex? Besides, Brooke's got her sexy Scottish fiance, Douglas, to take her as a date. Okay, so maybe he's not exactly her fiance, but they're living together in his apartment, so she'll be getting the ring any minute, right? Wrong.

When a fight leaves her without a boyfriend (much less a fiance) just days before the wedding, Brooke faces the ultimate humiliation of attending her ex-boyfriend's nuptials alone. Desperate to find a replacement to fill Douglas's kilt, Brooke concocts an outrageous plan to survive the wedding and win the man of her dreams, all with her dignity ever-so-slightly intact.

About Jack:

Planning a wedding can be a trying experience...

A little prewedding anxiety is normal for every bride, and Manhattan attorney Brooke Miller isn't worried. She's got the loving support of the world's greatest guy, so planning her nuptials should be a piece of cake.

But that was yesterday.

Today, Brooke's landed her first big case and has just discovered that the opposing attorney is none other than her fiancé, Jack. But that's okay. These two professionals aren't going to let a little courtroom sparring get their legal briefs in a bunch...Right? Wrong! Now Jack's pulling every dirty trick in the law books, and Brooke's starting to suspect that maybe he isn't the man she thought he was. Warring with her fiancé at work and at home, Brooke realizes that she'll have to choose between the case of her life, or actually having a life.

10. She has a blog.

Has anyone else heard of her? Do her novels sound like something you might like?