Because I don't want everything to be about me, I have decided to share the spotlight with a reader. Meet Alice Anderson.
What it Takes to be a Keeper
Alice: It's no secret that I adore romance novels. At last count, I have a little over a thousand. You're probably thinking man, that's the mother of all keeper shelves. Are all of them keepers? No, not really. But it's what you might call a collection. I have numerous bookshelves as well as boxes full of books. But I do have an illustrious Keeper Shelf.
Ann: I love romances too, but lately cross-genre fiction has been a big win for me. I had that many at one time, but a basement flood before I moved out of the States decimated my book collection. Let me tell you, I cried.
Alice: So what makes a book a keeper and what's on my keeper shelf?
A keeper, to me, is a book that is unforgettable. Unput-down-able. Rereadable. It's a book that, as my husband says, gives me the warm fuzzies. They're the first romance novels I ever read. The ones that got me hooked on romance way back in the beginning of all this. They're the books that kept me up into the wee hours of the morning and made me late for work the next day. They're the books that I think about often, reference frequently and tell all my friends about.
Ann: For me, it's any book I can't bear to get rid of under any circumstance because I may want to read it again. And let me tell you, that is rare.
Alice: Books like the Marcelli Bride by Susan Mallery...that start with a bang and keep me turning the pages all the way through. I fell in love with the hero almost instantly and I rooted for the (odd) couple until The End. Stories like Night Play that got me hooked on both Dark Hunters and Sherrilyn Kenyon. And oh yeah, hunky super hot (and rich, oh yeah!) werewolves. Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark are there and so are Jennifer Estep's superheroes and ubervillans. I'm still not sure about Fiona Fine's fashion sense but at least her outfits are fireproof.
Ann: Oooh, we're naming names now, are we? Larissa Ione, Lauren Dane, Victoria Dahl, Carrie Lofty, Eve Kenin, Kresley Cole, Sharon Shinn, Patricia Briggs, Robin McKinley... I'd better stop.
Alice: You'll find my all time favorite authors on my keeper shelf because well, all time favorite authors are just keepers. A few of my Rebecca Winters books are so old that the pages are yellow, the spines are crumbling and the covers have creases. And I've reread a few of them no less than twenty times. These books are like medicine. They keep me calm when I have reason to panic (plane liftoff, anyone?), keep me occupied when the world is crumbling around me (death in the family), and in general make me feel better (like when I have the flu for two weeks right before Christmas!).Ann: I lost all my old books. So anything on my keeper shelf has been purchased in the last four years.
Alice: You'll also find recent additions such as the historical romance that made me fall in love with historicals. I was a hold out for a long time but now I'm addicted. I'm thinking I may need a bigger keeper shelf.
Ann: So glad you mentioned this! I love Elizabeth Hoyt lately, and Anna Campbell and Meredith Duran. OMG, yum!
Alice: In short they're books that I fall in love with at first read and fall in love with again each time thereafter. They make me feel something. They teach me something. They give me new words for my vocabulary...like uber (my new favorite!) I find the characters fascinating. I want to be friends with the heroines and date the heroes (shh, don't tell my husband!). They change the way I think about things, make me want to be a better person, and they give me hope. Keepers sit high and proud on the top shelf and always keep me coming back for more.
Ann: What she said.
Alice: What about you? What makes a book a keeper and what's on your shelf? I'll give a $10 amazon gift card to one person who answers by April 15th.
Ann: I'm giving away a copy of Blue Diablo. Winner chosen in 24 hours. I'll talk more about my keepers in comments, too.
About Alice
Alice Anderson is, as yet, an unpublished romance writer. She lives in the Southeast with her husband, dog, three kitties, and beta fish. When she's not slaving over her latest novel, she's hard at work creating designs for other authors and promoting romance to the world through her creation, the CataNetwork. Visit her online at http://www.alice-anderson.com.
So how about you all?
Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of Ann's book or the $15 Amazon certificate. Please be sure to leave a valid email address so that we can contact you easily if you win!
The giveaway will close at 7pm Saturday (Australian East Coast Time), which is 4am New York time, and 10am London time on Friday. Hopefully you can figure out what time that is for you from one of those times, because I am terrible at working things like this out!
