Author Archives: Jennifer Shirk

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

On Writing: Music to Get You in the Mood

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Hi, all!  Jennifer here.

In case you ever wondered, I do create a musical playlist for every book I write. It’s one of the first things I do when I begin plotting. It helps me get a certain sense of the tone for my book–meaning, setting, my characters motivations or backgrounds and even how they fall in love.

Will they fall in love quick and cute or more thoughtful and deep? All that kind of depends on the music I choose.

I have a music app called NAPSTER (formerly, Rhapsody). There I can discover new music and if I think it’s a good fit, I’ll add it to my playlist. Sometimes I knowingly search for certain songs because of titles that go with scenes in the book.

In my book, Fiancé by Fate, I knew I had to add “Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder (because my heroine is extremely superstitious) and “Boston” by Kenny Chesney because the story takes place a majority of the time in Boston. 🙂

For the new book I’m working on, I happened to find a lot of WONDERFUL music while watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. The music is a little deep and emotional, but I feel it fits the mood, particularly with my hero. (He has a traumatic past.)

Here are a few songs that made the cut on my recent book playlist.

I hope you check out them out, because they’re my personal favs:

  1. “All We Are” by Matt Nathanson
  2. “Belong” by Cary Brothers
  3. “Echo” by Jason Walker

Until next month, happy reading (and listening)!

Jennifer

PS. If you’re on Facebook, my friend, Leigh Fleming – Author has a new release coming up!
Stop by April 4th (today!) for giveaways and excerpts! I’ll be there 6:15-7pm EST (giving away autographed books and a fun bookworm coffee mug!)

 

 

 

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

Freebie Friday!

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Hi, all! Jennifer here!

Guess what? It’s Freebie Friday on our Facebook group page!

Through Heart-Shaped Glasses

 
Have you joined yet? We chat books, life, men, food, movies–whatever!
 
Sometimes we even do giveaways. 

Today I’m giving away ONE free ebook (winner’s choice) from a list of 5 books in my TBR pile.
Answer the question I ask and be entered to win! (Easy peasy)

Here are the list of choices you’ll have if you win:

My little Facebook disclaimer: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. By entering, Entrants agree to a complete release of Facebook.

Giveaway runs until tonight 11:59PM (EST)
Good luck!

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

How Do I Find Books to add to my TBR List?

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Hi, all! Jennifer here!

Lately I’ve been seeing some great questions posed on social media. But one in particular really had me thinking about what I read, when, and how.

Are you on GOODREADS? Well, if you aren’t you’re missing out on a great way to organize books you see. Especially if you want to read it but need to put on the back-burner because of time–or the fact that you already have a stack of books to read!

But anyway, after some careful thinking and analyzing, I can now share with you my process.

How I Find Books to Add to My TBR List

  1. Goodreads  When I check into Goodreads, I see lists of books my friends have read and reviewed. If I see a 4 or 5 star review with major gushing in their review, I automatically add that book to my TBR list.
  2. Instagram and Facebook Ads  Well, believe it or not this is true. If I happen to see eye-catching ad, I will click on the link. If I read the blurb and the books sounds interesting, yes, I will either buy it or add to my TBR list.
  3. Recommendations from my Critique Group We obviously don’t just talk writing. We talk books as well. And we usually check in and share what we’re reading. If a CP looks a particular book, I will definitely add it my list.
  4. Amazon  Yes, I’m one of those people who comb the best-seller charts. If it has a good rating, a good price, and the blurb interests me, I will buy it or add to my TBR list to see what the hype is about.
  5. Award Winners  I’m one of those readers who actually DO pay attention to award-winning books or even RITA nominated books. Again, if the blurb interests me, I will add it.
  6. Bookbub  Well, sometimes there is a sale on a book I’ve had my eye on, but sometimes if the cover and blurb look good, I might just snatch a new book up and add to my TBR pile for the heck of it.

Anyway, that’s how I find books I want to read.

What’s your method? How do you find books to add to your TBR list?

Do you use your library? Bloggers? Twitter?

I’m interested to know!

Until next time,

Jennifer 🙂

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

Top FIVE Reads of 2016

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Hi, all! Jennifer here.

Are you on Goodreads? I love it because it categorizes all my books, what I’ve read and what I plan to read. For someone who functions on organization, it’s a must. And it also helps me set up reading goals for 2017–which is 45 books, by the way. 🙂

As I was setting up my reading plan for the new year, it made me take a look back at what I read throughout 2016.  There were so many great books!

