January Bringing 2026...

 Happy Wednesday Everyone!

It's January...it's 2026...can you believe it? Sometimes I have to sit and think about this. When I was younger (teens and younger, that is), the concept of 2026 would've been so foreign, I probably would've given you an odd look. It always seemed so far away, but here we are!

My Christmas and New Year's were nice. Christmas was quiet at home--which was fine--and the following week, we were over at one of my sister's house to meet up with my younger brother and his family from out of town, and my parents live nearby. My sister lives approximately 40-45 minutes driving from me, and since the drive is too much for me to handle (I'm hate driving in general, and that sort of distance with all the other drivers who act like they own the road and are out to test their limits of survival, it's rather stressful for me to drive, so husband does the longer distances when he's off from work, while I do the shorter, daily stuff when he's not off). We had a nice visit with my family, and the new year has looked a lot like the previous one so far--but every year has its own things, so we'll see what happens.

Sugar & Frost is still in the querying stage. Some things happened last year, so waiting to see what may or may not happen with all that this year.

I've been editing Shifter Secrets. Both my long-time critique partner and long-time beta reader say it's some of my best writing. I'm not done editing it, though.

I'm still happily the Official Ambassador for #UnhingedPit on X(Twitter) and BlueSky and I'm looking forward to seeing what "The bosses" (as I call them) have planned. I know a little, but not all the plans...stuff gets revealed when it's time to reveal it

Real Life Hero (my husband) had a birthday this month, so Happy Birthday, RLH! He's still my hero (which is a good thing, since we're married and have no plans not to be married to each other).

Hope you all are having a fun 2026 so far and wish you the best! May God bless you in this year and always.

Have A Wonderfully Whimsical Day!

November...OOPS NO, It's DECEMBER!

 Hey Everyone!

I know, I know...I missed posting in November. Sorry about that. I suppose I never did figure out what I wanted to post and then the month was over.

My Thanksgiving was quiet, but nice. Normally we'd go to my sister's house. This year we were at home, which was fun (and I mean that, I'm not being sarcastic).

December has been an interesting realm of trying to remember the things that need to get done. I'm writing this a few days before I'll be posting this entry, so at the moment, I still have to finish writing up Christmas cards--I've got about half of them done, the good news is I don't send out a ton, but they still have to get done (I don't think they all have stamps, either--I gotta get more of those, too!) Shopping for the Offspring is mostly done. Youngest needs some clothes because youngest outgrew some stuff. I need some items, myself; however, I'm so picky that the likelihood of me getting anything new is slim. LOL (A friend did get me a new top that I really do like). 

I'm waiting on some responses regarding Sugar & Frost. I still love the story. I've been editing Shifter Secrets (slowly) and writing.

I've also been reading. While I've been reading a variety of things, throughout the year, I've often gone back to Shonna Slayton's Beauty's Rose. It's one of my "comfort" reads. I love that story so much. I've lost count how many times I've read it.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great rest of your Advent Season and a very Merry Christmas! Have a blessed New Year! The next post I plan to put up will be in 2026. 

Have A Marvelously Merry Monday!

It's January And A New Year--2025...

 Happy Monday, January, and New Year!

Whew. 2025 has already been eventful!

In my family, that meant husband and eldest with sinus infections during the second week of the month (which actually was the first full week of January). Me and youngest had sinus infections in December. And then the news of the fires in California, which is so sad. I've been praying for all in the path and dealing with the fires, etc. Hopefully firefighters are able to contain/put them out soon.

The first few days of 2025 weren't too bad, but then things got a little crazy. I'm hoping the rest of the month is calmer, healthier, and happier.

Writer's Life Updates: I still have some queries out on Sugar & Frost that are awaiting answers. In the interim, I'm working on some other stories (every author has files with unfinished manuscripts and I'm definitely no different in that respect!)

Christmas and New Year's: My Christmas was fairly quiet since I was getting over a sinus infection (and so was youngest). We went to Mass (Catholic Church Service) on Christmas Eve, and enjoyed a low-key Christmas Day.

On December 31st, after Mass, we went to my sister's house for a little New Year's Eve get-together with one of my brothers, his family, and our parents. It was fun. We had pizza and hung out. My husband had to work the next day, so we left between 8 and 9 pm (also to beat the midnight merry-makers) and got home between 9 and 10pm--tired, but happy.

