this poll is important 🦊

plus, i'm making an autumn list, wicked serve merch is here (!!), and the wingman is out!

Hi everyone! Happy first day of October. Although I live in Florida and have a vastly different autumn experience than I did in New York, I still feel the magic of this time of year. I’m often reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

-Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I’m so glad, too :’)

I wrote in my last newsletter about September signaling a return to routine, and I’m happy to report that I’m fully in it right now. Meal prep! Journaling! Getting back into the reading groove! Tracking my word count! I’m hoping I can mostly hibernate for the rest of the year, enjoying the (very slow and slight) change in the seasons, writing this book I absolutely adore, enjoying the baseball postseason/football season/start of the hockey season, and completing some of the things on my Autumn List, like:

• Watch Pride & Prejudice (2005)

• Go pumpkin picking

• Organize my bookshelves

• Reread Uprooted

• Reread Emma (my favorite Jane Austen)

Over the weekend I went shopping for a small table to put in my bedroom (to house more plants, naturally) and also picked up this little cutie. (Maybe cutie?) Upon showing it to Stephanie Archer (who sent back a picture of a horrendous troll she for SOME REASON hasn’t smashed to bits yet), she made me wonder if this little fox (?) is purely adorable, or perhaps… haunted?

Which brings me to this VERY important poll, so I know how to sleep at night where Trixie the fox (?) is concerned. I invite your input below:

Regardless, with that glare I’m a little worried that she’s going to chuck that adorable autumnal bouquet at me.

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new merch!

I’m beyond (ha) excited to share that Dark Midnight Design Co. has added tons of new merch to their Beyond the Play collection to celebrate Wicked Serve’s release! If you saw me on tour with those adorable koala stickers, you know where they’re from now ;) To browse the collection and add IzzyNik to your home bookshelves, check it all out here:

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roommates to lovers is stephanie archer’s speciality…

and she has a brand-new book out! (With this trope. Obviously.)

Listen. I know y’all know how much I love Stephanie, and I’m so excited to share the details on her new book, The Wingman! Book 3 of the Vancouver Storm series follow friends Hayden and Darcy through a dating coach deal that leads to more (of course 🔥) and is out now in KindleUnlimited! It’s the perfect read to gear up for the hockey season with, IMO. And look at that cover!

The best way to gain confidence after years with the wrong guy? Hayden Owens—the hottest defenseman in pro hockey, my confident best friend, and my new dating coach.

He’ll teach me to be a player, but convinces me to practice with him.

We’ve been friends for years, but our flirting lessons and practice kisses push the bounds of friendship.

We’re roommates, but sleeping in the same bed.

He buys me a toy as a favor… but helps me use it.

All that relationship stuff he’s always avoided? He doesn’t seem to mind it anymore.

Rule number one of being a player is no attachments, but when Hayden sees me picking up other guys, he’s jealous enough that I wonder...

Maybe my wingman's been waiting for me all along.

The Wingman is a pro hockey best friends to lovers romance. It's the third book in the Vancouver Storm series but can be read as a standalone. Available in KU, paperback, and duet audio.

have a great start to your octobers, you fabulous little ghosties <3

xoxo!