Monday, November 16, 2009

Leave the light on...



I beg you to do three things today.

1. Buy this book.
2. Read this book.
3. Read this book with other people inside your house (NOT ALONE), with every light on inside your house, with your back firmly planted against a wall, with several weapons of choice within easy reach, with a pillow to scream into if you don't want to wake a sleeping baby/child, and with freshly manicured nails, because you're bound to squeeze a pillowcase or your own hand/leg and I'd hate for you to leave claw marks on something important. Oh, and be prepared to possibly lose all desire to ever take a shower again.

I'm not kidding.

Here's the blurb:

Cole Leighton can barely believe his eyes. A woman on his bus has just been abducted—in an exact reflection of a scene from the bestselling novel he's reading. Someone is bringing the book to life…and isn't above forcing an innocent woman to follow the story to its tragic end. Using the novel as his playbook, Cole catches up with the beautiful victim—but rescuing Kenzie Jacobs doesn't keep her safe for long. The killer is writing his own ending, and none of the twists and turns lead to happily ever after.

Sounds good, huh? It IS. And scarier than I had anticipated. I read suspense, but not thrillers or horror novels. I don't love being scared, and avoid scary movies at ALL costs. This isn't a thriller or a horror novel, but it definitely had a higher amp of OH MY GOODNESS than I expected =)

It's my own fault. I saw the book on my desk in my To Be Read Pile last night. My daughter was playing contentedly, my husband was at work, and I thought, hey, I can read a few chaps while Lil Miss is enjoying her cartoons and playing, before I make our dinner. So I did, and was immediately hooked. I kept reading because I wanted to see what would happen next.

Then I kept reading because I had to finish in order to calm down. I knew I wouldn't sleep if I didn't have a happy ending in my head!!! I was literally on the edge of my chair, feet tucked under me, biting my nails, and Lil Miss at one point scared me half to death by popping up beside the ottoman when I wasn't expecting it.

Finally, halfway through the novel, I called Jenness, freaking out. "I AM SO MAD AT YOU". She wasn't very sorry, since my fear was partly her goal in writing the story. As a fellow writer, I understood this, but still had the right to be mad and threaten to call her in the middle of the night if I had a bad dream. =)

Dinner consisted of microwave chicken strips for Lil Miss and cereal for me, which I dripped all over myself because I kept reading in the chair with the bowl in my lap, dribbling milk everywhere with every unfocused bite.

I took a break for a reality check, and talked to a friend on the phone, and played with Lil Miss, and did her bath and bedtime routine. At that point I was okay, having distanced myself from the story enough to function. But I still had to finish that night. So after Lil Miss was down, I checked all the deadbelts and armed myself with a piece of cake, a Diet Coke, and my laptop, cell phone, and house phone. Somehow I felt safer surrounded by technology.

I finished the book, having only one or two minor strokes before reaching the blessed words The End. Now, in the bright light of day, I laugh at my immature behavior last night and realize I was being ridiculous. It's just a story. Right?

Well that's what the heroine in the book thought too...

Here's a little bit about Jenness. She looks so innocent, doesn't she???? Don't let her fool you! =)




Jenness Walker is a romantic suspense author for Steeple Hill. She also co-authors light-hearted stories with Tracy Bowen. Jenness lives in Florida with Jason, her beloved website-designer husband, and Hyacinth, her almost-as-beloved laptop. When she’s not writing from her magic coach, she loves to decorate or plan her next roadtrip with Jason.

Unofficially, let me add that Jenness is one of my dear friends, and as many of you know from her moving, heartfelt devotional at the 2009 ACFW conference, likes to drink water when nervous. (I won't tell you how much she drank during the devotional) =)

Buy your copy of this amazing story HERE! You won't regret it. It's an amazing tale with a happy ending, so all the adrenaline getting to the end is worth it.
And hey, if you want to know even MORE about Jenness, visit her website HERE.

10 comments:

Christiana said...

Oh my gosh! Now I know what's in store for me. I just bought this book, along with your Return to Love and Christa's Around the World in 80 Dates and Blessed Are the Meddlers. It's extremely rare that I have so many new books to read, and since I couldn't decide which one to start with, I just closed my eyes and grabbed one. It was Jenness's Double Take.

I'd actually never heard of Jenness until Erynn posted an interview with her on her website a while back. I read the first chapter of her book on Amazon, and I was hooked. I haven't gotten further than that yet.

Like you, I can NOT watch scary movies and even some of the crime dramas on TV are too much for me. *blush* I'm a baby when it comes to that stuff. Still, I do enjoy Christian thrillers every now and then (LOVED Dee Henderson's books) and I'm super excited about this one. Now that I know, I will read this one sitting straight up, with the telephone nearby (it does help!) with the lights on.

Thanks for the heads up, Betsy! Now if I could just stop my body from compulsively shivering in anticipation of all the scary stuff to come... ;o)

Erica Vetsch said...

WOW! After reading that summary, I'm seriously stopping at B&N to pic up this book! Today!

Thank you, Betsy, for the info!

Leslie said...

I read this book a couple of weeks ago...it is a truly awesome book! One of the best LI suspense I have read! :)

jenness said...

Thanks so much, Betsy. Glad you made it through. :-) And give Lil Miss a high five for me for the popping up beside you trick. lol

Erica Vetsch said...

I did it! I got my wordcount done and ran to B&N and bought the book!

Squee!

Betsy St. Amant said...

YAY! Go Erica!! And Christiana, email anytime while you're reading. I'm here for ya girl lol

Georgiana Daniels said...

Oh cool! I'm excited to read it. I picked it up the other day. Woohoo!

Christiana said...

Lol! I just might do that! My hubby had a soccer game until late last night, so I decided I better not read, lest I scare myself silly. ;o) Once the kids are tucked in bed tonight, I'm going to crack back open the cover. And I'll make sure I'm surrounded by plenty of throw pillows... incase I need to muffle my screams!

Lori said...

I've got it ordered! (I live in a spooky old house in a spooky old neighborhood, so we'll see how this works out...) ;)

Gina Conroy said...

Jenness, you should pay Betsy a referral fee on how many people buy your book because of this review. ;) This makes me want to go out and buy it!