Tag: Books

Friday Face-Off: Font Fun

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: A Standout Font

To be honest, nothing immediately came to mind for this concept…but I did just read a rather awful collection of short stories inspired by Oz, and rather than looking up covers for that I decided to go look at covers from the original: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.  Sure enough, there were many, many covers, and some had pretty cool fonts.

I really like the font on this one, and how the green picks up the Emerald City.  Too bad I don’t like the art style at all, especially the characters’ proportions and the lion on his hind legs.  I know he walked upright in the movie, but this doesn’t really evoke that, and just feels very off!

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Font Fun” →

Catching-Up + A Small Favor Request

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

So it’s been a little quiet around here recently…! I put Accompaniment out, and got promptly distracted by the rest of life. Good things going on, but I’m hoping to get back to a more regular schedule around here too. I’ve been reading a lot with a few books I hope to review soon, and I’m moving ahead with a couple new writing projects: I’m putting together a companion book of essays and bonus material to my Guardian series that I plan to put out in 2021, not to mention finishing up the final edits for Book 3, due out in December!

In another fun thing, my book cover from Nocturne is up for Cover of the Month at AllAuthor. The public gets to vote on best covers to move it up through the elimination rounds, so if you can take a moment to go cast a vote I’d love that!

Here’s the link to the voting page. It’s possible to vote at first without creating an account, though eventually that option will go away. Whatever you can do to help boost my cover will be so appreciated! And I’ll be sure to tell you if I win 😉

Blog Hop: First Impressions

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop3 Comments

book-blogger-hop-final

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: What draws you in more: the book’s title, the book’s cover, or the summary on the back cover?

This is an interesting and slightly shifting question – when I used to find most of my books by browsing the library, I would have seen the title first.  Most books are on the shelves so only their spines show, meaning it’s only the title that led me to pick it up and look at the cover and summary.

When I was getting most of my book reading ideas from reading book blogs, I feel like it was the summary, or what the bloggers said about the book, that drew me in.  I don’t recall focusing on titles or covers as much when I was reading blog posts.

Most recently I’ve been reading lots of books off my To Be Read list, which mostly got there because I heard about a particular book…somehow.  A lot were suggestions that weren’t ultimately chosen at my book club, some (non-fiction, mostly) were referenced by other books, some are recommended by friends or someone I know online.  So in all those cases, it’s mostly something about the plot (which would be in the summary) that led me into reading them.

Ultimately it is mostly the summary that gets me to actually read a book – even when I was browsing, I’d look at a title, then a cover, then the summary.  Though frequently I’d only read half a summary before making a decision – I really wanted it to hook me immediately!

What draws you to read a book?  The title, the cover, the summary, or even something else?

Launch Day: Accompaniment (Guardian of the Opera 2)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Novel News5 Comments

I’m excited to announce that my new book is now out!  Accompaniment, Book Two in my Guardian of the Opera trilogy, released today and you can order your copy  now.

Pick your preferred format:

Hardback ($35.99)
Paperback ($14.49)
Kindle ($6.99)

I’m so happy to share this new book with you!  Stay tuned for the launch presentation video I’ll be putting up this weekend with more details.  For now, here’s just a little more about the story:

After the crash of the chandelier and the disappearance of the powerful Comte de Chagny, Erik’s refuge behind the mask of the Phantom of the Opera has grown more dangerous. Commissaire Mifroid has vowed to hunt him down, in whatever depths of the Opera Garnier he hides. Grieving the departure of Christine Daaé, Erik finds it hard to care about the policeman’s threat, and a slowly growing friendship with Meg Giry seems like only a minor distraction.

When Christine left Paris, Meg thought the hole in her life could never be filled. It only makes it worse that she’s known far too much as “Christine’s friend.” But conversations with the Phantom and flirtations with a handsome gentleman in the Dance Foyer mean the chance to seek a new role—and to stop feeling like a secondary character in her own life.

Blog Hop: So Many Books – Where Was the Time?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop3 Comments

book-blogger-hop-final

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:   Do you look at your shelves and stacks of books and wonder how you have ever read so many books?

I don’t wonder precisely that, but I guess I do wonder similar things.  I get most of my books from the library, so I know that the books on my own personal shelves (700 or so) are only a fraction of the total books I’ve read.  I’ve read daily for as long as I can remember, so the total number doesn’t feel shockingly high to me.  Or maybe it’s just that I’ve done enough math to get used to the idea.

Since I feel like I rarely buy books, I do sometimes wonder how I amassed as many as I own!  Some I’ve had for twenty years, though, and there have been some notable trips to library book sales that brought home a dozen books, so I guess it’s added up over time.

I also sometimes wonder how I would ever have time to reread all the books I own, if I wanted to, because there are so many other new books in the world.  I feel vaguely as though I reread most beloved books every several years, but mathematically, it would probably take me five years of nothing but rereading to get through my collection…so, yeah, there are some books I’ve owned and not reread for a long time!  But perhaps someday – that’s why I bought them, after all.

Does it sometimes surprise you how many books you’ve read, or how many you own?