About Me

My photo
My literary taste runs the gamut from Shakespeare, Poe, and Austen, to Elizabeth Lowell, Toni Morrison, and Jo Nesbo. Though I often read tales that plumb the inner demons of tortured souls, I prefer to write lighter books that my readers can have fun with.

Growing up, my sister and I lived next door to three French girls, who were like sisters to us. It was our friendship that gave me the idea of writing a book series about a group of five girls, plus the wonderful time I spent in Santa Barbara in my 20s.

Set in Santa Barbara, the Cota Club books tell the stories of each of the five friends and reflect the genres that fit each of the characters. That’s why Kristi’s story in Love and Money is a mystery, whereas Carla’s story in The Offering is romantic suspense. Tate’s story in Love and Hate is a thriller. I don’t know yet about Izzy’s, but Gwen’s will turn to the world of the supernatural.

Review: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What with 2020 being a year of upheaval in so many ways, in particular with white, wealthy, patriarchal men trying to run roughshod over the rights of others in the US, I felt drawn to reread The Great Gatsby, a classic about the "American Dream" and how the wealthy can thoughtlessly and carelessly harm others.
When I then read up on Fitzgerald's biography, I came to understand why I feel the book now reads on multiple fronts like a tragedy. The story of Gatsby himself reads like a Greek tragedy, whereas the book as a whole celebrates a time/era even while acknowledging its inevitable loss:
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us the, but that's no matter--tomorrow, we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (121)


View all my reviews