Jane > Recent Status Updates

Hmmm. I'm back, cautiously. 2023 was a year when I worked really, really hard, and my conclusion is that it wasn't good for me. More reading, more walking, more gardening is what I need.

Oh well played, Ms Moyes. Didn't see that coming.

Launch day.

Tomorrow, Monday March 7, I'm holding a Facebook launch party from 1 to 3 pm EST for Lady Odelia's Secret. There will, of course, be giveaways, including a $20 Amazon gift card. I hope you're OK with me dropping the link: here!

I'm going to DNF this as I clearly need to look for a better ebook. Balzac's French is a bit convoluted at the best of times, but in this version it seems to verge into illegibility a little too often.

The UK version of this novel is called Eudora Honeysett is Quite Well, Thank You. In these global days, changing a book's title for a different market is, frankly, a bit daft.

I laughed when I got an email from Goodreads asking me to set my 2020 reading goal. It was like the first thing I did when I turned on my computer...

Happy new reading year to all my Goodreads friends. It's fun to watch all the 2020 challenge posts come in.

I don't like it when authors friend me on GR and then send me promo messages about their book...especially when it's in a genre I never buy. It's so 2012.

Pulled right into this story, although I'm surprised by the ghostly angle.

Just to point out that I'm reading the enhanced ebook edition. I previously listened to the series on audiobook, but reading it is somehow a far more immersive and enthralling experience. GRRM is a master of world-building.

ANACHRONISM OF THE WEEK (/month/year):

CHAPTER THIRTY
December 1831
Through the window of his grandfather's Victorian--one of the more prominent homes in the area--Stanton could see...

In case it needs explaining: 1) the Victorian era began in 1837 2) even if we were in the Victorian era, a character would not identify a house as a "Victorian".

This is why I self-publish. I have more self-respect than this.

I was just looking at a new book by an author who writes just the kind of book I like, and wondering whether I should buy it.

So I went to the Amazon buy page.

Kindle price: $25

I'm already hesitating over her other books, for which the Kindle price is around $10. Oh well, off to BookBub to follow her and hope for a promo!

Question: do you think you review a book more harshly if it already has a lot of negative reviews? (Whether or not its overall rating is high.) Do you think you review a book more generously if it already has a lot of positive reviews?

Heads up NetGalley reviewers! Lady Helena Investigates is now available as a READ NOW title. The lady sleuth trope meets Downton Abbey in 1881 Sussex...

I got the MS of Lady Helena Investigates back from the editor and it looks like I can hit my goal of pre-order and eARCs out mid-February, actual release mid-March.

So if any of you active reviewers would like a review copy, you've got a week or so to apply. I'll also be putting the ARC on NetGalley, I hope (kind of scrambling here trying to get everything done).

Better NetGalley link for The House of Closed Doors

Because I don't read instructions/was too excited about finally having a book on NetGalley

I'm planning to put my new first in series up too as soon as I have an eARC, so watch out for that.

Now you know I don't often post author stuff but I know how many of you love your NetGalley swag! The House of Closed Doors boxed set is up on the Kobo co-op page this month in some good-looking company.

According to Goodreads, The Tale of Peter Rabbit is similar to Mrs. Gaskell's Wives and Daughters.
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HOW????

GR is going to begin charging authors big $$$ to do giveaways on the site, so I'll be moving my giveaways elsewhere. I'd just like to point out that The House of Closed Doors is FREE worldwide on all ebook platforms, and that if you sign up for my newsletter at www.janesteen.com/insider you'll hear all about giveaways and price promos on other books. Sorry about the infomercial but GR has kind of forced my hand.

So here's the dilemma. Inferno provided me with material for the best review I ever wrote. But can I put myself through the pain of reading DB's latest in the hope I'll be similarly inspired?

Send love, guys. I'm almost done with sorting out my parents' house and am feeling overwhelmed with all the things I want to do, including getting on with my current WIP. What I crave most is reading time--peace and quiet!--but I seem to have less of that every year. I literally haven't had a vacation since 2015; moving to the UK and eldercare issues have dominated 2016 and, so far, 2017.

I'd really like to get my review mojo back.

I've found my Reading Fiction Mojo again! I mean, I never stopped reading fiction (and non-fiction) over the last year with the international move trauma, but I wasn't eager for it. I'm pretty sure I've been suffering from depression, and who could blame me? But now I'm licking my lips over NetGalley, helped by giving up reviewing for a publication so I can now read what I damn well please.

The first chapter may have scarred me for life.

I read a piece online recently that calculated how many books you can actually read in your lifetime.
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I need another lifetime.

I love the way Defoe starts out by saying that back in the plague year they didn't have newspapers, in pretty much the same tone someone my age talks about the days before the internet and cellphones. You sometimes get reviews where historical fiction fans bash the author for sounding too modern--well, some of the original historical sources sound pretty modern too!

I've been filling in reviews from 2009 and 2010, when I was posting on a long-abandoned blog--a task I've been meaning to do since about 2011. Back in those days I was on Goodreads but didn't understand it at all, so I didn't review here that often. My efforts have revealed I posted my very first online review on July 5, 2009. That seems a long time ago.

This is what happens when you're left to wait in a library for a few minutes. I've been wanting to read this one, which is about the life of the poor of Rye.