Books in my Mailbox & Fun Stuff Happening Next Week

My heart is heavy today with all that's happening in the country and what happened in my own town last night, so this is going to be a brief post. But I wanted to share the books I've picked up this week and also give you a heads up about the RWA conference.

I won't be blogging next week because I'll be heading to San Diego for the Romance Writers of America conference. If you're around the San Diego area, there's a giant charity book signing that will be happening Wednesday night. I'll be there along with hundreds of other romance authors. Stop by and see me. :)

There will also be our fancy romance writer awards (The RITAs) on Saturday night, which will be broadcast live online on RWA's website. I have two books nominated. BREAK ME DOWN is nominated for Best Erotic Romance and NICE GIRLS DON'T RIDE is up for Best Novella. So if I'm lucky, I'll get to test out if I can actually walk and not fall in the high heels I bought. o.0 I'm having outfit angst because me and dresses don't get along. But I promise I won't show up to the ceremony in jeans.

All right, on to the book haul for the week. Though I like ebooks and have read about half and half on ebook vs. print over the last five years, lately I've been on a print kick. And oddly enough, on a hardback kick, which is new. But anyway, here's what I've got in my stack:

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz - Full disclosure, Tiffany and I share an agent and are friends, but she's an autobuy for me because of her writing. This one is Literary Fiction and not romance, but when I like an author, I trust them enough to follow them to different genres.

The Sun In Your Eyes by Deborah Shapiro - Also Lit Fic, which isn't my usual thing, but I've been in the mood to read some lately. I'm not sure where I saw this book featured originally, but the blurb captured my attention. It has rock 'n' roll, a road trip, intense female friendship in college, and then what happens when these two women meet again later in life. They pretty much had me at the road trip, rock 'n' roll thing. Plus, I find best friend female friendships fascinating and not unlike romance in their intensity, especially when we're young.

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley - If you saw my blog post on the first book in this series, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, earlier this week, this won't be a surprise. I loved book one, so of course I had to buy the next. :) Steamy, smart historical romance.

Also, a quick reminder that WANDERLUST is only a week and a half away! If you' haven't pre-ordered your copy yet, grab one for only $3.99! This is a full length novel (Harlequin length) and stands alone from my other series, though you may get a wee glance of Pike pre-CALL ON ME. ;) 

Get your copy:

 Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play 

READ CHAPTER ONE here

All right, that's all I've got for y'all today. I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Recommended Reading: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies Series)

By Jennifer Ashley

You ever have a book that you buy because someone recommended it, but then you forget about it and it sits on your shelf or on your e-reader forever? I have so many of those, so sometimes it takes not just one or two mentions of a book, but repeated, beat-me-over-the-head mentions to get me to pick it up.

That's the case for The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Amazon shows that I bought this book on a sale in October of 2013, but I never read it. Then I saw people mentioning last week that it was on sale again and Dear Author raved about it, so I dug it out the pile on my Kindle. And I'm so glad I did.

I know why I bought it in the first place--besides the recs. The hero has Asperger Syndrome (though it isn't defined as such within the story because, in those times, they would've just thought the person was mad.) My son is on the spectrum and leans closest to Asperger's. So I'm always curious to read stories when that's portrayed. Also, sometimes I'm scared to read them because if it isn't portrayed accurately or respectfully, I get annoyed. I'm happy to say that Jennifer Ashley did a splendid job with Lord Ian's portrayal as a high-functioning Aspie. He was smart and endearing and sometimes frustrating, but still a sexy, swoon-worthy hero. I also liked that she showed his frustration with himself because he can't help doing some things a certain way. 

The story itself involves a bit of a mystery, but what I loved most was the couple. The heroine was a great fit for Ian--strong-willed and not letting him get away with anything. I also liked that she wasn't the typical historical heroine. She was an older heroine who has lived some life (she's a widow) and wasn't raised with wealth. That gave a different flavor to the story.

And boy was the story steamy--more so than I'm used to reading in historicals, so that was a fun surprise. :) Overall, I'm glad that I finally pulled this one off my virtual shelf and read it. And lucky for you, it's still on sale for $1.99 if you want to grab it! Just don't wait three years to read it like I did, lol.

What have you read lately that you're recommending to everyone?

Book of the Month Club: I'm Giving It a Try & Giving You 50% Off

I'm a sucker for a subscription. I like getting mail. I like getting books. So when I saw the Book of the Month Club featured on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog, I had to check it out. Now, as you can imagine, I read mostly romance since that is my first love and what I write. The second most read genre for me is probably YA. But "big books", those deemed "books of the summer" that seem to be on all the front-facing shelves at bookstores and Target, those typically aren't what I gravitate toward. Part of it is the rebel in me--I don't want to read what EVERYONE is reading, lol. The other part is I just have so many romances I want to read that I don't have room on my docket. 

