The nominees for Best Wedding:
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella
Wedding Season by Katie Fforde
Scot on the Rocks by Brenda Janowitz
For Better, For Worse by Carole Matthews
I Do, But I Don’t by Cara Lockwood
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
Brooke Miller is in a pickle. A successful Manhattan attorney, Brooke is so sure her dashing Scottish boyfriend is about to propose any minute to her. To Brooke’s complete shock, he doesn’t propose, he dumps her, admits he’s been cheating, and kicks her out of their shared apartment! She is devastated, but sure she can win him back. It can’t really be over right?
When Brooke’s ex-boyfriend, Trip, calls to tell her he is getting married to a Hollywood movie star, she tells a teeny tiny lie. She tells him that she too is engaged- to her dashing Scottish, well, now ex-boyfriend. But she is sure they will get back together before Trip’s wedding, so it won’t be a lie for long. Except for when the wedding roles around and Douglas still hasn’t asked her back, Brooke has no choice but to come up with an outrageous plan to deceive Trip and the other wedding guests.
Scot on the Rocks, the debut novel from Brenda Janowitz is fast-paced and funny, with the heroine landing herself in more than one silly situation. Sometimes though, I did feel frustrated with the main character trying so hard to get this loser back when a real man was right in front of her. But the supporting characters really helped the scenes along, from a best friend struggling with her own marriage, a co-worker trying to win the girl, and of course the luscious Hollywood wedding. A fast and funny read that chick lit fans will enjoy.
In my Mailbox: Week of March 7
Title: Scot on the Rocks
Author: Brenda Janowitz
Received: Borders
Synopsis: Planning a wedding can be a trying experience…
A little prewedding anxiety is normal for every bride, and Manhattan attorney Brooke Miller isn’t worried. She’s got the loving support of the world’s greatest guy, so planning her nuptials should be a piece of cake.
But that was yesterday.
Today, Brooke’s landed her first big case and has just discovered that the opposing attorney is none other than her fiancé, Jack. But that’s okay. These two professionals aren’t going to let a little courtroom sparring get their legal briefs in a bunch…. Right? Wrong! Now Jack’s pulling every dirty trick in the law books, and Brooke’s starting to suspect that maybe he isn’t the man she thought he was. Warring with her fiancé at work and at home, Brooke realizes that she’ll have to choose between the case of her life, or actually having a life.
Title: Still Thinking of You
Author: Adele Parks
Received: Borders
Synopsis: Rich has always been skeptical about falling in love. Natasha has always fully expected to. And when these two find each other, they win the entire True Love package–tenderness and hot sex and open-eyed kisses. Long weekends in bed and talk of marriage and babies. The kind of love where there’s no room for secrets. That, after all, is what Tash says will keep them going strong: total and complete honesty.
Now Rich and Tash are engaged, and Rich’s old school friends crash into their love cocoon with big plans of celebrating, along with spouses and significant others, on a trip to a stunning French ski resort. But a lot can happen in a week that’s meant to capture the free-spirited fun they all shared a decade ago. And in the glare of a whiteout on the slopes, Tash crosses paths with the one secret Rich should have kept: his colorful, vivacious, needy ex-lover, Jayne…
Title: The Opposite of Me
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Received: SheKnows.com
Synopsis: Twenty-nine-year-old Lindsey Rose has, for as long as she can remember, lived in the shadow of her ravishingly beautiful fraternal twin sister, Alex. Determined to get noticed, Lindsey is finally on the cusp of being named VP creative director of an elite New York advertising agency, after years of eighty-plus-hour weeks, migraines, and profound loneliness. But during the course of one devastating night, Lindsey’s carefully constructed life implodes. Humiliated, she flees the glitter of Manhattan and retreats to the time warp of her parents’ Maryland home. As her sister plans her lavish wedding to her Prince Charming, Lindsey struggles to maintain her identity as the smart, responsible twin while she furtively tries to piece her career back together. But things get more complicated when a long-held family secret is unleashed that forces both sisters to reconsider who they are and who they are meant to be.
