Roni Loren's Blog, page 5

Somewhere in small-town Pennsylvania on our trip

Reading slumps are a drag, and I’ve been in a major one for fiction all year. Before the two books I’ll talk about today, I’d read 31 books in 2024. Six (SIX!) were fiction. That’s a ludicrously low number for me. But I’ve tried many novels this year and have ended up with a pile of DNFs. I couldn’t figure out what the issue was.

I’m honestly still not sure what the issue is/was. However, I’m happy to report that I went on vacation to Pennsylvania and upstate New York last week and finished a chunky book in two days. And then today, I finished one of the books I mentioned in my last post on reading slower-building stories. So things are looking up!

Roni Loren's Happy for Now newsletterCan we relearn the joy of reading (and watching) slower-building stories?“I can definitely still do a cartwheel,” I said to my husband. “Please do not do a cartwheel,” he replied. “But I can.” “I believe you. Please don’t try to prove it.” Readers, I probably can’t still do a cartwheel. To save my husband the anxiety and me a potential urgent care trip, I didn’t try…Read more4 months ago · 14 likes · 38 comments · Roni LorenThe slump-busting books

First up is The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. This book saved me from not one but two very frustrating situations on vacation. The first was a 5-hour flight delay + 3-hour flight, which made for a long, tedious day. The second was “unprecedented” traffic to the NASCAR race in the Poconos after a freak rainstorm caused issues. It took us 3 hours to go 5 miles and we were late for the race. In both situations, I’d packed a book because ONE SHOULD ALWAYS PACK A BOOK TO BREAK OUT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.

This book was so riveting that I *almost* didn’t mind all of the delays. In fact, once we actually got to the race, I ended up continuing to read instead of watching the race, lol.

This story is a mystery and family drama wrapped up together and is delivered in a beautifully written way. I don’t always need a book to have sentence-level excellence (if the story and characters are compelling enough) but this one delivers on both. You want to keep turning the pages but also you sometimes want to underline a particular sentence or description.

Also, as a writer who’s written stories with dual timelines, I absolutely loved how the author handled the different time jumps in this book. The chapters are labeled in a way that made it so much easier for me to keep track of multiple character points of view and multiple timelines.

So what is it about? I’ll post the back cover blurb below but be warned. This novel is compelling but don’t mistake it for a high-velocity suspense novel. There are two mysteries you want to figure out, but this is much more about the characters and their relationships than anything else. If you liked Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You (which was one of my favorite books of 2023), you’ll probably like this.

About the book:

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

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Next up is a classic that I somehow never read, and I’m so glad I’ve remedied that oversight now! Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery was an absolute joy and delight. And if you want to talk about sentence-level beauty, you can’t go wrong here. There are so many quotes worth underlining, I don’t even know where to start. The setting descriptions are magical and Anne is a ray of sunshine. This is the perfect escapist read for a tough day/week/month.

Also, as this was part of my experiment to read older, slower books, I loved how each chapter was almost like its own short story. That made it easy to pick up, read a chapter (or listen to a chapter—I bounced back and forth between this hardcover edition above and the audio with Rachel McAdams narrating) and then put it down to do other things. I could dip in and out without losing the thread.

If you’re looking for something to make you smile and laugh (and okay, get misty-eyed at times), you can’t go wrong with this one. I’ve already purchased the rest of the series and Emily of New Moon so that I have a trove of cozy, feel-good books whenever I need a pick-me-up.

So I’m thankful to both of these five-star books for getting me out of my slump!

What I’m currently reading

I’m currently reading What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan, and I’m halfway through, so I’m hoping this one will be a success as well. The story has been a page-turner so far, and that’s interesting considering you as the reader know what happened to Nina pretty early on. The author clearly based the set-up on the Gabby Petito case, and that gives it another layer because that story is still fresh in many of our minds. Just ignore the cover. It doesn’t seem to fit anything from the story at all.

