Time has written a very lovely profile of me - click here for the full read!
Publisher’s Weekly is featuring me - and their starred review of I’ll Be You - on the cover of their February 14 issue. Click through for the full review!
COVER REVEAL! I’m so excited to share the cover of my upcoming novel, I’LL BE YOU, coming April 26, 2022.
Here’s the synopsis:
As children, Sam and Elli were two halves of a perfect whole: Gorgeous identical twins whose parents sometimes couldn’t even tell them apart. They fell asleep to the sound of each other’s breath at night, holding hands in the dark. And once Hollywood discovered them, they became B-list child TV stars, often inhabiting the same role.
But as adults their lives have splintered. After leaving acting, Elli reinvented herself as a model homemaker: Married to a real-estate lawyer, in a house two blocks from the beach. Meanwhile, Sam has never recovered from her failed Hollywood career, or from her addiction to the pills and booze that have propped her up for the last fifteen years.
Sam hasn't spoken to her sister since her destructive behavior finally drove a wedge between them. So when her father calls out of the blue, Sam is shocked to learn that Elli’s life has been in turmoil: Her husband moved out, and Elli just adopted a two-year-old girl. Now she’s stopped answering her phone and checked in to a mysterious spa in Ojai. Is her sister just decompressing, or is she in trouble? Could she have possibly joined a cult? As Sam works to connect the dots left by Elli’s baffling disappearance, she realizes that the bond between her and her sister is more complicated than she ever knew.
SO excited to announce that Pretty Things is going to be a TV series for Amazon, with Nicole Kidman attached to produce and star, and Reed Morano attached to direct. Read on for more information!
So excited to announce the release date of my next novel, PRETTY THINGS - April 21, 2020. To answer the questions I’m hearing the most: No, it’s not a sequel to Watch Me Disappear, but yes, it is a another suspense. Sign up for my (exceedingly occasional, I promise) newsletter to receive updates, pre-order information and book tour dates!
The paperback of WATCH ME DISAPPEAR comes out today! It's Target’s nationwide Book Club pick for May -- and you can pick up a signed special edition copy with bonus essays by clicking here!
... Or buy it at your favorite local independent bookstore! And be sure to get in touch with me if your book club decides to read it - I’m happy to make Skype appearances. And thanks for reading!
Drumroll please... it’s the cover of the upcoming paperback edition of Watch Me Disappear! (Sharp eyes may recognize the image from the spine of the hardback version.) Available in bookstores on May 8.
Holiday Offer! I will sign and personalize any copy of WATCH ME DISAPPEAR ordered from LA’s Skylight Books. (They’ll ship books anywhere in the US!) Just order online here and, at checkout, fill in the comment box, saying that you want a signed copy and including any names or messages you want inscribed! I'll even attempt a thematic holiday doodle or two -- Christmas trees, snowmen, gifts -- if you like.
Gift a copy to every fiction lover in your family! And support an indie bookstore in the process!
Note: Orders must be placed by 12/17
Barnes & Noble has named Watch Me Disappear one of the best books of 2017. Thanks, Barnes & Noble!
http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press-release/barnes-noble-announces-best-books-2017/
I have some excellent news to share! Watch Me Disappear has been optioned for film by The Gotham Group, a fantastic Hollywood production company with a terrific track record for book-to-film adaptations! Read the Deadline Hollywood story about our partnership here: http://deadline.com/2017/08/watch-me-disappear-book-janelle-brown-movie-the-gotham-group-1202143507/
Check out this lovely Q&A with me in the LA Times, complete with a very "Sound of Music" portrait of me....
Watch Me Disappear debuted on the New York Times bestseller list this week. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy!
Says the Chicago Tribune:
"Watch Me Disappear" is a surprising and compelling read. Like the best novels, it takes the reader somewhere she wouldn't otherwise allow herself to go. And like the best novels, it's strongest in the places that matter most: in the believability of its characters and the irresistibility of its plot."
And the AP:
"For some people, the idea of unconditional love is fraught with conditions, especially when a relationship has been built on lies and secrets as the superb “Watch Me Disappear” shows. Janelle Brown’s third family drama delivers an incisive and emotional view of how grief and recovery from loss can seep into each aspect of a person’s life... Brown imbues realism in each character, whose complicated emotions fuel the suspenseful story."
Costco has chosen Watch Me Disappear as their July pick for Book Clubs. Lots more - including an interview with me, and a scone recipe that comes straight from the book - in this month's Costco Connection, here:
Every month, librarians across the US vote on their top 10 picks for new fiction, as part of the LibraryReads program. Guess what book was voted the #2 book for July?
The early press keeps trickling in!
First, Booklist gave Watch Me Disappear a starred review: "Like a darker, meatier Where'd You Go Bernadette, Brown's latest explores the messy inner life of a mother just starting to feel invisible to her own family. This brilliantly layered novel is full of twists and turns, tender and biting and vibrant. Readers who can't get enough of the "Girl"-type suspense trend will be more than satisfied with this tautly paced domestic drama."
Also: Travel & Leisure and Fodors have both picked Watch Me Disappear as one of the best books to take on vacation this summer.
Travel & Leisure: "Compelling and incredibly smart: We guarantee you won't be able to guess how it ends"
Fodors: "Keeps you on your toes until the very end."
Random House made a fantastic book trailer for me that I've watch about a hundred times. You should watch it too!
Early reviews are starting to trickle in! Kirkus calls Watch Me Disappear "... So page-turning. Readers are likely to be unsure of which outcome would be most satisfying until the very end. Moody but restrained, this is a familiar tale that sets out to upend itself—and succeeds." Library Journal calls it a "domestic suspense" with "wide appeal" that's both "suspenseful" and "subtle." And Glamour says you're "guaranteed to love" Watch Me Disappear this summer -- and who am I to argue with them?
What you're looking at here is the taping of the audiobook of Watch Me Disappear, inside the super secret (well, not *so* secret) Penguin Random House audio studio. It was really fun (and yet also very strange) to hear my words being brought to life. The actor you see is reading the parts of Jonathan Flanagan's memoir about his dead (or maybe not?) wife, Billie Flanagan.
Intrigued? Listen in to the unabridged audiobook when it is release on July 11!
... The pub date for Watch Me Disappear has been pushed to July 11 - thanks for your patience! The Skylight date is now July 10, and more book tour dates are forthcoming. Stay tuned!