Book Series, #3 Pick Up Lines and more

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 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!

Book Stories: Series Week #2

 Okay, more series today...the first one is one of my most enduring.  They're older stories, which makes it so much more special that readers are forgiving about my inexperience and love them anyways.  It all started with Nana Vancy...only she wasn't a nana then.  She was just a young girl who was in love...then her fiance missed their wedding day. So she cursed his family to...bad weddings.  Not to loveless marriages. Just bad weddings.  She spends the first three books trying to break the curse. I was writing the ending of book three and realized, I didn't have a clue how to break that curse.  But as I mulled it over, I realized I'd laid out the answer already. Phew.

The second trilogy wasn't planned.  Readers kept asking for more about Nana Vancy.  It seems after she broke the curse, Nana Vancy got bored, so she tries her hand at matchmaking.  I pitched the first new book, Everything But a Christmas Eve, as Nana Vancy tries her hand at matchmaking...to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas.  The editor bought it on that pitch.  LOL  When I got to the third book, I added two dogs who were based on my dogs to the story.  Of course I changed their names because they didn't want the PUParazzi hounding them.  LOL  That's them on the cover of Everything But a Dog.  We lost Ethel Merman (the black dog) this spring.  It's nice to know she has the book as a memorial.



 Here's the series in order:
Everything But a Groom:
Amazon, Audible, BN
Everything But a Bride:Amazon, Audible, BN
Everything But a Wedding:Amazon, Audible, BN
Everything But a Christmas Eve:Amazon, Audible, BN
Everything But a Mother (ugly cover...sorry):Amazon, Audible, BN
Everything But a DogAmazon, Audible, BN

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~~~

Okay on a related note (related to Everything But...) I originally sold these books to Avalon Books. They were a small niche publisher.  They did beautiful hardback editions (well, except that cover for Everything But a Mother...what the heck is that all about??) and they marketed them mainly to libraries.  When I heard that Amazon had bought the rights from Avalon and were putting the books out as ebooks (and later audiobooks), I wanted to do something fun to reintroduce them to readers.  So I wrote a trilogy of short stories, the Nothing But series.  Amazon also bought my WLVH series (more on that in a bit), so I added WLVH disc jockeys to the short stories.  I had so much fun doing them.  I hope you have as much fun with Nana and her crew!

Everything But Love

Everything But Heart

Everything But Luck

Keep an eye out...series week continues tomorrow!

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!

Being Human

I know I've been talking about booking, arting and Trippin' but I'm just getting home from a nice day at the studio, and something that's none of those things happened. That walk home...it broke my heart.

I came across a young man, an older teen, sitting on the curb crying.  At first I was afraid he was hurt.  I hurried over and asked if I could help and he said, no.  I asked if he was hurt, he said no.  I asked if I could do anything and his voice hitched as he said no.  

I know that no matter what he said, he was hurt.  It wasn't physical, but sometimes the pain that no one else can see is worse.

He didn't know me from Adam, and I didn't know him, but his pain became my pain. Whatever was hurting him, hurt me.  And knowing there was nothing I could do to ease what was hurting him hurt me.  I patted his shoulder and told him no matter what was wrong, to remember people cared.  Some stranger he never met, cared.  And I said, I hope it gets better.  I'll be thinking of you.

He said, thank you.

I walked home and cried. The mom in me wanted nothing more than to make things better for him.  No not the mom in me...the human in me.  I think the most human thing in the world is to see someone else in pain and want to help. 

I wrote a character who lived by the motto, I can't save the world, but I can try.  It's a good motto.  But today, I'd change it to, I can't save the world, but I can try to ease its pain.

I hope whatever this boy's pain was, maybe knowing one person saw him, saw that pain, and empathized with him eased it just a bit.  Maybe that's enough.  

I know that some people think I live in my Hollyworld bubble, a place where glee is the watchword.  To some extent, they're right.  But it's not that I don't see pain or see the horrible things that happen in the world.  It's not that I don't get hurt or angry.  It's just that I hope a little bit of happiness from a post, a book, or just a smile as I walk by and say "good morning," helps combat both. I like to think that glee is contagious.

I didn't have glee to offer up this boy today.  I only had empathy. From one human to another, all I could do was say, I see you and I hope things get better. It's not much, but I hope it helps.

I think that's the point of this post.  None of us can save the world by ourselves, but if each of us tried to make our corner a bit better, maybe together we could.

Holly

Trippin' with Holly and Susan—13

We're baaaack!!  Today we're talking about what we do to stay healthy with such a sedentary job.  (Says the woman who hacked her way through the videos.)  I mention my Fitbit. It's truly become a way of life for me.       

Filling in some blanks from the video...  
CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. (I knew that.)  
A Dirty Life is by Kristin Kimball   
The Feast Nearby is by Robin Mather     

Susan and I are getting ready to make another batch of Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos.  Do you have a question or a topic suggestion??  

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!