Using Photos as Inspiration

This beautiful home is where Sara, the main character in my novel, The Wedding Thief, grew up. Well, not really. This house, located in an idyllic area of northwestern Connecticut, was owned for many years by the actor Denis Leary and his wife, Ann. I used this photo of the house

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Costco Chooses The Wedding Thief for July, 2020

Costco’s book buyer, Pennie Clark Ianniciello, has chosen The Wedding Thief as her “Pennie’s Pick” for July. Look for an article about me and the book in July’s Coscto Connection newsletter. If you don’t receive the paper version, you can

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The Wedding Thief – Coming July 2020

I’m very excited about the cover of my new novel, The Wedding Thief, and the lovely blurb written by James Patterson. The book is being published by Little, Brown and will be out in July of 2020. The

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Letting Go of What I’m Writing

A friend once asked if I had trouble letting go of a book when I knew I was getting to the end of writing it. I’ve only written three books (I’m now tying up some loose ends

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Interview with a Writer’s Assistant

We recently sat down for a candid interview with Cinnamon, a Tonkinese cat who is the assistant to author Mary Simses.

 

Why don’t you tell us about your job?
I’m underpaid, unglorified, and underappreciated. What else do

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Surrounded by Books

There’s nothing that makes me feel more like a kid in a candy store than being in a bookstore or in any store that sells books. I love having a stockpile of books on my night table, and even when

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Hemingway at his Best/Worst

Full disclosure: I’m not that big of a fan of Ernest Hemingway’s writing, but I find him a fascinating person. Everyone Behaves Badly is an intriguing and well written book about Hemingway in Paris in the 1920’s, and the lead-up

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Rebecca: Still Mesmerizing

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” So begins Daphne duMaurier’s classic novel of romantic suspense, Rebecca. I’ve read the book three times now – once as a teenager, once about twenty years ago, and again just recently. My

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At the Miami Book Fair 2017

I had a great time at the 2017 Miami Book Fair, talking about my latest novel, The Rules of Love & Grammar, and sharing a panel with Elin Hilderbrand (left), whose latest novel is The Identicals, and Alisyn Camerota (middle), co-anchor of

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Revisiting Brideshead Revisited

Back in 1981, I watched the British TV series that was created from this novel and broadcast on PBS. It was the vehicle that made Jeremy Irons a household name. I since found out that it took two years to make

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