While we in the USA make our plans for the upcoming Memorial Day 3 day weekend – I’d like to put this meme graphic out there as a reminder.

To all who have served our country – thank you.  To all of their families, friend and employers who made that possible – thank you.  To all who serve and protect in any capacity – thank you.  God Bless you all.

I have a bit of a dilemma.  So I’m turning to the people who I know will understand exactly what I mean by that title.  People who love the written word, especially those words that are written by an author you’ve come to enjoy, love even and trust that they will always “deliver the goods” for you.

I have many “favorite” authors in reality.  Since I read many genre, this probably isn’t all that surprising.  But this is the tale of one un-named author that has been a favorite of mine for more than a decade.  I think that gives me enough invested interest to have an opinion of their work.   Or even of what is lacking in their work lately.

It needs to be said that I mean absolutely no disrespect by this post.  None whatsoever.  It’s simply something that I have noticed over this authors last 3 to 5 novels.  I’m going to assume that writers go through slumps, those times when the words just don’t, for whatever reason, flow easily.  Now I cannot do what an author does.  No way, no how.  Oh, I can put words together to say how a novel affected me, whether I liked it, loved it or would pass it by, regretfully.  But I cannot weave words into the magic of creating a world full of characters that readers would care overly much about what happens to them next.  No that is a magic I do not have.

So when an author who has given me that magical world for years seems to no longer have the fire, the drive, the essence of the characters like they once did – I become concerned.  When the only thing I truly recognize about the novel is the name of the Un-named Author on the cover – I think I have the right to question a bit.  When I am beginning to think the unthinkable – that this author is not writing their books, someone else is – that is when I begin to truly panic.

Because I do not want to believe that.

I am heartbroken to say that I believe I have bought the last new novel by this author.  Oh, I will still request new titles to be put on hold for me at the library, I’ll still read them in the desperate hopes that I am wrong.  God, I pray I am wrong.  But I do not believe I will hand over my hard earned cash any longer for the work of an artist who is not writing the kind of books I know they are capable of giving us.

And no, I will not be naming this author.  I have no intention of being sued over a feeling, a suspicion that might not be true.

What do you do, as a reader, when an author’s work slips into something you no longer recognize?  Do you stick it out with them, thinking it’s a temporary thing?  Do you drop them from your buying schedule like yesterday’s trash?

How long do you hold onto the hope that your feeling is wrong?  I’d really like to know your thoughts.

In recent months, I have been honored and blessed by so many people within the book review blogging community.

To the visitors to my blog that return or take the time from their busy lives to leave a comment.  You matter to me.  I simply want you to know that.

To the authors of the many genre of novels that I review – thank you for letting me into your creation just a bit before the rest of the world gets entrance.  When I receive permission to read a book through an e-ARC, it is a gift that I try not to take advantage of.  I try my best to honor that privilege and respect your work.  I don’t absolutely love beyond reason every single novel I review, but if I reviewed it then I at least found something within its pages that captured me.

To the publishing houses that trusted that I would deliver on my promise of an honest and prompt review of their authors’ works.  I appreciate your trust in me – and even when my schedule gets crazy and I end up a day or two beyond the release date of a novel,  I’m hoping that you understand that I am taking the time to read these works in order to hold up my end of the bargain.  That doesn’t happen often, but then.. life happens and schedules have to be adjusted.

I have discovered so many A-M-A-Z-I-N-G worlds through the novels I have reviewed.  I’ve branched out into areas that I might not have if I didn’t have this blog and the ability to learn about so many interesting novels available.  For that I have to thank the creators and hosts of the various weekly memes that give all of us a glimpse into other worlds.

To some people this post may seem silly, a fluff filler piece or totally unnecessary.  But it’s not.  The people, the very many varied people within the expanding walls of book review blogs matter to me on many levels and I believe in giving back to those that give to me.

When things get hectic or difficult I simply want you to know that you matter in this entire puzzle.  And I appreciate the part you have allowed me to play in your lives.

Let’s be honest.  We do not like to think of emergencies happening.  That is something that happens to other people – until we become those “other people”.

Yesterday I sent my son and two of his nurses off on a business trip he had planned.  So there is only me and the two cats at home right now.

Thank God.  Because all hell broke loose here.

I am fine.  Things are calming down – and I have a chance to breathe slowly and survey the results.

