I know you’ve all heard me go on and on about my friend Ann Garvin. I met her out of total, random chance (well, I mean, I guess we all probably know by now there’s no such thing as random chance…) before I had a book deal, and we just hit it off immediately. The more I know her, the more I adore her, and, more important, the more I look up to and respect her. The woman should have a cape. I’m not kidding.
She’s raising two amazing, beautiful daughters, taking care of her parents, is a professor of creative writing and nutrition, at two different universities, is the founder of an amazing group for readers and writers called the Tall Poppy Writers, and is a tireless advocate and volunteer for tons of organizations, one of them being The Girl Effect. (If you haven’t seen this video it’s seriously worth the couple of minutes. It’s amazing!) Oh, and, yeah, did I mention she’s an author at Berkley/Penguin too? See? A cape.
Anyway, she has so much going on that I didn’t even want to ask her to read Dear Carolina. But I love her and I wanted her feedback, so I did… And she told me that if she was too busy to help her friends that she needed to reassess. And she probably doesn’t know it, but that’s something that will stay with me even more than her beautiful words on the pages or her infectious smile. It’s kind of becoming a new yardstick by which I measure my life.
At any rate, thanks to Ann for her beautiful words about my book:
Dear Carolina is like the southern women within its pages and those who will love this book, sweet as sweet tea on the outside and strong as steel on the inside. The dialect of the south is so entwined in these pages the reader is transported to a place where women and children are treasured and family rules all. Kristy Harvey is a natural.
Yay! Just wanted to share the happy news with all of you. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!
I have to agree that Ann is an amazing woman! Best of all she is a True Friend!!!