What I’m Watching

I’m in comfort mode so I’m doing a rewatch of Felicity. I was in college during the years this is set, and I’m here for all the late 90s/early 00s nostalgia vibes. (Streaming on Hulu) I love that this was J.J. Abrams first TV project before he went on to do Alias and Lost and the Star Wars movies. Also, if you want to enhance a rewatch, there’s a great podcast called Dear Felicity that is hosted by two cast members and features a lot of the other cast and crew. They cover episodes and give inside info on them. So fun!

And, of course, it’s summer which means a new Big Brother season, a long-standing summer tradition at our house. We’ve watched the first few episodes, and though I’m annoyed that this year’s theme is A.I. (ugh), I’m going to persevere. I’m always fascinated by the relationship dynamics of this show. It’s also more successful at creating long-lasting romantic relationships than The Bachelor, so that’s fun to see too.

Vacation Photos (after all the delays, we actually had some nerdy fun!) The original site of Woodstock in Bethel, NY. So worth the trip. Take the guided tour! One of the best I’ve been on. Lunch at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Fantastic food, obviously, but also such a beautiful campus to see!

FDR’s (and Eleanor’s) house and presidential library in Hyde Park. Another one worth taking the guided tour on. FDR’s library We toured West Point and I was in awe at how beautiful their chapel is. Also, note how lined up those books are. Miltary precision! The stained glass in the chapel was stunning. I told my husband that I didn’t care that we weren’t going into the city in New York, he needed to find me a good bagel because Texas doesn’t know how to do a proper bagel and I NEEDED one. He delivered.

Vacation was great (after the first two days of Griswold-level catastrophes) but I’m glad to be home. I hope your summer is going well. I’d love to hear what you’re reading and watching or where you went (or are going) on vacation. Let me know!

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*Book links are affiliate links (Amazon, Libro.fm, and/or Bookshop.org), which means I earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Also, I receive advanced listening copies of some audiobooks through Libro.fm’s Influencer program. However, all reviews and opinions are my own.

It’s that time of year again! I’ve opened up my online Comprehensive Beginner Romance Writing course for enrollment. Class starts August 4th and you can use coupon code: EARLYBIRD30 for $30 off until July 21.

Have you always wanted to write a romance but are intimidated by the process or are unsure where to start? I can help break it down for you!

This course runs for 8 weeks (7 weeks of content with one week off for Labor Day), so we cover a lot. If you’d like to find out more, click here.

See you in class!

The new covers are even more gorgeous in person! And I LOVE how they are all going to connect to make one complete picture.

The Ones Who Got Away is already available and The One You Can’t Forget will be here this August and is available for pre-order! (just make sure you select the paperback size not the “mass market” paperback)

About The Ones Who Got Away:

"Absolutely unputdownable! Roni Loren is a new favorite."―COLLEEN HOOVER for The One You Can't Forget

Twelve years ago, tragedy struck a sleepy Texas town. Only a small number of those impacted survived―a group the media dubbed The Ones Who Got Away. This is their story.

THAT NIGHT: He was the star athlete. She was the sharp-tongued Goth girl who never failed to get under his skin. They were never meant to be together, and one terrible night was enough to tear them apart.

NOW: Liv Arias is ready to put the past behind her and move on from the trauma that shaped her young life. But when she runs into her former flame, Finn Dorsey, closure seems harder than ever. Finn almost got Liv killed all those years ago, and their relationship ended in a bitter rift. But when their attempt to say a final goodbye turns into a passionate kiss, Liv and Finn realize that the spark between them still burns as hot as ever.

Theirs was never supposed to be more than a fling, but as Liv and Finn sort through the pain of broken trust and slowly mending hearts, they may come to realize there's something buried deep that's worth fighting for.

By turns heart-wrenching and deeply romantic, this award-winning spicy contemporary romance will challenge the way you see life, love, and happily ever after.

About The One You Can’t Forget:

Twelve years ago, tragedy struck a sleepy Texas town. Only a small number of those impacted survived―a group the media dubbed The Ones Who Got Away. This is their story.

HER SECRET SHAME: The world knows Rebecca Lindt as a survivor, but that impression would crumble if people discovered her secret…and realized she didn't deserve to be the one who got away. But nothing can change the past, so she's thrown herself into her work. She can't dwell if she never slows down.

