For a little bit of Halloween-inspired reading today, Texas lawyers may want to put down the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (which inspires a different kind of nightmare) and pick up “42nd and Lex,” a novel released a few months ago about a family lawyer who falls in love with a vampire.
Set in lower Manhattan, the book tells the tale of Abri Cole, whose life changes when she meets a good looking, wealthy man with an apartment to die for who happens to have a secret (you know where this is going).
The author, Bria Hofland (pictured, left), works as in-house counsel at Dallas-based Loya Insurance Group. She says she’s always been a fan of vampire-themed literature and has been writing since she was a child.
She obviously used her imagination to come up with the vampire and the setting (she’s been to New York City but has never lived there she says) but not the professional aspect of the book: She worked for years as a family lawyer in her late father’s firm, Jeff Smith PC, before moving on to in-house work.
“When I first started the book, that was when I was working as a divorce lawyer. It took me three and half years to write and edit it,” Hofland says of her first published work. “I was working with my dad. And I wrote some at work on my spare time. He never knew that, though.”
Her book was released on Aug. 30, and Hofland has been marketing it through word of mouth and on Facebook. Lawyers, she says, will relate to her protagonist.
“I think they can relate to the character; she’s pretty scrappy,” Hofland says. “As a female lawyer, we have to be a bit scrappy. And there’s a fair amount of romance in there, too.”
--- John Council
Great character development. Enjoyable and easy to read. Hoping for a sequel soon!
Posted by: Patti Ford | November 04, 2012 at 07:02 PM
42nd & Lex is such an interesting book, full of romance and intrigue. I recommend it to everyone.
Posted by: ShawnHofland Palmquist | November 01, 2012 at 06:21 PM