Indie Bookstore Day Adventure!

As a reader and a writer, I love to go out and support local bookstores. First off, book shopping is the best kind of shopping (not even close). Second, I get to support the local community. And there’s no better chance to go out on a local book shopping adventure than Indie Bookstore Day!

In Central Iowa, the local bookstores celebrate Indie Bookstore Day with an all-weekend event. They host a “bookstore crawl” where you can purchase something at each of 10 local bookstores to get entered in a raffle drawing. All of the bookstores have special sales and giveaways, and if you go to all 10 of them and get your passport stamped for the raffle, it turns into a book-themed roadtrip! This is the third year I’ve participated with a group of friends, and as usual, it was a ton of fun.

We started out at Pageturners Bookstore in Indianola and worked our way through all the different stores in the Des Moines area, ending at Dog-Eared Books in Ames! It was a lot of driving, but worth the adventure. It was fun to see what different selections were at each store. For example, Dungeon’s Gate in Ankeny is heavily focused on sci-fi/fantasy and gaming, and Shelf Love in Des Moines is specific to romance, and many of the stores have a little bit of everything. Lots of fun things to discover in lots of different genres! I focused specifically on finding sci-fi books that might be similar to the Justice Ballad, since it’s good for an author to read in the genre they want to publish. Plus I picked up some other fun things along the way. . .

Did I spend too much money? Oh, probably. But here is my final haul!

If you have any special Indie Bookstore Day events in your area, I encourage you to check them out next year! What’s better than going on an adventure, buying a few too many books, and supporting local businesses along the way? Oh, there might be snacks. Don’t forget the snacks.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and let me know your favorite indie bookstores in the comments!

Why I Started A Book Podcast (And Other Publishing Tales)

Yes, that’s right, I started a podcast. I know, I’m surprised too.

If you asked me a year ago if I had any interest in doing a podcast, I would have said “um, no.” First of all, posting things online terrified me. Second of all, it sounded like a lot of work. And third of all, who would really want to listen to me anyway? Honestly, the thought of doing something as ambitious and public as a podcast never even crossed my mind. That was, until I went to a local author talk by Nicole Baart.

Nicole did a great presentation about all the steps to take if you want to get an agent and traditionally publish your book. Among those steps was, unfortunately, establishing a social media presence. YIKES. I spent a lot of time thinking about that afterward, because I really did want to at least take a shot at publishing The Balladeer’s Chase, and apparently that meant I had to do something I was very uncomfortable with—I had to put myself out there on the internet.

(Huh, go figure, that is literally the character arc of one of my protagonists. Oh the irony.)

As I got to thinking about what I could post that would be both entertaining and authentic, I landed on a flash of inspiration. My friend Michelle is also a writer, and she attended that author talk with me, and she also wants to publish her books one day. Posting on social media alone is terrifying, sure, but the idea of posting with a friend wasn’t quite so daunting. We could do it together by making a podcast! If anyone has ever heard Michelle and me talk about books, you will know we get extremely animated, haha, so I figured it might even be fun!

Michelle liked the idea too, and together, we plotted up a concept for a sci-fi/fantasy book channel. With Michelle being more into sci-fi and me being more into fantasy, it made for a great opportunity to focus on both. Thus, The Best of All Worlds was born!

(LOL, I realize my social media-hating protagonist also starts her internet journey with an extraverted, social media savvy friend. But haha, I win, because I did it willingly!)

It turned out, in fact, making a podcast with your friend IS fun! My husband Mason described it as “a cozy podcast where two nerds talk about what they love,” and I think that’s a great description. So far we’ve posted episodes on our favorite tropes, our favorite fictional worlds, and more. Our most recent podcast is about our favorite villains! You can check it out on YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify at the link below.

The Best of All Worlds Podcast

We really appreciate your support in listening to the podcast, sharing with anyone else who might be interested, and subscribing for more! Every view and share helps us build an audience, and that helps us both get closer to making our publishing dreams a reality.

