Casual Recommendations

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I have a lot of opinions about the things I read and watch. I usually share some of these opinions on the library’s staff picks blogs or save them up for podcasts and programs. But there are still more things I have opinions about that don’t fit into the format of my professional activities. How convenient then that I have this blog where I can post the rest of my many varied opinions!

So, for your reading pleasure, here are some things I’ve recently read/seen and what I think of them:

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister – This book tackles American politics, inclusive movements, and why the battle for equality concerns us all in way that I, for one, really needed to hear. Rage Becomes Her filled me with anger. Good and Mad showed me what to do with that anger.

Lumberjanes – how has it taken me so long to start reading this graphic novel series? It is delightful! Summer camp, fantastic adventures, and rock solid female friendships. What’s not to love?

The Last of Sheila – This movie came out in 1973. A lot of it doesn’t hold up but it still gave me the creeps for days. It reminds me of Clue the movie, though not as deliciously campy.

A Simple Favor – I did not enjoy this book. The movie, though, was another experience entirely. For one thing is went dark, really dark. Like way darker than the book. But whoever designed Blake Lively’s wardrobe is a genius. Absolutely sensational.

Stay tuned for more.

Favorite 2018 Reads

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Everyone, it seems, is making “best of 2018” lists so I thought I’d jump on board with some of my favorite books from 2018. This year I read just over 100 books, got caught up in numerous series, discovered many new authors, and expanded my literary tastes in unexpected directions. The list is in no way complete, nor is it in order, but it is here!

Mercury Rises by Scarlett Kol – YA, SciFi, hacker Robin Hood from Maid Marian’s POV. So much catnip.

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie – I read a lot of Agatha Christie this year and have enjoyed all of it. This one is the last in the Miss Marple series. Reading it was bittersweet yet immensely enjoyable.

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole – If you haven’t read Alyssa Cole, change that immediately.

Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spence – A book for booklovers.

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang – Classic fairy tale elements with a great twist.

Circe by Madeline Miller – An epic in every sense of the word. It will be a long time before I let this one go, if ever.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron – The audio narration by Meryl Streep is insanely good.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian – The first historical romance I’ve read with a non-binary main character.

The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins by McElroy et. al. – So dang funny.

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare – Good, fun reading.

Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Another author you should be reading immediately.

Born to be Wilde by Eloisa James – I read the whole series (thus far) in a week. This is the third book and my favorite.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – The rare instance of a good book that also has a good movie adaptation!

Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly – Life changing in so many ways. It’s not an easy read but a must read.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus – The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars. Did not see that ending coming.

Sister BFFs by Philippa Rice – Basically me and my sister Hannah in graphic novel form.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – The reviews called it “a small grenade of a novel” and I’m inclined to agree.

Looking forward to so much more reading in 2019!

 

The Importance of Being Reviewed

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Let’s talk about reviews. Book reviews that is.

These days we rely on reviews. We read reviews all the time, for just about everything. And we certainly check the reviews before we buy or read a book. Why? Because we are so inundated with content that we have to pick and chose what we give our attention to.

As a writer, I am grateful for anyone who takes the time to write a review, even a negative one. A negative review still means that that person read your work and connected with it. They were moved enough by your work to write down all their thoughts on it and share those with the world. And sure those may be mean thoughts but hey, they read your book. That’s hours of their life they’ll never get back!

Personally, I am terrible at remembering to write reviews. If you check out my Goodreads page, I have added 284 books and reviewed 1. And it’s not even an accurate list of what I’ve read because I keep that in a notebook in my ottoman.

That’s beside the point. The point is that, even though I myself cannot remember to write a review to save my life, I am not above sheepishly asking all of you to post reviews for Celebrity Spin Doctor.

Where should we post these reviews, some of you may ask. Goodreads would be awesome. Amazon if you can. Or BN, Kobo, or iBooks (if that’s where you got the book from). And please be honest.

Reflections on a Book the Night Before its Release

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It’s going to sound cheesy but tomorrow, one of my life long dreams comes true. I’ve wanted to write novels since before I learned to write. Back then I used to draw my stories (which were always about horses living on islands for some reason).

I wrote the first draft of Celebrity Spin Doctor in early 2013. I’d had a pep talk with myself that went something like”Celia, if you want to write books, you actually need to write a book.” So I did. It took me four months and the end result was awful. Mostly because I’d written the thing while listening to the Twilight soundtracks and it came out all serious and moody.

I let it sit. Then I let it sit some more. I tried to go to grad school for creative writing so I pulled out the first three chapters and polished them to within an inch of their life.

I didn’t get into grad school. Not a single one of the ten I applied to. Best thing that ever happened to me. And probably to Celebrity Spin Doctor.

But it still hurt to get that much rejection. Somewhere within and after the pain of all that, I decided I was going to rewrite this book and actually try to get it published. I started sending it out in the spring/summer of 2016. By the fall I had a publishing contract!

It was not to be. For reasons beyond their control, the publisher closed up shop when the book was still in the early editing stages. That was the winter of 2017.

I tried again. And again. By the end of the year I was thoroughly discouraged. So I made myself a deal – I would send the book to every romance publisher I could find at the beginning of 2018. If everyone said no, I would move on to another book.

