Latest news with #JulieMurphy
Cosmopolitan
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Read Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's ‘Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl' Excerpt, See Cover Reveal
Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone are truly BFF goals. When they first burst on the scene together with A Merry Little Meet Cute, we could not believe the power duo that was being created and immediately had to run to the nearest bookstore to pick up a copy for ourselves. And now their taking their iconic partnership one step further with a brand new series that will have you ready for the kind of lessons that they can only teach. Cosmopolitan has an exclusive first-look at Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone's Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl, which is set to be released on January 13, 2026. The book follows recent law school grad and new nanny Maddie as she finds out that the guy she is nannying for is none other than the guy that she had major sparks with just day before. So what's going to happen when this new poli-sci adjunct's brattiness crosses paths with an ecology professor and single dad who knows a thing or two about rules? Here's some more info from our friends at Avon: Typically, we don't judge a book by it's cover. But when it's *this* good, well, we know that it's going to be an incredible read. Check out the official cover reveal below which also features the fun sprayed edges that we absolutely dare you to have out on your shelf. Along with the sprayed edges, the deluxe hardcover edition will also feature illustrated endpapers that we're dying to see! And because Julie and Sierra know that Cosmopolitan readers are the ultimate good girls, they are also revealing an excerpt that you can out below! Just make sure to pre-order Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl and check out more of Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's previous reads! An Excerpt From Fundamentals of Being a Good GirlBy Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone Joey returns with the shots as the lights dim and the familiar strains of Lesley Gore's 'It's My Party' start playing. 'Someone's about to get birthday spankings!' Joey calls out fondly as he passes out the shots. (He bought an extra shot for himself, something called a Big Guy Touchdown, and as a big guy who is a high school football coach, it was clearly calling his name.) 'Okay, on the count of three, everyone!' 'What's in this?' Leo asks as he holds the green and copper drink up to the barely there light. Joey doesn't have the time to fight with Leo about this and also, he doesn't remember what's in it. 'It's your medicine. Our medicine. We are going to drink these and then we are going to have a Best Night Ever. You hear me?' Leo looks doubtful, but Sloane is nodding and Bram looks too ready to wash away the memory of dog vomit to say no. They hold up their shots, clink them together, and chant optimus noctem!1 Then they all give a good, old-fashioned Astra University Copperheads hiss before they toss the shots back and slam the glasses on the table. 'You brought us glasses of poison,' sputters Leo when he can speak again. 'Glasses of magic.' 'I wish Alessandro were here,' Leo grumbles, and Sloane nods too. Alessandro Ottaviano is a professor of neurosurgery at the Astra University Medical Center and is too busy digging inside people's brains to come hang out. He's the only one of the group aside from Sara who isn't here tonight.2 The DJ comes on the microphone and shouts over the music, 'Please give a big old Mount Astra welcome to tonight's birthday girl, Maddie Kowa-kowaltch . . . ' A pause. 'Maddie from California!' The bar hoots and cheers as a fair young woman with golden hair takes the stage. She's fat, with smaller curves up top and hips and thighs for days, all of it showcased in a tight sweater set and pencil skirt. Her mouth is a little too wide and sinfully full, and her large eyes are as green as a pit viper's. 'That's her,' Bram says. His voice is strange . . . low and breathless. Like he's just won a race but he's pissed about it. 'Who?' Joey asks, plucking his Big Guy Touchdown off the table. 'The brat.' The DJ now has Maddie from California facing the side wall with her hands splayed inside the Sharpie'd outlines that have contained the hands of scores of birthday spank-ees throughout the years. The green and copper paddle comes out. Next to Joey, Bram stiffens. 'How old are you today?' the DJ asks. 'Twenty-six!' chirps Maddie. 'Your safe word is cash tips only!' the DJ says, and starts swinging. The swats start out as mere taps, but the bar shouts along with the DJ as if each tap is a catastrophic wallop, and Maddie looks to the side at the crowd, a smile on her plush mouth. And then she and Bram lock eyes. Bram's hand is a fist on the table. His jaw clenches. His eyes have hooded a little, and when the DJ gives Maddie a final, no-shit swat with the paddle—hard enough to make her whimper—Bram sucks in a breath. 'Maybe you should go discuss parking etiquette with her,' Leo suggests with a bored expression. 'After you can stand up without committing a crime of public obscenity, of course.' 'Fuck off,' says Bram, distractedly. His eyes are still on Maddie as the DJ helps her off the stage. A slow smile pulls across Leo's face, making him look briefly like one of God's favorite angels, all sculpted features and gorgeous symmetry. 'Did Bram Loe just tell me to fuck off?' Joey claps his hands together. The shots are working already! 'More shots!' Joey yells and Leo holds out his credit card, the black metal one that looks like a prop from a movie about Wall Street stockbrokers. 'I'll get this round,' says the rich asshole. 'I want to see how far we can push Professor Nice Guy tonight.' 1. 'Best night ever,' translation courtesy of Leo's prep school Latin.2. Except for Cole McKenney, whom Leo has never met and doesn't believe is real because he coincidentally transferred to Mount Astra High School the year that Cole moved away. Excerpt from THE FUNDAMENTALS OF BEING A GOOD GIRL by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone. Copyright © 2025 by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone. Used with permission by Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. All rights reserved. Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl, by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone will be released on January 13, 2026 by Avon Books. To preorder the book, click on the retailer of your choice: AMAZON AUDIBLE BARNES & NOBLE BOOKS-A-MILLION BOOKSHOP APPLE BOOKS KOBO TARGET WALMART POWELL'S BOOKS HUDSON BOOKSELLERS GOOGLE PLAY
NBC News
