Charm City Romanticon describes itself as "a panel meets signing event on a more intimate... scale" and it delivered.  https://www.facebook.com/CharmCityRomanticon/ Life and adulting kept Heather (The Write Women Book Fest founder & co-host), her husband (TWWBF Chief Voluntolder) and me from attending the panels as we originally planned, but Saturday evening's pajama gala was worth it. The people, the venue, the food, the fun--swag, door prizes, treats, surprises--all of that and more created a welcoming, engaging experience. Plus, we were all wearing our pajamas in a range of fabulous styles and themes from cozy and cute to elegant and sexy.  We were fortunate to sit at a table with some of the event volunteers who were also close friends with the organizer, all lovely humans and obviously the source of the cheerful vibe.  Next year's Charm City Romanticon is already scheduled for April 6, 2024! 

  So much joy, joy, joy to see two of my books listed in the catalogue of circulating volumes  for the Prince George's County Memorial Library System  https://pgcmls.info/ along with so many other great reads from past, current and future authors participating in The Write Women Book Fest!  Conflicting feelings about the one copy of Seducing the Burks, Five Erotic Tales by Cardyn Brooks that's now missing: Is it lost forever? Did a library patron on a tight budget enjoy it so much that they "forgot" to return it?* Whichever the answer, believing that someone is rereading my very first published, IPPY award-winning book gives me all kinds of good feelings.  Happy reading!  Cardyn Brooks (also writes as C. X Brooks)  *This author doesn't condone stealing, and at the same time recognizes that extenuating circumstances happen. 

  Duty-bound Daughters Break Free   Rosewood, A Midsummer Meet Cute by Sayantani Dasgupta  Young Adult contemporary romance  Scholastic Press, March 2023  from chapter 35:  A reality where we all belonged and we were all celebrated like the pieces of sparkling magic we were...   Daughter in Exile by Bisi Adjapon  New Adult contemporary fiction  HarperVia, January 2023  from the final chapter, Mpatapo, The Knot of Pacification:  Balance between independence and family, new norms and tradition.  The Davenports by Krystal Marquis  Teen/YA early 20th-c. historical fiction + romance  Dial Books, January 2023  In most ways it's superficially different from, but emotionally reminiscent of Little Women. from chapter 15, Amy-Rose:  ...'I think we're meant to be friends.'...  Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles #2) by April Asher  contemporary supernatural romance  St. Martin's Griffin, Febru...

Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist by Jennifer Wright  non-fiction biography, sociopolitical history  Hachette Books, February 2023    A prologue, thirty-eight chapters, an epilogue, acknowledgments, notes, and an index lay out the compelling real-life saga of Ann Trow, who transformed herself into Madame Restell. This unapologetically pro-choice champion battled poverty, ignorance, misogyny, and anti-choice zealot Anthony Comstock. The details of her ordeal, triumphs, and criminalization, and the author's narrative tone and pace are compelling.  This passage from the epilogue summarizes the ongoing battle for women's bodily sovereignty in the United States:  The same sentiments that motivated Comstockery are alive and well today ...  [note: Reading this nudged me to add a biography of Margaret Sanger to my TBR list.]  The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story edited by ...