Today is special because we have an old friend, not chronologically :), stopping by. I became a fan when I read The Ninth Step and then subsequently, The Volunteer. I knew she was working on her next book but not quite sure when it would be available. You can imagine my surprise when I received it from Liz, Meryl L. Moss Media. Thank you Liz!!! After I stopped jumping up and down, I emailed them and asked if Bobbi would stop by. And she graciously accepted. Welcome back, Ms. Barbara Taylor Sissel !!!!!
BARBARA TAYLOR SISSEL
BARBARA TAYLOR SISSEL is an author, book reviewer, freelance writer, editor, and the mother of two great sons. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and grew up in various locations, mostly in the Midwest before landing in Texas. She’s always loved stories, and reading and falling in love with Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was what got her thinking about becoming an author. That dream stayed with her through marriage, her life as the wife of a prison warden, and the birth of her children. It wasn’t until her youngest child was in school that she finally was able to sit down and write, and she was influenced by her experiences living on the grounds of a prison.
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GUEST POST
Where do you find inspiration for your writing? Other books and authors, long walks, meditation, or something different?
Reading has always been my favorite pastime, and it’s probably my greatest source of inspiration. I have always loved words, and their meanings, and language. When I read other authors whose use of the language moves me, when their writing makes something shift inside me, and I’m pulled into the storyline, or into the character so deeply that I forget everything else, I come away from the experience on fire to forge that connection to readers through my own writing. Meditation and meditative activities certainly help, especially if I’m stuck. I’ll go out and work in the garden, where the smell of the sunshine, the breath of the wind and having my hands in the dirt all combine to cast a kind of spell, causing my mind to loosen and, hopefully, give me the very answer I need. Besides my garden, there are three other rather unlikely places where inspiration will seize me (try not to laugh!) One is in the shower, which is very inconvenient when I have to climb out, shivering, to make a note. It also happens when I vacuum and when I’m driving. I do counted cross-stitch, too, the intricate patterns, which is very meditative. (Right now I’m working a Scarlet Quince pattern, a stitched facsimile of Austrian painter, Joseph Nigg’s, oil painting, Bowl of Flowers in a Landscape.) I think with each of these activities, it’s the sameness, the repetition and routine that kind of frees my mind to wander. Since I never know when an idea will strike, I keep notecards and pencils handy everywhere.
ABOUT THE BOOK
On the last ordinary day of her life, Abby Bennett feels like the luckiest woman alive. But everyone knows that luck doesn’t last forever…
As her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, embark on a weekend camping trip to the Texas Hill Country, Abby looks forward to having some quiet time to herself. She braids Lindsey’s hair, reminds Nick to drive safely and kisses them both goodbye. For a brief moment, Abby thinks she has it all-a perfect marriage, a perfect life-until a devastating storm rips through the region, and her family vanishes without a trace.
When Nick and Lindsey are presumed dead, lost in the raging waters, Abby refuses to give up hope. Consumed by grief and clinging to her belief that her family is still alive, she sets out to find them. But as disturbing clues begin to surface, Abby realizes that the truth may be far more sinister than she imagined. Soon she finds herself caught in a current of lies that threaten to unhinge her and challenge everything she once believed about her marriage and family.
With a voice that resonates with stunning clarity, Barbara Taylor Sissel delivers a taut and chilling mystery about a mother’s love, a wife’s obsession and the invisible fractures that can shatter a family.
Read my review here.
BOOK DETAILS:
Genre: Suspense
Published by: Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-0778315162
PURCHASE LINKS:
THANKS TO LIZ AT MERYL L. MOSS MEDIA, I
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