HIS UNCERTAIN FUTURE: Wes Garrett is trying to get back on his feet after losing his dream restaurant, his money, and half his damn mind in a vicious divorce. But when he intervenes in a mugging and saves Rebecca―the attorney who helped his ex ruin him―his simple life gets a hell of a lot more complicated.

Their attraction is inconvenient and neither wants more than a fling. But when Rebecca's secret is put at risk, both discover they could lose everything, including the one thing they never realized they needed: each other.

Nicolaas Van Der Waay 44, Creative Commons

“I can definitely still do a cartwheel,” I said to my husband.

“Please do not do a cartwheel,” he replied.

“But I can.”

“I believe you. Please don’t try to prove it.”

Readers, I probably can’t still do a cartwheel. To save my husband the anxiety and me a potential urgent care trip, I didn’t try.

Getting older (hopefully) means getting more skilled and wiser in some things. However, it also means losing some skills we used to have. Sometimes, that’s fine. I do not regularly find myself in a situation that requires a cartwheel. But other times, I’m freaked out when I realize a skill has slipped.

One skill that I think has less to do with age and more to do with technology and the state of distraction in our world is my ability to focus on slower books and movies. I’ve given a lot of thought to the state of my attentional abilities over the years. Recently, in my newsletter for writers, I wrote about Attentional Health for Writers (it can apply to non-writers as well.)

The Nourished WriterAttentional Health for WritersHey there. It’s been a while! I’ve been busy with coaching and a book project I’m really excited about but can’t yet share, so I’ve been MIA for good reason. However, this week, one topic kept popping up that I wanted to chat more about. This morning I listened to an episode of the Ezra Klein Show (podcast) called…Read more4 months ago · 7 likes · 7 comments · Roni Loren

Attention is required for reading. It’s required for watching movies (actually watching them, not watching them in between phone checking). And because our attention has become so fractured (and all-out stolen and monetized by tech), books, movies, and TV shows have had to adjust to this new reality.

That’s why the only movies that seem to make it to theaters now are reboots, superhero movies, or big action movies with lots of jump cuts and explosions. It’s rare to see a big rom-com hit the theatres anymore (R.I.P. movies like Dirty Dancing, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, etc.) Even pop songs are shorter these days.

This fractured attention is also why writers are asked to write books with big, hooky opening chapters and to move lightning-fast with our plots. That’s not how it always was. Books needed to have interesting openings and be well-written, but they didn’t have to move at a blinding pace. For those of a certain age, think back to how long romance novels used to be. Sometimes the couple wouldn’t even meet for a hundred pages! I’m not saying we should go back to that, but I do remember those stories feeling deeply satisfying, like you’ve really lived in that world with the characters. It made them more memorable in some ways too.

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Over the past week, I’ve watched two movies that showed how much things have changed. One was The Big Chill, a 1983 movie (with a stellar ensemble cast) about a group of college friends getting together after the funeral of another of their friends for a reunion of sorts. They’re now solidly in adulthood and not the rebellious 1960s young adults they were.

I had never seen this movie (I was 3 when it came out) but I’ve heard it referenced many times, so when the Criterion Channel app featured it, I thought I’d try it. I was struck by how slow-moving it was but also how…wonderful. Most of the movie is just the group hanging out and talking. But there’s love, friendship, nuance, great dialogue, and nostalgia. I truly enjoyed it. But I also couldn’t help but think, This would never get made today. And what a loss that is.

The same thought hit me when I watched another “people talking” movie. I had never seen Before Sunrise with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. (I know! I know! I’ve just lost both my romance membership card and my 90s teenager card.) This movie is about two people meeting on a train in Europe and deciding to spend one day together in Vienna before they have to go back to their respective countries. That’s the whole plot. They walk around Vienna, experiencing a few different sites and activities, and they talk. And talk and talk. And it was heartfelt and lovely and romantic. I can’t wait to continue the trilogy. But once again, it would never get made today.

