Last Week:

It was a fun week at our house for spring break. See pictures above! 🌊 🍦 🌅 🚣‍♀️ 🎨 🐚

I didn’t get much reading done and that was just fine. There *was* an episode where I may have accidentally lost my book in the ocean 🤦🏻‍♀️.

I ended the week with my favorite event of the year – Literary Orange at the Newport Beach Marriott!

This was my third year attending and as usual it was sold out and attended by world class authors from Alan Brennert to Martha Hall Kelly. It was a wonderful event, professionally staffed and organized with a diverse selection of authors and moderators.

So let me paint a picture…

The day starts early with registration at 8am and I was there early, feeling good and ready to start the day with Tara Conklin as the first keynote speaker.

I picked up my badge and raffle ticket and stopped by the ladies room. And that’s when it happened. I turned around to put my coffee on the ledge when the lid popped off and fell into the toilet and drenched me in my triple shot zebra mocha. The walls and floor were painted up both sides, my sandals were soaked and sticky and I wanted to cry. I had just gotten there and now I’m faced with smelling like coffee all day and my pants and shirt are stiffening.

It does feel like that sometime, that I’m 40-something and why does sh*t like this still happen on days when I’m feeling good and “in control“. I get the irony and the humor, but still.

So I pulled myself together, soaked my pants and shirt with water and started mopping my ankles and feet. All the older ladies that came in gasped at the mess and tried to be sympathetic. It was sweet when the cleaning lady offered me her windex. If I had been wearing anything else but black pants and tee shirt, I would have had to go to a store and get new clothes! So… it could have been worse.

The best parts of the day was listening to Tara Conklin (The Last Romantics) and Martha Hall Kelly (Lost Roses, and meeting Wade Rouse, aka Viola Shipman (The Recipe Box). Allie Rowbottom (The Jello Girls) was fascinating as she described her research and all the family skeletons. Ann Mah also spoke about food and family and wine and her latest novel (The Lost Vintage).I enjoyed hearing all the authors speak, so much talent and creativity. AND I didn’t buy any new books!

DNF – Did Not Finish

Adorable cover. Re-release of a 2011 title by the much loved Jenny Colgan. (Why do they promote books like they’re new?) 🤔

Sad to say my first book by this author was a flop. I was only slightly curious to see what would happen to Issy’s plans to open her cafe and her romance with Graeme but at about 25% in, the book introduced someone named Austin, presumably her competing love interest ? I was just flipping pages at that point. 1 star for the book and 1 Star for the recipes.

Blog News

Check out 4️⃣ new posts last week…

Followers: 207

Currently Reading:

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline

Trophy Life by Lea Geller

The Week Ahead:

On Saturday I’ll be attending a Historical Fiction Brunch and Author Panel with: Marie Benedict, Kate Quinn and Kristina McMorris with Moderator Susan Meissner

What about you? How was your week? What are you most looking forward to?

Love, Jaymi

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