What compels readers to review books online? Guest Post by Carla Caruso

As an author, I tend to read book reviews with one eye open and the other shut. Just in case I spy something amid the text I don’t really want to see – then I can close the other peeper quick-smart!

On the other hand, there are also book reviews that, as a writer, make your heart sing. When you realise that that little novel you squirreled away in your office writing each weeknight, thinking nobody’d care and you could have better spent your time watching Revenge reruns? Well, somebody actually ‘got’ that story and felt compelled enough to gush about it to the world via their blog, Goodreads, et al.

Since being published, I’ve become intrigued by the world of book reviewers. What compels them to one day sit at their computer and start blogging about a tome – for free. What continues to feed their reading/reviewing addiction. Whether they communicate with other reviewers like some kind of secret club, ‘bitching’ about the bad books they’ve just read or feverishly anticipating the next offerings from favourite authors together. How they fit in their book blogging around their day-to-day lives. If the people they know in ‘real-life’ – beyond the online world – actually know about their obsession with reviewing. What they hope will become of their impulse to blog about books. When they think they’ll stop. Whether they ever feel like chucking in the towel and just reading a book for fun. How the book blogging ‘feeds’ their soul…

I’m so intrigued by all this in fact that I’m set to write a novella with a romance reviewer at its centre (due out around the festive season). And I would love to hear from book reviewers to help accurately ‘shape’ my heroine – starting with Tara from Book Babe! I’ve grilled her, as below. Would love to hear your comments also...

-When did you start your blog, Tara, and why?

Tara: It was 2010. At that point, most of my reading friends had blogs so it was always an idea in the back of my head, but I didn't take the plunge until a publisher emailed me asking me to read and review a book featuring a woman pilot. I had started the women in aviation group on Goodreads. Other than that, there was nothing making me an appealing reviewer to publishers. I accepted the offer. They sent me an email saying the book was on the way and they looked forward to seeing it on my blog...and I was like, "Uh oh." So..I started a blog. LOL 

I've kept it up because it's become a fun hobby and I love books more than anything. If publishers and authors like the blog, well, I get more books! So technically I'm not working for free. I just get paid in books.

· Why do you think most book-review bloggers go under a pseudonym or use an illustration rather than a real pic of themselves? Is there a freedom in anonymity?

Tara: I've heard some horror stories. Some people use the anonymity for safety purposes. Some authors have been known to go nuts over a book review. There was one author who threatened to commit suicide after I reviewed her book. I've received hate mail on Goodreads over my reviews. People take book reviews way too personally. Thus, the anonymity. BUT some people do indeed use the anonymity to be catty and vicious and say things that otherwise they would not say. Sometimes the anonymity, however, has nothing to do with the book world. Perhaps the reviewer has an ex-boyfriend stalking her online and so she makes a fake name or something. The possible reasons for this choice are endless.

I have no reason to use anonymity and I never say something I don't want associated with my name. I think that keeps me out of trouble.

· Have you ever written a scathing book review and been scared about the author reading it, or even been contacted by such an author?

Yes. I wouldn't use the word scathing, but yes, sometimes even a three-star review gets the emails coming, especially if they queried me via Book Babe. The promise of a review doesn't guarantee the rating they want... I tend to balk about sharing book tour reviews. The book tour companies only want three stars and up and I hate that because if I feel a book deserves a two, if I don't like it, I should be allowed to say so, tour be damned. I've posted my two-bike reviews anyway and just inwardly cringe and wait for the attack. I also tend to balk about reviewing authors who have NOTHING but 5-star reviews. Something is off there and sure enough, those tends to attack and get mad at the threes.

I had an author recently say some snarky things to me over the fact I gave her a book a three.

· Where and when do you write your book reviews, and how often do you do it? 

Tara: I write the review as soon as I close the book, while the thoughts are still fresh in my head. This could be any time of the day, afternoon, night... Sometimes I'm at work and I have to write the review on my phone during break, save it into drafts, and make it pretty on the blog later. I'd say I finish a book every two to four days and thus write the review. It varies depending on length of book, time I've had to read, and if I read the entire book or not. LOL

· How many books do you generally read in one week? And what do you ‘sacrifice’ elsewhere in your life in order to get your reading/reviewing done?

Tara: I sacrifice television, which isn't too hard because the only shows I like are on Sundays, BBC. I hate American TV.

· What is your reviewing process like? Do you jot down notes in a notepad as you read, dog-ear the corners of pages you want to refer back to, or something else? 

