Happy Monday!
Whoot! It’s the beginning of a brand new week-so many possibilities ahead. Make it a great one. First up as always this year, reader report. Ta-Da-I finished another non-fiction book-Hope Heals. What an amazing story of love, perseverance, grace, and of course, HOPE. If you don’t know the story, click on the link.
I’ve also finished The River Witch, a southern gothic novel by Kimberly Brock, and I’m currently reading Since You’ve Been Gone, by Christa Allan. How’s your reading been this month?
Speaking of reading, I wanted to chat about community. Real and fiction. Real community for readers can include a local book store. It’s where we find books. It’s where we hang out to talk books. There are several indie book stores in the realm of my local area. I was at FoxTale Book Shoppe last Thursday hosting a book club. The folks at FT know how to create community. I’m getting to know many people by attending events at the book store. Just like the writing community, there is a huge reader community. With the vast world of books at our disposal, there is NEVER a lack of conversation going on at a book store event.
Right?
So many topics to talk about. So many authors to praise and tell other readers about. Let’s face it, word of mouth is the best advertising, and what better place to tell another reader about one of your favorite authors than your local book store.
Local book stores drive the community in so many ways. I know ours has many authors in for signings and luncheons. Big name authors, beginning authors. They even have something called Emerging Author Night where an author can sign up, talk for a few minutes about their book, then the people attending have a chance to buy books as well.
Our local book store also teaches writing classes. They teach adults, children. And speaking of children, they have children’s authors in as well with story time. Again, a great way to build community! Such a great way in fact, that I decided to put a book store in the novella I’m working on. It’s the 4th in the Single Dad Next Door series, One Summer Sunrise. The series takes place in Devon Park, Ohio. I’ve slowly introduced the town in the novellas, and now I’m adding the book store.
These are the four novellas in my attempt to create community in my town, Devon Park. The series is titled Single Dad Next Door. One Winter Kiss, and One Autumn Love are out now. One Spring Promise and One Summer Sunrise are coming out in the next few weeks. I’ve had fun with these single dads and the women who vow to steer clear of them for one reason or another.
Deena was so busy trying to convince her grandfather he hasn’t fallen in love with his new friend, Faribelle, that Deena wasn’t sure at what point she fell in love with her new friend, Andrew.
Joelle was so busy convincing herself she would never again date a man with a child, she’s not sure who captured her heart first, her handsome neighbor William, or his daughter, Caroline.
Tess was so busy running from a man in her past, she wasn’t sure when she fell in love with the man in her present, Charlie.
Evee was so busy making sure she didn’t lose her heart to little Henry, she wasn’t sure at what point she’d lost it to his father, Trey.
Ah, the dilemmas of love!
I’d love to hear about the way you talk to readers about books. Do you have a local book store you love? Do you have a group of reader friends you just can’t wait to get together with to talk about books?
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and I’m giving away a copy of each of the novellas to 1 commenter! You’ll receive the first two when I announce the winner, and you’ll receive the other 2 about the middle of July!
USA Today featured author Lindi Peterson lives in north Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and a lively array of cats, dogs and birds. She loves sharing life with her family and friends. Her passion for reading led her to writing, and then God spoke words of love into her heart and changed her life forever.
I love the chance to find new authors, thabk you so much!
This is exciting! I love finding new authors to read! Thank you so much!
Hi Lindi, I have a beautiful friend who loves books, and whenever we see each other, our conversation begins with what we have read and what we love about new authors/old authors/favourite books etc. Unfortunately she has moved and does not have great WiFi, so it is harder to catch up. I enjoy reading the blog posts here and comments from other readers, it is nice to ‘be with’ others who love good fiction:)
Blessings:)
I’ve yet to meet a bookstore that I didn’t love, Lindi. As for talking books, I’ll talk to anyone who will listen. :)
Hi Paula! Thanks for visiting Inspy Romance. :)
Katji—Hello! Thank you for visiting Inspy Romance. :)
Wemble—Aren’t those the best friends to have? I LOVE talking books. And yes, here at Inspy Romance, we’ll talk books all day long. We have built community here–and I love it!
Jill–Amen! You and me both. My step-daughter and I talked books for a time yesterday. We both belong to book clubs and chatted about the books we have read recently. What a great way to learn about new books.
I am not familiar with this series and it sounds great!
Hi Lindi! Our small town is fortunate to have a small independent book store – Forever Books, which has monthly book talks. I belong to a Book Club for Foodies:Tales you can Taste, sponsored by our local library and School of Cooking. Mostly I learn about new books via the internet: BookBub, newsletter, Facebook Groups & parties. Glad as a retiree I have time to persue my reading passion. Glad that with eBooks this passion is more affordable and manageable. Presently I am enjoying reading the Beach Bride series. Twelve friends from the online Romantic Hearts Book Club meet on a Caribbean vacation and before they leave each write then stuff a note in a bottle and cast it in the sea. Twelve romances by twelve different authors – a new book released every Tuesday. Living on the shores of Lake Michigan these stories are fun summer beach reads. Today we have so many fun ways to interact with authors and readers! Happy Writing!
