First Word

Overall, I really liked this book. I am really glad I got the chance to read it. Not many books unnerve me with their words, but this one did. I look forward to reading more of Ferry-Perata’s books in the future. ~ Jessyca Garcia, Reader's Choice It will tug at your heart strings, and keep pulling you back in. A great read. Wonderfully, beautifully written story. ~ Amy's Bookshelf This is a beautifully written book about the bounds of friendship ... Great story, great characters and an unbelievable twist at the end. Read this book ! ~ Imaskeptic  Available on Amazon ( click here ). Grains of Truth takes readers into the lives of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. Each woman has experienced heartbreak and betrayal in their quests for love. Their lives center on the happenings at the local feed store where each woman works. The store is managed by the affable and caring, Tom who is the only male heir to the chain owned by patriarch Otis. Otis, a larger-than-life ...

Q: What is Grains of Truth about? A: The lives, friendship and lovers of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. The women work for a local feed store owned by a blustering Texan named Otis. When the “feed-store girl” Sarah falls for Otis’ only male heir, scandal and heartbreak erupt. Q: What makes this contemporary romance unique from others in the genre? A: The story of love and friendship is timeless. While it might on the surface seem simple: girl meets boy; family doesn’t approve of the lovers; and girl loses boy – it’s the subtext that offers the fresh ideas. Much more is going on in this story than what appears to be obvious. The book calls for readers to really pay attention and dig a little deeper as the story unfolds. Q: What is the sub-plot in the story? A: While we have the romance between Tom and Sarah, the secondary story is about her best friend Zoe and her struggles. She’s a single mom whose ex-husband has betrayed and left her to raise thei...

All right, so we've had over 400 views on the California Girl Chronicles trailer. I need to keep promoting it, so please make sure you cl ick here to view it. It's hot! and sexy!  The following is an excerpt for the second book in the series, Brea's Big Break. Enjoy! Book two is set to release in summer 2012. Kale soon returned to Arizona for more on-set work. Other staffers from the office went with him so the place was quiet. I didn’t mind. I was able to get a lot of work done, and believe me, the pile of notes for rewrites had only grown. I’d heard, though, that they were actively casting the movie and that Johnny, the hot man I’d met in the hallway, had won the Drew part. As I rewrote Drew’s scenes, I wondered if he would see the movie. It occurred to me as I wrote the female lead that her words might make him feel the least bit repentant, but somehow I doubted it since Drew never expressed remorse. I was staring out my office window thinking about this when I h...

You can always tell how much sex a writer gets by how much they write about it in their novels. I can honestly say that George R.R. Martin is a complete and utter virgin. ~ Davidson Howarth I thought this would make a great blog topic and definitely in line with the psychology of the author influencing the page. I took a class on this once in college. The idea is that our psyche influences our work either consciously or unconsciously. I laughed when I read my fellow author Davidson's post, because, of course, what would this make me when I have a book ( California Girl Chronicles ) loaded with sexual content? I figured at least the literary equivalent to a slut LOL. I think the truth is that writers aren't going to write about something they are not interested in or that they don't think makes a great story. I suppose I wasn't going to write a contemporary romance in a culture where no one has sex or is not interested in sex. Mind you, 70 percent, according to a medi...

The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming book, California Girl Chronicles: Brea's Big Break. It will be on sale on the 3L website in limited supply in the next several days.  5 Kale soon returned to Arizona for more on-set work. Other staffers from the office went with him so the place was quiet. I didn’t mind. I was able to get a lot of work done, and believe me, the pile of notes for rewrites had only grown. I’d heard, though, that they were actively casting the movie and that Johnny, the hot man I’d met in the hallway, had won the Drew part. As I rewrote Drew’s scenes, I wondered if he would see the movie. It occurred to me as I wrote the female lead that her words might make him feel the least bit repentant, but somehow I doubted it since Drew never expressed remorse. I was staring out my office window thinking about this when I heard a voice come from behind me. “ Are you busy?” I turned around to find Monica standing in the doorway, which surprised me since she...

