Today is the day. LET IT BE ME is the first book in a new series about LOVE UNEXPECTED. All of these characters are not expecting to find their other half in quite the way they do. I hope you'll enjoy the town of Brockton Point, Maine and the people you'll meet there. Come visit me on USA TODAY'S Happily Ever After blog today!!
LOVE UNEXPECTED SERIES from Entangled Publishing
Welcome!!! Happy Holidays fellow readers! I'm so excited to be taking part in the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Hop. It's so fun to see what everyone else does and gives away. Hope you get some awesome prizes. Be sure to enter the draw for mine! I am both a contemporary romance author and a cozy mystery (with a dash of romance) author. My books are on the sweet side and I especially love to write holiday stories. To celebrate the hop, I'm going to share some of my Christmas traditions via my favorite Christmas poem! Enjoy and have a wonderful, happy holiday.
'Twas the week before Christmas,
And all through the house, There's trimmings and trappings, And a spirit you can't douse. The presents are wrapped Tucked under the tree And every night we settle in for A Hallmark movie. Our children are wired Like cats on caffeine Watching every Christmas show We have already seen There's squares and cookies Red and green krispee treats It all tastes so good Who needs to see their feet? We hang with the in-laws, The cousins, and good friends, We stamp every envelope for The cards we might send. Late nights and good food, Blissful moments in the cold Traditions might be ancient But, they never get old. Christmas Eve at home They all come right here Then Christmas Day we go To my parents, quite near. I welcome it each year This holiday season I love it so much, But then for some reason, I feel a bit blue As the days start to fade I hang on fiercely To the memories we've made. Merry Christmas to all Wishing you the best May you be a lucky winner, In this hop book-fest. As you can see from the book covers above, I kind of have a thing with Christmas and romance and especially, romance at Christmas. I'm participating in lots of fun events over the next several weeks leading up to Christmas so I thought I'd share a calendar of events this month and next so you can stop by the different blogs I'm visiting. ![]()
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For the past four to five years, I've written in multiple places. Mostly at the kitchen table, but I've also started and completed novels on the couch, in my bedroom, sitting in bed, on the floor, and in my car. At the start of summer, we moved and after a series of decisions that are never really as simple as they seem, my beautiful office became an actual thing.
I have a Pinterest board titled if I ever get an office. I truly wasn't sure I'd ever have one and because I'm a big time self-doubter, I wasn't sure I needed/deserved one. After all, an entire room in our house dedicated to me putting words down on the page not only sounded indulgent, but...nerve-wracking. What if I put time and money into a beautiful space and couldn't write anymore books! Yes, my husband and best friend rolled their eyes as well. We decided, that should that happen...which so far, thankfully, it hasn't, we'll use this space as a lovely little library. Which, of course, means I need more books. A lot more books because my "library" is now on my kindles. I do have several of my favorite stories on my gorgeous shelves, but nowhere near the number I used to have. I need to remedy this situation because what better inspiration for writing than being surrounded by books? It's not quite done, but for those of you who follow my author page on Facebook, you've seen the small steps from beginning to middle to...almost close to the end. It still needs a few things: pictures to go up, a couple more shelves over my desk, and as I mentioned, more books, but it is definitely a dream space, even as is. I love it. My cozy couch arrived last week which allowed me to display my cool bookish pillows (also need more of those). So if you ever wonder where I spend my time while typing out the words, now you know. Though I can't promise that I won't sneak up to the kitchen table now and again out of habit. Happy Fall everyone. ![]() Seven Ways to Lose Your Heart
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo 99¢ for a limited time only! â EXCERPT: âYou havenât drowned in there, have you?â I yell to Annabel, noting that the sound of running water stopped about fifteen minutes ago. âNo, just relaxing,â she calls back. Just relaxing. Naked. In a bath. I scramble from the bed and knock gently on the door. âAnd would you like some company to help you, you know, relax?â âDid you finish?â She sounds more like a scolding teacher than the girl who ravished me last night. But this is Annabel Lee weâre talking about. Itâs all about priorities. âYes, I finished. Now, can I come in?â I ask, pulling off my shirt in anticipation. âRead it to me.â âHuh?â I ask, my shirt not completely removed from my head yet. âI want you to read it to me.â Of course she does. Why did I expect any less? I pull my shirt the rest of the way off on my walk back to get my computer. When I go to open the door, her voice halts me. âI didnât say come in. I said I wanted you to read it to me.â âAnd may I come in when Iâm done?â âOnly if itâs good,â she sings. Sheâs enjoying every bit of this torture. The lovable vixen. And so I read it to her sitting on the floor outside the bathroom door. Even I have to admit itâs good. Itâs, like, fucking fantastic. When I get to the part about us dancing up there together, the whole crowd making us feel like gods, she makes me read it again, and I smile knowing it meant as much to her as it did to me. âYou can come in now if you want,â she says, sounding a little shyer than I expected to hear. Gone is the bravado of the schoolteacher, replaced again by the girl who still doesnât know the power she has over me. How does she not realize sheâs had power over me since that first dare when she made me switch out Mrs. Petersonâs peanut butter sandwich with kitty litter? My heart starts beating a little faster, knowing whatâs waiting for me on the other side of this wall. My breath catches in my throat when I open the door and see her sitting there, staring up at me, and waiting. ![]()
GIVEAWAY! Welcome to Jennifer Shirk!My first Entangled Bliss publication was set to come out December 5th, 2016. My editor suggested I read one of her other authors as a way to get a better grasp on a specific trope. This was my introduction to Jennifer Shirk. Not only is she a great author-- I really enjoyed Wrong Brother, Right Match, but when I reached out on another trope issue....she was so gracious and helpful. I'll definitely be thanking her for her great advice and guidance on the first book in my new series. And I'll remember her telling me (when I wondered how she was SO good at this), it's easier with someone else's book. Here are Jennifer's answers to this week's Who's Who Wednesday. You can connect with her by clicking on the links below. Thanks for joining me on my blog Jennifer. Who's Who Wednesday with Jennifer ShirkWhat you write.
