Granola—Cooks and Books #3 with author, Holly Jacobs

Hey, it's time for the 3rd Cooks and Books video!  Today we're making Granola.  Well, I'm making granola.  But maybe after you see how easy it is, you will be, too??!!

Holly

PS. There are a few March sales still going on:

New Release: Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read.  And on Sale: My Award-Winning book, Carry Her Heart, is on sale for 99¢.  Also on sale...my WLVH Radio series!   Pickup Lines Lovehandles Night Calls Laugh Lines And I didn't forget my friends on the other side of the pond! In the UK NEW RELEASE:  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read  ON SALE:  Just One Thing on sale for 99¢.

Coming in March, one of my early, classic romances is finally coming out as an eBook! Watch for A Day Late and a Bride Short! (It's available for pre-order now.)  It's a modern day MOC (marriage-of-convenience).

Valentine's Sales!

Sales!!

I have a new release—an anthology of previously published short stories—and two of my bestselling, award winning books are on sale!   My new release is a collection of my previously published short stories and a novella.  I know everyone's busy and sometimes you don't have time for a full novel.  I'm hoping on a day like that, you'll reach for :  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read.  And on Sale: My Award-Winning book, Carry Her Heart, is on sale for 99¢.  Also on sale...my WLVH Radio series!  These were some of my earliest books.  But they were a good time!  Oh, and a bit of an Easter Egg, the dog in Night Calls was inspired by our Old English Mastiff at the time! Pickup Lines Lovehandles Night Calls Laugh Lines And I didn't forget my friends on the other side of the pond! In the UK NEW RELEASE:  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read  ON SALE:  Just One Thing on sale for 99¢.

Thank you everyone who's picked up a copy of These Three Words! I've so appreciated all the lovely comments and reviews! And keep and eye out in March, one of my early, classic romances is finally coming out as an eBook! Watch for A Day Late and a Bride Short! (It's available for pre-order now.)  It's a modern day MOC (marriage-of-convenience).   Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!! Holly

Happy Valentine's!!

February Release View this email in your browser Today is Shrove Tuesday.  Here in Northwestern PA, we celebrate with Fast Naught Kuchen.  I was up early making ours, then went delivering!  Hope you're doing something fun today! And I hope you have something special and fun planned for Valentine's Day!!  I think we're going to an RV show.  Yeah, I know, you're not surprised that a romance author would do something so over-the-top romantic for the big day!  Speaking of fun:

Just in time for Valentine's!!  I have a new release—an anthology of previously published short stories—and two of my bestselling, award winning books are on sale!   My new release is a collection of my previously published short stories and a novella.  I know everyone's busy and sometimes you don't have time for a full novel.  I'm hoping on a day like that, you'll reach for :  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read.  And on Sale: My Award-Winning book, Carry Her Heart, is on sale for 99¢.  Also on sale...my WLVH Radio series!  These were some of my earliest books.  But they were a good time!  Oh, and a bit of an Easter Egg, the dog in Night Calls was inspired by our Old English Mastiff at the time! Pickup Lines Lovehandles Night Calls Laugh Lines And I didn't forget my friends on the other side of the pond! In the UK NEW RELEASE:  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read  ON SALE:  Just One Thing on sale for 99¢. Wish you all a very Happy Valentine's!  Thank you everyone who's picked up a copy of These Three Words! I've so appreciated all the lovely comments and reviews! And keep and eye out in March, one of my early, classic romances is finally coming out as an eBook! Watch for A Day Late and a Bride Short! (It's available for pre-order now.)  It's a modern day MOC (marriage-of-convenience). Holly

A Day Late and a Bride Short!!

I am so utterly excited that A Day Late and a Bride Short is finally available for your Kindle!!  This was the second book I wrote for Silhouette Romance.   I'm using "Holly Jacobs'Classic" just to let you know this is one of my earliest stories. Thank you everyone who's asked to have it available for their devices.

Thirteen years ago, when I sent this proposal to my editor, she sent me back a note from the Senior Editor saying that with that title, she'd expected a marriage of convenience story.  My original idea wasn't that at all, but as a very newish author,I said, "That's exactly what it will be."  My editor bought the proposal. 

