ANNIE ASKS Her Favorites Through The Years

These are the authors that I adore, and have adored from the moment I read their first book. From Six to almost 120 written by each author my library and kindle shelves are leaning over. I’m excited to share them with you!

“Annie Asks” is to ask Proust Questions. I happened upon these questions in Vanity Magazine. They were developed by Proust in the late 1800’s. The entire point of this question is to learn about the person's character that you're interviewing. They were especially intriguing to me, because authors can use the same questions to develop their characters in their books. There are actually a total of 35 questions. I've chosen to ask each of these authors four questions, and we had a lot of interesting answers!

Join us, as we learn more about some of Annie’s favorite authors. You can also watch the podcast on Well Read Magazine’s YouTube channel “Between the Pages”.

Judith Keim, A USA Today Best Selling Author, is a hybrid author who both has a publisher and self-publishes. Ms. Keim writes heart-warming novels about women who face unexpected challenges, meet them with strength, and find love and happiness along the way, stories with heart. Her best-selling books are based, in part, on many of the places she's lived or visited and on the interesting people that she's met, creating believable characters and realistic settings her many loyal readers love.

She enjoyed her childhood and young-adult years in Elmira, New York, and now makes her home in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their two dachshunds, Winston and Wally, and other members of her family.

While growing up, she was drawn to the idea of writing stories from a young age. Books were always present, being read, ready to go back to the library, or about to be discovered. All in her family shared information from the books in general conversation, giving them a wealth of knowledge and vivid imaginations.

Bestselling author Patricia Sands lives two hours north of Toronto, Canada, in The Blue Mountains, when she isn't somewhere else, and calls the south of France her second home. An admitted travel fanatic, she can pack a bag in a flash and be ready to go anywhere … particularly the south of France. With a focus on travel, women’s issues and aging, her stories celebrate the feminine spirit and the power of friendship.

Her award-winning 2010 debut novel, The Bridge Club, is a book-group favorite, and The Promise of Provence, which launched her three-part Love in Provence series (followed by Promises to Keep and I Promise You This), was a finalist for a 2013 USA Best Book Award and a 2014 National Indie Excellence Award, an Amazon Hot New Release in April 2013, and a 2015 nominee for a #RBRT Golden Rose award in the category of romance. Her fifth novel, Drawing Lessons, was released by Lake Union Publishing on October 1, 2017.

Lavender, Loss & Love, ~A Season of Surprises ~and The First Noel make up the the Villa de Violettes series, based on the Love in Provence characters.

The Bridge Club ~ Tenth Anniversary edition ~ was released in September 2021 and is now in Kindle Unlimited.

On August 25, 2022, her novel THE SECRETS WE HIDE was released.

Most recently, she released LOST AT SEA as part of a series with several authors.

Sands also contributes to such Francophile websites as The Good Life France and Perfectly Provence and loves to visit Book Clubs either live or on ZOOM! Info on her website.

Patricia has led several 10-day tours of the French Riviera and the countryside of Provence.

Barbara Josselsohn is an award-winning novelist and journalist who loves crafting stories about strong protagonists facing a fork in the road. Her novels include The Cranberry Inn, The Lily Garden, The Bluebell Girls, The Lilac House, and The Last Dreamer, Her articles and essays appear in a range of publications including New York Magazine, Parents Magazine, Consumers Digest, The New York Times, American Baby, Writer’s Digest, and Westchester Magazine. She teaches novel writing at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is also a private book coach. Other than writing, her biggest passion is her family: her husband and their three kids.

In 2023 she released her new historical series, “Sisters of War”

Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. She suspects she may have once lived in the 1930s and, having yet to discover a handy time machine lying around, has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there.

Coincidentally, her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and many others, so she might be on to something. Unbeknownst to most, Michelle hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also marmalade.

I also asked a few Rapid Fire Questions for fun just for the holidays! Thank you, Mandy Haynes, for this opportunity to interview for Well Read Magazine.