Wow, what a week it's been. The Lucky Charm was released on Sunday, and this week has been such an amazing whirlwind of support and love. So much love, actually, that I can't even really process it all.
I've been reading romance since I was about 14 years old, and about ten years ago, became more involved in the online romance publishing community. I've seen a lot of authors debut, both traditionally and self-published, and so I tempered my expectations. First books aren't usually very good. I knew mine had its own share of issues, and expected okay reviews--if I got reviews at all.
Plain and simple, the number of books being released these days is staggering. As a debut author, it is extremely difficult to stand out from the crowd enough to even garner a handful of reviews from readers and bloggers, so again I set my expectations low.
But the truth is, even if I hadn't set my expectations so low, I still would have been blown away by this week.
Jane from Dear Author, one of my favorite review blogs and I'd say, probably one of the more influential and popular romance review sites out there, loved The Lucky Charm. She pimped it all week on Goodreads and twitter, even going as far as to give away five copies. Today, her Recommended Read review for The Lucky Charm went up and it was about as amazing as I could have dreamed it would be.
Sometimes you write for years (in this case, three), and you just pray that all that blood, sweat and tears that you put into the work will show--that the points you wanted to make with the book will come across clearly. That people will "get" your book. And Jane's review demonstrated just how much she "got" The Lucky Charm. It was a great, great moment for me.
Jane also did the incredible thing of suggesting that other bloggers and reviewers she knew read The Lucky Charm. Mandi from Smexy Books read it and loved it too, posting a 4 star review on her blog. Jane also convinced Angela James, Editorial Director for Carina Press, to read the book and she enjoyed it too.
Angel Lawson, a longtime friend and supporter, back even from when I wrote fanfiction, posted a wonderful blog about the book. It was so great to go back to memory lane and remember what we'd gone through at Comic-Con. I will never forget the look on her face when, after being awake for about 48 hours in a row, standing up in the heat, they announced that David Boreanaz wasn't going to make it to the Bones panel after all.
I can't possibly list all the wonderful supporters and reviews I've had for The Lucky Charm. I wish I could. But each and every one, I held close to my heart and cried a little.
Writing a novel and publishing it has been a dream of mine for pretty much my entire life. I was almost afraid to actually do it because what if it failed? How would I handle that kind of crushing, self-annihilating defeat? Everyone around me had so much faith that I could do it, and it was their belief that pushed me forward and helped me achieve all this. A writer is only as good as their support system.
So if you read and enjoyed The Lucky Charm, THANK YOU. You made this week one of the best in my entire life.
And if you haven't, well, what are you waiting for? :)
Buy the The Lucky Charm:
Or if you're not ready to buy just yet, add it to your to-be-read pile on Goodreads!
PS: The paperback copy of The Lucky Charm is almost ready for order! I received the proof this week and am working my way through it to make sure it's perfect for everyone that wants a paper copy. And Sam from AngstyG did a beautiful job on it!