Julie Kenner's Blog, page 111

Awesome bookclub pick: Graceling!

I’m in a neighborhood bookclub, and tonight we’re hosting at my house. The book was one I admit I hadn’t heard of, though I believe it got a lot of advance buzz (yes, I do sometimes move into my cave and roll the boulder in front of the door!). It’s Graceling, by Kristin Cashore, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[continue reading over at the Whine Sisters!]

Romance is the spice of life

Pretty much everyone has heard the saying “variety is the spice of life.”

And I think most folks are aware that romance is the bestselling genre fiction, making up mumblemumble of the market (because I’m too lazy at the moment to look up actual stats, but let’s just say it’s a big portion).

You know what? I know why. Because romance is variety.

Think about it. You have contemporary romance. Sweet romance. Erotic romance. Paranormal romance. Romantic suspense. Inspirational romance. And all those books that may not fall within the definition of genre romance but are still either love stories at their heart or include powerful love stories.

After all, what kind of story is more enduring than a love story?

I’m a person who likes variety. Ask me what my favorite color is, and I don’t have one. I don’t even really have a favorite movie (having outgrown my standard Star Wars response because, while I do love it, there are so many other brilliant films out there). I don’t even have a favorite book or a favorite author. I read pretty much anything anyone puts in my hands. And for that reason romance is very satisfying to write.

In my career as an author, I’ve written contemporary romance, historical romance (okay, two novellas and one was a time travel, but still), light paranormal romance, erotic romance, dark paranormal romance and romantic suspense. I’ve also written chicklit, urban fantasy, and what I like to call paranormal mommylit, all of which contain romantic elements.

At this actual moment in time, I have several dark paranormal romantic suspense novels on the shelf (the Shadow Keepers series I write as J.K. Beck, I’m a few months away from the debut of an erotic romance, RELEASE ME, that I’m writing as J. Kenner, and I have recently re-released my very first single title romance as an ebook, THE CAT’S FANCY, which is very light paranormal in the vein of Splash or The Little Mermaid.

But that’s the fun or romance. There’s something for everyone!

I’m so glad you visiting Romancing the Hop! Be sure to visit everyone for fabulous prizes, including one of the grand prizes!

I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one lucky commenter! So let me know what you think about romance — favorite sub-genre, favorite book, anything at all! And DON’T FORGET that the grand prize winner for the blog hop is coming from commenters across all the blogs, so be sure to leave your email address in the comment box! You don’t want to miss out on the grand prize drawing!

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Large Swag Pack

Each time you comment, you’re entered, so you can comment on all the blog hop blogs. But if you don’t leave an email addie, you’re out of the running, so don’t forget!

Romancing the Hop starts Friday!

What is your favorite thing about Romance? Well, we authors are ready to share our romantic tips and favorite romance reads! Starting on Friday and ending on August 31st, over 100 Authors and Bloggers will share their favorite things about romance, reading romance, and dating.

And while we do that, we are EACH doing a giveaway. Yep. There will be over 100 giveaways on each blog hosted by that Author or Blogger.

But that’s not all….

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 100 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack!

Yep. ALL of that!

Be sure to come back here on Friday and over the weekend to enjoy some stories and facts about our favorite Romance events and reads and enter to win!

RELEASE ME has a cover!!

Things are happening fast with my upcoming erotic romance, RELEASE ME! Yesterday was particularly exciting. Not only was there an auction for rights in Brazil (yay!) but I get to reveal the cover!

I hope you go check it out. It’s on my J. Kenner Facebook page. Just go to the little tab under the main picture that says “cover reveal” (you’ll see a spotlight image on the tab). Be sure to LIKE the page so you can see the cover!

And I would love to know what you think….and, of course, please spread the word!

Let’s talk proposals … marriage proposals, that is!

Considering there are 23 million hits, I may be the last one to the party, but this made me tear up!

I love You Tube. I mean, I was looking for a video of Fred Astaire and ended up here!

Years ago, I helped a friend splice his wedding proposal into Casablanca (Mike, are you out there?). I thought he was very clever. But this one definitely steps up the game, LOL!

What’s your favorite proposal story?

A 50 Shades Musical? How can I not love this?

It’s amazing what you run across on You Tube. I thought this was a real hoot!

