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My 14th book of the year. And it made me cry. This is also the first thing I’ve ever read by Elin Hildebrand. I really enjoyed this novel. The reason I picked it up was because a reader on a random forum recommended it for seeing how an author uses multiple points of view. I am so happy that I discovered this author! Here’s the basic story: A group of 4 couples are best friends on the island of Nantucket. They name themselves the Castaways and do everything together – vacations, celebrations, etc. But then one day, while celebrating their…

Everyone back in Georgia is expecting me to come home for Memorial Day weekend. Especially my Mom, who reminded me last night that if I don’t come home, I won’t see my family until July 4th at our beach trip. I realize that is a long time to go without seeing everyone, but at the same time, I feel like I am already taking too much vacation time between now and RWA Nationals. So, I’m making a deal with myself. My word count goal for May 31st is 51,000 words. If I reach that goal early and have the full…

Saturday at the monthly Heart of Carolina Romance Writers’ meeting, some of our published authors talked about tips for writing a series. Since my current work in progress is being written with the intention of making it into a trilogy (at the very least), I was extremely interested in what they had to say. One of the things they mentioned that stuck with me was that every writer needs to make a ‘series bible’. What exactly is that? Well, it’s a notebook or a file or a folder where you keep all the important information on the series. Stuff you’ll…

Whew! I was so nervous when I heard that the Opryland Hotel had flooded and they were going to have to cancel the RWA conference for this summer. I was worried that RWA might not be able to find a new location. We are, after all, talking about thousands of people and some very specific needs. At the conference, there are over a dozen workshops taking place at any given time, so there needs to be at least that many meeting rooms available. Also, there have to be enough rooms with two doubles or two queen size beds to accommodate…

James Patterson is the type of author that pretty much has everything he writes go NYT Bestseller. And so far, the few things I’ve read by him have honestly not lived up to my expectations. He also seems to do a lot of joint projects. Take this book for example. It’s got someone else’s name there in small print. Gabrielle Charbonnet. Who the heck is that? How much of the book did she write? The book is told from two different first person points of view. First, there’s Whit, the seventeen year old football player who is also a wizard….

Last night, I went to the Barnes and Noble at Brier Creek here in Raleigh to hear New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong read from her latest YA book. As a treat, she actually read the first chapter of a fourth Dark Powers book that hasn’t even been published! It was, by the way, fantastic. She pulled me in right from the start with a scene about two girls swimming in a lake – and something mysterious deep in the lake that pulls them under. Spooky! Kelley was extremely nice and very well-spoken. She answered a ton of questions…