When my dear friend and total TBR enabler Julie Collier introduced me to author Aly Styles, I knew I would some day fall down the rabbit hole that is Aly’s backlist. Julie and I love so many of the same authors, read so many of the same romance subgenres, and look for so many of the same tropes and character types in the books we read so I trust her recommendations inplicity. What I had no idea would happen is that I would start that rabbit hole journey by editing one of Aly’s upcoming novels. And I am totally smitten. So while I dive deeper into Shaw’s life and story in Aly’s upcoming novel Undertow, I’m setting you all up with some Q&A about Aly and her books. I find the more I know about an author, the more I want to read their stories. And I can tell y’all right now, once you know more about Aly, you’re going to be invested in her books, too.

You know what’s really cool? When a fellow reader you follow on social media drops into your inbox and says (paraphrased) please don’t say anything, but I’m writing a book and my pen name is….

And I’ve been a fan of Alexandra Hale from that moment on.

It’s hard to put words on paper, especially emotional ones, and then put them out in the world for people to read. But she did it. Now with nearly a dozen titles published and more on the way, she’s making her way beautifully in Romancelandia.

And what better way to get to know Alexandra and a bit about her books than with details directly from the author’s pen? Or keyboard :-)

I always love finding out what the people I love to read and listen to love to read, write, and listen to. What their favorite parts of their job are. What elements of the book world hit the hardest. So I thought it would be great to have some Q&A time with the authors and narrators who are attending Charm City Romanticon 2025. Bring a little insight to who they are, and why they do what they do. A little way to find some wonderful common ground and some new things to lean into.

And this week, we’re getting it all started with Aaron Shedlock.

People think I'm joking when I say my lists have lists. I'm not. I really do have lists for lists.

So many of the things on the lists are long-term projects, sometimes it feels like the list never ends and things never get checked off.

But then a bunch of things come together in a flurry of activity and I get to check multiple things off a list. Sometimes that even results in an entire list being completed.

No, that isn't happening today. Maybe next week. Or maybe not.

We hear about writers getting writer’s block all the time. That internal psychological menace that keeps the words from flowing.

But what happens when the word fluffer gets blocked?

In more ways than one…

Everyone always talks about the light at the end of the tunnel. But why do we count that as proof we’re getting closer to something good? Or at least the end of something bad? I think so many of us have conditioned ourselves to believe we have to travel through the darkness alone, and only once we see that light can we begin to hope we’re almost home free.

But what if there were lights along the way?

Hearing we were going to have a model (and one of my favorite models) at Charm City Romanticon elicited one of those happy fangirl squeals I usually make fun of. And I am not even a little sorry for it. Now, realizing the only interaction I’ve ever had with Matthew was at another event, and I had very limited info on him beyond the fact that he is stunning, and kind, and adorable, and incredibly personable, I reached out to the authors bringing Matthew to CCR. So today’s blog comes courtesy of Kaylee Rose and Giulia Lagomarsino.

Enjoy!

Superfans are the best. Seriously, they are. I’m talking about fans, in this case readers, who devour everything an author has to offer. Who tell everyone they know about the author and their books. Who grab the latest new release immediately and dive into it without delay.

My friend Susy drops into our group chat each time one of her favorites releases a new book. And most of the time, it’s a book by Riley Edwards. Because Susy is definitely a Riley Edwards superfan. And when I was looking for a guest blogger for Riley’s spotlight week, Susy was the easy and immediate choice.

Creating a movie of the mind with just a voice isn’t easy. It takes a lot of talent to master the rhythm, inflection, and tone of one character, never mind many. When I’m picking a new book to listen to, I tend to gravitate to several specific narrators because of how expressive they are. How they throw themselves into the characters and bring them to life.

I absolutely have my favorites. And one of them is Samantha Brentmoor. From the first time I heard Samantha’s narration in Melanie Harlow’s Call Me Crazy (co-narrated with Teddy Hamilton), I was hooked.

