Book Review - 1st Time Author and Personal Friend

If you are a reader of my blog you know that I read about 12 books a month for the past year. This review is quite different. This time I personally know the author.  Let me introduce you to her, her name is Anne Marie Busch.  Anne Marie is a happily married mother of three wonderful children and this is her very first book.

Her book New Beginnings is a story of respect, family, second chances, undying love, first love, true love and transformation.

Author Interview
I had a chance to ask Anne Marie some questions and here is what she had to say:

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?  "I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I started to get little stories in my head.  So, it has probably been since grade school".

How long does it take you to write New Beginnings book? "I got an idea in October 2008, and I wrote on and off until March 2009, when I sent in the book."

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? "Most of the time I get my ideas from dreams or daydreams.  If I need to do some research, I go on the internet."

Do you have a favorite character in New Beginnings? If so, who? "I like both the couples in the book.  Maybe my favorite would be Michael because he's the most complex, and changes the most."

What do you like to do when you're not writing? "I like to hang out with my family.  I like to play some kind of sport, or read.  I like movie and television comedies and dramas."

What does your family think of your writing? "My family was very excited for me, and a bit surprised that I went ahead and had a book published."

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating New Beginnings? "I am surprised that I finished it and had it published.  There are so many stories that I have begun and never finished."

Where any of your characters loosely based on people in your life?  "There are no characters that I can say are loosely based on people in my life, but there are little things here and there that the characters do or say that might be similar to things that I have experienced.  These characters are a mixture of many things."

Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they? "Write in your comfort zone.  Don't try to compare yourself to or emulate other writers."

What do you think makes a good story? "I believe that your main characters have to be likable."

Do you have any reading group question suggestions for New Beginnings?  "Who is your favorite character and why?"

In A Nutshell: New Beginnings has a great storyline. The characters are all very likable and the dialogue very real. You find yourself pulling for the characters and want them to come out happy in the end. My favorite character was John. A widower who deserved to be happy after losing his wife to cancer. I watched my father lose my mother to cancer and I feel that Anne Marie wrote him very true to life. Very true to a man who lost the love of his life and is left with two children to raise. New Beginnings is by someone who has a desire to write. I am so proud of her! Seeing her name on the cover as she handed it to me was amazing. I can only imagine how she feels. We discussed that she could now check "write a book" off her bucket list.