She liked it, she really liked it...

I read and fell in love with Brenda Rickman Vantrease's debut, THE ILLUMINATOR, during a particular rocky patch of writing my novel --before I had a contract, before I had an agent, even before I thought I might ever have the guts to let someone even read the pages I was laboring over.

But I loved Brenda's story so much -- with its cast of fascinating characters, rich descriptions, interesting insight into history, and wonderful plot twists and turns -- that it lit a fire under me at a time when I might've otherwise tossed THE BELLY DANCER in the pile (an unfortunately large pile) of novels I've started and never finished. Her writing was so good and so beautiful, it inspired me to keep going and to at least try to create that kind of writing myself.

So you can probably imagine how nervous I was to give Brenda an advanced copy of my novel to read. And you can probably imagine why I've felt like tap dancing all over the house since she contacted me with this comment:

"The characters in this novel will dance right off the page and into your imagination!Cameron's representation of late nineteenth century Chicago is rich and evocative, and the whispered echoes of old New Orleans in Dora's fragmented memory left me hoping this author goes there with her next novel."

You can't imagine how much this means to me. Thank you, Brenda, you continue to be such an inspiration :-)