November 25, 2012

Romancing the Book from Washington with Jen



Romancing the Book
Hi!  My name is Jen and I’m the owner of Romancing the Book, which is based in Spokane, Washington.  I am excited to be here today to tell you a little about my blog and my state.
Romancing the Book (link to http://romancing-the-book.com) is a site devoted to promoting romance and erotica novels and their authors.   We have an active and growing review staff and we’re currently posting about 30 reviews each week.  And we also host several (3-4) authors each week.  With every guest, we have contests and there are always other books being given away in reviews or just because I’m in a generous mood.
The blog started back in 2008 when one of my best friends emailed me and said “I think we should start a blog about books.”  I had no clue what was involved in blogging and in those early days, we wrote a bunch of crappy reviews about books that we were currently reading.  About 6 months into our experiment, we decided that we actually wanted some readers and decided to see about having a few authors write guest blogs or interview with us and from there we never looked back.  We used to feature all genres, but as my blog partner fell to the background, we started focusing on romance since that’s my preferred reading.  We started picking up reviewers and in February 2011, Romancing the Book became what you see today.
Now on to my state…. I’m not a native Washingtonian.  In fact, I grew up as a military brat living in Italy (where I was born), Pennsylvania, Texas, Germany, Tennessee and North Carolina (where I graduated high school and met my blog partner) before moving to Washington.  You see, my dad retired from the Army the same year I graduated and the whole family decided to move to Washington since my mother’s family is from the area. 
Did I mention that I live on the eastern half of the state near the Idaho border?  See, most people when they think of Washington, they think of Seattle.  They don’t even realize that 300 miles east is the city of Spokane, where I live.  To get there, you cross mountains, rolling farm lands, and even a desert… and for those Twilight fans who know all about Forks, there is even a rain forest a stone throw away from that little (and I mean little) town.  Who knew?  I sure didn’t until I drove across the state for the first time on my way to college in Seattle.
But as an avid reader and blogger, the thing that strikes me as a Spokanite is that we’re often overlooked when it comes to book signings.  *sigh*  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten to meet and greet with a few authors who either live in the area (Linda Lael Miller and Brooke Moss) or those who graciously make the trek across the state (Jane Porter, Debbie Macomber, Susan Elizabeth Phillips).  But these opportunities are often far and few between.
But the joy of working on a blog is “meeting” so many authors and readers.  Sure, it’s not face to face, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
I have a copy of Brooke Moss’s most recent release, The Carny, she signed for me to give away .  So, I’m going to give it away to one lucky commenter.  However, due to shipping costs, I can only ship within US and Canada.

27 comments:

  1. I have to agree with you that most of us think only of Seattle or Mercer Island when we think of Washington state. I loved your description of your state and its many varied and unique places.
    I knew that Linda Lael Miller had moved to Washington a few years back and that she has a real love for the state.
    Great blog.

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  2. I had never heard of Spokane, Washington. I also live in a tiny town where book signings are few and far between. Usually it's of unknown authors.
    Tonya
    author_tonya_calliahn@hotmail.com

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  3. Jen, thanks for telling us about your bookstore. I'd love to come and do a book signing. I live on the west of the mountains but I've enjoyed my visits to Spokane. When my husband was working in Idaho,I not only passed through, but we occasionally came down and went to the theater or one year, he ran in the Bloomsday. That hill! Best of luck to Romancing the Book. I love indie bookstores.

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  4. Hi Jen: Washington is a beautiful state, although I've only been on the West coast. My son lives in Idaho, so if the Eastern side is as beautiful as ID, then it's a definite winner among the 50. Lucky you, being an Indie bookstore owner, and staying strong. I wish you lots of luck and success. I'm passing on participating in your drawing only because I'm more a mystery, intrigue, and horror reader.

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  5. Welcome to everyone who has stopped by this week! I'll try to pop in and answer any questions you may have.

    One quick point of clarification. I don't have a bookstore. I run a online blog. So I can't organize a signing. But if anyone is interested in a promotion on Romancing the Book, I can be reached at promo.bookblog@gmail.com. We're booking dates in January now.

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  6. Very nice posting Jen and nice promotion of RtB.

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  7. I have never met any writers before even though I love to read so I envy you! :)

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  8. Great post. Thanks for reminding us how much there is to Washington. I have spent very little time there but would love to see more.
    debby236 at gmail dot com

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  9. I enjoy your Romancing the Book blog and it was fun to learn a little bit more about you and where you live in Washington. I've only been to Yakima (once years ago), but I remember it as a lovely spot.

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  10. Thanks Jen for telling us more about yourself. I really love being able to be a reviewer for RtB. Your a really great woman to work.

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  11. Thanks for a fun post! I love RtB and I feel like I haunt it daily :)

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  12. Hi Jen -

    Thanks for your easy link to the post here!

    Thanks for letting us know about Brooke's book The Carny! How wonderful that it's set in Oregon and I can't wait to read about Vincent since he's a Native American. I'm actually related to Pocahontes because John Rolfe is one of my ancestors.

    Thanks for giving your folloers the wonderful opportunity to win a copy of The Carny!

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  13. I enjoy visiting your blog and seeing your latest reviews and author interviews.
    mce1011 AT aol DOT com

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  14. I am terrible with geography but even I know that Washington state is a big state. I come from a small state so I do know the difference! Thanks for the giveaway. And the laugh! jepebATverizonDOTnet

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  15. I love RtB. I try to check it out as often as I can and enjoy the great variety of authors & books highlighted.
    manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com

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  16. Great post, Thx for the great giveaway.

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  17. Posting 30 reviews a week is very impressive. I got some great images from this post thank you.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  18. I used to teach in Washington and I agree with you about the amazing change in geography across your beautiful state. Thanks for sharing more about your blog and author opportunities!

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  19. I have family out Spokane (unfortunely, none of them are avid readers like myself & others are)...
    Thanks for sharing the great post.

    BeckeywhiteATgmailDOTcom

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  20. Thanks for the lesson on Washington. I was never good with geography. I would love to visit your state and see some of the wonder things you describe. I love to meet with other readers and authors too.

    Patti
    Musicalfrog at comcast.net

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  21. Very Interesting, I really enjoyed reading more about you Jen!

    Crystal

    MinDaf @ AOL.Com

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  22. Hey Jen - came over her to visit via RtB - Thanks for the intro I'll be back to visit. I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, but I'd love to get to visit there - seems to have a lot of booklovers!

    sallans d at yahoo dot com

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  23. Wow you have been very lucky to live and travel to so many different places. I have only left the great state of Texas twice in the last 10 years and they were not for fun.

    Thanks so much!
    mmafsmith AT gmail DOT com

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  24. One of my "bucket list" items is to visit every state in the US...don't know if I'll ever do it all but I've gotten to 8 states so far (some of them only for a day or two but I'm counting them). I've been to the Seattle area of Washington and the weather was really beautiful--- I hope to visit there again!
    ivegotmail8889(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  25. Thanks for sharing your story. I've heard of Spokane.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  26. A huge thanks for everyone who came by! Our contest winner is Jeanne M. An email is on it's way to her on how to claim her prize.

    Jen

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  27. I like your bookstore and your blog. I've always wanted to visit Washington State. I hear it's beautiful, and I've certainly heard of Spokane.

    carolyn4books@aol.com

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