I haven’t gotten to write anything much lately other than shopping lists. Shopping lists do not count no matter how creative they get! I have been able to keep up with reading some of my favorite blogs and some fabulous books in the past few weeks. A recent blog post has had me thinking these past few days about the books we enjoy—particularly those novels which are not considered literary gems but are widely popular.

My newest novel (which launches on Wednesday, November 16!) is titled Circle of Nine – Sacred Treasures. It’s the final installment in what turned into the three-book Circle of Nine series. But what the heck are these treasures and what made them so sacred? Let me tell you . .

The Circle of Nine series concludes with the launch of Circle of Nine: Sacred Treasures (Book 3) on November 16! As we countdown the days to the launch, I’m celebrating with a great book giveaway contest. The Grand Prize is a $20 gift card to either Amazon or B&N (winner’s choice.)

Two second place winners will receive a paperback copy of the book: Circle of Nine: Sacred Treasures. (US addresses only.) Three third place winners will receive an e-book copy of Circle of Nine: Sacred Treasures.

Did you know that we are smack dab in the middle of the fall book festival and writing conference season! Yes, that’s a thing—but I didn’t know it until I made writing my primary profession. I was thrilled to be a guest author at the Sheboygan Children’s Book Fest—especially when they were kicking off their new TEEN BOOK FEST. What a blast!

I am a huge Outlander fan—and not just because the Starz series is crazy great, I have read all of the immense books by Diana Gabaldon, too. So, I was feeling a wee bit dowie (that’s sad for you non-Scots out there) when the most recent season ended. I found myself aimlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed when BAM! an advertisement popped up.

It seems that I only have two books to share with you from my July reading. How is that possible? Oh, yeah. I was finishing writing the rough draft of my current novel. I did read one unpublished novel for a writer friend. (It’s really, really great, but I can’t talk about it yet!) And I read two Celtic mythology books for research, but those are likely not going to be of general interest to you all.

I hit the local library for my June reads . . . I love to buy books and I buy a lot of them. I would never say too many, but I do have a bin of books in my closet waiting for me. We will not talk about the size of this bin—that is irrelevant (at least to me, possibly not to my husband). Anyway, in June I decided to save a few shekels and request some books from the library and utilize the daily bargains from Bookbub. 

I am finally recapping the books I read in May! There were a lot of dead bodies in my May reading. A LOT! The murder and mayhem began with Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan, definitely continued with A Winsome Murder by James DeVita and The Obsession by Nora Roberts, and finished up with just two in The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield.

Strangely enough, three out of the five books I read in April were set in Door County, Wisconsin, and they were all very good stories, but that is definitely where the similarities end.

I am so happy that I finally was able to read Newberry Honor Winner Ingrid Law's books – Savvy and