Q: Why did you decide to write chick lit books?
Q: What gave you the ideas for your two novels?
I’ve always been a writer. In fact, that’s the reason why I became a lawyer in the first place—trying to find a career where I could write full time. But I’ve always had a real love for fiction, and I’d find myself practicing law and thinking about these fictional stories that I wanted to write. When I was invited to my ex-boyfriend’s wedding, my life slowly but surely began to resemble some of my favorite chick lit novels, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve just gotta start writing this stuff down…
When I finished SCOT ON THE ROCKS, I just knew that Brooke’s story had to continue! Since both she and Jack are lawyers, I thought it would be so much fun to pit them against each other in the courtroom… all while planning their fairy-tale wedding. Thus the idea for JACK WITH A TWIST was born!
Q: What was the hardest part about the writing process?
The hardest part for me is always the end. (Isn’t it for every writer?) You’ve taken the reader on a journey, and it’s so important to deliver on everything you’ve built up, and to give them something memorable and satisfying.
Q: Do you have a third chick lit novel in the works?
Right now, I’m working on a commercial women’s fiction novel, and I’ve also got a Young Adult proposal brewing. I always have lots of ideas going at the same time! We’ll have to see which one shapes up to become novel # 3.
I’d love to continue Brooke’s story, but for now, these other stories just keep calling out to me. BUT, I recently had my first child and there’s lots of funny things that have been happening along the way. Readers always ask me if Brooke will have a baby next, so you never know….
Q: What is your favorite part about living in New York?
Do I have to narrow it to just one thing?! New York is the greatest place on earth. It has always inspired me and exhilarated me.
My husband and I recently moved out to the suburbs, but we are just a short car ride from the city. Whenever we get back into the city, you just feel that energy hit you, and it’s such a rush.
Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Free time? Um, what’s that? Like I said, I recently had a baby, so most of my days I’m lucky if I get to take a shower!
As a writer, I suppose that my favorite thing to do is read. And as a chick lit writer, needless to say, my other favorite thing to do is shop!
Q: Did you set any New Year’s Resolutions this year?
Nope. I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Each day when I wake up, I just try to do the best that I can for that day.
But, yes, now that you’ve mentioned it, I would like to also lose some weight, too….
Q: You teach a creative writing class. How much do you enjoy the teaching process?
I love teaching. It’s always amazing to me how we all have stories inside of us. It’s great to see the brave few trying to make their dreams come true and get their stories onto paper.
Mediabistro gets such a talented group of people together for me to teach each time—it’s always humbling to me to see how wonderful my students are. I’m now at the stage where my students are getting agents and are on their way to book deals, so that is an incredible thing to see.
Q: What would be your advice to aspiring writers?
Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.
Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.
Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!
Q: What is or do you think would be your favorite place to travel?
Since I honeymooned in Hawaii, I’d have to say Hawaii. It’s such a beautiful and quiet place. There’s a rich history there, which is so much fun to explore.
And, of course, there’s just something for me about the beach—feeling the sand under my toes, listening to the crashing waves—that relaxes me to the core and allows my creative juices to flow. What could be more inspiring than a place like Hawaii?! (Does this mean that I get to go there again now?)
Brenda Janowitz, a native New Yorker, thought from a small age that she wanted to be a writer. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelors Degree in Human Service Studies, with a Concentration in Race and Discrimination. She then went on to attend Hofstra Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review and won the Law Review Writing Competition. She has worked as a law associate and also a federal clerkship with the Honorable Marilyn Dolan Go, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Janowitz has since worked as a career counselor at two New York City law schools, where she published a number of articles on career related issues in publications such as the National Law Journal and the New York Law Journal. She has published two chick lit novels, titled Jack with a Twist and Scot on the Rocks, as well as a short story Based on a True Story. Her work has also appeared in the New York Post and Publishers Weekly. Brenda Janowitz currently lives in New York with her husband and teaches creative writing at Mediabistro.
