3/17/2008 2:27:00 PM
Verde Valley author Amber Polo readies release of newest novel Romancing Rebecca
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| | Romance in the Red Rocks: Book signing meets multi-media art | Amber Polo will sign copies of her new book "Romancing Rebecca" during a special art show at Camp Verde Artisans Gallery on March 22.
The book-launch party runs from 2 to 5 p.m. The art show "Romance in the Red Rocks", a multi-media celebration will include the book signing and refreshments.
Polo, a resident of Camp Verde, will be joined by a selection of Artisans Gallery artists for the themed art celebration. Each of the seven artists will show works that exemplify the red rocks in art and life.
Camp Verdeans, while enjoying their own white hills, have a unique perspective of Sedona's red rocks in the distance.
Artists for the special show include:
• Debbie Gallagher: vibrant landscapes with a palette of intense rich colors
• Pat Sharp: impressionistic red rock landscapes in watercolor and ink
• Vada Lovato: mixed media southwestern abstracts
• Ric Cisson: Sedona photographs
• Pattie Hodel: natural unglazed red rock pottery
• Patty Buddeke: Red rocks in stained and fused glass and
• Idell LeGendre: watercolor landscapes of local desert and formations
The Artisans Gallery is at 497 S. Main St., Suite 1, in Camp Verde. For information, call the gallery at (928) 567-3648 or Polo at 554-0575.
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 | By Rochelle Brener
Kudos Contributing Reporter |
Sedona has long been known as the land of the mystical, the paranormal, the spiritual, the psychic.
Coincidences happen here, and if you've been a Sedonan for a while, you stop being surprised - you simply shrug your shoulders and say, "that's Sedona for you!"
So, that kind of Sedona thing was definitely at play when Amber Polo and I sat down to talk. Within the first few minutes of conversation, Ms. Polo and I discovered that we'd met 10 years ago at Omega Institute, a holistic conference center in Rhinebeck, N.Y., where my husband taught (and I assisted in) a tee-shirt marbling workshop for staff members. Polo was on staff there, and took the workshop. Coin-cidence? Or do things just play out the way they're supposed to? So we laughed, spent a few minutes doing the Reader's Digest version of catch-up, and got down to business.
I have to admit from the get-go that there are two literary genres that I absolutely adore. One is a good whodunit - Kris Neri is in the category of mystery authors that can keep me up all night.
The other - my "guilty pleasure" - is the romance novel. And for me to love a romance novel, it has to have a strong, modern, intelligent female protagonist - none of these namby-pamby fragile fainting flowers who swoon at the sight of a broad-chested alpha male in a billowy-sleeved shirt unbuttoned to the navel and wearing a pair of glued-to-the-buns-of-steel pants. She'd better be able to give as good as she gets. And a good steamy sex scene or two is always a plus.
Enter Amber Polo, my newest favorite romance writer, whose "comic paranormal romance" is already out in e-book form and will be launched in print on March 22.
Romancing Rebecca is a book for the ladies - a must-read novel that demands a top spot on your summer reading list. The book is light, breezy and Polo sets a fast pace that never lets up. If you are an alternative healer, a trance-channeler or a psychic, it helps if you don't take yourself too seriously because this is a novel that will rock you back on your heels in laughter.
Amber Polo claims that she is a recovering English major and librarian, which would normally be enough to ensure that she would never write a word of fiction. "And, the truth is," says Polo, "I never expected to write fiction. I thought maybe magazine features, some non-fiction. But one day I just pulled out a pad and wrote a short story. Then another. I have no idea where they come from. But I do know that Romancing Rebecca came out of a self-assigned exercise to see if I could figure out how to start a novel."
Not only did she start a novel, but she carried it off in grand style. Start with this: Rebecca Dumaurier is an up-tight workaholic intellectual properties lawyer who comes to
Sedona for her firsr vacation in years - maybe ever - after breaking up with her fiancé and and fellow lawyer, Tristan. Rebecca is known among her colleagues and clients as the least romantic woman in the world.
Working for a New York City law firm, her specialty is, ironically, romance writers. She sees to their needs, legal and often personal, in true professional style. She is the best in her field.
Polo sets the first scene in the parking lot at a luxury Sedona resort, where she literally runs into the van of Tom Paxton, an internationally known trance-channeller.
So we are set up for irony number one: the New Age belief that there is no such thing as an accident - everything happens for a reason.
And from there, the race is on. Rebecca sheds her city-skin in record time (even by Sedona standards) and, while not quite a full-out "woo-woo" (this is a technical term), she begins to see how the psychic world operates as she falls more and more deeply in love with two men who share the same body.
Add a dollop of good vs. evil, a smattering of reincarnation (OK, a lot of reincarnation) and a smidgeon of full-on nasty ex-wifery, a taste of psychic concierge, a small handful of nutsy romance writers, two divorced parents who aren't quite done with each other, a precocious thirteen-year-old who has it all figured out, and a handful of mysterious diary pages, and what you have is one of the most fun reads on the market today.
Add to this the fact that it takes place in Sedona, and the city immediately becomes one of the main characters in the novel.
And those steamy sex scenes? Too funny for words!
The print version will be launched at a book signing and themed art celebration at the Camp Verde Artisan's Gallery, 497 S. Main St. on March 22, 2-5 p.m. Polo will be sharing the spasce with gallery artists Debbie Gallagher, Pat Sharp, Idell LeGendre, Patty Buddeke, Pattie Hodel, Ric Cisson and Vada Lovato.
The novel will be available for purchase at that time for $12.95. The e-book version is available now to download from the publisher, www.thewildrosepress.com or from www.fictionwise.com.
On April 19, author Polo will present a workshop on writing sex scenes at the Well Red Coyote Bookstore, 3190 W. Rte. 89A in Sedona, at 2 p.m.
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