For those of you who don't know me, I write sweet (and sometimes even funny) romances for Montlake Romance and Entangled Publishing. Who are your influences? Wow… so many to name. The first and queen of my influence would be Susan Elizabeth Phillips. But I also love Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, and Jill Mansell. Favorite writing snack and beverage. A lungo espresso (basically an espresso with more water in it) and either a little piece of dark chocolate or my healthy banana oatmeal cookies to go with it. Hardest thing about writing? The actual writing. LOL I should say just getting the first draft down. That's the hardest part for me. But once it's down on paper, the editing and making it all pretty and legible is my favorite part! What you're working on now. I'm working on the first book of a new 3 book series for the Entangled Bliss line. This is the premise: In a weakened moment, a depressed woman jilted by her longtime boyfriend has a one night stand with a wedding guest at a friend's wedding only to discover he's the man who recently bought her family's suffering business—and now happens to be her new boss. Thanks so much for having me!
Who's Who with USA Today Bestselling Author Cindi MadsenWhat you write: I write YA, NA, & adult romance, all with laughter, witty banter, and happily ever after. Influences: Sophie Kinsella, Elizabeth George Speare, Lucy Maude Montgomery, Mary Shelley Favorite writing snack and beverage: Chocolate & Diet Mountain Dew Hardest thing about writing: When you’re not feeling it & you have to sit down and work anyway. What you’re working on now: I just finished proofreads on the last book in my sports romance series, Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny. Next up I’ll be working to get my next romcom, 13 Ways to Avoid a Heartbreak nice and shiny so I can send it to my editor. Thanks for joining me for Who's Who, Cindi. If you'd like to connect with Cindi, you can do that here: |
This lovely lady is Kat Colmer. I'm pretty excited to be introducing her. I met her quite recently and it was one of those very cool kismet sort of things.It seemed like no matter what one of us said, the other said, "Really? Me too!" I mean, not everything. She talked about how busy they were with cricket while we were busy with basketball season and of course, she lamented the hot weather while we were getting snow. I've told Kat she is my Australian counterpart. We have so many things in common from books, to families, to our habit of over-thinking a few things. I've also told her that she's good for me because when I worry, she can tell me with absolute authority that things turn out okay-- because she's in the future! We often chat near my bedtime, which is funny because it's into the next work day for her. Anyway, she's a pretty cool lady and a fellow Entangled author. She's also a librarian, which makes her instantly awesome. You can find out more about Kat on her website or follow her on twitter. |
Welcome to my blog Kat. Thanks for coming by.
I write upper young adult and sweet new adult fiction, both speculative and contemporary.
Influences:
This is a tricky one to narrow down, but if you held my block of milk hazelnut Lindt chocolate hostage until I gave you an answer, I’d have to say Melina Marchetta and Cath Crowley (for contemporary YA), Paula Weston and Rachael Craw (for speculative YA), Lauren Layne (for sassy New Adult) and Oscar Wilde’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ as well as Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’ as my classics influences.
Favorite writing snack and beverage:
When I’m feeling healthy: fruit and nuts, plus a cup of herbal tea or water
When I can’t spell ‘healthy’: chocolate and a double shot cappuccino and chocolate. Also, there’s chocolate. Did I mention chocolate? Seventy percent cocoa is borderline healthy, right?
Hardest thing about writing:
Words. On. Page. Here’s the thing, the story ALWAYS plays out quickly and crisply in the movie cinema tucked inside my head, but when it comes to transferring this onto the page, the words don’t always want to be found. Which makes the writing process sooooooo painfully sloooooow.
It doesn’t help that my internal editor seems to have discovered the secret to immortality. No matter how many times I try to kill the intrusive little bugger, he forces his way between the words on my page, pointing his accusing knobbly finger at all the things I could be doing better.
What you’re working on now:
Right now I’m working on the sequel to my YA paranormal romance due out with Entangled Teen sometime later this year / start of 2018. Both stories are about an Old Testament love curse that goes horribly wrong. Picture a hero who’s on the hit list of some ancient and very ticked off demons because of something he’s done in book 1 (I’m not telling. You’ll have to read it to find out). Things get worse for him when he indirectly causes the heroine’s brother to be kidnapped by the very hellhounds who are after him, and he reluctantly agrees to help her execute a rescue.
Apart from demons, there’s sword fighting and taekwondo (because the demons and sword fighting alone weren’t quite edgy enough). And kissing. There might be some kissing. Okay, there’s definitely kissing. Because who doesn’t like kissing? It’s kinda like chocolate only healthy!
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Kat.
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