Meet bestselling author Jojo Moyes and read chapter one of Me Before You

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist and journalist for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Red and Woman & Home. She has been a full-time novelist since 2002, when her first book, Sheltering Rain was published. Her latest book, Me Before You is already a bestseller in Britain and is sure to top the lists in the U.S. as well.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You is a heartbreakingly romantic novel that brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common and asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

You can meet Jojo Moyes on Thursday, January 10th at Pages where she will be discussing and signing her new book. In the meantime, take a few minutes to read an excerpt from Me Before You below which Jojo Moyes has generously shared with the LA Books Examiner. Enjoy!

When: Thursday, January 10 @ 7 p.m.
Where: Pages: A Bookstore
904 Manhattan Ave. Manhattan Beach
(310) 318-0900
Get directions

Visit LA Books Examiner for excerpt.

Additional information about Jojo Moyes is available at her website.

Read Chapter One is a special feature at Frank Mundo‘s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their latest books.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Visit LA Books Examiner for excerpt.

Read Chapter One of One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

If you haven’t read Jonathan Tropper’s books, you’re in for a wickedly funny treat. USA Today calls Tropper “a more sincere, insightful version of Nick Hornby, that other master of the male psyche,” and Entertainment Weekly exclaimed “It’s amazing what can happen in the hands of a casually brilliant author.”

An acclaimed screenwriter, Tropper has also written for Steven Spielberg and is currently writing a new Cinemax series, Banshee, that will debut in January. Tropper’s last novel, This Is Where I Leave You, was a phenomenal success named one of the best books of 2009 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Amazon, among others.

One Last Thing Before I Go demonstrates yet again Tropper’s deft touch with the darkest of materials and his ability to make readers laugh out loud in one paragraph and move them to tears in the next. You can meet Jonathan Tropper on Tuesday night at The Grove in LA where he’ll be reading and signing from his new novel. In the meantime, take a few minutes to read the first chapter of One Last Thing Before I Go, which the author has generously shared with readers at LA Books Examiner below. Enjoy!

When: Tuesday August 28 @ 7 pm
Where: Barnes & Noble (The Grove)
189 Grove Drive Suite K-30 Los Angeles
Get directions

Learn more about Jonathan Tropper and his work at his website: jonathantropper.com

About the book:
You don’t have to look very hard at Drew Silver to see that mistakes have been made. His fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. He lives in the Versailles, an apartment building filled almost exclusively with divorced men like him, and makes a living playing in wedding bands. His ex-wife, Denise, is about to marry a guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she’s pregnant—because Silver is the one she cares least about letting down.

So when he learns that his heart requires emergency, lifesaving surgery, Silver makes the radical decision to refuse the operation, choosing instead to use what little time he has left to repair his relationship with Casey, become a better man, and live in the moment, even if that moment isn’t destined to last very long. As his exasperated family looks on, Silver grapples with the ultimate question of whether or not his own life is worth saving.

With the wedding looming and both Silver and Casey in crisis, this broken family struggles to come together, only to risk damaging each other even more. One Last Thing Before I Go is Jonathan Tropper at his funny, insightful, heartbreaking best.

Read Chapter On at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

“Read Chapter One” is a special feature at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their newest books:

North of Hollywood by actor/playwright and local author Rick Lenz

The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson

33 Days by LA author and former 80′s indie rocker Bill See

Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok

The Heights, the bestselling book by novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Peter Hedges

The Omega Theory by international bestselling author Mark Alpert

Fatal Error by bestselling author J.A. Jance

The Dark Side of Innocence by LA writer and bestselling author Terri Cheney

Golden State, the fresh and entertaining debut novel by local author David Prybil, Barnes and Noble Rising Star Award Winner

A Discovery of Witches by professor of history at the University of Southern California and bestselling author Deborah Harkness

The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard, an activist and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Ark, the bestselling Internet sensation by Boyd Morrison

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Changes by Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories (now available for Kindle and Nook). Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

A Coupla Shades of Taupe by Court Burback: Read Chapter One

Love it or hate it, the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by former TV executive turned mega bestselling author E.L. James is a true publishing phenomenon. In fact, according to CBS News, these books are “among the fastest-selling series of all time” with more than 10 million copies sold and counting. Film versions of the books are almost certainly on the way, and so is the onslaught of copycats and parodies.

