The Book Cove

I'm not sure what was so different about this month compared with others, but our visitor number suddenly blew through the roof -- doubling our previous best! With that has come a lot of great comments and discussions all over social media and the blog.

Following a lot of people on twitter can be great for the variety of new information that is pushed to you. But there hits a point when you realize that you don't care about what a majority of them have to say because: - too many reposts - irrelevant posts - change of user (a company/person changes names/interests and you no longer are interested) - hacked accounts (that people haven't regained control of) - false advertising (saying they promote one thing and then you follow them and they start promoting everything under the sun) The list goes on...

( Blurb):  When a knee injury ends twenty-year-old Quinn Rowland’s pro tennis career, he’s not only dumped by his hot Russian girlfriend but ordered to attend college by his disinterested billionaire father. A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure. College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think. Book Information: Age Group : New Adult Genre : Contemporary Romance Series : Standalone Length:  338 p Review: This is a book of "The Game". You know what I'm talking about. The one where guy/girl gets pissed at their ex guy/girlfriend a...

Just a bit of shameless promotion for my co-blogger, author L.A. Kelley. Follow the tour stops for giveaways, excerpts, interviews, reviews, and more!

Just in time for Thanksgiving is a book from someone who really knows how to eat. Jim Gaffigan is a funny guy. Known for his standup routines, he often includes commentary on food. So what are his qualifications to write a book on the subject? Nothing, really, unless you count the admission that he’s a little fat.   Like a pound of crispy bacon Food: A Love Story  is deliciously satisfying. Gaffigan explores why we love food, what we love, and how much more of it can we stuff into our pie holes without falling into a coma. He covers the whole gamut of eating from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to regional cuisine, fast food, fine dining, the intricacies of airport cuisines and, oh, that hated kale. The chapters are short and read more like an expanded collection of essays. If you have ever listened to his comedy routine, some will be familiar. I didn’t find the book less enjoyable for that as it contained plenty of new material and some more background added t...

  What I Wish I had Known for #Indiepub #Ebooks 1 and 2: An Open Letter to my Earlier Self By Sally Ember, Ed.D. As I get ready to return to writing Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change , in my sci-fi/ romance/ paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian The Spanners Series , I consider what I wish I had known for ebooks 1 and 2 of this series, my first launch and second foray into being an indiepub author after having been traditionally published. I decided to write a series of letters to my pre-publication self, since I believe in simultaneous time. I know that this letter and all the subsequent ones are already written and I am already reading them before I publish Volume I, This Changes Everything , and Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever . I'm sharing this information with the public here ( again ). Follow that? It helps to be a sci-fi or quantum physics fan, for sure. Here is Part I of my tips for my earlier self and ther...

Blog maintenance can be one of those necessary evils. The process doesn't bother me too much as long as issues do not involve major coding glitches or platform issues that take a lot of time to resolve. There are some very simple maintenance checks that should be done frequently that many blogs, including mine, may forget to do. A big one is to check follow links.  It's easy for follow links to go dead. Links can get partially deleted during coding updates, the platform may change enough to where a new code is needed, there may be misspelled links, and links may no longer work if your site has changed titles. The latter is especially important for many RSS links . Sometimes the links just don't agree with browsers (which I tend to have a problem with), but the blog owner doesn't know that because they don't work with that browser. These are all easy mistakes to make and they happen quite frequently. I notice it a lot when I'm on blog hops and try to follow ...

The Book Cove is this week's featured blog! Thanks to everyone for stopping by and make sure to check out the other feature,  http://musingsonfantasia. blogspot.com/ What is Feature and Follow? F&F is a weekly blog hop that consists of book bloggers. It is hosted by Alison Can Read  and  Parajunkee . The rules of involvement are simple: 1.)  Link up  on the blog hop Linky gadget below this post, 2.)  follow the hosts  via their network of choice, 3.)  follow the weekly featured blog(s)  via their network of choice (listed as "featured" in the blog list below), and lastly, 4)  check out the rest of the blogs on the hop ! If you become a new follower of a blog, let them know and they will follow you back. The F&F is a great way to network, meet other book bloggers, and gain new followers. Even more so, it's a great way to drive fun discussion on a weekly topic. Interview with The Book Cove: When did yo...

