As promised, there are more chances to win something cool this week and the next one is a BIG one! May is Chick Lit month and I am once again participating in an awesome blog hop. The theme this year is “What’s On Page 25?” so I’ll be giving you a sneak peak of one of my favorite scenes in the new book (which will be available TOMORROW!). During the blog hop there will be chances to win lots of ebooks or even the grand prize of a FREE Kindle Keyboard 3G, with Free 3G + Wi-Fi, and a 6″ E Ink Display. That lucky grand prize winner will also receive a “chick lit starter library” filled with great chick lit books written by the indie authors participating in the blog hop.

Learn “How to Hop & Win!” New to blog hops? Want to learn how to win the grand prize? Find complete information here.

Additionally, I will also be giving a free ebook copy of my new book, Lovestruck in London, to a lucky reader. Just comment below and you’re automatically entered. If you comment on all the blogs in the hop you have a chance to win lots of books!

Once again, if you want more details on the hop and how you can win the Grand Prize, head over here.

You can find the participating blogs here.

Here’s where you enter your secret words to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Okay, I think that covers the details. So without further ado, let’s take a look at WHAT’S ON PAGE 25! This is actually one of my favorite scenes in the book. Lizzie has only recently arrived in London for her study abroad. On her first night out on the town, she meets an up-and-coming actor names Thomas. They hit it off right away. Keep reading to check out one of their earliest conversations. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for my secret word!

I met Thomas at the velvet rope where he introduced me to a staff member named Bill. “Bill and I go way back,” he shouted in my ear as we shook hands. “He used to tend bar in my local.”

Bill unhooked the rope and stepped aside so Thomas could lead me up a short flight of stairs. I found myself in a small loft area overlooking the dance floor. We could still hear the music, but velvet drapes around our booth muffled the sound quite a bit.

“That’s better,” Thomas said, settling into the booth. “I can at least hear you now.”

“Do you come here a lot?” I asked, amazed that this section of the club existed without anyone below knowing it.

Thomas shook his head. “To be honest, this isn’t really my scene. I’m much more of a pub guy when I want a drink.”

I grinned, glad to hear it for some reason. Maybe Thomas wasn’t too glamorous for me after all. “What about you?” he asked. “Pub or club?”

“Uh,” I felt suddenly uncomfortable. “Pub, I guess. But I don’t really do much of either.”

“A university student who doesn’t go to the pub? I’m shocked.”

I shrugged. “I should warn you right now, I’m kind of a goody-two-shoes.”

“Me, too!” Thomas cried, looking thrilled. He leaned into me and spoke in mock confidential tones. “Would it shock you to know that I spent last New Year’s Eve in my flat studying lines for a film I was about to start shooting?”

I laughed. “I spent last New Year’s Eve at a party at my uncle’s house, so I’m not one to judge.”

“One time my brother convinced me to steal a Coke from the newsagent down the road,” Thomas countered. “He said he would tell all my friends I was a baby if I didn’t. So I did.”

“You returned the Coke an hour later, didn’t you?”

“Twenty minutes,” he said, grinning. “And I cried.”

I laughed, wondering why I had felt nervous about talking with him. He was wonderful.

“Tell me about school,” he said. “Why London?”

“I’ve always wanted to come to London,” I said.

“Are you enjoying it so far?”

“We haven’t seen much of the city. We were stuck in orientation sessions the first few days, and were suffering crazy jet lag at night. Then we had this whole apartment fiasco. It hasn’t been quite what I expected.” I paused, not wanting to admit the underlying disappointment I had been feeling about my London adventure so far. (Win the grand prize! The 12th secret word in the 25-word sentence is: lit) Anyhow. This is our first night really off campus.” 

“So you’ve been here all week and you haven’t seen the city yet? We’ll have to fix that.” The implication in his words made my heart thud in my chest. I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile from my face.

“I think the big draw for me was the literary history here,” I went on, trying to control the giddiness that threatened to overwhelm me. “My favorite authors are British; I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would want to study literature.”

“Funny, my favorite authors are mostly American,” he said, taking a sip of his beer. “Patterson, King, Grisham.” He gave me a rueful grin. “Not exactly high-minded literature.”

“There’s nothing wrong with genre fiction,” I said firmly. “Take it from an English major; people who only read the classics are usually boring and uptight.”

