Cold Enough For You?

By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner
Posted on January 11, 2016 

Winter is one of my favorite seasons to do reader advisory. Yes, you read that correctly. Bad weather, especially snow and ice, are good for reader advisory. I can sell any book or video when the weather is bad. Weather is my go-to subject for ice breakers. This, at least, gets the conversation started and can lead a librarian right toward the patron’s information need. For those of us in the northern parts of the Midwest, we share with our patrons the long suffering experience of long, grey winters, and all the problems that can bring. Even if you love winter, by February things are looking pretty sad. Winter, where I live, can sometimes stretch right into May. It’s not the cold temperatures; it is the seemingly endless days of dark and grey. By late January, most of my customers coming into the library look like they are on a casting call for The Walking Dead, and misery loves company.

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Love, passion, humanity – yes, please!

Unexpectedly, she saw a man standing on the sidewalk looking right at her. He was tall, with blond hair, and broad across the shoulders. He was also handsome; watching him stirred something in Olivia, a feeling that while unfamiliar was far from unwelcome……….. 

–Excerpt from Take Me Home by Dorothy Garlock

Romance novels have the same effect on their readers – stirring passion, happy memories, dreams, and, as public librarians know well, demand for more titles. Far more than the province of lonely women, romance titles attract readers of all ages with their lively story lines, adventurous plots, and exploration of all aspects of human emotion and experience.

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