Our Big News

If you've been keeping track of us on social media you've probably already heard this, as it feels like it's being blasted from every corner of the book world, but we have BIG NEWS.

Our first book, MY LADY JANE, is going to be a TV series on Amazon Prime. 

No, really. It is. It begins filming in London very soon.

All three of us feel like we're living in a kind of wonderful alternate universe, one in which we wrote a book, and now we're going to see it all come to life, with amazing actors and gorgeous sets and beautiful costumes and all of the things. To say that we're excited would be an understatement. We are thrilled. After three years of working with the amazing Gemma Burgess, the best showrunner and screenwriter we could have asked for, and Parkes and McDonald, the production company that brought you Men in Black, Zorro, Catch Me If You Can, and Gladiator, it's finally happening.

No, really. It is.

Jane will be played by Emily Bader, who some of you will know from being Paranormal Activity 4 and others will recognize as Chloe from the new Charmed series. We love her.

G will be played by Edward Bluemel, who we love in everything we've ever seen him in, especially Killing Eve and A Discovery of Witches. !!!! (Some of us may have actually screamed upon learning this. Or all of us... There's been a lot of screaming and squealing for us lately.)

And Edward will be played by Jordan Peters, who's in a flurry of things lately including the new Flowers in The Attic series, Everything I Know About Love, Pirates, and Blue Story. 

There's not a lot more we can say about it just now, but go to the imdv page here if you'd like to see the other people who are officially involved. 

More updates to come!

(*Screams!)

(*Squeals!)

No, really. It's happening.

Book Tour Summer 2021

 Hey there! Our new book, MY CONTRARY MARY, is coming out next week, and we are going on a (virtual) book tour to celebrate. We always read a little bit from the book, laugh a lot, and offer fun swag (in this case, a bunch of signed bookplates). Click on the links below so you can register/get tickets.

Link to the Best of Books Event

Link to the RJ Julia Booksellers Event

See you there!

Six Months Until Mary

 It's time to start counting down! It's six months until the release of the first book from our new series, the Marys! The first one is MY CONTRARY MARY, coming to bookstores on June 22, 2021.

Here's the short pitch: MY CONTRARY MARY is THE PRINCESS BRIDE meets REIGN (the TV show about Mary, Queen of Scots). Because the book stars MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. And also FRANCIS, the crown prince of France, Mary's betrothed. And also ARI, who you will not have heard of, because we totally made her up, but she's the daughter of NOSTRADAMUS, who you might have heard of.

Here's the official, longer description:

Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and . . . queens?

Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail.  

Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn after the king meets a suspicious end. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis face a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll.

Fun, right? This book was so much fun to write. It kept us laughing as we worked on it, that's for sure. And we really needed to laugh this year.

Now it's time to field some questions we imagine you might be having:

Imaginary Future Reader: The description uses the word E∂ian--is this book a sequel of MY LADY JANE???!!! Are we going to see Jane and G and Edward?

US: MY CONTRARY MARY is like all of the other Janie books, in that it is a standalone. But unlike the rest of the Janie books, it takes place in the same world as MY LADY JANE. There are E∂ians (people who can change into an animal form) and Verities (people who think that shapeshifting thing is just wrong). Mary, if you'll remember from her brief appearance in MY LADY JANE, can change into a mouse. And yes, you might spot some characters you already know and love if you look hard enough.

IFR: So do I have to read MY LADY JANE first?

US: No. You'll be able to understand this book just fine all on its own. But you might enjoy it a teensy bit more if you've recently read MY LADY JANE.

IFR: Does this mean Mary, Queen of Scots, is going to get a happy ending?

US: That is what we do. :) She is not going to get her head chopped off in the end, if that's what you're asking. . .

IFR: What about Francis?

US: What about him?

IFR: Does he die?

US: Um, well that would be a spoiler, now wouldn't it? You'll have to read to find out.

IFR: But you told us that Mary doesn't get her head chopped off. 

US: Yes, but that's kind of a given. Like we said, it's what we DO with these books.

IFR: But obviously, if Mary's going to get a happy ending, Francis can't die.

US: We can't comment on that. 

IFR: Sure you can.

US: You're making us uncomfortable, imaginary reader. Maybe Francis dies, as he does in history, of an ear infection or something, and then Mary meets the love of her life--some guy named Larry--and lives happily ever after. You don't know. That's why you have to READ THE BOOK.

