The past few weeks have been filled with little gifts that have made ordinary days brighter. I finished a new book for Ellora’s Cave. Good quotes and reviews from unexpected sources gave my spirits a lift. A dear friend’s surgery confirmed she was cancer free. Spring arrived when I wasn’t looking.
The entertainment world had its surprises, too. I didn’t expect to love Season 7 of American Idol, yet seventeen year old singer David Archuleta moved me so deeply with his arrangements of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Paul McCartney’s “The Long And Winding Road” that his pure, amazing voice moved me to tears. When a song touches the soul, we experience art at its best. Don’t you agree?
I didn’t expect to get hooked on the premiere season of Lipstick Jungle, but darn! I’ve connected with the characters; all of whom are perfectly cast. That Candace Bushnell has done it again with this new series based on her novel of the same name. Candace, how do you do it?
Two more wonderful, but totally different, books I enjoyed reading are Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder and Knights of the Round Table: Gawain by Gwen Rowley. Beautiful writing and fascinating stories make these two books must reads.
Poison Study is the unique and fascinating story of a condemned murderess given the choice between the noose or becoming a dictator’s food taster. To keep her from escaping she is fed daily doses of Butterfly’s Dust for which she must also be given regular antidotes. Though her meals are sumptuous and her room comfortable, she risks death each day by anyone attempting to assassinate the dictator. Her escalating conflicts make this fantasy novel a gripping read.
Gawain is the final book in the Knights of the Round Table trilogy. This charming and totally captivating story reminds us of the transforming power of love. A hideous old crone promises to give King Arthur the answer to a riddle that will save his life in exchange for marriage to his greatest and most loyal knight, Gawain. But is the ugly old woman who she seems or has she been enchanted? Only Gawain’s loving kiss can break the spell that conceals her true form. This is a wonderful tale for women of all ages that I couldn’t put down.
I met Maria V. Snyder and Gwen Rowley through Romance Writers of America and they are lovely women who are as intelligent and pleasant as they are talented. Maria V. Snyder is the author who called the cover of my upcoming book INTIMATE ART “heart-stopping.” Gwen Rowley critiqued my new release DREAM TRAVELER in manuscript form. The cooperative spirit of women is another of life’s little gifts.
A song that got stuck in my head this week is the breakout hit “Just Got Started Loving You” by country music artist James Otto. What a cool song and a great arrangement! Check it out.
Thanks for reading! For an excerpt and summary of my upcoming release INTIMATE ART, click this link. http://www.adeledubois.com/intimate_art.shtml
