Janelle Meraz Hooper














Home | My book blog | A 3-Turtle Summer, sample chapters | As Brown As I Want, sample chapters | Bears in the Hibiscus | Boogie, Boots & Cherry Pie | Custer and His Naked Ladies | Free Pecan Pie & Other Chick Stories | Reviews & Comments | About the author/awards | Tips for student writers | Quotes | Tortilla recipe | My YouTube videos





Women's fiction in paperback, Kindle, Nook, iPad, Kobo, and others...

Announcing my new WordPress blog: http://JanelleMerazHooperAuthor.com
Chick books with cluck!

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4-21-13 New blog on my book blog page!

 
Welcome to my site! Here on the homepage, I've separated my books into My newest, My Romances, My Turtle Trilogy (novels), and My Mixed Genre. Happy reading!
 

My newest

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Geronimo

Life on the Reservation...

(A Fact-based Fantasy)

 

Janelle Meraz Hooper

 

“…I had to steal the laptop because the white men will never tell the whole story about the Apaches. They control everything that's said about us in newspapers and books. Even the maps are slanted toward the whites. Look and you'll see they're dotted with each place we fought the white soldiers. Look closely. You'll see that if the soldiers won, it was a battle. If we won, it was a massacre…” 

 

Geronimo, Life on the Reservation is a one-man show in partnership with Rudy Ramos and will  be performed by Rudy Ramos in front of live audiences.
 
Latest news! Rudy will be presenting Geronimo, Life on the Reservation at the Memphis Film Festival in June, 2013!

2 new reviews
on the
Reviews & Comments
page!

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2013 Honorable Mention at the Great Northwest Book Festival!

 

"In sparkling prose, author Janelle Meraz Hooper relates the tale of a plucky group of seniors who endure poverty with humor and aplomb. " Raul Ramos y Sanchez

 

The Slum Resort

Janelle Meraz Hooper

Back cover

   Maggie, close to retirement, has lost her home and almost everything else because of an alcoholic husband and a reckless son. She lands in Mountain High Resort, the only place she can afford. She quickly dubs the collection of old campers and trailers that nestle next to a pristine lake The Slum Resort. She finds lots of company in others who have also worked hard all of their lives and have lost everything due to a fatal financial misstep at the last minute. Her list of friends is short: Stella, a former librarian; E-Z, who lost everything when he and his fellow employees tried to save their failing airline; Henry, a mysterious tenant who showed up in the middle of the night; and Breaking News, an Indian from a coastal reservation who works with urban Indians and makes jewelry on the side. Until the very end the isolated group thinks their main enemy is Rodella, the cigar-smoking resort manager, who sells stale-dated hamburger at the little store. They have no idea their troubles are just beginning. A big-hearted novella about senior poverty on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBookstore- $2.99 USD.

My Romances

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My first romance book

Kobo Books

 

I loved the book. I will read it again!" H.B. Tacoma, WA.

Bears in the Hibiscus- a humorous romance. Paperback, CreateSpace, 153 pages, $9.99 USD, Kindle, Nook, iBookstore, Kobo- $2.99 USD. Note: My paperback and Kindle books are now available in the UK, DE, and Fr, and more. Some sexual content.

Mini-synopsis

After her divorce, all Mary wants is a vacation so she can relax. Too late, she discovers her attractive ex-brother-in-law, a Montana Park Ranger, will be there at the same time for a conference on state parks. He leaves a note for her at her hotel desk warning her to watch out for bears. He hasn't seen any, but he thinks there might be Bears in the Hibiscus...

 

A Seattle romance
with a
Jamaican twist!

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50's style!

 
Review on Nook- A romantic ribbon weaves its way through a latticework of exotic pets, jewelry, and Northwest cuisine including cherry pie! All of this against the backdrop of urban Seattle...

Boogie, Boots & Cherry Pie

Love on the Zoo’s Third Floor

Janelle Meraz Hooper

  When Lily meets the brother of one of her co-workers at their company St. Patrick’s Day party, it’s love at first sight. At least it is for Lily. Mike might just be dazzled by the sparkly green earrings she’s wearing…earrings that Lily bought in a department store but were made by Mike’s jewelry company.

   By the time the party is over, Mike is hungry and the three of them head to a local restaurant for pie and coffee. Lily orders cherry pie and catches Mike grinning at her. He’s just met her; how can he possibly know she’s still a good girl? Is it that obvious?

   When Mike and his sister take Lily home, the first thing he sees is a sign on the front door:

 Please don’t let out the snake!

