This week I read a new to me author, Marie Bostwick. I read her book A Thread of Truth. When I started it I was warned that there might be numerous typos. With that thought it mind I set out to not enjoy the book, because last year I attempted to read a different book by a different author that was so riddled with typos, both spelling and grammatical that after four days of reading I hadn’t even made it to page one hundred. I’m very happy to report that even though A Thread of Truth was the second book in the series I had no trouble following along, and that the typos didn’t pull me out of the story, and I truly feel that there were only two times that I would have even noticed them had I not been warned. I’m also thrilled to say that I had been told for some time that Bostwick would be an author I would like, but I had been putting her off, and I was not misled…Bostwick is now on my must read list. So while we want a book to be perfect, and for the storyline to flow in a…

I recently asked this question on Twitter: “As a romance reader, what makes a book a keeper for you?”  Out of the replies that came my way, the two most common responses were one, a compelling hero/heroine and two, a story that generates an emotional reaction in the reader, whether that means laughter, crying, et cetera. I think we all read romance novels to escape, at least temporarily, the conflicts of our normal lives.  Even the people with the happiest of marriages, the best of health, and the most wonderful of jobs have some kind of problems.  Everyone needs to play a little hooky once in a while, and romance novels are a great way to do that. When you read a romance, you get caught up in someone else’s problems.  And even if you’re biting your nails on page 300 wondering if these two will ever get together, you know in the back of your mind that everything is going to turn out happily ever after, which leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and hope at the end of the book.  (But you still nibble on those nails.) A book that gets a reader so emotionally involved is…

This has been an interesting week coming off a beautiful relaxing away-from-it-all vacation to business catch-up, a little family drama, death of a favorite author to a full-blown panic attack. I seldom have panic attacks in fact probably wouldn’t know what they were unless someone I trust told me about them. I just called them anxious moments. Anyway, this one went full blown crazy and was all based, believe it or not, on books. Or more specifically the chance of not being able to get new books. First it was just a weird dream sorta a nightmare but it kept echoing in my mind. I was wandering in a book store — the old Waldenbooks on Midway, now a beverage center (sigh) — where I had spent many memorable minutes and hours every week for about fifteen years. It was the first stand-alone chain bookstore I’d ever been in. Some of the staff members are still my friends. They made me feel at home in Texas, this new place I’d moved to from the East. They learned my name, my taste in books and even introduced me to new authors and books I’d never tried before. Judy and Jackie put…

Long-time and beloved romance author Edith Layton passed away this morning following a long bout with ovarian cancer. She leaves behind three grown children, her grandchildren, and tens of thousands of readers who enjoyed her historical romances. WordWenches.com which Edith was active on until a few weeks ago, is doing a commemorative post for Edith tomorrow, June 3, 2009. Please invite anyone who knew Edith and/or her books to come by and leave a comment. They are planning on putting everything they get on CDs for the family. Click here for ommemorative post Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I was passing time with a fellow reader this week, waiting for books to arrive for processing and our conversation wandered as most readers do to books: what we’re reading, what we’re looking to read and pet peeves. This time it was two biggies; where do they get these “weird” character names and electronic book devices. We’ll let the devices linger for the future but concentrate on the character names. Now, I’ve read my share of books with totally unpronounceable (for me at least) names but it usually doesn’t bother me because I just give them a nickname. For example, Iphiginia Bright in MISTRESS became “Ippie” to me throughout the entire book. I was so entranced by the story I didn’t let an unfamiliar name bog me down. On the other hand, when there are too many “s” or “p” names in the same book, I give up and start to skip scenes for one or the other “S” character. Not sure if it is a deep-seated personal problem or if it just clashes too much in my head for me to continue. I can’t remember the name of the book but it had a Steve and Stephen in it….