Dorothy L. Sayers, Claire Bloom, Harry Potter, an overloaded DVR and Knob Creek bourbon…

Check out the latest post at Reading Agatha Christie.

Turns out my husband has a secret crush! How did I not know this!

Remember when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone because Americans, presumably, could relate to the word “sorcerer” more than the word “philosopher”? American fundamentalists would then latch onto the word “sorcerer” as evidence of the book’s link to the occult.

That was an awesome trip to Britain! Here's Don at 221-B Baker Street!

The merchants of culture are always trying to determine what resonates with the public and what makes them scratch their heads. Peter Hoeg’s novel Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne was translated for Americans as Smilla’s Sense of Snow, a fine title. I was in London when the book came out and saw the British version of the book. The title was Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, which sounds rather like the young Scandinavian woman had a fetish for various forms of frozen H2O.

Sometimes titles just don’t work.

Continue reading at Reading Agatha Christie

A werewolf walks into a bar…and wins a free book!

Come join me at Romp v. Stomp over at The Book Nympho’s site! I’m going head-to-head with Amanda Carlson, who’s taking the “stomp” end of the equation. Yeah, I’m the “romp” gal!

Here’s a teaser from my entry (an original short read set in the Shadow Keepers world).

A werewolf walks into a bar…

Rachel Payne took the glass of whiskey from the bartender and downed it in one long swallow. She closed her eyes, letting it burn down her throat. Letting its fire spread through her fingers, her toes, every last bit of her. She shifted on the barstool, antsy. She wanted action, something. A fight or a fuck. Frankly, she didn’t much care. Just get her the hell out of this damn bar. Visit the Book Nympho to read more and enter to win a copy of When Blood Calls!

Need a Vampire Diaries Fix?

Sometimes, you just need a fix. And rather than watch a re-run, have some fun! check out these bloopers from Seasons 1 and 2 I found on YouTube!

Facebook, I *almost* love you

Yes, Facebook is the Devil...

Those who’ve followed me across cyberspace for awhile know that I’ve had a love/hate relationship going with Facebook. I love how it allows you to connect with people, especially with readers! Getting snail mail is awesome, but nothing beats quick connections.

But I’ve had my issues. The 5000 friend limit is just a pain. The “Hey, you’re in a group!” thing is just weird. The fact that you cannot get a simple list of people to manage, but instead must sllooooooowwwwwlllyyyy pull up individual names is a pain in the tush. (Have ya tried creating lists with 4977 friends? It’s unmanageable!).

Until I finally got hip to the whole smart phone thing (and the fact that I could push notices to my email) I never saw FB messages. And the profile/page thing can be a pain. Not to mention the fact that you can’t do certain things as a “Page” but it’s JulieKennerTheAuthor that I want to have doing the action, not JulieKennerThe Gal.

And yet … and yet … we’re becoming closer, Facebook and I. We’re learning each other’s quirks, testing each other’s limits.

One thing I recently discovered is that you can schedule posts straight from Facebook! (Alas, you can’t do it from the “share” screen. Apparently, “sharing” is a Right Now kinda thing according to the Gods of Facebook).

Granted, this is only somewhat cool since I have Hootsuite, but it is nice if you’re uploading a video, as Hootsuite doesn’t let you do that. (I recently uploaded a video of myself and my kids transformed into space aliens at http://www.facebook.com/juliekennerbooks — don’t ask me why. It was just one of those moments. And I used the scheduler.)

I had No. Idea. You. Could. Do That. And I figure there are probably, oh, at least two people out there who are clueless like me.

So here’s the How To Schedule A Post On Facebook tutorial.

Open your Facebook page or profile and start typing in the status box (or snag a picture or upload a video). In the lower left corner of the box, you’ll see a little clock-like doohickie. Hover over that (see the pic, below).

Now click that button. You have to fill out the time in an absolutely absurd way (year, month, day, etc. etc.), but once you’re done, you’ll have it scheduled

!

So just click the Schedule button and voila! You’re good to go!

        4.        If you need to remind yourself when it’s set to post, you can view it through your Activity Log (top of your page or profile, in with all the admin stuff).

Pretty keen, huh?

And be sure to actually, you know, come hang out with me on Facebook!

What are your favorite Facebook tips to share?