Fave Reads of 2015

Every year, around this time, I like to recap my favorite reads of the year.

A quick look at my goodreads list shows a solid tie between Romance and NA books. And no wonder, I absolutely love the emotional intensity and mature heat level of NA. They are so much fun!

Here are some of my faves, in no particular order.

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1.NA Romance:The Capital Confessions Series (three books) by Chanel Cleeton

This series is classic Chanel Cleeton - meaning it's chock full of authentic, steamy heat. I couldn’t put it down. All three books are a fun read (but the second book was my fave).


2. NA Contemp Romance: Deep Blue Eternity by Natasha Boyd.

This book was gripping and steamy. There is this scene in the rain...it's hot, hot, HOT.

3. YA Contemp/Urban Fantasy: Trust Me, I’m a Ninja by Natalie Whipple

The second book in Natalie's ninja series is aw-some! With ninja’s, high school drama, a crush between two bad ass kids? Um, yes please. I adored this story. Like a lot of Natalie’s books, this one is action packed and full of swoon worthy scenes. I definitely recommend it.

4. Adult Sports Romance: In The Zone (a hockey romance series) by Kate Willoughby.

I'd never read sports romances before my friend recommended them. I started with these hockey romances and fell in love. Kate's stories are hot and sweet. They offer the full package of longing, desire, heat, and happiness. I love these books and think you will too.

5. NA Romance:Fall With Me by Jennifer Armentrout

I adore books by Jennifer Armentrout (aka J Lynn). This book is just as steamy as the rest of her stuff and it’s adorable. I couldn’t put this book down. I believe Fall With Me is my favorite in the series. Did you read any of these books this year? What did you think?

Those are my faves this year.


What were some of your favorite books of 2015?

2015 Year in Review - and other observations from a caffeinated introvert

This year marks the beginning of a new normal and adjusting to the newness has been tough. New levels of stress have really thrown me off balance.

December has been slower, at least. And this time of year I always like to pause and reflect on what I’ve accomplished. Mostly because no one is going to do it for you (you gotta toot your own horn). And also because it’s empowering to see what all you’ve done with the minutes, hours, and days you’ve been given.

This year has been remarkable and here’s why:

More than 51 thousand words written. Now, that's a lot less than last year. However, I did stop tracking my words after August (because my writing time was random and fleeting so I didn't count words - I more celebrated the fact that I was writing at all!). That’s good considering my law school work took a boat load of my personal time. *0.0*

76 blogs posted

100 + new Twitter followers

12000 blog views (More than double the views from last year)

32 novels read (11 more than last year)

0 writing class attended (unfortunately)

1 WIP completed *woo hoo* and one outlined

0 contests entered. Ooops. Missed that goal but you know what. Primarily because my story wasn’t contest ready this year and there was a lot of stuff to do with school.

I started law school! I did the work and I took the exams. I survived (*just barely*)! Law school is pretty flipping hard so I'm thrilled with my performance so far.

Running took a backseat as school took most of my time. I didn't even make it to the personal trainer appointments (because they conflicted with my school schedule).

But we did run more than 190 miles this year (including the DOPEY CHALLENGE! Check out my Dopey Challenge posts: 5k, 10k, Half, Full, and my Dopey Recap).

There was travel for vacations and business: St. Louis, MO, various parts of FL (including Disney World), North GA Mountains, a Caribbean Cruise AND an Alaskan Cruise!! These trips included hiking, running, tubing, swimming, and time on the beach. I even attended an awesome bike week in Panama City. I spent a lot of time with family which was my ultimate goal.

Overall, I accomplished a good deal - however, I missed some milestones and goals along the way, but the end result was success and momentum. An (not concurrently, of course)d a kick ass first semester of law school.

It’s time to celebrate our momentum and achievements. It's time to look forward to another great year. I, for one, am going to read a book, sleep, and sleep some more.


How do you plan to celebrate?

TBT: Supporting Small Business aka Your Favorite Author

It's December which means the time to buy gifts for our friends and loved ones is here. And when commercialism takes the stage, front and center, in our lives it's easy to shop big. Heck, it's easy for us to mistake a lot of 'businesses' as big.

I was recently reminded of the 'author-as-a-small-business' paradigm and thought I'd share with everyone. For today's TBT I'm sharing Supporting Small Business aka Your Favorite Author

Enjoy!

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Pursuing publishing as a career has made me acutely aware of small businesses and the way they operate.

Because, *cue big reveal* every author is a small business. Just like your local book store or indie coffee shop is a small business. Even your local doctor’s office, accountant's office, or attorney's office. All small businesses.

Recently, a traditionally published author who I love/follow posted a blog about why she can't give away free stuff. It started a bit of a sensation. In this post she revealed her actual advance and other real elements of her contract with a big publishing house. Of course, a few hours after the post went live she was forced to take it down (it apparently violated the non disclosure terms of her contract). I read it while it was live and understood the main objective to be this: Authors aren't rock stars. They don't get bags of money. They don't get tons of support in marketing their book. And they certainly don't get unlimited free copies of their books they can give away for free.

In other words, authors are small businesses.

Even if an author has a book published by a traditional publishing house they are still, first and foremost, in business for themselves. The big 5 publishing company is just their partner. And it definitely doesn’t mean said author is instantly rich and famous.


Small businesses fight daily to stay a float, to feed their families, and to continue providing their awesomeness to the public. If you can, you should support a local or small business. Because your business, no matter how small, makes a difference to them.

It's something of an oddity to think your single purchase makes a difference in our current global economy. Walmart will go on without you but the local coffee house/bookstore/doctor/lawyer/author needs you.

And you should definitely not steal or use pirated materials. I know, you’re thinking, ‘it’s only one download, or ‘it’s really no big deal,’ or even ‘If they didn’t jack their prices so high I could afford it. They’re really forcing me to steal it.’

Stop right there. Pricing is not a conspiracy against you. It’s business. And business is aiming to make a profit. But not all profit is evil. In fact, I’d argue that no profit is evil (but I digress). Profits are what keep your favorite actor working, or your favorite writer writing. Profits are what keep your favorite TV shows on the air and what drives movies to be made.


You wouldn’t work for free, and neither would your favorite small business person (aka author, actor, writer, artist, doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc.)

Everyone wants to be paid for their work. Be apart of the writing/bookselling economy. Support your favorite authors. #shopsmall

For more on the 'Rich Author Myth' see Wendy Higgins post.