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
'Let Them Stare' offers coming-of-age tale for a new generation
Jonathan Ness of "Queer Eye" and best-selling author Julie Murphy teamed up to write "Let Them Stare," a book about a small-town teen who learns to appreciate what they have with help from the ghost of a drag queen. The pair sat down with NBC News' Zinhle Essamuah to discuss how the story came 3, 2025
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Flagler County enacts burn ban as dry conditions, low rainfall totals persist
One week after Volusia County enacted a burn ban due to continued dry weather and lack of rain, Flagler County officials decided April 23 to do the same. The ban went into effect at 5 p.m. along with a state of local emergency declaration. The measure will be in effect for the next seven days, according to county spokeswoman Julie Murphy. The lack of rainfall and dry weather that prompted the county to adopt the burn ban Wednesday serves as an opportunity for officials to remind residents of what they can do to prevent recent weather conditions from leading to accidental fires that can break out on their property and potentially spread to surrounding areas. 'The conditions are becoming favorable for rapid fire growth so this action will help,' said Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker in a press release. 'In addition to the ban on burning, remember that a good offense is the best defense. Clear the area around your house of anything that will go up in flames easily — including stacks of firewood, portable propane tanks, and dead, dry vegetation.' City of Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill spoke about the situation during a City Council workshop Tuesday night, April 22. "In the state of Florida, we've experienced some pretty extreme wildfire conditions this year so far, and in Flagler County we have been on the northern-most edge of that," Berryhill said. During a burn ban period, the county prohibits the following: "Discharge/use of fireworks, sparklers, flares or other items containing any 'explosive compound.' Open burning, including the use of fire pits and containers. Outdoor cookers and grills unless continuously attended by an adult. Throwing matches, cigarettes or other burning materials from vehicles. Parking vehicles with catalytic converters in high grassy areas." A "rule of thumb" for how residents can best approach those preventative measures, as the county's press release highlighted, "is that all flammable items within 30 feet of a structure should be removed." "Additionally, do not store things under decks or porches, and consider using rocks or gravel in those areas instead grass or mulch,' Tucker said. 'Wood-driven fires, like brushfires, create embers that can be carried quite far, and tend to find their way to the same nooks and crannies where leaves accumulate.' Homeowners should "clear roofs, eaves, gutters, wood decks and patios of leaves," according to the county. "Please take this burn ban seriously,' Tucker added. 'It's been about a year since we've had one in Flagler County, so please heed our warnings.' One of the factors that also contributed to the county's decision was the Keetch Byram Drought Index (KBDI) mean level for Flagler County, which was expected to exceed 500 by Wednesday night. The KBDI is "a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil and duff layers," according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It is measured in a range from zero to 800 in which zero is the wettest condition and 800 is the driest, or drought. "We are at 489 today," Berryhill said at Tuesday's meeting. The fire chief emphasized the important role residents can play in preventing accidental fires. The department, he said, is in touch with the city's utility department "to ensure that we have an adequate water supply to protect our citizens." "We're not in the mode to where we need to be alarmed today, but we are in a great time for us to ensure that our plan is prepared," Berryhill said. Rainfall amounts have been 4.36 inches below normal for this time of year in Flagler County, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. The total amount this year so far is around 5.9 inches, according to Bob Pickering, county emergency management specialist. The National Weather Service forecast calls for sunny and partly cloudy skies through the rest of the week in Flagler County, though slight 20-30% rain chances are expected between Sunday and Monday. According to Danny Dubois, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, a change of rain patterns as Florida transitions between spring and summer seasons usually happens by the end of May. "In the Climate Prediction Center's 8-14-day outlook, beyond what we forecast for, there is a slightly leaning above chance for higher precipitation than normal," Dubois said. "So end of the month into early May we might see a little bit of a shift." Even though that might apply more to northeast Florida, the change of pattern means rain season is coming soon next month, he added. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Burn ban enacted in Flagler to protect against dry conditions
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Woman arrested, facing attempted murder charge in Callahan shooting
A 58-year-old woman remains in Nassau County jail on a bond of more than $1 million after a shooting in Callahan on Monday morning. Julie Murphy is facing attempted murder charges after a person was shot during the domestic incident on Pickett Street, according to a news release from the Nassau County Sheriff's Office. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Deputies responded to the street at about 6:45 a.m. after receiving a call from a person reporting a shooting. 'Upon arrival, officers located a victim with multiple gunshot wounds lying in the roadway,' the news release states. 'Emergency medical personnel immediately transported the victim to a local hospital, where they remain in critical condition.' According to witnesses, Murphy and the victim were arguing outside of a residence and as the dispute escalated, she and the victim moved into the street, the news release states. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Murphy is accused of shooting the victim in the back 'before firing additional rounds at the victim as they lay wounded on the ground,' the news release states. Read: Woman whispers 'help me' to Amazon delivery driver after allegedly being choked by ex-husband Read: Marine veteran plans to sue Jacksonville Sheriff's Office after officer shoots her dog Read: Scientists genetically engineer wolves with white hair and muscular jaws like the extinct dire wolf [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
