Today, let’s look back on June and look forward to July.

Favourite reads

I had an incredibly busy June. As such, I only read five books last month, and since I enjoyed every single one of them, I’ve featured them all below. A mix of m/m romance, m/f romance, and fantasy. Click the covers to be taken to Amazon to purchase or read the blurbs!

Books I’m looking forward to reading in July

A small selection of the books I can’t wait to read this month! And yes, I know I featured Alpha Night and Darker Shade of Magic as “can’t waits” for June in last month’s High Five Friday post, but I was just so busy that I didn’t get to them. I have high hopes for July!

On the writing front

I know I usually keep my blog dedicated to books and writing, but I’m about to get real for a second: June was hard. And not only because I was working on edits on Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) at the same time that I was promoting my new release, Home for a Cowboy, and working on my new novel, Gingerbread Mistletoe (Lighthouse Bay #2). But because there was so much happening in the world that made me sad and anxious.

The thing that broke me, however? Elijah McClain. If you don’t know who he is, please look him up. I never knew I could have my heart broken so spectacularly by a complete stranger, but Elijah’s story managed to do just that. If just the sound of his name makes me cry, I can only imagine what his family has been going through for the past year.

Needless to say, my mental health wasn’t great for a while and I struggled to motivate myself to write. While I managed to finish edits on Risking the Shot (it’s currently with my copyeditor!), I didn’t get as many words written on Gingerbread Mistletoe as I had originally planned. But that’s okay. Self-care is important, and I took some time to learn and read and educate myself, balancing that with family time with my sisters and my niece who are my favourite people in the world. I even got to witness my niece eat her first ice cream cone and it was as adorable as you’re thinking (although it did take her an hour to eat it!).

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[My sisters and me with my niece and her first ice cream come. I’m the one in the middle, in case you’re wondering.]

Thank you for listening! Now onto book stuff and updates.

• My newest release, Home for a Cowboy, released on June 9. If you’ve already picked it up, thank you! If you haven’t yet, I hope you do so. It’s the perfect low-angst, summertime read.

• In late July/early August, I’ll be re-releasing As Big as the Sky with a brand new cover, but no new content. And it’ll be going into KU for the first time!

• As I mentioned, Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) is with my copyeditor! Tentative release day for this one is September 8. Stay tuned for the blurb coming soon, and the cover coming next month. What I can tell you? Single dad + age gap + hockey. Also, fluff. Because I wrote this during the height of COVID and quarantine/social distancing and I needed something light and fluffy in my life.

• I’m about 2/3 of the way into writing Gingerbread Mistletoe (Lighthouse Bay #2). I’m sure you can tell by the title that it’s a Christmas story! It’ll be releasing in November and features Mika Jones, Holland’s ex from Christmas Lane, as well as a brand new character who’s only very briefly been mentioned in The Nature of Christmas. (“Very briefly” as in blink and you miss it.)

• Audiobook news! I’m working with a narrator to get On the Ice into audio and I’m super excited! Hearing Mitch and Alex come to life is so surreal and I can’t wait for you guys to hear how great my narrator is. This is my first audiobook, so I’m learning and still navigating the process and can’t give you a release date yet, but if I had to guess, I’m probably looking at September or October.

• One little piece of bad news: because of COVID, I’m no longer attending GRL 2020 in St. Louis. However, the organizers were nice enough to roll over my registration to 2021, so I’ll definitely be attending next year. For those of you who were looking forward to purchasing signed paperbacks from me, I’m thinking of doing a Christmas order form sometime in September/October. Check out the poll below to help me gauge interest.

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