Monterey Retreat with Books & Such
On Wednesday I returned home from a three-day retreat at the beautiful Monterey Hotel Plaza and Spa hosted by Books & Such Literary Management. The hotel is located right on the bay overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It’s stunning! Besides delicious meals and wonderful conversation, we had workshops in the morning and free time every afternoon. On Monday evening six authors and our agent, Rachel Kent, went out to dinner at the Cannary Row Brewing Company. We shared fries, stories, and a lot of laughs! Tuesday evening all the agents and authors had our traditional bocce ball competition. I was geared up for a long tournament, but unfortunately my team got out first round. There are some fierce players!

Another fun retreat sharing a room with Karen O’Connor.
Another highlight of the retreat was swapping twelve of our own books for twelve from different authors. Here is the list of books I grabbed.
Ten novels:
Chasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman
Lost & Found by Gayle Roper
Love Comes Home by Ann H. Gabhart
Sarai by Jill Eileen Smith
Somebody Like You by Beth K Vogt
The Covered Deep by Brandy Vallance
The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow by Olivia Newport
The Quilted Heart: Three Novellas in One by Mona Hodgson
To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling
Wonderful Lonesome by Olivia Newport
And two nonfiction titles:
Mom Seeks God by Julia Roller
Spirit Hunger by Gari Meacham
I can’t wait to dig in! I have no idea which book I’ll read first, but I’m excited to have so many options. Have you read any of these books?
I feel so blessed to be a part of such a great organization. Thank you, Books & Such, for a wonderful retreat!