As I was watching these movies, I could FEEL myself being antsy. I wanted to reach for my phone even when I was thoroughly enjoying the movies. And that just straight-up annoyed me. I know for a fact I had this skill once upon a time. I hate feeling like an outside force has affected my brain in that way, that I’ve given something away. So, I decided this was now my mission—to retrain myself to sit with and enjoy the slower-moving stories. In movies. And in books.

To get past the initial restlessness this time, I crocheted while I watched both movies. That helped a lot. I think having something to do with my hands that’s not my phone is a good strategy.

And for working on reading slower stories, I ordered a stack of books that are at least 20 years old, ones that are going to require more of my attention. However, I chose a few children’s classics to put into the mix because I figured that was an easier entry point into retraining myself for older books. I don’t need to start with War & Peace. :) (This is also where I admit, I’ve never read Anne of Green Gables. I know, I know. I’m sorry!)

So, can we relearn (or learn for the first time) how to grab our attention back and sink into stories that take a more leisurely pace? I think (aside from diagnosable attention disorders) that we can.

But it’s not going to happen on its own or without effort. Things are only going to get faster. Just think how quickly we went from long-form YouTube videos and still shots on Instagram to the rapid pace of Reels and TikTok videos. Our ability to pay attention to even fast-moving books is in jeopardy. (For instance, how much have you skimmed this post, jumping from paragraph start to paragraph start? No judgment. I find myself doing that on long posts too, but I don’t want to do that.)

To grab our attention back will take an active decision to step away from the plugged-in whirlwind sometimes (or a lot of the time) and rediscover the joy of really paying attention to a story. Reading and not skimming. Watching movies and not looking at our phones. Remembering that just because something is a quiet story or a slow build doesn’t mean something’s wrong with it, that we may just need to give it a minute to unfold. And, for some of you, it may not even be about reading slower stories but just finding the attention to really lock in on a modern-paced book instead of rushing through it or half-reading it (or half-listening on audio) and getting the gist.

Fight back. Our attention should be ours to give not tech’s to manipulate and steal. I’ll give up my ability to do cartwheels, fine, but I’m no longer okay giving up my ability to sink into a story with everything I’ve got.

If any of this is resonating, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you felt a change in your ability to pay attention to certain types of books and movies? Do you get ansty when a story is slower to build? Have you done anything that has helped combat that attention-drain?

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Happy Summer! It’s that time of the year again. The kids are home, the weather is hot, and everyone who’s anyone in the bookish world is putting out their summer reading guides.

I’m not exactly sure why we need more guidance in the summer than in the other seasons, but I for one, am here for this tradition. I adore a summer reading guide and look forward to seeing them come out during this time of year. (In fact, it’s been one of the bright spots for me this month when my whole family has been sick with a cold from hell—we’ve been tested for everything else—for a literal month. Ugh.)

The readers/bloggers/podcasters who put these together work incredibly hard, and I love seeing each person’s curated picks because everyone's tastes are so different. I thought it’d be fun to share a few if you haven’t run across these yet. Some are more literary, some more beach-read friendly. Some are free and others require a low one-time payment or a newsletter/Patreon subscription.

I’ve printed all these out so I can make notes on them and can’t wait to spend some time digging through them because I’ve been in a major fiction-reading slump. (Major.)

*Note: I don’t know any of these bloggers and haven’t been asked to promote any of these.

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My Favorite Summer Reading Guides

Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide - the OG creator of summer reading guides. Anne Bogel’s guide is always well put together and thought out. She reads every single book that goes in ahead of time. Her tastes and my tastes line up in some genres and not in others, but I always like hearing what she thinks about books even if some aren’t for me. This one is $15 as a one-off, but I highly recommend just getting her $5 Patreon subscription for a month instead and you can get the reading guide that way plus get all of her bonus podcast episodes.

Sarah’s Bookshelves Live Summer Reading Guide - Sarah does one of my favorite bookish podcasts and I’m a longtime subscriber to her Patreon, which is well worth the subscribe. Sarah is not a big romance reader, but she has a wide variety of picks from other genres, and I find my tastes often align with hers. Like Anne, she also reads every single book and vets them first before putting them in the guide. (A lot of work!) Her main guide is free and you can get some extra perks as a subscriber.

