It was such a pleasure to serve as the moderator for the virtual launch party of Suzanne Samuels’ beautiful debut novel, Seeds of the Pomegranate. I loved being in conversation with Suzanne about her journey to publication, her former career as a lawyer and law professor (one of the many things we have in common!), and what it’s like to write a fictionalized version of a true story. Here’s to turning family history and our [...]
A fabulous writer colleague, K.L. Romo, read my novel and loved it so much that she wrote this beautiful review of it for Outliers Writing University Monthly Ezine. What a lovely surprise to read this! I'm so grateful that the Antinori family’s journey resonated with K.L. so much that she felt moved to share her insights with others. It means so much that my novel is connecting with readers. Every reader is a gift! Check [...]
I just got word that my novel, Everything We Thought Was True, received Honorable Mention in the General Fiction category for the 2025 Los Angeles Book Festival. I'm thrilled to receive this recognition! My novel is dual timeline, and the contemporary portion of the story takes place in 2015 in the Los Angeles area (the past story takes place in New York). I used real-life locations including downtown Los Angeles, Seal Beach, Orange, and Palos Verdes. I [...]
I’m thrilled to share an author blurb I received for my debut novel, Everything We Thought Was True, from the fabulous author, person, and friend Barbara Conrey. Her belief in me and this story means so much. She’s been on this journey with me from the beginning, and I’m fortunate that she’s one of my publishing house sisters - and a best-selling author! I happened to be in France back in September when I received her [...]
I believe in boosting books by diverse authors. Along those lines, I want to share something special with you. I was sent an advanced reader copy (ARC) of a fantastic book that is publishing in the next month called True Biz by author Sara Novic, who is deaf. The book brought back so many memories of my time years ago teaching at the NY School for the Deaf. Sara does something really unique [...]
I'm excited to share my annual “best book of the year” list! 2020 was a strange year for all of us with the pandemic causing us to shelter in place. When not working virtually, I filled my time with gardening, cycling, hiking, baking, writing, and reading. I read 53 books in 2020—so it wasn't easy selecting the top ones. Here are some standouts, in no particular order. Hope you enjoyed some of these books too. If [...]
So many good books in 2019! I set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal to 52 books -- one per week -- and managed to read 61. That was through a combination of traditional hard cover/paperback books, ebooks on my Kindle, and audiobooks that I listened to (while driving, walking my dogs and doing housework... sure makes the activities more pleasurable!). It's always difficult to choose favorites, but there were some definite stand outs. If you [...]
2018 was another great year for reading! I set my Goodreads Challenge goal to only 52 books to give myself more time to get my own writing done (I just finished the first draft of my novel, and am now entering the revising and editing stage — exciting, but overwhelming!), but wound up reading 65 books in total. It is always so hard to choose my favorites, but there were some definite stand outs. So [...]
