August 2006 On Sale: August 7, 2006 Featuring: Ree Dailey 208 pages ISBN: 031605755X EAN: 9780316057554 Hardcover $22.99 Add to Wish List Fiction Buy at Amazon.com Nominated for Best Picture OSCAR Academy Award-nominated for adapted screenplay Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell Meet Ree Dolly — not since Mattie Ross stormed her way through Arkansas in True Grit has a young girl so fiercely defended her loved ones. Sixteen-year-old Ree Dolly has grown up in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks and belongs to a large extended family. On a bitterly cold day, Ree, who takes care of her two younger brothers as well as her mother, learns that her father has skipped bail. If he fails to appear for his upcoming court date on charges of cooking crystal meth, his family will lose their house, the only security they have. Winter’s Bone is the story of Ree’s quest to bring her father back, alive or dead. Her goal had been to leave her messy world behind and join the army, where “everybody had to help keep things clean.” But her father’s disappearance forces her to first take on the outlaw world of the Dolly family. Ree’s plan is elemental and…

I’m delighted to be at Fresh Fiction today and I look forward to chatting with readers. People who’ve read my books won’t be surprised to hear me say that, for me, it’s all about the characters. My plots only exist to send my characters on challenging emotional journeys where they confront deep insecurities and fears. If they’re to win love, they have to find the courage to do some growing. We writers call that “character arc.” Jenna, the heroine of my February release (chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the Top 10 Romances of Spring 2011!), is a woman I’ve known for a while. That’s because HIS, UNEXPECTEDLY is the third book in my sexy “planes, trains, automobiles, and a cruise ship” Wild Ride to Love series about the four Fallon sisters. I knew from the first book that Jenna, the third sister, is viewed by her family as a flaky eccentric, and that she sees herself as a free spirited butterfly who flits from place to place, job to job, and man to man as the mood strikes her. I knew that Jenna would need a very special kind of guy to make her consider commitment, and so…