New-To-Me Summer Reading Guides

The BiblioLifeStyle’s Summer Reading Guide - This one is new-to-me but beautifully designed and free! Victoria has put together a list that has a variety of genres and even includes some summer recipes.

When Maddie Read’s Summer Reading Guide - This one is also gorgeous and it’s big (60 pages!) plus FREE. This one has a ton of books from a wide variety of genres and quick little one or two-sentence blurbs about each. If you can’t find something in this one, I don’t know what to tell you.

Parade magazine’s Best Summer Reads - This one isn’t an official summer reading guide but is a romance-friendly list!

If you want to add some literary fiction to your reading list…

The FictionMatters Paperback Reading Guide - This one leans literary and you need to pay for a subscription, but there were definite new-to-me books on there.

The Atlantic’s Summer Reading Guide - Their definition of a “breezy summer read” made me laugh a little. Definitely a list for if you’re trying to dig into some literary reads.

That should give you more than enough books to add to your beach TBR this summer. And remember, you could always add mine! The Ones Who Got Away has a new summery cover that sure would look great in a beach bag! ;)

Do you have any summer reading guides you loved but that I missed? Feel free to share a link in the comments!

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? Does your reading change in the summer?

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Hey y’all,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that I’m a guest at the Epigraph Literary Festival tomorrow. It’s free to attend and has a great lineup of authors. Join us and load up your TBR with new authors to try!

It’s free to attend. You can find out more info and sign up here.

Hope to see you there!

Roni

Hi there!

Before we get started on the Read/Watch/Listen recommendations for the month, I wanted to share a new feature I’m trying out, an experiment, if you will. It’s called “On the Blog.”

For a number of reasons, I’ve revived my blog on my website. However, I know there’s no good way to follow blogs easily anymore, so I’ll be linking to those posts here in case you want to check out what’s happening over there. I plan to use the blog for more informal posts. And of course, you’ll still be getting newsletter-exclusive content here as well. :)

We’ll see how this goes! Feel free to let me know in the comments if you like this new feature. (And if you want to know more about my thoughts behind this, I did a deeper dive in my newsletter for writers The Nourished Writer in this post: Building Your Platform on Your Own Land.)

On the Blog

My Nerdy Post About My Reading Stats for Last Year

The Fun of Finding New-to-You Music

Visit Roni's Blog

Alright, on to this month’s Read/Watch/Listen recommendations!

Read

The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis

I’m currently researching small-town stories for…reasons. ;) This means I ordered a pile of them and got a big stack from the library. I’ve been working my way through them. I’ve DNFed (did not finish) a number of them (not necessarily because they were bad but they just weren’t the vibe I was looking for), but once I got to The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis, I was all in. Shalvis is a master at the genre and it shows. I loved the characters and the found-family aspect. The whole thing just gave me the warm and cozy vibes I was looking for. And though this is part of a series, the books are connected by location, not people, so you can jump in wherever.

Also, it looks like it’s $1.99 in ebook today!

From the back cover:

When Harper Shaw's life falls apart, she knows it's time for a change. She removes everything that doesn't spark joy--from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists--and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn't feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.

With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she's never experienced since...well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets...

When those secrets explode, it changes Harper's new world, and she'll learn, it's never too late to start over, it's never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it's never too late to let yourself believe in love.

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl

This is one of those books that I go back to every few years for a comfort reread. This chronicles Ruth Reichl’s experience in the year after Gourmet magazine shut down. Ruth Reichl was the editor-in-chief and she’s grieving the loss. The book is a cookbook/food memoir hybrid. The recipes aren’t always my jam, but I adore her essays in between. They track her through the four seasons and how food and cooking can be healing. It’s a lovely book.

Watch

Mean Girls -the new one (Paramount+)

I, of course, love the original version of this movie, so I was both looking forward to this remake and also wary because…remake. When I first started it, I was like, “Wait, what? Why are they singing?” Yeah, so I had not gotten the memo that this remake was the musical version. LOL. I mean, I love musicals, so it’s fine, but it just threw me at first. The key to my enjoyment of this one was viewing it as a separate thing from the original and not comparing. The cast was fantastic and the songs were catchy. I liked seeing how social media played a role now because that wasn’t around for the first movie. Overall, this was a good time!