Tara: I prefer reading on Kindle so I can use the highlight feature. But when I have a paper book I will dog-ear the corners...shame on me! OR I use these little bookmarks my mother gave me. They are meant for Avon. When you flip through an Avon catalog and see something you want, you tear a sticky pink tab from the bookmark and place it on the edge of the page. The tabs say things like "Want", "Love"... I just use those to mark passages I want to remember or quotes I want to share.

· How long does it take you to write a book review?

Tara: Depends. If I really have a lot to say, an hour. If I don't know what to say, like if it's a good story but not particularly powerful or unique, 15 to 20 minutes.

· Do you have periods of doing lots of book reviewing and then none at all, and why so?

Tara: Yes. I don't waste a lot of time on books that suck. If I can't finish it or if it's a one-star read, I just quickly jot why I hated it on my Goodreads account, mark it dnf, and move on. Life is too short to waste it on sucky books, especially when there are so many good ones out there. So...I go through periods in which I don't write reviews when it's a bad-book week. Because I won't waste blog space on those.

· Pet hates as a book blogger? (i.e. authors emailing you, begging to have their books reviewed on your site, and the likes!)

Tara: Has to be the complaining emails, about how I gave them a three and they haven't had a three yet...blah blah blah. I also hate poorly edited books. And I hate that some people don't read the review guidelines and email wanting me to read books I'd clearly have no interest in if they took the time to look at the blog. I also hate the ones who email me wanting to be on the blog but never even offer me a book for my time. I sometimes get messages from authors wanting me to interview them, post this and that and that, and yet they have the nerve to inform me their book is on sale... I'm like, "You're demanding an hour of my time...for...what? Nothing!"

I hate blog tour companies for the same reason. I post for them, they offer no book unless I agree to do a rushed only three-star review, and in the end I get nothing for my time.

I love when I read a book, write a glowing review for it, and then get surprised with a thank-you note from the author and even better, the offer of their next title for review. Heck yes! I'm all over that!

· Why do you write book reviews?

Tara: I get paid in books! Usually.... Having been an author myself, I also know how very hard it is to get people interested in your books. I like to help out. When I was an author, I spent a ridiculous amount of money on worthless blog tours that did nothing for my sales. Why use them when you can just find a nice blogger to help you out, someone like me. LOL (Just don't ask for two hours of my time, two days, and a custom interview. Be reasonable.)

I also meet some of the coolest people this way. Just by conversing with them in emails.

Oh, and by the way – Carla here again! – here’s a blurb of my latest novel, Catch of the Day (Destiny Romance). Thanks for your time…

After a regrettable incident at the office Christmas party, up-and-coming fashion editor, Winnie Cherry, is banished to coastal South Australia to set up a beach lifestyle magazine – 300km from nowhere.

Her friends joke that she’ll marry a rich cray fisherman and stay there for good, but Winnie has other ideas. Determined to get back to Sydney within two months, she gets to work and starts counting down the days. Until she meets handsome freelance photographer Alex Bass, and sparks begin to fly.

As Winnie is increasingly drawn into the close-knit local community, she starts to question whether city life is really what she wants. That is, until Alex drops a bombshell that casts dark storm clouds over all her coastal dreams…

Buy it here: http://www.destinyromance.com/products/9781743483824/catch-day-destiny-romance or here on Amazon.

Tara here: Carla, thanks so much for this. This was fun. I also hope my answers help you as you write your novella. I expect you to come back and promote/share the book with us when it's done.

Readers!!!!! Help an author with her research! Get something of yourself in her next story! If one of the above questions is something you'd like to answer, do so by leaving a comment below. Carla would appreciate it.

Sex Discrimination Still Rampant in Aviation: A True Story

A few weeks ago, there were many articles online about how the new proposed additions to the Equal Pay Act were shot down by the Republican party because they said, basically, "Women are not necessarily paid less. They are just in fewer high-paying jobs than men." This was followed by a list of ways employers could encourage more women in the workforce, by having more lenient hours, etc. It also said there were less women in things like sheet metal, aviation, construction--high-paying blue-collar, physical work.

Dear Boss Man, I want what he makes.
Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I saw their point, to be honest.

Where I work, on my shift, my crew, there are only about three women in the entire building. So, yea, it's our own damned fault that most of these occupations are still male dominated. And more women now than in the nineties are staying home to raise children, so yea, women make less than men. Being a stay-at-home mom isn't a good-paying job. Neither is secretary and some of the other jobs women choose over physical labor.