Along with doing this podcast, I’ve been starting to post on Instagram, and you can read all about my adventures with Writing Battle in my previous blog post. But perhaps my most exciting news is that I officially sent The Balladeer’s Chase to a professional editor to polish it up for agent submissions! This is the furthest I’ve ever come in the 20+ years I’ve been writing to actually giving my dream a shot. And honestly, as big and scary as all these steps are, I have no regrets.

(Seriously, I did write a book about this, didn’t I? So let’s just steal one of my favorite quotes.)

“Sometimes it’s okay to put yourself out there. To take risks. To be brave, even when you feel like you’re pretending. That’s how we grow.”

Thanks so much for reading this blog post, and for supporting my daunting yet exciting journey toward publishing my books! And I hope you enjoy some fun podcast book chats along the way 🙂

So, I Won A Writing Battle…

It’s about time I bring the blog back to life again, because I have some big news. For the first time ever, I won a creative writing competition!

Writing Battle is a competition where entrants are given three prompts (genre, character, and object) and have to write and submit a short story within a few days. It’s a challenge, but it’s a whole lot of fun! There are both peer-judged and professional-judged competitions, and my story won in the peer-judged Tempest Raven competition. To my astonishment, I placed first out of 161 stories in the Ancient Astronauts genre!

A Bond of Roses is the story of an alien accountant who just wants to start a rose garden, but things get complicated when the local humans mistake her for a goddess. It is a humorous, heartfelt take on the idea of ancient aliens visiting Earth. For those who are interested in reading my story, it should be published this year on the Writing Battle website under the Past Winners tab (once the Tempest Raven winners are released).

I am thrilled and honored to be chosen as one of the latest winners. The Ancient Astronauts genre was full of creative and wonderful stories, and I never expected I would make it so far, especially as someone who primarily writes novels! For only my second Writing Battle, this result was beyond my wildest dreams. But honestly, I’m proud of my story, and I’m so glad other people liked it too 🙂

Okay, this is where the blog post is going to start getting deep and sentimental and probably turn into a motivational speech or something, so feel free to skip to the end. Otherwise, enjoy the show.

Writing short stories is new to me, but writing certainly isn’t. I’ve been dictating stories since before I knew how to read, and I literally cannot remember a time in my life where storytelling was not my passion. After many years and an absurd amount of typing, I’ve written over twenty novels and more side projects. But putting my stories out there, on the other hand…

The truth is, I am terrified of rejection. This is something I’ve known for a long time but finally had to confront about myself. I am terrified not just of sharing my stories and being rejected, but of having that rejection break me, because I’m not strong enough. So for years and years, I have refused to pursue my dream of becoming a full-time author because I was afraid I couldn’t handle losing it.

But a pretty easy way to lose your dreams is to not pursue them, right?

So this year, I made a resolution that I am going to stop being afraid, to stop telling myself I’m not strong enough to face rejection. I changed the question from “what if I fail?” to “what if I succeed?”. I’ve been doing all sorts of things, like going to an author talk about getting an agent, to looking up editors, to even starting a book podcast with my friend Michelle (The Best of All Worlds – check it out, we have fun!). I also joined Writing Battle, because I thought it would be a fun way to make connections in the writing community and motivate my competitive brain into putting myself out there more.

My first Writing Battle didn’t go too well. I liked my story, but the clear problem was that I accidentally wrote the last chapter of a novella instead of a standalone short story. Whoops. So I read through the stories in Debrief that other writers had shared, and learned more about what made for a compelling short story, and then I gave it a second try with A Bond of Roses.

And then I won. I didn’t just do better– I won.

So what is my point in recounting this journey? I suppose I want to serve as proof to both myself and others that “what if I succeed?” is a completely valid question to ask yourself. I never in a million years would have thought I would win a Writing Battle on my second try. I never in a million years dared to dream that people might actually, genuinely love my story. But I put myself out there anyway, and I tried, and I surprised myself! I faced my fears, and I beat them with a resounding exclamation point.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I won’t be rejected plenty more times. This doesn’t mean the rest of my journey to traditionally publishing my space internet series is going to be easy. But for once in my life, I truly believe I can stick this through, because I am good at what I love.

