When A Review Means Something

Hi all! Good to be back here again today. I've been trying to post since around 4am this morning, but my wireless signal strength is about as effective as dial-up. It evidently felt Blogger stretched it's capabilities today. Apologies.

I must say, I’ve returned from Hawaii and find that life is chaos. It seems no matter how much I accomplish in one day, my head’s still in the sand, my lungs are full of salty-air, and my to-do list triples daily.

But before I left, I mentioned Misunderstanding Mason was coming out on the 31st. It released. Unfortunately, that day, I was swimming in the cove to the left. So I missed a lot of promotion pushes.

It did, however, garner interest and the first two reviews that I’ve received have both been 5-Star reviews. I found though, that while both were beautiful reviews, both were professional, and both significantly pleased me, one seems to have given me a tad more ‘warm-fuzzy’ than the other. So I started thinking about why… and I’ve learned something about myself.

Reviews are part of the process. Good, bad, indifferent – an author recognizes he/she cannot please everyone and there’s a level of expectation about that “terrible review”. Occasionally there’s one that really impacts us, or that we remember.

For me, the review by someone who’s not read me before, and finds my work pleasing, is the review that impacts me the most.

“Claire Ashgrove is a new author to me, but you can better believe I am going to get better acquainted with more of her work real soon!” ~ The Romance Reviews (I cannot computer generate the reviewer’s name with special characters)

That statement is why I write. Not because that’s a compliment to me, though I certainly appreciate it. But because one person has been impacted by my writing, who had not read me before.

I remember strictly as a reader, discovering a new author and that thrill of “Oh wow!” There’s a special feeling about that discovery that even overrides the comfort of reading a book by a favorite author. It’s exciting. It’s fulfilling. Kinda like romance, itself, and falling in love with another person.

I write romance. I want readers to fall in love with the heroes and heroines that I create and the trials that they must overcome. If I can generate a reaction like the above, I have done that, and I have fulfilled my responsibility as a writer. My chore is to then continue to meet that readers expectations with each and every book I produce.

I keep remarks like that in the forefront of my mind when I write. I am conscious of my reader, not just the story I want to tell. That’s my job… for without readers… I’m writing into outer space.

So what about you? What’s it like to discover a new author? What’s it like for you authors to hear remarks like that? For reviewers – are you aware that mentioning something similar can totally make an author’s day?

Curious to your thoughts.

If you’d like to hear more about Misunderstanding Mason, I’m going to be posting a new excerpt on my website over the weekend, replacing the short excerpt with a longer, first-chapter cut. Stop on by and check it out!

~Claire
http://www.claireashgrove.com/

Simplicity of Romance

One of the things that I like about romance is the fact it is timeless and can happen to any one of us, not just the larger-than-life heroes and heroines we create as romance authors. We don't need to be wealthy, we don't need to be ready to tackle demons, we don't need to be damsels in distress. We can be ourselves and still experience ourselves.

Which is a concept that got me thinking, and put me at a place where I wanted to write a normal romance. Not too much baggage, no dark secrets bogging the hero and heroine down, just an everyday experience.

So I did some more thinking, and used a bit of my former life experiences to put together an idea. I used to work for a gaming company, designing games. Let me tell you... people who love (truly love) computers are some of the most normal people you can find. Sometimes they can be flat-out boring. And, I don't know a computer gamer who isn't addicted to his or her work, to the point that the world can go by and they won't be aware until they're left looking after it.

Which took me to Mason, and my contemporary novella that releases TOMORROW! -- Misunderstanding Mason.


While Mason wouldn't be on the cover of Cosmopolitan or even Forbes, he's successful and respected in his own circle. Kirstin's always been behind her man, always seen the hero that her computer graphic designer man is.... Until... a little bit of real life gets in their way.





Sometimes the most vivid pictures go unseen...

When Kirstin Jones agreed to work with her live-in boyfriend, Mason, on a free-lance job for a wealthy client, she never thought it might destroy their relationship. But the client’s keen observations show her that she’s been little more than Mason’s shadow. Fed up with his insensitivities, she moves out. Weeks later, desperate to stand on her own, she accepts work with the same client once again. Only this time, the project requires Mason’s help. To obtain his aid, she must meet his terms. And what he wants is more than she can afford

Mason Montgomery is baffled by Kirstin’s claims that he never had time for her. While verbalizing his emotions has never been his strong point, he’s spent five years showing his love. He needs Kirstin more than he wants to admit. When she leaves him, he’ll stop at nothing to get her back, even if it means working with the client who twisted truths and tore his life apart.


I hope those of you who can appreciate the simplicity of love, will stop and check out Misunderstanding Mason. And for those of you who've ever had a misunderstanding with your loved one, and know how troublesome those can be, this is definitely a story you can relate to!

See you all next month!

~Claire
http://www.claireashgrove.com/