Nancy in Georgia

Nancy will be appearing at the AJC Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia over the Labor Day weekend. The festival itself runs from September 3 to September 5 (more on the website), and Nancy will be speaking about "Real Issues in an Unreal World" on Saturday the 4th at 4 p.m., at the Escape at the Old Courthouse (which itself sounds like a work of fiction).

Advance review of Extraordinary

Now that the advance readers copies are out, review season for Extraordinary has begun. And Ilene Cooper gets things off to a great start with the following review in ALA's Booklist:

Phoebe, a descendant of the legendary Mayer Rothschild and his banking family, is drawn to odd fellow seventh-grader Mallory and vows to befriend her. What readers already know is that Mallory has left the faerie world at the behest of her queen to settle a score, though details of what's at stake are deliciously drawn out. The story jumps six years. Now 18, Mallory is a beauty and Phoebe is not, but the balance of power seemingly stays with Phoebe, whose family has offered both kindness and money to simplify Mallory's life. As she understands the meaning of friendship, it becomes difficult for her to draw Phoebe into a web of deception. Enter Mallory's brother, Ryland, older, more cunning, and willing to do what he must to save the faerie world. Medieval Jewish history, ethical questions, faeries, modern romance. Whew! In the hands of a less-talented author, this would be a hot mess. Happily, Werlin crafts her characters so deftly and unrolls the story so cleverly that despite some rough juxtapositions (and a final meandering conversation), readers will be under the spell till the end.

Among the best writers of the crime genre, period

I've always admired Nancy for being something of a genre-bender: she can write, and write well, and it doesn't matter what one calls it, or even necessarily what one's tastes are. Good writing is good writing.

Of course there's been a lot of praise heaped on her lately for her two recent romantic fantasies, first Impossible and now Extraordinary (the latter due out in September), but among all that, it's nice to hear a shout-out for Nancy in her erstwhile niche, crime/suspense.

Sarah Weinman, one of the most influential reviewers of crime fiction, offers her take on John Grisham's Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, for Barnes & Noble, and in that review she says of Nancy:

I should mention my favorite young adult mystery writer, Nancy Werlin. Her books offer strong plotting, multi-faceted characters and a keen eye for social issues that speak directly to her readers. At her best, as with the National Book Award nominee The Rules of Survival and Edgar-Award winner The Killer's Cousin, she's among the best writers of the crime genre, period.

See? It's not just me. If you're relatively new to Nancy's stuff, and don't mind shifting gears, you should start in on her back list...