Dear Reader

When (Never) Again was coming out, I was asked to write a Dear Reader letter. Unfortunately there was a mix up and my letter never posted. Since we have been celebrating the one year anniversary of its release, I have decided to finally share it. So here it is. My Dear Reader letter that never went out.

Dear Reader, 

It’s almost embarrassing for me to admit, I’m a writer who used to hate to read. As a kid I loved going to the library and taking out the maximum amount of books, falling in love with the characters and relating to their stories. But when I got older, the only books I read were the ones they assigned in school, and to be honest, I was not a fan. I couldn’t relate to the characters or to their situations. Then one day I discovered contemporary and romance books. My life was changed. Finally, characters who were dealing with similar issues as me, living a life like my own, falling in love all while making mistakes. These were the stories that spoke to me. The stories I needed to write. 

When I sat down to write (Never) Again, I had so many different visions for Liz. Ultimately, I decided to let her take the lead. At times I hated her, wanted to reach into my computer and knock some sense into her. I even thought about rewriting the entire book so she could make better decisions. But why in the world would I do that? At eighteen I made some of the worst decisions of my life. Decisions that to this day I still think about. They may have been the wrong choices, but they are what helped define who I am today. How could I possibly take that away from Liz? 

Liz is flawed. Who isn’t? She’s naïve and at times can be immature. She dates a guy who is clearly wrong for her because while it’s the wrong choice it’s the easy choice. Deep down she knows she’ll never fully open her heart to him and because of that she’ll never hurt again.  Can you blame the girl? On a scale of bad to awful, breakups surpass bad haircuts and dental visits. And when the breakup is with your first love, it flies off the scale, landing in its own lonely world of misery. 

When Liz’s first love shows up after a year of no communication she did exactly what I myself once did. She dove in the girl’s bathroom and avoided him completely. I know you all have done this, or at least thought about it. Standing in that bathroom, I never felt more pathetic. Another bad decision.

The only person who is honest with Liz is her brother, Josh. Just like my own brother, he tells it how it is. He doesn’t sugar coat his feelings.  Josh is the ultimate player, but for some reason, you love him anyway. Probably because he’s just out to have a good time.   

Sadie is what best friends are made of. She’s sympathetic to a point, can tell what Liz is feeling from a simple gesture and has the ultimate collection of romcoms. We’ve all dated a Joe at some point in our life. The guy who has unrealistic dreams and no ambition, but makes you forget about your real problems.  Zach is the guy every girl wants. He’s sweet and funny and belts out songs in the car like no other. He is the only guy who can hurt Liz, but he’s also the only guy who can make her happy. 

While writing (Never) Again, I laughed, I cried, I even yelled at my computer screen. My hope is that you have the same experience reading it. 

Happy Reading!

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win an ecopy of (Never) Again! 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/984c05ae9/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter for your chance to win an ecopy of (Never) Again!

Yesterday was (Never) Again's one year anniversary and to celebrate my publisher is giving away 5 copies. FIVE!

Enter below for your chance to win! (*You have to be a member of NetGalley in order to win. If you're not, sign up is free and super easy.)

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(Blog) Tour of Marsden, Stop 2

A Blogger? As a Main Character? Don’t They Just, You Know, Sit There and Type?

It’s the second stop on the (blog) tour of Marsden, NY! We started our trip yesterday at Ripe for Reader (RipeForReader.blogspot.ca). If you’ve just joined us, welcome! If you’ve been on the bus since yesterday, a public service announcement: Please do not bogart the toilet paper rolls. There’s plenty for everyone.

So! Are we read for the next stop? Yes? Great! Today we’re going to talk about Georgiana Down, the main character in Down on Love. She runs her own blog, Down on Love (are we detecting a theme here?), an anti-relationship blog where readers can follow the twists and turns of her love life (or lack thereof), ask for relationship advice, or share their own Tales of Woe—the best/worst dating and relationship horror stories to be found on the intertubes.

What made George decide to be a blogger? Well, she needed a place to let it all out—all her frustrations and eventual disgust with her ex-boyfriend, whom she calls Lucifer (for obvious reasons). She doesn’t have any besties to meet for drinks and sympathy, so she created a virtual diary on the internet.

What she didn’t expect was for other unlucky-in-love Web surfers to find her blog. But they came in droves, and now she’s kind-of-sort-of famous. Readers especially love her snark—if you write to George for advice, she will most likely tell you to “dump his (or her) ass”—as well as her stories of how she managed to escape from, and overcome, an emotionally abusive relationship.

Yes, there’s more to George than snark and bitterness, but she’ll murder you in your sleep if you point that out, so we’ll just keep it on the down low, all right?

By the time she ends up moving back to her hometown of Marsden, she thinks she’s healed, but healed over—as in, nothing is going to get through that impenetrable shell. What she didn’t bargain for was Casey Bowen. She was crazy about him in high school, and damned if she doesn’t feel some of those old feelings many years later.

Check out this little tidbit from George’s blog. And if you’re into it, you can read George’s whole story in Down on Love. Even better, it’s on sale for only 99 cents for the entire month of October! It’s great reading material as we travel down the road on the rest of the tour. Plus there are more Marsden stories—book 2, Picture This, is available for only three bucks and change, and book 3, Lucky for You, should be out in late spring or early summer next year.

Dear George,

I caught my boyfriend flirting with my cousin at our grandmother’s funeral. What should I do?

Love and stuff,

Confused

Dear Oblivious,

First, my condolences on the loss of your grandmother. Second, dump his ass.

Platonic smooches,

George

Dear George,

I have a ? 4 U. I rly like this gurl and I think she lieks me sum, but Im not shure. How can I find out? I want 2 ask her 2 a dance soon.

<3 i="">

Worried

Dear LOLcat or Prince, but probably LOLcat,

I have no idea what you’re saying. If I read you right, then my advice is to go ahead and ask her out. But don’t be surprised if she dumps your ass. Oh, wait. I should respond in your native tongue:

Dear LOLcat,

WTF? Srsly? Yr ded.

Kthxbai,

George

Do you have a nightmare of a relationship story? What was your worst date? Who was your “what was I thinking” guy/gal? Do tell!

Next stop, tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15): Tometender.blogspot.com! See you there!

DOWN ON LOVE:

 

AMAZON:

http://amzn.to/YY7BlZ

B&N:

http://bit.ly/O1C2D6

KOBO:

http://bit.ly/1rSP1XX

ITUNES:

http://bit.ly/10pNIpi

GOOGLE PLAY:

http://bit.ly/1x7If17

Jayne Denker divides her time between working hard to bring the funny in her romantic comedies and raising a young son who's way too clever for his own good. She lives in a small village in western New York that is in no way, shape, or form related to the small village in her Marsden novels Down on Love and Picture This. When she's not hard at work on another novel, the social media addict can usually be found frittering away startling amounts of time on Facebook (Jayne Denker Author) and Twitter (@JDenkerAuthor). She’d like to say she updates her Web site, http://jaynedenker.com, quite often, but most of the time when it crosses her mind, she shouts “Can’t you see I’m writing?!” and puts it off till another day.