Well, as you can see, it didn’t come to that. InkSpell Publishing snatched it up right out of the gate and here we are! Celebrity Spin Doctor comes out tomorrow and I still have to keep reminding myself it’s not a dream. It’s not, right?

The Week Before

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This is not a drill people. In one week from today, Celebrity Spin Doctor will be hitting online stores everywhere!

Ok, that’s all I wanted to share. Thanks, bye!

P.S. Well there is one more thing. If you want to celebrate with me next Thursday, stop by your social media platform of choice (Facebook or Instagram. I’m not a Twitter person) between 6-8pm EDT. I’ll be having a Facebook party, which you can RSVP for on my author page, and I will be posting stories and pics on Instagram. Frankie will probably make an appearance. Sorcha will not. I asked her and she said she has a very important nap planned that night.

Hope you can make it!

Lots of News

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September came before I knew it and now we’re only 16 days away from my first ever book release! I don’t even know what to think.

But luckily I do remember all the things that I should have shared and haven’t yet:

For all you bloggers, reviewers, and librarians out there, Celebrity Spin Doctor can now be requested on NetGalley! If you haven’t used NetGalley before but you review books on Goodreads, Amazon, a personal blog, a professional blog, etc., check it out! It’s free to join. You can request pre-pub copies of books from a variety of publishers. I’ve been using it for almost two years and have found some great stuff to buy for the library, even if I don’t always remember to send my reviews back to the publishers…

Second, my sister Tara is giving away 10 pre-pub copies of Celebrity Spin Doctor on her Facebook! Look for Tara Mulder and tell her what the last book you loved was. Last I checked there were still a few left. If you’re not on Facebook, comment on this post and I’ll pass it along to her.

I’m also participating in the Genre Party over on Facebook. Every day for the month of September, different authors in all subgenres of romance will be hanging out in the Facebook group, doing giveaways and chatting about their books. I’ll be there from 4-5pm EST on September 9th and from 6-7pm EST on September 28th. I will have exclusive giveaways just for the party!

And don’t worry friends who aren’t on Facebook, I’ll on Instagram too and you can enter there as well.

If you haven’t done so yet, there’s still plenty of time to enter my pre-order giveaway. Remember to send me a copy of your order confirmation, so I know to enter you!

 

The Latest News

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After the excitement of last Friday’s pre-order launch/cover reveal, things have settled down and I haven’t posted as much. During the week I have to make a choice whether to post or to work on my current book writing project. Since I’m general uncomfortable marketing myself and try to write daily to maintain my sanity, I tend to opt for the current project. Which, conveniently, is the sequel to Celebrity Spin Doctor. So my head is very much in the same world, just with different characters and another absurd plot.

Luckily I have some fabulous friends and family who are promoting my book every chance they get. Right now my sister Tara is doing a giveaway on her Facebook. All you have to do is comment on her post (which I’ve linked to) telling her what the last book you loved was and she’ll pre-order you a copy!

You might be asking, what’s the big rush to pre-order when the book doesn’t even come out until September 20th? Well I’m trying to get this book into print and in order to do that, I’ve got to sell 150 copies of the e-book. Once it’s in print, I can send out signed copies, get it into libraries, and fulfill the dream of seeing my name on a book on my bookcase.

Well that’s my sell for the day. If you do decide to buy it, don’t forget to tell me so I can enter you into my giveaway!

Giveaway Details

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The pre-order giveaway gift box includes:

  • A Lauren Conrad necklace in silver and a Lauren Conrad bracelet in silver
    • Like my main character Lucille, this jewelry is understated and trendy.
  • J Lo sunglasses
    • Lucille has to look like she belongs in the celebrity world without standing out and sometimes the way to achieve that is with a pair of huge sunglasses.
  • Private Show by Britney Spears, a roll-on perfume sampler
    • If Britney had had Lucille when she was when she was going through her head shaving phase, Lucille would have spun the crap out of that. We would all have been convinced that Britney was raising awareness for cancer research.
  • All the swag!

To enter send me a copy of your Celebrity Spin Doctor pre-order confirmation and I’ll add your name to the drawing.

 

Cover Reveal and Pre-order Links

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First things first:

There is so much I love about this cover. I wanted it to look like a gossip magazine and the designer, Najla Qambar, captured my idea beautifully. My favorite part is how it looks like Lucille’s about to crush Christy-Anne under her pointy, red high heel. It really captures their relationship well.

I could talk about this cover all day and probably will at some point. But for now, down to business.

Pre-order Links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2L59iXe
BN: https://bit.ly/2MU0yVB
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2we39lQ

Remember to send me your order confirmation/receipt so I can enter you into the pre-order giveaway!

More details on what exactly that is will be coming later today, after I get some sleep.

Book Release Details

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For those of you who like to know what’s going on, here’s the skinny on my book release:

This Friday, August 17th, my publisher, Inkspell Publishing, is going to reveal my book cover! I will be sharing it on this blog and all over my social media.

Also on Friday I will be posting links to pre-order the book! Pre-order is available through Amazon (Kindle), Barnes and Noble (Nook), and Kobo.

ALSO on Friday, I will announce my pre-order giveaway! The giveaway works like this: if you order the book, email or message me a copy of your order confirmation/receipt. I will enter you into the drawing, which will take place on September 20th (aka book release day).