Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons to Choose an E-reader Over Physical Books (And Vice Versa)

Top Three Reasons to Choose an E-reader Over Physical Books (And Vice Versa)
(Credit to Anna Reads for giving me the idea to do these pictorially, even though my art skills totally aren't as awesome as hers.)
Top 3 Reasons to Choose Physical Books Over an E-readerOld book smell, new book smell, ...plastic smell?
The happy dance is scientifically proven to be beneficial to your health. Or at least your fangirl tendencies.
Lifting weights at the gym just became superfluous.
Top 3 Reasons to Choose an E-reader Over Physical Books
Unexpected delays, they happen. The solution? A nearly unending supply of books.

Covert ninja ability to read That Book I Love That I'd Never Ever Read in Public in public and still keep face.

Your back will thank you.
Conclusion

Interview with Sheila Roberts

First of all, welcome to Fictionally Inclined! I'm so pleased to be able to interview you today about your current release, Better Than Chocolate.  This book involves a festival all about chocolate (something that is now in my wish list of fictional things I want to come true)!  How did you do research for this? Thanks so much for having me. It’s great to be able to join you. I have to admit, my Icicle Falls chocolate festival sure does sound like a great time. Especially the Mr. Dreamy contest. I had a lot of fun with that! Most of my research for this book centered around business and banking matters, but I also toured Theo Chocolates, the only organic, fair trade, fair for life certified bean to bar chocolate factory in North America. They’re located in Seattle, Washington, and they probably offer the most exotic variety of chocolate bars anywhere. And they offer lots of free samples. It was tough sampling all that chocolate, but hey, for my readers, anything. Did you try any recipes you found over the course of your research? If so, was there a particular one you enjoyed? Yes, I tested the recipes I concocted – love the lavender white chocolate fudge! And the chocolate rose white chocolate truffle is to die for. I had a terrible time making it come out right, so drafted a friend to help me. Every time she made it, it turned out perfect. I’m going to ask her to make some for my book signings. Readers and friends from my Facebook Like page submitted recipes too, and a couple of those made it into the book, which was fun. Better Than Chocolate was not all about the main romance between Blake and Samantha. Family - both biological and the family that comes from friendships in a small town - was a large part of the book, too.  Did you enjoy implementing that aspect? Yes, I did. I wanted to show how much we need our family and friends, especially when we’re going through difficult times. Speaking of family, Samantha's sister Cecily interacted multiple times with two amazing guys, both of whom who seemed to have great possible potential for a story.  I found myself rooting for one to wind up with her, but I loved the other one, too!  Are any of these characters going to appear in future books? Yes, readers will see Cecily in Merry Ex-mas, a holiday tale about wives and their exes, which comes out in November. I’m hoping that, down the road, she’ll get her own book. Or maybe she and Bailey will share a book. Sisters share, right? Finally, how do you name your characters?  Do you have a process, or is it different for each? Naming a character is so important. That name has to fit the character. And often I make it symbolic. I keep a running list of cool names. Any time we’re watching a movie on TV I’ve got pencil and paper handy so I can jot down first or last names that interest me. Thank you so much for interviewing with me, Sheila!

Don't forget to check out Sheila's recent release, Better Than Chocolate! Sweet Dreams Chocolate Company has been in the Sterling family for generations, ever since Great-Grandma Rose literally dreamed up her first fabulous recipe. But now it looks as if they're about to lose Sweet Dreams to the bank. Can Samantha, the oldest daughter and new head of the company, come up with a way to save it? To make matters worse, the fate of her company is in the hands of her archenemy, Blake Preston, the bank manager with the football-hero good looks. It's enough to drive her to chocolate. But Blake's also enough to convince her that (believe it or not) there's something even better than chocolate. { Amazon || Barnes & Noble || The Book Depository }

Review: Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

Book: Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Published: August 28, 2012 (Harlequin MIRA)
Format: Egalley from publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!)
Summary: Sonnet Romano's life is almost perfect. She has the ideal career, the ideal boyfriend, and has just been offered a prestigious fellowship. There's nothing more a woman wants - except maybe a baby sister? When Sonnet finds out her mother is unexpectedly expecting, and that the pregnancy is high-risk, she puts everything on hold - the job, the fellowship, the boyfriend - and heads home to Avalon. Once her mom is out of danger, Sonnet intends to pick up her life where she left off. But when her mother receives a devastating diagnosis, Sonnet must decide what really matters in life, even of that means staying in Avalon and taking a job that forces her to work alongside her biggest, and maybe her sweetest, mistake - award-winning filmmaker Zach Alger. So Sonnet embarks on a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities, and of finding the home of her heart.