My blogs suffered because I didn’t take the time – couldn’t find the time in my tight schedule – to plan in advance.  Oh, it’s not the end of the world kind of thing.  I’ll be late on some reviews that should have been up, and now I am about 48 hours behind on just about everything.  Those things can be taken care of with a solid nose to the grindstone kind of effort.  Life will go on and everything will work out.

The point I am trying to make, and doing a piss-poor job of it because my mind is so scattered right now is this:  It didn’t have to be this way for my blogs.  If I had simply taken a day a week to plan, schedule and have posts in place to go automatically – no one would have been the wiser about my 37 hours from hell.  Since that didn’t happen because I just “couldn’t find the time” to plan ahead, now I am looking at a lot of work to make up quickly.

There are always fun Challenges around – the irony of Anna’s Blog Ahead Mini-Challenge starting today is not lost on me at all right now.  The reality is that we need those challenges, fun though they are, to help motivate us or kick us in the butt to get our stuff taken care of… in advance.

I wish I had been better prepared for an emergency to strike.  I wasn’t, and that is on me this time.  It will not happen again.  That is a truth I now know with certainty – not gonna happen to me twice.

Recently, Shannon of The Tale Temptress had a really good discussion post up about Happily Ever Afters in the novels we read – do we need them or not.  (Use that link up above to go check it out)  The discussion got quite lively and enjoyable.  During commenting back and forth we got talking about series that Do Not Have Cliffhanger Endings – Which I Hate.  Just sayin’.  And after mentioning a few ongoing series that I love that keep the overall story arc but each novel within is still totally complete, HEA and all,  I offhandedly said I should make a recommended post.  This is that post.  *fingers crossed*  And if this works, I might (might) make this a Feature.  We’ll see what happens.

Crime & Mystery & Romance combined.  I think an excellent example of a mystery and romance ongoing series that gets deeper with time is J. D. Robb’s In Death series.  Roarke & Eve.  The billionaire, reformed thief & the focused, dedicated, non-people-person Lt. Detective Eve Dallas.  Slightly futuristic, set about 50 years in the future, far enough for there to be fun gadgets and near enough to not be sci-fi this is a series that is now forty, yes, 40 novels and novellas long and counting.  Each one can be read as a stand alone crime, mystery and romance.  Really, it can.  However – since we almost step into the In Death world like a tv series – the characters grow, change, come, go, get more at ease with each other, and still hold tight to the love, and friendships that bind them all.  There is a constancy there as there would be with visiting with old friends.

Paranormal ~ Vampire  One of my absolute genre.  Maggie Shayne’s Wings in the Night.  The first vampire series I followed like clockwork, and still do since she is taking it into Twilight Reborn.  During a time when any paranormal romances were harder to find than vampires who walked in the daylight, Maggie Shayne was my heroine and go to vampire author.  Christine Feehan’s The Dark (Carpathians) vampire series.  This is such a beloved, long lasting, still feels new series.  We are always running into favorite characters within the individual novels.  This is a tight community and it shows.  Another series that I think just gets better with time.

Pure Romance For long ongoing Romance series I do not believe you can beat Debbie Macomber.  Her Cedar Cove series (which was turned into a tv series) or her Blossom Street, even her early Mannings – all have individual novels with a arc of town, communities and families which always leaves me satisfied and ready for the next installment of any of her series.

And that is all I have for this post.  I realize that some readers may think that these are older series – while that may be true for most, also realize that these authors have given us long, ongoing series that have captured our hearts and imaginations for years.  It takes a good author, one in it for the long haul and the love of telling tales to give us these stories.

So, now it’s your turn.  Do you have any favorite ongoing series where each novel has it’s own happy ever after yet remains within a over arc of a story, community or family?  Then please share in the comments – I’m always up for a new to me author.

Soon now April will slide into May and where in the world have the first 4 months of 2015 gone to?  I had so much planned.  Ah, well.

There are two May specific Challenges that I’m taking part in that are coming up real soon now.

The May Clean Sweep ARC Challenge over at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  Where we’ll concentrate on getting all of those ARCs of any kind read, reviewed and at least scheduled for publication.  One look at my NetGalley shelves and I know that this is going to be useful and necessary for me – ‘cos there are even more that I want to request or pick up from the Read Now section – but I refuse to let my ratio drop… need to get those eARCs cleaned out – now.

