i know I'm not supposed to love this place but

oh how I do.

TL;DR: you need to shop in a big bookstore sometimes or you’ll never stumble across anything new and SOME OF YOU HAVE NOT YET PRE-ORDERED Playing the Witch Card so DO. Signed Copies Barnes&Noble Amazon.

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No one could love their indie bookstore more than I do. I’m afraid to ask, but I’m pretty sure I’m their best customer. When I order a book, they just stick it on the orders shelf with a note that says “KJ!”—unless they decide to also draw me a picture or alert me to another book that I will instantly order.

But I might have happily found my way to a lovely Barnes and Noble last week. Not by happenstance, and not because there was no alternative.

I wanted table after table of possibilities. I wanted shelves as far as the eye could see. I wanted options! Discoveries! Beckoning covers and random finds!

I just wanted to go in a Barnes and Noble.

I love my indie. I love all my indies, and there are a bunch I frequent. When I haven’t been in for a while especially, I’m bound to find something I’ll like and I know just which bookseller has my number. But sometimes I want to wander and look, and to wander and look requires that I go beyond my familiar square footage. The books I know I want, from authors I know I love—I can find those. But to discover someone new, I need to go somewhere new.

Of course I ended up stacking up a few books I already knew I’d buy just to prime the book haul pump—but then I was off, and I emerged with a whole stack of things I wouldn’t have bought on familiar turf even if they were there. I’m loving Mistborn (look, I know Brandon Sanderson isn’t new to many readers but he was new to ME and more about that in a future email) and looking forward to Black Witch, Witchful Thinking, Extra Witchy, Big Little Spells, League of Gentlewomen Witches (yes OKAY I see a theme) and—it’s not witches all the way down—With Love, From Cold World. And some of them were half-price because there was some member deal and look yes I’m an author but I’m also a reader and sometimes a reader needs to get a deal.

SO. If you should happen to live near an outdoor mall in Dedham, Massachusetts, I can tell you that right down the “block” from the Shake Shack is the perfect fresh new Barnes & Noble with some of the most knowledgeable booksellers I’ve ever come across who introduced me to some new authors and made me feel happy and warmly welcomed and I loved it.

I can also tell you that Playing the Witch Card is out next week! And I can TELL you haven’t all pre-ordered. I mean, lots of you have sure but there are ten thousand of you. More actually. Some of you need to push that button! If you don’t think you’ll like it, maybe your witchy kid will. Or your mom.

But come on, you’ll like it. At least TRY IT. Look, here’s 25% off on pre-orders from Barnes and Noble!

Or if you’d like a signed copy—with a special exclusive hand made limited edition Tarot bookmark—your own mini reading—head to that beloved indie of mine, Still North.

Or if you love nothing more than prime shipping and that lovely Amazon box, that totally works too.