So I was upset for about a day, about the fact this new act wasn't passed. Apparently the one JFK passed in '64 isn't quite fixing the problems us women have. 

But recently, I found out that we really do need that EPA and Paycheck Fairness Act to be enforced.

This is a true story about a woman who works at a male-dominated aviation company. We'll call her Jane.

Jane works closely with two other people, both men, named Harry and Dick. (Yes, I did that on purpose. Gotta inject some humor.) Like me, she's on an all-male crew in a male-dominated job.

Jane has 14 years experience and an A&P license. She accepted the job she has, fully aware it was "entry level" and that she was overqualified for it, thinking positively that she'd impress upon them her worth within six months or so and obtain the next pay level for her job. In the past, she has rose a pay level within 6 months of starting with a company. There was no reason for her to feel this would be any different. She's never experienced pay discrimination before.

Well, Jane, Harry, and Dick had their annual evaluations, followed by their annual pay raises. Their boss told them not to talk about it amongst each other.. "Shhhhh," he said, "sharing this information will cause problems..."

Spoken like a man fully aware the little papers he was handing out weren't fair.

And this is why we need the Paycheck Fairness Act, an executive order Obama signed in April stating that Federal contractors can no longer take action against employees who share their pay data. This law will prevent folks like the above-mentioned boss from having sex-discrimination practices.

By law and thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Act, if a woman can prove she does the same job and same quality of work, and that seniority isn't an issue, but that she still makes less than them, she has a case.

BUT if a woman doesn't KNOW what her male counterparts make, how can she prove she makes less?

And here's what happened to Jane... Naturally her coworkers shared their pay raises with her. And why not? They were either proud or disappointed.

Harry, who received an average evaluation with a reprimand attached, received a 2.5% raise.

Dick, who received a very good evaluation with no complaints, received 3.5%--and Jane says he earned every penny.

But poor Jane, who received a better evaluation than Harry, with no reprimands attached, no criticism at all, only received 1%.

And I know some of you are now saying, "Maybe it's all based on seniority..."

That's also the first thing I asked Jane.

Harry has been an employee of the unnamed company for 8 years. Dick has been there three. So it's not about seniority. And Jane would like me to add that she has nothing against Harry and Dick. They've made her feel welcome in what would otherwise have been a rather unwelcome and intimidating environment. She doesn't begrudge them their money. Her problem is with management. Why is she making less for doing the same thing and presenting the same quality, when there is no seniority factor?

Women, I'm telling you, it's happening. I know many of you don't worry about this stuff. "Oh, it's 2014. Nobody is discriminating against us anymore..."

Oh yes they are. And we must be united in this, or we will never overcome. 

And while this has nothing to do with books or movies, it is about women's rights, so I felt Book Babe was the place, with Jane's permission, of course.

Our Reading Radar 5/17/2014

This last week, having picked up and become thoroughly engrossed in Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson, I set about searching for other titles by her I may like. This led me to a series called American Tapestries--historical fiction honoring all kinds of heroines.

A couple of them hit my wishlist and I even purchased one.

The Journey of Josephine Cain by Nancy Moser. An East-coast socialite embarks on a journey to the Wild West, and her life will never be the same.

A setting populated by hundreds of common laborers, outlaws, and Indians is hardly the place for a wealthy general’s daughter from the nation’s capital. But Josephine Cain is determined to accompany her father as he oversees the day-to-day work involved in the greatest undertaking of post-Civil War America: the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Life with the railroad is far from the proper life Josephine is used to, and she faces deadly gunfights, harsh weather, and vigilante uprisings. She is torn between West and the East; between her privileged upbringing and the dangers of a new frontier; between the pull of the suitable beau her parents chose for her and an attraction to a rough but charming Irish railroad worker. But if Josephine is willing, she just might find a new life, a unique purpose…and the love of her life.

***

Queen of the Waves by Janice Thompson and Janice Hanna. When pampered Jacqueline Abington secretly elopes with the family gardener, she asks another woman to take her place on the much anticipated maiden voyage of the Titanic. Tessa Yarborough hails from a poor corner of London but has been granted the opportunity of a lifetime--a ticket to sail to America aboard a famed vessel. But there's a catch: she must assume Jacqueline's identity. For the first time in her life, Tessa stays in luxurious quarters, dresses in elegant gowns, and dines with prestigious people. Then a wealthy American man takes an interest in her, and Tessa struggles to keep up the ruse as she begins falling for him. When tragedy strikes, the game is up, and two women's lives are forever changed.

