Title and Synopsis Reveal of my Next Contemporary Romance

I’m so excited to share some details about my next contemporary romance with you! I’ve been working on this book since last autumn, and it’s almost ready to go out into the world. Maybe You is a standalone romance. The heroine was first introduced in my last book, Only You. While there are familiar characters in Maybe You, it can 100% be read on its own. That being said, I do think the reading experience will be a bit richer for those who have read Only You because Ivy and Hugh play an important role in Meredith’s story. I had so much fun writing this book. I got the idea last year, before I even knew Meredith would be getting her own story. I thought it would be a complete standalone, separate from anything else I’d written, and I thought it would be a romcom. By the time I finished writing Only You and knew I wanted to write Meredith’s story, the idea for my completely separate book (I even had the main character’s name chosen!) kept overlapping with Meredith’s story, and soon became hers. I’ll talk more about the characters and the story in the coming weeks, but for today, I wanted to share a few details, along with the synopsis.

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Some rules are meant to be broken… Meredith has rules. As a “professional cuddler” at Human Touch Companions, it’s a necessity. Her number one rule: Don’t get attached to clients and don’t let them get attached to her. She’s never had a problem with that until she meets Keiran. The adorable Irishman hires Meredith for emotional support in facing his estranged family, but he’s the one who ends up comforting her as she tries to come to terms with her beloved mother’s slide into the heartbreaking abyss of Alzheimer’s. It's only when Meredith sees how much she's leaning on Keiran that she realizes she's blurred the lines between professional and personal, but even worse? She’s broken her number one rule. She’s gotten attached to a client. Meredith knows the best solution is to resume a strictly professional relationship. But Keiran makes her feel something she never thought she'd feel again. Surely that's worth breaking her own rules for?


Add Maybe You on Goodreads

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Maybe You will be hitting e-readers on Thursday, May 23rd. The cover is almost finished and will likely be revealed a week or two before the book’s release. I’ll be having a short 3-day 99 cent preorder, and for those who don’t want to/can’t preorder I’ll leave the price at 99 cents through release day and the next day. If you’d like to be sure to snag a copy for that price (regular price will be $2.99), I’ve created a sign-up form for a one-time notification where you can choose to receive an email from me either when the preorder goes live or on release day. If you’d like to receive the one-time notification (and I really do mean one time; you won’t be added to my mailing list or sent anything other than a release notification), you can sign up here.

If you haven't read Only You and you'd like to meet Meredith before reading Maybe You (plus meet Ivy and Hugh, who are pretty damn great if I do say so myself), you can get a copy of Only You for just $2.99 on Kindle or read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited. Want to get a better feel for Meredith and Keiran's story before it comes out? Check out my Maybe You Pinterest board and my Maybe You Spotify Playlist.

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Why It’s Important to Take Pleasure in the Little Things

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so I thought it was the perfect time to talk about some of the things I’m grateful for, and why I think it’s important now more than ever to take pleasure in and be grateful for the little things in life. I’ve talked before about how the last two years have been difficult for my family and me, and I don’t think I need to go into details about the state of the world. Through all the crap that’s happened, though, I’ve learned to be even more grateful than ever for what I do have.

Lately, I’ve seen many people online talking about feeling a lot of guilt over talking about simple or ‘frivolous’ things, or promoting their books/businesses/blogs while the world seemingly falls apart. I understand that guilt and feel it myself, but the sad truth is, there’s something happening almost daily anymore. It’s easy to get bogged down in the negative, scary things in the world, but we can’t stop living or loving. It’s important to acknowledge the things happening and to fight for change, spread awareness, and show sympathy, but it’s also important to at least try to continue living a somewhat normal life. To take pleasure where you can get it, find the light in all this darkness. There’s nothing wrong with needing an escape from reality and a break from the seemingly never-ending stream of bad news. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about the state of the world.

Here are some of the things I’m grateful for this year, the things I’ve been using as an escape and taking pleasure in when the real world becomes too much.

