Alina Adams - New York Times Best Selling Writer
The Man from Oakdale Guiding Light: Jonathan's Story (Paperback) Guiding Light: Jonathan's Story (Hardcover) Oakdale Confidential: Secrets Revealed Oakdale Confidential Skate Crime Death Drop Axel of Evil On Thin Ice Murder on Ice Sarah Hughes: Skating to the Stars Inside Figure Skating When a Man Loves a Woman Annie's Wild Ride Thieves at Heart The Fictitious Marquis
My Blog: www.figureskatingmystery.com My Free On-line Serial: "Counterpoint." Stalin’s Other Non-Aggression Pact Essay: Love in the Afternoon: Can Romance Readers Get Their Fix From Soap Operas?
"What is it about you, Mr. Lowell, that
other women find so enchanting?"
Taking a step closer to Julia, Jamie gazed
deeply into her eyes, making it impossible for her to look away.
"Well, first of all," he began, "I start
by telling the lady how beautiful she is. How the black of her eyes
is like the rarest of pearls lying safe and warm beneath the azure blue
of the sea."
Julia listened, knowing all the while that
he had fined and honed his craft until every wooing word slipped like poetry
from his lips. And yet she couldn't help feeling affected by them.
He reached for the glass of sherry behind
him and dipped his finger into the wine. Mesmerized, Julia watched
Jamie bring his hand to her mouth, and ever so softly rub a sprinkle of
sherry along her lower lip.
"May I?" Jamie didn't bother to wait for
the refusal they both knew she was incapable of offering, before leaning
forward and, with his tongue, lick the wine from Julia's mouth...
"There isn't much for me here, is there?"
"No family?" Damian asked. "No
man?"
"Goodness, no. How would I ever
explain myself to one?"
"Why in the world should you?"
Damian reached for Lark, raising her chin with a single finger and peering
into her eyes. "Any man would be foolish to cast you away merely
because of a past, shall we say, 'industrious' nature."
Lark froze, lost in his touch.
"Any man?" Her breath caught in her throat.
Impulsively, Lark leapt up on her toes,
straining to reach Damian's height. She hoisted herself up and pressed
her lips against his, willing, with every fiber of her being, for Damian
to respond...
Annie's Wild Ride is the story of Anne and
Paul Gaasbeck, who fall in love with each other's passion and ambition,
then split up when the intense emotions each generates in the other prove
too fiery to handle.
June 1984
James Elliot was the best friend Deborah
Brody ever had.
After tomorrow, she fervently hoped she'd
never see him again.
Lying in bed that night, she told herself
that was because in five hours, it would be Matching Day. The day when Deb
and Elliot, bloated with the self-importance of graduating from the University
of California at San Francisco Medical School all of twelve hours earlier,
learned which hospitals had accepted them for residencies.
They'd each applied all over the country
-- "Just to be safe," they said -- but, both had their hearts set on getting
their first choices; Deb in San Francisco and a specialty in neurosurgery,
and Elliot in Los Angeles, for Trauma Care. If both got the selection they
wanted, odds were high they'd never see each other again.
More ...
"I loved this book. I am a huge fan of figure skating and I have alot of skating books. This one is great. It is loaded with photos AND information. It has chapters on skating's past, where it is going and has info on many recent stars. I loved this book! Very well written and worth every penny. Buy this book if you love skating." By "sleeplessincs" (Cedar Springs, MI USA)
Figure skating phenom Sarah Hughes is taking the ice-and the world-by storm. Here, for the first time ever, is the true, unauthorized story of America's newest skating sweetheart as she goes for the gold in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Great insight! A superb bio with lots of intriguing info., February 24, 2002
This book gives the WHOLE story about her life and competition leading up to the Olympics gold. It tells about private emotional times in her young life and the training and competitions. There's a nice appendix listing all her placings and some web URLs. I'm glad I got this collector's item before they ran out!
Awesome!!!, November 14, 2002
It is much better than the other Sarah book by Ruth Ashby! It starts off with Sarah at the 2001 World Championships and chronicles her life better than any other Sarah book could!Then it tells a LOT about her main competitors and ends telling how prepared she is for the 2002 Olympics (which she won!!)