Coming soon from Wild Rose Press... Recently widowed, Lacey Telchev is on a whirlwind chase around Europe running from mysterious thugs, and trying to solve a mystery through clues left by her late husband. She encounters a handsome stranger along the way, but is he helping her or is he too just using her to find her husband's secret? As writers we’re frequently reminded that we must pay attention to pacing in our stories, that we must “keep the story moving”. I like a fast-paced tale as well as the next reader, and as a writer, I know I should be getting on with the story. But I like to stop and smell the roses. I love setting a scene. I like painting verbal pictures. In  Romantic Road  my heroine finds herself pursued down the Romantische Strasse in Germany, through 14th century walled towns, to Salzburg, then the beautiful lake district where The Sound of Music was filmed, and finally to a terrifying climax on the shores of Hungary’s Lake Baleton. When I...

This post is meant as a discussion piece -- not a "right or wrong" opinion on my behalf. I'd really love to hear all of your thoughts on this. Warning, this is long-winded and filled with a ton of questions. Is fanfiction flattery or plagiarism? My initial thoughts... I've never read fanfiction. (I s it fanfiction, fan fiction, or fan-fiction? ) Well, I guess I have. 50 Shades of Grey , anybody? Okay, I've never knowingly  read something considered fanfiction. I don't quite understand the lucrative fandom behind 50 Shades either..but I digress. They say imitation is the best form of flattery. I understand why fans might want to try their hand at writing to take their favorite characters down a different path than the original author. I understand why fanfiction writers see it as a homage to their favorite authors, that it can be a fun hobby, a great online community, a creative place to bounce new ideas, a way to meet a lot of wonderful new peo...

What is Feature and Follow? F&F is a weekly blog hop that consists of book bloggers. It is hosted by Alison Can Read  and  Parajunkee . The rules of involvement are simple: 1.)  Link up  on the blog hop Linky gadget below this post, 2.)  follow the hosts  via their network of choice, 3.)  follow the weekly featured blog(s)  via their network of choice (listed as "featured" in the blog list below), and lastly, 4)  check out the rest of the blogs on the hop ! If you become a new follower of a blog, let them know and they will follow you back. The F&F is a great way to network, meet other book bloggers, and gain new followers. Even more so, it's a great way to drive fun discussion on a weekly topic. This week, the topic is: Create a playlist for a book - or a single song if you don't want to do an entire playlist - Suggested by  This Girl Reads A Lot  and  Bubbly and Bookish   Jessi : Playlist for...

Crazy Beautiful Love by J.S. Cooper is part of The Bad Boys of Summer anthology (ft. authors Emily Snow, Erin Noelle, J.S. Cooper, Michelle Lynn & Nevaeh Lee, Selena Laurence, Shanora Williams, and T. Torrest) ( Blurb ): This is not the typical bad boy meets good girl story. Logan Martelli is a bad boy. He's handsome, sexy, and knows what he wants. He steals cars. He doesn't do relationships. And he has the hottest green eyes in River Valley. Maddie Wright is a good girl with a wild streak. She's confident, strong, and goes after whatever or whoever she wants. And Maddie wants Logan Martelli with a passion. One fateful night brings Logan and Maddie together and electricity sparks between them. Maddie and Logan make a real connection, but when Logan finds out who she is, he wants nothing to do with her. However, he soon realizes he can get the ultimate revenge for his family if he continues to date Maddie. The problem is he's starting to fall for Maddie, and he...

Should an author respond to a review?  L.A. (Author):   I don’t think any response is necessary on sites like Amazon or GoodReads and can even take on a creepy stalker vibe if the author responds to every comment, but a requested review posted on a website or blog requires a thank-you. Yup, even if it’s bad. You don’t have to agree. The review is a service done for you and deserves acknowledgement. A simple ‘I appreciate your time’ to the blog or website owner is enough. The words may stick in your throat. It’s hard to read a bad review. After pouring your life’s blood into a work, the natural response is to lash back. (Actually, my natural response is to bite the reviewer.) A defensive rejoinder especially to an anonymous review on a site like Amazon gets the author nothing except coming across as a thin-skinned jerk . Reviews like this are especially hard to ignore if the comments are insulting and you can tell the person didn’t read the book. The unan...