Susie Orman Schnall is back in business...plus a book giveaway

We are so pleased to have Susie Orman Schnall back at CLC today. Her last visit was during the beginning of the pandemic, so we definitely missed her! Her latest novel, Anna Bright is Hiding Something, is about two women who are both trying to attain success no matter what it takes. Melissa enjoyed it and you can see her initial thoughts on her Bookstagram, as a review is forthcoming. We had fun chatting with Susie and we hope you'll enjoy reading her answers to our questions as much as we did. Thanks to BookSparks, we have THREE copies of Anna Bright to give away!

Susie Orman Schnall is the author of five novels about ambitious women: Anna Bright Is Hiding Something (2023), We Came Here to Shine (2020), The Subway Girls (2018), The Balance Project (2015), and On Grace (2014). She’s also a screenwriter currently shopping her first pilot and feature-length screenplay. A mother of three sons, Susie grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and now lives with her husband in New York. When she’s not reading or writing you can find her doing a crossword puzzle, playing around on Canva, or hiking to the top of a mountain. 

Visit Susie online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
Anna Bright is committing fraud. But nobody knows it yet. Not the board of her multibillion-dollar company, not her investors, not the public breathlessly anticipating the launch of BrightSpot, and not the media—including Jamie Roman, a hardworking journalist for BusinessBerry. But when Jamie does learn about Anna’s misconduct, she embarks on a bicoastal journey to expose the crimes and make a name for herself as a journalist. It’s not long before Anna learns what the reporter is up to, however—and she’ll do anything to stop Jamie.

Especially now that BrightLife’s IPO is days away. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

“Engrossing, smart, and unforgettable, I loved Anna Bright Is Hiding Something, an intriguing cat-and-mouse game filled with crackling dialogue and characters so vibrant they practically leap off the page.”
—Fiona Davis, New York Times best-selling author of The Spectacular

“Thought-provoking, sharp, and propulsive, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something is a modern take on female ambition and the lengths young women will go to in their quests to prove themselves. Readers will be captivated as Schnall forces her characters to walk the tightrope between integrity and opportunism. This gasp-out-loud read had me holding my breath to see who would be the first to fall.”

—Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Matchmaker’s Gift

“Timely and immersive, Anna Bright is Hiding Something captures a Silicon Valley icon on the verge of an IPO, and an up-and-coming journalist prepared to bring her down. Fast-paced and tautly written, Schnall deftly exposes the mercurial world of female ambition and the lengths one goes to succeed. An unputdownable read!”

—Rochelle B. Weinstein, author of What You Do To Me

What is one thing you'd tell the debut novelist version of yourself?
You’re going to deal with a lot of the lowest lows (rejection!) in this business, but it will also be an incredibly fulfilling experience. Keep going — butt in chair!! (And learn Canva because it will be very helpful!)
 
Whose narrative did you feel was easier to write: Anna or Jamie?
They were both challenging in their own ways, but Jamie was probably easier to write, solely because she was a more rational human being whose psychology I understood and could relate to. Anna is a narcissist and has a different value system from me, so she took a little more (fun) work to get right.
 
If Anna Bright is Hiding Something was made into a movie, what are some songs that would be on the soundtrack?
"Run the World (Girls)" by Beyonce, "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys, "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift and loads of other female power anthems.
 
If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 
Julie Andrews in the voice of Lady Whistledown ;). Everything sounds delightful and exciting in the voice of Julie Andrews as Lady Whistledown.
 
If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
I live right outside of NYC so if we wanted to go into the city, I’d take you to the Met and some of my favorite bookstores in NYC. If we wanted to stay local, we’d go to my favorite hiking spot and walk and talk! And then eat lunch of course. And maybe wine.
 
What is something you had a good laugh about recently?
Any number of snarky posts on the group text I have with The Thursday Authors (@TheThursdayAuthors). We are a group of seven and we support each other, share funny stories from our careers, and are great friends. I couldn’t do this job without my author friend network.

Thanks to Susie for visiting with us and to BookSparks for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends June 4th at midnight EST.

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