Summer Villa (Amazon Prime w/ Hallmark add-on)

So, I found my way to this one because of the audiobook I’m recommending below. Hilarie Burton Morgan talked about getting offers for Hallmark movies in that audiobook, so then I needed to go find one of hers. :)

You have to go into these types of movies with the right expectations. The stories are simple and straightforward but sweet. The acting can vary, but I’m happy to report I thought the acting in this one was good. Plus, the premise got me…

A blocked romance author and her teen daughter go to her editor friend’s villa in France to try to write her book, but the friend’s brother is also there (a chef whom she’s had a bad encounter with.) He’s gotten a bad review that tanked his restaurant and is there to regroup. This has an enemies-to-lovers trope, but of course once the three spend time together, things change. The heroine’s daughter loves to cook so starts learning from the chef. There’s a cooking contest. (Spoiler) Everyone lives happily ever after.

One thing that made me laugh in this story is how a number of people in random places (including France!) recognized the romance author on sight like she was a famous movie star. Y’all. That’s not how it works. Unless you’re A REALLY BIG DEAL like Nora Roberts or Colleen Hoover or Stephen King, most authors can move through life with no one ever recognizing them (unless they’re at a writing conference or something.)

Also, the printout of her completed manuscript at the end of the movie is laughably short. The thing is double-spaced and looks to be about 100 pages thick. When you print out an 80-100k word manuscript and it’s double-spaced, it’s a lot of paper. My guess is that they made it the length of a screenplay because movie people know screenplays not novels, lol. Anyway, I found those things fun to find.

The Greatest Night In Pop (Netflix)

If you were around in the eighties, you remember how big a deal “We Are the World” was. This documentary is the story behind it with lots of actual behind-the-scenes footage. We watched this as a family and everyone enjoyed it. It was very well-done and also pushed all my nostalgia buttons.

American Nightmare (Netflix)

I vaguely knew of this true crime story (sometimes called the Gone Girl case), but after watching the full story…NEW FEAR UNLOCKED. Wow, this story is absolutely bananas and terrifying.

Here’s the description from Netflix: After a harrowing home invasion and kidnapping in 2015, a couple is accused of staging the ordeal when the woman reappears in this true-crime docuseries.

This was compelling to watch and a well-done documentary. Check the trigger warnings, though.

The Many Lives of Martha Stewart (Max)

I know Martha is divisive. But y’all, I’m drawn to her. I love when people are really excellent at what they do and are painstaking about quality. I love seeing women who are smart and savvy and who don’t give a damn about society’s expectations of them. This documentary is a 4-parter and covers a lot of different eras of Martha’s career, but the thing that stood out to me is how many times this successful woman was asked when she’d “find a partner” or if she felt incomplete without a relationship. Like it didn’t matter that she’d accomplished so much. If she didn’t have a dude, she was a failure. Ugh. Anyway, I raced through the documentary and my husband ended up getting caught up in it with me too, lol.

The Great Food Truck Race (Max)

With the fam, I’m watching our usual faves: Survivor, The Amazing Race, and American Idol, but we’ve also started working our way through the seasons of The Great Food Truck Race. It’s easy watching, low-stress, and low-stakes, so it’s good for when you’re tired.

Listen

The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons by Hilarie Burton Morgan

I picked up this audiobook for two reasons. One, I love memoirs about moving to a farm or the country. And two, I used to love the TV show One Tree Hill, and Hilarie Burton Morgan starred in that. This was an easy listen (she narrates) and the stories vary from fun ones (she opened a candy shop with Paul Rudd and his wife) to more serious ones about her pregnancy struggles. (Check triggers.) Overall, I really enjoyed the listen.