And that’s why we’re here. Before you’re inundated with Fifty Shades of Everything books, meet Court Burback, an LA writer and author of a new Fifty Shades parody A Coupla Shades of Taupe that’s been getting some buzz around town and some great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Court Burback has agreed to share the first chapter of A Coupla Shades of Taupe below, a wild and funny parody she describes as, “a romantic, tender tale of blossoming emotions and hardcore schtupping” for which “a Pulitzer is inevitable.” Enjoy!

About the author
Court Burback was a finalist for the Glass Woman Fiction Prize, and her nonfiction has appeared in publications that include Playgirl, Laguna Beach Magazine, and Hustler. A Coupla Shades of Taupe is available at Amazon, and you can learn more about Burback at her website onedumbbunny.com.

About the book:
Pagan Taupe is the wealthiest man in all of Arkansas. He’s got a home with a working refrigerator, a private rickshaw driver, and a respected empire of taxidermy/fro-yo chain stores. The only thing that’s missing is a whiny young codependent named Alexandra Aluminum. From the moment he sees her tripping over an angry raccoon, it’s clear that Alexandra dills his pickle. Pagan becomes obsessed with Alexandra at a level normally portrayed by Rob Lowe in Lifetime movies. But unlike Rob Lowe, Pagan doesn’t want to beat her with a tire iron and bury her beneath the town bridge—he wants to make her his live-in sex slave.

But if eager young Alexandra wants to feel the caress of Pagan’s ear hair against her cheek, she’s going to have to play by his rules. When Pagan reveals the special room he’s built to live out his sexual proclivities, Alexandra’s natural reaction is to cold cock him and call the police. But the clown chained to the wall assures Alexandra that Pagan is a stand-up guy, and if she gives him a chance he can introduce her to a world of unimaginable pleasure. Alexandra takes the leap and agrees to be Pagan’s unquestioning “submissive,” and the two embark on a sexual journey that would make Gloria Steinem put a loaded gun to her temple.

Read Chapter On at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

 

“Read Chapter One” is a special feature at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their newest books:

North of Hollywood by actor/playwright and local author Rick Lenz

The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson

33 Days by LA author and former 80′s indie rocker Bill See

Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok

The Heights, the bestselling book by novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Peter Hedges

The Omega Theory by international bestselling author Mark Alpert

Fatal Error by bestselling author J.A. Jance

The Dark Side of Innocence by LA writer and bestselling author Terri Cheney

Golden State, the fresh and entertaining debut novel by local author David Prybil, Barnes and Noble Rising Star Award Winner

A Discovery of Witches by professor of history at the University of Southern California and bestselling author Deborah Harkness

The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard, an activist and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Ark, the bestselling Internet sensation by Boyd Morrison

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Changes by Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories (now available for Kindle and Nook). Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Meet local author Rick Lenz and read chapter one of North of Hollywood

Rick Lenz has been a working actor almost all his adult life. His acting ranges from the serious to the comedic, and he has been featured in both starring and supporting roles on TV and in film. In addition to acting opposite many of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars—Peter Sellers, Goldie Hawn and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few—Lenz is a playwright, artist, and now an author of a new memoir called North of Hollywood, a gut-wrenchingly honest account of the actor/playwright’s experiences over the years. Last month, North of Hollywood won first place at the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Festival awards for Biography/Autobiography.

North of Hollywood is just the beginning for this budding new author. Lenz is also planning his first novel called Redeeming Norma Jean. Originally from Michigan and having acted across the country, Rick Lenz lives in North Hollywood with his wife. They are parents to three children, and have recently become proud grandparents.

You can meet Rick Lenz and get signed copies of his memoir North of Hollywood at three local venues this weekend and next week:

5/18/2012            12 PM – 4 PM at Barnes & Noble – Manhattan Beach, CA.

5/20/2012            3:00 PM at Diesel – Brentwood, Santa Monica, CA.

6/07/2012            1:30 – 3:30 PM at Theatre of Arts –

In the meantime, click here to enjoy an excerpt from North of Hollywood by Rick Lenz, which the author has generously shared with readers of LA Books Examiner.

 

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Read Chapter One of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by AGS Johnson

The 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival awarded The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson an Honorable Mention at its annual competition honoring the best of world publishing. If you missed this up-and-coming local author at the book festival earlier this month, don’t worry. You’ve got another chance next week.

On Wednesday, May 2 at 8 p.m., A.G.S. Johnson will be signing her debut novel, The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles at 453 South Spring Street.

In the meantime, learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and read the first chapter of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters below:

About the author
A.G.S. Johnson always intended to be a writer. But raised in a Midwestern family of five girls and no boys, she embarked on a career in the corporate world that would allow her to explore why men were treated differently than women. Armed with a business degree, for over 20 years she was a banker, most often working with international currencies.

