I love when readers point the finger at me when someone asks who their biggest TBR enabler is. Because, let’s face it, I love to share the authors and books I love. So, when I can return the favor and accuse a book bestie of filling my TBR with amazing books, I’m gonna take that opportunity.  And when Julie Collier recommended I read A.M. (Amanda) Johnson’s Let There Be Light, she created a TBR spree of epic proportions.

I read LJ Evans’s Branded By A Song last Christmas… I clearly and vividly remember reading Branded By A Song. I remember crying within the first few chapters. I remember realizing I was several chapters in and totally immersed in the story, and didn’t even realize it was a slow burn because it was so perfectly emotional and intense I didn’t realize the main characters hadn’t had sex yet. I remember comparing her writing to another one of my favorite authors (A.M. Johnson) because of the depth of character development and the sheer poetic beauty of her writing. I remember thinking, this is an author to watch, and a person who really gets it. All of it- the story, the characters, the emotions, the everything.

As we’re nearing the last 3rd of the year (yep, it is September, my friends) I’m seeing a lot of posts about reading streaks and reading goals. And it got me to wondering….

How many of us set reading goals for the year? And how do we track them? Or why don’t we?

Late last year I went through a bit of a health crisis that could pretty easily be tied to my more, ummm, mature age. I wound up in the hospital for nearly a week contemplating the joys of getting older and the systems in our bodies that start to act up because of it. I spent my time reading. Because, well, books are my happy place. And I started thinking about all of the amazing young female characters and how they have no idea what’s in store for them as they get older.

Then I started getting a little fussy, because, well, hospital, and I started to realize that while I truly enjoyed reading about all of the amazing 20-somethings in the novels I loved, I wanted to find some heroines closer to my age. So, I put out a call to the hive mind on FB, and one name popped up over and over again: Freya Barker.

Ember was one of those beautifully lucky finds who I stumbled across while I was looking for Christmas romance stories to read as part of a reading challenge. I tended to stray away from novellas because I had read a few that left me wanting so much more, but one kept coming across my feed over and over: A Very Pierced Christmas. I figured if it was showing up that often, there had to be something to it, right? Boy, was there ever!

The month before Indies Invade Philly (IIP) in 2021, I was deep into a quest to read as many attending authors as I could. I put out a call for help, and one name kept coming up over & over: Stephanie Rose. Her themes and characters speak to me on a deeply relatable and relevant level, and I absolutely love when I find that in an author and their books.

The best things happen in those blank spaces. What won’t you do in yours?

I know exactly the moment I discovered Melanie Moreland’s books. I was asking for new reads in a group, and Avery Maxwell recommended several. Melanie was one of them. And when I said I had never read Melanie’s books, Avery messaged me and said, “What??? How is that possible?”  And that, my friends, is how Revved to the Maxx wound up on my Kindle. 

I call Revved my Melanie Moreland gateway drug, because man did it create a beautiful addiction to her stories and characters.  And I definitely believe there are certain books that just grab you and pull you into that writer’s sphere.  Even though I was looking for a standalone read at the time, and at that time Revved was a standalone, I dove right into Melanie’s backlist because I just needed more! 

This post was a little more difficult to write, not because there isn’t a ton of awesomeness surrounding Charissa Gracyk, but because I kept trying to keep the "personal" side out of it. So after struggling with a “clinical” take on her as an author, I took a break, took a shower, and then the brain squirrels kicked my ass and said, “screw it, it's your blog! Write what you wanna write!” And it all clicked. I can’t write Charissa’s spotlight as an inventory of her works, because that’s not how I know her.  Well, not really anyway. It makes sense in my mind, so stick with me for a bit here.

When I started my romance reader journey, I was a complete newbie to the genre and had no idea just how much ground Romancelandia covered. I had delved into the paranormal and romantic suspense waters, but the depths of tropes, topics, and adventures I was experiencing were about to get a lot hotter when I discovered Samantha Cole and her Trident Security series. 

It’s kinda cool that I get to read and write about so many amazing authors. I truly have so many favorites. And yes, I can have as many favorites as I want. Who created the rule that you can only have one favorite of something. That’s ridiculous. I’m ignoring that rule. And as such I have lots of favorite authors, but what’s really awesome is when three of your favorite authors are actually the same person. Ok, hang with me here.  Janice Whiteaker is also Jemma Westbrook and Josie Watts.

