Sara Reyes | Escape the Economic Downturn .... Surprising Answers

Hey, guess what? Something you'll never believe about the economy! Romance book sales are up. Way UP! And I say, DUH!!! Sheesh, where has everyone been? Of course they are! As the uncertainty about jobs and income stays with us so does the need to find escapes and one of the best "bangs for the buck" is a good old-fashioned romance novel. Seriously, you get a couple of hours of entertainment with a guaranteed happy ending for about eight dollars. Of course the romance publishers doing the best are the ones with the less expensive books, but even so, $8 is generally still affordable. It's even better than buying a tube of lipstick which was supposed to be the other big recession commodity not given up by women.

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And the other little splurge? Movies. But not the big dramas, the so-called chick flicks, children movies, comedies and as my son calls them, "light-hearted action flicks" are all making box office profits and it's hard to find a good seat on Fridays and Saturdays. Even worse on half-price Tuesdays! People find it reasonable to go out for a movie, maybe skip the candy and popcorn, for a couple of hours of entertainment.

So, my friends and fellow readers, what's YOUR choice of diversion now? What are the books (or movies) you'd prefer? I find that I'm reading more light-hearted books whether they are romances or mysteries. If I read a tissue-box romance, I have to follow it up with at least two laugh-out-louds! For example, Robyn Carr's PARADISE VALLEY was followed immediately by Tracy Madison's A TASTE OF MAGIC with its unusual wacky birthday present and Julia Harper's FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, a screw-ball adventure comedy set in the fields and by-ways of Southern Illinois.

For movies, I've enjoyed going to a couple of film festivals recently and I really enjoyed the comedies. I saw THE 2 BOBS or what happens when two game designers forget about the big picture and have to learn to enjoy life and Rock Slyde a mash-up of a comedic film noir private eye and a Scientology-inspired cult who worships early morning exercise and magic cookies! I highly recommend both if they come to a town or screen near you! They'll definitely make you smile!

Now it's your turn...what are you reading or watching? Tell us [click here] and I'll make sure you're entered into our little contest to pull something out of the old Fresh Fiction grab bag. Definitely a good book and maybe a little surprise!

Well, until next time...
Get out there and READ a book...

Sara Reyes

DFW Tea Readers Group

Join us at Readers 'n 'ritas November 13-15, 2009!

Sandi Shilhanek | Robyn Carr & Breaking Rules

This week I broke one of my cardinal book rules. I bought a book that I’ve already read, and I plan on keeping it. In case you don’t know I don’t keep books nor do I reread books. This being the case why then would I purposely buy a book I’ve already read? The answer is easy…due to the Readers-n-Ritas event I attended a few weekends back I was able to get two autographed books from the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. I being the book fanatic than decided to see if Ms. Carr would be nice enough to autograph the third and return to me, and she agreed. So naturally I needed the book.

The trip to the bookstore went smoothly enough, but I didn’t walk out with just the one book. Does a book fanatic ever walk out with just one? I ended up buying the reissues of the Grace Valley books because of the beautiful covers. It didn’t matter that those books in their original covers are sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, the new covers call my name, and I had to have them!

I couldn’t believe I was carrying those books to the counter and willingly buying them. I never buy books because I have to have a certain cover! I know that people do it, and that some people are so fanatical about the reissue issue that they’ll buy a favorite book every time it comes out so that they have it in every cover or format available.

To buy the reissued Grace Valley books was a definite first for me. I need to know what about you? Do you buy books in their various forms and different covers? If you do does that mean you have multiple copies of the books on your shelves or do you replace the older perhaps less desirable cover with the one you like better?

Robyn Carr | Want to Live in Virgin River?

A lot of readers have written to ask if Virgin River is based on an actual town, because they’d like to move there. Unpack those boxes – the town lives only in my mind, although I have heard from people who claim to live or have lived in such a place. They don’t usually say where.

It might be all in my head, but I’ve been living there for a long time. I’m committed to delivering four more Virgin River novels. I’m not sure the actual release dates for these books yet, but when I know for sure, I’ll post them on my website. Meanwhile, I couldn’t ask for a better home. I get up in the morning, fire up the computer, and settle in with my old friends. When nothing much is happening with them, I bring in some newcomers who have their – uh – issues.