It wasn't quite the story I intended to tell and to be honest, I wasn't sure how to write a contemporary marriage of convenience.  As someone who's been married for many years--someone who is still wildly in love with her husband--I have to confess, marriage isn't always convenient!  

Sarah and Donovan's story is available for preorder now!! Thanks so much and happy reading! 

Holly

A Day Late and a Bride Short

by Holly Jacobs

RT Bookclub 4 1/2 stars TOP PICK!

More Than Magic WINNER!!!!!

A Holly Jacobs' Classic Romance...

First Time as an eBook.

Donovan is an attorney on the rise. He's next in line for a partnership at his law firm. There's just one item missing from his resume...a wife.

Sarah is trying to get her fledgling business off the ground. She's looking for an attorney to help recoup the money she's owed. Money that could mean the difference between a successful business and scrapping her dream. She is absolutely NOT looking for a fiance, much less a husband. But when Donovan offers Sarah an engagement-of-convenience, she lets herself get persuaded it's just business.

Donovan and Sarah both discover when love enters the picture, their engagement isn't convenient in the least!

Reviews:

"... a beautiful, and sweet, love story. ...I can highly recommend this one it will stay with you long after you close the back cover." ~Romantic Times Bookclub, 4 1/2 Stars, TOP PICK!!

"My favorite Holly Jacobs book yet! What starts out as an engagement of convenience turns into a charming and delightful love story. Elias Donovan and Sarah Madison seems like extreme opposites until core values and heart's desires are revealed in this tale of awakening love. Ms. Jacob allows her energetic writing and talent for pairing entertaining characters to shine in A DAY LATE AND A BRIDE SHORT." ~Cheryl St.John, Author of MARRY ME…AGAIN, SSE, 8/03

"Ms. Jacobs has done it again! She has penned a delightful tale, full of her trademark humor and pure, sweet emotion. She has taken what could be a tired storyline – a marriage of convenience – and worked her own brand of magic on it, making it different and new. Of course, as said before, humor abounds, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments to be found." (4 1/2 stars) ~Kelley Hartsell, Love Romances

 "...you will love this one." ~Helen Slifer, Writers Unlimited Reviewer  "A Day Late and a Bride Short is sure to put a smile on your face..." ~Sharon Wren, Women on Writing Reviews

Book Club Questions for These Three Words

I'm getting asked again for book club questions.  Here's they are for my most recent release.  I'll put up questions for Carry Her Heart soon.

Holly

Book club Questions for
These Three Words:     

1.  What did you think when you first saw the title, These Three Words?  Did your thoughts about the title change after you’d finished the book?   

2.  Addie and Gray met in school and their friendship grew into something more.  Have you ever had a relationship that shifted over the years from one thing to another?  

3.  For Addie, the fishing shack on the bay became more than a place to live, it became her refuge. In your life, is there someplace you go when you need a safe harbor?  

4.  At what moment/event/catalyst in the book do you think Gray truly transitioned from being Addie's friend to something more?    
  

5.  Maude shows Addie a simple kindness in the emergency room and they begin to share their stories.  For the first time in months, Addie remembers a happier moment in her relationship with Gray.  Have you ever found it easier to talk to a stranger who doesn't know you're story than to your friends/family?

6.  James tells Addie that she should accept help from her friends.  Have you ever had problems asking, or simply accepting, help?  Why do you think it's easier to give assistance than to ask for it?

7.  In These Three Words, Gray has trouble finding the words.  Not just the right words, but sometimes any words.  Have you ever had a moment that words escaped you?  How did you find the right ones? 

8. Finding a new way to look at a situation can change everything about how you interpret the events that surround it.  Have you ever had an experience where you changing your perspective changed everything about a situation? 

9.  Mark tells Addie that three words matter. What three words have mattered most to you in your relationships?  

10. What is your take-away from These Three Words?

Holly Jacobs' Book News

January has started off with a bang!  My newest release—These Three Words is garnering lovely reader reviews! I hope you'll check it out!  And a bunch of my books are on sale here in the US and in the UK and Germany as well!
This weekend is your last chance to catch these January SalePalooza deals!!

