Blurbs : Praise For Fool Her Once From Other Authors

One of the most difficult tasks for an author is to go out into the world and ask other authors for blurbs.

Those are the quotes of praise found on the front and back covers of books as well as on an author’s Amazon or Goodreads or BookBub page.

Nerve-Wracking

It’s a difficult task because you know other authors are as busy as you are, probably even busier. If not with writing or editing or revisions, then with book signings or author events and virtual appearances to promote their books.

So, actually it’s quite nerve-wracking to ask another author to read your ARC (advance review copy) with a view to possibly providing an endorsement. Of course, it’s a huge vote of confidence when an author you admire says, Yes.

Generous & Gracious

The following are authors who were generous and gracious enough to say: Sure, I’ll take the time to read your ARC.

R.G Belsky, prolific author of the Clare Carlson mystery series  was the first. In fact, he read Fool Her Once when my thriller was still in Word/pdf format. He was the first to write a blurb which has been posted on my Books page  since last year.

Serendipitous

The next endorsement arrived from Barry Levine, author of All The President’s Women and The Spider (a chilling account of how Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ensnared young teen girls into a web of sexual abuse and depravity.)

I happened to catch Barry at a serendipitous moment –just before he became totally immersed in interviews and podcasts, commenting on Ghislaine Maxwell’s recent trial and convictions.

Barry is also probably the only tabloid investigative reporter to ever be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is also a Huffington Post Game Changer Award winner.

Riveting Stunner

Here is what he said in this much-appreciated review :

“Here’s the scoop on Fool Her Once — the third novel from author Joanna Elm following her suspense page-turners Scandal and Delusion. This one really stops the presses! This terrific thriller mixes blood and ink and cuts right from the veins of Elm’s days as a gritty Fleet Street investigative reporter on the London Evening News and as a writer/producer for America’s top tabloid TV show, A Current Affair, back in its sensational heyday. The novel’s tagline is “Some killers are born. Others are made.” And you can certainly add “unforgettable” from this sizzling read that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Finely-tuned with great pace and suspense, Elm puts all of herself into her gutsy heroine, rookie tabloid reporter Jenna Sinclair, who outed Denny Dennison, the illegitimate son of a serial killer. Decades later, Jenna must deal with the consequences of her reporting and track down the man who appears to be targeting her daughter. Has Denny Dennison inherited his father’s psychopath gene? Is he out for revenge?

In this riveting stunner, which I couldn’t put down, Elm takes us on a wild ride from New York City to remote parts of coastal Long Island and to Florida.

At one point, Jenna remarks to a pal that she needs to find some Dutch courage in “a Bloody Mary, maybe even a straight-up vodka.” By the time we reach the 416-page novel’s convincing conclusion, you can make mine a Double.”

Praise from a Fellow Gonk

Next came a review from Gregory Lee Renz, the award-winning author of Beneath The Flames, and a fellow Gonk :

Joanna Elm has masterfully crafted a stunning thriller that has it all: a beautifully flawed protagonist who we can’t help but root for; a complex antagonist with a tragic past; a setting alive with vivid details, and a gripping story with cascading tension that explodes in the well-earned climax. Well done, Elm.”

Book Festival Founder Says

Lois Cahall,#1 bestselling author, Plan C: Just In Case; and the founder of the hugely successful Palm Beach Book Festival was next to respond and had this to say:

“Shame that my Cape Cod friend, the author, Mary Higgins Clark, isn’t alive to share a ladies lunch with Joanna Elm and me. Mary would have loved Joanna…loved ‘Jenna,’ the heroine at the helm of her prose; the way her writing intricately weaves lovers, both former and present, in such a way that any one of them could be suspect for murder. There are many suspense novels out there about unstable women, but ‘Jenna’ is NOT one of them. Fool Her Once, perhaps…fool her twice, not so nice…and then some.”

What a thrill to be linked with Mary Higgins Clark, an author who did more than any other to pique my interest in superb psychological thrillers — and who inspired me to try writing my own.

First 5-Star Goodreads Review

Susan Ouellette, whose debut spy thriller, The Wayward Spy was voted a Top 12 Book of the Year by The Strand Magazine gave Fool Her Once its first 5-star review on Goodreads:

“Joanna Elm’s FOOL HER ONCE is an expertly crafted crime thriller that grabs the reader from the start and doesn’t let go. Jenna Sinclair, an investigative journalist whose marriage is in tatters, finds herself being sucked into a perilous situation because of a serial killer story she wrote decades prior. For years, she has been able to bury her guilt over what happened in the wake of the story’s publication. But now, when someone she loves is brutally assaulted, she realizes that her past is making its way into her present. 

Joanna Elm masterfully unwinds the plot, letting readers in on the truth gradually until they realize the mortal danger that Jenna faces, even before Jenna herself comprehends the shocking truth. Fans of crime thrillers will love FOOL HER ONCE. I look forward to more Joanna Elm novels!”

What a great way to start 2022! Thank you to all the authors above who took the time and effort to read and review. I know a few more reviews are on the way. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Happy New Year to All !