All These Things That I Love - February 2018

A monthly round up of things that give me life.

Collagen coffee! 

It’s my secret weapon for clear glowy skin and getting an extra shot of protein in the morning.   I have done the bulletproof coffee thing, I’ve done butter and MCT oil but lately that’s just been a little heavy for me.  One scoop of collagen in beautiful, hot, preferably-with-a-little-sugar-free-mocha-syrup coffee is enough to get me going and activated for the morning.

Slayer of Words cup: no longer available. But it basically describes my mood while editing lately.

Collagen powder I use: Available here.

to Alexa! 

(And not these guys.)

My husband has rigged a house intercom system with Alexa devices but we love the one in the kitchen the most. For jokes, for music and for shopping lists, I recommended this in my 2017 holiday gift guide and it’s still going strong for us. I sometimes put videos of our morning get up and go songs on my Instagram.

Peaky Blinders

The seasons are too short, the accents are nearly unintelligible but the story of this family is gripping and the acting is A++++.

It’s February. My feet are chronically cold. I am obsessed with warm cozy slippers. I really need Uggs to make me some fingerless-gloves for typing, too.

UGGs. http://amzn.to/2EJBDk7

And warm cozy slippers are the near-definition of hygge, the Danish concept to describe cozy-communal-feeling good.  

As you may already know, my next Mistletoe Key novella is called LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE and it is NOT SOLD IN STORES! (what????) It's EXCLUSIVE to newsletter subscribers - subscribe here if you like cozy cashmere, hot Florida beaches and Lindsay Emory-style romance: http://eepurl.com/b5t7Uj

Best Books to Read Now - February 2018

Reminder/ Caveat/ Disclaimer: This is my (hopefully) monthly list of books I’ve read and enjoyed. These are not reviews, I do not include books I didn’t enjoy because life is too short to speak badly of books!

Moonshadow – Thea Harrison

Buy it: Amazon || iBooks

After my Women With Books episode with Jeffe Kennedy, I realized I had not read any of Thea Harrison’s books! And this cover. You guys. This is the sexiest cover – even sexier than Eloisa James’  Half-wet Hugh Grant cover (see here) and this book was soooo good. After a few years of struggling to find a good paranormal/fantasy series, I think I found a winner!

If Ever I Should Love You -  Cathy Maxwell

Buy it: Amazon || iBooks

This was a book I read for an upcoming book club and it was a delight. The heroine struggles with substance abuse so… definitely a first in historical romance for me. But Ms. Maxwell pulls off a second chance romance, with a complicated, stirring backstory and gives you an HEA worth waiting for.

The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory

Buy it: Amazon || iBooks

You’ve seen this book everywhere. And in my social media feed. I was lucky to get an ARC from Jasmine’s publisher and was able to read it before my Women With Books interview with her.  The book is that women’s fiction/ romance blend that Jasmine herself calls chick-lit – and I’ve had several listeners tell me they are so excited that chick lit is back… maybe?

The Taste of Temptation by Julia Kelly

Buy it: Amazon || iBooks

Today is release day for this gorgeous enemies to lovers Victorian historical romance! Once again, I received an advance copy because Julia is my dear friend and I was interviewing her for Women With Books. Check out our fun chat and you’ll hear all about my love for these characters and this book!

I’m trying to keep track of all my Best Books to Read Now and my Women With Books Recommendation lists over at Goodreads. Follow me there so that you’ll be able to see them all!

And if you want some free reading this year, I’ll be putting a chapter a month of my next Mistletoe Key novella, LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE in my monthly newsletters!  Sign up here: lindsayemory.com/newsletter

All These Things That I Love - January 2018

A monthly round up of things that give me life. 

Tea.

I mean, it’s winter. I love the Teavana Joy (found on 50% clearance post-Christmas!) and Stash Christmas blends so much and now it’s the time of year where I hoard them and growl at hubs if I see him brewing himself a cup.

Moisturizers.

Again. Winter, y’all.  I layer on a few different ones from my collection.

I love anything with hyaluronic acid. (Not shown because my tween stole it)

And this lovely oil from Boscia that is apparently also what geishas use. Which is pretty appropriate for me, if you know me at all. lol

And the French use an olive oil liniment for the whole body, so I follow their lead because c’est Francais.

A fresh new planner. Hello lover.

The Good Place!  Julia Kelly and Alexis Anne had been telling me about this and I’m totally hooked now. I’m recommending it to a lot of families, too, because it’s something that could be watched with older kids (obviously, check it out for your kids first.)

I hope everyone's keeping warm and cozy this winter - staying hygge, if you will. 
Are you familiar with the concept of hygge?  Interested?

My next Mistletoe Key novella is called LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE and it is NOT SOLD IN STORES! (what????) It's EXCLUSIVE to newsletter subscribers - subscribe here if you like cozy cashmere, hot Florida beaches and Lindsay Emory-style romance: http://eepurl.com/b5t7Uj

On Editing, continued.

Just turned in some book edits (for a project that's not public yet!) and O. M. G.
 

