I’m excited to announce that I will be taking part in the 6th annual Bookstore Romance Day, with a signing on Saturday, August 17th from 1-3pm at Author’s Note bookstore in Medina, NY!
August 17th will always hold a special day in my heart, as it was the day my mother was born. She instilled in me a love of books – memories of sitting on her lap while she read me my favorite stories (like Mary Ann’s Mud Day by Janice May Udry) are still so vivid, I can almost hear the turning of the pages and her voice as she’d point at each picture and trace over the words. She would sit for me for hours and we’d draw our own stories (her stick figures were legendary) and from her, I learned how to keep space in life for creativity and play.
My mom grew up in Batavia, NY – a small town/city not far from Medina. In her words, she’d joke that an exciting Friday night was “walking down to Main Street and watching the trucks drive by.” If that was the action in Batavia, I can only imagine the pace of life in the village of Medina back then! I think she’d be delighted to see its cool little Main Street, thriving business district, and how it’s become a charming destination. It’s now one of my favorite day-trip towns, anchored by its amazing little bookstore owned by Julie Berry, an author herself. Be still my heart!
I’m thrilled Author’s Note asked me to represent romance on Bookstore Romance Day, a day designed to give independent bookstores an opportunity to celebrate Romance fiction—its books, readers, and writers. And I am doubly-thrilled it lands on my Mother’s special day, when I can celebrate her, too. I wish she were here to walk down Main Street and see something more exciting than the trucks going by – to see her daughter following her dreams, one book-signing at a time.
Although I wrote Louder Than Love way before I discovered Medina, its fictional small town of Lauder Lake is packed with all the same things I love about Medina: a walking town with interesting old houses, a surprising variety of great restaurants, funky boutique hotels, hidden-away places for cocktails and at least one coffee shop for friends to gather – this list goes on! While its not on a train line into New York City like my fictional town, it’s on the Erie Canal Bike Trail, which brings visitors to mingle with its residents and fill its businesses, especially in the nice weather months. And Julie’s bookstore – with its curated collection of books on just about every subject and in every genre, its monthly book clubs and regular author events, and its friendly staff – also draws people and checks boxes on my “happy place” list.
If you are in the area – or anywhere near Buffalo, Rochester, Batavia and towns in between – I hope you will come be a part of this special day!
If you are further afield, check out the list of bookstores around the country participating in Bookstore Romance day.