Hi ,

I recently watched Jessica at Peace Love Books XO cull her extensive book collection, most of which is romance. Normally, when I unhaul books, they go to the library (sometimes to pay my fine) or a charity shop. There was a time when I'd list them on Amazon, but I'd found that fiction didn't sell as well and it was such a hassle to package and ship books. In her video, Jessica mentioned an app called Pango Books. It's probably something you already know about, but it was new to me. 

If you don't know, Pango Books is an app from which you can sell your used books. Snap a picture, provide details about the condition, set a price, and then wait. If the book sells, the app digitally delivers a postage label for you to print. Just put the book in a bubble envelope, add the label, and put in the mail. It sounds so much easier than selling on Amazon. 

Have you used this app? I'd love to hear your experience with it. 

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Are you a JR Ward fan and participate in bookish discussions online (e.g. Booktok, Goodreads, etc)? She's accepting applications for an ambassador program. I've read many (20??) of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books. I'd say the first 8 or 10 were my favorites. They're not for the faint of heart. They are dark and sometimes sad (😭Wellsie...for those who know). 

Passionflix is about to release a series based on book one, Dark Lover. (You can watch the trailer here). I'm pretty excited about this because I loved the books, but I'm scared too. It sucks when the books don't capture the essence of the story or characters. Right off the bat, I don't like the look of Rhage. His nickname is "Hollywood" because he's so handsome, and while the actor is handsome, the hair is odd (IMO). 

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I recently saw some hub-bub when an author admitted to "killing a dog" in her book, and when two readers said that would be problematic for them, the author made fun of dog lovers. 

I remember years ago hearing from authors (these were mystery authors) that you shouldn't kill a dog (or any pet) in a book because readers don't like it. That rule has always stayed with me, so I was surprised when I got a negative comment in a review of Deadly Valentine for not resolving the issue with Tess' dog. However, if you read the book, you know she didn't have a dog. She had a fish named Buster. 

Knowing that I was going to...SPOILER ALERT...burn her house down and thinking readers wouldn't like the fish to perish in a fire, I arranged a situation in which the neighbor kid took Buster for show-and-tell at school. 

The reader is right though, in that I've never resolved the issue with Buster. Tess never went back to get him. But I imagine that neighbor kid is taking good care of Buster! 🐟

I have read some books in which an animal dies and I watched John Wick. In these situations, the death of the animal was hard, but important to the plot. Personally, I don't think I could write the death of an animal. I don't have a pet at the moment (we've had cats in the past), but they are a part of the family. 

What are your thoughts on the demise of animals/pets in books?

Oh, I learned about another resource from this exchange called Doesthedogdie.com, which lists all sorts of trigger warnings for books, movies, TV, and games. 

A warning I've long thought movies needed was "ends badly." I can't tell you how many movies I've watched that I wasn't expecting to end the way they did. Pay It Forward and City of Angels are two of them. 

Great Romance Deals in KU

Have you been enjoying the free and KU books I've been sharing lately?