Book Stories: Maid in LA

I write romances. I started writing romantic comedy and then some sweet romances and finally moved into more serious dramas. Many were a cross between romance and women's fiction. I tried to coin the word Womance...it didn't catch on. LOL I settled for Romance+.

That's a lot of different types of writing. But I had this idea for a character. A maid who accidentally cleans a murder scene. And because she's good at her job...she cleans up the murder weapon. Quincy Mac doesn't want to go to jail for just cleaning good...so she sets out to solve the mystery.

I've had such a great time with Quincy. I have a friend in Hollywood. She was sweet enough to let me pepper her with questions as I wrote the series. Any times I stretch how things work there, it's on me not on her. Oh, and she not only works in the industry...she writes too. Check out her books, Dee J. Adams.

I really thought Quincy was a one-off. My only cozy mystery series. But my agent asked if I'd consider writing another series. And I started to mull and...well, I don't want to even talk about the title because I really want to save it for a reveal next year. But suffice to say, I have once again dipped my toes into cozy mysteries. I've finished the first two books and hope to have more info for you soon! In the meantime, my first four Maid in LA books are in a collection...and it's on sale. And the new (final?) book is out as well! I hope you'll check them all out! When you're done, if you have a sec, please go leave a review!

Speaking of cleaning...that's part of my agenda today. I don't mind vacuuming or laundry, but man, I hate dusting! I think there's a chance that all the books in my house might be a part of that...dusting them is a pain. LOL How about you? Is there a chore you just can't like?
Don't forget to check out...

The Maid in LA Collection is on sale for $1.99.

When you're done, pick up book #5, Polished Off. Quincy Mac's cleaning up Hollywood...one murder at a time!

Holly

PS Quincy's from Erie. She comes back home for a visit in book #3. Many of my books are set here in Erie and many of them take readers to Presque Isle. Join Susan and me in this new Trippin' video and we'll give you a tour!

PPS.

Polished Off

Don't forget my new release Polished Off: A Maid in LA Mystery is out! Check out Quincy's newest adventure!

Then go back to school with three PTA Moms.  There's a bonus short story included! Check out the PTA Mom Collection!!

PTA Moms: the Collection

Don't want to miss any new releases in the future? Subscribe to my Newsletter!! I'll keep you up-to-date and I frequently have something special for subscribers!

As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

BAM

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! 

Trippin' with Holly and Susan—14 and Book Series Part #4

Susan and I are talking about manners today as we roadtrip home to Erie. I know it's not really a writing topic, but it's timely! Actually it is sort of writing related...and definitely life related!

And I'm picking back up with some of my book series!



Today, let's talk about Briar Hill Road and The Moments.

I wrote Briar Hill Road for a very short lived Harlequin line, Everlasting Love.  The idea was telling more than just how a couple meets and falls in love, but the width and breadth of their relationship.  Briar Hill Road starts when the hero/heroine are kids and follows them as they get older.  It was a unique concept.  At the time, I was still recovering from the loss of my mother-in-law.  She was truly one of my best friends and years later, I still miss her.  That friendship between a two women, along with that sense of loss are very much present in the story.  I've said for a long time that it's one of the most autobiographical stories I've ever told, even though it's completely fiction.

The second story in the series is written in that lifetime-of-love style, though it's just a short novella, or long short story.  It's the couple's daughter's romance.  Right now it's up for free at Radish.  What's Radish?  A site for people who read on their phones.  I'm new there.  I've got a few more books I'll be putting up there.  So if you loved Briar Hill—which I hope you did/do—if you download the app, you can read the sequel for free.

Check them out:
Briar Hill Road Amazon & BN
The Moments Radish

~~~

Let's talk about Cupid Falls.

I've got a sense of pride about the Legend that begins the book.  Someone who lives in the area outside of Erie read that part and emailed me to ask if it was real, and if so, how did she miss it.  Here it is if you missed it:

Prologue

The Legend of Cupid Falls, Pennsylvania

To the south of Erie, Pennsylvania—south of the Great Lake that shares a name with the city—is Falls Creek. It is bigger than most creeks, but not quite large enough to be considered a river. It runs through field and forest to a ridge, carved millennia ago by a glacier. There, it plunges over the edge, falling to a hollowed-out swimming hole before becoming a creek again and meandering on its way.

Local legend has it that when George Washington visited the nearby town of Waterford in 1753, one of his retinue was touring the area. The locals took him to the falls, and there he met a farmer’s daughter. He married her later that same year and they settled near the creek. Years later, their daughter went to the falls with a group of friends and noticed that one of the boys in the group might be more than a friend. They married later that same year. And so it went, year after year, decade after decade, couple after couple, until the small waterfall, which in actuality was little more than a creek tumbling over a small cliff, became known as Cupid’s Falls.

When a town grew up a few miles away, the residents named it Cupid Falls as an homage to their waterfall.

And to this day, it is said, that when two people meet at the falls and declare their love, they are destined for a long, happy romance . . .

Even if that’s not what they went to the falls looking for.

If you follow my camp posts, you're familiar with the area I set my fictional town, Cupid Falls.  The second book, A Simple Heart, deals with an almost Amish couple.  Yes.  Almost.  LOL  We have a lot of Amish neighbors.  If you've seen pictures of The Cottage, most of the wood comes from neighbor's mills.  Locally source, locally milled.  I love that. 
Christmas in Cupid Falls Amazon
A Simple Heart Amazon

~~~

Finally, one of my very earliest series, Dear Fairy Godmother.

