2007 Readers And Author Get Together

May 2007

Many Romance Readers are eagerly awaiting June 1st to descend on Cincinnati, Ohio for a weekend of fun, prizes, mingling with authors, meeting online friends, and much more. It is time for the 3rd Annual Lori Foster and Dianne Castell Reader and Author Get Together.

Below is a picture of the 2006 Attending Authors.

When they first conceived of this event, author Lori Foster, author Dianne Castell, and bookseller Linda Keller would never have believed that by the third event, there would be over 120 attendees, over 48 being authors. In addition to making this a readers' event of interacting with authors and fellow readers, Lori and Dianne have worked hard at making this an attractive event for published and unpublished authors. This year, two editors and two author agents will be attending, and attendees may sign up for a limited number of appointments with them - at no additional cost.

Perhaps the greatest part of the weekend is the fundraising efforts that take place. These fundraisers are taken in a variety of manners.

First is the unbelievable book signing organized by Linda Keller, Community Relations Manager of the West Chester Barnes and Noble. Linda is well respected in the Romance community. She was the 2006 Central Ohio Fiction Writers Bookseller of the Year, and is a past president of her local RWA chapter. A portion of the sales from the book signing is donated to the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women's Shelter. Also, tables groan under the weight of all the baskets that are donated for prizes. In 2006, a check for $2,675 was given to the shelter.

Anther important fundraiser during the weekend is for the Troop Project. This year, in addition to collecting goods to send to the troops and having some baskets available for prizes, Lori has worked with Samhain Publishing to have a cookbook published with recipes collected from "over 90 authors and a handful of dedicated readers" (Quoted from Lori). The Write Ingredients will be available at the event. For those not attending, it will be available on SamhainPublishing.com, Amazon.com, and anywhere books are sold.

For 2008, twelve attending authors have written an anthology titled The Power of Love which will be published by Berkley and will benefit the shelter. As you can see, this event just grows each year. Attendees come from as far as Alaska. Perhaps farther.

"Lori, Dianne and Linda depend on the help of some phenomenal volunteers." (Again, quoting Lori!) Several people who attend each year automatically sign up for their volunteer slots year after year. If that is not a sign of how important this weekend is to so many people, I don't know what is.

From modest expectations of hoping to attract 35 attendees, The Readers and Author Get Together is now one of the hottest romance novel genre events each year. This year's event will be held on June 1 and 2. Registration is open through May 19th. You can access the Registration information on LoriFoster.com

If you can't make it this year, mark your calendar for June 6-8, 2008. Hope to see you then!

Welcome

I truly enjoy sharing my love of reading. This site was started to allow me to share some of my favorite books. I hope that if you look around and find that you agree with some of my selections (see my reviews), that you will return and hopefully find new authors. I plan on having periodic "Recommended Reads" lists that will include books I recommend, as well as suggestions by visitors to this site. I will also keep you up-to-date on different upcoming events, special offers, etc.

As you look around, I'm still learning my way around HTML, etc. If you see any errors, typos, please e-mail me.

My Personal Disclaimer

Boy Meets Girl, They Fall in Love, and the two of them live Happily Ever After. This is the content for any book I believe is a true Romance Genre novel. The books that I recommend, or have reviews posted for will follow that format, unless I note otherwise. Granted we may know the outcome of a Romance Genre Novel, but it is the journey the characters take that is the reason we read these books. The Happily Ever After doesn't mean they're all vampires... Just means that the future is open to them, even if it is set 500 years in the past - we don't need to know their final chapter in life. At times I have have Recommend Reads by visitors to this site - I cannot guarantee that they meet my criteria for a Romance Genre Novel.