Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!
But who are the authors and illustrators behind these great Loan Stars reads?
We find out in our series, Meet the Loan Stars.
Meet Angelina M. Lopez
Photo credit: Angelina M. Lopez
Contemporary romance author Angelina M. Lopez is the author of Lush Money, Hate Crush, and Serving Sin from the Filthy Rich series. Angelina has been a journalist for an acclaimed city newspaper, a freelance magazine writer, and a content marketer for small businesses. She is a lifelong romance reader and fan, and a champion of the concept that good art doesn’t have to make you feel bad.
Angelina’s latest novel, After Hours on Milagro Street, is on the July 2022 Loan Stars Adult list!
Meet Angelina and learn all about her love for libraries, book recommendations, and more in the interview below.
If you could visit any library in the world, where would you go?
My hometown in Kansas is a small town of less than 10,000 people, but the library is old and beautiful, a gorgeous Andrew Carnegie-funded building. That's where I first learned the joy of perusing through rows of books, and it still feels exciting, noble, romantic, and full of potential whenever I return there.
Do you have a favourite librarian, real or fictional?
I grew up LOVING romance books, but was very accustomed to getting judgey looks from librarians when I was brave enough to check romance books out. Fortunately, I published during a time when librarians were beginning to embrace the diversity, escapist joy, and happily-ever-afters possible in romance. I was contacted early in my publishing career by Deborah Khuanghlawn of the Arlington Public Library in Arlington, Virginia to give a talk there. Her enthusiasm for all I was accomplishing in romance, and her excitement for me to share that with a library audience, made me feel so welcome and proud to be a romance author!
Which book would you choose to recommend to library patrons?
Helen Hoang writes such wise, fascinating, unique, STEAMY romance. I recommend anything by her, but especially The Kiss Quotient.
What does being a Loan Stars pick mean to you?
I was a poor kid who could've seen the world as a small place. Libraries helped me to fully understand the width and depth of potential and opportunities that were at my fingertips. The idea that my book is recommended to be part of that expansive experience is truly, deeply, I've-fulfilled-my-destiny-on-this-planet fulfilling. Thank you!
Thank you for answering our questionnaire, Angelina!
Are you a Loan Stars-recommended author or illustrator who wants to be featured on our blog? Get in touch with us to get started.
Until next time!
What did BookNet read in 2024? We’re sharing some tidbits of data about our team’s reading habits this year.