***

A Lady's Choice by Sandra Robbins. One woman’s struggle for voting rights places her in danger. . .and may cost her the love of her life.
In 1916, eighteen-year-old Sarah Whittaker is struggling to care for her dying mother when she discovers that the executor of her father’s estate is stealing her inheritance. Young lawyer Alex Taylor defends her cause, and in the process, he wins her heart. But his employer opposes the romance, claiming that Sarah’s budding political beliefs will threaten Alex’s career.

Heartbroken yet determined to fight for women’s rights, Sarah travels to Washington, DC, where she begins a journey that will lead from the White House gates to the “Night of Terror” in Occoquan Workhouse. Alex rushes to the nation’s capital to secure Sarah’s freedom, but will he arrive too late?

***

This one, I purchased: The Courier of Caswell Hall by Melanie Dobson. An unlikely spy discovers freedom and love in the midst of the American Revolution.
As the British and Continental armies wage war in 1781, the daughter of a wealthy Virginia plantation owner feels conflict raging in her own heart. Lydia Caswell comes from a family of staunch Loyalists, but she wavers in her allegiance to the Crown.

On the night the British sail up the James River on a mission to destroy the new capital, Lydia discovers a wounded man on the riverbank near Caswell Hall. Fearing his identity but unwilling to leave him for dead, she secretly nurses him back to health. The man identifies himself as Nathan, a Patriot—and an enemy. But Lydia’s American sympathies grow, and when British officers return to the plantation, Lydia must help Nathan escape.

Privy to conversation among the officers at Caswell Hall, Lydia begins delivering secret messages to the Patriots in Williamsburg. When she overhears a plot to assassinate General Washington, she must risk her life to alert Nathan before it’s too late.

***

Spotted on NG and because I really enjoyed her Blood Blade Sisters, this has hit my wishlist: Michelle McLean's Romancing the Rumrunner.

Prohibition Era Chicago

She's worked too hard to be run out of town...

Jessica Harlan spends her nights as The Phoenix, the owner of the most popular speakeasy in town. Her days are spent running her respectable butcher shop and dodging prohibition agents and rival club owners who all want to put her out of business.

He's worked too hard to let his heart get in the way...

When the opportunity arises to go undercover for the Feds to catch The Phoenix, Gumshoe Anthony Solomon jumps on it. But he never suspected the notorious rumrunner would be a dame - or that he'd be so drawn to the feisty little minx.

They play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, knowing they can't trust the other, but unable to walk away. While their hearts dodge the crossfire, the mobsters raise the stakes, and even The Phoenix may not rise again.

***

And Shomeret found a book she wants this week too. On Shomeret's reading radar is: Three-Eight Charlie by Jerrie Mock.

Three-Eight Charlie is the story of Jerrie Mock’s record-setting flight as the first woman to solo around the world in 1964 in a single-engine Cessna 180. It’s an insightful and well written account that includes intrigue and heroism, and discusses the cultures and geography of the world at the time. This book is a great read for aviation enthusiasts as well as young people, and anyone with big dreams.

Three-Eight Charlie was originally published in 1970, but was out of print and difficult to find. Phoenix Graphix proudly released a collectible edition for the 50th anniversary of Jerrie's flight, which included maps, weather charts and photos that bring the story to life, and help the reader experience it more fully. 

Fair Play (It Happened at the Fair #2) by Deeanne Gist

Her mother had spent every last minute cooking for Papa, cleaning for Papa, looking nice for Papa, entertaining for Papa, producing babies for Papa. The measuring stick she used to judge herself was based on how pleased or displeased Papa was with her, their home, and her ability to raise their children properly. 

The very thought of being measured by that same stick horrified Billy. She couldn't think of anything worse. As far as she was concerned, domesticity was nothing more than a glorified jail sentence.

Having thoroughly enjoyed It Happened At the Fair, I was more than eager to read the latest installment from Gist. Though I don't like it as much as the first one, mostly because that story line about deafness and lip-reading really touched a chord with me, I still really liked this story.

We have a spunky woman doctor who knows how to stand on her own two feet and give back what for. Especially when she meets a manly Texas Ranger who has very set ideas about women's place.

Boy, does she manage to convert him, quickly. With her actions and her bravery, she leaves no doubt just how much women are capable of, forcing this Texas Ranger to rethink some of his thoughts about women and what they're capable of. She even helps him get better.