“Cheers.” Thomas rapped his bottle lightly against my glass. “Did you study literature at your university in the States as well?”

I nodded. “My BA is in English. I also have a teaching certificate.”

“A teacher, eh? My mother was a teacher.”

“So are my sisters,” I said, feeling depressed suddenly. “But I have a ways to go. This program is nine months long.”

“Nine months is a long time to be away from home. Where is home, by the way?”

“Detroit, Michigan. You know, where they make the cars. Motown, Kid Rock.”

“I’ve seen Eight Mile, you know. I’m quite familiar with Detroit.”

I laughed. “Well, I don’t actually live in the city. The suburbs. Sterling Heights, to be exact. Much more Pleasantville than Eight Mile.”

“Thank you for putting things in movie language for me,” he said, winking. “Taking pity on the brainless actor is kind.”

“You started it!” I cried, smacking his hand as he laughed. “So where are you from?”

“I grew up in Surrey, but the family’s all up in Edinburgh now.”

“Oooh,” I sighed. “I can’t wait to get up there.”

“It’s a beautiful city,” he said. “They moved right when I started working in London, so I never lived there full time, but it’s really nice to be able to visit them now.”

We chatted for a while about family. I learned that Thomas is a middle child, his older brother is married and living outside Edinburgh, and his younger sister still lives at home. He seemed fascinated by the idea of my five siblings, and wanted to know all about my family, cousins and aunts and uncles included.

“My grandparents on both sides immigrated from Mexico,” I explained. “My mom’s mom moved back there after her husband died, and my dad’s parents are both gone. But we have a huge family all nearby, more than a dozen cousins, and I don’t even know how many second and third cousins. It gets pretty crazy when we’re all in the same place, which happens all the time. We have more family dinners and parties than anyone you’ll ever meet.”

“Wow,” he said. “I only have three cousins all together.”

I laughed. “Then your house is probably much more peaceful than mine at Christmas.”

“I think it would be nice to have a bigger family,” he said. “You must have had lots of built-in playmates when you were little.”

“I did,” I agreed. “My best friend is actually my cousin Sofia.” I felt a pang. It had only been a week but I missed Sofie like mad.

“It’s pretty brave of you, coming all this way on your own, for such an extended stay.” I looked up and saw that he was watching me closely, something about his expression making me think he could tell what I was feeling. Slightly embarrassed, I reached for my drink.

“I don’t know about brave,” I said, after I’d drained the rest of it. “But my family sure wasn’t thrilled about it.”

“They thought it was too far?”

“They thought I should be putting my hard-earned education to work getting a real job, not spending more loan money on something frivolous.”

“Higher education is frivolous?”

“It is to them.” I reached for my drink again, my hand coming up short when I realized it was empty. Talking about my parents’ expectations always stressed me out.

Thomas noticed and gestured for a waitress. “Another gin and tonic and another Heineken, please.”

“Thanks,” I said, grateful.

“You’re welcome. We can change the subject if you want.”

“No, it’s okay. I just have some guilt issues when it comes to my career,” I laughed lightly, hoping I didn’t sound too melodramatic, but Thomas only said, “I can relate.”

“My parents are big on stability. They saw their parents struggle so much when they came to America. My dad worked a bunch of terrible jobs before he got hired at Ford. For him, a job with a good union, good benefits, that’s like the holy grail.”

“Your brothers and sisters agree?”

“Oh God, yes,” I laughed. “Two brothers are at Ford with him, another is an electrician, and both the girls are teachers.”

“So you followed in their footsteps?”

I was saved answering by the waitress’s return with our drinks, and it was a good thing, too. I had been about to admit that the thought of teaching had lately filled me with a panic I couldn’t explain. I hadn’t admitted that to anyone, not even Sofie or Callie. What was it about Thomas that made me feel so chatty?

“What about you?” I asked, eager to stop thinking about my career prospects. “What did your folks think about acting?”

“They’re supportive, now. It was a different story at first. They sent all three of us to really good schools, education was really important to them. I think they had visions of all three of us becoming barristers, like my dad.”

“What does your brother do now?”

