Author Jean Stone to appear at signings
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Jean Stone
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By Debbie Gardner
PRIME Editor
GREATER SPRINGFIELD Amherst-based womens fiction author Jean Stone celebrates the recent release of Twice Upon A Wedding, the latest novel in her new Second Chances series, with a pair of area book-signings.
Barnes & Noble Event
On April 22, Stone will sign copies of the first two books in the Second Chances series at Barnes and Noble at Holyoke Crossing, Holyoke.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m.
The first [book] Once Upon a Bride came out in February, the second one, Twice Upon a Wedding, just came out, Stone told Reminder Publications during a telephone interview about her upcoming appearances. The focus [of the Barnes and Noble event] will be on Twice Upon a Wedding, but both books will be [available] there.
Authors Night fund-raiser
Stone said her second booksigning will be on April 26 at the Womens Partnerships Meet the Authors Night at the Fathers & Sons Showroom, 989 Memorial Ave., West Springfield.
The 5:30 p.m event, which includes a food, wine and cheese tasting as well as book-signing party, will benefit the scholarship fund of the Womens Partnership, a division of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield.
Im one of eleven Massachusetts authors who will be signing their books that evening, Stone said, adding that Edwards Books of Tower Square, downtown Springfield, will have books for sale at the event.
Stone, who participated in the Womens Partnerships Author Night last year, said she was pleased to see cultural events such as the multi-author book-signing happen in the Springfield area.
It was just unbelievableI was just amazed at the reaction of the people [who attended], Stone said. They were just great.
Books a new format for Stone
I occasionally have had the same characters crop up in subsequent books, but this is the first real series, Stone said, referring to the release of Once Upon a Bride and Twice Upon a Wedding this year.
Instead of one book [featuring] four women and their stories, this [series] is four books and each one focuses on a different womens story, Stone said.
She further explained that the four women, all former college roommates, do appear in each of the books, along with a male character, Andrew, who becomes a connecting thread between all the stories.
And these books are more than just a new direction for Stone, whose past books have seen her four women characters dealing with serious issues such as breast cancer.
I kind-of think these are light books, Stone said. Ive been told theyre funny. The humor seemed to evolve from these characters I dont know why they just became funny.
Stone said so far, reader reactions to her new format have been very positive.
Ive had a lot of e-mails. she said. One from a reader in Florida read: Please write faster, I cant wait to read the next book in the Second Chances series.
She said another e-mail from a 44-year old graduate student in New Jersey thanked her for writing about real women.
It was so refreshing to get characters in their 40s who are dealing with grow-up issues, Stone quoted from the e-mail.
Stone said the enthusiastic reader added she had bought Once Upon a Bride during Spring Break and loved the book so much she marked her calender for the release of Twice Upon A Wedding.
She said she was planning to put some of her schoolwork on hold so she could read it, Stone said.
Buoyed by the successful reception of the first books in her Second Chances series, Stone is now hard at work penning the final two books.
The third and fourth titles are due for release in 2006.
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