Will watching Gossip Girl get you pregnant?

Well, the New York Daily News seems to think so.

BOOK REVIEW: CITY DOG by Alison Pace

CITY DOG tells the story of Amy, a recently divorced woman who’s on the way to writing the Great American Novel. In the meantime, though, she’s the author of the bestselling children’s books, RUN, CARLIE, RUN!, based on the imagined adventures of her dog, Carlie. When Carlie gets offered a starring role in a cable show, Amy begins to question the direction her life is going, and what she truly wants out of life.

You don’t have to be a dog lover to fall in love with CITY DOG. Told by alternating narrators, I found the story so relatable—who hasn’t questioned the path their life is on? Alison’s writing truly shines in this charming tale of a woman finding her way. CITY DOG is funny, wistful, and touching.

I would highly recommend CITY DOG. Want a free copy? Enter to win one in my book giveaway!

Holiday book giveaway!

What's the perfect gift to give this holiday season? Books, of course! Enter to win a box full of books-- all signed by the authors, so they make for a fabulous holiday present! (Or you can just keep them all for yourself-- we won't tell!)

The winner will get signed copies of all of these fabulous reads:

SCOT ON THE ROCKS

by Brenda Janowitz

JACK WITH A TWIST

by Brenda Janowitz

MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL

by Mindy Klasky
WIFE GOES ON
by Leslie Lehr

CITY DOG

by Alison Pace

THE MEMORIST

by M.J. Rose

To enter, just email brenda@brendajanowitz.com and write “Holiday book giveaway” in the subject line. You must be a subscriber of the www.brendajanowitz.com mailing list to enter.

Want extra entries? Post a blog entry about this giveaway and/or email five friends about it. For each blog entry and each email you send out, you'll get another entry to win!

Winners will be announced on November 25. So what are you waiting for? Enter today!

Did you like free books in a former life?

If so, then have I got the thing for you!  The fabulous MJ Rose is giving away FREE downloads of her book, THE REINCARNATIONIST.  It's a non stop thrill ride about reincarnation and past lives.  MJ will be giving away the book for free until October 31, so hurry up and get your copy! Info on how to get your hands on this book is on MJ's website.  Enjoy!

They're giving it away for free! Over on ChickLitGurrl's site, that is.

ChickLitGurrl™ and author Brenda Janowitz are asking you, "Why do you love Chick Lit?"


From October 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008, you have the opportunity to answer this question in 250 words or less! Be funny. Be heartfelt. Be creative. Be engaging. Take the question and develop a response that truly shows YOUR love for the genre.



On November 7,2008, ChickLitGurrl will announce the three best responses, and winners will receive an autographed copy of Brenda Janowitz's latest novel, JACK WITH A TWIST!





Contest submissions must be e-mailed to sdb6812@hotmail.com and be received no later than 11:59 p.m., October 31, 2008. Only ONE submission per participant.


Looking forward to reading why YOU love CHICK LIT!

Playing favorites

The wonderful peeps at Chick Lit Club asked me to choose my favorite novel of 2008. I was so honored to be asked! And it was an easy pick for me, since I absolutely gobbled up Emily Giffin's LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH. Go to their main page and then scroll down to see my review.

Here comes the bride

Okay, well, this post should actually be called "There went the bride" since my wedding was on May 25, but that doesn't have much of a ring to it, now does it?

Newsday did a lovely two page spread on our wedding this past Sunday. They've posted a link online, so please feel free to check it out here. There are tons of photos, too, so be sure to scroll down to the photo gallery. The photos were done by the amazing Hy Goldberg of Visions Photography and the flowers were done by Stefan's.

BOOK REVIEW: THE FOLLOWER by Jason Starr

As a chick lit author, I love any book that begins with a Jane Austen quote. Especially one that’s cleverly used, as in the opener to Jason Starr’s psychological thriller, THE FOLLOWER.

THE FOLLOWER is a dark tale about Katie Porter, and the man who stalks her, Peter Wells. Just one warning: Parents—you may never let your children move into their own apartment in Manhattan after you read this!