“He’s a barrister.” Thomas laughed. “He’s the good son. But my sister is making noise about wanting to give acting a shot. They’ll really kill me then.” He winked at me, making my tummy flip all over again. I found that I was staring at his eyes while he talked. They were the most expressive eyes I had ever seen, flashing and twinkling, their green depths seeming to darken depending on his tone. If I spent enough time with him I could read his mood in his eyes, I thought. Without him saying a word.

“You said they weren’t thrilled with the acting at first. Weren’t you really young when Darkness came out?”

“I went to an open call when I was seventeen,” he said. “I actually auditioned for Cooper.” When I looked blank, he laughed. “Jackson’s part. I take it you aren’t a fan?”

I blushed to the roots of my hair. “Um…”

He laughed again and patted my hand, the contact sending a rush of shivers down my arm. “Don’t worry about it. It’s actually pretty refreshing. Anyway, I went to the audition kind of on a lark. I really liked drama in school, and kept telling my parents I wanted to study it at university. I figured if I could manage a callback in a major show, they might take me seriously. I was blown away when I was cast.”

“And they let you do it. That’s pretty cool.”

“At that point, they couldn’t have stopped me,” he laughed. “I had visions of Hollywood superstardom in my eyes. I was impossible for months.”

Just then, my phone beeped. I groaned as I looked down at it. “The girls are leaving.”

Thomas sat up straighter. “I could take you home,” he said. Was I imagining the eagerness in his voice?

“Thank you, but I should go with Callie. The other girls don’t live on our side of town, and we’re too new here for me to be leaving her on her own.”

“You sound like a nice friend,” he smiled at me, and I noticed, for the first time, that he had dimples. Or maybe they only appeared when he smiled a certain way. I had already mentally catalogued at least four different smiles to obsess over when I was alone.

He stood with me to walk me down the stairs. As soon as we were out of our protective alcove, the club noise hit me all over again. I had to lean up to yell right in his ear for him to hear me, brushing my arm across his as I went. I wasn’t complaining. “Look, I’d introduce you but I’m afraid Callie will go all fan girl on you. Are you up for that tonight?”

“Hmm, can I take a rain check on the fan-girling?”

I laughed. “Sure.”

As I scanned the room for Callie, Thomas took my hand. I looked up at him, surprised, as a rush of warmth shot through my fingers. “I’d like to see you again,” he said, leaning down so I could hear him. “Would that be okay with you?”

I couldn’t speak. Being so close to his face, his hand holding mine so firmly, I was overwhelmed with the desire to reach up and kiss him. I’d barely have to stretch at all. Instead, I nodded wordlessly, earning another grin from Thomas.

Five distinct smiles, I thought to myself. I wonder what they all represent.

“Tomorrow?”

I nodded again, pretty sure that my grin had turned downright goofy looking.

Thomas squeezed my hand before releasing it. “Text me when you get home then, we can set a time and you can give me your address.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He nodded across the room. “I think I see your friend. Talk to you soon?”

Before I could respond, he was brushing his lips lightly across my forehead, squeezing my hand one last time, and turning away. I stood gaping after him, still feeling his lips on my forehead.

###

If you have any questions about the Hop don’t hesitate to ask. Remember to leave a comment to enter to win a copy of my brand new ebook, Lovestruck in London. And don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter for the grand prize kindle!

Keep hopping! Click here to return to the list of blogs.

The big news for today is that I am finally ready to reveal the title and cover of my next book. Without further ado, I present…

Lizzie Medina went to London to reinvent herself. Tired of being the quiet baby sister, and in no hurry to settle into a boring existence in surburbia, she escapes from home at the first opportunity. When she settles in London for a year of post-graduate studies, Lizzie is sure she’ll be able to start a whole new life. Immerse herself in the books she loves. Explore a new country. Work on her dream of writing a novel. She might even be able to find a little bit of excitement for once.

But falling unexpectedly in love with up-and-coming actor Thomas Harper causes Lizzie to re-think her wishes for excitement. When Thomas’s career suddenly explodes to superstar levels, Lizzie finds herself forced to navigate the fame game of red carpets, catty co-stars, gossip magazines, and paparazzi. When she wished for a new life, she had no idea it would be anything like this!

Lizzie must now determine if her love is strong enough to get her through the complications of dating a movie star. Even if she and Thomas are able to pull through before she leaves London, how will she deal with the inevitability of returning to a life at home that no longer feels like her own? Will the changes Lizzie made in London be enough to help her find true happiness?