As always with a Gist book, there's a lot of humor and chuckles. There's no end to the interesting characters either. I sincerely hope there's a book three in this series, maybe about the women of Hull House? I'm hint dropping...

We meet not only these amazing women (who really existed!) that started a daycare/nursery in the worst part of town and ran it despite the odds and hoodlums, but we also meet some street children--not all of them bad--who've been dealt a difficult hand and have to make the most of it. The hero and heroine start a playground for them, hoping it will help keep the kids off the streets. The book also shows us how some of the immigrants lived and the appalling prison conditions. This is a fun historical novel that will teach you something. It's not fluff. There's even a trial toward the end, and I sure do love those.

Though a Christian fiction in classification, there was absolutely nothing preachy about it. Matter of fact, I think Christian fiction is the wrong category for this. It's just a clean historical romance. There is a stronger...sexual awareness...between Billy (the heroine) and Hunter (the hero) than found in most Christian fiction novels, but while I noticed and was surprised by it, I wasn't bothered by it at all. It's a fact of life, be you Christian, Atheist, or anything else; you're going to feel sexual attraction, so I applaud Gist for toeing the line a wee bit. It made it REAL. BUT there is NO nastiness.

I also appreciated the theme of women working and how Hunter gets a taste of his own medicine. Why should anyone give up something they love doing/feel passionate about?

A thoroughly enjoyable novel. It made me laugh, warmed my soul, and taught me a lot of Chicago history, from prisons to playgrounds. Well done.

I received a digital ARC of this via Edelweiss. Quotes may be different in the final version.

Affair in Athens: Greek American Romance Heroine Lives Her Truth

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a contemporary romantic thriller like Affair in Athens by Matina Nicholas.  The aspects of its description that most interested me when I agreed to review it were the mentions of Greek resistance to the Nazis during World War II, and the Roma or Rom otherwise known as gypsies.  These topics dovetail with my interests in history and minorities.  Yet neither of these subjects are major focuses of the plot.  I won’t say that they are completely unimportant to the book, but any reader who chooses to read Affair in Athens because it deals with these subjects will be disappointed.  

                                             

The main focus of the book is unapologetically on heroine Athena Vallas’ romantic life.  I realized that when the research on the book she intended to write about her grandfather’s heroic work in rescuing Salonika’s Jews was glossed over.  We don’t see her conduct even one interview with a Jewish survivor.   On the other hand, this novel has a great deal more historical and cultural content than contemporary romantic thrillers usually do.

I would also like to applaud the characterization of Athena.   Even though I didn’t always agree with the reasons behind Athena’s decisions, I did think that she made the right ones.  She maintained her self-respect, and steered clear of involvement in illegal and destructive activities.  She consults friends and relatives, ­but makes her own choices. She is strong, loving and nurturing.   

I did think that her friend, the gay painter Byron Dillon, was more than a bit stereotypical.  I wish that more authors would be willing to challenge themselves to create gay characters who are as complex as their heterosexual characters. 

In contrast, Luke Lambros is the most multi-faceted character in the book.  He exhibits the entire spectrum of traits.  His background and motivations remain at least partly mysterious throughout the narrative.  As a man of secrets, he reminded me of a number of well-known literary characters.   I wouldn’t be surprised if author Matina Nicholas drew on literary sources to create Luke.

Although I might have preferred to see Athena doing her work as a scholar, and a more nuanced portrayal of the Rom characters, what we do get in Affair in Athens is a fairly well-written novel that affirms both the independence of women and the value of family.

Editor Rosa Sophia sent me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.  

                                            

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview with Alethea Williams

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote Walls for the Wind, a Western historical novel. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story? How did it come to you?

Readers, here's the blurb real quick: 

Can an angel survive Hell on Wheels? When Kit Calhoun leaves New York City with a train car full of foundlings from the Immigrant Children’s Home, she has no clue she might end up as adoptive mother to four of them in rip-roaring Cheyenne, Wyoming. Kit has spent her life in the Children’s Home and now she rides the Orphan Trains, distributing homeless children to the young nation’s farmers as fast as the rails are laid.

The first time handsome Patrick Kelley spies Kit in Julesburg, Colorado Territory, he wants her. But circumstances, and a spectral-looking demented gambler as well as Kit’s certainty no one in his right mind would want her cobbled-together family, conspire to keep them apart. As Patrick and Kit and her brood ride Hell on Wheels into their destiny, they’re all forced to leave behind everything they knew and forge new lives in the raw American West.

