COMING LATE TO THE PARTY!

by

Charlene Newsletter Banner2  Sometimes in life, I come late to the party.  I haven’t ever attended a Harry Potter event. Nope,not me.  Everyone has told me how great the books are and how much fun the movies are, but frankly, I never found the time or had the inclination to read the books or see the movies.  Might I say, I believe all of you! 

The same thing happened with Twilight. No way, would I read a story about a vampire family.  But guess what, long after the first Twilight movie came out, my friend literally stuck the book in my face and told me to read it. I wouldn’t be disappointed.  Guess what?  I read the book and spent the next two weeks, buying or borrowing the rest of the series.  I came late to the party with Twilight, but I am so glad I did. I read every word of the series and was first in line at the box office when the movies came out.  Had to see Edward and Bella’s HEA, didn’t I?outlander 2

Now, there’s this book called Outlander.  I’d heard wonderful things about the story, and my friends would tell me not to let the page count (coming in at 866 pages) daunt me. It’s a fast read, they said.  But I never attended the page party for Outlander either.  Where would I find time to read such a long book?  And only because I’m on Twitter and Facebook, did I hear about the new Outlander series for television, did I finally attend a celebration.  Oh, and did I mention that when OUTLANDER, the first book of Diana Gabaldon’s AMAZING series hit the cable screens, it was the most talked about event on Twitter for the entire day?   What can I say about the first episode…LOVED IT!! It’s right up my alley.  Time travel,  action, adventure, conflict, conflict, conflict and the most uncanny kind of love triangle I’ve ever seen. I swear to you, I watched the first five minutes the other night and knew in my heart that OUTLANDER was a beautiful work of art. The writing is fantastic.  To think, I met Diana Gabaldon once. We traveled to a Romance Writer’s Convention on the same plane, years ago and I really was clueless as to her work and talent.  Silly me, late to the party again.

I have to give props to the actors too. Claire, brilliantly played by Caitriona Balfe has a hauntingly beautiful voice and onscreen persona.  She was perfectly cast as the feisty heroine.  Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan was captivating as the very dashing, hunky Scottish hero.  He’s  swoonable, ladies.

Here’s a brief synopsis taken right off the Amazon pages.outlander-master675 - Copy Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another… In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon—when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord…1743. Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire’s destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life …and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire…and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

So tell me have you ever come late to the party?  Have you ever discovered joy in something you’d previously decided against?   Have you read Outlander? And the other books in the series?  Did you watch the premiere of Outlander on television and what did you think?  

While, I’m praising Diana Gabaldon’s wonderful book, I like to remind you that my newest release REDEEMING THE CEO COWBOY is available now on Amazon and all other online and retail bookstores!  Here’s a very nice 4 **** REVIEW and ranking below and I’m happy to say that readers are enjoying the story. Is 8 your lucky number?  It may just be mine!
AMAZON 

 

Redeeming banner

Website |  + posts

Charlene Sands is a USA Today Bestselling Author of 35 novels, writing both western and contemporary romance. She's a lover of all things romantic, especially her bold, rugged, heartstopping "real good men" heroes! She's the recepient of the National Readers' Choice Award, the Bookseller's Best Award and the Cataromance Reviwer's Choice Award. When not writing, she spends time with her "hero" husband, enjoying Pacific Beaches and drinking iced mocha cappucinos!

Charlene loves to hear from her readers.
Drop her a line at www.charlenesands.com or write her at PO. Box 4883, West Hills, CA 91308
"LIKE" her at www.Facebook.com/CharleneSandsbooks

18 thoughts on “COMING LATE TO THE PARTY!”

  1. I have never read any of the books you mentioned. I saw the first Harry Potter and twilight movies and neither did much for me. So, I didn’t pursue the rest. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that I came “late to the party” for (but I am sure there is something).

    • Janine, the Harry Potter series is really brilliant the way Rowling weaves that story through so many books.
      But I will admit, during the search for the Horcruxes. (I looked up that spelling) I did some MAJOR SKIMMING.

    • Hi Janine – They say usually the movies don’t come close to the books in terms of understanding motivation, and getting into the character’s heads. I find this to be true, most movies disappoint, if I’ve read the book first. And I thought of one more Late to the Party…Breaking Bad. I JUST started watching it on NetFlix. The story content is something I’d never be interested in, but the writing and acting is fantastic and I find myself hooked because of the compelling characters.

  2. I have not read Outlander or any of the other books.. But I will watch the series when it comes out. It does not come to Canadian TV until August 24th. I will be away, but I am set up my PVR to tape it so I can watch it when I come home.

  3. I’ve read the Harry Potter series but not the others and here’s the thing……….

    I’m kind of a compulsive reader. Like if I find a series I become obsessed and I…stay up too late at night, let the husband starve, refuse to shower…stuff like that.

    And I know this about myself. So I deliberately avoid these types of books.

    And when I DON’T I usually end up exhausted and don’t get my own writing done and I’m pretty sure I feel brain cells dying from lack of sleep and heaven knows I don’t have any to spare.

    EXAMPLE…about two years ago some FRIEND (HAH!) convinced me to read the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.
    I absolutely loved every word and read about 16 books in two months to get up to the current release. A new book comes out in TWO WEEKS. I LOVE REACHER!!!