It was hard to narrow down–a few romances, a few “chick-lit”, and a non fiction–but I’d like to share my

TOP FIVE READS OF 2016:

  1. ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes  (Actually, my FAVORITE read of all)
  2. TO THE MOON AND BACK by Jill Mansell
  3. THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne
  4. NIGHT by Elie Wiesel
  5. IF YOU ONLY KNEW by Kristan Higgins

Looking forward to more great books in 2017!

What was your favorite book (or books) you read last year? Have you read any of the ones I listed?

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

My Obsession with Hallmark Christmas Movies

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Hi, all! Jennifer here.hallmark

Well, we are officially now into the “Christmas season”, which means decorating for the holidays, shopping, wrapping, making cookies, reading Christmas books, and of course (my personal favorite): watching Hallmark Christmas movies!

Yes, HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES. you might even say I’ve been a bit obsessed with them. 🙂

Why? They are the ultimate feel-good kind of comfort people like me like to wrap themselves into this time of year. It’s a time and place where love always wins, people are more important than money or things, kindness can never be overdone, and memories are to be made and cherished. A good part of that is why I read romance novels too. Because in a world where there is nastiness, sorrow, pain, and ugliness, these vehicles are the perfect escape and the perfect reminder that there is a lot of good in the world too.

My FAVS (so far) this year have been:

  1. The Mistletoe Promise (I liked it so much, I bought the book!)
  2. A December Bride (will buy this book too)
  3. Fir Crazy
  4. Snow Bride
  5. Debbie Macomber’s Trading Christmas
  6. Love Always, Santa
  7. The Christmas Ornament
  8. A Very Merry Mix-Up
  9. Best Christmas Party Ever
  10. Family For Christmas

It should also be mentioned that my husband is a huge fan of “A Grandpa for Christmas”. 🙂

I haven’t had time to watch them all, but rest assured that I have been taping them and will slowly make my way through all of them by the end of the month. (I may even have to re-watch a few of them in January!)

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday season in whatever way you like!

Do you love/watch Hallmark Christmas movies too? What is your favorite one?

 

wrrmsmallAlso, if you love Hallmark Christmas movies, don’t forget to pick up my new Christmas sweet romance  which releases tomorrow, December 5th!

WRONG BROTHER, RIGHT MATCH

Matchmaking guru Kennedy Pepperdine’s life is perfect. Perfect job. Perfect friends. Perfect boyfriend. Except…when she gets trapped in an elevator with a handsome stranger, she accidentally confesses a secret: maybe her perfect boyfriend, Justin, isn’t so perfect for her after all. But a matchmaker should be able to successfully match herself, right? Thankfully, she’ll never see the handsome stranger again. Until she heads home with Justin for the holidays and learns that the sexy stranger is none other than Justin’s older brother, Matt.

Matt Ellis is trying to be on his best behavior for his mother—it is Christmas, after all. But when he recognizes the beautiful woman from the elevator—the one he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about for months—his best behavior is being held by a thread. Matt’s always sacrificed for his family, and nothing is more important than their happiness, but the more time he spends around Kennedy, the more he wonders if her supposed “right match” might just be the wrong brother.

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

How to Save an Author

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Hi, all! Jennifer here.save-an-author

I’m here with a friendly service reminder to all you book lovers out there and that is THIS:

Write a review.

You’ll save an author.

Wha?? Yes, it’s true. Book reviewers are just as important to authors than buying and reading their books. Why? Well, here are a few reasons:

  • Around 20-25 reviews, Amazon starts including the book in “also bought” and “you might like” lists. This increases your chances of someone finding your title.
  • Around 50-70 reviews, Amazon looks at your book for spotlight positions and the newsletter. This is IMPORTANT.
  • Number of reviews may affect Amazon sales ranking.
  • Some websites will not consider or promote your book unless you have a number of reviews on the page
  • And, of course, readers may read through your reviews and decide to purchase or not purchase the book based on this.
  • The book market is extremely competitive and extra reviews might tip the scale for another reader to purchase a book or not

But what does all this mean, really, for an author and how does it save them?

If people are reading books but not reviewing then an author can’t compete and earn an income. Unfortunately, if that happens then an author will have to decide if a writing career is truly viable for them or not if they don’t have support to help them.

Now you might be thinking, “But Jennifer, I don’t know HOW to write a review or WHAT to write for a review.”

No problem! The talented author Nancy Herkness has written a step-by-step guide on HOW to write reviews on Amazon which will take you only a minute or two and WHAT to write. It really is that easy. Check them out!

So give it a try. You might just save an author. 🙂

Are you intimidated to write a (good or bad) review for an author?

About Jennifer Shirk

Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. Check out her latest sweet romance: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

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