Thank you. It was fun to write!
Renate—Wow–your book store sounds amazing. My son is a cook in NYC, at a fine-dining restaurant. His passion for food is amazing-I’m sure your Foodie book club is awesome! I know several authors in the beach brides series–one of my besties, Ciara Knight, has a book in that collection. I can’t wait to read the stories. I love fun series connected like that. Thanks for sharing about the Beach Brides. ;)
Lindi, I am so excited about your books! I love talking books ’cause am an avid reader of Christian fiction! It is sad though that so many bookstores have closed….I don’t have any near me :-(
Jackie—I hate that about you not having a book store close. They are gems and to be treasured! I’m glad we have platforms like Inspy Romance to stay connected and chat about books.
Oh, I am so excited. I love Novellas. Thanks for the chance to win!
I find authors through Facebook groups,reader and author friends, also through, Good reads,Pinterest and Kindle Fire.
I have a close friend and I share my books with her. She writes reviews for the church library and I share the ones I’ve written with her. We love to talk up good books with all the patrons of the library. Every book I read I review and when I’m through I donate it to my church library. I get to talk it up from my own personal experience and get others interested in new authors.
There is a good bookstore in the next town to us, but I rarely get there because parking is awful in that part of town :-( I get book recommendations from several friends – usually on Facebook, but when we see each other, we talk books :-)
I belong to several book clubs, online and in person. Love chatting about books and authors. :-)
Lindi, you are fortunate to have such a wonderful bookstore nearby.
Dana–so glad you stopped by today.
Linda–isn’t it cool how we can find readers today? So many options!
Gail—Wow—I wanna be like you. :) Seriously, I love reviewing books. And what a great idea to donate them when you are through reading. I simply love that idea. Hey—what about writing a short, no spoiler, review in the front of the book before you donate. Like 1 or 2 sentences–only if you liked the book, of course!
Margaret—Crazy that you are talking about parking. The book store I mentioned has issues with parking when they have an event. It’s a very busy small town, and I make sure to get there early so I can grab a decent spot.
Mimionlife—Isn’t it the best conversation? I love it.
Merrillee–I do agree. I share their posts on FB–even if I can’t attend. I talk them up whenever I have the chance. They are great folks who support so much of the community.
Hi Lindi. I really like your description of a book loving community. I wish I had a bookstore like that nearby. In a big city you’d think that would be possible, but the options are scarce.
I actually have a friend who owns a bookstore in a collegetown area and she tries to reach out and do book clubs of sorts. I never really care for the books they discuss. I think they ended up being a more philosophical group than a book club.
That being said, I love reading about new authors and books here at InspyRomance.. plus we have a chance to chat with authors like yourself, so I think this is kind of a book club of sorts, we just don’t actually talk books in the depth I’d expect in a real club, but they fit me just fine in my everyday busy life.
I some book club friends who I meet with monthly. We also have a Facebook page where we share about books we’ve enjoyed. Recently I was having to make the difficult weeding out of some of my books to make room for more. I came across your book, Her Best Catch, and realized I hadn’t read it so decided to remedy that right away. I absolutely loved that book! Allison and Ashton were a great couple.
I forgot to mention that Her Best Catch went back on the Keeper Shelf, not the giveaway pile!
Thenchristian bookstore that I used to go to is now gone. I am not familiar with any readers group in my area. I am sure if there’s in it would be quite interesting.
We don’t have any bookstores in town anymore so I talk books online in groups inpassing as I surf Facebook and on blogs :)
Priscila—We were talking at book club the other night about how different it is reading a book someone else chose, how they don’t always fit our tastes. :) And I’m in total agreement about Inspy Blog! It’s the perfect fit.
Pam–I’ve done the weeding out before–no fun! I often watch the tiny house shows, and love it when they have readers–and the builders come up with clever ways to keep some books! Thanks for the shout out for Her Best Catch. That was fun to write—And I still love Allison and Ashton.:)
Colleen—Maybe you could ask at a local library if they know of any groups. Also, we have a local paper that sometimes puts things like that in there. Book clubs can be quite fun. Especially if you have a good group of people that mesh well. Doesn’t mean they all have to agree on everything, but it is interesting to see other people’s points of view on a story you read. :)
Sabrina–Online is such a great way to talk books and hear about new reads. I’m constantly adding to my TBR pile simply by seeing a cover, or hearing a blurb that I love!
That’s a good idea. Thanks
I enjoy this blog and I talk to my daughters. We’ve just moved to Kentucky and we went and checked out books at the library for the first time since we moved. I love libraries and bookstores, too.
No local bookstore here (Christian that is) as ours closed down two summers ago. I don’t belong to a book club and I am part of a very small congregation in our church. The only opportunity to talk books is when I connect with my reader friends on Facebook or on their blogs where they feature books. I would love to someday be part of a real book club for Christian fiction! I think it would be neat to be in the same room talking up a book we’ve all read and enjoyed. I bet there would be some fun debate and talking about the characters as if they were real :-)