Lindsay Emory

February 25, 2020

Best Books

Best Books to Read Now - February 2020

Lindsay Emory

February 25, 2020

Best Books

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!

Welcome to the Best Books to Read Now Book Club! My (hopefully) monthly blog featuring my reading list, my TBR pile and the books I think you and your best friends should be reading.

If you’re not sure whether you’ll agree with my recommendations, check out my blog post on My Reader Wheels and my podcast, Women With Books . Those should help you decide if you’re going to be into my recommendations.

The best book club recommendations for you and your friends!

So… I know what you’re thinking.

That’s an … interesting… selection of books you got there, Lindsay.

And to that I’ll say YES! YOU ARE CORRECT!

This is a VERY eclectic selection but oh, soo good (and something for everyone!) Not convinced? Read on….

Burn For Me - Ilona Andrews
Amazon || Apple Books

Long time readers will surely detect something here…. Yes. This is a book that I’ve long had and raved about. I have re-read it so many times. So why is it on the list now? Well, I had to sit a few days in a hospital room and I reached for a “comfort read.” This was it. Still love it. Still recommend it. The Baylors still made me laugh when I needed it and Nevada and Mad Rogan still swept me away.

Bringing Down the Duke - Evie Dunmore
Amazon || Apple Books

If you’re in the romance community or book review community, you’ll know that this debut historical romance has been the subject of a lot of talk. Mainly because of that cover that is nothing like any other mainstream historical romance cover (at least, at the time of its release). When I finally got a copy of this at the library I was very curious about the insides and I can tell you I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Dunmore’s debut and I’m eagerly looking forward to her next release!

Things You Save in a Fire - Katherine Center
Amazon || Apple Books

Another book I heard a lot about and finally got at the library (because I’m on a book no-buy, remember?). Where has Katherine Center been all my life? This book was a perfect balm on a rainy, dreary winter’s day. Full of heart, humor, a touch of mystery, a smidge of family drama, a heartwarming romance. So good!

Realm of Ash - Tasha Suri
Amazon || Apple Books

I really really loved Tasha Suri’s first book last year and I was very excited to get this one… at the library, (Seeing a theme here?) I just love Ms. Suri’s worldbuilding and writing and I really liked her subtle exploration of female power in a traditional society. A fantasy win for me!

All in all, February was a very successful month of reading!

As always, I’ll be talking more about the books I don’t finish and why I think they didn’t connect with me in my newsletter this month.

Do you like books on sale?
Make sure you’re following me on Facebook because that’s where I post great books on sale!

And what about you?
I’d love to hear what you’ve read and loved lately or what you’re looking forward to reading next! If you want these book recommendations (and a sneak peek at my TBR list and advanced reading copies) sent straight to your inbox, remember to sign up for my newsletter where I’ll be including all the best book club recommendations throughout 2020!

Lindsay Emory

January 22, 2020

Best Books

Best Books to Read Now - January 2020

Lindsay Emory

January 22, 2020

Best Books

Welcome to the Best Books to Read Now Book Club! My (hopefully) monthly blog featuring my reading list, my TBR pile and the books I think you and your best friends should be reading.

I want to cry, y’all.

First, take a moment to look at those books. The past few months have been a GOOOOOOOD time to read books.

So there’s that. These are all awesome books and there’s a genre here for everyone.

But then I realized.

Lauren.

Mia.

Julia.

Kate.

These women… well, I might be slightly presumptuous to call them all friends but I. KNOW. THEM. I’ve hung out with everyone but Mia and only because she lives very very far away. But I’ve talked to Mia (here) (And Julia HERE) (and Kate HERE) (and Lauren HERE) and I can tell you these women are LEGIT.

They have it all. They’re talented, intelligent, funny, interesting and DAMN GOOD AUTHORS.

Don’t believe them. They TOTALLY KNOW ME.

A Beastly Kind of Earl - Mia Vincy
Amazon || Apple Books

The MUCH anticipated second book from Ms. Vincy, it’s loosely connected to her award winning debut last year, A Wicked Kind of Husband. This book was also charming in UN-anticipated ways, funny and bright and sparkling, in a refreshing Beauty and the Beast take.

Love Lettering - Kate Clayborn
Amazon || Apple Books

What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said? It’s a romance, but it’s also a book about friendship and New York City and discovery. And the beauty of letters. It’s sweeter than you expect and understatedly sophisticated, but that’s Kate Clayborn for you.

The Whispers of War - Julia Kelly
Amazon || Apple Books

Now I think I CAN call Julia a friend, since I’ve helped her remove a hedgehog from her laundry room. I mean, if that doesn’t say ride or die, what does? This is also a MUCH anticipated book, the second historical fiction from Ms. Kelly. Once again, she takes a smaller, unknown story about women from World War II and brings it to life in heartbreaking and heartwarming ways.

