Women and Wine-Who we are

Welcome to our book blog!


The idea to start a book blog was brought on by a favorite author telling her "readers" that she was going on a "blog tour." Reading has always been a favorite pasttime for both of us, but it's our love of discussing details about our favorite books through text messages, Voxing, or face-to-face communication which makes our friendship strong and fun. So, here is our story and how we met and came to love reading books and making those books better by pairing it with a glass of wine!

We are two mothers who happened to have daughters who wanted to do the same childhood activity, Irish Dance. For those of you unfamiliar with this, this is much less clogging and more Riverdance. After spending what seemed millions of hours in the dance lobby, a friendship was bound to happen. What started as general conversations about our kids, their schools, and how well they did at dance competitions turned into conversations about what books we were reading and how we did (or didn't) like the book and their characters. We have been great friends ever since. Don't get us wrong....we still enjoy talking about our kids, husbands and curly wig problems that occur before competing, but its our conversations about book crushes and evil characters that make us laugh the most.

Here is some information about who we are personally before we became such great friends.

My name is Jen and I am a mother, wife, and have a full time job as well. After playing multiple games of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders (which btw, has to be the most confusing layout in boardgame history!) I needed an escape. My love of reading started at a young age and it seems that I couldn't get enough of books....any book. I loved The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, There's a Monster at the End of this Book (which now my kids read on the iPad App-don't judge! It animates!), The Velvetine Rabbit, and many childhood others. The first "series" of books that I remember reading and falling in love with are the VC Andrews books. I remember feeling excited to read the intrigue behind them, but feeling slightly guilty because I wasn't sure that I should be reading about such "adult" topics (GASP, incest!), but knowing that I couldn't stop. So, I branched out, reading anything I could get my hands on. I am an e-reader junkie, but not too "techy" to still pick up a book. I have no specific genre that I stick to, but like to switch around to try various types. Have you ever had a book that took you hostage from your family? Well, those are my favorite kinds. Grab me from the start and I will stay up til all hours to enjoy the ride. I can talk all day about my favorite book crush, who I love to hate, and exactly why that movie chose the wrong person to play that character. (Yes, I'm talking to you multiple directors of Twilight!) Pair those conversations with a glass of wine and I'm at my best. So, if you are like us and enjoy endless conversations about your favorite books, characters and crushes.....bookmark our blog and grab a glass of good "read" wine and discuss with us.

(picture of April - as soon as I find one I like!)

My name is April and just to answer that million dollar question right away, yes I was in fact born in April (and no, April Fool's references are not funny).  I am a proud wife and mother of three, and after working in consumer products research and development for almost a decade, my daily grind is just keeping some semblance of organized chaos to our busy household.  I have always been a big daydreamer so experiencing an author's 'daydreams' as they unfold on the pages of a book is a pretty natural escape for me!  Put a glass of red wine next to my book and it makes for an ultra relaxed escape (not to mention helps me love a hero/heroine even more or hate a villain a little less...it does not, however, help my eyes gloss over poor editing!).  While I have other hobbies I also enjoy, I definitely spend most of my free time reading (and sometimes more than my free time, as I am reminded when my kids have to get their clean underwear out of the dryer because reading and folding laundry are mutually exclusive tasks)!  My taste in books is pretty vast, coming in just a little shy to my varied taste in music, and while I do burn quite a bit of battery power reading Kindle e-books, I could never entirely give up meandering through a quiet library in search of a new story to pique my interest or turning the paper pages of a book to the final chapter for a quick peek to see if I'm right when I think I've figured out a mystery - its an impatient habit that is somehow not quite as satisfying with a scroll bar.  Although I may not always agree with where an author takes my leading man her character, I do always have the utmost respect for authors as I know creating a story is really nowhere near simple!  In fact, having read a plethora of children's books over the years, I was inspired to write what I thought was an ingenious story with a pun on the sea anemone - my sad little anemone swam the seas trying to befriend all of the little fish who were scared of him just because his name sounds like "an enemy".  Yes, I was quite proud of the 'don't judge a book by its cover' moral of the story...until I googled 'sea anemone' and realized they really are mean little predators in the sea and all of my supporting characters had every right to fear my lonely little 'enemy'!  So I put the pen down and picked up a glass of wine instead, and I'm looking forward to discussing the best 'reads' with you! 

So grab your favorite bottle of "read" wine and enjoy with us!