Holly's December Newsletter

Subscribe to Newsletter (and be automatically entered in subscriber only drawings) or Follow Holly's New Releases on Amazon. (Just click the follow button and they'll email you whenever I've got a new release!  I wanted to do something for all of you for Christmas...so I'm giving away a Kindle Fire for December's subscriber-only giveaway!  I'll announce who will receive it on my social media January 1st!  I wish I could give something to everyone...hey wait, I can.  I wrote a short story, Nothing But Love, a couple years back when Montlake Romance announced they were making my Everything But...Series and myWLVH Radio Series available for Kindle. It's free for the next couple days.  If you already have a copy, please feel free to pass a copy along to someone else! Keep an eye out next year. I have plans for other subscriber-only giveaways and offers.Thank you all for all the support and your friendship! 2015 was a busy year.  Did you miss a book? These Three Words Carry Her Heart (a Golden Leaf Award Winner) Her Second-Chance Family Short Stories: Labor Day There He Was 13 Weeks: A Novella  Rereleases: Cinderella Wore Tennis Shoes Bosom Buddies And now my new feature: Cooks and Books... Learn how to make Christmas Candy!! A lot of you hang out with me on social media, so you know I spend a lot of time talking bout food. This Christmas, I'm doing more than talking...I'm sharing our family recipe for Christmas Candy! Wishing you all a very Happy HollyDay...er, holiday!!  I hope you enjoyed my year of giveaways! Check in on social media January 1st and see which subscriber will received a Kindle Fire 7.  I've got some subscriber-only ideas for next year...stay tuned!  I don't have a solid schedule for 2016 yet, but there's a few new books, an older book's rerelease and an anthology in the works! Holly PS. And I'm so glad so many of you spotted the Carry Her Heart character's cameo in These Three Words. Yes, she will be getting her own book in 2016!

A Short History

When I started writing, I wrote some romance short stories.  I loved them and was so excited when they started selling...and kept selling.  They were where I learned so much about writing, and about the romance genre.  A short story is by it's very name...short.  I can't tell a whole story.  Just a snippet.  A vignette.  I loved jumping into a couple's life, then jumping right back out.

Eventually, I wanted to tell bigger stories, and started trying romance novels.  And those sold.  But every now and then, I enjoy going back and playing with those short, blink-of-an-eye stories.  I like to think of them as a country video.  I'm telling you a story...just not all the story.

Nothing But Luck

Nothing But Love

Nothing But Heart

When Avalon was sold to Montlake Romance, and all my older stories for them were slated to come back out, I did three short stories that I felt tied together my Everything But... series (they're all on sale this month for $1.99 each) and my earliest series, WLVH Radio.  It was a blast introducing new readers to both series through the short stories.

Labor Day

There He Was 

The new shorts I'm writing this year aren't really tied to anything.  Oh, in Labor Day, I mentioned Quincy Mac, from my Maid in LA mystery series.  But these are simply stand-alone vignettes.  Labor Day, has been out for a few weeks.  Right after Labor Day came out there was a story on the news about a police officer in Ohio who bought a woman carseats. (Definitely go read his new story...what a nice guy!)  If you read my story you know why I felt I was a bit psychic after that!  I mean, I wrote mine first.

In mid-September, There He Was is out.  This one was inspired by an old Myth Busters episode where they show that a water tank can truly take off like a rocket. Mine doesn't launch exactly like that, but I watched the episode while I was mulling over that 'bang' moment when you simply know to your core that you love someone.

I hope you all enjoy these short stories.  As a writer, sometimes stretching your craft means going backwards and coming back to where you started!

Holly

PS. For newer writers, I think short stories can be a very useful educational tool.  They teach you how to focus completely on your characters.  You also need to be able to pick when to start your story and when to end it.  That sounds simple, but you have to figure out how to do it in a way that it makes sense to readers.  You have to give them enough to engage them with your opening, and end it so that they're satisfied.

Holiday Reads

Here it is...a confession.  I love the holidays.  And I love holiday stories.  So many of my books, whether they're comedies or dramas, center around family themes, and the holidays are perfect for those.  If you're looking for a holiday read, I've got new releases and older books that are still readily available as eBooks.

New Releases in December:

Quincy's Back for Christmas in a in Spruced Up: A Maid in LA Holiday Novella.