Marriage on Madison Avenue - Lauren Layne
Amazon || Apple Books

IT IS HERE! I just included the 2nd book in this series in November and the third installment is here! This is a friends to lovers romance, which (to be 100% honest) is NOT my usual catnip. BUT Ms. Layne surrounds the couple with enough external conflict (and has made us wait for this story for SO LONG) that it worked for me!!

I love this life. I love my JOB! I get to befriend fabulous women who are ALSO amazing authors and then I get to tell everyone to buy their books?!

And now for a completely different note. I’ve mentioned it on Instagram briefly but I made a quarterly resolution to NOT BUY ANY MORE BOOKS.

I know.

Yes, I’ve been examined by doctors. Several, in fact.

But I bought A LOT of books in the last few months of 2019. And people keep sending them to me! And last month I just looked at my TBR pile and I said, I want to focus on all the amazing books I have stored up.

I’m not saying it won’t be hard, but I’m really really excited by this. So for the next three months (because my March reads might be in April’s BEST BOOKS BLOG), you should only see older releases OR the books I’ve been sent by publishers to review/ blurb.

As always, I’ll be talking more about the books I don’t finish and why I think they didn’t connect with me in my newsletter this month.

Do you like books on sale?
Make sure you’re following me on Facebook because that’s where I post great books on sale!

Lindsay Emory

January 15, 2020

Best Books

What I Learned About What I Read in 2019

Lindsay Emory

January 15, 2020

Best Books

What I Learned From What I Read in 2019

It will surprise no one who has followed me on Instagram to learn that I kept track of the books I read and the books I did not finish (DNF) last year. Of course, a lot of the books I read I talked about on my Best Books to Read Now blogs. Some of them I didn’t. This isn’t because they were bad, really. It was usually because I didn’t think you, my blog audience, would be that interested. Or because I ran out of room/ time (I publish these blogs in the middle of the month and sometimes books fall in the cracks in between.)

And in 2019, for the first time ever, I started including my DNFs in my Inner Circle Newsletter. Now, I didn’t give people too many details about them. It would be unprofessional for me to identify the authors or titles of these books, especially when, like I said, there’s probably nothing intrinsically bad about the book. It’s usually just something that I, as a reader, don’t care for. Okay, sometimes it’s something that I, as an author, don’t care for. At this point, I can’t separate Reader-Me and Author-Me. It is what it is.

I kept track of all of this because I was curious. Were there any trends in my reading/ writing? Were there any glaring holes that could give me insight into my personality or writing? What reader wheels could I identify and would this be something that would be useful?

I’m not a super analytical person, but I think starting with some numbers could be interesting.

Books FINISHED: 53 (obviously this does not include the ones I DNF’d, in some cases, a significant way through.)

Genres:

Mystery: 2

Paranormal/ Some Type of Fantasy/ Speculative: 5

Memoir/ Non Fiction: 8

Contemporary Romance: 15

Historical Romance: 15

Historical Fiction / Women’s Fiction: 8

Random Observations About The Books I Finished:

There is a LOT of bleeding from the Contemporary Romance genre to the Women’s Fiction genre and vice versa. A lot of books could be classified as both and I made the decision based on how many friends and families I could remember from the plot. If all I could remember was a love story, I classified it as a contemporary romance, even though it might have been packaged as a women’s fiction / contemporary fiction. If I could mostly remember a story about sisters, or a job or a murder or something, I classified it as a not-contemporary romance.
It felt like I read a LOT more mysteries this year but I think this is because so many of the other books have a strong mystery subplot. I was getting my mystery fix in books of other genres.
My most recommended books this year were in all the genres.

Top DNF Reasons:

Headhopping - this is when the story skips between different points of view without a clear designation of whose “head” we’re in
Didn’t Connect with Voice - the “Voice” is the author’s voice. It can be simplistic, overly complicated, casual, formal, etc.
1st Person Present - my least favorite POV. I CAN and HAVE enjoyed books with this, but if it’s done poorly and I start noticing it, it starts to drive me crazy. #sorrynotsorry
Dragging Plot - self-explanatory
No Conflict – I know a lot of people are all about the cozy, snuggly feel-good reads right now and in theory, so am I. But in reality? I need some sizzle and crackle to keep me turning the pages.
Didn’t FEEL IT.

That last one is one that I didn’t talk a lot about in my newsletters. Because this, again, doesn’t mean that the book is bad. Or was written poorly. Or that I wouldn’t recommend it to someone, somewhere, out there. A lot of times I put books aside because I’m writing my own and for whatever reasons, I don’t want to read that book while I’m writing. I don’t even count that as a DNF. It’s just me saving it for another time. This is the hardest thing for me to explain to myself, let alone my Inner Circle, but it’s definitely a THING and it’s something I’d love to understand about myself.

