i'm here for the
BOOKS
MEMOIRS
Bald in the land of big hair
Thoroughly enjoyable, idiosyncratic and funny... an uplifting celebration of life. London Daily Mail
Rodgers lives, loves, and writes without a safety net. A mix of Molly Ivins' blowsy wit and Anna Quindlen's suburban logic. entertainment weekly
It’s not easy to live your best life as a bald girl in Houston, Texas, Big Hair capital of the Western World. Diagnosed with blood cancer at age thirty-two, Joni Rodgers—the aspirational mom of a rambunctious five-year-old girl and a scary-smart seven-year-old boy—stepped into the crucible of chemotherapy determined to laugh, stay sane, and leave a handprint of lovingkindness that would sustain her family through a lifetime she would probably not be there to witness. Juggling motherhood, marriage, and a pipe dream she refused to give up on, Joni embarked on an emotionally and physically tortured two-year journey of treatment and self-reinvention, astonished to discover that the monster trying to kill her would ultimately teach her how to live.
crazy for trying
Think Jane Eyre with rock and roll. houston press
A fresh pleasure. Rodgers writes unconventional love scenes that scorch the pages. Orlando Sentinel
In this brave and beautiful debut novel, star-crossed lovers, dysfunctional families, and comically flawed friends blaze a fresh trail through the romantic badlands and strident sexual politics of 1970s Montana. Zaftig late-night disc jockey Tulsa Bitters discovers the power of invisibility when the sound of her voice draws an intriguing stranger out of the dark.
Vietnam vet Mac White Wolf MacPeters-half Blackfoot, half raging Irish-is smitten with Tulsa's wry intelligence, and she's won over by his careful courtship. Friends and drinking buddies disapprove of the unlikely affair, but for a while, Tulsa's love-struck tenacity allows Mac to pretend that things might actually work out. She holds fast to her belief in Mac's threadbare sanity, knowing that ghosts and coyotes are just out of earshot, waiting to spirit him back into the shadows of a dangerous Western solitude.
sugarland
Alternately wrenching and humorous. Rodgers' strength is a knack for realistic characters and a womanly wise laugh-through-tears appreciation of life. Publisher's weekly
Heartbreaking and hilarious. Every character in this novel resonates with life. Southern living magazine
Childhood singing stars Kit and Kiki Smithers are all grown up, young mothers navigating the joys and frustrations of suburban life. When Kiki's marriage unravels and Kit's small world is shattered by a singular act of sexual violence, the two sisters call on memories of an old story their mother used to tell: a tale of goddesses, monsters, and a series of seemingly impossible tasks whereby a girl, betrayed and broken, finds her way out of the underworld into the light.
The myth of Psyche and Eros takes on new meaning in this modern retelling, poetically tapping into the tornadic forces of feminism, resilience, independence, and art. Sugarland, an international bestseller shortlisted for multiple awards, is a graceful novel filled with compassion, as relevant today as it was when book clubs throughout the United States and Europe first embraced it more than twenty years ago.
the hurricane lover
A topical thriller with a political edge... a spine-tingling game of cat and mouse set in the middle of an American tragedy. book hub
As Hurricane Katrina howls toward New Orleans, Dr. Corbin Thibodeaux, a firebrand climatologist, preaches the gospel of evacuation, weighed down by the spectacularly false alarm he raised a year earlier. Meanwhile, journalist Shay Hoovestahl is tracking a con artist who uses storm-related chaos as cover for identity theft and murder. She drags Corbin into her plan, which goes horribly awry as the city's infrastructure crumbles, a media circus spins out of control, and another megastorm begins to brew in the Gulf of Mexico. The Hurricane Lover is a fast-paced tale of two cities-one ruled by denial, the other by fear-and two people whose stormy love affair is complicated by polarized politics, high-strung Southern families, and the worst disaster management goat-screw in US history.
Drawing on firsthand experience, Joni Rodgers writes knowingly about the dramatic megastorms, weaving in climatology studies, riveting blow-by-blow weather reports and forecasts, and actual FEMA emails later released through the Freedom of Information Act. In this special 10th Anniversary Edition, bonus material looks back on the eerie prescience with which The Hurricane Lover-which was never meant to be more than a can't-put-it-down thriller-foreshadowed a climate in crisis and a democracy coming apart at the seams.
kill smartie Breedlove
Not your mama's cozy mystery... a hilarious homage to the great hardboiled detective fiction of yesteryear. book bub
Smart, sassy, and hugely entertaining. reviews by Leila
Recently widowed Shep Hartigate is a dishonored cop reduced to chasing cheating spouses for a ruthless Houston divorce lawyer. Free-spirited Smartie Breedlove is a pulp fiction writer on a mission to find out who's killing the inconvenient exes of Texas, including her BFF, Charma, a notorious centerfold with a heart of gold. Problematic lovers, long-suffering family, and stalwart friends (two-and four-legged) chime in, along with Smartie's characters, who keep jumping the turnstile between fiction and reality.
Plenty of publishing industry shade is thrown in this deliciously quirky whodunit full of hard-boiled plot twists and insider homages to Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Daphne du Maurier. As Smartie and Shep maneuver to stay alive, every clue leads to another question. Does Shep's gorgeous but unscrupulous employer really have a secret bimbo/mimbo hit list? Or is Smartie Breedlove lost in the dime novel that constantly unspools
inside her head?
boxing the octopus
Rodgers writes with wit and candor about her circuitous route to becoming a NYT bestselling memoirist... [her] willingness to experiment and to turn preconceived publishing notions on their ear is wonderfully refreshing, and her whip-smart observations will keep you turning pages. center for fiction "essential books for writers"
A voracious reader from age three, Joni Rodgers wrote her first two novels as a young mom in the crucible of chemotherapy. She went on to become a bestselling author, book club darling, and sought-after ghostwriter. Now, three dozen books into a stellar career, she collaborates on celebrity book projects via Zoom while celebrating life as a work in progress at her home on a remote peninsula in Washington State.
Boxing the Octopus chronicles Joni's unorthodox journey through the Badlands of the publishing industry and engages aspiring writers with quizzes, worksheets, and thought-provoking activities. A bracing mix of memoir and meditation, it's peppered with laughter and delivers a swift kick in the creative pants.
the secret sisters
Compelling and beautifully written... an emotional maelstrom worth getting caught up in. easton times express
Exploring the timeless themes of family, self, misfortune, and hope that have made the novels of Anna Quindlen and Sue Miller bestsellers, Joni Rodgers's moving and powerful tale tells the story of three women bound together by loss and set free by love.
Pia feels the walls of her life closing in around her, until she discovers a strangely sensual world that leads her to a new existence. Lily, Pia's brash, tough-talking sister, makes a tragic mistake that leaves her incarcerated, body and soul. But when she finds the last thing she expects—love—she is at last able to face the past. Beth, married to Pia and Lily's brother, has never been able to admit her own failure as a mother. Finally forced to confront a tragedy of her own making, she discovers that the truth can set her free.
the late great Santa Claus
I had stopped believing in Santa Clause long before his powder blue Buick Skylark ripped through a busy intersection in Allentown, Pennsylvania, clipped the back of a pickup truck, bolted over the curb, and slammed into the corner of an abandoned gas station..."
In this warm, funny memoirella, New York Times bestselling author Joni Rodgers reflects on the legendary and real life versions of Father Christmas.
collaborations
IN THE VAULT / COMING SOON