Find out in Lovestruck in London, available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore Tuesday, May 21st 2013!

I am so excited to release this book! I researched it and started writing during my trip to the UK last fall. It seems so crazy to me that a book I started while sitting in Hyde Park one afternoon, worked on while cruising across the ocean, and finished after moving into my new house will actually be published. I really hope you guys like it as much as I do! I think the thing I’m most excited about is introducing a whole new set of characters. I tend to get really invested in my characters–in fact, I kind of refuse to believe that Kiki Barker Thompson is not a real person and my actual friend. I hope you guys will enjoy meeting Lizzie and her friends because I’m so excited for you to get to know them!

To help spread my excitement, I’ll be giving away a $20 Amazon.com gift card to one of my readers. To enter, all you have to do is comment below and let me know your email address and who your favorite literary character is. The contest is only open to those living in the United States, sorry!  I’ll randomly select a winner the day of the book release, Tuesday, May 21.

I’ll be doing at least two more contests throughout the week in anticipation of the release. One will be open to newsletter members only, so if you haven’t already, sign up to be on the email list here. I only send out *occasional* emails regarding new releases, sales, and contests, promise! I will not clog up your inbox because I hate that as much as the next girl;)

I’m still working on the last minute polish of the novel so I better get back to work. Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday. Good luck with the contest!

Okay, first things first, you can now find ALL of my books on Barnes and Noble for your Nook! I’m a big Nook fan myself, it was my first e-reader, so I’m very happy readers can now find me over there. I’d like to be able to say the same about the iBookstore but I’m still missing one book on their site (An Unexpected Love Story). I hope to rectify that soon, keep your fingers crossed that Apple cooperates! You can still find the entire Three Girls series there as well as In Search of a Love Story and An (Almost) Perfect Love Story. My books are also up over on Kobo.

The second bit of news is that Three Girls and a Baby is now on sale for only $.99. Baby is the first book of the Three Girls series. If you haven’t read about Ginny, Jen, Annie, and Kiki yet, this is where you should start! The sale is being featured on Bookbub today so hop over there and get the link for the bookstore of your choice (the sale is happening on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords). The sale lasts all week because I’m celebrating. More on that later…

P.S. If you’re not subscribed to Bookbub yet, you really should be! They send you a daily email with free and cheap ebook finds. They are very selective in what they promote, so you know you’re only looking at really good books. And they let you personalize the kinds of books you see, so you’ll only get the genres you like. I love them! Since I signed up I’ve found so many great cheap and free ebooks (too many, really. My book budget is out.of.control).

The most exciting news I have to share, and the reason I’m celebrating with a book sale, is because my new book comes out NEXT WEEK! I cannot wait to share it with people! It’s been a really long time coming and, for some reason, this book was really a struggle for me to finish the way I wanted it. I’m so happy that it’s FINALLY ready!

I’ll be posting about the release all week. I’ll be sharing a sneak peek at the first chapter, interviewing some of the characters, and offering several contests. Tomorrow will be a big day: I’m revealing the cover and title and explaining how you can enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Make sure you check back throughout the week for the latest information on the release!

I hope you guys are enjoying the spring, wherever you are. Michigan decided we’d had enough of lovely 70 degree days and turned on the cold this weekend. I am NOT happy about it. But the Red Wings won their first round series and are moving on in the Stanley Cup playoffs, so it’s not all sad around here.

See you tomorrow!

One of the biggest reasons I’ve been MIA is because I’ve been working very hard on a new book. I’m having trouble choosing a title and I really need to get on that, because the book should be ready to publish in May. So what can I tell you about this book if I can’t give you a title? Let’s see…It’s set in London, it features a cute British boy (who just so happens to be a movie star), lots of references to Jane Austen novels, and a love story that I am particularly fond of. It’s very strange to write a book not set in Michigan but I loved writing about London. I hope you guys like it as much as I do. I promise to do better about updating in the next few weeks.

In other news, I am working to get all of my books available for nook, kobo, and iTunes. I’m also getting audiobook versions made, which I’m very excited about! It’s not a difficult process, but it is tedious, which makes it hard to do when I’m so focused on writing and editing. Again, I’ll update the site when the books are ready everywhere.

