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    Authors After Dark is approaching …

    Today, I wanted to give a shout-out to Stella Price and the Authors After Dark convention, which will be held Aug. 6-10 in Charlotte, N.C.

    I’ll be among the authors attending. The master of ceremonies is Alexandra Ivy, and you can see the list of all the authors attending here.

    AAD is a great, reader-friendly conference, and I’ll be participating in several panels and other events. And, if you’re in the Charlotte area, there will be a Saturday afternoon book signing that is open to the public. You can see the schedule of events here, and the registration information is here.

    If you’ve never been to a book conference, AAD is a really good one to try. About 500 people usually attend AAD, so it has a small conference feel, and it is easy to find/hang out with the authors, bloggers, and readers that you’ve chatted with online. Plus, there are always a ton of book giveaways, food, and other treats. Last year, there was ice cream social one afternoon, which was really cool.

    Hope to see you there.

  • Checking out the summer TBR pile …

    So it’s June, which means that it’s time to think about summer books and what you want to read on vacation.

    I know I say this every single year, but this is going to be the summer when I put a serious dent in my TBR pile. We’ll see if it actually happens or not. LOL.

    But in the meantime, here are some of the books in my TBR pile that I’m looking forward to reading this summer. Note that the descriptions are from Goodreads.

    Baby, It's YouBaby, It’s You by Jane Graves

    Amazon / iTunes

    With only the wedding dress on her back and her honeymoon luggage in the car, Kari Worthington is running away. Determined to put her controlling father, her rigidly structured life, and the uptight groom she left at the altar in her rearview mirror, she escapes to the Texas Hill country … and lands on a tall, dark, and gorgeous winery owner’s doorstep. All she needs is a job and a place to live until she can get back on her feet. So why is she fantasizing about losing herself in his powerful arms?

    For Marc Cordero, freedom is so close he can taste it. He’s devoted his life to managing the family business and being a single dad. Now with his daughter away at college and his brother taking over the winery, Marc is ready to hop on his Harley for parts unknown-until a runaway bride bursts onto the scene. Free-spirited and tantalizingly sexy, Kari excites him like no other woman has before. But when irresistible passion turns into something more, will Marc give up his future to take a chance on love?

    Rush MeRush Me by Allison Parr

    Amazon / iTunes

    When post-grad Rachael Hamilton accidentally gatecrashes a pro-athlete party, she ends up face-to-face with Ryan Carter, the NFL’s most beloved quarterback.

    While most girls would be thrilled to meet the attractive young millionaire, Rachael would rather spend time with books than at sporting events, and she has more important things to worry about than romance. Like her parents pressuring her to leave her unpaid publishing internship for law school. Or her brother, who’s obliviously dating Rachael’s high school bully. Or that same high school’s upcoming reunion.

    Still, when Ryan’s rookie teammate attaches himself to Rachael, she ends up cohosting Friday night dinners for half a dozen football players.

    Over pancake brunches, charity galas, and Alexander the Great Rachael realizes all the judgments she’d made about Ryan are wrong. But how can a Midwestern Irish-Catholic jock with commitment problems and an artsy, gun-shy Jewish New Englander ever forge a partnership? Rachael must let down her barriers if she wants real love–even if that opens her up to pain that could send her back into her emotional shell forever.

    Hell on WheelsHell on Wheels by Julie Ann Walker

    Amazon / iTunes

    He’s the bad boy she’s always wanted …

    Nate “Ghost” Weller has loved Ali Morgan nearly half his life. But he’s done something so heinous he’s convinced she’ll never forgive him if she discovers the truth, so he keeps his feelings and his secrets to himself. Then she blows into town with a mother lode of bad guys on her tail and Nate can’t deny she’s in serious trouble. Unfortunately, he’s the only one who can help her.

    She’s the good girl he’s kept at arm’s length…

    Ali knows Nate as the most solemn, aloof man on the planet. Sadly, he’s also the sexiest. For years she’s avoided him, unable to stomach his dark scowls and brooding silences … especially when she secretly yearns for his touch. Now she must rely on him to save her from the malevolent shadows ghosting her every move. When the bullets explode, so does their passion. But can love really conquer all? Or are some things just too terrible to forgive?

    What about you guys? What books are you hoping to read this summer?

  • Happy Memorial Day …

    Happy Memorial Day! Hope everyone has a nice, relaxing day that’s full of friends, family, and food. And let’s take a moment to remember all our veterans, their families, and all the sacrifices that they’ve made so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we do.

    And here’s hoping that the summer isn’t as brutal as the winter was. LOL. Hope everyone has a great day!

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    Graphic novels — to read in print or e-book?

    So a couple of months ago, the e-book for Black Widow: The Name of the Rose by Marjorie Liu and Daniel Acuña was on sale. The story sounded interesting, and I always like a bargain, so I downloaded it to read on my tablet.

    Black Widow The Name of the RoseHmm. It was an interesting experience.

    The story was good, and the art was cool. Overall, I enjoyed the graphic novel, and I’d recommend it to Black Widow fans or those who enjoy the Marvel universe and its characters.

    But reading a graphic novel isn’t quite the same as reading a print novel on an e-reader. Which was something that I had never considered before.

    For one thing, there seemed to be a set limit as to how big I could make each page. I was a little disappointed by that, as it made some of the dialogue a bit hard to read. I could tap on each individual panel and make them bigger that way, but with three or four or more panels on a page, that got a little tedious at times. I don’t have an iPad, but I imagine that if I had read the graphic novel on it, I would have had a better experience, as that screen would have been bigger than my tablet one.

    So lesson learned. In the future, I’ll probably stick with print versions of graphic novels, just so I can see everything better.

    What about you guys? Do you read graphic novels and comics on your e-reader or tablet? Why or why not?

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    Mythos Academy e-books on sale May 13-27 …

    I wanted to let everyone know that there is an e-book sale coming up for the first five books in my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series.

    Book #1From May 13-27, the e-books for Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost, and Midnight Frost will be $2.99 each. The deal is being offered at iTunes and Barnes & Noble, but I imagine that the other e-book retailers will pick it up as well. So if you’ve been wanting to check out the series, now might be a good time.

    Here are some of the sites where you can get the e-books, along with the print and audio versions:

    TOUCH OF FROST — BOOK #1

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo

    Audible / Brilliance Audio

    KISS OF FROST — BOOK #2

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo

    Audible / Brilliance Audio

    DARK FROST — BOOK #3

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo

    Audible / Brilliance Audio

    CRIMSON FROST — BOOK #4

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo

    Audible / Brilliance Audio

    MIDNIGHT FROST — BOOK #5

    Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo

    Audible / Brilliance Audio

    Hope that everyone enjoys the e-book sale. Happy downloading!