It's been a long time...

 It's been a really long time since we (I) posted. 

I have been on a reading sabbatical for several years now, but try to hop in on some of my absolute favorite authors when I feel called to. 

The reason for this is, when I quit smoking, reading was a heavy trigger for me and I was too busy trying to work on my physical (that 5k didn't want me), then spiritual side. I couldn't bring myself to pick up a book and just read straight through. It was actually quite frustrating at first. Being an avid reader of over 100 +, even 200+ books a year, I felt like I was missing out on so much, but still couldn't focus on the reading. I was getting my intellectual stimulation from classes, like becoming a Reiki master, pendulum user, crystal and sound healing, Qi gong, and currently holistic health and wellness and holistic weight loss coaching. 

We then lost one of our dear (Lasalle) sisters in September 2021, Iza Matei. 

I will never forget her, even though we never got to meet in person. She was form Romania, I am from the Midwest in the USA. She was a big influence in my reading life, but mostly my blogging life. 

Author interviews with her and setting up posts was such fun when we first started this journey over at The Dirty Book Girls Book Blog. Unfortunately, due to life, we got a little separated and I lost the love of those fun interviews and blogging and reading.

 RIP Iza, you're not with all the greats like Anne Rice and Betty White, tell them I say hello. 

I am starting to round things out and actually come back to the physical side, especially with proceeding with the online Holistic Health & Wellness & Weight Loss Coaching, but I am also finding my love for reading again. 

I may have gone a little overboard these last few weeks with reading 20 books in 18 days lol. But it felt good to relax and recharge. 

That being said, I am glad to be back and wanted to share with you some of the authors I've just found that I am simply in love with.

 Today is my birthday, so you should indulge yourself in one of these authors books on my behalf  <3 

XO- Stephanie GooglyEyes

Onley James

ONLEY JAMES is the pen name of YA author, Martina McAtee, who lives in Central Florida with her children, her pitbull, her weiner dog and an ever-growing collection of shady looking cats. She splits her time between writing YA LGBT paranormal romances, writing adult m/m romances and running her publishing company, 7 Sisters Publishing, which specializes in diverse fiction.

When not at her desk you can find her mainlining Starbucks refreshers, whining about how much she has to do and avoiding the things she has to do by binge-watching unhealthy amounts of television in one sitting. She loves ghost stories, true crime documentaries, obsessively scrolling social media and writing kinky, snarky books about men who fall in love with other men.

Ariana Nash

Born to wolves, Ariana Nash only ventures from the Cornish moors when the moon is fat and the night alive with myths and legends. She captures those myths in glass jars and returning home, weaves them into stories filled with forbidden desires, fantasy realms, and wicked delights.

Kora Knight

Born and raised in the Northern Virginia, I've always loved to read, but it wasn't until my preteen years that I discovered my deep-seated love for writing. Although, with published literary teachers and play writers in the family tree, that probably shouldn't have come as a surprise. 

Starting with my involvement in social book forums, I then tried my hand in literary role playing. Which, in turn, led to my becoming a fervent online independent writer. Since then, I've endeavored to share with the world my impassioned stories of love, adventure and sensual wonderment, my most recent delight being that of m/m erotic romance. 

I have recently finished the second installment of my Nira Chronicles series, Zercy, and will be continuing on with a handful of other projects, including the next Upending Tad spin-off for Breck & Kai, on target to release summer 2018.

Nikole Knight

Nikole Knight is a born and bred Hoosier living in a top-secret location in Europe. She’s the lone female in the house, unless you count the dog, and she writes love in all its forms.

When she isn’t busy adulting, Nikole can be found in her writing nook, typing away as her fingers turn to nubs.