I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy.  Heinlein, Tolkien, Lewis, Bradley...  When I started writing, I thought maybe that's what I'd write, but I fell in love...with romance.  But early on, I tried blending the two.  Here's the premise, a romance writer writes a bestselling series featuring three inept fairy godmothers who realize their writer isn't very happy—certainly not happily ever after happy—so they come to life to help her out.  They stick around and help out two other couples.  And I thought I was done.

But readers loved those fairies and asked for more.  And so I did one more grand finale story, Fairly Human.  And I'll confess, if you read that one, I adore Blossom's bosom lament.  LOL

Here's the order:
Mad About Max Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Magic for Joy Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Miracles for Nick Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play
Fairly Human Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play


I hope you've enjoyed these posts and finding out a bit about the why's and how's a story is written.  

Holly

Polished Off

PS. Don't forget my new release Polished Off: A Maid in LA Mystery is out! Check out Quincy's newest adventure!

And Carry Her Heart is on sale, along with the 2nd book in the series, These Three Words. Plus, if you love Quincy Mac, my other stand-alone cozy mystery, Can't Find NoBODY is on sale too!

Don't want to miss any new releases in the future? Subscribe to my Newsletter!! I'll keep you up-to-date and I frequently have something special for subscribers!

As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

Audible

BAM

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!

Book Series, #3 Pick Up Lines and more

Large Print

 I mentioned my WLVH Radio series yesterday, so here's a bit about it.

It was also a series bought by Avalon Books, who mainly marketed to libraries.  This made so much sense to me.  I was actively writing for Harlequin and having more hardback books in libraries hopefully introduced me to new readers...who hopefully picked up my Harlequins.  
The first book, Pickup Lines, had a simple enough premise.  As part of a WLVH Radio promotion, a girl and a guy live in a truck. The one who makes it longest wins it.  She's determined to win it because her car blew up and she needed it.  He's determined to win it as a marketing gimmick for the family business.  I've got to confess, I loved trying to set almost  book...in the cab of a truck.

The second book, Lovehandles, is named after the station, WLVH where love is more than just a song.  This one is the the story of two of the WLVH .  

The third book, Night Calls, is about a DJ who buys...an Old English Mastiff.  I mentioned that my dogs Ethel Merman and Ella Fitsgerald were the cover models for Everything But a Dog, well, the model for Night Calls was our Mastiff.  Oh, he was a sweet dog.  He didn't have a mean bone in his two hundred pound body.  What he did have was slime.  Lots and lots of slime.  In the interest of being accurate, I put that slime in the book.  Accurately.  My only revisions for the story was...deslime it a bit.  LOL So, what you get in the book is a bit less than he really slimed.  It's not just a dog story, btw.  His owner and a neighbor fall in love...with him and with each other!

Finally, the fourth book is Laugh Lines.  Now, the cover is bad, but truly it's better than the first version...which had what looked like a stripper pole in the center.  So the mic is a better choice.  It's a shame the cover was so bad. I loved writing a romantic comedy about a stand up comedienne.  Here's what I learned writing standup...it's hard to make standup comedy in a book.  Oh, I agonized over it.  But in the end, I was happy with this little story.

Here's the series in order:
Pickup Lines
Lovehandles
Night Calls
Laugh Lines
(and you meet one of the DJ's in the Nothing But... trilogy)

~~~

This next trilogy is near and dear to my heart.  The opening premise was...what happens when three single PTA moms miss the first meeting of the year and get stuck on the crap committee?  They were so much fun to write because I know these moms.  I was these moms.  Well, not the divorced or accidental arsonage parts, but the kids taking up the bulk of your time sort of thing.  I volunteered with the PTA.  I ran their Thanksgiving kids' party for years.  So yes, I do love these moms.  (If you're from Erie, the school is inspired by St. John's School.)

So here's my moms.

In Once Upon a Thanksgiving, Samantha has a full-time job and kids. Lots of kids.  The last thing she needs is to plan the Thanksgiving Pageant.  And yet there she is doing just that.  I side note, I'm pretty proud of the lines from the supposed pageant.  I wrote them!

Book two, Once Upon a Christmas, is about Michelle.  She's happy to plan the Christmas Fair.  She works full-time and is raising her nephew....who has never met his father and is determined to find him.  I loved how Michelle and Danielle work together in the story.

The third book, Once Upon a Valentine's still gives me glee. Carly was a pip. She's my accidental arsonist.  How does that happen?  Let's say you spent months planning, designing and buying the perfect pieces for your husband's office.  And let's say you finally finished and found him bopping the secretary (how cliche) on your perfect couch.  And let's say you win that couch in the divorce settlement.  Would you ever sit on it?  No.  You'd probably be like Carly and burn the thing.  Of course, if you do, move it far away from any neighborhood structures! LOL  To say Carly's anti-love is an understatement, which makes the fact she's planning the Valentine's Dance ironic.

I loved all these moms and their love interests.  If you want to check them out, they're:

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

Once Upon a Christmas

Once Upon a Valentine's

Thanks everyone who said they're enjoying these refreshers on my series.  There's a few more to go!

Holly

Polished Off

Don't forget my new release Polished Off: A Maid in LA Mystery is out! Check out Quincy's newest adventure!

And Carry Her Heart is on sale, along with the 2nd book in the series, These Three Words.

Don't want to miss any new releases in the future? Subscribe to my Newsletter!! I'll keep you up-to-date and I frequently have something special for subscribers!

As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

Audible

BAM

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!

Hanging With Holly...Views of my Garden and Series

Susan just got home and we'll be posting the next Trippin' video tomorrow or Wednesday.  In the meantime, come hang with me in my garden! I'm spending the week talking about my book series. 
I had so many people ask for series in order, I put up a page on my website. I really try to write the books in a series so they all stand alone. So if you start mid-series, you should be fine, though you'll probably have an inkling you missed something. LOL

