Stay Up Way Past Your Bedtime

Okay, so I'm definitely going through some withdrawal (tapas, beautiful architecture), and jet lag has made me a little incoherent at times, but on the whole, it's lovely to be home from Spain.  What a warm welcome everyone has given us!  Especially Spyder von Zeppelin, the wonder cat.

My two forthcoming books are getting a warm reception, too, and I want to thank the folks that are welcoming them into the world.

Many thanks to the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) for choosing Hell or High Water as one of its Summer 2012 Okra Picks.  SIBA is an alliance of over 300 independent bookstores across the South, and each year they choose a dozen fresh books to hand-sell to their book-loving patrons.  This year, Hell or High Water is one of them.  It's such an honor.  Thank you, SIBA!

The University of Nebraska Press chose to feature advance copies of Island of Bones at their booth at Book Expo America this year--and they put Island of Bones on page 1 of their Fall & Winter 2012 catalog.  It's gorgeous.  Thank you, UNP!

I want to give a shout-out to the Vine reviewers on Amazon, an invitation-only program that provides pre-release copies to reviewers that other Amazon readers have found especially helpful.  Even though some of them aren't loving Hell or High Water, they are reading it and talking about it, and I want to thank them all for their time and attention--with special thanks to Jaylia3, a top 1000 reviewer, who called it a "couldn't put it down book."  Thank you, Vine reviewers!

Lastly, here's Booklist's starred review of Hell or High Water in toto, since it's behind a paywall on their site.  (But at least you can see the star!)  Thank you, Booklist!

Castro, Joy (Author)
Jul 2012. 352 p. St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne, hardcover, $25.99. (9781250004574).

Reading this suspense novel is like being handed a plate of appetizers and realizing you like them all, and that every single taste, even the bitter and hot ones, enhances the others. There’s New Orleans, both tourist-style and historical. Post-Katrina New Orleans, where a wealthy St. Charles Avenue denizen is capable of saying they suffered terrible damage, since some of their pear tree’s branches were ripped off. And the New Orleans perfect for disappearing acts, both voluntary and criminal. The central crime is the kidnapping of a college girl from a packed restaurant. The nerve center for the book is the features section of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where heroine Nola Céspedes churns out entertainment pieces and yearns for an actual news story. Her editor assigns her to an in-depth feature on the rehabilitation of sex offenders. As Nola (her Cuban single mother thought the name would give her daughter roots) interviews victims and offenders, she realizes that her story is evolving into an investigation of the college girl’s disappearance and probable fate. Most of the book follows Nola on her interviews. It’s amazing how gripping, without seeming at all contrived, these interviews are, both for moving the plot along and for revealing what goes on in sociopaths’ minds. Exquisite New Orleans background, intriguing newsroom politics and atmosphere, a flawed but plucky heroine, and skillfully paced suspense make this a “stay up way past your bedtime” read.

— Connie Fletcher