US Amazon:
Cinderella Wore Tennis Shoes
Bosom Buddies

UK Amazon:
These Three Words 
Bosom Buddies 
Cinderella Wore Tennis Shoes 


German Amazon:
Nur eine Sache (Just One Thing)

And the fun doesn't end there.  I'm starting to pull together my 2016 Release Line-up:
March: Rerelease eBook, A Day Late and a Bride Short 
February: Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read: Anthology  

Coming soon...aCupid Falls story and the sequel to Carry Her Heart.

Pearly Gates

Pearly Gates has been readers' favorite since her first book. I'm so thrilled she's getting another chance to shine in March when A Day Late and a Bride Short is finally available as an eBook. Here's one of Pearly's famous stories...

“Well, I was right about that. Like I said, turnips were more interesting. But somehow, years ago, she managed to capture a beau. His name was Trubald.”

“Trubald?” Sarah repeated.

Pearly bristled. “It’s a good name. His granddad Trubald was a soldier and that’s who he was named after. Anyway, he lost his leg.”

“Trubald’s grandfather lost his leg in a war?” Sarah asked.

“No, Trubald.”

“Oh, how tragic. That must have been hard for him to deal with. How did it happen?”

Pearly skooched half a cushion closer, and her voice lowered, as if she were telling some State secret. “Well, the way it was told to me was, he was out drinking one night, and just lost it. No one ever quite figured out how you just lose a leg, but somehow Trubald did it, and no one ever saw hide nor hair of it again.”

“He’s lucky he didn’t bleed to death,” Sarah said, trying to imagine being so drunk you could lose a leg and not know how.

“Now, why on earth would losing a prosthetic limb make you bleed to death?” Pearly lightly tapped Sarah’s forehead. “Keep up, girl. He’d had that peg leg since he was seventeen and lost his real leg in a fluke racin’ accident.”

Sarah wasn’t going to ask what a fluke racing accident was. She just wanted to get out of here, so she wasn’t going to ask.

She wasn’t.

But Pearly just sat there, obviously waiting for her to ask, and despite her best intentions she couldn’t disappoint Pearly. So she asked, “Fluke racing accident?”

Pearly beamed. “Yep. Trubald, he was racin’ his brother Truck—who, before you ask, was really named Truman, but seeing as he looked more like a truck than a Truman, well, Truck was the name he went by. And he was racin’ Trubald that day when Trubald lost his leg. Only it wasn’t a fair race. Truck was in an auto and Trubald wasn’t. Trubald, he slipped and Truck ran over his leg. So Trubald got that fake one, and years later got drunk one night and lost it.”

Pearly paused and sucked in a quick breath. Sarah was waiting for it, ready to jump and try to get out of this story, but years of telling long-winded stories had made Pearly an expert on breathing without giving up the floor. Before Sarah could get a word in edgewise, Pearly was back at it.

“Well, my cousin Lerlene said she wasn’t marrying no man who drank so much he lost a leg, and she broke off their engagement. A couple years later, Trubald, he laid off the drink, got a new leg and a new fiancée and Lerlene’s one chance at love limped off to a marriage that’s still strong today.”

You can find out more about A Day Late and a Bride Short or preorder it at Amazon.

2016 Releases

2016 Releases!!

I promised you news on this year's releases as soon as they came in! Both are available for preorder now!

In February there's SHORT STORIES FOR THE OVERWORKED AND UNDER-READ.
And in March one of my earliest books, A DAY LATE AND A BRIDE SHORT is finally available is an eBook!

I'm waiting for dates on a new Cupid Falls story and the sequel to Carry Her Heart...I'll send them out asap!

While you're waiting, I hope you'll check out my most recent release, THESE THREE WORDS!

“A heart breaking love story with exceptional scenes...Highly recommended.”
—Obsessed Book Reviews

“These Three Words by Holly Jacobs is about rediscovering love, even during the toughest times.”
—Harlequin Junkie

Changing Directions

It's been a mild winter in Erie so far.  The last few days, the temps have been in the forties.  I know people in some places are thinking brrr.  Here, when the temperature hits the upper forties a certain someone at my house mulls the need for shorts.

The Weather Channel is telling me that later today, things are going to change.  The temperature is going to drop and lake effect snow will be kicking in.  (I talk about lake effect snow frequently in my books...it's a thing.)  So I despite this morning's rain, I struck out for a two mile walk, determined to enjoy not needing a hat, gloves and layers...many, many layers.

