Tag: reading

Four Freaking Million!

How many of you are Kindle Unlimited members? I have to confess until my first book had been out for quite a while I had no idea what KU was, so I didn’t make the book available on the service for a little over six months.

Then, a fantastic author and friend, Lori Roberts Herbst (her Callie Cassidy series is wonderful), encouraged me to check out KU, and, oh, what a difference it’s made!

Readers who subscribe to Kindle Unlimited pay a monthly fee that allows them to read any kindle books that are part of the program for “free”—granted one pays about $9.99 a month, but if you’re like me, I easily spend that on a single paperback or ebook. If you’re a devourer of books, and you do your reading on a kindle, KU is a really good deal.

Several folks have asked me how the author benefits from KU. We make an estimated $4.75 for every 1200 pages read–the amount varies from month to month depending on the number of people who are KU members, and I always estimate on the low side.

Now, that doesn’t sound like much, but since I listed my books on KU a little more than a year ago over four million pages of my books have been read.

That’s pretty darned cool. Thanks for “listening” to my TED talk. 😉😉

Little Free Library

I placed signed copies of Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort in a couple of Little Free Library installations in the Tallahassee area today.

Take a copy; share a copy…
I hope my baby enjoys her outing!
I wonder if my neighborhood would be interested in joining the Little Free Library ranks? Such a great idea, especially for those of us who live in rural housing developments.

Peace, people!

Heat Wave Reading

The sun had yet to rise on this Saturday morning and already the thermometer read 81° in Tallahassee, Florida. With a predicted high of 100° – and that’s without factoring in humidity – it’d be a good day to stay inside and read.

Need a few suggestions? Happy to oblige. Now I’m the kind of reader that makes Amazon’s algorithms shake their weary heads. If algorithms only had heads. There’s no one genre that dominates my wish list. One day, sci-fi. Another day, steamy romance. Yet another day, some deep tome on what it means to be human. So pay attention.

1) I’m currently reading Hunted, the second installation in Scott Walker’s Little Yokai urban fantasy series, and loving it. His protagonist, Keiko Miller, is a detective in the Los Angeles branch of the Bureau of Souls – an agency that polices yokai, supernatural beings that crossed a rift in the veil between our world and theirs thirty years ago. Keiko’s keeping a literal life and death secret from the bureau, while still being a badass detective and a loving and dutiful daughter. Here’s a link to book one because you really should start at the beginning. Caged: The Little Yokai Series Book 1 https://a.co/d/isIXOtC

2. Dear Dana: That time I went crazy and wrote all 580 of my Facebook friends a handwritten letter, by Amy Weinland Daughters, is one of those books that makes one happy to be human. It’s the true tale of the author’s quest to form a real connection with people beyond the confines of social media. The book is touching and funny and inspirational, and I highly recommend it. http://Dear Dana: That time I went crazy and wrote all 580 of my Facebook friends a handwritten letter https://a.co/d/awAFGw5

3. If you like something on the steamier side, I recommend Ivy Nelson’s dark romance series, Club Exposure, beginning with book one, Hidden. Hidden: An enemies to lovers dark romance https://a.co/d/i7WG5Ou. Honestly, my husband wishes I’d read these books and nothing else. Too much information? Sorry!

4. Heather Kindt’s Eternal Artifacts series, beginning with The Green Door, takes the reader on a roller coaster of an adventure in which the stakes are high, but the characters’ curiosity and ambitions keep them coming back for more. This book is aimed at Young Adult readers, but I totally enjoyed it. http://The Green Door (The Eternal Artifacts) https://a.co/d/aXWW7SG

5. A cozy mystery fan? Lori Roberts Herbst has one of the best series out there. I love the mountain setting where snow looms on the peaks. Perfect for summer reading. Currently there are three books in her Callie Cassidy mystery series, with a fourth one on the horizon. http://Suitable for Framing (Callie Cassidy Mysteries) https://a.co/d/jduVxpP

I could go on and on, but five is my lucky number. Let Amazon chew on that.

Peace, people.

Go Tell the Bees (Not a Review)

I just finished reading Diana Gabaldon’s Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, the ninth book in the Outlander Series. After waiting what seemed like a hundred years for this novel, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to remember all that had taken place in the previous eight novels. And guess what—I couldn’t recall a great deal of it. But it didn’t matter. I loved it anyway.

Ms. Gabaldon’s characters and locations are so vividly drawn, and her writing so engaging, that I didn’t care that some characters weren’t familiar to me or that I’d forgotten Jamie’s nephew had married a Quaker or that William was Jamie’s son or half a dozen other things integral to the story.

Plenty of backstory is woven into the narrative, but even so I often had to shrug and read on when I couldn’t place a character. Again, I didn’t care. I love these characters. The major ones are as real to me as people in my own family.

My only worry is that I might not live to read book ten. With times being what they are, and my age being what it is, nothing is guaranteed.

If you like your books with a little meat on their bones, you’ll enjoy the Outlander series. It’s a feast, not fast food.

Peace, people.

Weekend Reads

What are you reading this weekend? Hopefully something other than the directions for putting up the artificial Christmas tree you bought last year on sale and then forgot all about until you opened up the attic to get the Yuletide decorations down.

“Mabel, did you buy this 16’ pre-lit fake balsam?”

“No, Arnie, you bought that on account of little Barry’s allergies. Remember?”

Arnie doesn’t really remember, but he’s learned, after 50 years of marriage, that Mabel is always right about such things.

