Attending Book Club Meetings As A Romantic Suspense Writer

Hello there!

Since the publication of my first novel, Deceived, one of my greatest thrills has been to talk to readers after they’ve read my stories. As a romantic suspense writer, my stories have depth of emotion and a chilling mystery. I’m often surprised when a reader tells me which story elements resonated and which themes were memorable, and I love the unpredictability of the individual reader’s experience.

Because talking to readers provides such a thrill, I feel extremely fortunate that I’ve been invited to attend book club meetings as a guest author. The meetings have provided wonderful glimpses of groups of friends who share a love of reading, with the vibe of each meeting varying with the personalities of the club’s members. Meetings have ranged from gatherings for coffee, sipping wine with a happy hour atmosphere, and sit-down dinners. I’ve even attended a meeting of a club in a cozy room at a bookstore, with the store’s cat sitting on a chair next to me.

After the first few events, I decided to create discussion questions for each novel. Some of the questions are lighthearted. Others are more in-depth and provide insight regarding character motivation and concepts that provided inspiration for the suspense element of the story. You can find the questions on the individual book pages of my site and on this page, which has a handy button for downloading and printing the questions.

The meetings are never simply about the questions that I’ve prepared. Readers ask all kinds of questions, such as ‘how did you become a romantic suspense writer’ to ‘when do you find time to write’ to ‘where does the darkness in your stories come from’ to ‘my son/daughter etc. wants to be an author – do you have time to talk to her/him?’

Sometimes, the hosts for the book club meeting take inspiration from the stories. In the photographs below I captured bits of Jigsaw coming to life, including a dinner table laden with goodies that were mentioned in the novel (most of Jigsaw takes place in Paris); Paris-inspired decor and treats; and even a ham and potato chip sandwich (the favorite of Samantha, Jigsaw‘s heroine).

At one meeting, the host went through the trouble of ordering a Baked Alaska desert from Antoine’s Restaurant, which was mentioned in Deceived. Wow – it was absolutely amazing!  This article tells the story of the Baked Alaska at Antoine’s, which is located in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

For me, the best thing about the book club meetings is interacting with small groups of readers, almost on a one-on-one basis. With that in mind, please don’t skip over the questions simply because you’re not a member of a book club. After reading one of my novels, you might enjoy glancing at the questions on your own.

If the book club questions prompt a question that you might have for me, feel free to comment here, send me an email at stella@stellabarcelona.com, or reach out to me on Facebook. In fact, because I still work as a lawyer, and because I’m continually working on my next novel, my schedule doesn’t always permit me to schedule book club events. However, if you send me an email, I’ll reply to you.

Thank you for stopping by. Don’t forget to click over to the book club questions page and, as always, happy reading!

Take care,

p.s. I’m terrible at remembering to take photos at book club events; I don’t have photographs of several of the meetings I’ve attended as a romantic suspense writer. Sadly, I don’t even have a photo of the cat who pretended to have read Concierge, or the group that I was meeting that night. I do have a photo of the bookstore (Blue Cypress Books, 8126 Oak Street, New Orleans, Louisiana) where the meeting occurred. As I was leaving, I remembered that I hadn’t snapped one photo, so I took this one from the sidewalk.