So whoever you are, if you have a dream or a passion that you’ve been holding yourself back from out of fear, I just want to offer some words of encouragement. Just for once, give your dreams a chance. You never know when some strangers on the internet are going to look at you, look at the incredible things you’ve accomplished, and say “you deserve this.”

AHEM OKAY, motivational speech over, back to your regular programming.

The moral of the story is, I’m so thrilled to have won my first Writing Battle. I’m also thrilled to have discovered a new and wonderful community of writers. There are so many people who are encouraging and helpful and welcoming, and even if I hadn’t won, I have already learned so much and had a wonderful time. Highly recommend checking Writing Battle out!

If you have any questions about my story, or Writing Battle, or even my new podcast, please let me know in the comments down below! Thanks for listening to me ramble about my journey, and I wish you all the best as you pursue your own, whatever it may be 🙂

My Top Ten Favorite Books of 2022

It’s that time of year again! I’ve read a whole lot of books this year, 65 in total, and I figured I would make it a tradition to share the best ones with you. So whether you’re looking for recommendations, or just curious about what I’ve been reading, here are the top ten new books that I read in the year of 2022!

10. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

This book was very rude and made me feel things. But that’s how you know it’s good! The story centers around two friends who make it big creating a video game, and all the personal struggles they go through along the way. I am not a gamer myself, but I am a storyteller, so it was really cool to watch their creative process unfold. (Now I want to try writing video games, haha.) This is also a story about a deep friendship that stands the test of time, and I really appreciated that. The characters are complex and real, and so are their relationships. I was honestly so impressed by how well I understood both Sam and Sadie’s points of view, even when they frequently butted heads. Truly some of the best character work I’ve read in a while!

9. Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

I suppose this is technically a collection of multiple stories, but I read it all in one bind-up, so I’m counting it as one. I really need to do a better job of reading more sci-fi, because wow, I really enjoyed this story! It follows Binti, a girl from a futuristic Africa who goes off to an intergalactic university. It was completely unique from anything else I’ve read, but in the best way. I loved how it incorporated African culture, and I loved how it focused on making peace between alien peoples, and I loved how the science was so mystical yet still technically science. Although the first two stories in the bind-up were not my favorite, the last two were absolutely fantastic! I have to respect the creativity, not to mention the themes. Overall, just an excellent read, and I’m glad my dad recommended it.

8. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

I mean, okay, you know I’m a sucker for any stories that take place in Europe. This is just a fact. But this was a really GOOD story that takes place in Europe! It follows a woman whose brother went missing from this mysterious apartment in Paris, and she is trying to figure out what happened to him. It’s a really interesting mystery, and it was super atmospheric in the best way. I could just imagine myself there in that creepy apartment with all its secrets and suspicious inhabitants. The twists and turns kept me guessing, and I very much appreciated how all the plot threads tied together for the big ending reveal. I’ve been very much into mysteries this year, and this was absolutely one of my favorites.

7. Peril At End House by Agatha Christie

Speaking of fantastic mysteries, this is it! This was my favorite Agatha Christie book out of the ten I read this year, and it’s also my favorite so far. It had everything I love about Hercule Poirot mysteries. The plot was engaging, since it revolved around Hercule Poirot actively trying to prevent a murder from being committed. The twists were interesting, and I really liked the final villain reveal. And most of all, the characters were fantastic. The banter between Poirot and Hastings was endlessly amusing, and I loved how this book genuinely challenged Poirot and had him questioning himself. Overall, it was just excellent all around, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery!

6. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

I knew this book was popular. I knew it had won a lot of awards and people really liked it. But WOW, they really weren’t kidding! It’s so good! The story centers around twin sisters, both of whom are colored but one of whom decides to pass as white. The themes explored here were absolutely fascinating, and it was a brilliant way to discuss how people’s skin color impacts their prospects in this country. It was handled so expertly, no over-dramatization or anything, just calmly and quietly telling it like it is. I also loved how pretty much all the characters were likeable, even the ones you sometimes wanted to slap. There weren’t really any villains in the story, just a bunch of flawed characters trying their best. I read this book pretty early in the year, but it has still stuck with me even now. It definitely deserves the hype!