Katherine L Evans has got to be one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. And by met, I mean on-line, because although we’ve never actually met in person, we have definitely become good friends. KLE is another author I found through my friend Rhon. I was instantly drawn to Katherine’s Romance in New Orleans (RNOLA) series because, well, it’s set in New Orleans. And I went to college in New Orleans. And I love everything I can get my hands on that resembles New Orleans.  So I dove right in with My Favorite Mistake.  Epic. Book. Hangover!

Dark Romance is something I've often gravitated to, but never really had a favorite writer of… and then I read Sarah Bale’s books. And, dude, y’all wanna talk about hooked???   Line and Sinker my friends! “Hook and His Darling” (the duet made up of Captive and Hooked) was a deliciously dark reimagining of Peter Pan. Not a retelling- no this was something completely different. Unlike anything I was expecting. It was a reverse harem, mafia based, deliciously dark retelling with Hook as the “good guy.” I loved it! And I had finally found the dark romance writer I was looking for!

Sometimes I find new authors through other authors, which is really cool, and also the case with Avery Maxwell. Avery popped into another author’s group in June of 2021 giving away an ARC (advanced review/reader copy) of One Little Heartbreak. I was really new to ARC reading, and I was stretching my reviewer wings, so it seemed like a good idea. And I was developing awful FOMO when it came to new books and being “in the know” before the book was released into the wild on the Zon.

Well, it turns out entering that ARC giveaway was a really good idea, because I won that ARC copy, and that “little” win turned into something pretty freaking spectacular.

When I was just a wee-baby romance reader, still testing the waters of what I liked, and scared to step out of the pool I was already in, I read and reread the same 6 books over and over for 3 months. One morning, I opened my Kindle and there was an ad for The Real Deal by Brittney Sahin. I’m not sure what drew me to it, to look it up on Amazon and read the blurb, but when I noticed it was book 3 in a series I dug a little deeper. And became completely hooked.

Make absolutely no mistake: I am an unabashed fangirl for the authors I love. I am 100% unapologetic for hyping their books, events, characters, swag, ... all the things. And now I'm going a step further with author spotlights. All the reasons I love them, all the places you can find them, all in tidy blog posts every Monday.

And yes, I 100% mean this is totally unplanned. Unlike every other week I’ve published on the blog, I have no rough draft for today’s entry. I have no Word or Google doc with well organized thoughts, margin notes, and edits. Nobody else has seen, read, or proofread what I’m writing, and what you’re reading. Because last week was a bit off-script, and today I’m going with it. So, buckle up… this could get interesting. Or weird. But, whatever.

I always find it interesting that I tend to re-evaluate things I’m doing toward the end of the month. I think part of it has to do with setting up my bullet journal for the next month.  I look at my Google calendar, full of all these plans and goals, and get way overwhelmed.  My to-do list has been more chaos and less creative recently. And looking closely I think I figured out why.

Over the past 2 months I’ve started a lot of things to try and increase my social media presence and reach. I was already posting daily on IG & FB, but put a plan in place to start posting at least once a day on TT. Part of it is selfish- I like making connections with people who love the same things I do. Part of it was peer pressure. That follower number is a really tempting carrot to judge success by. I hit 1,000 followers on IG this month. Yay! And increased my follower numbers on TikTok. Yay!  But to what end or purpose? 

When I'm reading, I'm ageless. Immersed in the story, I'm no longer a 50-year-old mom of 2 teen spawns. I'm the heroine of the story. Or the quirky best friend. Or sometimes the wise aunt/mom/grandmother/ neighbor, etc. And dammit, if the hero in the novel is 24 I might inwardly cringe at first, but yeah, that gets old real fast. 

Not every novel is going to be the next great masterpiece. That doesn't mean it's not a perfectly enjoyable 4 or 5 star read. I’ve caught some flack recently for my “lack of 3 star reviews.” Because, after all, how can everything I read be that good?…I guess whatever frame of mind I’m in, one thing that doesn’t really change for me is that I’m not expecting everything I read to be the next great classic novel. I don’t need an epic to be a happy reader.