Category: Misc. Bookish Thoughts

Let’s Talk About Romance Books

Romance is one of my favorite genres, but it doesn’t get featured as often as some other genres at Nicole’s Nook. I like to have a romance going most of the time because they’re generally light, quick reads with a guaranteed happy ending. But, I often choose something different for my favorite book of the month. So, romance doesn’t get as much love as it should at Nicole’s Nook. I thought I’d take some time to shout out some of my favorite subgenres and tropes.

Romance

Fake Relationships

Even though fake dating, arranged marriage or marraige of convenience plots are crazy and unrealistic, they’re my favorite. It took me awhile to figure out why I was so drawn to these plots. I finally realized that it’s because my reading preferences are character driven. These plots tend to have more character development because these characters don’t know each other well and have a turning point where they look differently at each other. Here are a few of my favorites:

Click on book for description

Second Chance Romances

Another of my favorite tropes is the second chance romance. This is usually about couple who have drifted apart or broken up, then reunite. In some cases they may have had feelings for each other, but never acted on them due to life circumstances, and are brought together once again. This also creates an interesting character dynamic because they are very familiar with each other, but are also getting to know how time has changed them as well. Here are a few of my favorites:

Chick Lit Romance

Stories I consider chick lit romance are generally humorous contemporary romances. I love the bantor and crazy situations these characters get into. Here are some of my favorites:

Regency Romance

To me, the mother of all romance is Jane Austen. So, even though today’s regency romances are not as refrained, that time period is still the most romantic. Here are some of my favorites:

Finally, here are links to my reviews for romance books that did make my favorite books of the month (I intentionally left them off the above lists)

The Bookstore on the Beach by Brenda Novak

Aaron by Dale Mayer

The Happily Ever After Playlist by Abby Jiminez

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Bookish Talk: Hardcover vs. Paperback

I know some of you saw this title and are shouting “ebook” or “audiobook”. I do love my ereader for traveling, and other times when it’s convenient to have esomething light to throw in the purse. I don’t do a lot of audiobooks because my mind drifts too much and I miss important information. But, I have been using them more lately since I have fee audible credits. That’s not what this post is about though. The majority of my reading is still physical books. So, that will be the focus. audiobooks Printbooks vs ebooks

Paperbacks

My first choice is typically paperback. They’re lighter and take up less shelf space. I trade a lot of my books at paperbackswap.com, so it’s also cheaper to mail. They “feel” like a book should feel. They’re more transportable than hardcover and don’t add as much weight to luggage (because yes, I bring real books and my ereader when traveling- batteries die).

Hardcovers

While paperbacks are number one, there are some instances when a hardcover is preferable. If you’ve already waited two years for the next book in your favorite series, it’s not worth waiting for the paperback release. Hardcovers also last longer, so if it’s book I’m planning to keep, I’ll go with hardcover. I’m also more likely to pick hardcover for my classroom library because the books will be handled by grubby student hands with different standards of book care from mine.

Which book format do you prefer?

Blog Goals 2024

It’s the day when we all set goals for the upcoming year. I’m not much of a resolution person, but I try to set some intentions each year.

I’ve fallen into the habit of limiting my posts to my favorite read of the month and most anticipated releases of the month. This will continue, but I want to add more different posts. Here are some of the ideas I have, please comment if any of these pique your interest or if you hav eother ideas you’d like to see.

  • examples of my own fictional writing (pause to brag- I just won a short story contest Past Winners | Writing Battle)
  • sharing other blogs, sites or youtube channel recommendations
  • misc. thoughts on reading/writing
  • Interesting words, etymology and other grammar tips

What else would you like to see on Nicole’s Nook? What goals do you have for your reading and writing?

Seasonal Reading

I mentioned in my Nicole’s Nook anniversary post that my goal was to write more free write posts. So, I thought I’d start with a topic I’ve been thinking about for awhile: how my reading habits change with the seasons.

In general, I read a mix of different books all through the year regardless of season. The one exception is the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I enjoy reading holiday books. Mostly romances, but sometimes mysteries or classics.

What does change for me is how I read. I converted my spare room to a “library” a few years ago. In addition to my comfy recliner, I have an electic stove to give a cozy feel. As soon as the weather turns cool, that is my favorite spot to read. Again, I make an exception at Christmas when I prefer to read in the living room by the light of my Christmas tree, preferable by a blazing fireplace. As soon as the weather starts to turn warm, I switch to reading outside. I have a balcony off my kitchen, which is usually my first choice. It’s more private and scenic than the front, but depending on the time of day, the sun can be brutal, then I’ll move to the front where I can sit by my front door with head covering.

Where are your favorite places to read? How does your reading change throughout the year?

