Hi friends,
Happy Monday! Full disclosure, I meant to send this newsletter last week. I spent some time in the Tampa area to hang out with family before heading to Orlando for a signing, and of course my dreams of unhurried newsletter drafting swiftly flew to oblivion. (So did my dreams of unhurried book drafting, but I’ll talk more about that below.) In a way, this is a good thing—I came home to my gorgeous author copies of BREAKAWAY from Mother Avon, and I’m so, so excited to show them off in this newsletter. Come tomorrow, it’ll be just two weeks to go until you’ll be able to find Cooper & Penny pretty much anywhere that sells books! Don’t forget to help ya girl out and preorder!
In this newsletter, I’m going to chat about:
How hard it is (for me, at least) to get going on a new project, + a poll (help me name the asshole ex!)
Tampa + Orlando highlights ☀️🌴🐊
BREAKAWAY preorders + a great audiobook sale
Let’s dive in!
book 5… is going?
My next book—a standalone, unrelated to the Callahans—is my work focus right now, and I won’t lie: I’m having a lot of trouble getting into the groove. Before this, I spent so long with the Callahan family that I took some elements of writing for granted. Sure, I was crafting a brand-new romance with each book, but the university setting was the same, the family/side characters were the same, and the overall shape of relationship progression was the same. Now, I’m out to sea, in an entirely new world of characters and relationships. It’s scary! I’m hoping that this book will be a worthy addition to my corner of the romance world, and that you all will like it despite it not being a Beyond the Play book, but getting into the right mindset to write has been like climbing a mountain that is actively crumbling while being on fire.
I’m guessing that it has something to do with still being in CALLAHAN PROMO MODE, honestly? When I was indie, I’d take a project from start to finished to published before diving into the next thing. In trad publishing land, you’re always several steps ahead—often years ahead!—in order to accommodate the corporate publishing machine. I’m grateful to be part of it, but I haven’t managed to sustainably split my workload in a way that supports the writing of new books AND promotion of books coming out AND everything on the administrative side yet. It’s been a lot of trial and error, and I’m still trying to figure out what works for me. I want to keep talking about Beyond the Play and especially WICKED SERVE as much as possible, after all!
And, of course, I need to figure out this next book. I fully intended to set my first standalone in Florida, but my brain is insisting upon another Northeast-set book. I’m hesitant to say too much just because of where I’m at in the process, but I’m setting the majority of the book on the island my family vacationed to almost every summer during my childhood, and that’s been a special brand of nostalgia that I’m hoping will feed nicely into the theme of this project. So far, it’s very much draped in memory and what-ifs and things were simpler when we were younger. Here’s a little snippet of my Pinterest board for the project:
If you know where this will be set based on the pics, let me know 🤓
Also, if you saw any of my dual vs single POV agony on Instagram lately, I just want to say upfront that 1) yes this book will be dual POV, because I love writing both POVs with all my heart and now is NOT the time with stylistic experimentation on top of the other things I’m challenging myself to do differently with this book, and 2) this WILL be a sports romance, but I’m calling it Sports Romance Lite™️ because it takes place in the off-season!
And while we’re on the subject, which name sounds more douchebag ex to you? I have a visceral aversion to “Gabriel” that is entirely personal, but “Bradley” feels like a strong option too… let me know your pick below! And yes, I will respect the results of the poll 😈 He can be OUR villain <3
what if I wrote an alligator-wrangling hero?
Am I officially a Floridian now? On my trips to Tampa + Orlando, I had a wonderful, relaxing time with my family. One of the highlights was definitely holding a baby alligator! I’m not usually a big reptile person, so I had no idea what it would feel like—if someone asked me to guess ahead of time, I’d have said very hard and tough. But no, this little cutie was soft and really fun to hold, and the alligator wrangler had this sweet/goofy/funny/handsome energy going on that piqued my interest, honestly? For book reasons, of course… maybe he’ll be the inspiration for my book 6 hero.
I also drank the oldest classified wine in existence (?!?!?!) at a dinner that my family had zero idea would be that fancy. Literally, we thought we were going out for a nice meal, not something with multiple courses and a sommelier on staff to recommend wine! But it was worth every moment (and penny) and I’m so glad we experienced it. Apparently, this dessert wine—it’s Hungarian—was so highly regarded by European monarchs that when wars happened, they’d purposefully steer the fight away from the land that grew the grapes for this wine. It was thick and sweet and chilled, and totally made me think of what faerie wine would be like. It was definitely a meal worthy of the royal court in a fantasy romance, and I’m already mentally planning a trip back!
And how could I write an author newsletter without mentioning my latest event? Thank you to everyone who came out for Barnes & Noble Plaza Venezia’s first ever Spicy Saturday! I had the best time hanging with Peyton Corinne (psst, UNSTEADY re-releases tomorrow!), Erin Mackenzie, Veronica Eden, Nikki Ash, Chelsea Curto, and Jennifer Chipman, and of course all the readers who brought a nonstop party the entire event! Seriously, we couldn’t believe how many of you came out. I could barely talk by the end and I was super sweaty (whoops), but it was so, so worth it! I can’t wait to do more events in the future, including one coming up in a few weeks at Wanderlust Book Boutique in Ft. Pierce! (April 13th, and I will have gummy bears!)
BREAKAWAY is almost here!
Gift yourself a preorder, receive gorgeous character art!
It was truly an unparalleled experience to come home to a huge box of BREAKAWAY from Avon yesterday! It looks stunning in person and I can’t wait for April 9th, when the paperback will officially re-release with the spicy extended epilogue! Have no fear, Tangerine has made her way onto the beautiful blue spine AND back of the book <3
There’s still time to preorder through The Novel Neighbor, a fabulous indie bookstore in St. Louis that will ship a hand-signed bookplate AND art print of Cooper/Penny by cozka_art with every copy! Preorders are something traditional publishing really pays attention to, so please consider supporting me and a great small business all in one <3
If you’d prefer to order from a different retailer, Avon Books has you covered! Upload your preorder receipt to Avon’s website by 4/9, and my team will send you the stunning physical art print!
**This is the only way to snag yourself art prints for this book that will match the set of four done by cozka_art. If you have any questions about these campaigns, please reach out to The Novel Neighbor and/or Avon Books.**
calling all audiobook girlies!
The audiobooks for FIRST DOWN, BREAKAWAY, and STEALING HOME are all on sale on Chirp now through 4/17! If you’re an audiobook lover, this is an excellent deal that I’m so, so excited about!
two last things…
Leaving you with my latest WICKED SERVE teaser. Follow me on Instagram for more fun posts like this!
Nikolai is *swoon.*
AND I nearly forgot to mention that Goodreads is running a BREAKAWAY giveaway! Enter to win 1 of 50 physical copies of the new paperback!
Of course I completely forgot to mention that Goodreads is running a BREAKAWAY giveaway right now! Enter for a chance to win one of fifty copies!
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/382374-breakaway-a-novel
That pinterest board is screaming the Hamptons/Fire Island/Montauk to me 👀🏖️