Still, writing remained a dream, so she returned to school, earned a masters degree in fiction writing from the University of Southern California and proceeded to pursue her lifelong ambition. Her debut novel The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, 12 years in the making, releases Feb. 7, 2012.

In addition to her passion for reading, traveling and all things French, Johnson serves on the Board of the Council of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, and is a founding board member of The World is Just a Book Away. Proceeds from The Sausage Maker’s Daughters benefit this relatively young charity that builds libraries in developing countries.

Since the late 70’s Johnson has made her home first in Northern California, now in Los Angeles, where the author lives with her husband of 20 years and their menagerie of cats and dogs. She is currently working on her second novel, a medical murder mystery based on a true story of discovery and deceit.

Learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and her work at her official website: AGSJohnsonauthor.com.

About the book
It’s the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. Women’s consciousness is being raised and they’re beginning to find their places outside of the home.

But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanski is nowhere near her home in California. She’s in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law.

Since her father is the small town’s leading citizen, Kip isn’t overly worried—at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil. Kip.

What follows is a wild ride through Kip’s present predicament and her past. Family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, will lay bare Kip’s life before the crowded courtroom, right along with the self-important Czermanskis’ darkest secrets.

Excerpt of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by A.G.S. Johnson

Read excerpt at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

 
Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

Meet local author and indie rocker Bill See & read the 1st chapter of 33 Days

If you’re starting to put together your summer reading list, please consider 33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream, an inspiring new memoir from LA author and former 80’s indie rocker Bill See. And while the title says a lot about the book, it’s the book that really tells a lot about many of us in Los Angeles–the dreamers, that is–those of us who not only dare to dream but who choose to pursue that dream at all costs, against all odds, with passion and no regrets.

You can meet Bill See at Book Soup this Saturday, May 14th at 2pm.

In the meantime, learn more about Bill See, his music, his dream, and read an excerpt from his book below. 

Book Soup
8818 W. Sunset Blvd.,
West Hollywood.
(310) 659-3110. 

About the book
For 33 days in the summer of 1987, critically acclaimed L.A. indie rock band Divine Weeks toured in a beat up old van, sleeping on strangers’ floors, never sure they’d make enough gas money to get them to the next town. Bill See’s deeply personal memoir follows his band’s first tour across the U.S. and Canada. No soundman, no roadies, all they have is their music and each other’s friendship. 33 Days captures the essence of what it is to be 22 and chase a dream, back to a time in life when dreams don’t have boundaries, when everything is possible. The tour is one of those now or never experiences. Take a shot at making the band work or leave it all behind and go your separate ways. Every one of us has that moment where we have to decide to either live our dreams or give up and regret it for the rest of our lives. 33 Days touches that part of us. The road is filled with yuppies, brothels, riots, sleeping on floors, spiked drinks, DJs with no pants, and battles with racism. They set out on the road to discovery to drink in all they could and maybe sell a few records. They grew up instead.he time has come to be brave.

Watch Divine Weeks Bitterness Video  

Read an excerpt of 33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream by Bill See

For the latest updates to Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See), which is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble in paperback and in eBook. The Brubury Tales won Reader View’s 2011 Reviewer’s Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch Award for Most Innovative Poetry Book of the Year. 

Girl in Translation: Meet Jean Kwok & read a chapter of her bestselling book

If you’re looking for something fun to do tonight to kick off your weekend, then look no further. Vroman’s bookstore in Pasadena will be celebrating the paperback release of Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok — a moving and inspiring work that’s making a big splash in the publishing world.

Published in 15 countries, Girl in Translation is an award-winning book about a young Hong Kong immigrant in America named Kimberly Chang, a smart girl who, living a secret double life between school during the day and a Chinatown sweatshop at night (not to mention her secret love), understands that her family’s future is in her hands as she constantly translates not just her language but herself between the worlds she straddles. 

You can meet bestselling author Jean Kwok at Vroman’s Bookstore on Friday, May 6 at 7 PM.

Vroman’s Bookstore

695 E Colorado Blvd

Pasadena, CA

(626) 449-5320

 

In the meantime, take a few minutes to read the first chapter of Girl in Translation, which Jean Kwok has generously shared with the LA Books Examiner.

 

Click here to read Chapter one of Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

 

For the latest updates to Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See), which is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble in paperback and in eBook. The Brubury Tales won Reader View’s 2011 Reviewer’s Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch Award for Most Innovative Poetry Book of the Year. 

