Things are heating up around here...

... and not just temperature-wise. 

As the photo above (which features the cover of "Curves for Days" set in a whimsical floral border with the heading "Goodreads Giveaway") shows, Sourcebooks is giving away 100 copies of the book starting tomorrow (Saturday 7/29/2023) and running through 8/21/2023.  I'm really excited about that, and I hope one of you wins a copy!   For more information, see here. 

Writing-wise, I got some feedback on my first complete draft of book 3 (Andi and Kevin's story--Andi is the best friend of July (whose story is told in book 2), who becomes one of the best friends of main character Rose in "Curves for Days."

I really am blessed with the best beta readers; one of them suggested a slight reordering of the story to make the plot flow more smoothly, and the other suggested a couple of important things to emphasize character-wise. Sometimes writers get contradictory feedback on their work, and then they have to either choose one set of advice over another or decide to leave it as is and risk not pleasing anyone! I am lucky to have kind, smart, insightful readers whose suggestions will work together to make book 3 smoother and give it more punch. Thank heavens for them (You know who you are!).

Something else on my radar as we wind down this last month before my book baby comes out... 
I'm going to make two virtual appearances to talk about "Curves for Days" and other romance books! 

The first is part of the big Bookstore Romance Day weekend, which bookshops all over the country participate in; that one is Sunday 8/20/23--two days before the release of "Curves for Days"--and involves a panel of authors who have written plus-size protagonists. Besides me, the panel includes Taj McCoy (whose book "Savvy Sheldon's Feeling Good as Hell" I am currently reading and enjoying immensely), Jenny L. Howe (whose book "On the Plus Side" was a recent advance review copy I really enjoyed), April Asher (author of another fun recent read, "Not the Witch You Wed"), and Amanda Cinelli (I haven't read one of hers with a plus-sized protagonist, but I did enjoy "The Billionaire's Last-Minute Marriage," which features a main character on the autism spectrum). 
That Aug. 20 "Dangerous Curves Ahead" panel is scheduled for 4pm EDT, 3 CDT, and is sponsored by Parnassus Books of Nashville (whose owner, author Ann Patchett, nearly killed me with her beautiful, harrowing book "Bel Canto.") and will be led by Parnassus bookseller Katie Garaby.
It's a free event, but you need to register to get tickets here. 
I think I'll survive this, my first event, and if I don't, well, I'll die in good company.

THEN, on Tuesday 8/22/23, the evening of my actual book release, Magers & Quinn of Minneapolis is hosting a virtual event for me to talk about my book via YouTube! That's at 8pm Eastern time, 7pm Central. Again, the event is free but you have to register here. I'm very tickled about this; the Twin Cities has many cool bookshops, but Magers & Quinn was the first one I found and explored after moving up here, so they've got a special place in my heart.

With all this exciting stuff going on, you can probably understand why my head is spinning. Now I need to go double check everything to see what I've forgotten... Oh yeah, the edits to book 3...