From the back cover:

While Hilarie Burton’s hectic lifestyle as an actress in New York and Los Angeles gave her a comfortable life, it did not fulfill her spiritually or emotionally. After the birth of their first son, she and her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the star of The Walking Dead, decided to make a major change: they bought a working farm in Rhinebeck, New York, and began a new chapter in their lives.

The Rural Diaries chronicles her inspiring story of farm life: chopping wood, making dandelion wine, building chicken coops. Burton looks back at her transition from urban to country living—discovering how to manage a farm while raising her son and making friends with her new neighbors. She mixes charming stories of learning to raise alpacas and buying and revitalizing the town’s beloved candy store, Samuel’s Sweet Shoppe with good friend Paul Rudd and his wife Julie, with raw observations on the ups and downs of marriage and her struggles with infertility. Burton also includes delicious recipes that can be made with fresh ingredients at home.

Burton’s charisma, wide eyed attitude, and fortitude—both internal and physical—propels this moving story of transformation and self-discovery. The Rural Diaries honors the values and lifestyle of small-town America and offers inspiration for anyone longing to embark on their own unconventional journey.

Alright, y’all, that’s all I’ve got for you today!

I’d love to hear what you’ve read, watched, or listened to lately that you loved. :)

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*Book links are affiliate links but I have not been asked to promote the books.

Music has always been a big part of my life. I don’t play an instrument like my husband or kiddo, but I’ve always been a big fan. This love was planted early by my mom. She taught aerobics in the 80s as her second job, and I can remember sitting with her and her stack of 45s (records), trying to find just the right songs for her routines.

As I developed my own taste, I shifted into listening to my favorite radio stations, painstakingly waiting for my favorite songs to come on so I could hit Record, and making mixtapes for my Walkman. (Yes, kids, this is how we had to do it, lol.) Eventually, technology advanced and I moved to filling up fat CD binders that I could organize and lovingly flip through. I still have two of those binders even though I have no CD player. I can’t seem to part with them.

Of course, now we have streaming and almost every song we could want at our fingertips, but I find that having the ability to make endless personalized playlists means I’m not exposed as much to music I don’t already know. And I don’t necessarily mean “new” songs but “new to me” songs. I end up making playlists of my favorite songs and listening on repeat (and my master playlist is 80 hours long, so I don’t even have to repeat every often.)

But the fun of discovery and hearing a new song on the radio is lost. This is a bummer in general but also, it’s been shown that listening to music, particularly new-to-us music, is really good for our brains. In addition, I find music really inspiring for my writing. There are some songs that the first time I hear them, I think “I could write a story from that.” Music hits me in a different place than other types of inspiration.

So, I’ve started to make an effort to find new-to-me music. How? Here are some fun ways I’ve found:

Watching music competition shows like The Voice and American Idol

I’ve always loved these types of shows, so that’s nothing new. However, I’ve realized that these shows have been a solid source of new music discoveries for me too. The first time I heard one of my (now) very favorite songs, Sara Bareilles’ “She Used to Be Mine”, was on one of these shows.

Books About Music

There’s a book for everything, right? A few years ago I bought 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die and 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die for the kidlet (who loves music and plays guitar and drums.) Even though he’s 16 now, we still read an entry from one of these together each night. Digging into why a song or album is important makes you want to go and listen to them. And from that article I linked to above, I discovered someone actually created a Random Album Generator based on the book, so you can play with that even if you don’t have the book!

Best of Lists

This is similar to the books but easier to get your hands on. Right now I’m working my way through Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. I’m working backward and am at number 489 (listening to that as I type this in fact!). But this has been such a fun exercise so far. I listen to each album from start to finish, not on shuffle, listening to it as it was intended since songs were put in a certain order for a reason. (I’ve blogged before about The Joy of Listening to an Album All the Way Through.)

And because I’m sticking to the order of the list, I get quite a variety, going from Shakira to Boys II Men to The Ronettes. My brain is definitely getting some exercise! (Although, let’s be honest, I knew every song on that Boys II Men album by heart, lol. Not all of these are new-to-me.)

There are of course other ways to find new music. Going to concerts and getting there in time for the opening bands, asking friends for recs, listening to a radio station, letting the Spotify algorithms guide you, etc. But the ones above have been the most convenient and enjoyable for me.