January 2nd, we had a traditional Christmas dinner (my brother and his family had gone to my sister-in-law's mother's house just after Christmas for a bit before coming into town). It was fun with 3 dogs, several humans, and plenty of laughter.

I hope your Christmas and New Year's has been a good one and I wish you many blessings for the new year.

Have A Marvelous Monday!

The Last And Most Festive of the "Ber" Months...

Happy December!

We're nearly halfway through December and I just realized I hadn't put up a blog post for this month. OOPS! But, to be fair, I've had plenty going on.

Personally: We are still minus a Christmas tree. No, we haven't gotten it up, yet. But I'm hoping this weekend it will happen! We don't usually take this long, but we've had some things going on. One of those things was that we had to replace our washing machine. Our previous one decided that it had enough of our household and no, thank you it would not work properly any longer. Poor thing limped along until it wouldn't drain out the water in the clothes (I had to squeeze them the best I could and pop them in the dryer for longer). But that's at an end since we now have a brand new washer, which we've had for about a week and it's doing okay so far.

Not long ago, Averie Cat (that's his social media nickname) had some health issues that made me quite concerned about him. Fortunately, he seems to have gotten past them and the vet was wonderful. Averie Cat is 7 years old, and therefore, I expect to see more health stuff than I did when he was younger. The vet switched him to a prescription diet and he actually seems to like the food pretty well, which is a blessing.

Professionally:  I continue to query Sugar & Frost. I love, love, love this story and I do so hope it gets out to you, darling readers, one day. I really do. I had so much fun writing it and I also enjoyed editing it.

Christmas/Holiday: My shopping is not done. Nor have I sent out ANY Christmas cards, but I'm hoping to remedy that in the next few days to the next week. I had thought I'd write a Christmas letter this year, but I'm not sure that will happen.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (I know there are several this month) and Happy New Year. 

I hope December is a lovely month for you.

Have a Fantastically Festive Friday!

January 2024 Is Here...

 Happy January, 2024, and Friday!

If December snuck up on me, January just blew right in without me being ready to be done with December. Christmas cards got mailed Wednesday (as in January 3, 2024!) Yeah, I was that behind. But I think my close friends and my family members are a forgiving bunch and won't mind getting their Christmas cards a little late.

My Christmas was fairly nice. I had a sparkly red dress this year (see my Instagram for a photo). I love sparkles. I don't always wear them, but I do like them. I did refrain from purchasing glittery eyeshadow for Mass (Catholic Christian Church Service). A little sparkle at Mass is okay, but I don't need to be attention-grabbing there. Later in the week we ate Christmas dinner at my sister's house (no, not on Christmas Day because we were waiting for one my brothers and his family to arrive in town and they couldn't get in any earlier because of their responsibilities at home). The weekend of New Year's my eldest got a bacterial infection, so eldest had to celebrate New Year's in a bedroom (which was fine, since my husband had to go to work on January 1st and we weren't planning on staying up for the new year--but he was off from Thursday after Christmas through Sunday).

The New Year has been okay so far. Other than some health stuff that I've had to deal with on and off since the beginning of December, it hasn't been too bad. I'm still trying to grasp that it's January 2024. When I'm dating my files for my backups, I keep wanting to put 'December' and then I keep wanting to put 2023, so I have to remind myself that it's January and 2024.

I'm working on revisions on a manuscript that didn't get done before the end of December and thinking of my unfinished stories still waiting for me. It's a process. Some pages I'm not making many changes, while others I'm rearranging things, or taking stuff out, or putting something else in. But that's how revisions and editing goes (generally speaking).

I've no idea what this year will bring--but I do know there is always good and bad in every year and I try to find the blessings and the good amid the hard/bad stuff. Sometimes it isn't easy, but for me, it helps.

I hope your Christmas went well and wish you a blessed 2024!

Have A Fascinatingly Fantastic Friday!

December, Celebrations, & Where Has The Year Gone?...

 Happy December,

Well, it's already almost the last day of December...and the whole month totally snuck up on me and slipped by me without me realizing what was going on until Christmas Weekend! I kept thinking "Oh, I've got time to do..." and whatever. HA! Next time, I'm going to REALLY look at my calendar and go "Wait, NO, I DON'T have all this time!"

