We made it to Friday! YAY!!
10. Need to watch a soothing video? Check out this cake decorating video.
9. I’m a knitter. Last year I vowed to knit socks. It went so well I have a half inch nub of a sock still sitting on needles in my knitting bins. Last night I saw a post on Reddit about someone knitting TWELVE socks at a time. I can’t even wrap my head around how to do two at a time, twelve is beyond my scope.
8. Shameless self promotion time. A few weeks back I recorded an episode of the Shelf Love Podcast where we talked about Time Served by Julianna Keyes. In talking about the book, we also talked about unlikeable heroines, slut shaming, angry/revenge sex, second chance romance, sex pacts, problematic elements and so much more. I hope you will give it a listen.
7. Along the lines of talking about problematic elements in books, author Felicia Davin wrote a blog post with the subtitle- “let she who us without Problematic Faves post the first call-out”. It focuses on two of Lisa Kleypas’s books. TL;DR- we can know a book is problematic and still enjoy it.
6. I saw this upcoming book event, A.C. Arthur presents Bring Your A Game, and it looks fantastic. Sadly, I won’t be attending many events next year but still wanted to share with the group.
5. Love following pets on Instagram? You should definitely follow Rocky Rockstarr. Rocky is a ridiculously cute Pomeranian who just happens to also be a romance cover model. Tessa Dare tweeted about him on Thursday.
4. Did you know that author Elizabeth Kingston has a newsletter about skincare? It’s called Husk Weekly. She is a wealth of knowledge about skincare, makeup and sunscreen. In her newsletter a few weeks ago she wrote about how long one should wash their face. In the past two weeks I have spent more time, two rounds of happy birthday, and my face has felt cleaner and softer. If you’re looking for skin care tips, I highly recommend this newsletter.
3. In just two weeks, I will be participating in panels and events with Maryland Romance Writers as part of Baltimore Book Festival. This is a FREE Event. There will be lots of authors there. I will be there. I’ll have more about the event over the next two weeks. If you are local(ish) to Baltimore, I highly recommend this event. Use the link above to go to the schedule and see the panels.
2. Friends, I am absolutely obsessed with “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. It makes me think of every soft hero I’ve ever read. And how much I love soft heroes. Please feel free to rec me all the books with a soft hero who would write/sing/cry about this very thing.
1 Alexis Daria revealed, via Entertainment Weekly, the cover of her upcoming release, You Had Me at Hola, and it is absolutely stunning. The colors, the characters are perfect. I can not wait to get my hands on this book.
OMG Rocky is so cute! And the models look like they’re having fun :)
I just listened to the Shelf Love podcast about TIME SERVED and thoroughly enjoyed it (I was cooking a spicy bean soup at the same time—a perfect activity to do while listening). I especially liked how nuanced your discussions were about Dean’s rape fantasy and Rachel’s slut-shaming of her co-worker (two aspects of the book that never bothered me but they always seem to get a mention whenever TIME SERVED is on sale). And I loved the comment that so much of the book is about class and Rachel feeling as if she’s an imposter as she moves away from the trailer park of her youth and into better jobs, apartments, and neighborhoods. A great discussion about a great book. Thank you.
I just heard about this song in Kristen Ashley’s book–I thinks it’s Rush’s book ‘Free.’ Maybe their wedding song or their first dance song? It made me search out the song and I love it too!