Friends in high places...

A few years ago, I met and became friends with Jacquelyn Mitchard, an Oprah author and accomplished New York Times bestseller. (By the way, check out her latest novel, a YA hit released earlier this month titled Now You See Her; a story about a teenage girl who fakes her own abduction -- or does she?)

This is what Kirkus Reviews had to say about it: "With plenty of kid speak and pop-culture references, this melodrama steeped in our celebrity culture should fly off the shelves."

Since meeting Jackie, she's been a big supporter of my work, kindly offering a hand where she can as I build my career. Pasted below is her latest Amazon blog post promoting The Penny Tree:

COMING SOON, 'The Penny Tree'

It's not often that I hear a genuine, strong assured voice at a writer's conference. But that happened two years ago, when Holly Kennedy, already a published writer, was a student of mine. There was little, however, I could teach her. But her humility, despite having had a starred review just that week in Publisher's Weekly, is part of what makes Holly who she is.

Holly's work plays the heartstrings like a mandolin. She's been called the new Nicholas Sparks and been compared with Sue Monk Kidd, among others. Her stories are deceptively simple. They touch something deep. Holly's writing is absolutely honest and absolutely true to her view of life, which is tender, filled with sentiment but not sentimentality and utterly hopeful.

'The Penny Tree' debuts in just days.

Read and love it.

Find a new writer whose career is sure to rise like a spring moon.

Yours,
Jacquelyn Mitchard