What a difference a week can make! Who knew! I guess everyone, but sometimes days go by without effort; work is done, food is made, eaten, drank, family listened to, friends are seen, all very very routine. And then like a Texas tornado, something happens that can be life changing or enough to jolt one out of the ordinary mundane. My week’s twister makes me reflect on what I do to overcome the, well for lack of a better word, stress. I was greeted at 4am last Sunday with the embodiment of Carrie, yes, from the movie. Blood covered hair, dripping onto the white Greek flokati rug, ripped clothing, and generally messed up figure. Crying, gasping and semi-hysterical. Semi, because she lost her voice screaming during the run home from the flipped car, otherwise, I’m sure she would still have been screaming. Not to worry now, she’s okay and healing, the car, electric pole, and retaining wall, not-so-much. But that figure looming in my memory is much harder to be vanquished than I expected after all the excitement had lapsed. So what to do? Well, I turn to that old stand-by I’ve used for over 45 years. Books. And what…

Broken Lizzard and GwenOriginally uploaded by freshfiction First off, SXSW to the uninitiated is South By Southwest, referred to as “SXSW” or “South By“. It is a HUGE (with hundreds of thousands of people, maybe a million or two, who knows) festival in Austin. Texas over spring break. It started 23 years ago with music, expanded to film and then a few years ago added interactive. So, you’ve got the music geeks, the film geeks and the nerds all descending on a city for 13 days or so. I’ve been going since 2005 and it is something NOT-TO-MISS in your lifetime. In fact I’m sure it’s in a few 100 or 1000 things to do before you die lists. My interest is the interactive — all about the Internet or the Web 2.0. They’ve been talking the Web 2.0 since 2005. I wonder if we’ll ever get to the Web 3.0 or they’ll just call it something else. I was there when Twitter first was introduced. Lots of chatter about “taking a shower,” “I’m in the elevator,” “meet you at the beer tent” and stuff like that. Fascinating, no? Also went on to MySpace and Facebook because of SXSW trips….

Saturday afternoon, the DFW Tea readers celebrated Valentine’s Day with a special tea. A lot of people were in attendance, we maxed out the tea house’s largest meeting area, and books were traded amongst the members. Valentine TeaValentine Tea at Patti’s Place Tea Room & Bakery Originally uploaded by freshfiction One very important book trade rule is don’t bring a book that you want to get back. It might or might not come back to you. So it’s better to solve future problems by just having a simple rule. This rule really doesn’t apply to me, as I don’t keep anything but the books that have been personalized to me from various signings I have attended. Naturally, those books don’t go to tea, and rarely get lent to anyone, even my closest, nearest, and dearest friends. You just never know when there could be a book accident. I am continually amazed at how amazed people are that I don’t keep books. Since I don’t keep them you would think I would be a more regular library user, but I really don’t use the library as much as I should. I like the idea of buying a book and being able…

Linda Howard Book clubOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Pat saw a tee shirt on wireless.com — “Not so loud, I had book club last night.” A wine glass on its side was also featured. Some Thursday mornings I do feel that way, especially after a really exciting book club dinner. I’d call it a meeting as in book club meeting, but to be honest, it’s more a wild dinner party. This week we had new visitors and for a portion of the evening…say until the lasgna made it to the table…we were on our “good” behavior. Then it went down hill or wild after that! All I can say, is good thing our dogs are quiet. They do get petted on the way out the door so I guess that is their reward. Husband and son just hide out. It’s safer that way! Our food theme was “Italian” but we had to add a Southern twist in honor of our guest, Linda Howard. Not only was it a Southern twist but also a recipe plucked right from one of Linda’s books! Claire’s Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding! And let me tell you, it must have coffee! In fact we completely lost the…

Late as always … it’s laughingly (I hope) called “Reyes time” by our reading group and friends, but I blame trying to fit too much in a short period of time. Of course, when I do show up on time, or, gasp, EARLY, I hear it from them too. Some people you can never make happy! Tonight is our monthly book club meeting, and since it’s at my house, I also have to get ready. In this case make sure the menu is on track, the people coming, and, oh, yeah, the book read. But that isn’t usually a problem with me, because I love to read and am fortunate enough to have friends who love to share good books I may have missed. I really believe the sharing of opinions is the best part of a book club. Well, the getting together a couple of times per month is great fun too! I’ll admit to enjoying spending time with fellow readers. Candace Havens signing in HurstOriginally uploaded by freshfiction This past week-end I managed to squeeze in three great reader events: first was a signing with Lisa Jackson and her sister Nancy Bush. They flew in from Oregon for…