52 ratings | 33 reviews | avg rating:4.50

more photos (1)

Jennifer Petkus’s Followers (22)

Jennifer’s Bookshelves

to-read (13)
currently-reading (3)
read (55)

Jennifer’s Friends (138)

Jen Hurley

293 books | 55 friends

Erin (Historical Fiction Reader)

5,022 books | 2,563 friends

Sarah Bokusky

689 books | 39 friends

Michele

29,846 books | 5,118 friends

Jaime

1,838 books | 89 friends

Janet Smith

2,673 books | 335 friends

Julia Saulsbury

803 books | 226 friends

Elizabeth

13,799 books | 976 friends

More friends…

Jennifer Petkus

Goodreads Author

Website

http://janeactually.com/

Twitter

JenniferPetkus

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Romance

Member Since

April 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jenniferpetkus

edit data

Jennifer Petkus divides her time creating websites for the dead, writing Jane Austen-themed mysteries, woodworking, aikido and building model starships. She has few credentials, having failed to graduate from the University of Texas with a journalism degree, but did manage to find employment at the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper as a police reporter, copy editor and night city editor before the paper died in 1986. She lives in fear of getting a phone call from her dead Japanese mother. Her husband is the night editor at The Denver Post. Her best friend is a cop. She watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon live.

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jennifer Petkus questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jennifer Petkus’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 206 ratings · 56 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	My Particular Friend (A Charlotte House Affair, #1) 4.06 avg rating — 64 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jane, Actually or Jane Austen's Book Tour 4.02 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Good Cop, Dead Cop (The AfterNet, #1) 3.98 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Narrowboating for Beginners: What anyone needs to know when considering a narrowboat vacation in the UK 4.32 avg rating — 31 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Mutual Friends: A Charlotte House Affair (Volume 2) 4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cycling the Canals of Britain: or The Adventures of a Solitary Cyclist: West Midlands 3.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Boating, Biking and Hiking the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[My Particular Friend: A Charlotte House Affair: Volume 1] [Author: Petkus, Jennifer] [March, 2012] 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jennifer Petkus…

216 posts
Jennifer Petkus's Blog

Austen Authors relaunch; Jane, Actually giveaway

To celebrate the relaunch of Austen Authors (of which I am a member), I will be giving away Kindle copies of Jane, Actually on Jan. 24th and 25th. Just visit this link to get the book for free on those dates. And be sure to visit Austen Authors to learn more about your favorite Jane Austen fan fiction writers. There you can find Regina Jeffers, Sharon Lathan, Jeanna Ellsworth, Elizabet

Series by Jennifer Petkus

A Charlotte House Affair (1 book)
by

Jennifer Petkus (Goodreads Author)

4.06 avg rating — 64 ratings

The AfterNet (1 book)
by

Jennifer Petkus (Goodreads Author)

3.98 avg rating — 43 ratings

Jennifer is Currently Reading

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Roadrage

by M.J. Johnson (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jennifer Petkus said: " I don’t like Roadrage by Martin Johnson; couldn’t put it down

Roadrage is really not my cup of tea, a psychological thriller in the vein of Cape Fear or Play Misty for Me or The Talented Mister Ripley or Rear Window. I don’t like the idea of a decent I don’t like Roadrage by Martin Johnson; couldn’t put it down

Roadrage is really not my cup of tea, a psychological thriller in the vein of Cape Fear or Play Misty for Me or The Talented Mister Ripley or Rear Window. I don’t like the idea of a decent person persecuted for no particular reason because it’s just so upsetting an idea, which makes this a good novel but one I just cannot honestly say I enjoyed, even though I stayed up late several nights reading it.

I think, sadly, that we’re all accustomed to the idea of being the victim of one person’s homicidal rage, as in the numerous school, movie theater, church and shopping center shootings. It has become so common in America that too many just shrug their shoulders and put such horrors in the same category as being struck by lightning or dying in an airplane crash. And we’ve all seen movies where someone sees something they shouldn’t have—the classic wrong place at the wrong time that Alfred Hitchcock did so well—or the district attorney or cop who is targeted by a criminal seeking revenge. Those movies (or the books on which they were based) usually involve the hero in some way being complicit in the horror that will rain down on them.

Gil Harper in Roadrage, however, is in no way liable for the punishment he receives at the hands of author Johnson. He’s a good and decent man (doesn’t cheat on his taxes, gives to charity) who’s finally coming to terms with the death of his wife five years earlier. He’s a book illustrator of some renown, currently writing his own book and he’s even dating again. But a bizarre incident of road rage after coming home from spending Christmas with his in-laws starts a chain of events of which he’s unaware. Yes, it has an element of Hitchcock’s wrong man at the wrong place, but it progresses precisely because Gil Harper is a good and decent man, and that, to me, makes this a truly horrifying novel that I can never really like, but I can heartily recommend.

A good part of this book can simply be read as a romance between Gil and Sally Curtis. It slowly develops despite the threat from Sally’s abusive ex-fiancé and it survives despite the death of Gil’s good friends and another death in which both Sally and Gil are possible suspects. The book has a pretty high body count and throughout the novel you’re worried who will die. Gil’s dog Spike, a Jack Russell terrier, is a particular joy in the book, as is author Johnson’s knowledge of the theatrical world (Johnson is a Royal Academy of Dramatic Art trained actor).

By far the most disturbing aspect of the book is the interstitial comments by Gil’s nemesis, a nemesis of whom Gil is unaware for the majority of the book. At first I found these comments annoying, and then I realized that I really found them horrifying. If this were a movie, we‘d be seeing this nemesis going about his machinations, but as a book, it makes more sense to simply go inside his head, and that’s really much more awful.

You may also enjoy Johnson’s previous book, Niedermayer & Hart, which is a supernatural horror story that I very much enjoyed. ...more "

Sep 23, 2013 02:49PM · see review

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Our Mutual Friend

by Charles Dickens

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jun 25, 2013 06:54PM

Jennifer Petkus is currently reading

Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography

by Nick Rennison

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jan 01, 2014 05:51PM

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author Game, Round 2	15570	1207	Mar 21, 2016 09:15AM
Austenesque Lover...: Someone Else Pick It For Me- February	60	60	Feb 20, 2019 05:55AM
Austenesque Lover...: Mr. George Knightley Level 51-75 Books	309	58	Dec 31, 2019 03:59AM
Austenesque Lover...: Will I ever get to Pemberley?	101	81	Jan 01, 2020 05:44AM
Austenesque Lover...: Trope-Paranormal-SiFi	12	28	Mar 11, 2021 06:29AM
THE JAMES MASON C...: PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR FELLOW JAMES MASON MEMBERS!	7100	5491	Jun 16, 2021 12:03PM