What Am I Reading Wednesday (09/09/2020) + A Time for Reading Old Favorites

*NOTE: Apparently, my issues with the blogger auto-post tool are still ongoing. This was supposed to go live last night (09/09/2020). Apologies for the delay, everyone!

 *****

Hello, dear Writing Desk Readers -

I hope everyone enjoyed last month's interview with the fabulous author Kim Chance. It was so nice having her back as a guest!

As I think I've mentioned before, and know many of you have as well, it's been hard for me to focus on either reading or writing these last several months. And I want to emphasize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. There have been several articles and posts online on this, I especially connected with the Vogue piece by Sophie Vershbow titled "I Can't Read a Book Right Now - And I Am Not Alone".

With that in mind, I haven't been forcing myself to do anything creative. I felt like that would make me resent what I was doing, more than anything. There were a few times I was really able to sit down and become immersed in a new book, but for the most part I've been reaching for books I've read before and know I liked. Old favorites.

So, it wasn't a surprise to me when I picked up my copy of Hank Phillippi Ryan's The Other Woman last week, the first book in her Jane Ryland series. Some of you might even remember when I shared the fourth book in this series for a previous What Am I Reading Wednesday.

Hank is an excellent thriller writer and investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV. I got to know her at a conference back in 2015 and she was even one of my interview guests in 2018!

Since The Other Woman is one of the only books I was able to read and enjoy all the way through this year, I thought I'd celebrate by sharing it here for a long overdue What Am I Reading Wednesday.

*****

Title: The Other Woman

Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan

First Reading: Third? Fourth? It's one of my go-to travel/waiting room reads.

Initial Impression: I enjoyed the combination of mystery and journalism from the beginning.

Final Thoughts: The first time I read The Other Woman, I did not see the final twist coming! It was enough of a surprise that I had to go back and re-read a few scenes to see if I could spot any clues.  

Image Source: hankphillippiryan.com

As always, this blog is a spoiler-free zone. So, I won't be going into a detailed description of this book, but here are a few highlight points.

The Other Woman introduces us to Jane Ryland, a former Boston on-air news reporter who, due to a massive scandal, finds herself suddenly dropped into the world of print journalism. 

Alternating throughout the book, we also see the POV of Detective Jake Brogan, Jane's would-be love interest. Except for the fact that they could never have a truly open relationship, with Jane still in the news-world and Jake as an always-potential source. A perfect example: Jake is currently investigating a possible Boston serial killer, and Jane's newspaper is desperate to get the scoop.

*****

About the Author:

Hank Phillippi Ryan is a USA Today bestselling author of 12 thrillers, winning the most prestigious
awards in the genre: five Agathas, three Anthonys, the Daphne, and for The Other Woman, the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. Book critics call her “a master of suspense,” “a superb and gifted storyteller,” and she’s the only author to have won the Agatha in four different categories: Best First, Best Novel, 

Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. Her previous novel, The Murder List, is an Agatha, Anthony, Macavity and Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee. NYT bestsellers A.J. Finn says, “exciting, explosive, relentless,” and B.A. Paris says it’s “her best yet.” Hank’s newest novel: the chilling psychological standalone The First to Lie. The Publishers Weekly starred review says “Stellar… Hank Phillippi Ryan could win a sixth Agatha with this one” and bestseller Sarah Pekkanen says “Book clubs will gobble it up.”

(Image & Bio Source: hankphillippiryan.com)