Bragging on Barbara

Laced with Magic by our own wonderful Barbara Bretton is one of the Top Ten Romances for 2009 on Booklist, which reviews for the American Library Association. The Booklist blurb says: Chloe, owner of a popular knitting shop and mayor of the supernatural village of Sugar Maple, Vermont, continues to battle evil forces in Bretton’s poignant and magical story of love and sacrifice.

Not that I'm surprised because it's a fabulous book, but "Wahoooooooooo, Barbara!"

More Updates Than You Can Shake A Stick At

This is one of many update notes. I apologize in advance for blitzing you with info you may or may not want.


Kim Smith, writer and wonderful Blog Talk Radio host, interviewed me on Tuesday and to say I had a blast is putting it mildly. If you'd like to listen, click here and follow instructions on the screen.

Did I tell you about the totally terrific Bonnie Blose at Accessible World who invited me to spend an hour with her and her wonderful readers, talking about writing and love and life? I'll be back again for another visit at the end of August but you can listen to last month's free-wheeling chat right here. This was pretty much a writer's dream visit. Bonnie hosts a romance novel book club and somehow they found Sentimental Journey, a twenty year old Harlequin American Romance of mine. Sentimental Journey is one of my all-time favorite writing experiences. It was part of the wonderful Century of American Romances, a truly spectacular group of books that deserved a far wider audience than they received. Sentimental Journey was about the World War II homefront here in the United States and its follow-up book, Stranger in Paradise, continued the story during the McCarthy Era 1950s. Can you imagine my excitement when out of the blue I received an email from Bonnie and discovered that my books had found new readers after all this time? I love the internet!

I'm embarking on a gigantic blog tour on Monday so be prepared for lots of links. You're going to know everything there is to know about me (even things you'd rather not know!) by the time this is over.

Willa, my wonderfully talented web designer and jewelry maker, will be doing a cosmetic overhaul of my personal blog the next few days so there won't be any new content until Sunday or Monday which means I'll be posting a lot of book-related info here in the interim. I promise compensatory knitting content!

Laced With Magic goes on sale Tuesday August 4th and I'm entering the Crazed Author Zone. As anyone who knows me can attest, I'm not too great at letting go of a manuscript. Given my druthers, I'd still be making revisions in the back of the truck as the books leave the printer.

Did I tell you that Publishers Weekly gave Laced With Magic a coveted starred review? In case you missed it:

Laced with Magic Barbara Bretton. Berkley, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-425-22752-7

Half-sorceress Chloe Hobbs and policeman Luke MacKenzie, the only humans in the sleepy Vermont town of Sugar Maple, face worldly and unearthly challenges in this sweetly charming sequel to 2008's Casting Spells. When Luke's ex-wife, Karen, shows up in town claiming that their dead daughter is trying to ask them for help, Chloe must deal with smalltown gossip and fix her relationship with Luke while she battles her old Fae enemy, Isadora, over the child's spirit and the future of Sugar Maple. Bretton seamlessly blends a playful world of eccentric and meddling supernatural creatures living in the midst of New England with a warm, natural and romantic story and just a hint of mystery. Scenes in Chloe's yarn shop and helpful knitting tips hold extra appeal for yarn aficionados while never distracting from the plot.

And Penguin posted an interview with me on their new paranormal website. You can find it here.

Jeremy Bredeson, a wonderful knitter and writer and friend, posted a review of Laced With Magic on Facing North, a terrific and very magical website I think you'll enjoy.

Oh, and did I tell you that all of our tomatoes are dead or dying thanks to the same blight that destroyed Ireland's potato crop? We finally decide to try our hand again at growing and a blight strikes up and down the east coast. I mean, what are the odds??

More to come. Stay tuned!

Sneak Peek: Laced With Magic

Chapter 2 is up and waiting for you. Enjoy!

Baby Cashmere and a sneak peek CLOSED

CLOSED Which came first: the Baby Cashmere or the sneak peek? I'm not sure there's an answer to that question so let's start with the yarny goodness. How about six skeins (yes, really and truly six; I counted) (used both hands so it's gotta be more than five, right?) of gorgeous soft yummy Elann Baby Cashmere.
There's not all that much cashmere in it, to be honest: 60% baby alpaca, 30% merino wool, and 10% cashmere but it's so soft and so pretty that it's irresistible. We're talking US3 needles, 100 m - 109 y in each skein. It's #3317, Morning Mist, and you're going to love it.

Send me an email here with MIST in the subject header and I'll pick the winner on Sunday night. (I didn't use the on-line random number generator last night. The site must have been down so I hollered into the living room to Goldisox: "Pick a number between X and XXX" and he yelled back, "Seventy-three!" which is how Leslie B came to be our winner.)


Willa, friend and web designer and jewelry designer extraordinaire, worked her magic on my website and the first chapter of LACED WITH MAGIC is posted and ready. Let me know what you think.

More Elann Baby Silk (and a little book talk)

You can't fool me. I know you're here for the yarn and that's okay. I mean, this is a knitting blog, right? And knitters love yarn. But before we get to our next contest, I hope you won't mind if I jump up and down with excitement over the cover for LACED WITH MAGIC, the sequel to CASTING SPELLS. I saw a preliminary version late last summer and while it was good it didn't thrill me. Penny the cat looked like she'd been working Jenny Craig and I missed those magical sparks that I'd loved on the first book.

Well, I can't say enough for Penguin's art department. They took my suggestions and worked their magic on the prelim art work and Friday afternoon my editor sent this my way:


I'll be posting an excerpt on my website some time this week. (Did I mention I love that cover??)

And then there's something even more delicious: six juicy skeins of Elann Baby Silk in Seashell Pink. (You know how much I love pink. All the pinks.) Same rules apply: send me an email here with PINK SILK in the header and cross your knitting fingers. I'll announce the winner Wednesday night.

Good luck!