Quincy Mac has faced a murder and an art thief. She's dealt with three teenaged boys on her own. She's even braved a brand new romance. But nothing she'd done in the past has prepared Quincy for this...she's heading home for Christmas! She's planning a quiet week with her family, but finds herself with another mystery to solve! 

Join Quincy as she celebrates with her family and solves a mystery in a way that's in keeping with the Christmas season!

Review:
"I fell in love with Quincy Mac when I learned she was once almost the spokeswoman for Dazzling Smile toothpaste.  I have a fondness for great stories, for toothpaste...and for teeth."  ~Hermey, Dentist to the North Pole

Available for Kindle




A Valley Ridge Christmas...the name says it all.  It's stand alone, but if you've read the previous Valley Ridge Wedding trilogy, you'll meet up with old friends in this Christmas story.  Take one Pollyanna-ish librarian who lives by the mantra, I can't save the world, but I can try, and one Scrooge-ish man who is not thrilled by the idea of a white Christmas, add in a homeless family and you a new holiday story!

Available in December at your local bookstore, and for Kindle and Nook.  It's also available as part of a special 3 eBook bundle on Kindle and Nook.

   Other Holiday books:

Take meddling Nana Vancy who wants to play matchmaker along with her two best friends, known as The Silver Bells (Isabel and Annabelle) and set a romance two the tune ofThe 12 Days of Christmas and you have a fun Christmas romance!  Kindle and B&N.

Last year's holiday short story (also featuring Nana Vancy) is finally available for Nook!  Nana Vancy thinks she's out of the matchmaking business...at least for people.  She's better with pets.  But her Hungarian magic still has some kick.  Kindle and Nook


For Thanksgiving, Once Upon a Thanksgiving.  This was the first in my American Romance American Dad series.  Kindle and Nook.  The second American Dad book was Once Upon a Christmas.  Kindle and Nook.

Three moms miss the first PTA meeting of the year and get stuck on the worst committee…where they find friendship and maybe love!

Unexpected Gifts.  A woman who teaches teen parents finds her own personal journey echoing her girls' when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and jilted by the baby's dad.  Then just as unexpectedly a special man enters her life. Kindle and Nook

Laura Watson suffered the most unimaginable pain.  She meets a man who's also gone through a horrible loss of his own.  Can these two damage people find the strength to love again?  Kindle and Nook.

Holly Jacobs' November Newsletter

Hi, everyone!  And welcome to all the new people who've joined my mailinglist over the last couple months!

Quincy’s third story, Spruced Up, is out! It’s a novella, so it’s shorter than normal, and since it's a Christmas mystery, there are no dead bodies, or even anything as big as a stolen/forged painting.  I hope you enjoy going home for Christmas with Quincy…there’s a bit of a surprise at the end.  

I’ve started working on her fourth book, Swept Up.  The opening line?  “Oh, no.  Not again.”  Don’t you want to know what’s happening…again??

ON SALE: Amazon has the first two books on sale this week. Book #1 Steamed, Book #2 Dusted.  

I’ve heard from a lot of readers that they want my eBook-only stories available for Nook, too.  And like I keep promising, they’ll all make it there eventually.  I’m starting with the Nothing But… series of short stories.  I hope you enjoy these short stories!

Nothing But Love and Nothing But Heart are out now for both Nook and Kindle.  Watch for Nothing But Luck for Nook soon!

And heads up: Next month is the final book in my Harlequin SuperRomance Valley Ridge series, A Valley Ridge Christmas.  It’s coming out in the US, in Australia and as an e-Book only release in the UK.  And Harlequin is re-releasing an anthology I was part of, Dashing Through the Mall, at WalMart.  If you didn’t catch it the first time around, I hope you’ll check it out.

Wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all count your blessing, and as you do, you realize how much you have to give thanks for!  I know how very lucky I am…and having so many of you following my work from mysteries, to romance, from comedy to drama, well, know I give thanks for you all on a regular basis!

Holly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

www.HollyJacobs.com

STEAMED: A Maid in LA Mystery, OUT NOW!!

DUSTED: A Maid in LA Mystery, OUT NOW!!

SPRUCED UP: A Maid in LA Holiday Novella, OUT NOW!!

A VALLEY RIDGE CHRISTMAS,  12/13 

ONE TRUE THING, 6/14