The other thing I’m working on is a prequel to the Three Girls series. I’m VERY excited about this! I think you guys know how much I love those girls, and how much I miss them when I’m not writing about them. The story I’m working on will be a novella (meaning it’s shorter than a novel) and will take place prior to Three Girls and a Baby. The best news about this prequel is that I will be offering it for free! I’m hoping to  have this out sometime in the late Spring.

I think that’s all the book news I have for now! Besides for writing I’ve been staying busy watching The Walking Dead, Dr. Who, and Community. I’m kind of obsessed with Community, actually. Joel McHale is so very dreamy and I’m more than a little bit in love with Danny Pudi and Donald Glover. Sigh. If you don’t watch this show I highly recommend giving it a shot (before NBC, in all their infinite wisdom, cancels it).

Oh, I also moved! I bought a new house with a great back yard for Lucy. It is also very near a park with walking trails and a little nature center. Lucy LOVES it! But she now gets even more annoyed when I spend all day writing. She just wants to be in the park all the time!

Lucy says, “Hey, stop writing and take me to the park!”

I hope you are all doing well and that spring is arriving where you are. It was a whopping 35 degrees today. Woohoo :/

Talk to you soon!

An (Almost) Perfect Love Story, the third and final book of my new series, is available to purchase on Amazon.com right here.

Ashley Phillips always believed she would live the perfect love story.

And why wouldn’t she? After all, Ashley’s been witness to her own parents’ perfect marriage, having been sweethearts ever since they met in high school. With their fairytale example to guide her, Ashley was sure that she would eventually find her very own prince charming. When she falls in love with one of her best friends, Chris, Ashley is sure she’s on her way to happy-ever-after.

When Chris proposes, Ashley is more confident than ever that her love story will be a perfect one. With the help of her mother and her best friends, Emily and Ryan, Ashley is determined to plan the dream wedding that she has always imagined.

But a devastating revelation will soon prove that the Phillips family is not as perfect as Ashley has always thought. When the cracks begin to show, Ashley will be faced with betrayal so strong it will cause her to doubt everything she’s always believed about marriage, love, and family. Now Ashley must decide if it’s time to give up the dream—or if true love is really worth fighting for after all.

First of all, didn’t Scarlett do a lovely job on the cover? It expresses Ashley very well, I think. Unlike Emily and Brooke, Ashley is all about the girly stuff. And as you can see from the items on the cover, there’s a wedding in this book. I think we all know how much I love writing about weddings!

I’m very excited to get this book out there, and to complete the Love Story series. It was a challenging set of books for me to write. I had so much fun writing about the Three Girls and spent a lot of time with Ginny, Jen, and Annie. Branching out to write about new people was hard at first. Of course, by the time I was finished I found I loved Emily, Brooke, and Ashley just as much.

I hope you do too!

To celebrate the new release, I have some great sales going for the first two books in the series. One of my favorite kindle websites, the Kindle Fire Department, did a very nice feature and explained the special deals you can take advantage of today. Check them out here, and please bookmark them for future use. They help authors connect with a lot of readers and help readers find a lot of sales!

I hope everyone enjoys this new release. If you have the chance to check it out, I’d love to know what you think. And keep an eye out for the Three Girls–they have a tendency of popping up in this new series;)