Meet Bestselling Author Peter Hedges & Read the 1st Chapter of The Heights

Peter Hedges is a novelist, playwright, and filmmaker whose body of work is as impressive as it is familiar.  He wrote both the novel and the screenplay What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio) and was the writer-director of the films Pieces of April (starring Katie Holmes) and Dan in Real Life (starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche).  He also co-wrote the Academy Award nominated screenplay for About a Boy (with Hugh Grant).

For his latest work, Peter returns to his role as a novelist delivering another powerful and authentic book that you don’t want to miss. Named after the beautiful Brooklyn Neighborhood, THE HEIGHTS follows The Welch Family who appears to lead a comfortable life until a wealthy, beautiful and mysterious woman moves nearby. Using voices that are charmingly self-reflective and genuine, Hedges examines the politics of love and community, revealing surprising truths about family, fidelity, and daily life.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the first chapter of The Heights (now available in paperback) by Peter Hedges and see for yourself… 

Read excerpt at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner

For the latest updates to the LA Books Examiner, sign up for my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See), which is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders in paperback and in eBook. The Brubury Tales won Reader View’s 2011 Reviewer’s Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and The 2011 Bookhitch Award for Most Innovative Poetry Book of the Year.

LA Books Examiner’s Author Interview Series

LA Books Examiner’s Five Favorite Books Feature

LA Books Examiner’s Pause for Poetry Profiles

International Bestselling Author Mark Alpert Shares the First Chapter of The Omega Theory

International bestselling author Mark Alpert is a self-described lifelong “science geek,” who majored in astrophysics at Princeton, earned an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, and is a contributing editor at Scientific American, where he simplifies bewildering scientific ideas for the magazine’s readers.

Alpert burst onto the scene with his first novel, Final Theory, in 2008, which The New York Times called  “ingenious” and said it was “the work of an expert with a pertinent skill.”

Alpert firmly establishes himself as a master of the technological thriller (think Michael Crichton) in his latest installment, THE OMEGA THEORY: A Novel, the highly anticipated second thriller, with even more cutting-edge science, action, and suspense.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the first chapter of The Omega Theory by Mark Alpert at LA Books Examiner and see for yourself.

For the latest updates to Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See), which is available on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble in paperback and in eBook. The Brubury Tales won Reader View’s 2011 Reviewers Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch Award for Innovative Poetry Book of the Year.

LA Books Examiner’s Author Interview Series

LA Books Examiner’s Five Favorite Books Feature

LA Books Examiner’s Pause for Poetry Profiles

Meet NY Times Bestselling Author J.A. Jance and Read the First Chapter of Fatal Error

LA book lovers, you have two great opportunities this weekend to meet bestselling author J.A. Jance as she reads and signs her new pulse-pounding suspense book, Fatal Error, number six in the hugely popular Ali Reynolds Series. 

Saturday, March 26th, 5:00pm
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA  91101
(626) 449-5320
 
Sunday, March 27th, 10:30am
Book Carnival
348 South Tustin Avenue
Orange, CA  92866
(714) 538-3210
 
In the meantime, learn more about J.A. Jance, and read an exclusive excerpt of Fatal Error below.
 
About the Author
J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and four interrelated southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. She lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tuscon, Arizona. (Video) Watch J.A. Jance discussing Fatal Error and number 7 in the Ali Reynolds Series in this short video from Simon & Schuster, Inc.  

About the Book
Ali Reynolds begins the summer thinking her most difficult challenge will be surviving a six-week-long course as the lone forty-something female at the Arizona Police Academy. However, when Brenda Riley, a colleague from Ali’s old news broadcasting days in California, shows up in town with an alcohol problem and an unlikely story about a missing fiancé, Ali reluctantly agrees to help. The man posing as Brenda’s fiancé is revealed to be Richard Lowensdale, a cyber-sociopath who has left a trail of broken hearts in his virtual wake. When he is cruelly murdered, the women he once victimized are considered suspects. The police soon focus their investigation on Brenda, who is already known to have broken into Richard’s home and computer before vanishing without a trace. Attempting to clear her friend’s name, Ali is quickly drawn into a web of online intrigue that may lead to a real-world FATAL ERROR.

Exclusive Excerpt: Read the First Chapter of Fatal Error by J.A. Jance  at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner

For the latest updates to Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See), which is available on Amazon.com in paperback and in eBook. The Brubury Tales won Reader View’s 2011 Reviewers Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch Award for Innovative Poetry Book of the Year.

LA Books Examiner’s Author Interview Series

LA Books Examiner’s Five Favorite Books Feature

LA Books Examiner’s Pause for Poetry Profiles