Top Reasons Why My TBR List Never Ever Shrinks

Libraries!

recommendations and assistance from knowledgeable librarians and staff
eye-catching displays
everything's free (for accounts in good standing:-), including access to ebooks & audiobooks, streaming content...

[collage images from top to bottom, then left to right: 1. an assortment of LGBTQUIA+ non-fiction titles arranges on a 3-tiered round wooden display shelf 2. "Celebrate Pride" sign atop the same 3-tiered display from a different angle showing an assortment of fiction and non-fiction titles 3. cover art for The Dreadful Duke by Grace Burrowes 4. cover art for Not Bad for a Girl by Anastasia Ryan 5. cover art for The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo]

Teasers

excerpts from the next installment in a series or from other authors at the end of books

[4 paperback books: Earls Trip by Jenny Holliday and You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian, both aranged with their spines up; For the Wolf & For the Throne - both by Hannah Whitten (and requested after reading an excerpt at the end of another awesome Kimberly Lemming book), with front cover art of women in profile wearing cloaks, facing up

Online Book Reviewers, My Own Book-Hoarding Tendencies, New Releases from Authors Whose Work Was Previously Reviewed by Me, Sentimental Favorites, Intriguing Non-fiction Topics

hooked by contagious enthusiasm
joyous privilege of proximity to lots of books
prior good reading experiences grant benefit of the doubt
guaranteed comfort reads
opportunities to expand the scope of understanding the world - past, present & future

[3 images clockwise: 1. a horizontal bookstack from top to bottom - For the Wolf, For the Throne, You Should Be So Lucky, Earls Trip 2. two horizontal bookstacks 3. The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby, People in Glass Houses by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle]

[cover art for Teacher by James Eric Riley]

Comments

Hot Love in the Kitchen & Travelling Through Time

Redemption of the Heart by Moni Boyce contemporary romance Love Snacks Publishing 8 January 2019 Despite addressing heavy themes of domestic violence, incarceration, and grief, Redemption of the Heart is a charming and sweet spicy read in the tradition of a 21st-century interracial homage to Janet Dailey’s monthly romance era. Gemma’s open-hearted ingénue contrasts starkly with Alex’s jaded workaholic. They struggle with a variety of challenges, but ethnicity isn’t one of them—a spin that feels particularly modern. Once readers commit to their suspension of disbelief regarding the cascading impact of lacks in due diligence by several characters, it’s easy to settle in to enjoy this love story. The recent public debate about the pros and cons of Gillette’s “We believe the best man can be” campaign ties in with the contradictory messages in the story threads about toxic masculinity. There’s a scene in which Alex apologizes to someone who was openly bragging among coworkers

Meeting Some Author Sheroes IRL at the Yale Pop Rom Fic Conference

Flashback Friday to 2 weeks ago when my fandom for romance authors was rewarded while sitting in a Yale University auditorium in a How to Write a Romance Novel workshop taught by publishing phenoms Adriana Herrera & Sarah MacLean! With my sitting in the front row seated next to brilliant Dr. Margo Henderson (Elysabeth Grace*) and Legendary Shirley Hailstock on one side; TWWBF2023 participating author Briana Ellis on the other, who recognized me even with my face half-hidden by my mask! I THINK Nalini Singh was in the audience along with Ms. Bev and so many other super talented, successful authors and book industry professionals. 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest featured panelist Leslye Penelope and I crossed paths in a hallway while searching for the ladies room. WordLink literary agent Macey Howell and I had a lovely chat after a different session. The sister to the documentarian for "Love Between the Covers" was quite engaging as she snapped pics per her sibling&#

Fantasies, Realities, Margins & Postcards

Soul Jar, Thirty-one Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors edited by Annie Carl with Foreword by Nicola Griffith fantasy Forest Avenue Press, October 2023 from the introduction: Western society is beginning to understand, after centuries of ignorance, that the disabled community is like other minorities. We're made up of real people with real lives and real stories. The foreword, introduction, thirty-one stories divided into four thematic sections--Earth in Retrograde, Gone Astray, Wild Space, Creature Feature--acknowledgements, about the editor, contributors' biographies, and a reader's guide work in concert to mesmerize and entertain as they prove the essential premise stated in the foreword: Ableism is a crap story... What disables a person in our culture is not impairment but society's attitude to that impairment... We need to hear our own voices. Our strong, beautiful, ordinary, disabled voices... The voices in these stories sing some familiar and new tune

Search This Blog