~~~~~

The first series I'm going to talk about is...you guessed it, my Maid in LA Mysteries.  When I put up the first book, Steamed, it was just for fun.  A lark. I'd never written a cozy mystery, but the main character, Quincy Mac, had been niggling at me.  She worried about her kids, her business and after she cleans a murder scene, she worries about going to jail and being forced to get a tattoo.

One book led to another.  Quincy's kids got older, she fell in love and built a new career for herself.  I thought I was done with her series after book 4, Swept Up.  I even wrote a nice little Where Are They Now post at the end of the book to give everyone a real sense of ending.  And yet...last month, the 5th book, Polished Off came out.  I know. Either I wasn't done with Quincy yet, or she wasn't done with me.  It's been ten years since the last book. Her life has continued to change and evolve.

Change and evolve.  That is the fun of writing series for me.  Like I said in the video, they're the same but different.  Characters and even settings evolve and change.  That's the fun of writing series.

Here are all five books in order:
Steamed: Amazon & BN
Dusted: Amazon & BN
Spruced Up: Amazon & BN
Swept Up: Amazon & BN
Polished Off: Amazon & BN

If you're reading on Kindle, you can get the first four books in one bundle: Maid in LA Mysteries. It's a lot cheaper that way.

~~~~~

Another series is my Word of the Heart series.  Each book was written as a total stand alone.  The first book, Carry Her Heart, is about a mother who gives her child up for adoption, then builds her life around that child.  Pip is a character who is near and dear to my heart.  I love that she worked as a kindergarten story lady.  I did that for years and years.  I still adore children's literature.  Classics like, The Wild Baby, (I did a YouTube video of that one), Wolf Story (we just finished reading here again) and newer books like the Knuffle Bunny books, The Book with No Pictures and Andrea Beatty's STEM series of stories.

Carry Her Heart in Turkey

Okay, back to Carry Her Heart...It's truly a Romance+ story.  What's that you ask?  A book that at it's heart is a woman's journey...a journey that includes a romance, but that romance isn't the point of the journey.  Does that make sense?

I argued with my editor about the ending.  I can't really tell you how it ends, but know that I won.

The second book in the series is These Three Words.  I use the tagline Sometimes the Greatest Loves aren't Discovered, They're Rediscovered a lot for it because it truly sums up the story.  A couple who's marriage is on the rocks rediscovers each other.  Two things that stand out for me in this book.  First, it was my Forest Gump book.  The heroine has a number of strangers who come into her life and force her to look at her relationship in a new way.  The second thing is I used They're Playing Our Song in it (check it out).  I lost my mom a year ago, and I love that she got to read this homage to her.  She loved that musical.  And because she did, I did.  (Dear Broadway, please bring back a revival!!)  Toward the end, you get a bit of a clue about what is happening in Pip's life.
Finally, Hold Her Heart, is Pip's daughter's story.  Yes, Amanda (Siobhan) has come home.  It's not exactly how Pip imagined it.  But it is a true homecoming story.  These books are all first person in the heroines' points-of-view, so Pip's better half doesn't get much from his point-of-view moments.  There's a letter at the end of Carry Her Heart (that makes me cry Every Single Time) and the opening of Hold Her Heart (which also makes me cry Every Single Time).  I know, it's ridiculous.  I wrote the books.  I knew/know how they end (hint...all my books have Happily-Every-Afters) but still, Ned does me in.

Carry Her Heart: Amazon, Audible, BN
These Three Words: Amazon, Audible, BN
Hold Her Heart: Amazon

More series tomorrow!

Holly

PS. The first two books are on sale for another week!!  If you've never read the series, it's a good time to check them out!

Don't want to miss any new releases in the future? Subscribe to my Newsletter!! I'll keep you up-to-date and I frequently have something special for subscribers!

As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited.  They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

Audible

BAM

In Erie, you can find my books on the shelf at Werner Books! Stop in, check them out and tell them I said hi!