Memories from 2018
With the holidays wrapping up and a new year just ahead,
it’s a good time to review all the things that happened this year.
As is my habit, I’ll do a brief look
at some events that occurred in 2018, offering highlights month by month.
Because of space and time constraints, I won’t be able to go over everything,
however. For more details you can check out my author newsletter archives here, subscribe to upcoming issues, and you’ll also find more
information by following my website and other two blogs, Writing in the Modern Age
and the I Love Romance Blog
(ILRB).
Shall we get started?
The Year 2018
January
Sometime at the first of the year in 2018, I found out that my third historical
romance, Upon Your Love, and a new adult romance story, The Missing Piece, nailed
the TOP 10 for both the Romance Novel
category and the Romance Short
Story category in the
P&E Critters Readers Poll. Yay! Thanks for all your awesome votes then!
February
In
early February the boxed set for my Victorian maritime romance series was officially
released.
I
love this cover, and I’m excited that the trilogy is now wrapped up! Starting
on the 18th, readers
could participate in a mega giveaway for a copy of the historical romance set, Heiresses in Love Trilogy,
over on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog. Many thanks to my awesome host Lauren,
for all her help! :)
Two
days later, I wrote a romantic poem titled “A Lover’s Vow”, and posted it on
the I Love Romance Blog. Check it out here!
March
On
March 2nd, my sci-fi romance, Blue Vision, got a remodel,
when the book cover was redesigned. Sherry Soule at SwoonWorthy Book Covers is
awesome!
Around
the middle of the month, there was a great
new review for my new adult romance short story, The Missing Piece, on Big Al’s Books and
Pals blog.
Four
days later, a recent loss in the family was weighing pretty heavily on me, and
I wrote a
post about it here on the MLB blog.
The 21st brought a feature for the Heiresses
in Love Trilogy on the British Romantic Fiction blog. Read
some excerpts here from the series in the post! On the following day, I was
interviewed on
Angie’s Diary.
On
the 23rd, a
giveaway for my sci-fi romance, Blue
Vision, commenced on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog.
Five days
later, a couple events happened for me; one was a review and an interview.
Check out this stellar
book review for the boxed set version of the Heiresses in Love Series, featured
on the Romancing the Book blog! On the same blog, the
host, Jen, interviewed me here, not only about the book and how I wrote it, but
also a bit about my origin story as a writer.
Wow!
Thank you so much, Jen!
April
During the
first week of April, characters Fara Bellamont and Captain Grant Hill, from
the Heiresses in Love Series, were interviewed on Devika Fernando’s blog. Learn
all about them here!
On
April 15th, an
official review popped up on Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews site, as well as Amazon,
for the novel.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Amy!
On
the following day, readers got a chance to hear from the fascinating yet cocky
gentleman character Christian du Plessis of the Heiresses in Love Trilogy,
in a bucket list
feature on the Romance Lives Forever blog.
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And
the 18th brought a
unique character interview with the mature versions of Fara and Grant over on
Devika Fernando’s blog.
Six
days later, a guest post of mine was featured on the Night Owl Romance Reviews
site. Discover a few of my favorite gowns from my Victorian romance series
(it’s so hard to narrow them down). Several readers commented, and one was a
lucky winner for a copy of the boxed set. Congratulations, Elaine! ♥ In any
case, be sure to check out the article here.
On
the 27th was a
poem I wrote and posted here on the MLB blog. This one isn’t romantic at all, so I’m
warning you it might be a bit dark, but still very real.
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| Milada Vigerova, Unsplash |
May 25th brought a free book offer
for Second Chance Heart,
book one of the Eternal Hearts Series, over on the Romance Lives Forever Blog. If
you’re getting my monthly newsletter, it’s possible you missed this
opportunity. Any newsletter subscriber automatically gets a free copy of SCH.
If you don’t already have the book, please reach out to me via email here, and
I’ll give you the discount code and location to get the contemporary romance story which starts the Eternal Hearts Series.
On the 30th, Blood Instincts, a paranormal romance/urban
fantasy with a slight futuristic angle, was released. Woo hoo! Check out my
posts about it here and here.
June
With June 1st came a brief Q&A contest to
win an ebook copy of the Heiresses in Love Trilogy, featured during The Romance
Reviews’ Sizzling Summer Reads Party. And on the 7th, I
had a guest post featured on Fiona Tarr’s blog. This
article details my journey to getting published, and I mention how I landed a
traditional publisher.
Eleven days later, I was interview by Nancy Wood on her blog. Learn a
little more about my Victorian maritime romance series here. It’s always exciting to talk
about! :)
Still miss my character interviews? No need to worry. Myah
from my latest paranormal romance, Blood Instincts, spoke to readers here on Devika
Fernando’s blog on June 20th. Meet this fascinating
heroine! Eight days passed, and there was a spotlight
for book one, Second Nature, and book
two of the Blood at First Sight Series on the Read Between the Lines blog.
July
From
July 6th to the 22nd, a
giveaway landed on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog for the Blood at First Sight
Series. Wow! Thank you to the 1200+ participants who entered! Love my readers! :)
On
the 7th, some official
reviews for the paranormal series popped up on The Reading Café. Thanks, Julie
B., for your kind comments! Two days later, I had a guest post on the Just
Paranormal Romance blog. Stop by here, to see how
‘identity’ ties into Blood Instincts, book two of the Blood at First
Sight Series. On July 10th, character
Oliver from the book visited Devika Fernando’s blog. Find out what he has to say!
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Also
on the 11th, an
official review for Second
Nature (book one) appeared on Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews. Thank you,
Amy! July 12th brought an author interview on Book Reader Magazine.
Check it out here, and discover
some of my background!