What do I like to read while I’m working? And why? At the beginning of my career, I avoided certain “strong voice” authors while I was writing because I didn’t want their voice/ humor infiltrating my manuscript. But that’s not always the case anymore and I’m looking forward to keeping my records in 2020 and seeing if I can identify what kind of input I need and when. (I’m a #6 input on the Clifton Gallup Strengthsfinder - I talked about that a little bit here.)

What’s Going to Change in 2020…

Nothing… and maybe everything.

Because I have a new phrase of the year: Hell Yes. (Read about it HERE)

And if I’m going to live with it, it should apply to the books I’m reading, too. Meaning, I need to ask myself do I really want to read this book in my TBR pile? And if the answer isn’t HELL YES, then I’m not going to waste my precious hours on it.

I’ll need to ask myself, “Am I really enjoying this genre/ book / author?” And… you guessed it… if the answer isn’t HELL YES, then it’s going to be a DNF for me. And I’ll have to talk about why in the Inner Circle Newsletter secret posts.

It will be interesting to see if my DNFs go up in 2020. Or if they go down?

Also, as I’ve mentioned it on Instagram lately, I made a quarterly resolution to NOT BUY ANY MORE BOOKS.

I’ll explain more in my newsletter, but the main reason for this is that I have SO MANY good books in my TBR pile and I really wanted to focus on reading and enjoying those for a few months.

Why Does This Matter, Lindsay?

I don’t know, maybe it doesn’t. Except if you’re here, you might love books and reading as much as I do. And you might also be interested in how to maximize what you love. How to find great books and how to find them on sale. How to spend your precious reading hours immersed in exactly what you want to read. And if we want more of what we love, we might have to make sure we’re throwing the stuff out that we don’t love. If these things sound great to you, then you’re my people. Welcome to my journey.

I’d love to hear how you keep track of your reading journey, too! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to chat about books and whatever and also make sure you’re in the Inner Circle for the secret posts about books that I won’t share publicly…

Lindsay Emory

January 8, 2020

My (Terrifying) (Empowering) Word of 2020

Lindsay Emory

January 8, 2020

Goal setting for 2020…

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it’s a new year. And, a new decade (although some are debating this. I get it. But we’re not doing that right now, okay?)

Have you set goals for yourself? Are you a resolution person?

I am. Or, at least, I usually am. Maybe I still am.

I don’t know.

Setting resolutions is a very * me * thing to do. But…

I decided to do this word of the year instead. I picked a word of the year last year. My 2019 word was, “CREATE” and I have to say that it was a far more powerful exercise than my usual “lose weight/ get organized/ be a better wife/ mom/ friend” resolutions.

When I picked the word, CREATE, I thought it would be about prioritizing my creative work. About creating worlds and art with abandon.

While it certainly was a good reminder throughout the year about those creative goals, #Create2019 became about much more. I don’t want to get into too many of the details right now but it empowered me to inspect how I was creating my life. How I was co-creating the details of my very existence.

Powerful stuff.

So you can see why I was tempted to re-pick CREATE as my 2020 word. Who doesn’t want more empowerment?

Well, of course I do. But my 2020 phrase came to me in November 2019 and I let it sit with me a while and tried it out and… it’s pretty much the most terrifying thing I’ve ever conceived.

Which means I had to pick it.

But I’m scared, y’all.

HELL YES.

It comes from that saying that’s been floating around blogs and podcast-ville for a while: “If it’s not a HELL YES, it’s a no.”

So what does it mean? How will I be utilizing this word (phrase, I know) (okay, maybe it’s more of a sentiment) in 2020?

It’s already come up a few times in the early days of the year - asking myself, “is this a hell yes?”

Friends, it’s crazy how often it’s not.

Especially during the holidays, when we do so much just… because. Because it’s expected. Because we came all this way. Because it’s the way we’ve always done it.

That’s why I’m scared. I’m scared of discovering that my life has been a bunch of meh. A whole lot of it’s okay, I guess. I don’t want to rock the boat/ expect more/ order the best thing on the menu.

And yes, this applies to my work, too. I’m scared to look down at a first draft and feel like I wasted eighty thousand words on something that I’m not all that crazy about. What if I look up one day and realize that my professional organization wasn’t as helpful/ fun/ awesome as I thought it was? (Well… actually, that’s happened and I’m surprisingly okay with it.)

That’s the part I’m excited about, actually. Yes, this will probably mean that I have some discomfort. That I’ll answer some hard questions. Maybe I’ll be disappointed in myself or others.

But what if… this opens me up to more than I ever expected?

That’s my hope, anyway.

