Showing posts with label #Nora Roberts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Nora Roberts. Show all posts

Friday, April 11, 2025

Thrillers, Romance and True Stories

by Diana McCollum



My favorite female authors are Nora Roberts, she is so prolific and in so many genres, Paula Brackston her witch stories have always intriqued me. Both these authors have great dialogue, are very descriptive and have a great understanding of language.

Paula Brackston wrote "The Winter Witch".  In this story the witch who is young Morgana is cursed and lost her voice as a child. No one knows why. She marries and runs the household with a bit of magic. How the author does this is amazing.

Until the curse is broken towards the end of the book, she has never spoken a word. This was a fascinating read. Examining how to keep the reader interested with no dialogue.



I also enjoy thrillers by C.J. Box, William Kent Krueger and Paul Doiron to name a few.

At night I only read romance historical, regency or contemporary. I read for a 1/2 hr to an hour. Then I'm out for the night. If I read more thrilling books I would not be able to go to sleep!

I go to the library twice a month and choose a non-fiction book as I like to read true stories also. I've read Katie Couric, and Jane Goodall recently. Both I highly recommend and so interesting.

I think as writers we all enjoy books to read!

What are some of your favorite books and authors?

Have a great day!

Monday, April 7, 2025

Authors I Can Count On by Paty Jager

Most of the authors on this blog this month are writing about the authors they go to when they are looking for a good read. 

Over the years, I've come across many authors that when I see a book by them, I purchase it. I don't always get it read due to time constraints, but I have enjoyed other books by them. By purchasing one, I feel like I'm at least saying, "Keep writing." 


Back in the days of small children and until they were teens, I had four Nora Roberts books I read several times. The MacGregor Christmas and several of the other books in that series, and her Born In series: Born in Ice, Born in Fire, Born in Shame.  For whatever reason, those books drew me to them over and over again during that time. 

Before that anything by Agatha Christie and Dick Francis. I read every book by those authors that my local library had. Then I started the Alphabet series by Sue Grafton. Those books and watching a talk show about a woman who wrote a book about how to be your own private investigator started me writing mystery books. Only to ditch them when I could find no constructive help in writing them. 


I loved LaVyrle Spencer's historical romance books. I read several of those more than one time. For a while, I enjoyed the Stephanie Plum Mysteries by Janet Evanovich.

I like books with a hint of humor, that show me another time or culture and that keep me turning the pages. Lately, I've discovered that in Sujata Massey's series A Mystery of 1920s India. I purchase each one of her books when they are available. Another series that I've been collecting and reading is by Alexia Gordon. She writes the Gethsemane Brown Mysteries set at a school in Ireland. 

Currently, I am reading two mystery books by Native American authors and while they are intense, I am enjoying them. One is Never Name the Dead, written by D.M. Rowell. I met her at the Left Coast Crime conference I attended last month. The other book is Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon. This book is a page-turner, but I've needed breaks from it. The emotion and the atrocities in the book make me need to give it some space. It is heartbreaking to think there are people in this country who fear stepping outside their homes. 

Reading for me has always been about being entertained and learning something. That can be about a culture, a setting, a profession, a struggle. I'm all about learning and expanding my horizons. 

What are some of your favorite books and why?  



Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 61 novels, 11 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Books a Plenty Book Reviews has to say about the Gabriel Hawke series: "The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down." 


Friday, April 4, 2025

My Reading Refuge(s)

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series ’s, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

These days wanting to relax and shut away the outside world is an almost constant ‘want’ of mine for a variety of reasons. I could fill several blog posts with my concerns and, at times, fears. However, the purpose of this post is to share with you who my “go to” author(s) are, authors whose books keep me on a more even keel.

What I’ve found interesting as I’ve thought about who and how to write this post is I’m not buying books like I used to.

Image copied from Jo Beverley website
Why? I’m still reading every day.

This year I’ve purchased three historical fiction (my favorite genres) and only finished one. I’ve spent some time analyzing why because they are authors I’ve read and enjoyed in the past. I don’t even remember the books/stories enough to say anything specific about them. However these are some of the reasons I don’t finish books or end up reading the last chapter or two before putting the book aside.

+ The story didn’t keep my interest.

+ Too much description of clothing, rooms, etc. I actually don’t care what the hero and heroine are wearing or what color the drapes are much less the fabric. And I find that boring to read.

+ Too much description of the seduction and sexual activities of the characters. I’m even okay with the fade to morning when the bedroom door closes on the couple. I’m not a prude. In my own books my characters make love. For me, it’s another aspect of a story that can actually become boring if it goes on for pages and pages.

So what have I been reading this year?

My keeper books. I actually started rereading all my fiction books during Covid. I also reread my entire series. I’ve purchased several non-fiction books that I’ve enjoyed and I’m looking forward to getting to a book store for Malcolm Gladwell’s latest. Hmm, I might just start rereading the books by him I already have.

My Go To Author is Jo Beverley. I also have numerous books by Nora Roberts and StephanieLauren’s Cynster series (Bar Cynster books).

