Janet Lambert for grownups!

Tonight I went to a booksigning at Barnes & Noble for a local author I really enjoy, Suzanne Brockmann, and it was a fun event. When I first started reading her books, she was making a move from Bantam's Loveswept line but is now a very successful NYT bestselling author for Ballantine. She writes romantic suspense about a group of Navy Seals (which even she acknowledges is an unusual concept) and in several was able to mix historical and contemporary events by very skillful use of flashbacks (I thought those were some of her best books). There were lots of questions from the audience. I commented that her most interesting and unusual character Gina had been introduced in a relatively early book yet readers had to wait a long time for her to get her own story in Breaking Point. Her answer, which I liked, was that because Gina had gone through such trauma initially that it would have been unrealistic and simplistic to give her a happy ending right away so she let time pass (with her characters, not just forcing her readers to wait). What I didn't tell Suzanne was that I still haven't read that one - I was almost afraid it wouldn't live up to expectations so was waiting for the right moment! However, when I heard tonight that Force of Nature was her 44th book I realized I am missing quite a few. Perhaps I need to go back to the beginning and read chronologically. It was a pity not to be accompanied by Julie Naughton, who is an even bigger fan than I am.