Bookish Talk: Bookmarks

photo of an open book with a blue bookmark lying on the bed
Photo by Deivis Sandoval on Pexels.com

I’m generally very old-fashioned when it comes to my reading preferences. By this, I mean the way I read, not the content. I love the sensory experience of reading a traditional book. The ease on your eyes compared to a screen. The feel of it in your hand. The rustling of turning the page. The smell of ink on paper. Ebooks and audiobooks can’t compete. With those traditional books comes an extra accessory: bookmarks.

I have a mug in my kitchen filled with bookmarks, another in my bookroom, and various bookmarks on various surfaces in the house where I happened to be when I finished a book. While others find change in their couches, I find bookmarks. I have a mix of pretty, inspirational, humorous and promotional bookmarks. Still, as often as not, receipts and sticky notes are marking my place.

opened book with pink note bookmark
Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

Bookmarks do have thier drawbacks. They can fall out of books. You have to remember where you put them down (part of my nightly routine is patting down the covers to find the bookmark before I turn out the lights).

Magnetic bookmarks have revolutionalized my life. They never fall out; you don’t even have to take them out when you resume reading. You leave them in place and move them when you’re done. It adds an extra sense of accomplishment when you see how far you’ve read in a sitting. Also, if life somehow pulls you away at an inopportune time (don’t get me started on not being able to end on an even chapter or page break), you can move the magnetic bookmark to the side of the page to mark the sentence where you stopped. Of course, my love of magnetic bookmarks doesn’t change my habit of scattering bookmarks throughout the house, so you’ll still see an occasional receipt marking my place.

Bookish Talk: Audio books

I have not written a post that is just general bookish talk in a while. I shared a post last year on Printbooks vs. Ebooks. So, I thought I would write a similar post about audiobooks. Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of experience with audiobooks. I usually only listen to them on long road trips. I know a lot of people love them because you can multitask, but it’s never worked well for me. My mind wanders too much and soon I don’t know what’s happened. (This is why everytime I get off an exit I don’t know what’s happened). I’ve always been a person who has music or even TV on while reading and can tell you what’s happening in both. But, try to clean the kitchen and listen to a book and I get lost. I think it’s because different parts of the brain are being activated. Even though I might know what song is playing in the background when reading, my brain is primarily focusing on transferring the words on the page to images. When someone else is doing the work for me, my mind is too free.

What are your thoughts on audiobooks? What are other bookish topics you’d like to read about at Nicole’s Nook?

Mini-book haul and writing update

This weekend was the Rochester Children’s Book Festival was this weekend. I’ve attended in the past, but this was my first year as a volunteer. My job was to be an “author escort”, which means I got to take authors from their table to presentations. It was so much fun getting to meet the authors. It did cut back on my shopping time, which is why this is only a mini book haul.

Book Haul

These are the books I picked up at the festival:

The Lovely War by Julie Berry


It’s 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She’s a shy and talented pianist; he’s a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it’s immediate and deep–and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields.

Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who’s played Carnegie Hall, he’s a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that’s before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who’s already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans.

Thirty years after these four lovers’ fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love.

This isn’t one of her children’s books, but it’s been on my wish list. I love WWII books or any book with a connection to Greek Mythology. So, I’m going into this one with very high expectations.

For the Birds The Life of Rober Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas Ilustrated by Laura Jacques

Roger Tory Peterson revolutionized the way we look at and appreciate birds, animals, and plants. Some kids called him “Professor Nuts Peterson” because of his dedication to his craft; yet he went on to create the immensely popular Peterson Guides, which have sold more than seven million copies, and which birders everywhere appreciate for their simple text and exquisite illustrations. Working closely with the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York, author Peggy Thomas and artist Laura Jacques have created a fascinating portrait of a global environmentalist with this very first children’s biography of Peterson, a winner of the John Burroughs Nature Books for Young Readers Award.

Any book with penguins on the cover calls to me. I kept walking past this one and finally couldn’t resist any longer. It wasn’t until I was writing this that I remembered that as a kid I had field guide of birds that I would look through all the time.

Fifth period is hands down the best time of day in Connor U. Eubanks Middle School, because that’s when Mr. Lewis teaches Jazz Lab. So his students are devastated when their beloved teacher quits abruptly. Once they make a connection between budget cuts and Mr. Lewis’s disappearance, they hatch a plan: stop the cuts, save their class.

Soon, they become an unlikely band of crusaders, and their quest quickly snowballs into something much bigger–a movement involving the whole middle school. But the adults in charge seem determined to ignore their every protest. How can the kids make themselves heard?

This book was published less than a month ago, and people were already buzzing about it. Can’t wait to get it in the hands of my middle schoolers.