Alethea: Hello. I am pleased to be here today. An article on orphan trains caught my attention years ago. At that time there was little published about the beginnings of any kind of social services in the U.S., or the trains that ultimately carried hundreds of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children from the big cities of the east to be indentured to the expanding nation’s farmers.

Tara: We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine(s) strong.

Alethea: Kit Calhoun is an orphan of Irish immigrants to New York City. She grew up in the Immigrant Children’s Asylum, to which she returns at age twenty-two with a sense of mission. At first she takes to the streets to find unwanted children, and then advocates to the courts to gain custody of them. Later, she becomes placing agent to the asylum and begins to accompany the orphans west on the trains, trying to find them homes. But on one journey she reaches the end of track with four orphans still on her hands, and she must decide if her fate is to the many who need her help—or just these four who have become close to her heart.

Tara: Do you see any of yourself in her?

Alethea: I think a bit of the author is in every character she creates. If not bits and pieces from her actual history, then things she wishes she had the courage to do.

Tara: What makes her sexy?

Alethea: Kit doesn’t realize she is beautiful. The second-hand clothes she wears are not flattering, and she is much too busy tending to the needs of others to see the attractiveness of the face that looks back at her from the cracked mirror in the asylum’s dormitory.

Tara: I like that answer. A truly sexy woman doesn't realize it, doesn't even work at it. What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search? 

Alethea: I intensively researched the post-Civil War years, the orphan trains, and the transcontinental railroad. What struck me was the plight of the immigrants, especially the Irish, who came to escape horrible circumstances at home only to die early deaths here of disease, accidents, and alcoholism. The descriptions of the Five Points area of New York, where people lived belowground like rats, was especially eye-opening. We tend to think now that there might have been a better solution to the fact of children living on the streets than shipping them out in rail cars, but a number of them were volunteers, who wanted to escape the conditions in the city and perhaps find something better in the country.

Tara: I can understand that. That's sad. What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something, ponder a point?

Alethea: I enjoy history and historical research so much, I hope I can impart some of that love. I would like to think I brought alive another little piece of time in our history.

Tara: Now let’s talk about your hero. What draws the heroine to him? Is he based on a real man in your life by any chance?

Alethea: One of the joys of writing is being able to conjure up the perfect man. I always fall in love a little with my hero, and so far he is my true dream man. Patrick Kelley was not based on any living person or any one I ever knew. Not even a little.

National Orphan Train Museum, WikiCommons

Tara: Your book takes place from New York City to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Dakota Territory. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country?

Cheyenne Depot Museum, WikiCommons

Alethea: You would have a long journey with much to see! From the towering buildings of New York, to the Tenement Museum there, to the plains of Kansas and the Orphan Train Complex, and on to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to the refurbished old Union Pacific train station, the Cheyenne Depot Museum, you could ride the trains west as the orphans did and immerse yourself in the past.

Tara: That actually sounds like a good idea! A more personal question. What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?

Alethea: I wanted to be published! I wrote seven books over a period of twenty years, and in the last two years I have had five of them published under two different pseudonyms. I have two more to go plus new work. One of the two older manuscripts has been rejected many, many times but I haven’t given up hope of seeing it in print one of these days.

Bob.

Tara: I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Alethea: At one time my husband and I had four dogs, two cats, and a parrot. All are gone now except Amazon parrot Bob, who has been with me more than 30 years. Maybe one day when I have more room, I will think about getting another dog.

Tara: Alethea (I love that name, by the way), thanks so much for being here today. I wish you the best of luck with your book and those yet unpublished manuscripts you mentioned above. I'm so glad you're achieving your dreams. :)

***

Alethea's Bio:

Western history has been the great interest of my adult life. I've lived in Wyoming, Colorado, and Oregon. Although an amateur historian, I am happiest researching different times and places in the historical West. And while staying true to history, I try not to let the facts overwhelm my stories. Story always comes first in my novels, and plot arises from the relationships between my characters. I'm always open to reader response to my writing.
Website: http://aletheawilliams.weebly.com/
Blog: http://www.actuallyalethea.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AletheaWilliams.author
Google+: google.com/+AletheaWilliams
Twitter: @ActuallyAlethea https://twitter.com/actuallyalethea
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5753104.Alethea_Williams
LinkedIn: http://lnkd.in/by89znA
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Alethea-Williams/e/B0077CD2HW/ The Romance Reviews author page: http://www.theromancereviews.com/ActuallyAlethea

And for those of you interested in purchasing her books...