January 2008: THE GOOD LIAR and SEEING ME NAKED

Two of my favorite authors are back this month with excellent releases. Liza Palmer (Conversations with the Fat Girl) has released her second novel, Seeing Me Naked, and Laura Caldwell (The Year of Living Famously) has put out an amazing international crime thriller called The Good Liar. Both books were amazing!

In Palmer's Seeing Me Naked, pastry chef Elisabeth Page is living in the shadow of her famous family. Her dad is Ben Page, a world-renowned novelist whose Vietnam-era novel is quoted endlessly by academics and pop culture geeks alike. Her brother is Rascal Page, a new novelist whose debut has shaken the literary world. And Elisabeth, gamely living up to the family name, is following her own creative ambition as the head pastry chef in one of LA's top restaurants. But she feels both confined and defined by her family's expectations, and when the opportunity arises to do something different with her life -- something her father might not approve of -- she has a difficult decision to make. The path she'll choose will define her life and will open the door to all sorts of other things that weren't part of the approved "Page plan," including a potential romance with a charming NCAA basketball coach named Daniel who doesn;t quite fit into her family's white-collar-only world. It's a lovely novel of self-discovery -- and as a bonus, Liza includes five terrific recipes at the end of the book! I can't wait to try Elisabeth's cherry clafouti!

The Good Liar is just as satisfying. Caldwell, a veteran of the chick lit world, is a master at creating realistic characters with complex emotional lives, and this novel is no exception. But she takes it much, much further by putting these well-drawn characters into a fast-paced international thriller that will keep you turning the pages late into the night. When newly-divorced Kate Livingston falls fast for Michael Waller, seemingly her soul mate, she thinks he's a businessman hoping to open a new restaurant. But as she moves away with him to St. Marabel, Canada and starts her life anew in what she thinks is newlywed bliss, something begins to feel off. What Kate soon discovers is that she has married into a world of secrets and that Michael isn't what he seemed. It takes her nearly the whole book to uncover the truth (which the reader knows all along), but Michael is an employee of The Trust, a clandestine organization that carries out assassinations to help protect the United States from those who wish its citizens harm. But something has gone wrong with The Trust in the past few years, and what Kate finds might just put her life at stake...

Also, don't forget to look for my new novels this month! WHEN YOU WISH (from Random House), my first novel for teens, comes out Feb. 12. It's the story of a teenage pop star who runs away from her life of fame to find out what it feels like to simply be a normal girl. It's perfect for fans of Hannah Montana. "Harmel has created a character and a story that will have wide appeal," says the review journal KLIATT.

THE ART OF FRENCH KISSING (from Hachette Book Group), my third women's fiction novel, is about a 29-year-old woman who relocates to Paris on a whim after her fiance breaks up with her. In Paris, with the help of a zany friend and an infuriatingly cute journalist, she begins to redefine who really is -- all the while dealing with the crazy -- but endearing -- antics of her crazy rock star client. Author Johanna Edwards says it's "a sweet, funny tale about losing love and finding yourself," and Lynda Curnyn calls it "a fun, lively story that made me fall in love with Paris all over again."

Happy reading!


**