I knew what it was about the town that appealed to me, and it didn’t take long for me to hear from readers what appealed to them. It goes without saying, my readers have fully enjoyed the strong, handsome, virile men of Virgin River; they’ve admired the beauty, inner strength and intelligence of the women. But what I hear about most is a place where commitment is law – and not just romantic commitment, but the bonding of brotherhood, the fealty of neighbors, the loyalty in friendship. It seems the number of people who have ties to the military is simply huge – and the fact that the Virgin River men have served their country in times of war has lent greatly to their appeal. Not their sex appeal nearly as much as their emotional appeal. They seem to embody those values that readers hold as admirable. Honorable.

When I’m writing, of course I’m looking for character traits anyone can understand, issues we can all relate to, challenges we or loved ones have dealt with, but I seem to always reach a point at which I become an observer, watching to see how these characters manage to work things out, get their lives on track again. It begs the question – can we find answers and role models in fiction? Well, considering one of the reasons we read fiction is for entertainment and we’re not very entertained unless the characters are up against a lot, must overcome great odds and evolve, I think it’s possible. I don’t write to give advice, I write to create a solid, positive, memorable story. But if someone gains insight or inspiration from one of these fictional characters or gets an idea for how to resolve a problem from the way they resolved theirs, double bonus.

That being said, Virgin River is a town that not only exists in my mind, but can be created in any heart – that place where a glass is half full, where we struggle to let burdens and challenges give us strength rather than break us, where fealty and friendship have more value than money, commitment is honored, and people do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Want to live in Virgin River? Close your eyes.... Open your heart....

Robyn Carr
http://www.robyncarr.com/

Robyn Carr | Plano Book Club August 2007 Guest

Meeting with reader groups and bookclubs has been my favorite thing for a long time, and when I had more time I belonged to two bookclubs of my own. From the author's perspective, at least this author's perspective, these are readers who are so focused on the story and characters, I learn more from them than they learn from me.

It's always great fun to hear what readers like about your work, that goes without saying, but the value to me as I continue to write is learning from them where the story didn't jive for them, where they wanted more and they are never shy about telling you what they want to see next. A favorite bookclub selection of mine has been The House On Olive Street – and one reader group took issue with the beginning, which several agreed was hard to get into. My immediate response was, "Oh yeah? Well you should've tried writing it!"

There have been some fun surprises. I was asked to join a church bookclub as they discussed my book, Runaway Mistress. Runaway Mistress for the church ladies? Oh man, I thought, they’re going to chew me up and spit me out. While certainly a far cry from an erotic novel, that particular book wasn’t exactly chaste. And then I faced twenty five women, the youngest of whom was perhaps forty, and thought, I'm toast. But they were all about plot and characterization, focusing on those scenes that added emotion and drama, what made them laugh, where they cried. There was a pet's death in that story and one woman who’d lost her beloved pet rather recently wept as she talked about how that made her feel. The love scenes never even came up. Unable to let sleeping dogs lie, I had to ask how they felt about those scenes. Was it too much? Where there too many? Too graphic? Did it ever seem gratuitous? They looked amongst themselves, shrugging, head shaking, like they hadn't thought about it much. Then one woman in her late sixties or early seventies said, "My dear, where do you think we get little Christians."

Since the release of the first Virgin River novel to the present, after all three have been available, I've had hundreds of letters. These readers don't hesitate to tell me exactly what they want. They're very clear about who their favorite characters are and who they’d like to see have a Virgin River novel focused on. I'm not just another pretty face, man – I listened. I have changed direction a couple of times to give my readers exactly what they want.

It's my pleasure to announce that the publisher wants at least three more Virgin River novels, a task I'm more than up to. I got a piece of news just a couple of days ago that has me walking on air – Virgin River will be listed as one of the ten best romances of the year by the American Library Association's Booklist Magazine. It doesn't get any better than that.

Robyn Carr
Whispering Rock, June 2007
Shelter Mountain, May 2007
Virgin River, April 2007
http://www.robyncarr.com/