Starr does an excellent job of portraying single life amongst the 20-somethings living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan—and then skewering it. I loved the irony of how Katie’s creepy stalker, Peter, actually has many of the things that Katie would want in a man—the expensive co-op apartment, the big bank account, and the subtle good looks. Starr is making a powerful statement about single life in New York City, what we think we want, and what we deserve to get.

I was highly entertained by this book, and you will be, too. It was the first Jason Starr novel that I’ve ever read, and I will be back to read more.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The winner of our Summer book giveaway has been announced! Congratulations go out to Joelle Quinn from New York City, who won the beach bag filled with books.

Not a winner? Don’t fret! The next big book giveaway will be in November, and we’ll be giving away even more great books for you to enter to win.

Back to school!

Hey everyone! It's September, so it must be time to get back to teaching! Wanted to give you all the skinny on my upcoming classes.

NEW YORK CITY:
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2008
Chick Lit Workshop
Mediabistro
6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

NEW YORK CITY:
TUESDAYS, starting SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
Novel Writing: Chick Lit 8 Week Course
Mediabistro
6:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m.

They are great if you are still working on your novel, or just need to brush up before finishing your masterpiece!

Summer book giveaway!

In honor of my brand-spanking-new blog, I've got a summer book giveaway going on:

Enter to win signed copies of the hottest books of summer!

Summer may be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop reading the hottest reads of the summer! And now you can enter to win a beach bag full of free books!

The winner will get signed copies of both of Brenda’s novels, JACK WITH A TWIST and SCOT ON THE ROCKS,

as well as signed copies of these other fabulous reads:

ENGAGING MEN
by Lynda Curnyn

IT’S ABOUT YOUR HUSBAND
by Lauren Lipton

IF ANDY WARHOL HAD A GIRLFRIEND
by Alison Pace

THE REINCARNATIONIST
by M.J. Rose

To enter, just email brenda@brendajanowitz.com and write “Summer book giveaway” in the subject line. You must be a subscriber of the www.brendajanowitz.com mailing list to enter.

Winners will be announced on September 9. So what are you waiting for? Enter today!

JACK WITH A TWIST reading at Barnes and Noble in NYC

Just in case you missed my reading in NYC, don't fret! My hubby got it all on video, and he's posted it on YouTube!

JACK in the Big Apple

I'll be reading from JACK WITH A TWIST this Thursday, August 7th at 7pm at Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side! Here are the details:

NYC:THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2008
Book reading and signing
Barnes and Noble
7 p.m.
Lincoln Center (Bway at 66th Street)

Want more free stuff? Check out my free short story, BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

And stay tuned for a big summer book giveaway, coming soon.

Hope to see you all on Thursday, August 7th!

Heads Up!

So, my online chats over at VZones were great. I read from JACK WITH A TWIST, answered lots of questions about getting a book published, and just generally had a good time.

The first night, my husband decided to come to the chat. So, he went online and created an avatar and got his two week free trial. All was going well until suddenly, he turns to me and says: "I lost my head." Now, I was in the middle of conducting my chat, so I tried to ask him what he meant while typing.....

Well, I looked over to his laptop and it seems that he managed to take his avatar's head off. Lifted it clear off, and his avatar was holding it's own head in its hands. Obviously, I started laughing hysterically. He literally lost his head! I tried to conduct my chat like a normal well adjustsed author, but I just couldn't stop laughing. How did he manage to take his own head off? Why is that even an option on VZones to take your own head off?

Funnier still, when he was coming into the Auditorium, one of the VZones welcome people found him and said: "I'll show you into the Auditorium. But first, you'll need to put your head in your pocket."

Just get a visual of that.

Anyhoo, it turns out, the reason why you can take your head off is so that you can wear different heads, if you so choose. In fact, one of the people at my chat had a duck's head on her avatar. (Again, why is it even an option to have a duck's head on your avatar? I'll never know.)

So, there you have it. My husband adores me so much that he literally loses his head over me. Even a virtual me. Am I a lucky girl or what?

Based on a true story

Wonder if Trip was invited to Brooke's wedding? Whether or not you've read JACK yet, the answer can be found in my new short story: BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

You can access it FREE (yes, FREE!!!!) on the eharlequin.com website! Just click here to start reading! A new chapter will be posted every Monday morning.