   Lily lives in the Zoo! An apartment building that’s well-known because most of its tenants keep exotic pets. Is this the beginning of a great romance? Or just the beginning of a great snake hunt?

   Whatever it is, it has to compete with Mike’s career, he’s just invested everything he owns to buy supplies for the biggest jewelry contract of his life...he’s on a tight deadline to deliver hundreds of jewelry pieces and, during a flood, all of his jewelry assemblers disappear. He’s most likely ruined. Where can they be? Are they okay?

   A light, character-driven romance in which the characters in Lily’s wacky world of exotic animal-lovers mesh perfectly with the sophisticated, glitzy characters of Mike’s jewelry world. 

 

Boogie, Boots & Cherry Pie- a very light romance, Kindle, Nook, and others.  Also available in the UK, DE, and Fr. Suitable for all ages. $2.99 USD.

                                                      

Read the first chapter free on the "Boogie" page.

Boogie, Boots, & Cherry Pie

My Turtle Trilogy

The first book in my Turtle Trilogy
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Set in the 50's

A Cool Book Review ( www.cool-book-review.com )-Janelle Hooper has brought a story of domestic violence into fine focus with this book. It is a tragic tale but one reflecting the persistence of the human spirit which eventually brings a final relief from the agonies of pain, fear, and violence. The demeaning treatment of the heroine of this tale by her husband and her resourcefulness to secretly battle him could only be told by someone who has been very close to similar actual events as either a participant or observer.

Libros en iguama.com-"Janelle Meraz Hooper gives us more than a story. She gives us a cast of hilarious and memorable characters in a vividly drawn scene..."

A Three-Turtle Summer- Fictional autobiography, 2002 Bold Media 1st place fiction winner. Paperback, iUniverse, 323 pages, $17.95 USD, Kindle $2.99 USD. The first book in my Turtle Trilogy. Note: My paperback and Kindle books are now available in the UK, DE, and Fr. Adult content.

 Mini-synopsis

It’s A Three-Turtle Summer—hot—and Grace has to dump a man who’s meaner than a rattlesnake and dumber than adobe…a story about sisterhood and family. 

 

The second book in my Turtle Trilogy
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Set in the 50's

Janelle Meraz Hooper has hit a homerun with her second book, AS BROWN AS I WANT, The Indianhead Diaries." Even better than her much acclaimed first book, A THREE-TURTLE SUMMER, Janelle's new book propels the reader through a series of unique situations as experienced by eight-year-old Glory, who always seems just a few steps ahead of her scheming father. Kelly Creso, Bold Media Corporation, 

"I finished reading As Brown as I Want, and really enjoyed it.  I could not put it down!" Nancy Dorsey, Puyallup, WA

 As Brown As I Want: The Indianhead Diaries- Fictional autobiography/black comedy. 2004 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist. Paperback, iUniverse, 166 pages, $13.95 USD.  Kindle $2.99 USD. The second book in my Turtle Trilogy. Note: My paperback and Kindle books are now available in the UK, DE, and Fr. Suitable for all ages.

 

Mini-synopsis

Eight-year-old Glory’s father has taken out a $50,000 accidental-death insurance policy on her. Now he’s spending the summer trying to collect. A very funny book. Although this is the second book in my turtle Trilogy, it stands alone.

YouTube trailer for As Brown As I Want

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Although this is the second book in my Turtle Trilogy, it stands alone.

A modern cowboy and Indian story!
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Although this is the third book in my Turtle Trilogy, it stands alone.

Janelle Meraz Hooper has done it again! Custer and His Naked Ladies is filled with quirky and likable characters in a richly detailed setting. Humor, family and love come shining through. There is a poignant line in the book that has stayed with me: "Old age had crept in and stolen their bodies while they were dancing through life." These women have danced! VF Gibson, Seattle, WA    

"...you are excellent at spinning a yarn and at painting a verbal picture of people and places." P. R., Tacoma 

Custer and His Naked Ladies- women's fiction. Paperback, iUniverse, 206 pages, $15.95 USD, Kindle, Nook, iBookstore $2.99 USD. The third book in my Turtle Trilogy. Note: My paperback and Kindle books are now available globally. Some sexual content.