My family

My mum is my best friend, and she’s the greatest friend anyone could ask for. She’s my sidekick, my confidante, and my favourite person in the world. I’m so blessed to get to spend so much time with her. I also spend a lot of time with my youngest nephew and niece, AKA The Littles. They’re with us most weekends, and we’re all about adventures, tea parties, movies, fun photo shoots, and much more. Every single week they teach me more about patience, unconditional love and understanding, and the importance of having an open mind and being flexible. My 4-year-old niece is a serious badass - strong, fierce, sassy, funny, imaginative, incredibly intelligent - and I’m fostering all of that in her as much as possible because it’s more important now than ever to raise girls to become strong women.

Books

Books have always been an escape and a constant companion for me. Currently romcoms are my jam, and I can’t get enough. A few of my recent favourites: the Castle Calder series by Brenda St John Brown, The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters by Jaimie Admans, Mister Hockey by Lia Riley, and Ten Days With the Highlander by Hayson Manning. I also love books set in my favourite places, especially London. A few of my recent favourites are London Belongs to Me by Jacquelyn Middleton, London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning, and Act Like It by Lucy Parker.

Friends

Besides my mum, my closest friend is Krista. We’ve been friends since first grade, and have been through so much together. We’ve drifted apart a few times over the years, but we always come back together, leading us both to believe we’re meant to be in each other’s lives. I’m grateful for our talks, ranging from philosophical to silly to all things nerdy/fandom-related and everything in between. I also have some wonderful online friends, who I’ve met through blogging, writing, Twitter, and most recently Bookstagram and Instagram. Speaking of Instagram, I’m also thankful for the creative outlet it provides; it challenges me to be more creative and up my photography game, and it brings me so much pleasure. The community, especially the bookish community is so warm, welcoming, and supportive.

A few recent small pleasures

U2’s new song and music video (basically a love letter to NYC) You’re the Best Thing About Me. Taking up knitting again after many years away from it and starting by making a present for a friend. Rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time in years.

No matter how bad things are, it’s important to find positive things, things to be happy about, things to celebrate. Continuing to live your life doesn’t make you a bad person and it doesn’t mean you don’t care about people’s suffering. Something else that’s important to remember: it’s not selfish to practice self-care or take social media breaks if it means maintaining your sanity. You don’t need to be ‘on’ all the time. Take pleasure where you can get it and be grateful for all the good things in your life and in the world.

What are you grateful for this year? What small things have you taken pleasure in lately? Do you ever feel the guilt I mentioned?

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You might also like:

  ☆4 Ways I’ve Practiced Self-Care Lately

  ☆An Afternoon With an Old Friend and Some Thoughts on Self-Care

  ☆The Importance of Persevering When You Feel Like You’ve Lost Your Creative Spark

Monday Musts #4: The Irish Edition

The Monday Musts is a new weekly meme hosted by Lovin' Los Libros, where you share what you consider a must-read book, a must-listen song/album/artist, and something that's a must see (TV show, movie, blog, pictures, etc).

Welcome to Monday Musts! Why the Irish edition you ask? Well, I'm obsessed with all things Irish and since St. Patrick's Day is this week, I decided to dedicate the week to things having to do with the Emerald Isle. Stay tuned the rest of the week for more Irish goodness!

My musts for this week:

~ Must Read ~

If you like contemporary romance, I highly recommend the Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy by Nora Roberts: Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon, and Heart of the Sea. Jewels of the Sea was one of the very first contemporary romance novels I read and it started my love of the genre. It didn't hurt that the series is set in Ireland, plus while it's mostly contemporary it also has faeries and ghosts and a wonderful underlying thread of magic. I've already read the series a couple times and I've been thinking lately it's time for another reread.

~ Must Listen ~

U2 and The Corrs are two of my favourite bands, and they both happen to be Irish. There are several versions of When the Stars Go Blue but for me none will ever compare to this version with Bono and the Corrs. *heart eyes forever*

~ Must See ~

Three of my favourite movies set at least partly in Ireland: PS I Love You (the book is also fantastic, and it's written by Irish author Cecelia Ahern), Leap Year (which is doubly fitting this year since it is a leap year), and Laws of Attraction. All three of these are romantic comedies (although PS I Love You is also incredibly heartbreaking and makes me cry like a baby every time I watch it).

What do you think of my musts? What are your musts for the week? Tell me in the comments, or if you participated in The Monday Musts this week, feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments and I'll visit you back!

