Ring, ring!
Me: It’s New York Times bestseller and friend Jayne Ann Krentz! Hi Jayne. What’s up?
Jayne: I just agreed to go on an all-lady hiking trip in the Cotswolds with Susan Elizabeth Phillips. You know Susan, she’s a New York Times bestseller and friend to both of us.
Me: Oh, I know Susan. Why are you going on a hiking trip? You hate dirt.
Jayne (glumly): Yes. I don’t know what happened.
Me: Have you ever hiking before?
Jayne: No. I have to buy boots. Special boots. And a backpack. Susan called and she just… You know what she’s like.
Me: Uh-huh. I do. Wow. Way to expand your horizons. Talk to you later!
Me off the phone, giggling sympathetically: Poor Jayne. I didn’t realize she was so weak-willed. Hiking! Holy cow! Talk about out of her comfort range…
Ring, ring!
Me: It’s Susan Elizabeth Phillips! Susan, you managed to convince Jayne to go on a hiking trip in the Cotswolds. I’m impressed with your persuasive powers.
Susan: I want you to go, too!
Me: Haha! You are kidding.
Susan: It’ll be fun. The three of us buds, on a hiking trip with twenty other fascinating women.
Me: I live on the side of a mountain. If I want to hike, I step out my door. And I don’t.
Susan: Fresh air! English countryside! Sunshine!
Me: Spring in England? With sunshine? Not likely. No.
Susan: Friendship! Bonding!
Me: No.
Susan: Pasties! Pubs! Clotted cream!
Me: No.
Anyway, Jayne and I fly to Heathrow on June 6, meet Susan in Bath and go on a five day hiking tour of the Cotswolds. Jayne will see dirt, possibly for the first time, while I will speak rudely to Susan about liquid UK sunshine that falls from the sky. All I can say is, Susan had better be right about the food.
Click for my lemon nutmeg scone recipe!
Tour Name Survey
On my website, I have a list of twelve suggested tour names. Samples:
The “They Told Me This was a Pub Crawl” Tour
The “My Name is Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Prepare to Die” Tour
Vote for your favorite and/or use the comment box to suggest a name for the tour. I implore you to make suggestions because I look forward to laughing uproariously and you should take pity on me. Because I’ll be hiking.
Autographing tour with Jayne Ann Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Back when we were civilized
Suggestion: Join the Newsletters
A lot of you have already joined Jayne Ann Krentz’s newsletter and Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s newsletter, which is a good idea because they’re both renowned humorists and famous authors and each of us will be sending out sporadic reports from the front. Also, there will be photos. Of us trapped in the mud. Of us climbing a stile. Of us being attacked by killer baby goats. The possibilities are endless!
Um…book 📚 news?
Yes, of course! 😁
“My prince. My lord. My lady. You cannot believe. Princess Ursala’s prophecy has come to pass!”
“Who’s dead?” Cal asked. — TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN, June 30 in audiobook, eBook and hardcover!
Enter the Goodreads giveaway for a finished copy of TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN, out June 30. My publisher, Kensington Books, is giving away 100 of those babies. You might as well be the one who wins! (Also, please pre-order.)
“This is the kind of story you settle into when you want something clever, lively, and just a little bit chaotic in the best way. This is what reading Romeo and Juliet in high school should have been!” — Reader Carrie on Goodreads
Add TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN to your Goodreads Want-to-read Lists here.
Thank you!
On BEHIND THE BOOKSHELF, my Facebook reader group, Assistant Jill led us in the celebration of ‘90s romance week. If you don’t know, 90s romance is politically incorrect romance books that readers publicly scorn and secretly love. Except some of us who love them right out loud. 😊 Like me. Here’s a link to the video I did, which involved me making a fool of myself.
You’re right, not that unusual. Assistant Jill says next we’re celebrating paranormal romance week for you Darkness Chosen fans. See you BEHIND THE BOOKSHELF!
Share this newsletter if you have hearty friends who like to hike or dainty friends who have never seen dirt or boisterous friends who like to laugh.
Also my TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN book tour is growing and I’ll be sending updates on where I’m going to be and what authors I’ll be talking with. Stay tuned, I may be visiting your town and I’d love to meet you!
Now I have to go pack for England: my hiking socks, my front pack in an obnoxious watermelon color (so I can easily be identified when I die from falling face first into a pile of sheep manure,) and my rain gear (because it never rains in England in the spring, hahaha.)
You think I’m whiny now? Remember, whiny and witty are alliterative. They go together. As you’ll discover.
Your intrepid reporter,
Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of these UK set politically incorrect novels (consider that your trigger warning!):
“Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles.” – George Mikes