I would definitely give it five stars in my book!!
Prior to starting her first season as a figure-skating researcher for the 24/7 network, Rebecca "Bex" Levy received an iceberg-high load of advice.
Some of it was concise.
"Don't screw up," Gil Cahill, 24/7 Sports' Executive Producer told her.
Some of it was obscure.
"A cheated Triple Axel is not a Quadruple Toe Loop," coach Gary Gold lectured.
Some of it was obvious.
"I need all my research prior to the start of the event," commentator Francis Howarth intoned meaningfully, while his wife, Diana, stood nearby, rolling her eyes and needling, "I think she knows that, dear. I hardly think Bex was planning to give you your information after the closing credits rolled." More...
On November 6, 7, and 8, 2003, I signed copies of "Murder on Ice" to benefit The Ice Theatre of New York at Chelsea Piers. Founded in 1984, Ice Theatre is dedicated to developing figure skating as a performing art through its performances and educational program.Among Ice Theatre's Guest Performers for their 2003 Home Season was 1996 Italian Ladies' Champion Silvia Fontana.
When she and her husband, U.S. Pair Champion John Zimmerman (above), were asked if they knew anyone who'd ever wanted to murder a judge, the couple answered in unison, “Everybody!
More...
As the Senior -- alright, only -- researcher for the "24/7 Sports Network," Rebecca "Bex" Levy was used to out-of-the-blue phone calls praising this or that previously unheard of athlete.
What she was not used to however, was being told that she wouldn't be allowed to see him. After all, the point of said phone calls was usually to convince Bex to convince the "24/7" top brass that said athlete was worthy of a "24/7" up-close-and-personal feature, preferably in prime-time. Rarely was the point of the phone call to taunt her about a feature she wouldn't be able to do.
Which was why, rather than following her first instinct, which was to politely offer, "Well, thank you very much for sharing that with me," and hanging up, Bex, instead, stayed on the line, waiting for the explanation that she could only hope would be forthcoming.
Oh, and Bex had another reason for continuing to listen. The voice on the other end of the telephone receiver belonged to one Mrs. Antonia Wright. More.....
The first time, in 1977, he was fourteen years old, a green stalk of a boy wearing an oversized down jacket and ill-fitting boots stained with gray, Moscow slush, nervously running his hands through ash-fine blond hair that looked like it had been chopped by the same blind barber who used to hack at Prince Valiant, four fingers covering his forehead and freshly bruised eyes as though he were afraid to take in the full consequences of what he'd just done. But, at the same time, his lips were set in the firm determination of a man twice his age, ready to take responsibility for his actions.
At the height of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cold War, the all-capital letter headline above his slightly out of focus, black and white, "Associated Press" wire photo triumphantly taunted: "Defecting!"
". When a world-renowned coach is murdered prior to a star-studded tribute scheduled in his honor, the answer to a death in the present comes from an inquiry into his scandal-ridden past.
Plus, if you're a skating fan, you will not want to miss a single installment of my daily blog, www.FigureSkatingMystery.com. What started out as a "Where Are They Now?" site featuring exclusive interviews with stars ranging from Elvis Stojko to Petr Barna to Oksana Grishuk, then expanded to translations of Russian interviews from the likes of Irina Rodnina, Oksana Baiul, and Alexei Yagudin, has now been knocked up another notch! Check out my features on Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano, plus the multi-part series, "Lights, Camera, Axel: How Television Changed Skating."
Prior to writing the Figure Skating Mystery series, I was a television researcher for skating shows on ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBC and more. Check out my photos!.
I also have photos of today's skating stars enjoying my series, as well as excerpts from "On Thin Ice" and "Murder on Ice."
That book was officially listed as having been written by Anonymous. Well, now the truth can be told: Anonymous is me!
"Oakdale Confidential" was a tie-in with the soap opera, "As the World Turns," which celebrated its 50th anniversary of broadcasting in April of 2006.
Explore the The Oakdale Confidential official Site (www.oakdaleconfidential.com) with actor Photos, fan and other reviews, and the original anonymous author's blog. An Excerpt is available at Amazon.com.