5. The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Wow, was this a fun read! It wasn’t deep and literary like some of the books on this list, but IT WAS ABOUT MAGIC MAPS! I mean, what’s not to love? The story centers around Nell, who is trying to uncover why an unassuming old map got her father killed. The mystery was so much fun to follow. I’m pretty sure I read this in like two or three days, and that almost never happens to me! I was just that hooked. (I’m telling you, maps are a trap!!) The characters were good, the plot was great, and the concept of maps having the ability to shape reality was utterly cool. Plus, the backstory reminded me a ton of the Marauders from Harry Potter, which is one of my favorite parts of that series! What else can I say? This was the perfect book for me, and I loved it!

4. If Tears Could Talk by Breanna Johnson

This is hard to rank on a list considering I’m biased, but I loved my friend Bre’s new book. And this is my personal top ten, so I have to rank it based on how much I loved it! It is a poetry/prose memoir of her experiences as a queer woman of color, and it’s very moving. Part of that is obviously because I know her personally, but wow, does she know how to write emotion. I was so impressed, and I read the entire thing in one sitting, and it definitely made me cry. I’m not even a poetry reader, but that didn’t change my enjoyment at all. I’m so proud of my friend for writing an excellent book, and you should check it out to support a self-published author!

3. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Surprise, it is a Brandon Sanderson book. And it was so good! Honestly, I really need to read more sci-fi, because three of the four I read this year are in my top ten. . . Ahem, anyway, Skyward! This was a really fun and engaging story about a girl who wants to be a pilot, but nobody wants to give her a chance because of her father. Spensa is such a fierce and fun protagonist, and I loved her talking ship, and her whole fight to prove herself despite the world being against her was super compelling. And then that ending. . . WOW. I’m not going to spoil it, but I did not see that coming, and I’m very interested to see where this series goes next. Overall, this was a great time to read and would definitely recommend!

2. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Even more surprise, a time travel book. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD! This book somehow managed to balance the logic of time travel with the fun of time travel, and I am just so impressed. The whole premise of two opposing time agents writing letters to each other and falling in love as they chase each other across time was super cool. We got to go running around alternate timelines and exploring everything from the distant past to the far future, and yet everything was still connected in that fascinating time paradox sort of way. Great stuff! The writing was very poetic and beautiful and well-done, and the story was good too. It was just everything I could have wanted from a time travel story! I read it on audiobook, and I had to buy myself a physical copy I enjoyed it so much. If you like books about time travel, you should definitely give this one a try.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Okay, this is an actual surprise. I would never in a million years have predicted that a manga would be my favorite book of 2022, but here we are, and it’s not even a contest. Yes, I will admit this is technically not one book and more like 27 volumes, but the only proper way to rank it is together. And it’s my favorite!! This was my very first manga, and it was just fantastic. It follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse, as they try to get their original bodies back after an alchemy accident, but it’s so much more than that. The mystery is super compelling, the characters are literally all my favorite, and THE MORAL NUANCE! This story has some of the best moral nuance I have ever read in anything, ever, full stop. And it’s made out of pictures! The medium worked so well, though, and it really allowed the story to show instead of tell. You could just see the emotions on the characters’ faces as they went through some serious personal conflicts. I could probably go on ranting about my favorite things in this series forever, because it’s amazing, but I’ll just leave it there and say a ton of thanks to my friend Erica for recommending it and lending me all the volumes. I’m very glad I gave it a try!

So there you go, my top ten favorite new books of the year, with only minor amounts of cheating. Let me know in the comments what were your favorite books of the year, and if any of these made your list! And if anyone wants to know the secret of how I read so many books this year while working and writing two novels, the answer is audiobooks. Would recommend.

(Oh yeah, I should probably mention that I finished writing the sequel to The Balladeer’s Chase this November/December, and I have now officially written 20 novels.)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!

Bookstore Official

Some quick but exciting news to share— Forbidden Memories is officially in a bookstore! You can find it on the local author shelf of my hometown bookstore, Dog-Eared Books.