Exhibit A: I need to finish putting together (and mail) Christmas cards. Yep. I'm late, I know, but hopefully I'll get them out during the 12 days of Christmas (before the celebration of Jesus' Baptism, which is celebrated the Sunday after Epiphany. Catholics don't do celebrations halfway! Case in point: Easter has many, many days in the Easter Season).

Exhibit B: I was wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. I'm usually done days before then.

So all of you out there who were behind this year...I get it! Things happen. Life can be nuts.

This whole year felt fast, though. I know I kept saying it pretty much every single month. I've sat there going "Wait, it can't already be___" and lo, and behold, it would be.

Writing updates? Well, still working on some revisions on a manuscript--hope to be done very soon. It would be nice if I could be done before the end of January...here's hoping! I have several other manuscripts in various stages of not done writing the actual story. There is one that my long-time critique partner loves that I still need to finish writing (ironically, it's Winter/Christmassy-themed!)

My family is doing all right. There's always bumps in the road, but there are also some wonderful moments--I'm working on focusing on the positive. It's easy to get bogged down in the negative and I'm incredibly sympathetic to those who do. But I'm one of those people who just can't stand to stay there. I've got a great support system and I keep learning new things and working on it. My faith has played a HUGE role in all of that.

Christmas Day was very quiet (which is okay) but nice. Christmas Eve we went to Mass (it's fun to see everyone all dressed up and smiles). The Church looked beautiful--Nativity scene, flowers, incense--the works! We sang one of my favorite Christmas hymns--"Joy To The World". I'm hoping during the Christmas Season we'll also do "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (I really like this one, I can't explain why, I just do). I'm also very fond of "The Holly And The Ivy" (my dad likes to whistle that one, and I have fond memories of one of my sisters singing it around the house when I was growing up) and "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" (the song is lovely, the poem has some sad verses, but ends in hopefulness).We have some other things planned, which I think will be fun.

I'm hopeful about some things for 2024. I won't know if they'll actually happen until they do (or don't happen--whatever happens). So, I have to keep working, praying, and hoping.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, a Blessed New Year in 2024, and hope.

Have A Tremendously Terrific Tuesday!

It's December!

 Happy Wednesday & Happy December!

I hope December 2021 finds all of you well. I can't believe we're already nearing the end of 2021. It feels like the year just started yesterday or something.

Who participated in NaNoWriMo2021? I didn't. I don't really do NaNo, but I fully support those who do. If you did participate, I wish you a great word count!

If NaNoWriMo something that works for you as an author and/or you enjoy it, then I say go for it! I know people who do Camp NaNoWriMo or other NaNo-like events and they say they actually help them with their writing. Every author is different, so you have to find a process/technique that works for you.

I'm working on getting into the Christmas spirit. We're in the process of putting up the tree (have to fix something on the lights so the ornaments aren't on there, yet). I've been playing Christmas Carols and I've almost completed my Christmas shopping. My biggest concern with the cooler weather isn't the cooler weather itself (I like wrapping myself up cozily in blankets or something warm). It's the possibility of another Snowmeggeddon. After all the craziness of February with the pipes bursting, etc., I'm really praying that it doesn't happen again. As long as we don't lose power and water, the outside can be cold, that's fine, I just don't want to lose power, water, and have pipe issues again.

I continue to work on the mss that I'm hoping to query soon. I've got more notes from my freelance editor, so I'll be working on that. We're over halfway through the novel, so I've started another round of edits of the pages we've already worked through. I've got to finish polishing the synopsis, but the query letter is done. #PitMad is tomorrow, but I won't be participating this go around.

Packages of Christmas presents that I've ordered have started to arrive, as well as presents from relatives that I needed to wrap for my Offspring. I've gotten a good portion of those done (although not all of them, yet). I've got other presents I've ordered coming in and packages to get to UPS for mailing.

The Author Encounter has one event for December--a Behind The Page. There is a guest already lined up and we'll be revealing that person soon. I'm very excited about it (well, I'm always excited about who we get for our events because we get some really awesome people) but this one is rather person to me from my writing journey, so it's especially exciting. Be sure to watch the website and various social media for the guest reveal!

Meanwhile, I hope you have a blessed and Merry December whatever holiday you're celebrating. I'll try to check in again later in the month, but for now once a month is working for me.

Take care!

Have a Wonderfully Whimsical Wednesday!

It's Looking Like Christmas...

Happy Monday!