On
the 17th, a new reader review popped up for Blood Instincts on Amazon and Goodreads. Thanks for
your lovely comments, Devika! Two days later, I had a fun interview
on the Reviews by Crystal blog. Don’t miss it!
On
July 20th, another
review for Blood Instincts materialized,
this one on Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews site. I also discovered around the same time
that the site had me listed in the TOP
TWENTY AUTHORS FOR 2018.
Wow!
Mega thanks, Amy! :)
Three
days later, my new
release was featured on K.A. Meng’s blog. Encounter a sizzling excerpt!
I
wrote a guest post for Sue Vincent’s blog, and on August 2nd it
premiered. Check it out here, and discover
what it was like for me to write my paranormal series. The next day brought a book
interview on Juneta Key’s blog. Two days later, an official review for Blood
Instincts appeared on the MP
Book Reviews site,
as well as Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you for
taking the time to read the book, Mandy! ;)
With
August 8th came a
cool interview with vampire Oliver, over on Diana Rubino’s blog. Three days
later, I wrote a poem for my romance blog; this was inspired by my fiancé.
Check out “Aching
Heart” here!
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| ahmed ashhaadh, Unsplash |
The
16th brought a fun interview from
yours truly, as I answered random questions about my writing life and
how I wrote Blood Instincts,
featured on Kayelle Allen’s Romance Lives Forever blog! ;)
Also
on August 16th, a
great book review for Blood
Instincts,
a paranormal romance and the second book in the Blood at First Sight Series,
popped up on Amazon. Thanks for your kind words, David! Three days later, I
found a reader review from April for the Heiresses in Love Trilogy
(boxed set) on Amazon.
Thanks, Barbara! Ten days later, there was a cool book
interview for Blood
Instincts on Cindy Fazzi’s blog. Such fun questions!
On
the following evening was an awesome radio show spot on Thorne
& Cross’ HAUNTED NIGHTS LIVE!. Learn about Blood Instincts, some of my
writing process, and random facts about me! I always have a great time with
this author/host team.
Additionally,
I made the top blogger for the month of August on Kayelle Allen’s RLF blog.
Yay!
September
On
September 6th, a
stellar review came in for DoH on Amazon.
Thanks,
Vanayssa! Later on in the month, on the 23rd, I had an author
interview on Randall Krzak’s blog.
October
On
October 14th, an author interview of mine appeared on the Shh, I Am Reading blog. Discover some background behind Blood
Instincts, and a few cool facts about me! Nine days later, I had a great
interview on Henry Anderson’s New Writing Hangout blog.
When
Halloween came around, I was
notified that three of my titles – Directions of the Heart, Upon Your Love, and the Heiresses in Love Trilogy
– became semi-finalists in the 2018 AUTHORSdb Cover Contest. Woo hoo!
November
On
November 12th, there was a one-day
Q&A ebook contest for Blood
Instincts during The Romance Reviews’ Year End Splash party. And on the 23rd, the same book had an official
review for on BigAl’s Books and Pals.
December
Something
exciting happened in December! From the 13th to the 20th,
I hosted a BIG multi-author romance novel giveaway and 500th
Anniversary post on the I Love Romance Blog. ♥ Among
almost 200 prizes, I donated four of my own. It was so much fun, and I think
all the readers enjoyed the contest!
On December 16th, there was an official review of Upon Your Return on Romance Novels for the Beach Blog. Very creative approach! ;) Eight days later, a book award contest commenced…and I’ll tell you about that shortly. And the 27th brought an author interview on Colleen Chesebro’s blog. Such great questions!
What’s Happening in 2019
Looking Ahead
Recently I
received word that both
Blood Instincts and the Heiresses in Love Trilogy had been
nominated in the P&E Critters Readers Poll! ♥
You’ll
find Blood Instincts listed in the Romance category, and the boxed set is over in the
Anthologies section. The contest ends on January 14th.
So, help me and out and keep on voting for these two titles! :)
In other news,
on January 20th, I’ll be visiting the Golden State Media
Concepts’ Book Review Podcast in an author interview. Catch my interview at 1
PM Pacific/2 PM Mountain/3 PM Central/4 PM Eastern! ♥
So…what do I have up my sleeve for this year? Well, I’m finishing up some final details with book one of a romantic comedy series, and the novel is called Chasing Ginger. Hopefully that will be ready for edits soon.
And in my free time, I’ve been working on fully revising a couple novellas from my backlist. Those will be merged into a romantic mystery collection, titled First Target.
In any case, both of these books are keeping me very busy! ;)
Those are the book projects planned
this year, but as you all know, the muse has a way of surprising me. Feel free
to follow not only my website,
blogs, and my newsletter for further updates, but also my official Facebook author page, my Instagram, and BookBub for other
news.
One more thing I’d like to add here
is an extra special thank you to all the guest authors on my blogs,
specifically here on the MLB blog.
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We had a handful of guest authors on
this blog in 2018. Life just got in the way (illnesses, a loss in the family, and
so much more…but really it’s just too crazy to go into right now), and I
couldn’t dedicate myself fully to posts here on this blog. For a list of
numerous literary guests, you can check out the end of year posts for my other
blogs here and here. I appreciate all of our guests, as well as our readers,
for visiting and making this blog spectacular! Here is a brief listing of our
guest author posts, plus our feline-related interview/takeover. Hey, maybe you’ll find some posts you missed!
Book
Spotlights/Features
Even though we didn’t have a lot of author guests
over here on the MLB blog, my schedule was kept very full with other events, as
you’ve probably already noticed. Readers, thank you all so much for being a
great part of my author journey this year! ♥♥♥
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Here’s to a wonderful 2019! Happy New Year,
everyone! :)
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You are such a work horse, Marie! AND your covers are great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Penny!
DeleteLoved having your characters over on my blog for interviews. Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Devika! You too, hon!
Delete