Jennifer Lane Books Blog

If you want authors to shudder with fear and revulsion, ask them to write a BLURB. What's a blurb? It's a brief summary of a story. The best blurbs hook the reader without giving away too much. We writers are a verbose bunch and it's tough for us to pack our narrative into a pithy punch. This is where critique partners and editors come in handy! What characterizes your favorite blurbs? I've been drawn to starting with a sentence or two from the first person point of view. However, I wrote the blurbs for my first two books in the Blocked series in the third person, and wanted to stay consistent for book three. I found a compromise for SPIKED (Blocked #3) by adding song lyrics to the blurb to capture the first person perspective of the hero Mateo, who's a singer / songwriter. SPIKED (Blocked #3) They say University is the time To find yourself But I don’t need to find myself Just want to find you   After watching his older siblings fi...

Why do authors complain about writing summaries of their novels for the book jacket? Because it's TOUGH. Waaaah! A good blurb captures the voice of the novel. It entices the reader without giving too much away. We're starting to edit my fourth novel On Best Behavior (The Con duct Series #3), and we need the book blurb for a press release. Here was my first effort at writing the blurb: On Best Behavior is the third and final book in The Con duct Series—romantic suspense with a psychological twist. Following a pardon by the Governor of Illinois, ex-cons Sophie Taylor and Grant Madsen are free to pursue their love. But planning a wedding is never easy, especially when the Russian Mafia want you dead. Grant fights the forces that have hurt his loved ones by working undercover for the FBI to infiltrate the Russian Mafia in Chicago. Sophie dives into swimming with Grant’s nephew Ben, and into a career as a psychology professor. This time it’s Ben’s turn to hea...

Thanks to Ciara Knight and Ninja Alex Cavanaugh for this clever blogfest! Here are the guidelines: Post about a book you’ve noticed. You can choose a book that you’ve read, something you saw on a blog or social media site, Goodreads, or a sales website. Anything that caught your eye because of a great cover, blurb or reviews, but DON’T tell the author that their book has been noticed. Instead, shout out on social media sites, and encourage others to do the same, until the author finds his/her book. Leave a blog comment at Ninja Captain Alex or Ciara Knight when the author finds their book.  I've actually noticed TWO books recently (hopefully that's not cheating?) First, I met author Kyra Lennon on the A to Z Blog Challenge in April, when she posted compelling excerpts about a soccer romance (I love sports romances.) Then I blink and suddenly her debut novel Game On had already been released! How could I have missed it? That cover bends it like...