And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is: We've all read our share of romance, be it historical or contemps, but of the many authors out there, how many can you say really made you laugh out loud and put a smile on your face? Jill Barnett is one of those romance novelists who can truly make you forget your troubles and take you away better than Calgon ever could. My first Barnett was DREAMING. After reading that book, I had to read all of them. There is one scene in DREAMING that always comes to mind when I think of it. Letty is one of those characters that cause chaos and mayhem, unintentionally, wherever she goes. In the scene I'm thinking of, Richard and Letty find themselves at the mercy of brigands on a ship. Due to a series of mishap, one of the men are entangled in a sail's rigging and and swinging precariously about and yelling. Letty tells Richard, basically, 'Isn't that sweet?' Richard looks at her as if she is crazy, so she explains, "He was calling for his mother's pucker." LOL Rendezvous called the book, "both funny and heartwrenching...a joyful trip for the reader." I couldn't have agreed more and had to find more of her books. I picked up BEWITCHING next, actually the prequel to DREAMING, and was not disappointed. On the backflap of the book is a quote by the Detroit Free Press "raving, ' this is screwball tribute to Bewitched is better than the TV series. Barnett has a wicked way with a one-liner, and she makes the romance sizzle.'" Once again, the quote was dead on. Loved it. And the quote for Dreaming could have applied to this book as well. I guess the thing about this author's books is the fact that while something crazy happens, she doesn't forget the feelings of those who caused or the ones who suffered the event. In a round about way, it's like life. For example, and a poor one at that, we may laugh at the guy who stepped on the rake in yard. But it doesn't change the fact that the guy has a headache now and somebody, probably the female *LOL*, feels bad for leaving the rake laying around. If that happened in one of Jill's books, the best would come of it eventually. The guy would forgive the person who left the rake out. He wouldn't like it, would probably expect it to happen again, but accept it because it's a small thing in the big scheme of things. Her books seem to encourage acceptance of a person's flaws; the fact that there is give and take in a relationship, and that to laugh at the worst is okay. Jill's last release was SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY in 2001. A book that takes place during WW2 and, coincidentally, came out about the same time as the movie PEARL HARBOR. Even more of a coincidence, if you've read SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, is a similar plotline of the two. I found a chat at Writerspace.com featuring Jill and, judging from her comments, she was just as surprised as anyone else and it really was pure coincidence. It's been quite some time since we've heard from this author, but I, along with numerous other fans, hope that she doesn't keep away too long. Her quick wit and ability to entertain is sorely missed. If you would like to find out more about her books and keep an eye out for any upcoming books, you can go to www.jillbarnett.com Here are two other links I found very worthwhile: First the above mentioned chat - http://www.writerspace.com/chat/chat072901.html and an interview that was originally written for THE ROMANCE READER in 1996, one of the few interviews I was able to find with Jill. |
