Event at Mendham Books & 5 Amazing Authors

At Mendham Books in NJ–a wonderful, browse-friendly bookstore in the Mendham Village Shopping Center–I met up with 5 other authors for a group event last week: Natalie Zaman, Charlotte Bennardo, Margie Gelbwasser, Alissa Grosso, and Jennifer R. Hubbard. I wanted to do a blog post about these authors and their books because these were all smart, savvy women, and I had to share what they have been working on. Plus, I’m a huge fan of supporting books whose authors are plain hardcore awesome.

First up … the superfly Sirenz duo, Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo (left in the above photo). The masterminds behind the popular and feisty Sirenz series, these women are made of awesome. If they’re visiting a town near you, go check them out because they are super cool, funny, and love talking about writing and books. The sizzling sequel to Sirenz, Sirenz Back in Fashion was described by Kirkus Reviews as a “frothy romp through mythology,” so you can bet that both of these books will be a fun summer read! Go get your Hades on!

Next up is Margie Gelbwasser and her books, Pieces of Us and Inconvenient. Not only is Margie an all around sweet and friendly person, she writes honest and gritty contemporary. Kirkus called Pieces of Us “suspenseful, disturbing and emotionally fraught,” and Inconvenient was named a Notable Book for Teens by the Jewish Library Association. If you’re looking for contemporary reads that are as raw as they are real, look no further, Margie’s got you covered.

Moving on to the super approachable Alissa Grosso whose novels like Popular tackle high school popularity and relationships at their very best … or their worst when all is said and done. Ferocity Summer, described as a “riveting read” by A.S. King, goes even deeper to showcase a troubled teen growing up in a low income environment, and dealing with drugs, sex and peer pressure. Both intricate and action-packed contemporary reads, you’ll keep turning the pages.

Last but certainly not least, is the cool, calm and collected Jennifer R. Hubbard. Jennifer rocks the contemporary writing arena with her novels, The Secret Year and Try Not to Breathe. A story of a teen dealing with a failed suicide attempt, Try Not to Breathe received a starred Kirkus review, which described it as “Haunting, hopeful and masterfully crafted.” Not only is Jennifer friendly and easy to talk to about new and interesting books to read, she has a lot of insight into book genres and publishing in general, so if you do catch up with her at an event, go talk to her! Plus, she always has the most delicious chocolates on hand. Bonus!

All of these great books have been signed by the authors and copies are available at Mendham Books. Signed copies of Bloodspell are also available.

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