For me, finding the right audiobook is all about finding the right narrators. Over the last couple of years, I’ve discovered I have several favorites I default to regularly because I know they will bring a new level of appreciation and enjoyment to a story.

I put that knowledge to work selecting new books by authors I love to help me binge their backlists. And I’ve even found myself picking out audiobooks of stories by new-to-me-authors because I already love the narrators and want a new story and written voice in my ear.

One voice I know I can count on every time is Rose Dioro.

If you read last week’s blog about Paige Reisenfeld, you know I met her at a bookish event and instantly liked her. Well, she wasn’t alone at the event, and I also got to meet her partner PJ Freebourn. Not only was he super nice, but the two of them together were absolutely adorable. It was so obvious they had a deep, solid, personal and professional connection, so when I reached out to Paige about coming to Charm City Romanticon, I absolutely had to include PJ in that invitation. And since Paige knows him best, I asked her to step in as this week’s guest blogger.

One of my favorite things about bookish events is meeting new people in the Romancelandia community. And when I went to the SASS signing in 2023, one of the first new people I met was a narrator named Paige Reisenfeld. By the time the day was over (and I’d run into Paige multiple times as I wandered around the room), I felt like we were old friends.

When I found out Paige was one of the narrators my friend Meg met at another signing, and that Paige was going to narrate one of Meg’s books, I reached out to Meg to guest blog for Paige’s Spotlight week.

Voices matter. And it goes beyond finding a great match to a character when an author selects a narrator for their audiobook. Sometimes the match is about more than a popular name or specific tone.

When her Painted Daisies novel Sweet Memory was scheduled for audiobook recording, LJ Evans reached out to Podium Audio, requesting a narrator whose cultural background and ethnicity matched her character’s. Podium reached out to Michelle H Lee, a Korean-American voice actor from Maryland. Best decision ever!

I'd like to say my love of audiobooks began with hearing some smooth-voiced narrator whispering sweet nothings in my ear, but alas, for a long time I considered audiobooks boring. Then someone (*cough* Julie Collier *cough*) introduced me to some truly exceptional audiobooks. Then she introduced me to AM Johnson’s novel Let There Be Light. I loved it so much I wanted to read it over and over again.

So I put those two things together and grabbed the audiobook of Let There Be Light. And holy eargasm, y'all! It was the first audiobook I'd listened to narrated by Aaron Shedlock. And Bookwyrms, I was hooked. Aaron’s and Teddy Hamilton's performances brought home to me was just how well the right narrator could bring a character off the pages and into the movie in my mind.

This week’s author spotlight is courtesy of author Samantha Cole! Samantha introduce me to D.D. and I love the connection they have. Samantha was one of the first authors I read when I started reading romance novels. And I always love to hear what authors I feel connected to love about authors they feel connected to.

There are so many amazing authors I want to read, so many incredible backlists to get lost in, and there just seriously are not enough hours in a day.

Tracy Solheim’s been on my TBR for a while. So many great opportunities for escape in her books. And I will get there! But until I do, I brought in a dear friend and fellow book blogger to bring us all up to speed on why Tracy Solheim is someone we should all read.

Some people exude light. Their entire persona burns with it. You know the minute they enter your space everything is going to be amazing. The colors around you seem brighter, the lighting sharper, the air crisper. Sounds totally cliché, right? Then you meet author Nina Bloom and you know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you happen to love snarky and strong, yet vulnerable female characters who their HEAs absolutely fall for, you may be reading a book by Noelle O’Ryan. And if you haven’t read her already, this is your incentive to go grab one of her books right now. Because, let’s face it, there’s something really special about a relatable, every day woman, doing the best with what life gave her, finding her forever in a he-falls-first world.

Every so often my writery and non-writery worlds collide and someone who’s been part of one world becomes part of another. Sometimes it’s someone from my non-bookish life becoming an avid reader and joining the ranks of Romancelandia fangirls with me. And even more rarely, someone from a completely non-bookish part of my life becomes an author in Romancelandia. And I get to work with them on a professional level. Which is really freaking cool.