But lately, I've been making a point to step out of my comfort zone. It started with the Push Your Boundaries reading challenge and this is the next step. As a writer, I'm always afraid of my writing becoming too "incestuous". I don't mean in a Flowers in the Attic kind of way, lol, but I mean that there's input (books I read, movies & TV shows I watch, experiences, etc.) and output (what I write). If there's not enough variety in the input, then my books (output) may start to sound the same or be too similar to others in my genre. I think what makes writing good is gathering up influences and inspiration from all different realms and then letting it mix up in the creative part of your brain so it can make new connections and generate stories you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

So, I've been reading a little all over the place genre wise lately, which you may have noticed in my recent post: My Summer Reading So Far. That's why this Book of the Month Club appeals to me. You get to pick from five selections each month and can add more if you like more than one. And the choices seem to be a mix of mystery/suspense, lit fic, women's fic, memoir, and scifi. It's a good variety, which appealed to me. I also like that it's a highly curated list with judges selecting the best of the best of all they read that month.

Here are some of the details and how you can get 50% off a 3-month subscription:

1. "Tastemakers" select five new release hardback books per month for you to choose from.

2. You pick one during the first week of each month (included in your subscription price) and can add more for 9.99 each (which is about 5 bucks cheaper than you can get the books on Amazon). Shipping is free.

3. You can skip a month if you like.

4. You can try it for cheap (you'll get 3 months/3 new release hardcover books for around 25 dollars) if you use my referral link and the code REFER50. If you'd prefer to get a free tote bag and sunglasses and 30% off, use SUMMER30 code instead. (That's what I did.)

To give you an idea of the kinds of books they choose, here are this month's picks. (And if you sign up before July 6th, you can get one of these.)

The Girls: A Novel

By Emma Cline

Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations

By Ron Fournier

Sleeping Giants (Themis Files)

By Sylvain Neuvel

Missing, Presumed: A Novel

By Susie Steiner

Rich and Pretty: A Novel

By Rumaan Alam

I read through all the descriptions and the testimonials by the judges and decided to get two. I'm getting Love That Boy because it's about his journey with his son who was diagnosed with Aspergers. My son is on the spectrum, so this is a topic near and dear to me. But from what I saw in reviews, it's relatable to all parents, not just ones with children who have special needs. Then, the second I chose was Sleeping Giants because I loved the fervor of the recommendation and the premise sounds like a blockbuster movie. So these will get shipped to me next week. I'll be sure to report back!

Let me know if you decide to give it a try. Has anyone else ever been part of a subscription book club/service? I'd love if they had something like this for romance. :) 

*As noted above, this post contains referral codes. All that means is you get half off and I get free books if people sign up. I haven't been asked to feature this. I signed up and paid for my own subscription. Just wanted to pass along the savings if any of you are interested. :)

My Summer Reading So Far: Romance, YA, and a Memoir

One of the best things about going on vacation for me is that I get big chunks of time to read. Even though it's my job to write books and reading is vital to that, I still struggle to fit it in sometimes. In fact, this year, I've been in a bit of a reading slump. Usually I read 50 books a year minimum. This year, I've only read 13 so far, which is way behind. Part of that is due to being busy, but I also had a number of books that I didn't finish because they weren't speaking to me. So I was looking forward to some vacation reading.

And I lucked out and enjoyed both of the ones I took on vacation. This first one, I finished on the plane ride over, lol. So it definitely was a compelling and quick read. American Girls by Alison Umminger is not a romance, though there is a small romantic thread. It's what I would call literary YA. The premise is what got me to pick it up in the first place. Fifteen year old girl is fed up at home and runs away to stay with her sister in California for the summer. But while she's there, she ends up researching the Manson girls for a project. That intrigued me. And though the Manson murders are a thread in the book, it doesn't dominate it. This is mostly a coming of age story with some angst, some grit, and a non-glossy look at LA. Recommend. 

American Girls: A Novel

By Alison Umminger

Back cover:

She was looking for a place to land.

Anna is a fifteen-year-old girl slouching toward adulthood, and she's had it with her life at home. So Anna "borrows" her stepmom's credit card and runs away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister takes her in. But LA isn't quite the glamorous escape Anna had imagined.

As Anna spends her days on TV and movie sets, she engrosses herself in a project researching the murderous Manson girls—and although the violence in her own life isn't the kind that leaves physical scars, she begins to notice the parallels between herself and the lost girls of LA, and of America, past and present.

In Anna's singular voice, we glimpse not only a picture of life on the B-list in LA, but also a clear-eyed reflection on being young, vulnerable, lost, and female in America—in short, on the B-list of life. Alison Umminger writes about girls, sex, violence, and which people society deems worthy of caring about, which ones it doesn't, in a way not often seen in YA fiction.