My Review: I went into Return to Willow Lake with a bit of hesitation. I had never read anything by Susan Wiggs before, and this book had a cover that made me think of those books that are cheesy in a way that is only acceptable if accompanied by lots of Christmas carols and mistletoe. I am very glad I gave Return to Willow Lake a chance, though, because it was so much better than I was expecting.

For starters, one thing I loved about this book was that the main two characters were not your typical leads. Sonnet was biracial - half African American, half Italian - and Zach was very pale with long, blond hair nearly as light as his skin. They had been very close friends throughout childhood and high school, and although they'd lived in separate cities for years, they were still share-the-big-news-first, visit-whenever-I'm-in-town friends. Until Sonnet's step-sister, Daisy's wedding at the beginning of the book. They had not seen each other for quite a while, and a romantic encounter caused Sonnet to freak and cut Zach out of her life for the next few months.

Then Sonnet received the news about her mother and moved home. As Zach was nearly a part of the family and her new job involved working with him (filming a reality show featuring Jezebel, a teenage hip-hop star), Sonnet and Zach's friendship began to recover. Except now there were feelings Sonnet did not know how to deal with.

One great thing about this book was how wonderfully the love story fit with the whole story. The romance moved at a great pace and never felt secondary, but it also did not overshadow Sonnet's relationship with her mother, which, as that was Sonnet's reason for turning away some amazing opportunities and moving back home, was rather important. I loved watching them interact. Nina was very wise and kind, and it broke my heart to watch her go through her struggles. Because Zach was so close to the family as well as working with Sonnet, the three plots - the family life, the job, the romance - all coalesced into one beautiful story.

There was some drama, which obviously had to happen. However, nothing was blown out of proportion or stretched to melodramatic lengths just to draw the book out longer, which would have been very easy to do with some of the conflict. I very much appreciate Wiggs and her ability to write a sweet, touching story without making me overdose on cheese. I will definitely be looking up more of her books, and I recommend this one, which is officially out today!

I’m in the middle of Central Park and I’m tempted to burst into song about what a Great Day this is. I’m about to become a one-woman flash mob. His kisses tasted of champagne and chocolate cake and memories so old she couldn’t tell if they were memories or dreams. She’d always been good at school. Good at work. Good at being a trophy daughter. Sometimes, though, she wasn’t sure she was good at life. If she’d become the person she’d dreamed of being at fifteen, she would be a prima ballerina with six kids and a horse farm.

Purchase this book at: Amazon || Barnes & Noble || The Book Depository

Top Ten Tuesday: 8/28/12 Edition

Top Ten Bookish Confessions
01. I have never read a John Green book. I know, I know, it's YA sacrilege. I want to, particularly Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

02. It causes me physical pain when people dog-ear books. I unbend any pages in library books that have previously been dog-eared. I also don't like it when people set books open and face down. That said, I try to keep my books in good condition, but I'm not super obsessive about it. I am not going to wear gloves or read new paperbacks with a gap of 2 inches just to keep from cracking the spine.

03. I used to be ashamed and super embarrassed that I read romance, and I would hide the cover any time someone might actually see it. I'm proud to say I finally got past that, and it has made my reading much more enjoyable. I'm a firm believer in reading what you like and leaving others to do the same.

04. I judge books by their covers. I'm sorry, but I'm an aesthetic person. If your book has a pretty (or just eye-drawing) cover, I'm going to be more likely to read it. And I'm okay with this.

05. I like it when I discover someone left his or her library receipt in a book I've checked out. I'll go through the list and see if I've read all the books, and look them up if I haven't heard of them before.

06. I liked the Hunger Games trilogy, but I think they are hyped way beyond what the content deserves.

07. I know they should be old and clichéd by now, but I still love Girl in Pretty Dress Covers.

08. I sometimes like boys/men in books I probably couldn't stand in real life. (Example: Heathcliff. Why do I find him swoon-worthy? He loves with an incredible passion that is nearly unbelievable. AND YET. If I were the object of his devotion in real life? I'd probably get a restraining order and run screaming in the other direction.)

09. I don't get the whole "Oh, I only buy used books because each has its own history and a million stories to tell besides the one written on the page," thing. Okay, I know that sounds awesome, but chill. It's just a book; it's not going to suddenly come to life and tell you all the things it's been through.

10. I hate deckle edge books. Hate them. With a passion. They drive me nuts. For one, it just looks sloppy and weird, but primarily because it makes turning the page much more difficult than it needs to be.