 

                                                               Mini-synopsis

 Newly divorced, Glory’s biological clock is pounding like a powwow drum. She heads back home to Oklahoma, where she meets Soap, a sexy Comanche lawyer who wants to do something about that powwow drum pounding in her head…

 

YouTube book trailer for Custer and His Naked Ladies

My Mixed Genre

New!
99-cents! USD

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Old Joe’s Pink Cadillac, a short story

Janelle Meraz Hooper

 

   Before Old Joe’s best friend left for Vietnam he dropped his pink 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville off at Joe’s for safekeeping. The old car was in bad shape and, when his friend didn’t come back, Joe made it his mission to restore her.

   Most nights, after work, Joe could be found with his head stuck under the hood of the collectible car, murmuring loving, encouraging sounds to the eye-catching lady who once ruled the highway.  When he finished, she was a beaut. Old Joe didn’t have much, never did. But at least he had Elizabeth, his pink Cadillac, for a while. Kindle, Nook, iBookstore, Kobo-$1.99 USD.

 

Author's note: Although the main story mentions the Vietnam era, this story also touches on the history of a small town caught up in Fort Sill's preparation for World War II.

 

 

YouTube-Old Joe's Pink Cadillac trailer

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*An Amazon Prime
book

"First of all let me congratulate you on your wonderful stories. I find them to be very funny and entertaining." B. M., Texas

 

Free Pecan Pie and Other Chick Stories- mixed genre. Teacher favorite, the short pieces are also good for English-as-a-second-language classes. Paperback, iUniverse, 132 pages, $12.95 USD, Kindle $1.99 USD. (New Kindle price!) Note: My paperback and Kindle books are now available in the UK, DE, and Fr. Suitable for all ages.

 

Mini-synopsis

What’s a chick story? It’s a story with no drugs, bombs, or spies who have numbers instead of names. And clean. It has to be clean. A collection of short stories and humorous newspaper commentaries on holidays, sports, and writing. Also includes Thanksgiving and Christmas shorts. Mixed genre.

 

My Christmas List

Bear Bait

It All Started With That Darn Shoebox! (Valentine's Day)

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99-cents! USD

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$0.99 USD

Also available 
on iPad & Kobo

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There's a Mouse in the House!

Janelle M. Hooper & Jacob N. Studebaker 

illustrations by Sherri Bails

Excerpt: Jamaica and Jupiter

Chapter 1. A pretty good life

This is a story about birds. Three birds to be exact: a little green parrot named Jamaica, a yellow cockatiel named KoKoMo, and a big black crow named Jupiter. Little Jamaica and KoKoMo lived in a nice warm home, with lights, a color TV, and lots of music. Their gourmet birdseed came from a nearby pet shop, and they regularly received treats from the kitchen. Jamaica and KoKoMo loved the treats! They especially liked the bites of brussels sprouts, baked potato and bread. Sometimes, they even got a bite of pizza! In short, life was good. Even the house cat, Okra, was nice to them. Actually, Okra was nice to them partly because he was terrified of the sound that the bird’s wings made when they flew. Flap! Flap! Flap! He couldn’t figure out why it was necessary for them to do that. They didn’t see him flying all over the place, did they? No. He kept all four of his paws on the ground. Like a cat should. And a bird should. At least inside birds. Okra was surprised to learn that the new bird could talk. Many a good nap had been spoiled by Jamaica calling, “Okra, Okra, I love you, Okra!” The first time he heard Jamaica say that, he almost wet Sally’s carpet. Never before had the cockatiel said anything to Okra, although he had heard her whistle that “shave and a haircut, two bits” tune she’d learned from Sally’s husband…

 Pull a toddler onto your lap—or tuck it into bed—and share a tale about a house that has a mouse problem (There’s a Mouse in the House!), a gooseberry-gobbling pheasant (George, the Great Green Gooseberry Gobbler), and a cat named Ribbons who gets into trouble with a Christmas tree (Ribbons at Christmas). I’ve broken up the story about Jamaica and Jupiter (Jamaica and Jupiter) into shorter chapter stories so that the friendship between the “outside” bird and the “inside bird” can develop over time.  $2.99 USD

 
"Once you learn to read you will be forever free." Frederick Douglas 

 

YouTube trailer, There's a Mouse in the House!

YouTube trailer, Jamaica and Jupiter

YouTube trailer, Ribbons at Christmas

 

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My Elvis story...
Some of you have asked for the audio Elvis story, Elvis Has Left the Building...And is Living in My Computer, that used to be on my site. I'm posting it again. Originally, it was from my short story book, Free Pecan Pie and Other Short Stories. I recorded it myself; I hope you like it! (On some computers it takes a while to load.) Download for free! Click below.

Elvis Has Left the Building...

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Site established in 2002