It doesn’t really matter how you get there, but if you want to change things up from the same old same old of your tried-and-true playlists, maybe give some of these options a shot.

I’d love to hear if you ever search out new music or how you find new things to listen to. Give me your own tips. Or share the best new-to-you song you’ve discovered lately!

It’s that time of year. Tax time. Ugh. It’s definitely not my favorite thing to do, but one of the only interesting parts of the process for me is looking at my bookish stats.

As an author, I get to claim the books I buy as a business expense because part of the job of being an author is reading what is being published and knowing the market. So each year, I put together a spreadsheet with every book I’ve purchased. Then, just for my own curiosity, I divide them by format (print, ebook, audiobook, subscription book club, etc.) and highlight the ones I’ve read.

This gives me some valuable (and often enlightening) information. The first bit of information is consistent year to year—holy crap, how did I buy so many books?

What can I say? I don’t have a lot of vices, but acquiring books is definitely one of them. I’m not murdering people or selling drugs, so I guess as far as vices go, it’s okay.

But the other thing gathering this information gives me is insight into my reading habits and how they change (or don’t.) Over the years, I can see genre shifts for sure. And now format shifts are what’s sticking out. I’ve shifted much more into print reading and audiobook listening than e-reading in the last few years.

When I looked at the stats of what I bought in 2023 and which ones I actually read, here’s how it broke down. (I’m leaving audiobooks out because most of my audiobooks were library listens or Libro.fm early copies and so I didn’t purchase a lot of them. But 31% of my overall reading in 2023 was on audiobook.)

Purchased in 2023:

37% ebooks

62% print books

But here’s the more telling stat…

I read 25% of the print books purchased but only 8% of the ebooks. Ouch.

So, I’m still buying a good number of ebooks (mostly on sales/daily deals) but I’m not actually reading many of them. (At least not the ones I purchased. I’m still reading ebooks from the library if that’s the only format available.)

This probably means I need to stop getting lured in by the sales. I’m stocking up my Kindle, but then those books get lost and languish on my TBR. Ebooks are so much more out-of-sight-out-of-mind than things on my physical shelves. Even though I keep everything in Goodreads, when I’m searching for what to read next, I go to my physical shelves first.

I also think I just enjoy the act of reading a physical book more these days. This might be because we’re on screens all day now and my Kindle feels like more of the same. When I read, I want it to feel like a different activity from everything else. Plus, I like seeing the progress of making my way through a book—moving my bookmark, getting a view of how much is left, etc.

So based on this info, I’m setting a goal to be more discerning about which ebooks I snap up. I also want to put more focus on reading the books I already own (in all formats) because there are A LOT, y’all. My TBR is ludicrously long.

I’ve set this goal before without much success, but I haven’t given up hope! :) I have a few new things I’m going to try. We shall see.

So how about you?

Have you found that your reading has changed over the last few years? Do you have a preferred format? Has anything shifted in your reading tastes? I’d love to know!

Hi y’all,

This will be a quick one today, but I’m so excited to share that the new gorgeous edition of The Ones Who Got Away is now available!

This series has always been special to me, and I’m thrilled that Sourcebooks has given it fresh life with this beautiful redesign and new available format.

Get your copy

A few things to know about this edition…

All four books are scheduled to be reissued and the four book covers together form one complete (super pretty!) design. You can see all of them here!

I’m donating a portion of my earnings from this version to Sandy Hook Promise, an organization that does a number of in-school programs like Start With Hello and Say Something that I think are really fantastic.

This is the first time this book has been available in the larger, trade paperback size, so make sure if you purchase, you choose that size and not the smaller mass market size (because mass market will have the older cover—unless you want the older cover because it’s great too!) Ebook covers should be the new one.

Want to know what it’s about?

Buy the book:  Bookshop.org | Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

If you’ve already read this story, thank you! I’d love it if you could help me spread the word! Feel free to share the graphic below and/or post a review if you feel so compelled. I appreciate you so much!

Thanks, everyone! I hope you enjoy Liv and Finn’s story!