About BASED ON A TRUE STORY:

Gorgeous fiancé? Check. Totally in love? Check. Hair more-or-less frizz-free? Check. Ready to meet the ex-boyfriend and his new movie-star wife for dinner?

With this hair? God, no.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I need to prove something to Trip. Or to his twig—I mean, wife. It's just that I have my dignity to protect.

And the things I've done for my dignity…which may or may not include bringing a fake fiancé with a fake Scottish accent and a kilt to Trip's wedding. But Trip doesn't know any of that. Will never know that. I pulled off the charade and now my life is perfect.

What? He's making a movie? About a girl who goes to her ex-boyfriend's wedding? Starring his beautiful celebrity wife? And they need my help to make it accurate? Why would that be a problem? I've nothing to hide….

I'm totally screwed.

Even more FREE STUFF!

Am I starting to sound like that "free money from the government" guy you see on the informercials, or what?!?!

It's just that you all KNOW how much I love free stuff and how I try to send you free stuff all the time....

Well, turns out that my friend Jason Pinter feels the exact same way about free stuff. Because-- wait for it-- he's letting everyone read his first novel for FREE! That's right! You get to read a book for free!And not just any book. It's the first book in Jason's Henry Parker series, called THE MARK.

I read it, and I have to tell you, I couldn't put it down. For me, it was Jason Bourne meets Peter Parker-- a non stop thrill ride that entertains as it keeps you guessing. The film rights have already been optioned, so you've got to check it out before it hits theaters. And did I mention-- it's free?!?!?

Don't say I never gave you anything.

Pass me the hoodie

I HATE TECHNOLOGY! Yes, I know, I'm ready to be outfitted for my hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, but if I go all Unabomber on you, I promise to wear a totally cute hoodie and super-hot sunglasses.

It all started back in June. In honor of JACK WITH A TWIST, I had a whole new website made. And it really is gorgeous. But from the second we made the switchover, there have been problems. First, my website was down for days at a time. I thought that was bad, but I then found out what bad truly was: My email then began shutting down for days at a time. Now, I'm not very web savvy, so I believed my website peeps when they assured me that all of my emails weren't getting lost—they were out there somewhere in cyberspace, just waiting to be delivered to me.

Well, those people lied.

Turns out, I lost emails. Lots of emails. Emails lost for weeks at a time. No way of recovering them. Which, as a lawyer, boggles my mind. How can emails actually be lost? You're telling me that if I was involved in a RICO investigation or some sort of child pornography operation they wouldn't be able to recover my old "lost" emails?! Exactly. But it turns out that authors don't really get the same attention as do law-breakers.

All of this is made even worse by the fact that in those weeks when the website was going down every other day and I had no access to email, I was doing promotions of countless websites and was offering free bookmarks to anyone who emailed me.

I think that the problems are more or less cleared up by now, but if you sent me an email and I didn't respond, please email me again! And if you asked for a free bookmark and you still haven't gotten it, by all means shoot me another email.

And do it quick, since I'll be shopping for an isolated cabin in the woods any minute now….

Happy Fourth of July!

Okay, so I know that this post comes crazy late, but what can you do?

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. I, myself, am still recovering from the massive amount of hot dogs consumed over the weekend at various BBQs. Yes, it's Tuesday and I still have a tummy ache. But at least I didn't eat as much as these guys.

Other highlights of my weekend:

An awesome review of JACK WITH A TWIST from Modern Girl Style.

Going to see Hancock on the big screen. Critics hated it, I lurved it.

This video that I found on Bridalwave. I must admit-- I LOVE these shows. But, I love watching them get skewered even more!!!

The Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Competition. Most. Exciting. Competition. Ever. Seriously, tho-- they went to sudden death! In your face, Kobiashi!!!

Yes, I know what you're thinking: I truly live on the edge. What were the highlights of your weekends?

So, you think you can dance?

Okay, so this blog isn't really about whether or not you can dance. In fact, it's not about dancing at all. It's just that I think that the title of that show is so hilarious. I mean, how confrontational can you be? I just imagine that wacky screaming lady (aka, Mary Murphy) using that line as she challenges people to dance offs. "SO, you think YOU can dance?!"

