My friend Tina Ann Forkner has been waiting for this week for a long, long time.

Her first novel, Ruby Among Us, has arrived. I’ve only heard an excerpt from it ‚Äî Tina read some to a group of authors at a writers retreat a while back. She writes with vivid, sensual description, and has a heart big enough to understand a variety of memorable characters. I remember the thrill of seeing Auralia’s Colors arrive on bookstore shelves, so I’m sensing the electricity even though Tina’s several states away.

Congratulations, Tina! I know you’re going to have a lot of fun in the next few months as conversations with readers begin.

You can read an excerpt here.