Ramblings On Romance
In the previous post, I mentioned that I started a romance book club where I currently work. The first meeting was back in September, and it came about from a few different avenues.
Last August was the first Bookstore Romance Day - a day dedicated to promote reading romance novels with independent bookstores across the country. I'm lucky enough to work in one of the only bookstores in the great state of Minnesota to celebrate.
©Emily Kallas
Several readers participated that day- it was great! I wore red, and created dedicated displays with both clearly romance novels, as well as books with romance subplots within them. The feedback was positive and there was expressed interest in someone setting up a book club in the area. ding ding ding! My boss and I got to work!
©Emily Kallas
Our first pick was The Lady's Guide To Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite - paired with the Great Big Romance Read, which itself was created a couple of years ago by The Ripped Bodice Bookstore - The first and one of only two Romance dedicated bookstores in the country. Someday I will get to visit that store....
Any way - fast forward to this past week...
©Emily Kallas
On February 23rd, the day before my granny's birthday (she is my inspiration in many ways, including reading romance), the romance book club met to discuss, The One For You, the final book in Roni Loren's latest contemporary series. I talked about the series briefly in an early post last year, A Couple Of Books To Start Us Off In 2019.
A quick recap here: Four friends in their early thirties are brought together (in book one) for a documentary about the tragic events that took place 12 years prior. Each friend deals with aftermath in different ways, and they find love in their own ways as well. The humor, chemistry, and heart in each book is fresh, unique and realistic.
Each book can be read on its own without being completely lost and confused. (However I recommend reading all of them, they are worth the read!)
So you can only imagine how excited I have been by the fact that Roni Loren joined us via Skype for part of the discussion!
As soon as I found out that this was even a possibility, I began freaking out. This was an incredible opportunity, and the fact that it was with an author who I greatly admire, was even better.
The skype call and conversation went great, and the book club lasted over 2 hours! What I like about the romance book club is that yes, there are a few wonderful regular attendees but there is also always someone new - new to the club or new to the romance genre. I really do try to make the book club welcoming to anyone and everyone, and I am always excited when we meet and get to talk about books!
©Emily Kallas
The photo above shows part of the Skype call, the book that we discussed, as well as the next pick for March - Pride by Ibi Zoboi. I look forward to writing about that book more in the next post.
As soon as I found out that this was even a possibility, I began freaking out. This was an incredible opportunity, and the fact that it was with an author who I greatly admire, was even better.
The skype call and conversation went great, and the book club lasted over 2 hours! What I like about the romance book club is that yes, there are a few wonderful regular attendees but there is also always someone new - new to the club or new to the romance genre. I really do try to make the book club welcoming to anyone and everyone, and I am always excited when we meet and get to talk about books!
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