It’s super cool to finally say that my book is available in a physical bookstore! Plus, wasn’t that cover just made to be on a bookshelf? Amazing!

If you’re in Ames, I encourage you to stop by Dog-Eared Books and pick up a copy (and help to support a local business along the way!) Dog-Eared Books is located in downtown Ames, and the local author shelf is up on the second floor, which also has an excellent sitting area if you’re looking to do some reading and/or writing. It’s a great little bookstore, and I definitely recommend. And if you’re not located in Ames but still interested in reading my books, my full trilogy is still available in paperback or ebook online!

So that’s my exciting news for the weekend. Well, on other news, I suppose I did finish writing The Balladeer’s Chase too. (But is that really news at this point? It’s a lot less exciting to finish a book once you’ve hit novel number nineteen, haha.)

Now it’s back to reading, where I have somehow managed to be working through a print book, a manga, and an audiobook all at the same time…

New Novel, New Playlist

Hello all! I figured it’s about time to give some updates on my writing. And guess what? Surprise surprise, I’ve started a new novel!

This time, it’s actually pretty exciting though. This is a brand new series with a brand new cast of characters and a brand new set of conflicts! You might have noticed back in 2020 that one of my NaNo Chaos projects was plotting out a lighthearted space adventure called The Balladeer’s Chase, and this is it. So far, it’s been a great change of pace!

Unlike all my other books, I have a million great ways to pitch this one. . .

“Guardians of the Galaxy meets internet culture”

“Being an intergalactic fugitive is hard. Especially when your friend is vlogging the whole thing.”

“Intergalactic shenanigans ensue when a flaming extravert and a reluctant introvert team up on a quest for justice.”

“An epic road trip through the galaxy as two unlikely partners in crime try to evade a determined space vigilante”

And I could go on and on. . . Basically, it’s an introvert-extravert buddy adventure, an epic chase, a whodunnit, and an exploration of internet culture BUT IN SPACE. In other words, it’s just a whole lot of fun. I’m having a blast with these characters and their hilarious interactions. I’m only about halfway through, and I love them already.

Since this story is partially inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought it was only appropriate to create my own “mixtape” for The Balladeer’s Chase. So if you want to get an idea of what vibes this story has, or just generally enjoy some good roadtrip beats, I have attached a link to my Spotify playlist below! I definitely have it on repeat while I’m writing.

The Balladeer’s Mixtape – story playlist!

If you’re interested in more story playlists or how I create them, let me know in the comments! I have playlists for almost every book I’ve written, so I could talk about them for hours, haha.

And finally, since I’m finished publishing The Memories Trilogy, please let me know which other projects I’ve mentioned throughout this blog that you’re most interested in reading! What would you like to see me work on publishing next? You’ve got a whole lot of options to pick from. . .

Thanks for tuning in to my blog, and have a great week!

Return of the Travel Blogs! – Colorado

Anyone who was around back in the day may know that this site began as my travel blog while I was studying abroad in Barcelona (wow, was that really five years ago?) I had a great time talking about all my adventures in Europe, and seeing as I just took my first legitimate trip in three years, I figure it’s only appropriate to do a throwback to the old days and make a blog post about my trip! I mean, we can technically still say it’s book-related, since as you may have noticed the cover of Dream Chasers…

Yep, that’s right. I took a trip to Colorado! I finally visited the state where a significant portion of my trilogy takes place! I’ve been wanting to go to Colorado for a long time now because of my books, and also because if you know me, you know I love mountains. This year, I finally had the perfect opportunity as my college friends and I took a girls trip to Denver!

It was a ton of fun to see my friends again. I hadn’t seen most of them in person since we graduated, but even though it had been so long, it felt as if no time had passed at all! We had a great time together—adventuring around various hiking spots, visiting downtown Denver, and most importantly, determining the proper way to slice a bagel in half. (No really, this was a surprisingly heated debate.)

On our first hiking day, we went to Garden of the Gods. The weather was amazing and we got a ton of great pictures. We even got pictures of people taking pictures!