Can you believe that next week is Christmas? I thought it would take longer to get here. I finished my Christmas shopping last week. Have you finished?

The Averie Household has been slow about getting the tree up this year. The evening of December 13th, my Real Life Hero brought the box in. Slower than what we usually do, but things have been a bit crazy the last couple of weeks.

Despite being slow about the tree, we've been anticipating Christmas. The Offspring are excited and we've been to one Christmas party and Real Life Hero has one coming up at his work. In the car we've been playing Christmas music, which has been fun.

Working on some more projects under my Jeannie Averie pseudonym, but I'm thinking up things for the last two books in the Immortal Dreams series.

Averie Cat had his yearly check up and he's in good health. Got his shot he needed and we're now all set. He didn't enjoy the whole thing, but at least he's healthy.

Some family on my side are coming in after Christmas, so my parents are having Christmas dinner a couple of days after Christmas, so we'll be celebrating with my family on the 27th. For us, we'll have our Christmas Mass--likely on Christmas Eve, and then do our family presents on Christmas Day, and the presents from my parents on the 27th when we go over there.

I love this time of year. I'm praying for cooler weather. I'm not a fan of ice and snow, but I do like bundling up and snuggly blankets. It gets so hot most of the year down here, that it's nice to have some cooler weather when it happens. I haven't even broken out the tea and hot cocoa, yet!

On the reading front, I've got a whole pile of books to read, but I always add new ones. I'm trying to decide what I want to read next. I might read Jennifer L. Armentrout or C.C. Hunter. Then again, I've also got a Sophie Jordan and Cheyanne Young waiting on me, too. Not to mention my library book. What are you reading these days?

Anyway, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2020. See you in January!

Have A Mightily Merry Monday!

It's 2017!

Happy Tuesday Everyone,

The last time I posted was in November. That's pretty bad, but getting to post a blog is tough. Blog posts take a lot of time because I have to think of a topic, write it up, edit it, add graphics/pictures, and make sure any relevant links are set up. I'm thinking that I will go to once a week or once every other week for blog posts. Also, apparently there are some kind of European laws and Blogger is posting Cookie notices, but I don't know where they are and I don't

know if they're showing up, so if they are, please let me know where to look because the directions weren't clear.

Christmas in the Averie Household was eventful. On Christmas Eve we went to Mass and the Averie Offspring was rather rambunctious much to me and Mr. Averie's chagrin. I'm chalking it up to the excitement of the season, but despite the goofiness on the part of my offspring, it was a lovely service and we sang one of my favorite Christmas hymns (Joy To The World--Christmas Mass just never seems complete without it).

Christmas Day was celebrated at my sister's house, with her crowd and my parents. The Averie Offspring made out like bandits (thank you Gran and Grandpa!) And, I must say, I was happy with what I got. My siblings and the spouses do an assigned name gift exchange--so one couple will have another couple and so forth. We got some nice things we wanted and some lovely surprises, too. (I won't go into all the details, but we got books, movies and other things we had wanted--plus a couple of cool mugs).

The week following Christmas, my younger brother and his wife and family arrived and we had official Turkey Christmas Dinner on the Thursday after Christmas. It was fun and delicious. My sister-in-law took some Brussels Sprouts, coated them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them. They had this yummy nutty type flavor. I'd never had Brussels sprouts like that before and I really enjoyed it. I actually always liked Brussels sprouts, but it'd been a long time since I had them and never roasted.

New Year's was quieter for us, which is just as well since excitement has reigned in this house for several days. Now we're getting back into our usual routines.

I'm finishing up reading the ARC of Kerrelyn Sparks' March release, How To

Me with Kerrelyn Sparks October, 2016

Tame A Beast In Seven Days and will post a review on the blog at another time.

I'm also working on pre-publisher run-through per the request of my publisher (not that they had a problem with my manuscript, they just said they've found and extra run-through before the official editing process helps, so that's what I'm doing). It's a bit on the slow side, but I'm making progress. Publisher wants to start edits either at the end of February or the beginning of March. This novel is scheduled to release in June.

There is another novel I'm working on, but it's still too early to say much about it. It's going okay. We'll see what happens with it. I have a few ideas so we'll see if I can pull this one off.