This process turned me inside out. It had me sending the following texts to writer friends*:

HELL NO I'M NOT CHANGING ANY OF IT.

IT'S OKAY IF I REWRITE CHAPTERS 10-40, RIGHT?

I'M CRYING. I LOVE [REDACTED] AND [REDACTED] SO MUCH. 

I CAN'T DO THIS BOOK JUSTICE.

I JUST WANT TO GET THIS SHIT DONE. I'M SO SICK OF IT.

*only slightly edited to get my point across*

Yeah, writers go through our own little special brand of obsessive hell during book edits (see here for a previous blog post about editing.) Part of it is our own fault, of course. 

When I was editing SISTERHOOD IS DEADLY, I had injured my right shoulder, torn all the nerves in it and lost feeling in my right fingertips.  I could only use my computer while propped up in bed, with my right arm resting on a pile of pillows. By the time that book was done, there was a small mountain of protein bar wrappers and empty Diet Dr. Pepper bottles by the side of the bed. 

No one is making me wear the same sweatshirt and lounge pants for seven days in a row. None of my editors are insisting that I listen to the same twenty songs over and over in order to submerge myself in my book's world. If I'd told my editor, "Hey I can't feel my right hand, can I have an extra week or two to get this done?" there was probably a good 50/50 shot that she would have agreed. 

But basically we're... what's that word? Where we hate ourselves and are willing to destroy the world as we know it in order to write the best book possible? Yeah, writers are that. 

Hey - there's a reason why they say to 'kill your darlings.'

Authors talk a lot about diving into a "writing cave" which is totally a real thing, but in my opinion? Nothing is as deep and dark and as all-consuming as the editing cave. It's stinky in here. It's filled with unfolded laundry, tea bags that have been reused, and a notebook that's filled with illegible notes and arrows drawn in interminable loops and possibly an entire new language that will be debuted in the revised chapter thirty. 

But, the final result is beautiful. Every time it's the best thing I've done. 

And I cannot forking wait to share it with you.

So sign up for my newsletter so that when I CAN talk about all this amazingness, you'll be the first to know. 

Best Books to Read Now - January 2018

Reminder/ Caveat/ Disclaimer: This is my (hopefully) monthly list of books I’ve read and enjoyed. These are not reviews, I do not include books I didn’t enjoy because life is too short to speak badly of books!

In the last WOMEN WITH BOOKS episode of 2017, I asked author Alexis Anne about her reading resolutions for 2018. Do you make any reading- related resolutions? I’ve decided to read from my TBR pile. It’s not from any sense of Puritanical guilt, but rather I started looking through my TBR lists and realized there were REALLY GOOD BOOKS in there that I really wanted to read, but I keep getting distracted by oh-shiny new books.

So in 2018, you might see some older books featured in this blog. But as I said in that same WOMEN WITH BOOKS episode, I think in this day and age, release dates aren’t as important to readers (now as an author, I must disagree, but that’s a long blog post in itself). What matters is when we discover a book as you’ll see….

A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong – Cecilia Grant

Amazon || iBooks

Yes, it’s a Christmas book. But look, consider your Christmas 2018 book shopping done already. This free novella was a sweet, beautiful holiday read. I read and adored Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened last year (and wrote about it here) but I hadn’t heard about this holiday prequel for that series until some authors on Twitter decided to do a read along. If you’re interested in more commentary, do a search for #ACGPW on Twitter.

Wilde in Love – Eloisa James

Amazon || iBooks

I mentioned this as one of my most memorable books on the last episode of Women With Books, but this was (maybe? I think?) the first Eloisa James book I’ve read. I know. It’s pretty unbelievable. But I really enjoyed the effortlessness of this historical romance, along with the humor and characters. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series featuring the Wilde family

Eleventh Grave in Moonlight– Darynda Jones

Amazon || iBooks

We’re looking down the barrel at the end of the Charley Davidson series but this book was perfect for the holidays for me. Like an old, impossibly snarky friend.  I’ll probably try to dive into Book 12 in January and then it will be a little bit of a wait until book 13 is released later this year.

Sweet Tea & Sympathy – Molly Harper

Amazon || iBooks

In sum, I really hate Molly Harper now. I mean. That cover. That title. That series name. I'm desperately jealous of all of that and I want to live in this book all the time. It’s a romance/ family drama / women’s fiction blend type of book that will be the new trend of 2018 (you heard it here first…) that can make you laugh and cry and fist bump. I’m basically obsessed and totally not stalking Molly Harper at all.

A real life picture of Molly Harper and me (not) behind her.

Speaking of (not) stalking… in case you didn’t know, I have a podcast! It’s called Women With Books and we discuss genre fiction that’s for, by and about women.

Check it out at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher app. And here at womenwithbooks.com

I’d love for you to join the book club!

And if you want some free reading this year, I’ll be putting a chapter a month of my next Mistletoe Key novella, LOVE IN THE TIME OF HYGGE in my monthly newsletters!  Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/b5t7Uj

Keep reading!