1. YA Dollhouse-Anya Allyn
2. YA Thirteen Reasons Why-Jay Asher
3. YA Beauty Queens-Libba Bray
4. YA Rebel Angels-Libba Bray
5. YA Caddie Woodlawn-Carol Brink
6. YA A Curse Dark As Gold-Elizabeth Bunce
7. YA The Changeling-Elle Casey
8. YA Wrecked-Elle Casey
9. YA Dark Is Rising-Susan Cooper
10. YA The Moon and More-Sarah Dessen
11. YA What Happened to Goodbye-Sarah Dessen
12. YA Hush Hush-Becca Fitzpatrick
13. YA If I Stay-Gayle Forman
14. YA Hunger-Michael Grant
15. YA The fault in Our Stars-John Green
16. YA Princess Academy-Shannon Hale
17. YA The Summer I Turned Pretty-Jenny Han
18. YA Wake-Amanda Hocking
19. YA Slam-Nick Hornby
20. YA Fallen-Lauren Kate
21. YA I Am Number Four-Pittacus Lore
22. YA Son-Lois Lowry
23. YA Bumped-Megan Mccafferty
24. YA Sloppy Firsts-Megan Mccafferty
25. YA The Host-Stephanie Meyer
26. YA Exit Here-Jason Myers
27. YA Evermore-Alyson Noel
28. YA Delirium-Lauren Oliver
29. YA Flat Out Love-Jessica Park
30. YA The Golden Compass-Philip Pullman
31. YA Six Moon Summer-SM Reine
32. YA Divergent-Veronica Roth
33. YA The Vampire Diaries-LJ Smith
34. YA Easy-Tammara Webber
35. CL Thanks For The Memories- Cecelia Ahern
36. CL The Wedding Day-Catherine Alliott
37. CL Every Boys Got One-Meg Cabot
38. CL Love By The Book-Dara England
39. CL Love Always-Harriet Evans
40. CL Where We Belong-Emily Giffin
41. CL Austenland-Shannon Hale
42. CL The Mystery of Mercy Close-Marian Keyes
43. CL I’ve Got Your Number-Sophie Kinsella
44. CL Wedding Night-Sophie Kinsella
45. CL Always the bridesmaid-Whitney Lyles
46. CL Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble-HP Mallory
47. CL An Offer You Can’t Refuse-Jill Mansell
48. CL The One You Really Want-Jill Mansell
49. CL To The Moon and Back-Jill Mansell
50. CL Me Before You-Jojo Moyes
51. CL When Girlfriends Step Up-Savannah Page
52. CL 10 Years On-Alice Peterson
53. CL When in Rome-Gemma Townley
54. NF At Home-Bill Bryson
55. NF The Mother Tongue-Bill Bryson
56. NF Shakespeare-Bill Bryson
57. NF A Year of Biblical Womanhood-Rachel Held Evans
58. NF Under the Duvet-Marian Keyes
59. NF Wild-Cheryl Strayed
60. ROM The Look of Love-Bella Andre
61. ROM Northanger Abbey-Jane Austen
62. ROM Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte
63. ROM Overbite-Meg Cabot
64. ROM Entwined With You-Sylvia Day
65. ROM False Colours-Georgette Heyer
66. ROM Beautiful Disaster-Jamie McGuire
67. ROM Unhitched-EL Sarnoff
68. HOR World War Z-Max Brooks
69. HOR The Stand-Stephen King
70. HOR Walking Dead Compendium One- Robert Kirkman
71. HOR Interview With the Vampire-Anne Rice
72. SF Jenny Pox-JL Bryan
73. SF The Hurricane-Hugh Howey
74. SF Third Shift-Hugh Howey
75. SF Rex Rising-Chrystalla Thoma
76. SF No Shelter-TS Welti
77. FAN A Game of Thrones-George RR Martin
78. FAN The Hobbit-Tolkien
79. MYS Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn
80.  _
81. _
82. _
83. _
84. _
85. _
86. _
87. _
88. _
89. _
90. _
91. _
92. _
93. _
94. _
95. _
96. _
97. _
98. _
99. _
100. _

What traditions do you enjoy celebrating this time of year?

Since I’m in such a festive mood I wanted to share something cool with my awesome readers. Today only the entire Three Girls collection is available on Amazon for just $2.99. That’s three full length books for the price of one! Check out the link below. The three Girls series would make a nice gift for any fans of chick lit or romantic comedy.

Three Girls Collection

I hope you all have a lovely holiday with your friends and family. I am so blessed to have such amazing readers. Thank you so much for all of your support!

First of all: Did you know I have a mailing list? Check out the right side of the page, there’s a link there to sign up. I’m going to use the mailing list to alert readers of new releases, sales, contests, and free books. I also plan to send out some sneak peaks of what I’m working on and exclusive looks at my books as they progress. I’d love it if you’d sign up! I promise to use the list very sparingly–I know we all get plenty of email. You won’t be hearing from me on a weekly basis, or anything like that (which would be super annoying and I don’t want you guys to get sick of me!). I will only send out newsletters when I have something really good to share, promise!

Next up, the sequel to In Search of a Love Story is almost ready! This is the second in the Love Story series and will be titled An Unexpected Love Story. The book is edited and formatted (by the very talented Shelley Holloway) and I just received the GORGEOUS cover art from Scarlett Rugers. I’m so excited! I’m looking to have the book live on Amazon before the end of the week. I’ll let you know the exact day ASAP. While we wait, let’s check out the cover, which I ADORE:

Isn’t that lovely? Scarlett does such a great job. I think she really nailed the feel of the book, and I love how this one goes with Emily’s book so well.

