The Romance Bookie

OMG guys!! I have been looking forward to this day for a couple of weeks now!!! This is going to be so awesome, because guess who I have for an interview today???? Miranda Kenneally!!!! Okay, so I'm guessing you already saw the title, but come one??? Isn't it AWESOME???? I mean seriously, the author of TWO of my favorite reads from this year agreed to do an interview with ME!  The Romance Bookie!! I am just stoked on life right now!! Anyway let's get cracking! The Romance Bookie: What was your inspiration for Catching Jordan and your newest release, Stealing Parker ? Miranda Kenneally: My inspiration for Catching Jordan was to tell girls to follow their dreams. For Stealing Parker, my inspiration was to show people that you should always do what you feel is right, no matter what other people think or if it will hurt your reputation. TRB:  Did you put any of your own characteristics into Jordan and/or Parker ? For instance, perhaps Jordan's...

Happy Saturday everyone!!!! :) Today I would like to present an interview with Lesley Phillips, the author of the upcoming novel The Midas Tree ! I will be hosting Lesley in a couple of months as a guest host, which is something I'm very much looking forward to! :) The Romance Bookie:  In 2-3 sentences tell us about "The Midas Tree". Lesley Philips: The Midas Tree is a mystical realm where spiritual beings and animals live in harmony with each another and their environment. The hero, Joshua, finds a magical golden acorn that draws him into a world of adventure inside a tree. The book follows Joshua as he grows and learns about his life and destiny, and as he searches for a way back to his home in the garden of color and light. Joshua and his adventure symbolize the spiritual enlightenment journey. The Midas Tree is planet earth and the creatures and spiritual beings that live there are teachers and guides. They teach Joshua how to meditate and use spiritual tech...

Over the past few months I have been getting A LOT of review requests!  Since July I've added probably about ten to fifteen books that I promised an author or publisher to read...and those are the ones I accepted!  I believe back in July, or even the of June, I was contacted during the time I was on my 21st birthday Vegas trip.  I got a very nice email from an author asking me to read her latest novel called, In Need of Therapy .  Now, before I continue, let me be honest here...(not that I'm not honest on here!! I swear I am!!), the title scared me just a little bit.  From it I actually sort of interpreted it was going to be one of non-fiction books about psychotherapy.  Not that there is anything wrong with Psychotherapy or psychology! It's just that normally I am not a huge fan of non-fiction books...why?  Well, I believe I have mentioned this before, but the reason I read is to escape; I like to get out of this world sometime and into someone ma...

Gayle Forman, the author of If I Stay and Where She Went , revealed the cover for her new book today!! So here is the cover of her new novel Just One Day !! What's it about?? Well according to Goodreads , it is about: A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines. Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic ...

New Taylor Song!!!!! :) Sorry to all you Taylor-Haters, but when Taylor brings out a new song, it needs to be shared! :) So here is Taylor Swift's new song, Begin Again ... I hope you all enjoy! :) The Romance Bookie :)

Today I've got an interview with another awesome author!! Rolando Garcia is the author of the 2011 release The Sun Zebra.     The Romance Bookie: Describe the Sun Zebra in 2-3 sentences. Rolando Garcia: The Sun Zebra is what I call a “children’s book for grownups. It is a collection of short stories about the adventures in living of an unusual little girl named Nell, her mother Rhonda, and Nell’s father who is the narrator of the stories. The stories deal with how the world of adults and its hard realities intersects with the magical carefree world of children. TRB: How did you come up with the concept behind The Sun Zebra? RG: I saw a photograph of a real sun zebra. Then in my mind a little girl saw the animal and went to tell her family about it. The happenstances that ensued led to the first story of the book, and the other four stories followed soon afterwards TRB:   I noticed on Goodreads, you call yourself an "eclectic" writer, why "ecl...

I have been DYING to read Miranda Kenneally's newest book since Catching Jordan since reading, said, Catching Jordan back in January!  I absolutely LOVED CJ!  It was just one of the best contemporaries I've read in a long time!! So when I pre-ordered Stealing Parker last week, and saw the next day it had already shipped, when it isn't supposed to be released until October 1st, I was stoked on life! And then that stokeness factor just went up even more when I received said-book-I've-Been-waiting-for-for-months I ripped open that Barnes and Noble package and devoured that book in about a day-and-a-half! If it would have been up to me, I would finished it in less than that time, but I have other things to do sometimes, unfortunately.  Stealing Parker is Miranda's second book, and it's actually a companion to Catching Jordan .  What is a companion? Well, it's not exactly a sequel, but it does include some of the main characters from Catc...

For my latest book I read True Love Way by Nancy Strofano.  It's the story of Marlo Spencer, a 29, almost 30, year old woman who gets an email from her high school sweetheart, Josh,  who broke her heart 12 years ago, and wants to see her so they can discuss the Pact.  The Pact?  What is it, you may be asking? Well, it's this thing that Marlo and Josh agreed where they decided they both weren't married by the time they were thirty and still single, that they would marry each other. Let's just say, a lot has changed in 12 years.  Marlo no longer lives in Napa, for one.  Second, she owns her own dance studio now.  And has a cute little apartment all to herself in Malibu.  But that doesn't stop Marlo from wanting to see Josh, the man she hasn't stopped thinking about since that day 12 years ago, when he took off to Paris without a goodbye. Along with her best friend Nik (short for Phoenix), they head out on the road and drive the seven hour...

