September 2025

Many of you have been to author events and have loved the opportunity to meet with writers and hear them discuss their work --- and, yes, sign books. So what really happens on a book tour? Hank Phillippi Ryan uses this as the foundation for her latest thriller, ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS.

Tessa Calloway is a debut author whose novel, All This Could Be Yours, has garnered lots of attention. She already had a following on social media when she ditched her job a few years ago to take back her “one life.” People understood this, so when her book appeared, readers were ready to buy it and come out to meet her. In the novel, Annabelle Brown, like Tessa, does not take her boss’s offer to have it all. Instead, she grabs life with two hands.

But readers do not know that Annabelle is based on someone from Tessa’s past. As she is on the road, it feels like her past may be catching up with her. Is she just sleep-deprived from her rigorous tour, or is more going on here?

Tessa is up many days at 4am to catch a flight to her next destination. She segments her wardrobe into travel clothes and event outfits. She always has a carry-on with her as she has no time to lose her suitcase. Signing lines after she speaks go on for well over an hour, and by the time she returns to her hotel, she is trying to stay awake to eat a salad that she grabbed on the way back to her room. Yes, traveling during a book tour is not easy. For all the smiles on the signing line, on the back end there is plenty of hustle and go-go-go. Hank has had a great deal of experience in her years as a writer, so you know there is a lot of fact on these pages.

But a number of small things happen on the tour that make Tessa think that someone in her past is trying to reveal a secret that she has kept hidden. Audience questions have her wondering what people know about her past. Why are they asking where she grew up? There are all kinds of prickly moments that are unsettling to her. While the readers in the audience are adoring and wear periwinkle like the cover of her book, Tessa is looking out for someone who can possibly topple the house of cards that she has constructed. She is scrutinizing questions for possible reveals that she does not care to share.

Tessa’s husband is with her young children, in the beautiful new house that the advance on her book paid for. But conversations with him have her on edge as she finds herself questioning the new neighbors. Calling home is not making her relaxed, and she feels that trouble is brewing. What are people there asking about her?

Hank’s writing is completely propulsive. There is action on so many levels, and just when you think “I can stop reading here,” something else happens that keeps you turning the pages.

I have been reading Hank’s work for a decade, and this truly is her best book. If you are lucky enough to get to see her in person, do it. She absolutely lights up a room when she is speaking!