This one is going on all month long, so feel free to hop over and sign up, there’s still plenty of time.  It’s going to feel so good to know that I’m up to date and maybe even a little ahead thanks to motivation from this Challenge.

 

The second Challenge for May on my schedule is a quick one, but one that hopefully is going to instill some good scheduling habits for me – I could use better habits.

May Mini-Blog Ahead May 1-14 at Anna’s Herding Cats & Burning Soup.  Here, for two weeks we are going to work on getting posts written and scheduled for publishing… in advance.  Yep.  Get those suckers done, ready to automatically publish and move on to more stuff that needs done – or even get ready for the more active, fun-filled summer months when we should be spending some time outside or on vacation.  Can anyone say hot, sunny, wave swept beach?  Oh, how I wish.

My goal for this one is really making some good work blog habits and stick to them.  There is so much that could be done and scheduled ahead of time.  Not everything is a do and publish thing.  So definitely this Challenge is going to help me in more than one way.  Interested?  Then dash over to Anna’s and check it out.

Okay, what else is there on Keeper Bookshelf for May?  Oh.  I am totally addicted to doing the one-click thing at Amazon for “free” novellas.  You know the ones – the first book in a series or it’s promotion day and the first book or the previous book in a series is available again for “free” that day?  Yeah.  Those.  Addicted.  Totally addicted, to the point where my Kindle is getting a bit tight – I really need to get some of those read, reviewed and off of the Kindle (to make room for more – no, no to have more breathing space, yeah – that *cough*)  Anyway.  The plan is to add several of those “freebies” a week and get the Kindle a little cleaned up and cleared out.  Okay, okay – I know it’s not going to last, but let me dream a bit please?

Hmmm…what else?  There are a couple features I’d like to add here.  I’m not sure if they will be monthly or weekly – time will tell on that.  But I really want to put up a feature of “coming next week book releases”.  I know a few blogs do that now, and I’m not trying to hog onto someone’s idea -but, books – new books- who can have enough knowledge about that?  I think I have a slightly different slant to it, so that is planned.

And reviews.  Gosh, I have so many reviews due in May from NetGalley and my own already purchased or plan to purchase novels – and dammit (I mean, thank you Deb) – I have about 45 Historical novels that my friend dropped off.  So many good looking stories, never enough time so those have to be added into the equation.  All I can say is that it is a good thing I have always been a fast reader, cos I got books galore to read in May.  (I know that some are going to slide over into June, but allow me my delusions for the moment.)  😉

There are probably a dozen things I’m forgetting – but those are the basics.  Really, I’m looking forward to getting into the habit of scheduling posts and reviews.  Knowing that those are taken care of will take a lot of self-imposed stress off of my shoulders.  I would like to get caught up here at KB in order to feel free to take a day here and there and work on my other specialized book review blogs.  Again, scheduling will help me so very much across the board.

So, how’s your May shaping up?

I just wrote a brilliant post (if I do say so myself) — and put it back in the maybe, some day file.  Because I second guessed myself.  I hate when I do that.

I noticed something recently on one of the large, anyone can drop in a review places – and it bothered me.  So I wrote a post about my feelings… and then I second guessed myself.

How often have you second guessed a post on your blog that wasn’t a review piece, but an opinion of your own?  Are you brave and force through no matter what any other opinions might be?  Or do you step back, take a second look and think… maybe I shouldn’t say this.

I want to be the first but more often am the second.  And really, it’s just my opinion – it’s not like it’s brain surgery if I make a misstep someone dies.  It’s a blog post, a discussion – my own opinion what do you think – kind of blog post.  Yet I hesitate.

I think I hesitate because this isn’t a “big” blog.  I mean, I’m relatively new, what right do I have to upset the apple cart.  Do I really want to take the risk of losing readership when I’m still growing the blog?  Or maybe I should be more concerned with being true to my own self and opinions on my own blog.  Again, it is my opinion – if no one else agrees or even disagrees within 24 hours a hundred other new posts will have taken over my one opinion’s spot.

So why can’t I be braver?  Why can’t I point out something that I see as wrong, instead of worrying about the opinion of others?  I hate second guessing myself.  And it needs to stop.

What about you?  Do you hesitate?  Do you post what is on your mind no matter what anyone else might think?  Brave or Safe?