Beyond The Lavender Keeper Reading Map

We did it! Jo and I continually advocate for (intra and interlibrary) collaboration and staff development in reader services as a result of our research project. To support Fiona McIntosh as touring author for Get Reading! to three Queensland libraries, five of us got together to create the Beyond The Lavender Keeper Reading Map. It's available online now through our libraries and on our blogs. View it online or download the pdf to print.
I think the Get Reading! guide online should have a link to Trove like we have the catalogue links so that people could see if their libraries have each book. 
You can download the first chapter of The Lavender Keeper to read via GR! 

Thanks so much Sally Pewhairangi (Waimakariri Libraries), Jo Beazley (Toowoomba Regional Libraries), Louise Pieper (Gold Coast Libraries) and Tina Cavanough (Moreton Bay Region Libraries). I enjoyed working with you all, and I hope your communities love the reading map!

We collaborated on Googledrive and email.

 I've also added the books to our library's GoodReads account so there is another way to  discover the titles. 

My favourite story so far was Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper. The quote I used perfectly encapsulated the story and the theme of betrayal for me: 'The pair of them huddled together and Dolly listened as Vivien said, 'Go to the railway station and buy yourself a ticket. Get on that train and ride it all the way to the end of the line. Don't look back.' '

I love these comments about our previous reading map:

(Cath Sheard) Wow! I love what you and Alison have created. It’s informative and visually exciting. 

(Paul Brown) ..There is even a Trans-Tasman partnership happening at the moment between a New Zealand and an Australian librarian in the construction of a highly visual and engaging Reading Map.

Are you one of the many who have enjoyed The Lavender Keeper and its sequel The French Promise? Are you inspired to go beyond these with our map? Happy reading!

Romance fiction genre challenge: 1

Romance fiction titles

I've been invited to join a romance fiction genre challenge, except it doesn't start until next year (I misread that part of the email..). So I'm just highlighting a few titles I've already read this year and starting to think about the challenge.

I have always enjoyed character driven stories, but it wasn't until I was challenged last year to read some Mills and Boon titles that I discovered romance fiction. I hadn't avoided them on purpose, just they hadn't come up in my unstructured book discovery methods before. 

So I read a few M & Bs, then I learned we had a local author of same (the lovely Barbara Hannay) so I read a few of hers and then went to her book launch of her first Penguin - Zoe's Muster. I started to be more attune to romance fiction conversations so that was how I was led to another Australian writer, Rachael Treasure. I discovered Nicholas Sparks' books from first seeing The Notebook on DVD.  His stories make me cry every time! 

So many people in our community loved The Lavender Keeper and were keen for its sequel The French Promise. When we booked Fiona McIntosh for a guest author visit I thought I'd read these popular titles. Loved TLK!  I did mention the unstructured book discovery... 

Important things to know about the romance genre - 'the focus of the story must be on the romantic relationship between the two main protagonists, and there must be a happily optimistic ending.' (Mosley & Charles, 2012)*

'Romantic elements' is the other style - when 'romance plays a significant part in the story, though it is not necessarily the central plot.' (RWA, 2012). **

So, next year the challenge begins...
Before then, check out the Australian Romance Readers Association http://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/index.html and a guide to the subgenres from the Romance Writers of Australia http://www.romanceaustralia.com/romgenres.html. 

* Mosley, S. & Charles, J. (15 February, 2012). Readers Advisory Rx Romance. Booklist Online. http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=5336832

** Romance Writers of Australia. (2012). Romance genres. http://www.romanceaustralia.com/romgenres.html.