Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Literary Gimmicks by @JoanReeves #RomanceGems

Surprise! It's me again.

Since we're giving away prizes every day of October, I wanted to make sure every day has a post and a prize.

No one claimed today, so I jumped in when I arrived home after a busy day in Houston's medical complex, not to mention the traffic.

Today, I'm giving away a copy of an older woman-younger man romance, appropriately titled Old Enough To Know Better.

More about that later. First, let's talk about Literary Gimmicks, and how much fun they can be in a book. What is a literary gimmick? Well, it can be anything from an aphorism to a metaphor to an object that means more than it appears at first glance, in effect, it becomes a totem.

In Old Enough To Know Better I used a literary gimmick in the quotation at the beginning of each chapter. The quotation represents what that chapter is about. Some readers absolutely love this book; some absolutely hate it!

The story is about a woman who made some huge mistakes in life, married 3 times, and had 3 daughters.

Men have been the big problem in Stormy's life. (Yes, I deliberately named her Stormy. I worked with a woman named Stormy many years ago, and I thought her name sounded like a romance heroine.)

When Stormy meets Sean, she wants nothing to do with him, but he won't be deterred. She may be a woman with a past, but Sean wants to be her future. He has a plan to win her heart. His plan? Whatever it takes!

Examples of "Gimmicks" from Old Enough To Know Better

Chapter 1: Sean is trying to charm Stormy without effect, or so he thinks.
"There is entirely too much charm around, and something must be done to stop it." ~ Dorothy Parker

Chapter 3: Sean's plan is to make Stormy, a control freak of the highest order, lose control.
"You mustn’t force sex to do the work of love, or love to do the work of sex." ~ Mary McCarthy

Chapter 5: Both Sean and Stormy act unpredictably.
"The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots." ~ Dame Rebecca West

If you're the lucky winner of my giveaway today, I hope you'll enjoy this romance.

Review said: "This is truly a feel-good book. ... Sean is wonderful and sexy and Stormy is aptly named. She is complicated and emotional and needs to feel the love and lust of a good man."

NO TRICKS—JUST TREATS

Every Day is Treat Day in October. Each author will give away a prize of her choice on her posting day. That's 31 days of prizes. My prize today is a Kindle copy or an audio book edition of Old Enough To Know Better.

To be entered in the random drawing for this prize, leave a comment with your email address written out (not as a hot link) on this post. The deadline for doing this is Oct. 3, Thursday, at 8:00pm Central time. I’ll draw the winner's name Friday, October 4, and notify the winner by email and by leaving a comment on this post.

But Wait, There's More!

We're not just doing a daily random drawing for a prize. We're also doing a Rafflecopter with 4 Amazon Gift Card Prizes. Whoop! Big money! Visit our Monthly Giveaways Page for all the details. Or use the form below to enter.

Click to enter the October Rafflecopter: NO TRICKS—JUST TREATS



17 comments:

  1. Great cover, Joan. Did you create it? Stormy is perfect too for the heroine. Happy October!

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    1. Hey, Nora. Thanks. I described what I wanted to my daughter who is an artist. She created the cover. October is going to be fun. Happy Oct to you too!

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  2. And the gimmicks just got me hooked! I've read many of your books, but haven't gotten to this one yet. Think I'll be adding this to my TBR pile.

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    1. Great! Guess I'm doing something right. I had so much fun selecting the quotes for this book. The next book in the series, that I hope to finish if life will just calm down, has a limerick at the beginning of each chapter.

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  3. I’ve only used subtitles for chapters once. It was fun, but I haven’t found another story where they would work. But I do use items that mean more then it seems. I love the title Joan!

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    1. Thanks, Bonnie. The title is repeated with a phrase added to it on the last page of the book. Funny how I came up with this. The whole sentence (I won't tell you what it is so I won't ruin it for someone who might read the book) was on a refrigerator magnet my daughter gave me.

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  4. Great idea. I know I'm too lazy to use anything but numbers on the chapter titles. Hee hee!

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    1. That is funny. I always say I'm lazy and getting lazier with every year that passes.

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  5. An extra layer of wonderful in your work, Joan. I like a teaser at the beginning of each chapter.

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    1. Thanks, Kathleen. I too like a teaser. Kind of gives it an additional hook. I hope.

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  6. I love books with chapter teasers! And this one sounds great, Joan. I'm with Kara - TBR addition! :D

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    1. Thanks, Kathy. Teasers are a great way to add a bit of humor too.

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  7. I love the quotes at the beginning of the chapters, especially the Dorothy Parker one. Eloisa James has used quotes from Shakespeare and other authors have included teasers. I admire that a lot as you have to figure out which quotes fit as well as write the whole book! Karen H near Tampa (kesh307 at yahoo dot com)

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    1. Thank you. Dorothy Parker had an acerbic wit that really fits today's snarky women. I read Eloisa too and enjoy her Shakespeare quotes. I put a small Quotation Collection at the end of every book. Those enhance the theme of the book. In Second Chance Bride, my heroine does a discourse on how Shakespeare must have hated women because they usually have such dire fates. *g*

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  8. Don't see a way to like & follow the Facebook page entry. Thanks.

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    1. Hi, Nancy. The Rafflecopter button for VISIT US ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE works. I just checked. When you click "Visit and Follow the Romance Gems on Facebook" a drop-down window opens with a blue button that says: VISIT US. Click that, and it takes you to our page, WHERE AUTHORS AND READERS MEET. Then when you come back to this page, the form shows a check mark in the FB block and it will say Visited. Hope that helps.

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  9. The winner of a copy of OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER is Karen H. Congratulations, Karen. I've emailed you.

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