The audio version of Divine Love is moving along. My narrator is working on some polishing of the earlier chapters, and I have to listen to a chapter he sent me. We're moving forward and hoping to release the audio version in March. (We'll see, we may have to push it back, but maybe not. We're going to have to crack down on that one!)

One of my nieces is married and is expecting a baby in May, so I'm on the road to Great-Aunt-hood. I'm so excited and thrilled. I know she and her husband are excited. It's the first great-grandchild for my parents and they are also thrilled.

So, 2017 is going to be a rather busy year for me (but that's okay and relatively normal). There are several exciting things in the works, so I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together.

I wish you and yours a wonderful, blessed, safe, and healthy 2017 and hope you had a great Holiday Season. Happy New Year!

Have A Thrillingly Terrific Tuesday!

Conference, Fall, & Holiday Fun...

Happy Wednesday All,

We're almost done with August, in fact, September starts tomorrow. Writers have until September 23rd to register for the Northwest Houston RWA Lone Star Writer's Conference. All writers, of all genres are welcome. We open up the conference to all writers of all genres, so take advantage of that.


Morning Speaker will be NY Times Bestseller, Kerrelyn Sparks. The afternoon speaker is going to be Sandra Beckwith from Buildbookbuzz.com. We'll have raffle baskets to raffle off, there will be pitch sessions going on, and more. 

Some writers have said they couldn't make this year. Very well, if you, a writer, can't make it this year, then put us down for next year. Generally we have the Conference the first Saturday in October. That's the date it's been ever since I started going to the conference back in 2009. So see, the time of year hasn't changed, just when the first Saturday of October is changes (some years it's not the 1st of October).

As Summer slips past us, and Fall starts in, I get a sense of an anticipation. Not just for the Conference, but also for cooler weather...for Holidays and fun. Anybody who knows me well knows that Halloween isn't my favorite Holiday. Thanksgiving is all right, but I'm really a big Christmas fan. My husband puts up with Hallmark Christmas movies from the moment they begin until the moment they end (then he deals with the Valentine's ones in February, because let's face it, I consider myself hopelessly romantic).

One of the things I love about Christmas are the lights. I like seeing houses and buildings lit up in a festive glow. We're hoping to make it out to Disney World sometime (not this year) during the Christmas season in part for that reason. I hear so much about how beautiful and wonderful it is. This year, we're looking at San Antonio for a little visit during the December month and I'm looking forward to seeing the lights along the Riverwalk (I've been to San Antonio and the Riverwalk several times, but not during the Christmas/Advent Season). We're also looking at going to Sea World--we've been there in the Summer, but never for their Christmas events. I had no idea they were even open during that time!

After the Conference on October 1st, we'll probably start gearing up for Halloween. Generally my kids go Trick or Treating with the cousins, but due to some changes this year, I'm not sure what will be happening. Eldest already knows what he wants to be for Halloween, Youngest is pretty laid back and goes with the flow.

For Thanksgiving, I think one of my aunts is coming into town, which will be fun. I always enjoy seeing her, and having Thanksgiving at my parents' house is a treat.

This year, I'm hoping Texas gets cooler than last year. Last year we pretty much were wearing shorts at Christmas, which just felt completely wrong to me. Even in my part of Texas we generally can wear warm clothing at Christmas. I love wrapping up in blankets and watching Christmas Specials at home. Making hot cocoa or tea is always fun, too.

What do you like about the Fall months and the holidays during Fall and Winter?

Have A Whimsically Wonderful Wednesday!

It's 2015!

Happy New Year Darling Readers,


I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year's.

The Averie Household continues to be busy. I'm still working on getting Immortal Love ready to turn into my publisher (although, getting closer--thank goodness!)

Christmas was nice. We went to Church for the vigil on Christmas Eve, and enjoyed the rest of the evening as a family. The next day presents were opened and we headed for my parents' house for more presents and Christmas dinner. My father made gluten free chocolate chip cookies and a gluten free apple pie (thank you, dad!) which were both really good. The ham was awesome, too (I can't eat turkey, I'm allergic to it, so Dad had turkey and ham--yes, he loves me!) We hung out with some friends of my folks and family members. The next day (Friday), one of my brothers made it into town and we saw them Saturday for dinner. Sunday we relaxed at home.