In all the busyness of getting these books ready, I realize that I haven’t talked too much about the actual content of An Unexpected Love Story. This book focuses on Brooke Murray, Emily’s best friend from her small hometown in northern Michigan. It was fun to write about “up north” Michigan, as it’s one of my favorite places in the world to be. And Brooke was one of my favorite characters to write. Even though she’s very different from Kiki, writing her was a similar experience. Both of those girls took on a life of their own. I had little say in how their character’s developed–as soon as I started to write them they took over. That’s always a fun thing for an author to experience. I hope everyone likes Brooke as much as I do! Here’s a little synopsis about her story:

Brooke Murray is looking for an escape.

Breaking away from her small town to go away to college, she thought she’d finally made it. For someone like Brooke—smart, sexy, bold, and confident—the sky should have been the limit. But a mere five years later, she found herself right back where she started: living in her parents’ apartment in the same little town in the middle of nowhere.

Though she’d rather be just about anywhere else, Brooke is determined to help her parents save the inn they nearly bankrupted. With this heavy responsibility on her shoulders, Brooke has little time—or inclination—to put much effort into her love life. Instead, she relies on her best friends, Emily and Paul, for companionship and support, and relegates the men in her life to the role of drinking buddies and one-night stands.

Brooke is perfectly happy with this arrangement until a new guest at the inn challenges everything she once thought about love. John is gorgeous, sophisticated, and exciting, and it looks like he might be hanging around for much longer than a weekend visit. 

But when hidden mistakes from the past surface, the inn’s very survival is threatened—and John himself may be involved in its imminent downfall. Suddenly forced to question everything she ever assumed about her small-town life, Brooke must now take a closer look at what is truly important to her. In doing so, she will find that true love is not nearly as complicated or scary as she thought—and may be much closer to home than she ever imagined.

In other exciting news, I’ve decided to put together a digital boxed set of the Three Girls books. Now people can download the entire series all at once, for a discounted price. Scarlett did another lovely cover for this digital collection. I’m probably a giant dork but it made me so happy to see the different Three Girls fonts on a cover once again. Check it out:

Isn’t that cool?

Okay, I think that’s all the fun, exciting news I can handle for a day. Hope everyone is doing good! I’ll have more to share later this week!

So let’s talk a little about the various projects I worked on in November. The first was a short story for this awesome collection:

Holiday Wishes, a short story collection to raise money for children’s charity.

Fourteen bestselling indie authors have come together to write a holiday short story collection to benefit a children’s charity this holiday season. These authors, who write in genres ranging from contemporary romance to science fiction, have joined in the holiday spirit to write all new stories for this anthology.

The collection includes contributions from the following authors: David Adams, Jason Brant, Elle Casey, Deanna Chase, Kate Danley, Dee Ernst, Ashley Mackler-Paternostro, Becca Mills, Dalya Moon, Christine Pope, Deanna Roy, Rachel Schurig, Jack Sheppard and Amber Sweetapple, with cover art donated by Claudia McKinney of Phat Puppy Artwork.

Holiday Wishes was the brainchild of Amber Sweetapple, a really great author I’ve been lucky to get to know over the last few months. Amber and her husband, Jack Sheppard, write really cool books AND they’re from Michigan! You can check out their author pages here and here. I was so stoked when Amber asked me to contribute a story. There are some seriously talented people involved in this! I decided to write something about the Three Girls and I’m so glad I did! It was so much fun revisiting Ginny, Jen, and Annie. The Christmas themed story takes place after Annie’s book. It was really fun to write and I hope you’ll check it out. All of the proceeds benefit a great children’s charity. The paperback is lovely and would make a lovely gift! You can get it here:

Kindle

Paperback

In addition to working on the short, I also spent a lot of time last month getting two new books ready to publish. Have you checked out In Search of a Love Story yet?

