What You’ll Find in This Blog Today:
SO . . . WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?
UPDATE ON BOOK 2 THE COUSINS O’CONNOR SERIES!
O’CONNOR CHRISTMAS NOVELLA?
COVER REVEAL FOR MY FIRST ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE!
💛 So … What Have I Been Up To?
Well . . . a whole lot, except not much of it’s related to writing! 😳
Hello, everyone . . . it’s been a while since we’ve chatted, so I wanted to fill you in on what I’ve been up to in 2021. For me, it’s been a quiet year so far because I’ve been on a six-month sabbatical of sorts where I laid my writing aside to focus primarily on God and family. I think we need to do that every so often, and the last time I did that was the spring of 2015 when I wrote Isle of Hope.
As a result, not only have I had the joy of drawing closer to God this year, but the joy of reveling in family without distraction as well, something this writer needs to do more often than she does. That said . . . here’s just a sneak peek at some of the things I’ve been up to!
Gardening with my pots, playing in fountains with my daughter and grandson, playing cards (Go Fish!) with my granddaughters, and taking walks with Wy . . .
Hanging out with Mrs. Edison and Keith and painting my granddaughters’ nails . . .
Coving out with my son & grands and attending wedding with the love of my life . . .
Watching funny cat videos with grands and caring for my hubby after knee surgery . . .
And getting a (MOST wonderful) shock when my pregnant daughter surprises me with a Mother’s Day pic indicating that the 2nd boy she was supposed to have was actually a girl (see the blonde pigtails on the right side of Keith and I???) because the test was wrong — WHOO-HOO!
Soooooo . . . even though I haven’t been writing, it’s been a wonderful 2021 so far for me, and I hope for you too! And you know what? I am expecting it to get even better and better for us all . . .
Update on Book 2 of The Cousins O’Connor Series!
Okay, I will admit I got a real late start on writing Hope’s story this year, A Hope and a Prayer, not tackling it till almost six months into the year.
BUT . . . I do have it about 1/4 of the way done and hope to jump back in soon, shooting for a pre-Christmas release date. So prayers appreciated that I can get ‘er done! And since I always like to give you a little something to read, here are the opening paragraphs to the prologue of A Hope and a Prayer:
Prologue, 2d General Hospital, Nancy, France, January 2, 1945
“So help me, O’Neill, I’ll throttle you if you die!” The irony of her rare hiss of a whisper was lost on Nurse Hope Dennehy as she hovered near Lieutenant Bren O’Neill in the dimly lit surgical recovery ward. Breathing in the pungent scent of disinfectant, she sat glued to the edge of her wooden chair in the wee hours of the morning. His handsome face was as pale as the sheet draped across his heavily bandaged body while she gently grazed a thumb over the gauze on his arm, near as comatose as her best friend in the bed.
Her best friend.
Tears burned along with the fatigue in her eyes. A dear, dear friendship that had slowly evolved when her cousin Gabe — the woman Bren had hoped to marry — broke off her relationship with him after she returned to the States. Still recuperating from a near-fatal sniper gunshot during the Liberation of Paris, Bren had been devastated at the time, sinking into a depression that had worried Hope sick. And so she did what she always did when someone she cared about was hurting — she tried to alleviate their pain. A sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, a gin rummy game or two during free time … and prayer.
Lots and lots of prayer.
To heal Bren’s heart, yes.
Her heart skipped a fractured beat. And to safeguard hers.
Ah, yes, romance is definitely in the air for our sweet Hope Dennehy, no matter how hard she tries to avoid it, so stay tuned for more sneak peeks soon . . .
😳 O’Connor Christmas Novella?
Well, please forgive me, but unfortunately, there won’t be one this year because of the time off I took, so Steven & Annie and Gabe & Alex are just going to have to wait till next year for their Christmas debut.
But that’s okay because who knows? Maybe I’ll just go ahead and do two next year! Then I can publish ALL of the stories in one Christmas anthology with a final Marcy and Patrick Christmas story the next year, in both e-book and print of course, ahead of my original schedule! 😘
Cover Reveal for my First Romantic Mystery/Suspense!
And now — FINALLY — here’s the moment I’ve been waiting for (and hopefully you too!), the debut of my very first romantic mystery/suspense, scheduled for release on SEPTEMBER 20, 2021!
As promised, it is 50% romance and 50% mystery unlike most romantic suspense novels (which are 20% romance and 80% suspense) because frankly, as a die-hard romance queen, I just couldn’t do it any other way! I’m pretty sure that most staunch romantic suspense readers won’t like that as much, but hopefully my diehard romance readers will. So check out the cover and jacket blurb below, and if it looks good to you, I encourage you to pre-order it at a discounted rate that will go up on Sept. 20!
She’s sweet & cozy mysteries. He’s fun & cozy flings.
Till a deadly secret reveals not-so-cozy things.
Twenty-six-year-old Molly Stewart — ex-Navy nurse and former evidence technician for the Charleston Police Department — has been burned by love. So when her friend, Pastor Chase Griffin, begs her to move to scenic Lake Loon to be a nurse and companion for Miss Lilly, his elderly landlady, she jumps at the chance. The secluded and cozy cottage on a clear mountain lake seems the perfect place to heal from her fiancé’s betrayal as well as indulge in one of her greatest passions — cozy romance. First with reading them by the bookcase and then hopefully, if dreams come true, solving them one day as a licensed detective. But when Miss Lilly’s estranged great nephew shows up, it’s no mystery as to why he and Molly butt heads. Because it only takes one stolen kiss — while she’s sleeping, no less — to discover he’s an even bigger player than the fiancé who broke her heart.
When international playboy and Irish soccer star Brec McGill learns his long-lost great aunt is in a coma from a drowning accident, he rushes to her side. Not only is he anxious to reconnect with his only living relative he spent summers with as a boy, but her cottage on Lake Loon, Georgia is the perfect respite to heal from game injuries and escape a tabloid scandal. At thirty-three he’s disillusioned with the game, his fiancée, and life in general, craving nothing but a little peace and solitude to get his head on straight. But when he discovers his aunt’s cottage is not only inhabited by a crusty Aunt Lilly he hasn’t seen in ten years, but a pretty prude of a nurse as well, his plans take a nose-dive in the lake. Because suddenly it appears not only was Aunt Lilly’s accident no accident . . . but somebody out there wants to see them all dead.
WELL . . . that’s all I have for you today, but I hope to get back with you on sneak peeks soon, so stay tuned! And have a BLESSED rest of your summer! 😎
Hugs!
Julie