IFR: Okay, okay. Fine. Don't tell us.

US: We will say that it probably the most romantic book we've ever written. That's all we'll say. Mary and Francis really do have feelings for each other that are clear right from the beginning. 

IFR: So Francis doesn't die pointlessly and he and Mary end up together and THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED FROM LIFE.

US: *running away* See our BOOKS page for more information about MY CONTRARY MARY as we go!!!

Signed Bookplates for My Calamity Jane

It's almost time for MY CALAMITY JANE! In just over two weeks, our favorite Wild West Jane will be in the bookstores. . . but we, unfortunately, won't. We had a big tour planned for MCJ, but then, like everything these days, our plan had to change. So instead we have bookplates, signed by all three of us, available at the following bookstores. Click the link to go to their page and order a (sort of) signed copy

One More Page, Arlington VA

Rediscovered Books, Boise, ID

The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT

Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX

Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, NH

Books of Wonder, New York City, NY

McNally Robinson Books, Winnipeg, MB Canada

The Book Dragon, Staunton, VA

Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA




Would you like your local indie bookstore to get their own signed bookplates? Have them email us and get put on our list.

We are also going to be doing some podcasts (Fictional Hangover and Lit Service) and virtual events in the next few weeks, most notably at:

Gibson's Bookstore (www.gibsonsbookstore.com) on June 3, at 8pm ET

and

Rediscovered Books (rdbooks.org) on June 5, at 9pm ET

Here Come the Marys!

We're just going to leave this here for now, from Publishers Weekly:

Which one are you most excited for?

News and Tour Wrap up

So MY PLAIN JANE has been out for two weeks, and we Janies have been getting all the love!

In the first week we went on an amazing tour in which we:

Met a real live HEDGEHOG named Pixi Sticks in Salt Lake City!

Answered a lot of fun questions and performed a bit of MY PLAIN JANE (with costumes!)

(Thanks to the Fabulous Book Fiend for the fun video from our Denver event)

Almost melted in Phoenix, but we kept right on laughing

and then we returned to Salt Lake City, where the three of us sat down to start writing our next book, MY CALAMITY JANE. It was business as usual for the Janies:

And then something AMAZING happened:

MY PLAIN JANE hit the New York Times bestseller list!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, it was an amazing two weeks, and thanks so much to everyone who came out and supported us. We have the best, most enthusiastic, hilarious readers, and we love you all so much!

If you're feeling a bit cheated because we stuck to the western United States this time, and you live on the eastern side, we have good news. The Janies will be meeting up in August in Virginia to finish writing MY CALAMITY JANE, and while we're there, we'll be doing two book events. The first is at Barnes & Noble Charlottesville on Saturday, August 4th, at 12pm.

And the second will be at One More Page in Arlington on August 7 at 7pm:

So come and see us there! We promise that we will perform for you, too!

In less exciting news, we just sent copyright infringement takedowns to a huge amount of piracy sites. This depresses us so much. Please don't steal our books. At this stage, every single sale of MY PLAIN JANE counts so much, we can't emphasize enough how much it matters. We would really like to keep writing books together, but we can't do this if our sales aren't good enough. So please don't pirate!

On that note, we have some awesome news. MY PLAIN JANE is, as of this week, available at Target! But this is no ordinary version of our book. This version has a whole EXTRA CHAPTER at the end, like an epilogue to our epilogue. The Target version of the book is the only place you can get this extra content (which we had so much fun writing!), and they have only printed a limited amount of these, so once they are all sold, they're gone.

So run to Target, people! (Or you can get it online here.) And have a good laugh with us about the invention of the double date.

Thanks again for all the love for MY PLAIN JANE. We'll see you in the funny papers!

XOXO
The Janies

My Plain Jane COVER REVEAL

Hello, Janie fans! We are so excited today, because we've finally been given the green light to share the cover for our upcoming Jane novel--My Plain Jane. We love this cover so much!

But first, here's the book description:

You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (yikes) and his uneven temper (YIKES) they fall in love--and, Reader, she marries him.

We have a different tale to tell.

Are you excited yet?

Well, then . . . here's a peek at the inside of the jacket:

And finally, HERE'S THE COVER:

Isn't it totally awesome???!!! Leave your comments below!