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5 Days of Angel Island Day 5: Take Them by Storm Playlist

This week is the release of The Complete Angel Island Series, a box set that includes all three of my Angel Island companion novels, Waiting for the Storm, After the Storm, and Take Them by Storm. For this week only you can get the set for just $2.99 - that's all three books for the price of one! If you're curious about the series and haven't started it yet, or if you've read one but not the other two, now would be a great time to give them a try!

To celebrate the release of the box set, I'm dedicating this week to posts about the series. On Monday I kicked things off with fun facts about the series, on Tuesday I shared pictures inspired by the books, on Wednesday I shared an excerpt from the first book in the series, Waiting for the Storm, and yesterday I shared an excerpt from the second book, After the Storm. Today's post is Sadie's Take Them by Storm Playlist from - a mixture of songs she listens to or mentions in the book, and songs I listened to while writing.  

Sadie's Playlist

I Kissed a Girl ~ Katy Perry
One ~ U2

Magic ~ Coldplay

Roar ~ Katy Perry

Walk On ~ U2

Raise Your Glass ~ Pink

I Was a Fool ~ Tegan and Sara

Best Day of My Life ~ American Authors

Anything ~ Hedley

Ordinary Love ~ U2

Born This Way ~ Lady Gaga

Paradise ~ Coldplay

You Learn ~ Alanis Morissette

Don’t Go (Girls and Boys) ~ Fefe Dobson

Show ’Em (What You’re Made Of) ~ Backstreet Boys

The Unforgettable Fire ~ U2

Unwritten ~ Natasha Bedingfield

Secrets ~ Mary Lambert

With or Without You ~ U2

To the Moon and Back ~ Savage Garden

Shake it Off ~ Taylor Swift

Distance ~ Christina Perri

Invisible ~ U2

Whataya Want From Me ~ Adam Lambert

Breathing Underwater ~ Metric

One and Only ~ Adele

 

Buy The Complete Angel Island Series now

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I hope you've enjoyed this week of Angel Island posts!

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Stacking the Shelves June 28th

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

Happy Saturday, book lovers! I hope you've all had a great week. Read anything good lately? 

Here are the books I've acquired in the last two weeks.

FOR REVIEW:

 

Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson {GoodReads}

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas {GoodReads}

The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason {GoodReads} 

Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid {GoodReads}

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E Smith {GoodReads}

Burning Kingdoms by Lauren DeStefano {GoodReads}

BOUGHT:

What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick {GoodReads}

North Side Story: U2 in Dublin 1978-1983 by Niall Stokes {GoodReads}*

Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler {GoodReads}

I See London by Chanel Cleeton {GoodReads}

*I renewed my subscription to U2.com and the book was this year's subscriber gift.  

A big thank-you to Simon & Schuster Canada, Little, Brown Books, Chronicle Books, and Harlequin Teen for the review books

~*GIVEAWAYS*~

This weekend is the 20th anniversary of my dad's death from leukemia. Until Monday, half the proceeds from all sales of my novel BLUE SKY DAYS will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society in his honour. I also have a huge sponsor-run giveaway for 3 $20 cash prizes. Who doesn't love winning cash? You could be $20 richer next week! ;-) You can check out the promotion and the giveaway HERE. 

I'm also giving away an ebook of AS YOU TURN AWAY by Molli Moran, as well as some gorgeous swag. You can enter that giveaway HERE.

How was your week? Did you get any new books? Have you read any good ones that you'd recommend? Tell me in the comments below or post a link to your Stacking the Shelves/Book Haul/In My Mailbox/Showcase Sunday, etc. Happy reading! <3

 
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What's Happening + Stacking the Shelves June 8th

I reviewed Born of Illusion by Teri Brown and gave it 3.75 stars

I reviewed Linked by Imogen Howson and gave it 3 stars

I talked about how I’ll be slowing down on the blog for the summer

 

In Distractions from Reading I talked about the reasons I haven’t been reading as much lately 

On my personal blog I shared my tips (along with a bunch of photographs) for DIY maternity photography; I talked about visiting Toronto and going up in the CN Tower; this week was week one of my new feature called Gilmore Girls Mondays; and I talked about being in the delivery room when my nephew was born

 

I'm an aunt again! My very first niece, Maddison, was born Thursday morning at 4:43am. She weighed 9 pounds, 12 1/4 ounces and she's all roley poley and crazy dark hair. We went to visit her in the hospital, and since the visiting hours on the maternity ward are pretty lenient, we ended up staying for four hours. I got to hold her for about two hours on and off (talk about aunty heaven!), and we got to see her big brothers seeing her for the first time (my nephews are 3 and 10). I'll be talking about it more and sharing more pictures on Lost and Found this weekend. 

