Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading 

Today’s question:
When you walk into a bookstore — any bookstore — what’s the first section you head toward (what draws you)?
My response:
To be honest, I haven’t been to a bookstore in quite a while.  There really has been no need to.  But when I did frequently visit one, I would head straight to the New HC Releases.  Not to purchase, I never bought a HC, I just could not justify paying that price for something that I would read in a couple of days.  But what I would do is write down the names of all the new releases that I wanted to read and when I left, went straight to the local library to put my name on the waiting list.

However, since I started blogging and reviewing for different publishers, authors, tour companies, I have a bookcase of books just screaming to be read.  And now with EReaders, I have the bookstores at my finger tips.  As I sit here thinking about and answering this question, and this is quite sad to say, I don’t know if I will ever have the need to visit a bookstore in the future.  Even if I were to purchase a book as a gift for someone, I would probably do it online.  

What about you?  Where is your first stop when entering a bookstore?

March is being hosted by Diary of an Eccentric

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.
According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                                 The Story Plant                       Author

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading 

Today’s question:
• Do you read books that are part of a series?
• Do you collect all the books in the series before starting? What if the series is brand new, and the only book that’s been published so far is Book one? As subsequent books in the series are published, do you go back and re-read the preceding books?

My answer:
In the past, I have read some books that have been part of a series.  The first that comes to mind is The Left Behind Series,  which consisted of 13 books.    My bff  had the complete set so I was able to start with the first book and she would give me 3-5 books at a time.     My sons would tease me and ask if either they were all the same  or how many were there, was it like an encyclopedia?   I have to tell you,  those 13 books were read in a matter of 2-3 weeks.   By far, my overall best read books in my lifetime.

I have read other books that were part of a series and always have to start with the first one unless it can also be read as a stand alone novel.  This year, I signed up for a challenge of just this type.  I have some books on my TBR shelves that are “series” books that I have won plus,  my friend, Gina from Hott Books enjoys J.D. Robb, so I thought I would also try that series.  I would never buy the whole series prior to reading one just in case, it turned out that it was something that I did’t enjoy.

What about you?  Do you read series?  Any favorites?

February is being hosted by Metro Reader

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.  According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                                        Author                The Hachette Book Group

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading 

This week’s question:
What is the last book that you learned something from? What book was it, and what did it teach you?
My answer:
Since I read mostly fiction, there are some books that I come away with thought provoking thoughts from, but learning?  I’m not that sure.   The only book that comes to mind is a book I read back in September, matter of fact, I looked at my spreadsheets and I finished it on September 18th.   And even then I can’t say I learned a lot from it, but what it did do, was verify what I already believed and gave me strength at that particular time when I needed it most.   It was 90 Minutes In Heaven by Don Piper.   A true story by a minister of his horrific car accident where he was pronounced dead, however, another person on the scene prayed over his body.   And he tells of his journey to the afterlife.  I mentioned the date that I finished the book for a reason.   I read this book while I sat by my Mom’s bedside and I started to see her journey begin and on September 22nd she passed away in my arms.

Being a former nurse, unfortunately this process was not new to me, but when it is your own, it is totally different.   What I did learn from the book and see with my Mom was the start of her journey.   Where and when she saw those who had gone before her.   Who and when she was talking to those who were waiting for her.   And the second she left here to be reunited  with those that she longed to see and where she will wait for us someday.

February is hosted by Metro Reader

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour. According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                    The Hachette Book Group             ARC–Author

Signed copy from Author for Partners In Crime Tours

Signed limited edition copy from Author for Partners In Crime Tours

REMINDER:  Due to GFC being taken away within the next month or so and my feed change with the move to WordPress, if you don’t want to miss anything that is going on here at the CMash blog,  you can join via RSS feed, or NetWorkedBlogs (on sight sidebar).  If you were already following via NewWorkedBlog, you will need to rejoin as it is a new feed.  I THANK YOU and truly appreciate it!!!!

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

This week’s question:
What is your favorite romantic book –or book that includes a love story? (an adult romance, young adult, kids’ story, anything)
My answer:
Two books came instantly to mind, even though, they aren’t your so callled “happily after after romantic love stories”.  One of them, I’m not even sure if it falls in to the aforementioned categories but both novels are of unconditional love.