This week has been mostly hanging out at home, but busy. I finished reading As You Wish Inconceivable Tales From The Making Of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not written as an expose, or even a definitive behind-the-scenes type book, but more like a memory book for some of the cast and crew to talk about their experiences. Cary is tremendously humble. The entire cast and crew very supportive of each other--which I really appreciated. It was nice to read something that was so positive and heartwarming. I laughed out loud in some places and felt for the actors in others. It was a fun read.

The new year brings a flurry of activity for me. Working hard to get Immortal Love turned in. I plan to work on several other writing projects I hope to work on throughout the year, not to mention expecting the new baby sometime this year. Which means I don't know how often I will be posting on the blog. I don't have an assistant (maybe one day!) so I have to figure out how to delegate my time and I have responsibilities in my real life, too. I will try, though.

I wish you all a very blessed, safe, healthy, and happy new year 2015. May it be, as Jason Magnus in the Immortal Dreams Trilogy would say, "awesomeness."

Have A Fantastically Fabulous Friday!

2014 Novels, & Christmassy Reading...

Happy Friday All,

This week has been filled with appointments pretty much every day so I've been kept on my toes.

With Christmas on its way and the end of the year coming, I thought I'd give a look at some of my favorite novels that were released in 2014 (besides my own, of course LOL).

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite novels published in 2014:

YA Category:

CC Hunter's Eternal This is book number 2 in C.C.'s Shadow Falls

After Dark series, featuring vampire Della Tsang. I love how underneath all her prickles and walls, Della feels deeply and is an incredibly loyal person. She's strong, sassy, but also vulnerable. I recommend reading C.C.'s Shadow Falls series, first, before reading Della's stories because these books happen after the events in the first novels. Of course, I recommend reading any of C.C.'s novels! She's an incredibly talented author. To check out my official blog book review of this novel, click here.

Katie McGarry's Breaking The Rules. If you're a fan of her Pushing

The Limits featuring Echo and Noah, then you'll be glad for this novel. Katie's writing is gritty, edgy, honest, and emotional. I don't read a lot of contemporary YA, but I make an exceptions for Katie's novels simply because of her talent and ability to draw a reader into her characters and sympathize with them.

Jennifer L. Aremntrout's Opposition. The final installment in Jennifer's Lux series came out in August and there were several

surprises, but a satisfying ending. I'm not usually into aliens, but Jennifer's work drew me in. I enjoyed Daemon's attitude and him and Katy's relationship.

These are just the YA's that stood out in my mind. It doesn't mean there wasn't any other notable YAs that were released in 2014.

Paranormal Romance:

Anne B. Cole's Souls Entwined. An intriguing and imaginative story. By the end I was fascinated with Anne's imagination and wondered what she'd come up with next. She certainly has unique ideas. I believe she'll pleasantly surprise readers. And nothing is more fun than getting a pleasant surprise from a novel! I have an official blog book review of this novel, which you can find here.

Marie  Hall's Rumpel's Prize. I'm a huge fan of Rumpel & Belle on the show Once Upon A Time, so when I heard about Marie's novel, I was interested to see what kind of spin she'd put on the Rumpelstiltskin story. I was not disappointed. As always, Marie

took a recognizable fairy-tale character and made it her own. I've loved the Kingdom series and haven't been disappointed by her writing. I still have to read Hood's Obsession and Her One Wish, but I plan to. Check out my review of this novel here.


I still have a huge TBR (To Be Read) pile although some are not 2014 releases. This doesn't reflect all the books I've read and/or enjoyed this year, but they stand out.

Now, since we are in the Christmas Season, let me recommend some seasonal reading from all different publication dates (and in no particular order):

Christie Craig's The Cop Who Stole Christmas--a humorous tale released in 2013, that had all the right hallmarks of a Christie novel--romance, suspense, and humor. Lots of fun, with a holiday twist.

Debbie Macomber's The Perfect Christmas, released in 2011. One of my favorite Christmas novels. Debbie has written several Christmas ones, but I especially loved this one. It involves a matchmaker who matches everyone up to their "most suitable" match, but doesn't see any love for himself, until an opinionated woman enters his life and turns it upside down. Heartwarming and fun.

The Night Before Christmas--various editions. I love this poem. So much fun. My offspring has a version of this story that I've read a loud and there's been giggling and great interest in it.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Various editions have been published over the years, even though Dickens has been dead for a long time. To me, that says a lot about the man's writing. I'm a big fan of A Tale Of Two Cities, and this story brings back memories of my father reading a version of it to me and my siblings at Christmas time. I wasn't ever a fan of the Ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come, but the message is a great one, and the story is worth sharing.

