For the Criminally Inane

Need a book to read this spring? Are you having a book slump? Need to find a new author to enjoy? Looking for sassy heroines, alpha males, tissue romances, or a feel-good, funny read? Well, I have just the thing for you! Enter the Spring Break Bookapalooza. Be sure to click on this link to check it out. My romantic suspense book Baker's Dozen is being featured today! I talk about my dream spring break (hint: it's in France) and what I love about spring. And while you are there, check out many of the other authors featured on the site. You may find something that catches your eye. Leave a comment to interact with the authors and let them know what you think about their cover, their except or their dream spring break. Many of these authors are also published under my publisher, The Wild Rose Press. PLUS you can enter to win one of many Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift cards with this link to the rafflecopter contest. You can earn bonus entries by following participating aut...

Reading fiction. Back in the ole college days, I took a class titled "Communication in Fiction."  (Aren't you jealous?  What a great class!  I mean I got college credit talking about books!)  It's more than escapism.  I know a lot of people who poo-poo the value of fiction as something we need.  I disagree.  Fiction is a life blood.  My professor theorized that we actually need to read fiction.  During the time we read, fiction specifically, we meet a problem and have a cathartic experience overcoming the problem. This week alone I survived a shipwreck and lived with a tiger on a boat for over 200 days and then saved a company from sabotage--all from the safe distance of a page.  What fiction does for me, is help put things in perspective, it helps me empathize, it cures me of "self-ness." I become more aware of others since I've lived in someone else's world for a while.  Now there is a difference between a refreshing dip in...

My favorite book store is going out of business. It's depressing to see the shelves empty, not that selling books is bad, but the fact that they are not restocking them. It's like a part of me is dying. I have so many memories of chasing the kids around while trying to read the inside cover of a book. Does clearing out the bookstores make way for digital books? Personally, I'm not a fan. I like the smell and feel of real books. Is the end of bookstores? Is it the end of books? You tell me. Maybe I'm a Luddite, but I'm hoping books are not going away anytime soon.

I just finished book four of Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. I'll have to say, the first one started a little slow. My hubby read most of it out loud to my six and three year old. I admit, I got a little bored. Toward the end, it started getting my attention. We checked out the second book from the library and I was hooked. Well written, but also imaginative. It's like there's a fourth grade boy stuck inside the adult body of Brandon Mull. I liked being surprised, amused, amazed and transported to a whole other world. So far the third book is my favorite, the working against the clock makes a great page-turner. Finished the fourth book last night, as I said. My hubby did too, then today he ran out and bought the fifth one and is reading it right now. Who says independent reader books are just for kids? As a writer what did I learn from Brandon Mull. Well, I learned that I need to be more creative with my plots and characters. At each page turn, I was amazed at t...

I read this book, "A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Why we read Jane Austen" about, imagine this, Jane Austen's writing. One of the essays really hit me. The author talked about how Austen used an emotional description in her writing. This is really more powerful than describing every little detail because it allows the reader to imagine the hero/heroine in her mind, but with the careful guidance of the writer. What does Darcy look like? Well, now he looks like Colin Firth to the majority of the people out there, but before A&E's adaptation, what did he look like? Whatever I wanted him to look like, imposing figure maybe, but it more of what I felt about him. I knew him emotionally not from a line up of guys. I knew that he needed to be respected, that his presence commanded respect. Well-groomed, perhaps because he was wealthy. We know people who are rich and how they wear their clothes, so we can imagine what he was wearing without being explicitly t...

I've been on a reading frenzy lately. I've been writing too, don't worry, even 8.5 months pregnant, I don't neglect my writing. Read "If I Tell You I Love You, I'd have to Kill You" by Ally Carter. When I read the back cover, my first reaction was, "Man, I wish I'd thought of this brilliant idea!" Now that I've read it, I'm glad I didn't. Ms. Carter did an excellent job! I found her voice engaging, her characters fun and the plot hilariously outrageous. Having said that, I was a little sad that the boyfriend, Josh, was a little two-dimensional. Sure, he was a nice, sweet, forgiving boyfriend, but I'm not sure he had much personality. But really, reading back on my jr. high journals, I really didn't know the boys I had crushes on. I mostly saw that they were hot, and hoped for this ideal that couldn't possibly be expected of a young kid at that age. Anyway, I enjoyed it so much, I think I'll try submitt...