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Liz Fenton & Lisa
Bestselling Author Duo
Mystery/Suspense Novelists
Travels from: San Diego, California

“Fenton and Steinke’s talent for domestic drama comes through…For readers who enjoy suspense writers like Nicci French.” ― Booklist

Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been best friends for thirty-five years and survived high school and college together. They’ve co-authored seven novels: Your Perfect Life, The Status of All Things, The Year We Turned Forty, the Amazon Charts bestseller, The Good Widow, Girls’ Night Out, The Two Lila Bennetts and How to Save a Life. Their eighth novel, Forever Hold Your Peace, will be published on July 11, 2023.

In addition to writing books, they created and host a popular podcast, We Fight So You Don’t Have To, where they talk about their ups—and especially their downs. Including sharing the brutal truth about the rejection they’ve faced in the publishing industry. They also appear monthly on a San Diego news station to share their favorite book club picks.

They both reside in San Diego, California with their families and several rescue dogs.

Liz Fenton & Lisa's Featured Titles

Forever Hold Your Peace

Alcove Press |
Fiction

Father of the Bride meets Bride Wars in Forever Hold Your Peace, in which two ex-best friends find themselves shockingly entangled after more than two decades apart, for fans of Good Company.

When their newly engaged kids ask all four divorced parents to meet each other over brunch, everyone RSVPs yes–secretly hoping someone at the table will get to the bottom of the bottomless mimosas fast enough to say what they’re all thinking: that this engagement, coming after a whirlwind romance between two people barely out of college, is too much too soon.

But at that brunch it’s not the impulsive couple’s decisions that end up under the microscope, as it turns out June, mother of the bride, and Amy, mother of the groom, certainly do know each other–they’re ex-best-friends who haven’t spoken since their explosive falling out more than twenty-five years ago. Reeling from their unwanted reunion and eager to shift the spotlight off their past as decades-old secrets and rivalries come to light, the two moms battle it out for the prize of Most Enthusiastic About This Wedding.

But when their history—and their present-day shenanigans—threaten to crack the foundations of the happy couple’s future, June and Amy find themselves becoming unexpected allies in an all-hands-on-deck effort to get their kids (and themselves) a happily-ever-after two generations in the making.

Forever Hold Your Peace is perfect for readers who love messy, complicated family novels like All Adults Here and stories that bring the past and present together like One Italian Summer.

How to Save a Life

Lake Union Publishing |
Fiction

The bestselling authors of The Good Widow deliver a modern, suspenseful twist on Groundhog Day that asks the question: How far are you willing to go to save the life of someone you love?

Dom is having a very bad day―one he literally can’t escape.

When Dom bumps into Mia, his ex-fiancée whom he hasn’t seen in almost a decade, he believes they’ve been given a second chance and asks her out. When Mia dies tragically on their date, Dom makes a desperate wish: to be given the chance to save her life. And when he wakes the next morning to the shock that she’s alive, he thinks his wish may have been granted. But day after day, no matter what he changes about their time together, she still meets a terrible fate.

Dom frantically searches for answers to save his beloved Mia and rekindle their former love. But the further he digs, the more obsessed he becomes, making him realize that slowing down time may be the only way to see things clearly. As he’s forced to confront the truth about himself and those he’s closest to, Dom vows that he’ll watch Mia die a thousand times if it means he can save her once.

Girls’ Night Out

Lake Union Publishing |
Fiction

From the bestselling authors of The Good Widow comes a chilling novel of psychological suspense that will make you think twice about what your best friend may be hiding…

For estranged friends Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren, it’s time to heal the old wounds between them. Where better to repair those severed ties than on a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico? But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completely honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their hazy memories to figure out what could have happened to her, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt over their last moments together.

Was Ashley with the man she’d met only days before? Did she pack up and leave? Was she kidnapped? Or worse―could Natalie or Lauren have snapped under the weight of her own lies?

As the clock ticks, hour by hour, Natalie and Lauren’s search rushes headlong into growing suspicion and dread. Maybe their secrets run deeper and more dangerous than one of them is willing―or too afraid―to admit.

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When Nice Characters Do Bad Things: How to Keep Your Protagonist Empathetic

Given at Writer’s Digest

-Editor’s Notes: What the Experts Think
-How To Raise The Stakes
-Instead of Adding Exciting Stuff, Add Meaning!
-Paint in Shades of Gray
-Add Conflicting Desires/Goals
-Adding Meaning and Layers and Continue to Up the Ante
-Be Intensely Personal and Intensely Specific
-But Also Be Universal
-Embrace Uncertainty
-Be Immediate and Visceral
-Likability
-Other Pitfalls to Avoid

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The Fourth Quarter

How To Get Your Ending Right

The Peanut Gallery: What Readers Have to Say
-We have polled a large group of readers for quotes such as: “It bothers me when a story is moving along and in the last two pages, the author tries to tie it all together and rushes it.”

Editor’s Notes
-What editors have to say about endings

The Four Things That Matter
-Give Yourself A Reality Check
-Watch Your Pace
-Stay True to the Story
-Stay Clear of the Shiny Red Bow

A Few More Things To Think About
-Genre
-Epilogues
-Editors

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Writing With a Partner

Co-authoring: How to Collaborate effectively

So You Want to Write a Book With Someone
Who With?
What’s Your Game Plan?

How Do We Do it?
How Do Other Author Teams Do It?

The Four Things That Matter
Problem Solving
Finding Your Balance
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Patience

A Few More Things To Think About
Park Your Ego At the Door
Remember You Are Business Partners Now
Have FUN and Enjoy the Ride!

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Rejection: How to cope with it, learn from it and turn it into success. The Five Lessons We've Learned from Rejection

In 2020, we hit an all-time low and faced soul-crushing rejection in our writing careers. We parted ways with our agent and our publisher in the same month. And our latest book, How to Save a Life, was met with rave reviews that unfortunately didn’t translate into sales numbers. We found a new agent and she was shopping a new manuscript we had written, but no one seemed interested in buying it. We wondered if our careers were over.

With nowhere else to turn, we dusted off our podcast mics and told our story. To our shock, the podcast episodes we recorded about our rejection went viral. We heard from tons of authors of all success levels who’d been through similar experiences. They were thanking us for our honesty and for pulling back the curtain on the publishing industry. They wanted to tell their stories too. This led to another series on our podcast called, The Struggle Bus, where we interviewed authors about their ups and downs in publishing.

We landed another publishing deal for our novel, Forever Hold Your Peace, we believe, in part, to the podcast. We are now back in the game, but rejection is still very much a part of the book business, and we still face it regularly in both big and small ways. The difference is, because of what we’ve been through, we’re better equipped to deal with it and use it to our advantage.

We will share our experiences with rejection and the tools we’ve learned to cope with it. Whether you’re in the publishing industry or not, this talk will resonate. We will discuss the five lessons we’ve learned from rejection.

  1. You are not alone.
  2. It’s Okay to Admit You’ve Failed,
  3. Rejection Doesn’t Mean Your Career is Over.
  4. Believe in Yourself
  5. Remember What You Love About Writing

Liz & Lisa’s In the News Link

Liz & Lisa’s YouTube Channel

Book Club Discussion Questions

Liz & Lisa’s Blog

Subscribe to Liz & Lisa’s Newsletter

Liz & Lisa’s Podcast

Liz & Lisa’s Events

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Amazon Bestselling Authors
A Publishers Weekly Best Summer Books 2017 Selection, Mystery/Thriller
The Good Widow
: Made Amazon’s Top 20 Most Sold Charts in August 2017
The Good Widow sold over 250,000 copies
Girls’ Night Out sold over 100,000 copies

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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