Interview with USA Today!

USA Today's "Happy Ever After" blog has just posted their interview with me, about SEEKING THE STAR, and about a writer's life.  It was great fun answering the questions, especially the one about my writing rituals, hee-hee...

And my Corgi, Darcy, even got a mention and a photo, too!

Here's the link

Blog Tour!

My awesome publisher, Red Adept, has set up a blog tour for my newest novel, SEEKING THE STAR.  It's a Christmas-themed book, #3 in the Chilton Crosse series.

Special thanks to Sage's Blog Tours for putting this tour together!  Here are the specific dates:

November 2nd Zigzag Timeline ~ GUEST POST
November 3rd The IndieView ~ INTERVIEW
November 5th BigAl's Books & Pals ~ REVIEW
November 7th T&L Book Reviews ~ GUEST POST
November 8th MHDean Collectibles ~ REVIEW
November 9th BigAl's Books & Pals ~ GUEST POST
November 10th Book Babble ~ REVIEW
November 11th Christy's Cozy Corners ~ REVIEW
November 12th Thoughts in Progress ~ REVIEW
November 14th From the TBR Pile ~ REVIEW
November 15th Literary Musings and Manuscripts ~ REVIEW
November 16th Kelly Smith Reviews ~ REVIEW
November 17th enthrallingdimple ~ REVIEW

Release Day!

The third book in my Chilton Crosse series has just been released, with a special $2.99 price (ebook) for today, only.  

It's a Christmasy book---a tale of redemption, hope, and the power of love.

Here's the link to buy
 

New Book Trailer!

Here's the trailer for my new Christmas novel, Seeking the Star.  

Thanks to Mary Fan for putting together a beautiful trailer, and to John Hobart for composing the gorgeous music!  

Book 3 Paperback -- Available Now!

Even though Seeking the Star's ebook won't be released until October 6, the paperback version is available right now.  How exciting!  

Here's the link to buy.

Hey, I guess it's Christmas in July!  

I Have a Newsletter!

So, I finally did it.  I finally figured out how to create an official author newsletter!  The form to join is now part of my author page, so you can find it by clicking "Newsletter" in the top menu.

Or, here's the direct link to the form.

I've also decided to use the newsletter carefully, sparingly.  I know that people are inundated these days with junk mail and spam, so I'll be sure only to send a newsletter/email out when I'm sharing special news, like future release dates or cover reveals.

I like the idea of a newsletter.  Of sending people information who want that information, people who signed up for it of their own accord.  So, if you're one of those people --- thanks!  :-)

Cover Reveal!

I think one of my most favorite events has to be a book cover reveal!  As an author, I usually tend to "see" a cover in my mind by the time a book is finished.  And, thankfully, Streetlight Graphics and Red Adept Publishing have easily met those cover expectations for all three of my novels.

So, without further ado, here's the cover for Book 3 in the series (release date will be August or Sept. of 2015):

I adore the gorgeous night sky, the soft glow of cottage lights, but most especially, I love the tiny detail of the footprints in the snow.  Here's why:

Book description:
  One December night, in the sleepy Cotswold village of Chilton Crosse, a drifter with a mysterious past collapses on George and Mary Cartwright’s snowy doorstep.  During the next few weeks, as Christmas cheer spreads throughout the village with decorations and a Dickens-themed festival, Mary nurtures the stranger, Ben, back to health, and becomes curious about the secrets he’s been holding so tightly.   

   As Ben gains his strength and begins to trust Mary and George, he lowers the wall he’s so carefully constructed.  But when Christmas Eve arrives, one of his secrets accidentally comes to light, forcing him to confront the darkness of his past—and to rediscover the faith he’d lost months before.  And on that holiest of nights, he finally begins to understand that mercy and forgiveness are meant for him, too.

 

You can add SEEKING THE STAR to your Goodreads bookshelf by clicking here.

For fun, here are all three books (so far) in the series. They look so beautiful together:

 Now, it's time to focus on writing Book 4!  I wonder what that cover will look like......

My Book Review Tour Starts Today!

My wonderful publisher, Red Adept, has put together a blog tour for my second novel, Finding the Rainbow.  