So. What are you looking forward to in 2020? Did you make resolutions? Or did you pick a word? Or a phrase? Or a sentiment? Are you going to live audaciously? Or give yourself some well-earned rest?

I’d love to give updates on how #HellYes2020 is working for me and I’ll probably do it in the secret posts I put in the Inner Circle Newsletter. Make sure you’re signed up to hear all the 2020 tea this year!

Lindsay Emory

December 19, 2019

Plan * Write * Publish

A Peek at my 2020 Planner Line Up!

Lindsay Emory

December 19, 2019

Plan * Write * Publish

My 2020 Planner Line Up

To review, see my 2019 planners here.

Yes, I planned out my planners. I’m that kind of person.

So this is the most unexciting planner tour ever. Why? Because I’m not changing *that* much from 2019.

For me, this is a good thing. Because that means I’ve found what (mostly) works for me and I don’t need to change too much.

But it probably makes for a boring blog. Sorry?

My main planner for 2020 will still – again be a 2020 Hobonichi Cousin Techo, housed in a Louis Vuitton Couv Carnet GM. The Hobonichi Cousin still wins my heart for its size, the flexibility, the paper, the combination of monthly, weekly and daily pages (which I use for my morning pages). I love the Japanese writing, the way it sort of decorates my planner in a way that doesn’t take any mental or emotional energy from me (since I don’t read Japanese). I love the soft grids which gives me an orderly skeleton to drape the often chaotic fabric of my life.

I’ve selected some stickers to decorate the cover…. But I haven’t quite decided which ones to use. I’ll probably update y’all on Instagram in January with that oh-so-fun announcement.

Last year I used the extra December calendar for a reading log. (More below on that) This year I’ve decided to use this page in the back to log the books I’ll be reading.

This is pretty basic, I know. I might add some washi or something to jazz this up.

In the second half of 2019, I got into the habit of using these as habit trackers and I hope to continue that for 2020. My plan is to use the boxes at the bottom to keep track of quarterly tasks/ goals.

My 2019 habit tracker. This actually turned out to be a very useful practice for keeping me on course-ish.

2020 Habit Tracker and I’ve already screwed it up. My ruler didn’t keep the Mildliner contained. We’ll pretend that I’m just artsy, okay?

I also have decided to track my television/ movie watching in 2020. I’ve noticed in the past 12-18 months that shows and movies are one of my main sources of #input and creative inspiration so I’m interested to see what trends and insights this might reveal.

Again, I might add something cute. Or not. I do like a nice minimalist planner.

I don’t (usually) do a lot of stickers and washi tape. If they’re in my planner, it’s to block off large chunks of time or something particularly celebratory - release dates, birthdays, anniversaries. But this next layout is the exception, as it was in 2020.

Hobonichi Cousins include extra months at the end of the calendar year (usually until March) and the month before (December, obviously.) Now I really like to move into a new planner on January first, but I still use those next-year months because, well, in December, I am usually making appointments, etc. for the next year. But I NEVER have a practical use for the extra December because… I’m still using 2019 right now. Get it?

So last year, I turned the extra December into my reading log, which you can see in this blog post (here.) This year, I’m trying something different. Voila. The Hobonichi Kanban board.

I think I’ve talked about how I’ve done the HB90 system since RWA 17 in Denver. If not, here’s an explanation on You Tube.

But I noticed the last few months of this year that my big bulky Kanban board had been replaced by some other processes and so I decided to start 2020 without it. Where I still enjoyed the Kanban though, was for some repetitive tasks that I do every month. Hence, my Hobonichi kanban set up. The plan is, to label some sturdy reusable stickies and move them through the board each month. I’ll update you later in 2020 with how that’s going!

And like last year (again, sorry! I’m not more exciting…) I’ll be doing some social media/ blog/ newsletter planning in my MM (medium) ring planner. But! This year I did order new inserts from Sessavee that I’m reallllyyyy excited about. I got the monthly inserts with all these darling goals and task lists and then I couldn’t resist biannual/ quarterly spreads. I’ll be using these to keep track of social media, blogs and newsletters.

No, I’m not sure what I’ll do with all these yet. But I can see them coming in handy, can’t you?

It’s a little smaller than I’d like. One of these days I’ll have to move to Discs or a GM…. one of these days…

And then finally, this isn’t a planner per se but, I have to have a notebook. This is both a remnant of my legal training/ career and the natural inclination of a writer. I love this grid notebook and use it to take notes on calls with agents/ editors, workshops, classes, and whatever brain dump I need to expel.

And that’s all there is to see… right now! I regularly post my #amplanning photos on Instagram so follow me there for more updates throughout 2020. And I hope you do because I’d love to see your planning supplies and techniques too! If you’re interested in more of my Plan - Write - Publish blog posts, click here to see them all!

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