I am completely addicted to series.  Romance.  Paranormal.  Mystery.  You name the series, I’ve probably read at least one book from it.  Trouble is – I’m not getting the entire story that way.   And by reading a book here and another one a few months later… I’m missing the connection.  I expect that with established series that I follow – but with newly discovered ones or those that I ask to review through NetGalley… I’m missing a lot on those ones.

So.  I’m taking a different approach to new to me or older series.  I’m going to read and review those series until I’m caught up to date on them.

It’s probably not going to be as easy as it sounds.  Finding, then being able to afford to purchase a complete series might not always be immediately possible.  But, I believe this is worth a shot.  I read a lot and I’m a fast reader.  The trick, as I see it, will be the ability to have an entire series available to me at once.  But those are details I’ll work out over time.

I will most likely set up an additional Series Page – one that shows the entirety of a series that I’ve reviewed here at Keeper Bookshelf.  It would be a help to those folks who wander around to see what I think of some complete series – as well as a guide for myself in keeping up to date on future stories in those series.

I will be doing this here – and I’ve already started over on my paranormal romance book review blog Haunted Bookshelf.  It’s an ongoing project, but one that I plan to enjoy.  I hope it’s of help or interest to you as well.

There is an absolutely fantastic event going on, right now.  Read-A-Romance month is a celebration of romance – romance writers – romance readers.  And that’s us, right?

August 2015 Author Calendar  <– That link is where you need to begin if you have never heard of or read about the Read-A Romance Month event.  There you will see more than 93 reason why you need to be checking this site daily.

Authors that you may know and love, as well as new to you authors give their thoughts on what romance and writing romances means to them.  The peek into the minds and thoughts of some of my favorite romance writers has given me goose bumps this morning… and I’m not done.  There is so much more to go back and read that it might take me a few days to get caught up on this year’s and the previous year’s essays and posts.  And that’s okay – because  I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to pass the time than to learn from the best in the business.  (Okay maybe I could but I’m trying to keep this post PG people  🙂  )

If you’re a Twitter user, just use the hashtag #RARM to keep track of what people are talking about.  Or the Home page of Read-A-Romance Month — The Joy of Romance is another great place to get started.

We all love romance.  Most of us read romance daily or weekly – so don’t you want to know more about the authors that let us live in their worlds for a brief time.  Learn a bit more about what their personal thoughts and dreams about romance are as well?  Yeah, me too.  So if you are a romance reader please give yourself the gift of visiting this event and simply enjoy yourself.  And spread the word if (when) you like what you’ve discovered there.

May all your romance dreams come true…

Lately when I browse through Amazon or even my local Wal-Mart on the look out for new and interesting books – I could swear I’m seeing double or even triple.

I’m seeing books with the same cover.  And to be frank – I don’t like it.

Book covers are often a way that I identify whether I’ve read a book before or not… OR… I know a book is coming out, have a picture of the cover in my mind and in a hurry pick up a book… the wrong book.  Yeah, I know my bad.

I freely admit that I love book covers, they are a special kind of art and as such I often will pick up a book purely because the cover draws me in.  So when I see that same cover on more than one book it’s not only confusing – it’s also annoying to me.

Okay, I’m not trying to be rude here – I suppose there could be a hundred and one reasons for using the same cover for totally different books.  I simply don’t understand why.

To me as a reader, the cover is part of the book’s story.  I might visualize the characters based on the cover photo, or even a location that is unique to one story because it fits the story perfectly.  There is an emotional attachment to book covers for me – and I know I’m not alone in this.

How about you?

The last week or so I’m finding myself picking up older novels to read.  Not even necessarily for review (but I end up reviewing them anyway) – just I seem to be drawn to novels that I missed over the recent past.  Some are authors that I’m catching up on their back lists.  Others are series that I want to get caught up in so I can continue with the current stories and not be lost.

I have to admit that my Kindle Unlimited subscription is really getting a workout lately – and I suppose the more novels I borrow and read, the better the monthly deal is, cost wise.

I have several newer releases on my Kindle and the physical bookshelf that I should be reading and reviewing — I’m simply drawn backward in time at the moment.  I’m sure it will even itself out soon, it always does.  And I can’t complain because I’m reading some amazing stories.

Wondering if I’m alone out here in my trip back in novel time.  Anyone else get caught up in reading the “should have read this years ago” syndrome too?

June 14th is National Bourbon Day.  Yeah, it’s true… this amazing booze has it’s own personal day of celebration.

I don’t know why – but for me when I think of bourbon I think of steamy Southern nights – a mystery – or simply sitting on the deck enjoying the sunset.

There’s no bad reason to love bourbon – after all there’s a very famous street named after it.  *wink*

Remember, enjoy National Bourbon Day – and always drink responsibly.

Cheers!

I couldn’t resist.  And note to Anna of Herding Cats & Burning Soup?…. there are herding cats in this.  *wink*  Have Fun – Just Enjoy

Top Cat Commercials – you know you wanna take a moment and just laugh.  😉

https://youtu.be/8XWZZsGhz4Q