But that’s because Mabel keeps her mind sharp by reading. And what might she read this weekend?

Maybe a cozy mystery series by Lori Roberts Herbst. http://Suitable for Framing (Callie Cassidy Mysteries Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R7XR3LG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_QQY7W946Y7BTBWBNBDEK

Or maybe a science fiction thriller by Gareth Powell. http://Embers of War https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719VDGLD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_E64T4VAXQHEC3SAQZNEX

How about a steamy romance by the other Leslie Noyes? Willing: A Contemporary Romance https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YMQQ583/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_R1K434B2Q4CZ9GJYMW38

Or perhaps one of my books…http://Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort (The Happy Valley Series Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PDRH2Q9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_8N4QRFBM0YSCVXV4Y9F4

Be like Mabel. Read.

Peace, people!

Picturing Kindle Unlimited Readers

One of the best moves I’ve made since publishing my novels was to enroll them in Kindle Unlimited. For those who aren’t familiar with KU, it’s a program in which members pay a monthly fee and in exchange can read any book published on Kindle that’s been enrolled in the program at no additional charge.

So, for $9.99 per month (U.S.), a reader has access to more than a million books. For avid readers this is a great deal. For their part, the authors are paid by the page. For every 1,200 pages read, the author makes about $5.00.

Now, back to the title of this blog. I enjoy looking at my daily stats to see how many pages have been read. And then I begin to imagine the readers:

I see a woman my age with a cup of tea. She’s curled up on the sofa with a cat in her lap while snow falls outside her window. She knows she should go to bed, but darn it, Paula is in a pickle and maybe the next chapter will provide some resolution.

There’s another woman in California. She’s on the beach stretched out on a striped towel and when she comes to the part about nude jugglers, she gets a case of the giggles. A handsome lifeguard comes over to make sure she’s okay and ends up asking her out for drinks. That’s good for her, but hey! Come back and read some more, lady!

And how about the man in Indiana who reads in bed? He can’t believe his lady friend talked him into this, but he’s kind of into it now. He thinks Paula should take things slowly, and he likes the dialogue. He’ll finish the book before he turns off the light.

Okay, so maybe my imagination’s working over time. But that’s what I do.

Peace, people!

But No Elephants

When my children were small we subscribed to the Parents Magazine children’s book club. Outside of feeding, clothing, housing, and loving them, it was perhaps the best thing I ever did for my kids.

Once a month or so the club sent two books to our home. Book arrival day was always a BIG DEAL. Each and every book we received was celebrated and read many, many times. We were pretty destitute in those days, and there were times when we could barely afford the cost, but we always bought the books.

Two books stand out in my memory as being favorites. One was The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone.

This delightful tale never grew old. I enjoyed it because I could do my passable Grover impression while building the tension surrounding the appearance of the dreaded monster.

Spoiler Alert #1: Grover was the monster at the end of the book.

The other book that the children repeatedly clamored for was But No Elephants by Jerry Smith.

This sweet story featured Grandma Tildy, and the voice I used for her was remarkably similar to the one I used for Grover, just a couple of octaves higher and a bit shakier—my repertoire was pretty limited.

Grandma Tildy lived alone until a man came along peddling animals. She allowed him to coax her into buying one animal after another, but she drew the line at buying the elephant. The repetitive phrase, but no elephants, found on every third page or so, never failed to elicit giggles.

Spoiler Alert #2: Surprise! Grandma Tildy ends up adopting the elephant and they all live happily ever after.

I have no idea why these books were on my mind today. Maybe I’m feeling nostalgic for the days when my kids were little. Or maybe I miss impersonating lovable, furry old Grover. Maybe it’s a little of both.

Peace, people.

Take Me to Your Reader

This evening, Thursday, May 13, I’ll be attending a book club meeting in Tallahassee at which my book, Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, will be the topic of discussion. This will be my second book club experience with Mayhem, but while the first one was via Zoom, this one will be held in a friend’s home with actual people in the room with me!

I’m no introvert, but having been fairly sequestered with Studly Doright for the past year, I’m going to confess to being a bit nervous. And when I get nervous, I’m liable to say just about anything.

“By the way, did you all know I lost my virginity back in….”

Yep. It could happen.

Peace, people!

Into the Dark

I read a lot. I’m not the speediest reader in the world, so I average about a book a week unless the book in question is a lengthy sci-fi tale. Sometimes sci-fi books become so technical that I might need two or three weeks to absorb a single book.

Recently though I read a trilogy that fell into a category called dark erotic romances. My curiosity got the best of me. I couldn’t figure out why the books were labeled “dark,” but after five pages I thought, Aha. NOW I know!”

My first inclination was to order a different, much tamer book and forget I’d spent money on the trilogy, but dadgum it, the author kind of hooked me right away. I already liked her main character and needed to see what happened to him. But, holy cow the story was dark and gleefully erotic—and I read all three books in the space of four days. Yes, they were fairly short, but still that’s something of a record for me.

The author mentioned several songs I’d never heard of in the text of the stories, and one made it to my writing playlist. “Ride” by Chase Rice might be the hottest song I’ve heard in a long time. It makes me wish I was 21 instead of 64.

And as for dark erotica, I believe I’ve reached my lifetime limit after those three books. I don’t need to travel that path again. In fact, I’m thinking about rereading the Anne of Green Gables books just to cleanse my mind.

I’ve always heard that variety is the spice of life. Well mine got a little too spicy—at least for a few days.

Peace, people!

In case you’re curious…
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