***WARNING!!!! MATURE EYES ONLY!! CONTAINS SEMI-GRAPHIC ADULT SCENES!!!*** Okay so I'm just going to come out and say it... Lip Service ??  That sounds pretty gross right?? Well, what a surprise I was in for!! And let me just tell you I'm SOOOO glad it wasn't what I thought it meant!! So anyway, Lip Service by MJ Rose was originally released in 1999, and while it has been compared to the NYT Bestselling series Fifty Shades of Grey EL James, let us all do the math...If Lip Service was originally released in 1999 and Fifty Shades in 2011, shouldn't we be comparing Fifty Shades to Lip Service , not the other way around??? Anyhow, to be honest I don't actually know why they have been compared, because other than similarity in genre... Erotica, they are both completely different novels! Description from Goodreads : Lip Service is the prequel to M.J. Rose's Bestselling Butterfield Institute Series which includes three novels - The Halo Eff...

Let's do an oldie today...okay 30 years ago old...so not technically an oldie...but none the less a song I still absolutely love and listen to all the time! I grew up on Cyndi Lauper, and when I had the opportunity to see her live in August of 2010, I jumped on it!  She was amazing, even though she sang all of her songs in Blues form, even her 80s ones, but none the less she sounded amazing live and still had her awesome 80s spunk! So here goes one of my all time favorites... All Through the Night Enjoy! The Romance Bookie :)

In My Mailbox was originally started by The Story Siren and it's where anyone can participate and let everyone know what they got in books, and other book related things, throughout a given time.  Anyone with a blog can join in, and you can post once a week, once a month, or whenever you choose to. Remember everyone, this is a MONTHLY IMM, not weekly!! So I got once again some totally awesome books!! This was actually also a super great month in great deals on E-books! I have this policy where I refuse to spend anything over $2.99 on an ebook, why?  Well, because most of the time if the book is over that than it's between $7.99 and $9.99, and once in a while even up to $12.99!  When that's the case, well, I look up how much the hard copy costs on Barnes And Noble online, and usually it's around $10...so instead of paying $7.99 or $9.99 for an ecopy that I will never enjoy looking at the cover, I buy the hard copy that gives me the opportunity to a...

So I've been waiting to get my hands on Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi for many months! I've heard SOOOO many great things about it, and I just knew I had to read it! Description via Goodreads : I don't really get why she is wearing that dress?? But the cover still looks pretty awesome!! Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Julie...

Derrolyn Anderson, the author of The Marina Tales , has a new book coming out!! Which looks totally Awesome !!!! It's called The Athena Effect ! What's it about? Country girl Cal has been kept a secret her entire life, raised in isolation by two very troubled people. Despite her parent’s disturbing fits, Cal is perfectly content, living at one with nature and finding adventure inside the pages of her beloved books.   When an awful tragedy tears her away from her remote cabin in the woods, nothing she’s ever read has prepared her for a world that she knows very little about.   Girls and motorcycles are what bad-boy Cal’s life is all about. Brought up in a raucous party house by his biker brother, he’s free to do as he pleases, going through the motions on his final days of high school. Aimless, Cal stopped thinking about his future a long time ago. Attacked by a gang of thugs while running an errand for his brother, Cal is in serious trouble ...

Still on My Mind is a weekly meme, featured on Thursday, started by Haley over at Ya-Aholic , where you discuss a book you've either recently read, or read over the past few years, that's still on your mind. For this week's Still on My Mind I've chosen Nightshade by Andrea Cremer! I know, I know, I only read it last week, but honestly, this book was awesome!!! So what's it about? Well, according to  Goodreads: Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?...

Has anyone heard Taylor Swift's new song?? Well, I listened to it yesterday, and let me just say I almost cried!  This song is so sad! It's called Ronan , and it's about a little boy who died of cancer at the age of four.  She wrote it in honor of a real boy actually.  All the proceed go to Taylor's Charity, so go onto iTunes and buy it! It's for a great cause! The Romance Bookie :)

This past February I got the amazing opportunity to go to a super awesome event in Long Beach, CA.  It was called Passion and Prose . At the event I was not only able to meet my all time favorite author, Meg Cabot, but also DOZENS of other fabulous authors!  It was truly a day to remember for me! Among those amazing people I had the opportunity to meet Andrea Cremer, the author of the Nightshade Series.  She was super sweet, and signed my copy of Nightshade ! Andrea Cremer at the Breathless Panel speaking table My signed copy of Nightshade   Well, I have FINALLY found the time to read Nightshade , after these past seven or eight months! Before I give away too much about what happens, I'll give you the Goodreads description, so hopefully I can avoid giving away too much! LOVE THIS COVER!!! Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with h...