Splendid Summer Reading and Loving Amazon by Mary Matthews
During the long days of childhood summer, I rode my bike to the library to check out books every week. My Dad insisted that I ride my bike. Okay, now I agree with him that it’s good to get physical and mental exercise. And, no, it’s not more fun to go to work instead of summer camp.:)
From biking miles for a print book, to pushing a button on my Kindle and downloading a book in under a minute, one thing hasn’t changed: I love being transported by a good book. Ebooks and print books are different ways of taking the same journey to another world.
I love Amazon because it’s connected writers and readers in a way never before possible. And if you read my blog, www.splendidsummer.com , you know I’m patriotic. Part of Amazon’s beauty is it’s inherently American. We’ve always been a country without barriers. Amazon offers equal distribution online for all. You can be an independent writer or a publishing house and have the same opportunity to distribute your book on Amazon.
I adore my Kindle. On Kindle, we can read classics for free. If we find an author we like, we can download all her books immediately. And, I suppose we could easily read on Kindle while riding a stationary bike. My Dad would approve:) It might be even be fun to have a Kindle attachment that measures pulse rate. Wouldn’t it be cool to know if an awesome suspense novel could raise your pulse?
But that doesn’t mean a print book can’t still catch my eye:) Ebooks and print books can both deliver a great story. After I wrote Splendid Summer, I couldn’t wait to return to its 1920s world of glamour and mystery. So, I wrote Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts.
In Splendid Summer, the Roaring Twenties are rocking again. Magical White Cat Tatania helps her human operatives solve mysteries without missing a nap. When Grace Wentworth loses her last living relative and all her money, hot Detective and WWI Aviator Jack Brewster gets the case. Grace is learning to lead her own life instead of just following it around. Startled by Grace’s lack of deference to him, Jack recognizes his romantic equal.
Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts is about a secret code. And when a special collection of emeralds, diamonds, and amethysts disappears, Magical White Cat Tatania will direct her human operatives, romantic Roaring Twenties Detectives Grace Wentworth and Jack Brewster to its location without missing a nap. The Roaring Twenties rock again while Grace and Jack romp through another adventure.
I’m going to give away Kindle copies of Splendid Summer and Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts and a $15.00 Amazon gift card to one commenter. Tell me about the most recent book you liked. And did you read it in ebook or print book format? I wish you all splendid summer reading!
June 24th, 2012 at 7:35 am
I love my Kindle, even if the 3G connection is wobbly (at best) i never thought i’d give up the grek of a book, but i find myself buying more and more ebooks and paper only when i want to collect the series.
My latest *oh i loved it* book was Embrace me at Dawn by Shayla Black, i’ve waited for Anka and Lucan’s HEA for sooooo long, but it was worth waiting for =)
best wishes & Happy Sunday! //Linda
June 24th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
The most recent book that I loved was Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch and I read it in print form. I love the ease of downloading books to my kindle, but I still prefer to read print books. I find myself reading my ebooks on my iPhone more than my Kindle, because I always have it with me.
I have many fond memories of riding my bike to the library for my weekly haul of books when I was a child. Reading certainly kept me occupied all summer.
June 24th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
The most recent book I read was Barefoot Summer by Susan Mallery. This book was so emotinal and heart warming as only Susan can write.. It was in print, but I have also been buying a lot of e-books.. but I have a load of print books on my tbr shelf.. I don’t think I could ever give them up…even though I love my kindle.
June 25th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
I recently read and really enjoyed Lily by Patricia Gaffney. She was a new to me author and I am so glad to have discovered her books. It was in ebook and a re-issue of her backlist. I still read both ebooks and print books. Sometimes if a book becomes a keeper I may have a copy of each even. One thing that I am liking about ebooks is that many authors are re-releasing older releases. Some of these books I would never have discovered or would not have been able to buy because they are out of print. Wishing you a great reading week.
June 25th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
I love hearing about good books from other readers. Thank you! The winner is Linda. Please send an email to splendidsummer@aol.com with your information so I can send the books and Amazon gift card to you:) Wishing everyone a great summer!
June 25th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
I like most books I pick up to read or I wouldn’t bother. The last book I loved was The Last Boyfriend – book 2 in the Inn Boonsboro trilogy – by Nora Roberts. It was a print copy.
Most books I read for review are ebooks – I have a Nook.
I still love curling up with a good book and feeling it in my hands. Not the same when holding a Nook.
Sounds like an interesting book – look forward to reading it.
Thanks for sharing.
June 27th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Congrats Linda..
June 27th, 2012 at 11:14 am
When I was a kid, the libraries where too far away to walk or ride bikes. But, we did have a monthly Bookmobile making stops at our school even in the summertime. So I could get books all summer long…which was good. I loved Trixie Beldon stories. Never read Nancy Drew.
I love my Kindle Fire. I just got it the end of February and I don’t know what I ever did without it before. That said, I still have about 900 print books on my TBR shelves waiting their turn in hand. I’m reading ‘A Night Like This’ by Julia Quinn in print right now. But I just finished ‘Dancing Naked in Dixie’ by Lauren Clark on my Kindle. Lauren is a new-to-me author and I loved her new book. I met her during her recent blog book tour and when I won her contest of an Amazon GC, she also gifted me with an ecopy of her first book ‘Stay Tuned’…which also sounds pretty good.
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