Right now I’ve finished my 3rd, 4th or 5th read of Jo Beverley’s Company of Rogues. While I’ve read all of these books at least 3 times, a couple I’ve read more. And I’ve started on her Georgian period books with the Malloren family as the heroes or heroine.

Image copied from Jo Beverley website

I’ve reread all of Nora’s books set in Ireland, one of my most favorite places in the world. And when I say “reread” I don’t mean just once. The series she wrote in the ‘90’s have been read at least 3 if not 4 times.

Early on when I started reading romance (1998), I was struck by the norms or expectation of Regency England about what was “appropriate” behavior for a “lady”.

What struck me?

 The vestiges of those “norms” that were alive and well during the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s, my growing up years.

I will admit that as I’m reading these books for the 3rd, 4th or 5th time, I am seeing aspects of the story that didn’t register or stick with me over the years. And I think that is because, for me, the stakes of how these remaining years of my life will be lived are higher. I’m in my 80’s now. One of those people living on a fairly fixed income. I do have book sales but nowhere near the thousand a month mark.

Image copied from author's website

The probability of a marriage of convenience is slim.

The probability of winning the lottery even slimmer as I seldom buy a ticket and when I do, checking the numbers continually slips my mind.

The probability of inheriting thousands of dollars is non-existent in that I don’t know anyone that has thousands of dollars.

Image copied from author's website

So when the world around me seems dark and bleak and scary, I turn to books that transport me to another place and time. Once I finish Jo Beverley’s Malloren series and get Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, I am going to start rereading his books. I doubt I’ll be transported anywhere and I might be engaged to the point where the world around me recedes to a mere shadow.

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through my website www.JudithAshley.net and Windtree Press. Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Hillsboro, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. Their addresses are on my website. And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2025 Judith Ashley

Friday, January 3, 2025

Relax, Escape or Just Because

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

What activity relaxes me? Takes me away from my every-day life? The one that has been a part of my life for the longest is reading. I have clear memories of curling up in the comfortable over-stuffed club chair with a book in hand. Back in elementary school, I liked reading about princesses in towers being rescued by shining knights. In the 1950’s, that was the only kind of book that transported me away from my life.

Courtesy of Deposit Photo

I was a duck out of water in many ways and would have been more suited to being a son than a daughter. I did not appreciate the dolls, clothes, powder, etc. I got as gifts much preferring the cars, trucks, etc. my brother’s received.

College? Yes I went and I’m grateful to have graduated. Doors, I had no idea I would need to be opened at all, opened for me in the future. In my day, most “girls” went to college for their Mrs. rather than a B.A. or B.S. much less as Master’s degree.

However, as my life progressed, as most lives do, with ups and downs and surprises aka challenges, my ability to lose myself in a book helped me survive them.

In the 1980’s I mainly read non-fiction or self-help books looking for the recipe that would smooth my path in life.

In the 1990’s many of the books I read were thriller or maybe suspense. I loved Tom Clancy’s books as well as John LeCarre’s. However, my reading favorites took a major change in direction in 1998 when my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. Days in the hospital after surgery and hours in waiting rooms while he underwent radiation therapy followed. I needed something to whisk me away from the finality of his life and the toll it was taking on my mom.

The gift shop at Providence St. Vincent’s in Portland, OR introduced me to Nora Roberts. I have no idea which of her numerous books it was but it helped. So, I read more of them. At one time I think I’d read virtually every book she had written under Nora Roberts. I never did make the change to J.D. Robb’s books.

Also in 1998, a friend of mine started Wild Women Writers. This eclectic group of women started meeting in December. At that time I wanted to take a workshop I’d created in the 1980’s and turn it into a self-help book. However, as I struggled to figure out basics such as formatting, etc., I began to have lucid dreams and visions where seven women showed up and I witnessed their lives: hopes, dreams and challenges.

When they wouldn’t go away, I began writing their stories. It took a while to finish the first one as I had many lessons to learn about not only the craft of writing fiction but also the intricacies of publishing.

Book One in The Sacred Women’s Circle series was published in March 2014. Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl shared that month with Books 2 and 3.

Elizabeth: The Lady and The Sacred Grove 

Diana: The Queen of Swords and The Knight of Pentacles.

Did I read while I wrote? I certainly did. My keeper shelves contain many of the books I didn’t want to end.

My favorite authors include

Jo Beverley’s Company of Rogues and her Malloren series

Stephanie Laurens’s The Bastian Club and the Cynster series

Most anything written by Nora Roberts writing as Nora not J.D.

Current favorite authors?

I’m waiting for Book Three of Eleria Grace’s Clubmobile Girls. I’ve reread the first two books a couple of times. Her research is fantastic and since I had uncles who fought in WWII, as well as clients who were veterans of that war, I’ve been able to understand them better because I understand at a different level what they went through, what they survived.

I still find getting lost in a book more satisfying than movies or television. I doubt at this point in my life that will ever change.

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through my website www.JudithAshley.net and Windtree Press. Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Beaverton, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. Get the addresses from my website. And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.


Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at 
JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2025 Judith Ashley