Kerrelyn Sparks' All I Want For Christmas Is A Vampire. If you're a fan of her Love At Stake series, you don't want to miss this one.  It was published in 2008. This novel is Ian MacPhie's story,which ties in Christmas, Kerrelyn's humor, and vampires all in one novel.

Lisa Scott's Holiday Rush--part of her Holiday Flirts! Set (which I haven't read the rest yet, I got Holiday Rush free on my E-reader--I think she was running a special offer at the time that I got the novelette on my E-Reader). This short story, published in 2011, is a fun, quick read, with a Christmas spirit, and Romance. I always wish her short stories were longer, but that would be why they're called Flirts. I've read several of her short stories and have enjoyed every one.

Of course, being a Roman Catholic Christian, I recommend the Gospel readings in the Bible of Jesus's birth. My favorite is Luke's rendition of the Nativity story.

I love Christmas stories and wish I could get one written. I've tried over the years, but they never came out quite right. Maybe someday, though!

What are some of your favorite 2014 releases and Christmas novels?

Have A Fabulously Festive Friday!

It's December, Plus Updates...

Happy Tuesday Everybody,

I hope you all enjoyed yesterday's post with the guest authors. It was fun to talk about the TV show Once Upon A Time like that. Maybe I'll do something similar with another subject some other time.

It's now December! Can you believe it? Despite what I said on
Facebook about getting the tree up on Sunday it didn't happen. I was distracted by all the edits I had to do and Husband got wrapped

One of my favorite ornaments
It represents Monroe, from my novel,
ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE & LION

up in some activities he and the offspring got into. However, I hope we'll be able to follow through on what Husband said about getting it up this evening. It just doesn't feel Christmassy without the decorations out.


I'm still working on my personal edits of Book Three of the Immortal Dreams Trilogy.

I've finished the initial read-through and am doing some other edits before it goes to critiques. Then I'll go through the editing process with my publisher before it gets released to Amazon Kindle. Currently I'm set for a March 2015 release date. Unfortunately, I'm definitely behind where I wanted to be. But my pregnancy caused a few issues. I didn't feel well and I was very tired. I'm still tired most days, but working hard to not let that get in the way, because I want to get this book done.

Either tomorrow or Friday I'll be doing a cover reveal for Book Three of the Trilogy. I've been sitting on this cover reveal for a very long time and it's been hard not to just show you all the final installment of this series, but I wanted to wait until it was a little closer to the release date. But I can't wait much longer! So you won't have to, either.

Stay tuned and I hope you're enjoying the beginning of December!

What's your favorite getting-ready-for-Christmas tradition? 

Have A Tinsel-Filled Tuesday!

Christmas 2013...A Success! Also Writing Updates...

Happy Monday All,

I hope everyone had a wonderful and very Merry Christmas! We sure did.

Christmas Eve we attended church and then came back and relaxed a while before friends of ours came over for a brief visit. 

On Christmas Day, we slept in, (yes, Offspring does sleep in from time to time--which is lovely, especially when didn't have to get up

early!) We got up, Offspring and I ate breakfast, then we opened gifts (Husband opted to wait until after gifts to eat breakfast because he was going to have oatmeal and he said that took him a while to eat, and Offspring was going crazy wanting to open gifts LOL).

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Offspring and husband played in the backyard--I went out there for a while. I spent most of the day reading one of my new books, Katie McGarry's Crash Into You (She writes contemporary/romantic YA novels. I've enjoyed everything she's published so far).

Husband had to work the next day. I was supposed to be writing, but last week was a bust--I was pretty distracted (gee, I wonder why! New presents, and brain not focusing). I finished another book I got for Christmas last week--Jessica Day George's Princess Of The Silver Woods (I've read her other princess novels in that series and I really enjoyed it).

I got a bunch of new novels on one of my E-readers (we now how two) using a gift card I got from one of my friends. I read one of the short stories I got--Lisa Scott's Say My Name, which is a play on the Rumpelstiltskin story. 

Now I'm needing to read Rick Riordan's House Of Hades, then get moving on some of the other books I got on my E-reader until the

next round of library books come through here. (Yes, I both buy books and get books from the library--some books I own are books I first read from the library and liked so much I wanted my own copy). 

