Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Just a quick note....

AS YOU WISH came out yesterday. Thank you so much for all the support, the reviews, the visits, the cajoling, the cheers, the woots, the opportunities, the shoulders, the friendly ears, and the love. For all that writing is a solitary endeavor, it really can't be done without, well, you.

So, thank you.

--Gabi
Books I'm reading now:
Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase

Friday, April 22, 2011

Brenda Novak's Auction

I know I've mentioned my book's tie in with Best Buddies International, but I couldn't let May arrive without mentioning the granddaddy of all romance related do-gooding. Brenda Novak holds and annual auction for Juvenile Diabetes. This year she has over 2000 items for sale and bidding. Go check it out today.

http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com

--Gabi
P.S. AS YOU WISH comes out next week, April 26 !!!!
Books I'm reading now:
Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase
Lord of Scundrels by Loretta Chase

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Glom

Today I went out to get the latest Harry Potter movie on DVD, and then I watched it. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it when I saw it in the theaters when it came out. The only problem was that it ended and I have to wait until July for the continuation of the story.

I have never been one to glom a series. I end up watching or reading all the ones I'm interested in, but order or immediacy never mattered to me. Good thing too, because my book that comes out in ten days (AS YOU WISH) is only the second in a trilogy. The first came out in April of last year (THE WISH LIST), and the last doesn't come out until March of 2012 (WISHFUL THINKING). I enjoyed the frustration and growing anticipation of waiting for each Harry Potter book to come out and to a (much) lesser degree, the movies (Let's face it--the books are so much better than the movies, although the movies are good). But lately I've been on a glom kick.

I started watching Bones over spring break (March), and I've now finished watching all five completed seasons. I've enjoyed the characters arcs that grow and become apparent as you follow the seasons. But on the other hand, the errors become more glaring as well. Nevertheless, it was fun to have something to concentrate on. I also picked up the Twelve Houses series by Sharon Shin. What fun to be able to read one after the other of these books. But these two gloms have pointed out the major drawbacks of a glom.

When you find something you like and then finish them all, you're setting yourself up for a letdown. When no more is left to a series, you have to leave it after you've become used to a certain style, humor, story, etc. And suddenly you need to find something new, but you've become so accustomed to whatever it was that you've become accustomed to that the new can be difficult to enjoy. At least that's my experience.

So I'm hoping that you won't mind that there's been a bit of a break between THE WISH LIST and AS YOU WISH, and that there will be another between AS YOU WISH and WISHFUL THINKING. Sometimes too much of a good thing isn't a good thing.

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Taken by the Prince by Christina Dodd

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Trading Cards

The newest thing in romance are trading cards. If you're at the RT convention (and, no, I will not mention how jealous I am), you've probably seen them. If you're attending the RWA conference in New York this June, you'll see them there, and if you're going to RomCon in Denver in August, you'll find them there also. While I'll only be attending RomCon (and the Moonlight and Magnolias Conference in Atlanta at the end of September), I have trading cards.



Isn't he delectable?
And this is the back...with the stats:




So if you aren't going to RomCon or Moonlight and Magnolias and want one of my cards, you can send an SASE to me, Gabi Stevens, P.O. Box 20958, Albuquerque, NM 87154-0958, and I'll be happy to send you one. Just be warned. I don't get to my box daily, but I will check for your envelope more than my usual once a month. :)

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Perfect Murder by Brenda Novak
The Man who Knew Too Much by G.K. Chesterton

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Very Special Post

We are less than a month away to the release of AS YOU WISH. I’m sure by now, if you follow me, you’ve heard me talk about the magic, the hero and heroine; I’ve shown you the cover, the arcs, told you about the contests, and pretty much have shared my excitement about the upcoming release. Now I want to tell you about my author’s note.

In AS YOU WISH, I have two special characters, Tommy and Joy. They are bakers. And Tommy has Down syndrome, and Joy has...well, Joy is just Joy. My heroine, Reggie, has set up a bakery for her two friends. Reggie runs the business aspect of the endeavor and supervises her friends. And they are her friends first and foremost. Tommy and Joy have a real talent for baking. It doesn’t hurt that they have magic too, but I strove to keep them realistic. I came to love these two characters. Good thing too, because, you see, my daughter was the inspiration for them.

Like Joy, my daughter doesn’t have a specific diagnosis, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. She is who she is. We celebrate her accomplishments, fight for her rights, and simply enjoy her for who she is. I don’t want to make us seem like some ideal family—we fight, and she has those terrible teenage hormones and can give us attitude like any other kid. In fact she is more normal than not in many ways. And that’s what we focus on—all the many things she can do. She thrives on her independence, loves to sing (horribly off key—she inherited my husband’s singing voice), plays a wicked Wii game, makes her own lunches for school, and bakes the family brownies. Give her rules and instruction, and she can do almost anything. The hardest part of her life is getting other kids to accept her for who she is.

Did you know that fifty-four percent of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) never receive a phone call from a friend in their lifetimes?

When I first heard this stat, it shocked me, but didn’t surprise me. I know the loneliness my own daughter suffers from. Until she hit high school There she joined a group dedicated to breaking down the barriers society sees for people with IDD. Best Buddies International is a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing one-on-one friendships for people with IDD. They have groups in schools, colleges, communities, and even in the business world. You can find out more about them at www.BestBuddies.org. Because of Best Buddies™, my daughter receives texts on her cell phone, attends dances, goes out to eat, and has made friends who don’t judge her or look to help her. They are just friends.

So I’ve decided to support Best Buddies™ with more than just the words here. For the next five years, I pledge ten percent of my royalties from AS YOU WISH to Best Buddies™. That’s what my author’s note says. It explains my reasons, and talks about Tommy and Joy, and my own joy, my daughter. I hope you will support me in my endeavor, and besides, you’ll get a good read in the meantime. At least I think so.

--Gabi

Books I’m reading now:
Destined for an Early Grave by JeanieneFrost

Giveaway!!






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As You Wish by Gabi Stevens






As You Wish




by Gabi Stevens






Giveaway ends April 13, 2011.



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