Now expanded with a note from the author, 16 pages of photos, and a startling new epilogue that everyone in Oakdale is talking about!
It's a major event in Oakdale -- a black-tie gala honoring the Marron family's fifty years of support for Oakdale's Memorial Hospital. But high spirits are cut short when patron of honor Gregory Marron Jr. is delivered in his limo dead on arrival, from an apparent heart attack. Three women in the crowd have reasons of their own to suspect murder. . . .
Event organizer Katie Peretti never understood her boyfriend Mike Kasnoff 's reasons for not attending the party -- until now. After being wrongly implicated in a crime against the Marrons and serving a stiff sentence, Mike has nursed a simmering rage ever since. Maddie Coleman, the teen-aged sister of the limo's driver, Henry, knows that her brother owed Marron thirty thousand dollars. She also knows he couldn't pay him back and had only one recourse for permanently erasing the debt. Carly Snyder's suspicions are more personal. The wife of police detective Jack Snyder, Carly was one of Marron's mistresses. In a heated moment she wanted her shameful past dead and buried -- a wish her husband possibly honored.
Now Katie, Maddie, and Carly, all three of them desperate to protect the men they love, are crossing paths in an investigation that's uncovering more poisonous secrets in Oakdale than they ever imagined. The means, motives, and suspects are shifting with each new twist -- and one of these determined women may not live to see the killer revealed.
, the novel that celebrated "As The World Turns" 50th Anniversary in 2006?
Well, in 2007, sister-soap "Guiding Light" turned 70, and it, too commemorated the occasion with a tie-in novel, written by me and Julia London, entitled, "Jonathan's Story
Jonathan Randall (Tom Pelphrey) faked his own death and that of his baby daughter Sarah to keep his little girl safe from her great-grandfather, Alan Spaulding (Ron Raines) - the man Jonathan holds responsible for killing Jonathan’s true love, Tammy. Jonathan and Sarah went on the run and off "Guiding Light’s" canvas. Their life in hiding is detailed in "Jonathan's Story
Reva Shayne felt the back of her car fishtail as she careered around a bend in the country road and cried out with fear. But she didn't dare take her foot off the gas and risk losing sight of her son. Instead, she gripped the wheel tighter and sped up, catching sight of the bumper of Jonathan's car just as it rounded another curve, still in pursuit of Alan Spaulding's limousine.
This was Alan's fault! Showing up at Tammy's funeral. What did he think would happen? What did he think Jonathan would do when Alan laughed at his grief, called it a performance? Reva should've taken Alan out right there, clubbed him with a prayer book or an angel statue, left him for dead. Because of Alan, Tammy was gone forever and now Reva feared what Jonathan would do in retaliation.
She rounded another corner, banking the car wide and praying no one was coming toward her on the other side of the road. She quickly straightened her car out and resumed her reckless speed. Ahead of her, she could see a cloud of dust where Alan's and Jonathan's cars must have turned onto a gravel road.
As she raced ahead, she tried to banish the image of Jonathan's shattered expression when they'd wheeled Tammy's casket out of the church, the weight of his grief so evident in the slope of his shoulders. "Focus," Reva admonished herself, blinking back tears.
She'd had a feeling Jonathan was going to do something crazy, in spite of his assurances that he wouldn't. Not while he had her grandbaby Sarah with him. But she'd heard it in his voice, seen it in his eyes. Something she hadn't seen there in a long time, not since Tammy's love had changed him. "We won't be safe," he'd said.. "He won't stop until he has Sarah. He'll kidnap her." He never stopped looking at his daughter in Reva's arms as he spoke.
Reva knew Jonathan was right. Little Sarah, born to Alan's granddaughter Lizzie and Jonathan -- was the heir to the Spaulding empire, and Alan had vowed to keep her in his family so she could be raised properly -- as a Spaulding. That Sarah was rightfully with her father made no difference to him -- what Alan wanted, Alan got, at any cost. Just look what he'd done to Tammy. Good, sweet Tammy. How do you get over something like that? How do you survive when someone murders the love of your life?