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of all the awesome gifts I got, but I'll go ahead and list them:

1.  Several new books (as I said, gift card from one of my best friends).
2.  A blender from Husband and Offspring (to make smoothies)
3.  A board game called Damn You Autocorrect from one of my other best friends. I laughed when I saw the title. Looks like fun!
4.  Two pretty t-shirts from my parents
5.  Lounge socks, slippers, lip gloss, and a sample of lotion from my "lil sis" 
6.  10 Things I Hate About You anniversary edition DVD from one of my sisters (a sibling of mine has a program that takes me and my siblings, and our spouses' names and pairs us up with someone for Christmas)
7.  Perhaps Love Jonathan & Charlotte album from one of my sisters
8.  Kindle Fire for my family from my parents

I'm pretty happy with what I got. I really like that movie, 10 Things I Hate About You...husband and I both like it, actually. I'm looking forward to seeing the special features on it, too. It's also a movie my deceased friend, Sarah and I enjoyed.

Writing news?  I do actually have some. I may not have worked as hard last week on the writing as I intended, but I have made progress on TWO novels I'm working on:

*Book 2 of the Third Realm novels (Loralyn from All's Fair In Love & Lion story) has a few pages written (I still need to do a lot more work on that one).

*Book 2 of my New Adult (NA) Paranormal Romance has made some progress (and has some plot points for me to use for the rest of the novel--yay!)

I don't know when I'll have these two novels, done, but I'm glad they're moving forward.  There's been a few people who have asked about a book coming after All's Fair In Love & Lion--be patient, I do have plans for at least one. Right now, the New Adult series has taken a lot of my attention. When I have more news on that and other novels I'm working on, I'll let you know. :-)

So...

How was your Christmas? Do you have a favorite gift? If so, what is it?

If I don't get to posting before January 1st, Happy & Blessed New Year to you and yours.

Have A Marvelously Magical Day!

Christmas, News, Updates, & More...

Happy Monday One and All,

The Averie Household is in full Christmas gear-up mode. We've finished Christmas present shopping. The outside lights are up (sorry, I don't have pictures right now.  Our camera needs its batteries replaced and we ran out of the kind it uses. But once we get the batteries, I'll go out and see if I can get some pictures of them. We don't have a lot out).  Our tree has been up for a while, which has been fun--although the lights don't work on it, so next year husband has said he's going to put lights on it. Good thing we have some extra lights...hopefully we have enough. Have to find that out.

I've been enjoying The Florin Street Band's newest video/song, Winter Wonder.  I don't know how many of you remember their first song, My Favorite Time Of Year, but I loved it. It was an effort put together by Leigh Haggerwood, a singer/songwriter. He got a bunch of musicians and singers together and they dressed in Victorian era costumes. Really lovely. The songs are just so much fun.  Definitely suggest checking them out to get yourself into the Christmas Spirit.

Several authors are doing giveaways and freebies--if you're paying attention to my Twitter Feed  you'll notice I've mentioned some of them. There's some great deals this season, too, so keep those eyes and ears open. 

I mentioned on Facebook that Friday (Dec. 13th) when I went to my husband's work Christmas party I had an awesome fan experience. There was someone there who had read All's Fair In Love & Lion and really enjoyed it. This

person asked me all about my writing and future novels. It was such a great experience to interact with this fan. I appreciate each and

every one of you. Please, don't hesitate to email me, authors love to hear from their fans, and I'm no different. Commenting on here is also most welcome (no Spam, please, though).

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you know I've sent out the first book in my new series. This series is NOT connected with All's Fair In Love & Lion. It's an entirely new story. It's geared toward the New Adult (NA) genre (typically heroes/heroines are 18-25 facing new adult situations--this is the most basic explanation I have to offer at this time). I had a blast writing this novel. It's a different feel and style than All's Fair In Love & Lion. I do plan to get back to the Third Realm and finish Loralyn's story, just be patient--I have to write the 2nd book in this new series while the characters are hanging out in my head and there might even be a 3rd book. (But Loralyn is on my mind, too!)

Updates are up on my website (News and Other Projects) so feel free to check that out, too.

Stay tuned, folks...you never know what I'll come up with.

Enjoy the rest of this preparation time. Next week is Christmas! :-)

Are you all ready for Christmas?

Have A Marvelously Merry Monday!