Things were fine when I walked east.  But then I turned and walked south.  The rain pelted against the front of my umbrella, so I tilted it.  My view became just this tiny swath of ground directly in front of me.  I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and plodded forward.  I questioned the wisdom of walking in a mini-monsoon.  It was a huge relief when I turned west.  Things got better.  Not great, but better.  Then I turned north.  My umbrella was tilted toward the back and my view was expansive.  I though, wow, this walk was a great idea.  It was warm enough that I unzipped my raincoat.

As I was walking, enjoying the view I thought, what a difference changing directions can make.

And then I thought to myself (I do a lot of thinking on my morning walks) that changing directions can make a difference in more than a morning walk, but in life.  If things seem daunting and my view seems narrow and constrictive, maybe it's time to change directions.

I plan to keep this morning's walk in mind the next time I hit a rough patch here.  It's something to think about.

Holly

PS Notice I didn't mention the dogs on this morning's walk.  They looked out the door and then looked at me as if to say, you're crazy.  

Cooks and Books, #2.5 Cinnamon Rolls and a tour!

Okay, I promised you a bonus video with another treat you can use yesterday's bread dough for. 

And a couple people asked for a kitchen tour. Here you go...

PS. I swear I don't have a chicken collection!

Cooks and Books, Episode #2 Dinner Rolls

My first recipe of 2016...my second edition of Cooks and Books!!

Homemade Dinner Rolls!
Enjoy!!

January Newsletter!!

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I haven't made resolutions in years...I choose a word of the year.  This year's choice?  Time.   Speaking of time, On New Year's Day it was time to draw the winner of the Kindle Fire!!  And the winner is...Kim!! There will be more drawings and special offers for newsletter subscribers in 2016!  Want in on the fun?  Subscribe to my newsletter. Sales!! 2016 is starting with a sale on two of my earliest books that Montlake Romance reprinted for Kindle, Cinderella Wore Tennis Shoes and Bosom Buddies as well as a sale on my first mystery  series anthology, Maid in LA Mysteries Anthology.  Finally, there's a new anthology that is available for preorder now.  Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read. It will be released on February 9th. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!  And congrats again to Kim! Holly!

Holly's Word for 2016

Time.

It's sometimes referred to at the fourth dimension.  It's something that not only religion and science study, it's something we all measure our lives by.  It's something that so many people have written about...

"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right."
~Nelson Mandela

"Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind."
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend."
~Theophrastus

Okay, you get the point.  Time is important. Time is also going to be my word for 2016.  For more than a decade, rather than make a New Year's Resolution, I've picked a word of the year.  Something that represents a quality I want to cultivate in myself.  I keep the year's word on a post-it on my desk as a reminder of what I want to concentrate on that year.

I've had words like stop, stretch, glee, optimism, awareness, change...

I like the idea of Time as a word.
It can remind me to work hard...time is short and I have a lot of stories to write.
It can remind me to slow down...I want to enjoy the moments with my family and friends.
It can remind me to look for those times of glee and remind me that the hard times don't last.

Yes, I think it's a good all purpose word for the year.  The idea of words having meaning isn't something I think of at the beginning of they year. It influenced my writing this year and culminated in my most recent release, aptly titled These Three Words!  Like Nana Vancy always says, "Words have power."
How about you?  Do you have a word in mind for your year?

Happy New Year!!

Holly

Did you see "her" cameo??

Yes, yes, that's right. If you keep an eye out, you'll spot a Carry Her Heart character in These Three Words.  That character will be getting her own story in 2016.  I'll have the date and title to you as soon as possible.  And while you're reading Carry Her Heart take a look at Alice...and Mark.  They have stories in the works as well.  And no, they're not destined for each other, but I think you'll agree that they end up with their personal perfect matches!

I know, I know, I tie so many of my stories together.  Nana Vancy for instance.  She had the Everything But...series, then the Nothing But...series and has had cameos in Carry Her Heart and in Christmas in Cupid Falls.  So many times, I start out writing a stand alone story and before I know it, there's a whole series.  Why?  Because I love my characters and want to know what's next for them.  So many readers have asked, so I put together a list of series in order.  I do try to make every book stand on its own, but for those who like to read them in order, I hope it helps.  And do keep in mind, sometimes characters just pop into a new book for a quick hello.  So it's always a good idea to keep an eye out!

Holly