The first book review of California Girl Chronicles , the SF Book Reviewer writer suggested the book didn't contain long enough passages on the sex. Another book reviewer for a major blog site rejected the book because of (you guessed it) the sex. Today's book reviewer from Book Blurb suggested there was too much sex and it got boring. I am so laughing and shrugging. I am now wondering is there a magical sex-writing formula or a class I missed on writing about sex? Where exactly is the middle ground? Too much, too little, too late ... you name it I can't beat it. Another friend of mine said she wished the sex were more graphic. Okay, too much, too little, too late and not enough throw-down. Got it. Here is the bottom line: we are a culture obsessed with sex yet at the same time repressed about it, too. Most reviewers, who will actually review the book at all, inevitably bring up the issue of the sex in the book. Each has his/her perspective on the subject, and each has a...

Disclaimer: the following passage has some profane language. Reader discretion is advised. This excerpt is from California Girl Chronicles: Brea and the City of Plastic. It is available for sale on Amazon or the 3L Publishing website . He fell back on the bed. We both lay together and tried to recover from such a powerful physical act. He turned his head to face me. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, “Fucking wow! What the fuck was that?” “I think that was the best sex I’ve ever had,” I replied and reached across to wipe the sweat off his brow. This suggestion seemed to intrigue him. He looked at me with this strange grin and replied, “Really? You? Me?” I sighed, leaned into him, kissed his lips, and replied, “Quite right.” “All right, look at me. I’m a man now,” he declared facetiously. “Sweetheart, you made me a man. I think … no, I know, I have superpowers too. See what you did! Now I’ll have to save the world or something. Or just make a movie about it.” “I’ll ...

I have a treat for you right before Christmas. I revised book one for the second print run. I did an early focus group for the book, but after a broader "micro" release of the book, I received some feedback I liked and wanted to incorporate before the book goes national into the bookstores this spring. Now several producers are interested in making this book into a TV series. In fact, I am in serious talks with one production company, and their head decision-makers loved the first version; but you can always improve your work. I had the opportunity to do so. P.S. A little CGC trivia fun. Brea is pronounced: Bre-e. Where did I get the name? I call my daughter two nicknames, Bree and Lulu. In book two watch for Brea to say her sister's name ;). Now back to the changes ... I did four important revisions: Narrative : I took out the colloquial expressions and tamed it. Most readers understood that as a first-person narrative, I was staying in her voice. Some readers, w...

We interviewed a guy on our First Word radio show yesterday who discussed his various books, one of them was called Monogamy Sucks ! which I thought the title was pretty funny. (P.S., that doesn't mean I agree with it I just found it entertaining). Turns out the book is about swinging. He started talking about erotica, and I suddenly realized that maybe California Girl Chronicles isn't quite as (a-hem) as "erotic" as I thought. I think I actually construed sexy with erotica, because the more he talked the more I realized I was completely tame in my book. It wasn't anything he said in particular, it was just the "liberal-glazed" tone of the discussion. In fact, I'm willing to bet my book is luke warm compared to the blazing hotness that his books may or may not be. Now my self-image has gone from, "Oh, look at me all open and sexy," to "Oh, how boring am I?" Actually not true. I was told by one reader, "Brea is better than V...

Have you ever heard that phrase? Over the years, I've seen that phrase used to help people define success. I agree with it. I do think we all become what we spend the most time thinking about. Consider what that means for a second, and I think you will find it to be true. The real question, though, is what do you think most about? Be honest not with me but with yourself. Are you thinking positive, productive thoughts? Or are you deeply insecure, nervous and anxious about what you're doing? I always try to vigilantly watch what I'm dwelling on. I know it affects so much about what I'm working on. Right now in the early infancy of the launch of my book California Girl Chronicles , I am focused on creating the buzz around the book and making it a best seller. It hit me, though, that my private thoughts were more like: If it sells okay, I'll keep doing the series." I had to give myself a wake-up call on my own very low expectations about the book. Talk about not a...