Connie Miconi
Connie began reading at the age of five and has never stopped. Her childhood was filled with multiple readings of Gone With the Wind, the ultimate tragic romance. Connie got her own HEA when she married her retired military hero, Gary, in 2010. She began Lucky 13 in 2015 as a result of her love of reviewing, sharing, and talking about her favorite books, mostly romantic suspense and stories featuring strong alpha heroes, especially law enforcement and military. Lucky 13 has quickly evolved from a blog to share book reviews and news about books and authors into a service to make things easier for readers by sharing information and for authors by providing services that will allow them to focus on creating and perfecting wonderful stories that we can get lost in. Connie has worked for the government for over 30 years in various management positions, including serving as a technical and policy editor. When she realized that she was editing books as she was reading them, Connie decided to offer her edits to authors as feedback, and a new career was born. The transition to fiction editing has been fun, and Connie enjoys meeting and supporting readers and authors. Connie splits her time between Maryland, Florida, and West Virginia; and when not reading and pimping authors and books, enjoys traveling, boating, motorcycling, and cheering on her beloved Baltimore Ravens.
Wendy Hodges
Wendy is our international connection, representing Lucky 13 in the United Kingdom. Wendy reviews, promotes, and posts book info, and serves as admin on Lucky 13's facebook page and reviewer group. She started reading properly at the age of eight, loving mainly the Enid Blyton books. Another favourite was 101 Dalmations, and she eventually progressed to Westerns and Mills and Boon/Harlequin Romances, and Danielle Steele. As an adult, she enjoys a wide range of reading romances of all types, including military, cowboy, law, billionaires, BDSM, etc., as well as murder mysteries, historic, true stories, vampire/werewolf/witches, and autobiographies. Wendy is married to her best friend. They have been together since they were 17, but have been friends since the age of 4, and went through school together. Wendy says that getting involved with Lucky 13 has taken her reading to another level and she's loving it, enjoying having somewhere to post her reviews and helping both authors that she already follows and the new ones she is finding.
Julie Haggard
Julie has always been a dreamer and could often be found in the library losing herself in a book. She and Connie met in a facebook group sharing a mutual love for author Cristin Harber. This led to her joining the Lucky 13 crew to review, blog, and represent us at events. Julie loves reading all types of romance as long as there is an HEA. She loves the author signing events and talking with authors and meeting other readers. To support her reading addiction, Julie works in the financial industry supporting retirement plans. When she’s not working or reading, Julie is an avid traveler and photographer. She resides in northern Kentucky with her black lab, Riley.
Shelly Asher
Shelly provides PA support, writes reviews, attends events, and posts on social media for Lucky 13. She started reading when she was five and was a proud card-carrying member of the Baby Sitters Club. Growing up, she and her mom would have summer reading marathons, often reading into the wee hours. In elementary school, Shelly’s love for reading and writing led to her being asked to start a school newspaper. She continued through high school and served as sports editor during her senior year.
She follows a number of her favorite authors on social media, and after joining an author fan group, Shelly met and began working with the Lucky 13 crew. We are thrilled to have her working with us! When she’s not reading, Shelly is Mom to three boys, a wife, and an avid sports fan. For eight years, she worked as an assistant teacher, and is currently a stay-at-home mom in Kentucky.
She follows a number of her favorite authors on social media, and after joining an author fan group, Shelly met and began working with the Lucky 13 crew. We are thrilled to have her working with us! When she’s not reading, Shelly is Mom to three boys, a wife, and an avid sports fan. For eight years, she worked as an assistant teacher, and is currently a stay-at-home mom in Kentucky.
Linda Carlson
Linda’s love of reading started with the first Golden Book she received for her sixth birthday. When she was growing up, the local library was her favorite spot to read all of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries. A family member introduced her to Harlequin Romances when she was a teenager and her love of romance was born. Even though she likes to read paranormal, scifi, and shifter, her preferences are of the hero/romance/HEA variety, including cowboy, firefighter, law enforcement, MC, and historical time travel (like the Outlander Series). Her absolute favorite is miltary romance. Linda married her best friend, Tom, an Air Force VietNam Combat Veteran, in 1978. They have two adult children and two granddaughters, five dogs, four cats, and a parrot. Most of their pets are rescues. Linda has worked as a secretary, in the insurance industry, and as a legal administrative assistant. She currently works at a University as an Office Support Specialist. Linda’s legal and administrative skills are an asset in helping Lucky 13 with our administrative needs, as well as with reviewing and beta reading. She is working her way into editing and proofreading and loves attending author/reader events. In her spare time, Linda enjoys most crafts; loves to sew, paint and crochet; and is an avid genealogist. She and Tom foster puppies for the local animal shelter and enjoy camping. They reside in Illinois.
Gwen Smalls
Gwen is Lucky 13’s California girl and supports us by managing reviews and attending events. Gwen liked to read from an early age. Unfortunately, she took time off from reading when she entered the working world, but then re-discovered her love for books when someone left a copy of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire on the train. That was many moons ago and she’s never looked back. Gwen has found new discoveries, like military romance (thank you, Cristin Harber!) and author signings. Gwen is married to a wonderful nerdy/techie guru (David) who’s an amazing husband and father. He loves to read as well, but their tastes don’t crossover often. But when they do, it makes for great discussions! They have a teen age son who also likes to read. He started with the Harry Potter Series when he was 10, and loves The Outsiders and The Iron Druid Chronicles. Gwen has worked for AT&T (formerly Pacific Bell) for 32 years doing various jobs ranging from administrative, to operations, and management. Gwen’s family is very much into indoor volleyball. Gwen’s son plays club and has been invited to train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Both Gwen and her husband continue to play in the adult league with their respective teams. Gwen is looking forward to retiring to devote more time to reading and traveling with her husband. It’ll have to wait, she mentioned a teenager, right?
Kelly Armstrong Cagle
Kelly began her adventure with Lucky 13 as a PA and reviewer after meeting Connie last summer. She was born in Oahu, Hawaii, grew up in East Tennessee (GO VOLS) and bleeds orange, she is currently living in Hopkins, South Carolina. She has always loved reading and getting lost in the story. She has worked as an Administrative Assistant for what seems like forever and is counting down the days until retirement :). When she's not working or reading, she loves to travel and take pictures as well as spending time with her 3 beautiful daughters.