They are Spinning by Michael Baron andCome Back To Me by Melissa Foster

February is being hosted by Metro Reader 

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour. According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                                The Story Plant         Personal library

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

Today’s question:
How far along are you in your current read before you start thinking about what you’ll read next?
My answer:
Usually the Wednesday following I start my current read since I participate in Miz B’s W.W.W. Wednesdays, which asks the question, “What do you think you will read next?”  So I start to peruse my TBR piles of requested reviews that are in my bookcase, and those on my spreadsheets for my Kimmy Kindle and Sunny Sony and see which one is calling me to please “pick me”.  From there I pick 2, however, if for some reason a book gets delivered that needs to be read as a priority, that system goes right out the window.

January is being hosted by At Home with Books

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

              

                                Author/WOW Tours              Author (2nd half)

Author

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

Today’s question:
Why do you think that the Young Adult genre is so popular with even the adult readers? Do you read YA books, yourself?
My answer:
Ironically, I have been thinking the same thing myself over the past few weeks.  As some of you know, I am a partner in Partners In Crime Tours, a virtual tour PR company for authors of mystery, suspense and crime novels.  We have become very busy, which is a good thing, however, because of that and not wanting to over work our awesome hosts, I have been visiting a lot of blogs to read their policies to see if  they might be interested in the genre we represent to send an invitation,

And I am AMAZED at how many YA blogs there are.  It’s like a whole different neighborhood, community,state, planet of blogs.  I, for one, do not read YA only because I have this preconceived notion that Iwould not be able to relate to the characters or premise of the books.  I have, however, like the question states, wondered why so many adults do read this genre.  Am I missing out on some good reading because it is out of my comfort zone?  But then I look at my TBR bookcase and think, I have enough books that are in my comfort zone just waiting patiently to be chosen to be my “current read”.

January is being hosted by At Home with Books 

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                

 

                           The Story Plant                                 Author (WOW)

Hosted by Michelle from The True Book Addict

I am participating in the Winter Respite Read-A-Thon of 2012.  Wish me luck because it never seems to fail that whenever I sign up for one, real life tends to interfere, matter of fact it already has.  Of course, life’s obligations are  always a priority over hobby, but I will try to do my best.  I will keep a daily approximation of how many hours I put into my reading.   Want to join?  Click on above and it will bring you to Michelle’s sign up post.  Read-A-Thon starts today and ends Jan 29th so that gives us a lot of time to read and make dents in those TBR piles.  Good Luck if you have already signed up.

My answer:
Oh so many to choose from…a full book shelf of tbr books to pick from.  However, I would take both my Kindle and Sony EReaders for packing purposes and read the tbr ones waiting there.  I have, of course, a Vincent Zandri book, 2 Melissa Foster books, a Mary Tabor book and so many more.

This past April/May, my husband and I, just the two of us, took a well needed and deserved vacation to our favorite destination, Aruba, and our plans were for “a relaxing, do nothing vacation”.   I packed quite a few books, having all intentions to lie on the beach everyday reading (I had warned my husband of my plans since he is not a reader).  I packed print books, along with my 2 EReaders figuring  I would finish a few books.  Much to my surprise, I only finished 2 books.  We had such a good time, even though I did get some reading in while on the beach, Steve (hubby) and I talked a lot plus we met some fun people who had palapas (huts) next to ours for the week, that we “hung out with them” during our stay.  So know I now for when we go back, to have the  EReaders loaded and ready to go.

My answer:
Oh so many to choose from…a full book shelf of tbr books to pick from.  However, I would take both my Kindle and Sony EReaders for packing purposes and read the tbr ones waiting there.  I have, of course, a Vincent Zandri book, 2 Melissa Foster books, a Mary Tabor book and so many more.

This past April/May, my husband and I, just the two of us, took a well needed and deserved vacation to our favorite destination, Aruba, and our plans were for “a relaxing, do nothing vacation”.   I packed quite a few books, having all intentions to lie on the beach everyday reading (I had warned my husband of my plans since he is not a reader).  I packed print books, along with my 2 EReaders figuring  I would finish a few books.  Much to my surprise, I only finished 2 books.  We had such a good time, even though I did get some reading in while on the beach, Steve (hubby) and I talked a lot plus we met some fun people who had palapas (huts) next to ours for the week, that we “hung out with them” during our stay.  So know I now for when we go back, to have the  EReaders loaded and ready to go.