Good reads and Synopsis Dilemma

I joined GoodReads and have friended a bunch of people, but my numbers sure look a lot lonelier than other people's just because I plain don't have the time lately to do all the adding I want to. I really love getting the email updates on what everybody is reading and seeing how y'all rank each book as well as reading the comments/reviews. Kate Messner writes some darn good reviews. I love reading them. Keep up the good work, Kate!

Does anybody besides me have a crazy hard time keeping up with email and all the social online networking and school visit paperwork and research and yet still be able to WRITE. And keeping family and household going all without going nuts? I must be SO disorganized or something. Everything always takes HOURS longer to do than I think it's going to. Whine, whine, whine.

So first I'm here to BEG you all to please, please, pretty please add THE HEALING SPELL to your reading list on Goodreads! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And second, I need your help!

Back in August my Gorgeous Editor sent the flap copy for THE HEALING SPELL to me and I thought she did a lovely job with it. She said it was probably her most favorite flap copy she'd ever done. Which is totally cool to hear! I had a few questions about why she left out mention of some things (like the mysterious swamp traiteur) and she thought it would be confusing to young readers who will have no clue what/who that is. She also thought that less is more and it was better not to have a majorly long synopsis that makes the eyes glaze over on the jacket flap. Good points.

About this same time I was writing the script for the book trailer (it's going to have an amazing voice-over!) and I came up with my own synopsis. As I look at them both I think that the publisher's flap copy is geared more to younger readers and keeping it shorter and simpler is better for that, but I think the synopsis I wrote is actually more suspenseful. And maybe it's more geared toward adults.

Maybe I'm totally wrong about everything! I can't get far enough away to be unbiased. Opinions appreciated!

Here is the publishers flap copy:

"Eleven-year-old Livie is keeping a secret and it’s crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother’s coma, but she can’t tell anyone. And it’s up to her to find a way to wake her mamma before anyone uncovers the truth of what really happened.

Added to the list of Livie’s problems is being stuck in the middle of three sisters, trying to hide a forbidden pet alligator, and possibly disappointing her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else. Livie feels like an outsider and prefers the solitude of the lush bayou to her ever-crowded home. But she can’t run away from her troubles, and as she struggles to find her place within her family, Livie learns a lot about the powers of faith and redemption. Is her heart big enough to heal her mamma and bring her family back together?

Kimberley Griffiths Little’s beautiful, vivid writing brings Livie’s lush world on the bayou to brilliant life, and depicts Livie’s journey with a sensitivity and wisdom that’s sure to resonate with readers of all ages."

Here is my synopsis from Goodreads:

"Deep in the Louisiana bayou country, Livie Mouton’s mother arrives home from the hospital in a coma. Daddy is determined she will only get better surrounded by the people who love her best, but Livie is terrified of her mother’s lifeless condition and desperately hiding the biggest secret of her life—but some sins are so dangerous they’re better left hidden.

Summoning her courage, Livie travels into the forbidden recesses of the swamp to seek out the mysterious traiteur, hoping that if she buys a healing spell, she can bring her mother back to life.

Making the healing spell will prove to be the hardest thing she’s ever done, but can Livie do it in time, before Mamma never wakes up again?

Then Livie discovers that her mamma is hiding a secret of her own . . ."