But, I digress. I'm writing today because eharlequin.com has posted a free article on writing! And since I wrote it, I thought I'd tell you all about it! It's called "Acting Up" and it's about how you can use three act structure to write your very own novel. So please go and check it out!

And if I've gotten you into the mood to dance, just check out the new song on my profile page (selected by the lovely and talented Brenda -- great name, huh?). If that fabulous jam doesn't get your feet moving, you're just dead inside....

JACK WITH A TWIST out in bookstores today!

My second novel, JACK WITH A TWIST (Engaging your adversary and other things they don't teach you in law school) comes out today. I hope you'll check it out!

Tonight is the Book Launch Party in New York City, but if you're not around tonight, don't fret! My tour calendar gets bigger each day:

Summer Gazebo Readings Series, Kiwanis Club of Oceanside
Monday, July 14, 2008, 7 p.m.
Schoolhouse Green on Foxhurst Road in Oceanside, just east of Long Beach Road

Books and Books, Coral Gables, Florida
Book club luncheon
Saturday, July 19, 2008, 1 p.m.
265 Aragon Avenue

Barnes and Noble, New York City
Thursday, August 7, 2008, 7 p.m.
Book reading and signing
Lincoln Center (Bway at 66th Street)

Want some free stuff? Email me with your address and I'll send you a free JACK WITH A TWIST bookmark and pen!

Hope to see you this summer!

xoxo,
Brenda

FREE STUFF!

Okay, so who doesn't like free stuff?!? Today, in honor of the JACK WITH A TWIST book launch tomorrow, I'm giving out lots of it. If you shoot me an email at brenda@brendajanowitz.com, I'll send you a FREE JACK WITH A TWIST bookmark and pen.

But, wait, there's more! Book Chic is doing a BOOK giveaway today! So check out her blog and enter to win free signed copies of JACK WITH A TWIST and SCOT ON THE ROCKS!

Don't Mondays rock?

You don’t know JACK!

But these people do!

Check out what some of your favorite authors are saying about JACK WITH A TWIST!

"a funny, sweet romance."
New York Times bestselling author Marian Keyes

"Another fun-filled page-turner from Brenda. Every bit as sparkling as the champagne that the bride-to-be's mother is so fond of..."
USA Today international bestselling author Carole Matthews

"A funny, smart, true-to-life novel about being your own woman. Loved it!"
Melissa Senate, author of SEE JANE DATE and QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING"

Deliciously entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny and fraught with disaster after hilarious disaster, Janowitz's second novel is engaging, fast-paced and thoroughly delightful. Janowitz's pitch-perfect sequel to SCOT ON THE ROCKS is a hilarious look at the not-so-holy side of holy matrimony..."
Kristin Harmel, author of THE ART OF FRENCH KISSING

Book Launch Party!

This summer, Brooke Miller is back!

And Mediabistro's having a Book Launch Party to celebrate all of the fun!

Please join us on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 from 6:30pm until 8:30pm to celebrate the launch of my second novel, JACK WITH A TWIST (Engaging your adversary and other things they don't teach you in law school). RSVPs are a must, so please let us know if you'll be there! The fun starts at 6:30 and will be at Katra, 217 Bowery in NYC.

We've also got a whole new website in honor of JACK, so go check it out! And, as always, if your book club will be reading JACK, please email me at brenda@brendajanowitz.com and I'll send you free JACK WITH A TWIST bookmarks and even call in to say hi! I hope to see you all on Tuesday, June 24th!

xoxo,Brenda

I'm covered!

Hey everyone! So, it's official.

The book cover for JACK WITH A TWIST is out and it's gorgeous! If I was smart enough to implant an image here, I'd totally do that. But, as it turns out, I'm not really very tech savvy, so you'll have to go to Trashionista, who's posted an item about it today. I promise it'll be worth it! It's called JACK WITH A TWIST (Engaging your adversary and other things they don't teach you in law school) and it comes out on June 24, 2008. I hope you'll check it out. More info to come!

Is your muse commitment phobic?

I was recently interviewed for an article on writer's block and it's been published! I hope you'll check it out on Harlequin's website. In this piece, I divulge all of my deepest, darkest secrets on how to combat writer's block, so read this article and then get inspired to write!

And then leave a comment here and tell us how *you* combat writer's block.