Writing update

As I mentioned in a previous post, my goal for November is to write every day. I alsomade aacalendar forrmyselfincludingg individual plans for each day. I have stuck to my overall goal of writing every day, but I am a little behind on my individual goals. This is mainly because I’ve gone into a rabbit hole of revisions. It may be taking longer but, I think I will be much happier with the end products of my writing.

Monday Afternoon Musings: Bad Advice from books

One of the great things about being a reader is that you can learn life lessons without having to experience the hardships that teach the lesson. Books are filled with wisdom filled advice that we can apply to our own lives. But not all of that advice is good. There are a lot of actions that book characters take repeatedly with positive results that would not work out so well in real life. Here are my examples of bad advice from books.

Bad Advice #1- If your family is pressuring you to settle down, you should hire someone as a fake date for the holiday/family wedding/vacation.

Ignore the books trying to tell you this is a romantic scenario. You are not going to fall in love with this person, your family will definitely find out and they will most likely be furious with you. This applies to a marriage of convenience too.

Bad Advice #2- Forget about calling the police, you can solve this crime yourself

We have trained police detectives for a reason. It is not safe to go around searching for evidence and irritating a possible murderer. It is highly unlikely that as a bakery owner, you are going to pick up clues that trained detectives missed. In fact, you are much more likely to destroy evidence. Plus, there’s a 99.9% chance that if you are snooping around asking questions, you will tip off the murderer and be the next victim.

Bad Advice #3 You should quit your job and buy an estate in a foreign country

While there is nothing wrong with evaluating your life and making changes. It is not as simple as books would have you believe to drop everything and move to another country. Especially if you don’t know anyone or speak the language. Chances are low that you will inherit an Italian Villa the day after you tell off your boss. At a minimum, you should contemplate the decision for more than a month and have the semblance of a plan.

Bad Advice #4: If you’re involved in an accidental death, don’t call 911, just hide the body

Even in books, most characters get caught with this one. Then the truth is revealed, and everyone understands. However, in real life, there’s a good chance you’ll do some prison time.


Bad Advice #5 You should conduct top secret scientific experiments without government approval.

If you don’t get caught and punished, you could end up unleashing a virus, causing an explosion or destroying the environment. You will not turn yourself into a mutant superhero, or time traveler.

Friday Afternoon Musings: Benefits of book travel

I enjoy traveling, but the world has had other ideas the last couple of years. Fortunately, while there were travel bans around the world, many of the restrictions on books travel (i.e. work and social obligations) were lifted. While no book can take the place of a real-life experience, there are benefits to book travel that can’t be ignored.

Most travelers will tell you that the worst part of travel is getting there and back. This is not an issue with book travel. The book starts and ends when you want. No weather delays, no getting bumped because there are too many readers going to the same destination. The whole trip revolves around your schedule. You can take an entire afternoon for one long trip or break it up into mini excursions when time permits. If you’re like me, and love to travel, but are also a homebody at heart. You can fulfill both desires. You can stay in your jammies, grab your favorite snack and beverage, while going anywhere you want.

Book travel is much more cost effective than real travel. I have hundreds of books (read as literary vacations) lying around my house. I could sell every single one of them, and still only get a couple of trips out of it. Also, if you decide you don’t want to read the book after all, there are no cancelation fees.

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While book traveling, you can literally go to any destination. I prefer group tours when I travel. Bigger companies will offer destinations all around the world, and often provide excursions the independent traveler might not have the opportunity to experience. But there are still limitations. You have to travel in the current timeline. As of the time of this post, nobody offers trips to the past of future. The trip also must be to place that exists in the real world. Until a travel company discovers the wardrobe leading to Narnia, magical trips are limited to books.

It’s been said that the safest way to travel is by plane, but this isn’t true. Despite what news stories, TV and movies might lead you to believe, plane crashes are very rare. This is reassuring. However, it doesn’t make it the safest form of travel. It is a statistical fact that book travel, is safer than flying. The most common injury reported by book travelers is the paper cut. While this can be excruciatingly painful, no deaths have been documented. Even if there is an equipment malfunction, such as the battery dying in your e-reader, you will not plummet to the ground, and as long as you’re near an electrical source, the repair is quick. If you are a safety-minded individual, book traveling is the way to go.

Finally, when book traveling you can enjoy experiences that might not be so pleasant in person. I loved reading the Hunger Games but have no desire to participate in person. You’ll likely find that your preferences for a book vacation will be very different than real world vacations. It’s entertaining to read about a hotel where the guests keep getting murdered and you try to figure out the culprit. I guarantee that if this happened to you while staying in a real hotel, you would be running out the door demanding a refund.

In conclusion, if you are unable to travel this summer. Don’t be depressed, pick up a book and appreciate all the advantages it has to offer.

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