2015: This I Promise You

The question I LOVE getting from readers the most: When is your next book coming out?

The answer I HATE giving the most: I don’t know.

With that said, while I can’t give specific dates, I can promise that I will release more books in 2015. I’m hoping for five, but it might be four. We’ll see.

So what are the new books about?

• I’m continuing the One-on-One Series. If you’ve read TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD, you might remember Noelle’s best friend/producer, Caitlin. I’m writing Caitlin’s story as we speak, and I’m loving getting to know her better. And the hot athlete who rolls into her life messing up her carefully laid out plans. *rubs hands together in glee*
   
• To know me is to know that I love sports. But I also love pop culture. And that’s where my other series takes me. I love the entertainment industry and its zaniness. The first book is about a movie star who falls for the absolute last guy she expected to. I absolutely adore Fliss and Alex and can’t wait to share their story with you. *rubs hands faster*

When I have firm release dates, I will be sure to let you know. If you want to make sure you know when my next book releases, please sign up for my New Release Alert here! I only send it out when I have a new release. Shocking, I know. lol

So what else do I have planned for 2015? Travel. I really, really want to go to Spain. And St. Lucia. And Las Vegas. The day job might make more than one of these tough, but I’m gonna try.

And I want to read 50 books this year. Really, I’d like to shoot for 60, but this writing thing takes a lot of my time. And I want to diversify my reading. I read A LOT of contemporary romance, because I love it, but honestly, when I think about it, that’s not the only (sub)genre I enjoy. I’d like to finish the Harry Potter series (yes, I realize I’m close to 20 years behind the times – lol). I’ve read the first 3 and enjoyed them.

So that’s it. I’m keeping it pretty simple, so I don’t look at this post at the end of the year and have massive amount of guilt pour down on me if I don’t meet all of my goals. Do you have any resolutions you want to share?

I Discovered Harry Potter!

So it's 2012 and apparently I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. Ouch. Oh well. I aim to do better this year. But more on my resolutions later.

So yeah, I'd never read Harry Potter. Nor have I seen the movies. I decided long ago that I wouldn't watch the movies until I read the books.

I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2009 (I think) and it languished in my huge to-be-read pile. One of my resolutions this year (I'll blog about them all later) was to read outside of my preferred genre of romance more.

Since I'd been meaning to read HP forever and I had the book, it seemed like a logical place to start.

Here's what I knew before cracking open the book (I'd deliberately kept as uninformed as possible as to not ruin anything).

1. Harry is an orphan.

2. Hogwarts is where he goes to become a wizard.

3. His BFFs are Ron and Hermione.

4. Ron has freckles and people were really upset that Movie Ron is freckleless.

5. There's some character named Voldemort.

I'm pretty sure that's it. Or, at the very least, that's all I can think of right now.

Oh, wait. I think Ron and Hermione hook up at some point in the future. I think anyway and could be so wrong, but I'm going with it because it amused me that Ron dislikes her at the beginning.

Oh, also, actually, I was a little surprised that it took a while for Hermione to join the gang just because they're always presented as a trio at the movie premieres. Which I guess they are once she joined the gang.

As you can tell, my HP knowledge was severely limited before I cracked open the book. I was ripe to be surprised. And I was!

1. The book had a lot of humor in it, which, for whatever reason, I wasn't expecting. I laughed more than once.

2. I got a wee bit annoyed with Harry when he first got his letter. J. K. Rowling had taken great pains to describe his crazy family and how they gave him nothing and wanted him to have nothing, so he waltzes back into the kitchen and opens the letter in front of them! Really,  Harry?

3. My word - it took forever to get to Hogwarts. I was past page 100 before that happened.

4. I was a victim of my own expectations. When he did get to Hogwarts, I kept waiting for something BIG to happen. He would have mini-adventures, but everything would be okay by the end of the chapter. Which was fine. This "criticism" has more to do with me than the book.

5. Sometimes, I would have preferred to be in Harry's head more. Maybe I wish there was more dialogue instead of just telling us what was happening.

6. With that said, I'm in awe of Rowling's imagination. All the stuff she came up with was amazing! She created a whole new world with its own language, rules, and even games. She laid the groundwork for six more books, and did so effectively. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but she made it appear effortless. I was enthralled and kept turning the pages.

I think it goes without saying that I'm looking forward to the next books.

P. S. I love Neville!