Guest Post by Errin Stevens
Warm Weather, Lighter Reads
Something about spring trips a switch in my head every year, where the heavy, introspective stories that compel me in fall and winter start to feel suffocating. Of course, I live in Minnesota, where it’s so blasted cold for four months, you have to focus on indoor activities or you’ll freeze your katushy off.
By March/April, though, I can’t care any longer about all those deep explications on the human condition, or even dredge up meaningful interest in anything too serious. A new atrocity in the Middle East, you say? Global warming will kill us all by 2020? Gosh, that’s awful. Why don’t you tell me about it while I whip up a nice batch of cookies for us over here. And when’s the last time you watched the movie “Splash?”
Basically, if I’ve got a Faulkner or Anne Dillard tome on my nightstand in May, you can bet it’ll stay there untouched and unloved until next November. Maybe longer.
But I think it’s good for us to turn off the news and coldness when we can, to come into the light and reach for relief, because (and here comes my main rationalization for fluffy reading) eating only hardship makes us morbid and anxious, until all we feel is unhappiness and all we do in the world is breed more unhappiness, which is unhelpful on pretty much every front that counts. We also deny ourselves the kind of intercourse that makes us whole and capable, where we indulge in silliness or quirks or flights of imagination that cause others to smile and hope, help us all go out there and do what needs doing to pay the mortgage and care for the kids.
Which means we need a full spectrum of stories to muse over, including those with covers of half-fainting heroines at the mercy of some delicious-looking lover. Such ridiculousness soothes. It transports us to problems that are either gripping or not, but not truly consequential, and certainly not our own.
So here’s the question: What does a UV-deprived, shivering northerner read when she wants to let the sunshine in? I confess the series I’ve written, The Mer Chronicles, was motivated by this kind of need for diversion, but my novels are for others to peruse. For my own getaways, I’ve found tons of books that hit a particular note I like – not too heavy, not harmful, perfectly engaging. Here are a few I recommend, ranging from sweet to sexy… and they all do the trick.
- “What I Did for Love” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
- “Tender Rebel” and “Gentle Rogue” by Johanna Lindsey
- “Blue-Eyed Devil” by Lisa Kleypas
- “Dreams of a Dark Warrior” by Kresley Cole
- “The Next Best Thing” by Jennifer Weiner
- “Blackmoore: A Proper Romance” by Julianne Donaldson
- “Passion” by Lisa Valdez
What do you read to get away from it all? Leave your ideas in the comment section below, please!
What if joining your lover's world
meant leaving your own?
meant leaving your own?
UPDRIFT
Errin Stevens
Series: The Mer Chronicles: Book 1
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Publication Date: November 2, 2015
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Publication Date: November 2, 2015
What if joining your lover's world meant leaving your own?
Kate will have to look hard at her man to determine what is real, what is illusion, and how, if ever, she can get back home.
Kate will have to look hard at her man to determine what is real, what is illusion, and how, if ever, she can get back home.
Ever since her father died, Kate Sweeting’s home life has been in the pits, her well being on life support. Her future looks desolate, too, until she and her mother make another plan: abandon their shriveled existence for more promising prospects on the coast, where Mom can play small-town librarian/bachelorette, and Kate can figure out what’s up with that secretive Blake family from the beach.
Everyone is eerily captivated with Kate and her mother, and Cara is the first to figure out why when the man of her dreams arrives all dripping and devoted and closed-mouthed about what he intends. Kate is willing to go along with their subterfuge for a while, but eventually makes a charge for the water to learn what her mother is hiding. Gabe Blake is there waiting for her… and so is someone considerably less friendly. By the time Kate navigates her way home, everything will have changed for her – what she feels, what she wants, and what she will risk to be with the man she loves.
"Best mermaid book I have EVER read? Updrift by Errin Stevens."
- Ben Alderson, voted leading vlogger by Teen Vogue and The Guardian
- Ben Alderson, voted leading vlogger by Teen Vogue and The Guardian
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"Stevens is a treasure to be found in today's cluttered literary market."
- Peachy Keen Reviews
- Peachy Keen Reviews
Other Books by the Author
Be sure to also check out Book 2 of The Mer Chronicles.
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BREAKWATER
Series: The Mer Chronicles Book 2
Breakwater continues the story of Updrift focusing on other characters. The narrative follows the lives and loves of a group of sirens in the fictional town of Griffins Bay, North Carolina.
"If you are a fan of Mermaids and Mythical creatures, UPDRIFT and BREAKWATER need to be a must read for you. I promise you will enjoy them, and grow attached to the characters, just like I have."
- Tracy Thomas, blogger/owner of The Pages In Between |
Giveaway
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Contest runs from May 22 - June 3, 2017.
About Errin Stevens
Errin Stevens writes paranormal suspense/romance from her home in Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and son. When not wrestling with unruly narrative – or reading everything from mythology to contemporary romance to literary novels – you’ll find her swooning over seed catalogs (winter), or digging in the garden (the other three days of the year). Visit her blog site at http://errinstevens.com for release updates and random essays on writing and mothering.
Official website: http://errinstevens.com
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