New website design: Josephine Angelini!

I put a new site live today which I really like (and the author does too of course!). I ADORE designing Young Adult sites -- SO much fun! And Josie and her husband Albert were a total pleasure to work with.

Her book, Starcrossed, is coming out May 31st. Here's a short synop:

Helen Hamilton has always tried to hide how different she is—no easy feat on an island as small as Nantucket, and only getting harder as she finds herself haunted by hallucinations and vivid nightmares. It's not until she crosses paths with Lucas Delos at school that Helen's true heritage is finally revealed. Yet even as Lucas helps her awaken to her startling powers, they can never be together—not unless they can break free from the tragic destiny the Three Fates have in store.

It's getting amazing reviews, which you can check out here.

maddee

Dr. Andrea Bonior's debut book, The Friendship Fix, is out today -- and I can't wait to read it! Not that I need, you know, any help in that arena. I have awesome friends! :)

Here's a bit about the book:
The Friendship Fix is the first book to delve into aspects of friendship such as how your personality shapes what friends you fall for, how social networking has revolutionized friendship, how friendship affects your health, and how to avoid common pitfalls and complications.

Kirkus says:
"A clinical psychologist cleanly dissects friendships in a surprisingly entertaining manner. In her debut, Bonior (Psychology/Georgetown Univ.) dispenses smart advice, flush with wit and sarcasm, aimed at women grappling with their relationships ...taken from clinical to fabulous."

Besides all that, Andrea is just a wonderful woman!

Check it out!
maddee

Marcia Clark's Making Her Fiction Debut!

Marcia Clark first grabbed headlines as the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial. Now she's grabbing headlines as a thriller writer. She combines her sharp wit with her first-hand knowledge of the L.A. legal system to create Guilt by Association, a debut novel which has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews!

James Ellroy declares:

"You must read this book: it is wildly and complexly plotted, ebulliently witty and filled with riotous humor; it details the inner workings of the L.A. legal system with unprecedented accuracy and verve—and to top it off, it is a damn, damn, good thriller."

This is the first publication for Mulholland Books, which is off to an auspicious start.  Check out Marcia's website for more fun information and pick up the book today!

New site design for Will Lavender

I put a new site -- willlavender.com -- live this morning which I really love. And his upcoming book, Dominance, looks fabulous -- I can't wait to read it... check this description out:

A famed literature professor Richard Aldiss teaches a special night class called Unraveling a Literary Mystery—from his prison cell. Twelve years ago, Aldiss was convicted of the murders of two female grad students; they were killed with axe blows and their bodies decorated with the novels of notoriously reclusive author Paul Fallows.

Now, Aldiss entreats the students of his night class to solve the Fallows riddle once and for all. He introduces them to the Procedure, a game that supposedly lets one get inside the novels themselves, book which scholars believe are maps to the author's true identity. Soon members of the night class will be invited to play along...

My kind of book!

Have a great weekend everyone!

maddee

John Connolly's Charlie Parker is Returning!

John's website is newly updated with The Burning Soul details.

Randall Haight has a secret: when he was a teenager, he and his friend killed a 14-year-old girl.

Randall did his time and built a new life in the small Maine town of Pastor's Bay, but somebody has discovered the truth about Randall. He is being tormented by anonymous messages, haunting reminders of his past crime, and he wants private detective Charlie Parker to make it stop.

But another 14-year-old girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor's Bay, and the missing girl's family has its own secrets to protect. Now Parker must unravel a web of deceit involving the police, the FBI, a doomed mobster named Tommy Morris, and Randall Haight himself.

Because Randall Haight is telling lies...

The Burning Soul, John's tenth full-length Charlie Parker novel, will be released by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, Ireland and Australia on September 1, followed closely by the US release from Atria on September 6.

Watch his website for updates as the release draws closer and be sure to check out The Burning Soul.

Adam Bryant's The Corner Office

You may already know xuni.com author Adam Bryant as the Pulitzer Prize-winning deputy national editor of The New York Times. If you read the Sunday Business section of the Times, you may also be familiar with his column "The Corner Office." Times Books has now released his book, The Corner Office, which is a result of his analysis of more than 70 of the interviews with CEOs and other leaders used to create those columns.

The result is a book that Distinguished Professor of Business at the University of Southern California, Warren Bennis, calls

"The first and perhaps only book I would recommend to any aspiring or sitting leader for its wise and practical distillation of lessons for exemplary leadership. It is the best, most reliable GPS/road map, currently available, for successful leadership."

You never know when you may be called on to lead others. Knowing how the best in the business do it successfully can benefit us all. Check out Adam Bryant's website and grab your copy of The Corner Office today!

Jonathan Hayes: new site and new book!

I just got Jonathan's new starkly svelte site live yesterday:

http://jonathanhayes.com/

A little different from my usual work, but the goal is always to express the client perfectly and this is just what the wonderful and interesting Mr. Hayes wanted. He just tweeted: "Maddee James has just completed an elegant, supple rebuild of my site, www.jonathanhayes.com - feel free to gawp at its sleek restraint!"

I love that description!

Even more important, his new book, A Hard Death, is out today! This great Booklist review says it all:

"This is a CinemaScope novel, in Technicolor and surround sound: bloody murders, hot sex, decadence, incest, drug cartels... a story of a depravity that both chills and fascinates."
—Booklist

Enjoy!

maddee

Jen Forbus joins xuni.com!

I am quite thrilled to announced that Jen of Jen's Book Thoughts is joining xuni.com to help with social networking!!!! I've been wanting to keep my blog, facebook fan page, and twitter account much better updated, and I just have too much work to do it on my own. (Having so many incredible clients is a two-edged sword!) So I'm seriously thrilled to have someone like Jen helping me out....

So, everyone welcome the multi-talented, crime-connected (so to speak), very very very into social-networking guru Jen to our team!!!!