Reviewing with the Coffee Crew!

Let’s talk about being a reviewer for Coffee Time Romance for a moment.  First, it’s a lot of hard work.  There are deadlines to meet, forms to fill out and databases to keep updated, all while emailing the authors and telling them that their marvelous books have been reviewed and that the reviews are now live. 

Then, there’s the crackpot staff.  I am never bored with Karen/neLynne, Mary, Brenda or Regina.  And it is always fun to scare the new members/reviewers by telling them that I never ask permission when I lean over to bite them, but that Karen/neLynne told me I could nuzzle up to them sweetly as long as I behaved.

I did recently try to change policy about things in house.  When asked for suggestions (like the monthly CTRR award) I gave Karen the suggestion that we have Coffee Time Coke Parties. SOme of those boks are horrendous to read and an eightball would do the trick..and I won’t forget having Karen/neLynne look up a new word..*snicker*

Oh, and I forgot to mention that one of our reviewers is a figment of Karen’s imagination! 

For some reason they seem to like me.  At least that’s what I’m told *g* 

But the books, that’s why we’re here, right?  The wonderful huge amount of books we go through as reviewers in a month would astound some of the most fanatical readers!  These ladies (and this one man) work their sexy little butts off for something they love.  That is power.  As much crap as I give them, they’re certainly a great group to work with, even if I scare some of them by being one of the very few male romance writers, let alone reviewers!

What do “I” get out of all this?  Why, books, of course!  Free books help me as a writer, let me kill time as a reader and just enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor.  I am entertained by what I get to read and sometimes very turned on.  I’d like to spotlight some books but I’m on a tight schedule with my author self, so I’ll skip that for now. 

Being a male romance reviewer gives me a chance to see what the markets look like and how they change.  It gives me a chance to get to know (forcefully) other authors I’d never pick up because sadly, I do not read as much as I should for my craft.  All in all, it’s a fun thing J