So, over these next three weeks, various bloggers will be posting their reviews  of my book on their blogs.  Fun!  I'll keep updating this post as the new ones roll in.

Here are the links.  Please go visit these wonderful blogs!

The Daily Blog -- Run by multi-book author Erica Lucke Dean (go check out her novels!).

Christy's Cozy Corners -- What a beautiful blog!  If you enjoy cozy/clean books, you will love her site.

Adventures in Writing -- Both of my books are here--very thoughtful and detailed reviews.  I loved reading them! 

Kelly Smith Reviews -- Great blog!  She's an author, too, so check out her site! 

A Spoonful of Happy Endings -- Thanks to Jody for her lovely review!   

Biblioteca -- I loved reading this review. Melissa really "gets" the book, and this review is so well-written and thoughtful.  

Big Al's Books & Pal's -- I was a wee bit nervous about this one, and was so relieved the reviewer liked the book!  I really respect this review site.

Literary Musings and Manuscripts -- Great blog.  I'm so glad Cresta liked the book!  She really "got" the story.

From the TBR Pile -- Wonderful review site. Thanks to Kari for a lovely review!

Brooke Blogs -- She has a variety of product reviews.  I was so happy she liked PAINTING THE MOON.

Read Along with Sue -- Thanks to Sue for taking the time to review!

Novel Ink -- Thanks to Erica for the review. 

Gal in the Blue Mask -- Cool site!  Thanks for the review of both my novels.

My Life, One Story at a Time -- Donna reviewed both my novels!  I'm so glad she enjoyed them.  Many thanks to her for taking the time to read/review them.

Book 3 -- In the Works!

I'm expecting a call from my editor tomorrow, about Book 3 in my Chilton Crosse series (untitled).  Can't wait!  This one's a shorter, Christmas-themed novel, so the goal is to get it released by year's end.

It's a bit of a departure from the other two books in the series, because of its Christmas and spiritual themes.  But I enjoyed writing it--the first time I've written from a male's POV.  Really interesting.  And challenging.

Some people have asked me how/why I'm so quickly churning these books out, but the truth is, I wrote them years ago, one per year, during my summers off from teaching.  I went through the process of trying to get published for years, and I got rejected MANY times.  But I kept on writing, kept on trying.  So that by the time Red Adept gave me a "YES!" for PAINTING THE MOON, I had three books ready to go.

This year, I plan to write Book 4 in the series.  I've already got the prep work and brainstorming done.  It will be wonderful to step back into Chilton Crosse and see what the characters have in store for me.  :-)

#1 -- What?!?!

In all the craziness of last week, I completely forgot to post the news on my writer's page:

Painting the Moon hit #1 in romance/women's fiction at Amazon and B&N on Sunday!  I'm still floored by it.  I was dancing around, so excited, knowing my book probably wouldn't stay there for long (I managed to snag a screen shot, lol).  Yep, that's Nicholas Sparks, to my right.  *pinches self*

But the best part of all this has been hearing from people about the books--people I don't know, people who've bought the book and want to let me know they're reading it.  That means the world to me.  Having my novels in so many people's hands is absolutely surreal.

A few people have asked me about Book 3's release.  That book (untitled) is a Christmas book, so it'll be released sometime before the holidays.  If you click "Follow" on this page, Amazon will actually send you an email regarding the specific date ahead of time. 

Link to Author Page


Mostly, I just want to say a HUGE thank you to my publisher, Red Adept, and to anyone who's bought either of my books.  I'm so grateful to you.  And I hope you enjoy them!  

Paperback for Book 2

My editor just sent me the proof for FINDING THE RAINBOW's paperback version (available shortly after the Kindle version of March 24).  
 
It's beautiful!!  I could walk right into that cover and stay there.

Thanks, as always, to Glendon of Streetlight, and to Michelle Rever, for their hard work on this, and on all my covers.

(Update:  Here's the link to buy (Kindle available, too)).  

Tah-dah!

Book Trailer!

I'm so excited about the upcoming release of Book 2, Finding the Rainbow.  It should be released in early March, available for pre-order soon.

Until then, here's the book's trailer.  Thanks to Mary Fan and John Hobart of Scorpio Productions for their hand in this.  I love how it turned out!

(Update -- the trailer was recently featured in USAToday!  Link here).