    And some other friend (sneaky people) goaded me into reading Harry Bosch, about a sixteen book series, too. Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles homicide detective. New book in the series coming in October.

    Same thing happened with Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, American Assassin series.
    Brad Thor
    Janet Evanovich
    Sue Grafton

    It’s like….if I could just start at the beginning and go along for the ‘one book released per year’ ride it’d be fine, but OH NO! Someone starts raving about how great Outlander is and it’s SEVEN BOOKS EACH CLOSE TO A THOUSAND WORDS LONG!

    Well, I’d love to read it. I’ve heard they are just brilliant and beautifully written.

    But so far self-preservation (and book deadlines) have kept me away.

    I possibly need a 12 Step Program for reading. Is there one of those? And if there is, can I go there and try to sell my books?

    • Oh Mary- you hit the nail on the head! I think that’s why I’ve refused to be sucked into many books, because I’m afraid I won’t have time for anything else. I did come late to the party with Janet Evanovich too, back when I was reading print only books, and I begged, borrowed or bought all of her books, up to like 10, and went crazy reading them in a short span of time. I’ve read up to 13, and then stopped, enough already! It takes a lot of discipline to keep focused on our own writing, when there’s so much reading out there to distract us. I just starting reading Kristin Higgins, and she’s got a backlist too, but I had to stop cold turkey, so I could meet my deadlines!

  4. I know what you mean. I still have never read a Harry Potter or watched the movies. But I do tend to love books and movies that are trilogies and such. I crave to know what happens to their lives! I seriously have to watch Outlander now! It sounds so Fantastic! I just hope it ends happy. I’m one of those hopeless romantics hahha.

  5. Hi Cori – I’m a hopeless romantic too, but I don’t think we’ll know the ending of Outlander very soon. There are seven books, and I read that each book will be an entire season. At least, that was my take on it, when I did research. So…who knows? I’m not sure the book series has ended yet.

  6. I have not read Outlander, the Harry Potter books, or the Twilight series, so I guess I am missing the party! 🙂 So many books, so little time!!!

  7. Hi Britney – Oh so right. There’s so many books on my TBR pile on my Kindle, it’s sort of crazy. I wish I had 10X the time I have now to read. A lot of my reading is done for research too.

  8. You are not the only one late to the party on the Twilight Series Because it was quite some time before I read them because vampires are just not my thing but I did finaly read the series and really enjoyed it. Harry Potter I was kind of forsed into watching the movies by my son but never read the books. Lets face it there is just to much other good reading out there and not enough time to read them all.

  9. Hi Charlene, I do like vampires but haven’t done Twilight yet, neither books nor movies. I am on vacation right now and purposely reading, reading, reading. All my deadlines have been met and I need to decompress. Three suspenses so far, and now non fiction The Plantagenets. It’s actually not a snore LOL. I have Outlander waiting in the DVR at home, and I can’t wait to see it. I read the book years and years ago and wasn’t crazy about a married woman hooking up with somebody else. No matter the time travel LOL. So I am eager to revisit! Love the post and your thoughts today xox.

  11. Hi Quilt Lady – I have to agree, I didn’t think I would like a vampire story, my own bias, but then the characters seemed so normal, except that they survived on blood. But they went to school, father was a doctor, etc, etc. That’s why I liked it so much, I think…if they were the cliche vampires, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed reading the books!

  12. Oh Tanya – I think you’ll love the series on TV. It’s done so well and it’s beautiful to watch. It’s partially told in narrative by heroine, and the writing is amazing. I will one day read all the books, but not now, I’m too busy trying to write my own.

    Enjoy your reading time!!

  13. Like you I had not read OUTLANDER. I have had the books for years, but figured I would never make it through all those pages and get anything else done. I di start the book last week so I could be ahead of the series. I much prefer to read the book before seeing the screen adaptation. Surprisingly, it is a quick read. I am finding it will need a second read through to get the nuances. The book if wonderful. I love her writing style and the story. Her descriptive writing really make you feel you are there. My husband and I do not watch many premium or strictly cable channels and were unaware of how lenient regulations are as to content. We watched Highlander together and his first comment was “They can’t show that on TV.” I was paying more attention to the scenery and the music as well as seeing how close they came to the book.
    I was a children’s librarian during the HARRY POTTER and TWILIGHT years. I read all the books in both series and saw the movies. I had a wonderful group of drama students at the local high school that helped me put on movie events. The students “playing” Snape and the “father” of the vampire family did an excellent job. It was great fun. It is a small town, and the library is just 3 short blocks from the theater. At all the movies, we had an event at the library then walked to the movie premier, in costume, and continued to carry on the show while in line. Luckily everyone was tolerant, because most of the kids continued on during the movie.
    The TWILIGHT series is OK, but not nearly as well written as the HARRY POTTER series. The POTTER movies were also much better.
    As far as coming late to the party, I didn’t start reading romance until I was in my 50’s. Too busy with family, moves, and life in general. I am enjoying them now. My favorites, medieval Highland stories (yeah OUTLANDER) and Westerns, hence my enjoyment of Petticoats and Pistols.

    I am enjoying your books and look forward to many more. Do try to take some time to read OUTLANDER. The problem, however, will be stopping yourself from reading right through the series.

Comments are closed.