Maybe you survive by seeking comfort in your infant daughter. And maybe you survive by seeking revenge. Reva knew Jonathan was planning something. She knew because they were alike. Quick to anger and slow to forgive. That was why she had come back to the church.
It was a miracle she'd seen them at all -- Alan's sleek black limo cruising along the outskirts of Springfield, Jonathan's green sedan following closely behind. Reva had had a feeling in the pit of her belly -- whatever Jonathan thought he was doing, she had to stop him. She'd tried to catch up to them, but had lost them in the many turns of the road, and had just caught up to them again.
She whipped her car onto the gravel lane and the car bounced along the rough road. She drove between two barns, and out through barren fields. She could barely make out the cars ahead of her through the dust, but she saw the limousine make an abrupt left in between two silos. She did not see Jonathan's car follow it.
She did not see Jonathan's car.
"No," she said, and gripped the wheel tighter. "No no no no...."
She reached a curve in the road and saw the signpost warning that the edge of the quarry lay straight ahead, and her heart sank. "Jonathan!" she screamed, and slammed on the brakes so hard that her car slid into a patch of evergreen trees. Reva threw open her car door and pushed through the tree branches.
She heard a loud scraping noise as she ran down an old walking path marked with the fresh tread of tires. She reached the edge of the quarry just in time to hear the sickening crash of metal and glass against rock, and saw the car explode upon impact at the bottom. Her mind could not comprehend it -- her son was in that car! So was his baby, Sarah, a tiny little being with so much life ahead of her!
As the flames roared and rose higher, it seemed to Reva that the world was suddenly spinning the wrong way. She opened her mouth to cry for help, but what came out was a scream, a blood-curdling scream of her son's name. "Jonathan! Jonathan! Jonathan!"
Another explosion sent a fireball into the air, and Reva screamed again.
Out of nowhere Alan appeared at her side -- Alan Spaulding, the monster who had caused this tragedy. Horrified, he watched as the flames engulfed the car that had carried his beloved Sarah, his heir, his future, his salvation.
It seemed impossible, unreal to Reva, as if she was watching a bad movie. No amount of screaming would make it stop; the car just kept burning and burning, the flames growing higher and more ferocious, burning with them all her hopes for a son who had known more pain in his life than a body ought to, burning all her dreams for her granddaughter.
They were gone. Her hopes and dreams for them. The son she'd fought so hard to tame, the son who finally came to believe he was loved. Jonathan and Sarah, gone just like that - as long as it had taken that car to sail from the top of the cliff to the bottom of the quarry.
It was all gone.
This is the novel everyone in Oakdale is dying to read!
Henry Coleman is Oakdale's self-styled Cary Grant. Why shouldn't a man who's as smooth as a martini and blessed with a wit that's just as dry write a novel starring himself and his gorgeous girlfriend, Vienna Hyatt? In this sophisticated adventure, Coleman puts all his investigative skills to use as he searches for a missing young woman...and dares to reveal some of Oakdale's most closely-held secrets, including a few of his own.
Desperate to locate her missing granddaughter, high-powered businesswoman Lucinda Walsh hires Henry Coleman for the job. Two years ago, Lucy Montgomery kidnapped her infant half brother Johnny in order to protect him from their manipulative father, Craig Montgomery, and Johnny's equally ruthless uncle, Paul Ryan. Now, both Craig and Paul are hot on Lucy's trail and it's up to Henry and his socialite girlfriend, Vienna, to find the lovely fugitive first.
Sweeping from the sun-drenched South American Republic of Montega to a nobleman's dangerous lair in Sweden, and infiltrating the United Nations in Manhattan, Henry and Vienna discover that the tentacles of Lucy Montgomery's life on the run reach far and wide. With assistance from Margo and Tom Hughes, Sierra Esteban, and Gwen and Will Munson, and challenged by the escalating tensions in their own romantic relationship, they confront enemies both seen and unseen who are locked in a power struggle with Lucy and Johnny at its center. But when Vienna herself disappears, Henry must race against the clock to complete his mission so they can both make it back to Oakdale alive.