Also, this happened:

Sarah Dessen has been one of my favourite authors since I was 16 and first read Someone Like You, so this was pretty exciting for me! A new long-awaited Sarah Dessen book (see below), a niece, and a tweet from Sarah all in the same week! :-D

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

I got a ton of great books this week - a couple for review, won one, got a few ebooks, and I went to my local Alzheimer's Society book sale and got a bunch of books. Here's my haul for this week:

FOR REVIEW:

To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) by Sonya Sones {GoodReads}

Georgetown Academy Season 1 (books 1-4 in the series) by Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz {GoodReads}

WON:

From Ashley at Ashley Loves Books

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger {GoodReads}

BOUGHT:

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen {GoodReads}

The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse  {GoodReads}

The MacGregor Grooms by Nora Roberts {GoodReads}

The MacGregors: Serena and Caine by Nora Roberts {GoodReads} 

The MacGregors: Daniel and Ian by Nora Roberts {GoodReads} 

The Calhouns: Catherine, Amanda, Lilah by Nora Roberts  {GoodReads} 

Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts {GoodReads} 

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon {GoodReads}

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon {GoodReads}

The Witches of Willowmere by Alison Baird {GoodReads}

Atonement by Ian McEwan {GoodReads}

From the Ground Up: U2360 Tour Official Photobook {GoodReads}*

On Every Street by Karina Halle {GoodReads}

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover {GoodReads}

*The U2 photobook was this year's U2.com subscriber perk. It's a huge book with pictures from the 360 tour (which I went to), four lithographs, 4 bookmarks and a CD

*A big thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada, Coliloquy, and Ashley*

What books did you get this week? Tell me in the comments below or post a link to your Stacking the Shelves/Book Haul/In My Mailbox/Showcase Sunday, etc. Happy reading! <3

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What's Happening #3

What's Happening is a weekly recap post every Thursday or Friday, in which I talk about what I'm reading, writing, blogging about, and what's been going on in my life. It takes the place of my former weekly recap post, Update Thursday. 

Hello and happy Friday, darlings! I hope you've all had a great week. Here's what I've been up to since last Friday:

 

Mind Games by Kiersten White {GoodReads} 

Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke {GoodReads}

 

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich {GoodReads}

Sarcred Celtic Places by Iain Zaczek {GoodReads}

I participated in the cover reveal for The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard (faeries, Irish people, if you know me at all, you can imagine how much I'm pining for this book, plus I seriously love the cover).

I reviewed Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and gave it three stars. 

I participated in Top Ten Tuesday and talked about the ten (well, actually, seven) settings I'd like to see more of in books. 

I reviewed The Bungalow by Sarah Jio, and gave it four stars. 

And finally, I discussed my slight aversion to big books and asked you guys to weigh in with your opinions.  

Also, on my personal blog I participated in a hop called The Facts of Me, which was a lot of fun. If you'd like to learn some fun, random facts about me, head on over! 
 
A blog-related note: you'll likely notice more penguins popping up around the blog. I added to my blog header - instead of stock image books I used my own, and the little penguin I added is my pal Penelope. I've also redone my blog button (feel free to grab it!), and my rating system for reviews, which I'll be implementing next week. I'm going to do a few other tweaks around here in the next week or so. 

On Wednesday night, my sister-in-law and I went to see U23D in the theatre. You can read all about it and see some pics here. 

That's pretty much it. I've been busy this week doing blog-related stuff, getting Waiting for the Storm ready for beta readers, and doing some stuff around here. 

How has your week been? What's new? Any plans for the weekend?

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