---

The next one I read was Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis. Believe it or not, this was my very first Shalvis read. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm glad I finally picked one up. This was a sweet and sexy story about a firefighter and a pastry chef. The Great Dane Kevin stole the show for me though. I laughed in every scene that dog was in. And this is book 8 in the series, but I had no trouble jumping in without reading the previous books. I never felt lost.

Always on My Mind (Lucky Harbor Book 8)

By Jill Shalvis

Back cover:

After dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend, Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack's ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a little fib - that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle . . . 

No-strings attachments suit Jack just fine - perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their "just friends" rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

---

Last is one I haven't finished yet, but I thought I'd pass along because I breezed through the first half last night. It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell one is a memoir, which is outside my usual zone, but I saw it recommended on another site and decided to try it. So far, it's a very compelling read. The author has a great voice (funny and honest) and she grew up in the 90s, so a lot of the references resonate with me. And though the main topic is binge eating, it's really a story of growing up, dysfunctional families, and trying to find your way through life.

It Was Me All Along: A Memoir

By Andie Mitchell

Back cover:

A yet heartbreakingly honest, endearing memoir of incredible weight loss by a young food blogger who battles body image issues and overcomes food addiction to find self-acceptance.

All her life, Andie Mitchell had eaten lustily and mindlessly. Food was her babysitter, her best friend, her confidant, and it provided a refuge from her fractured family. But when she stepped on the scale on her twentieth birthday and it registered a shocking 268 pounds, she knew she had to change the way she thought about food and herself; that her life was at stake. 

It Was Me All Along takes Andie from working class Boston to the romantic streets of Rome, from morbidly obese to half her size, from seeking comfort in anything that came cream-filled and two-to-a-pack to finding balance in exquisite (but modest) bowls of handmade pasta. This story is about much more than a woman who loves food and abhors her body. It is about someone who made changes when her situation seemed too far gone and how she discovered balance in an off-kilter world. More than anything, though, it is the story of her finding beauty in acceptance and learning to love all parts of herself.

So that's what I'm reading. What are you reading right now? Or what have you read lately that was great?

Friday Reads: Tempting Fate by Jane Green

Look! A Friday Reads! It's been SUCH a long time since I've had one of these. I have to admit that I've been in a major reading slump this year. I'm not sure what's gotten into me, but I haven't had a maybe-I-don't-need-sleep, page-turning read in a long time. But this week, I finally came across one that had me sacrificing sleep so I could read more pages - Tempting Fate by Jane Green.

Tempting Fate: A Novel

By Jane Green

Now, first, a warning that this is NOT a romance. This is a women's fiction book, which is outside of what I normally read. There isn't a tragic ending or anything, but it's not a romance. So know that going in. Also, based on Goodreads reviews, this is one of those kinds of books that you're either going to love or hate. I happen to fall into the loved-it camp.

It's about infidelity, which is why I think it has such a love/hate reaction from readers. A heroine who cheats is hard to like. And much of the book, I didn't like her. BUT I also think that this situation could so easily happen to someone who never thought they could be a cheater. The way it was portrayed--woman in her 40s, feeling insecure about aging, in a rut, feeling resentful toward her husband about something he did gets unexpectedly swept up by the attention of a young, hot, funny guy.

GIF in #Gosling

Yeah, so think hot internet mogul who looks like Ryan Gosling walks into this woman's life. As you can expect, things in her life blow up. She makes a decision that had me yelling at the book (and I had to put that aside because it made an otherwise intelligent heroine seem really stupid, but I didn't want to give up on the book because of it. I'm glad I didn't.) I won't give spoilers, but I thought the drama was well done and realistic. And though there isn't a ton of action in this book (more internal, quiet type drama), I found it a page turner and very compelling. Some may have an issue with the ending, but I also think it was relatively realistic. 

Overall, I definitely recommend. 

Here's the official summary (from Amazon):

What is a woman's greatest temptation? How far will she go to find fulfillment―and how much is she willing to lose? This is an unforgettable, enthralling novel about the risks and rewards of "having it all" from beloved New York Times bestselling author Jane Green.

Gabby and Elliott have been happily married for eighteen years. They have two daughters. They have a beautiful, loving home. Forty-three-year-old Gabby is the last person to have an affair. She can't relate to the way her friends desperately try to cling to the beauty and allure of their younger years. And yet she too knows her youth is quickly slipping away. She could never imagine how good it would feel to have a handsome younger man show interest in her…until the night it happens. Matt makes Gabby feel sparkling, fascinating, alive―something she hasn't felt in years. What begins as a long-distance friendship soon develops into an emotional affair. Intoxicated, she has no choice but to step ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, never foreseeing the life-changing consequences that lie ahead. If she makes one wrong move, she could lose everything―and find out what really matters most.

Grab a copy: Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo

*Disclaimer: I have not been asked to review this book and have purchased it with my own money. All opinions are mine. Links to Amazon and iBooks are affiliate links, which means I earn a small percentage (no extra cost to you) if you purchase from links on my site.