In Which I Am A Fangirl

You might have seen this photo over here on the left on Facebook on Monday. This is me with a hot-off-the-presses copy of DiAnnMills’ latest novel Deadlock. And if you look at that link, you’ll see that it’s not yet available (though actually, it looks like the paperbacks might be shipping. So, that’s good for you!)

So why is it that I’m so excited to be holding this copy of DiAnn Mills’ book? Well, let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was completely in love with the written word as generated by DiAnn Mills. Her name was Elizabeth. Now, Elizabeth was (ahem, is) a voracious reader and would devour whatever books came her way, but books by Ms. Mills were to be savored. And then, wonder of wonders, when Elizabeth finally got up the nerve to do something with the novels that were sitting on the hard drive of her computer, and she took herself off to the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference, she actually had a chance to meet DiAnn Mills. And take a class from her. And while Elizabeth is not one to squee…she came really, really, REALLY close.

So, Elizabeth gushed to her sister. A lot. A lot a lot. And her sister, being awesome, remembered it. And so it was that not long after, the Most Wonderful Sister in the Universe (MWSitU) saw that DiAnn Mills was offering a chance to name a character in one of her novels as part of an ACFW fundraiser. And the MWSitU entered the auction and bid. And bid again. And bid again. Until said MWSitU won. 

After that, there was apparently conversation via email between DiAnn Mills and said sister and…

That’s right. THERE IS A CHARACTER NAMED ELIZABETH MADDREY IN DEADLOCK BY DIANN MILLS!!

(Yes, that’s as close to a squee as you’re going to get, all caps and two exclamation points. There’s also bouncing up and down over here, but you can’t see that.)

So my sister wins Most Wonderful Sister status for the rest of her natural days. Hands down. All the rest of you with awesome sisters, just know, they are not as awesome as mine is. And I get to read about Elizabeth Maddrey, who is, I might add, the main character Bethany’s best friend. (Fun trivia tidbit that I have no doubt is utter coincidence but still cool: I have a cousin my age whose name is Bethanie.)

So incredibly super cool. And though I promised myself I was going to save reading Deadlock for when I finished up A Dash of Daring…I couldn’t stop myself. It is so good! You absolutely must read it. (But then, I say that about anything by DiAnn Mills. But only because it’s true.)