The day after that, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. And that’s the real adventure right there, haha. We were very unprepared and assumed since the weather was going to be nice in Denver, that it would also be nice in the mountains. Um, miscalculation. So we spent a lot of time slipping and sliding up and down extremely snow-covered trails in tennis shoes…

Verdict: definitely worth it! But also next time, need to remember that mountains are cold.

My friends and I also went to a bunch of other fun places that didn’t have nearly as exciting of pictures. Overall, it was a really awesome trip! It was so good to finally go out on an adventure after three years of no major traveling, and it was even better to do it with my friends. I’m really glad I pulled myself away from work and finally went out to Colorado.

And now, I leave you with one VERY important question: if you wanted half a bagel, how would you slice it? Let me know in the comments below, and help us resolve the Great Bagel Debate of ’22.

My Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2021

Hard to believe it’s almost the end of 2021! It has been a very book-themed year for me. I published the final book of the Memories Trilogy. I just finished writing my eighteenth book yesterday. And in between all of that, I have been reading!

Wow, have I been reading. I read 44 books this year, which is more than the previous two years combined! In the process, I have discovered all sorts of good books, and many of them in genres I did not expect. So I figured I would close out the year with some recommendations of excellent books to read (other than my own of course, haha) if you’re looking for something interesting to pick up!

So here are my top ten favorite new reads of 2021!

10. Animal Farm by George Orwell

Yes, a classic made it into my top ten! I was doing a reading challenge and decided to pick this up to fulfill one of the categories, and it was very good. It’s basically just communist Russia, but illustrated with animals. The story paints a compelling, if disturbing, picture of how totalitarianism creeps up on you, and I thought it was really well done. Plus I listened to this as an audiobook, and the voices the narrator did were spot on with the characters! Not an uplifting read, but definitely a thought-provoking one, and would definitely recommend if you are looking for a classic.

9. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

This is a fantasy book that follows a gang of plucky thieves in a city reminiscent of a dark Venice. It is full of interesting worldbuilding and lovable characters, as well as entertaining heists. The book made me love our main crew, and their banter and friendships were a lot of fun. But beware. . . this book also made me HURT, so I would only recommend this if you are willing to read something a bit dark. If you enjoy that kind of book, this is a great pick!

8. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

My obvious obsession of the year was the Wheel of Time series. For anyone unaware, it is a fourteen-book fantasy series about trying to unite a bunch of warring factions and prevent the apocalypse. I read the last eight books over the course of six months, and by the end I couldn’t put them down. So I may be biased because I really got hooked on the series, but the last four books were all favorites of the year. This is book thirteen, so I won’t spoil, but it had a lot of great moments and an engaging plot as the series built toward the finale.

7. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

This is a YA Fantasy novel featuring secret societies and magic and a fresh take on the legend of King Arthur, so what’s not to love? It has interesting characters and an engaging plot and a fantastic ending! But additionally, this book explores the struggles of a young Black girl and the challenges she faces because of her race. I learned a whole lot by reading it without ever feeling like I was being preached at, which was awesome! Great book, and I would recommend to anyone who likes YA Fantasy.

6. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Full disclosure, I was predisposed to like this book because the Lincoln Highway is the road I take to work, haha. But bias aside, I really did love this book. It’s a historical fiction about a road trip across—what else?— the Lincoln Highway. The characters are all extremely lovable and well-defined. Although the plot is a bit meandering, I never got bored of it, because I just enjoyed going on a road trip with these characters. Plus the writing style was excellent, simple yet full of so many profound moments I can’t even count. I love that stuff. The only thing that prevented this book from being higher on the list is that I’m not a huge fan of the ending. It was fine, but not my favorite. Overall, definitely still worth picking up though!

5. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

This is the finale of Wheel of Time! So for obvious spoiler reasons, I’m not going to say much about it, but I very much enjoyed it. Brandon Sanderson did a great job of pulling Robert Jordan’s vision together and tying up the myriad of loose ends in this story. Not perfect, but a very satisfying conclusion!

4. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Surprise surprise, more Wheel of Time! This was book eleven, and the last one written by Robert Jordan before he sadly passed away. And it was excellent! It tied up pretty much all the storylines that were left dangling by the infamous “slog” section in the middle of the series, and I enjoyed it all the way through.

3. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

Okay, I promise this is the last Wheel of Time book on the list!! Because this is definitely my favorite in the series. This was the first one that Brandon Sanderson picked up after Robert Jordan passed away, and although he didn’t get everything right, he did a really good job. This is mostly just my favorite because it featured the climax of my two favorite arcs in the entire series. So obviously I’m biased, haha, but I thought it was great!

2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

This is an absolutely fantastic book. It was so good that after I borrowed it from the library, I had to buy myself a copy. This story features a grumpy old man named Ove, and his neighbors. We spend the whole book getting to know him and his backstory, and we begin to realize there is so much more to him than meets the eye. I love those kinds of stories (you know I’m all about that understanding and redemption), so it’s no surprise I loved this one too. This book managed to make me laugh and cry in equal amounts, which is just fantastic. Highly recommended!

1. Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

This one came out of nowhere to become my favorite book of the year! I selected it for my monthly box from Book of the Month, but I wasn’t really all that excited about it and didn’t expect much. But WOW! This story follows the main character Inti as she tries to reintroduce wolves to Scotland, but it is so much more than that. It’s a story about conservation. It’s a familial drama. It’s a murder mystery. And it has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve read in a long time, simple and poetic and elegant. Simply put, I loved every single element of this book. It definitely addresses some dark topics, but it is ultimately hopeful, which is the best. I love it, and I’m so glad I made the leap and picked it up.

So there you go! Those are my top ten favorite books of the year and my reasons why! If you have interest in any of those, I definitely recommend you pick them up and give them a try. And yes, I know I am obsessed with Wheel of Time right now. I am aware.

If you have any good book recommendations of your own, please leave them in the comments below. I hope you have a Happy New Year, and tune in next year for more writing-related content on this blog!

Legends Rising Has Arrived!

It’s official, Book Three of The Memories Trilogy is now available for purchase! You can find Legends Rising at the links below, available in paperback and ebook:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYXZ71J

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NB599M4

For anyone who is new here, Legends Rising is the final installment of a YA fantasy trilogy featuring a couple of teens with magical powers who are trying to save two worlds—Earth and the Gulf. If you’re looking for Christmas gifts, here’s an idea! And now that all three books are available, no cliffhangers required!

Here are the links to the first two books if you’re interested in getting started with the series:

Forbidden Memories (Book One) – paperback / ebook

Dream Chasers (Book Two) – paperback / ebook

And if you have read the series and enjoyed it, please consider helping out by leaving a review on Amazon! It makes a big difference and helps other readers discover these books.

So there it is. I kept my promise (barely, whew!) and published the book this year. It’s hard to believe I have a full published trilogy now! It’s been nine years since I first came up with the idea for this series, and what a crazy ride. Thank you all for joining me, and stay tuned on this blog for more, because you all know even finger surgery can’t stop my writing 😂

Book Three Cover Reveal!

Hello everyone! I am finally back again with some big news, so let’s just get right to it— the official cover for Book Three of The Memories Trilogy, Legends Rising!

Wow, isn’t it awesome? It definitely captures the vibe of the final book in my trilogy! I got my cover designs from Ebook Launch, and they did an absolutely fantastic job at turning my vision into reality for all three books. This one especially is so much better than anything I was able to create on my own! I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Here is a side-by-side of the full trilogy. All three covers look so good next to each other!

So now, I’m sure exactly what you’re wondering. WHEN IS THIS BOOK FINALLY GOING TO COME OUT? Well, never fear. I made the goal of publishing this by the end of the year, and I always complete my goals, gosh dang it! The final manuscript is currently in the formatting process, after that I will get the back cover design, and after that I will get a proof copy. Once the proof copy is approved, it will be ready to publish! So be on the lookout for the official book to come out in early December, just in time for Christmas 🙂 The announcement will be posted right here on my blog.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and let me know in the comments which cover is your favorite!