It is the first book of my new project, the Love Story series. I’ve been hard at work getting the two sequels finished. The next book, An Unexpected Love Story, will feature Emily Donovan’s best friend Brooke and her life running an inn in northern Michigan. The third and final book of the series, An (Almost) Perfect Love Story, will feature Ashley Phillips, who you may remember as Emily’s roommate. Like the Three Girls books, this new series celebrates love and friendship, with a dose of laughter mixed in. I really hope you’ll check them out! I should have cover art to reveal very soon! Oh, and if you look very closely, you may spot one of the Three Girls in each of the Love Story books;)

One more fun piece of news: I’ve been working on getting the Three Girls books put into a digital boxed set. I’m hoping to have this ready for Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying December as much as I am! It’s been rainy here in Detroit, and not very cold, which is strange. I’m hoping for some real snow by Christmas!

Another reason I’ve been MIA relates to a very fun adventure I got to go on earlier in the fall. I got home a few weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to post this. It’s a blog entry I wrote while crossing the Atlantic ocean on a cruise ship. Here goes:

Last September I was heading back to the classroom after a summer of amazing, fulfilling, humbling writing experiences. I remember a feeling of almost desperation. I had been able to focus on my writing all summer long, and it made me so happy. While I was excited to get back to my students, a huge part of me badly wanted to continue to write full time. I had published my first book over the summer and had finished writing and revising the second. The excitement of those experiences was unlike anything I had experienced. The thought of regulating the writing stuff to after school hours made me feel so sad—and scared, in a weird way. What if I never got to write full time?

What a difference a year makes.

When September rolled around this year, instead of heading back to the classroom, I got on a plane. Many hours later I landed in Scotland, a grand UK adventure ahead of me.

I’ve always wanted to write a book set in London. Most of my favorite books are set in England, from Jane Austen’s classics to Sophie Kinsella’s chicklit to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. I’d been to London before, years ago, but I knew that to really do justice to a book set in the city I would have to spend more time there. Now that I’m not teaching, I finally had the opportunity to do it. I would spend some time in Edinburgh Scotland, London, and Winchester, before heading home on a transatlantic cruise (The cruise doesn’t really have much to do with the book research, but it seemed much more romantic and interesting than just flying home).

The experience was everything I wanted it to be. All three cities were amazing. I saw castles and churches, museums and markets, parks and palaces.

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Edinburgh Castle

I went to the house where Jane Austen lived, where she wrote and published her books. I went to the church where she is buried and cried as I read her sister’s correspondence announcing Jane’s death.

Jane Austen’s house

Miss Austen’s writing desk

Well said, Jane!

Winchester Cathedral

I met interesting people everywhere I went and got enough material and inspiration to fill several books. Cruising home across the vast Atlantic I spent hours sitting out on deck, writing and watching the waves.

It was the trip of a life time. When I first arrived in Edinburgh and went through customs, the agent asked me my profession. Without hesitation, I told her: “I’m an author.”

Before I left home my best friend made me a series of CDs to listen to in the various cities I would visit. There was a moment listening to that music in London that I will remember for the rest of my life. As I walked along the Thames, in the shadow of Big Ben, a song came on my iPod called Crazy Dreams. Do you know this song? I guess it was originally done by Carrie Underwood, but it was covered last season on the show Smash. You can hear a clip of the Smash version over here on NBC’s site. Anyhow, the song is basically all about not giving up on stuff and how amazing it is when our dreams come true. It’s a little cheesy, but totally appropriate for walking around in London on a grand adventure of sightseeing and book writing. Ooh, and the actress who sings it on Smash, Megan Hilty, is who Andrea and I would want to play Kiki if they ever make a movie of my books.

Doesn’t she look just like Kiki?

It was such an amazing moment, walking along the river in this amazing city, hearing those lyrics randomly start up on my ipod.

Here’s to you free souls, you firefly chasers
Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players
Here’s to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms

There’s a lot of wonder left inside of me and you

Thank God even crazy dreams come true

I think sometimes of what would have happened if I had given up last fall. My books weren’t selling well, teaching was taking a lot out of me, and it was difficult to write as much as I needed to in the limited amount of time I had after school. Writing the third book of the series was hard for me. I remember feeling tired and frustrated. The writing didn’t flow the way it did with the previous two books. What if it was no good? What if I never got my chance, if my books never started selling? Would it be worth it to continue to work so hard when the rewards seemed so little? A voice in my head told me it was time to slow down a little, stop writing so much, take a break.

Thank God I didn’t listen.

And thank God even crazy dreams come true.