Tag Archives: Kensington author

I’m not going to apologize

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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The Christmas tree is up! And I won’t even apologize for it. I love Christmas, and while I could have waited a little bit longer to put up the decorations, my ten-year-old couldn’t. He was just dying to get the tree up, and since we got some snow, which put me right into a festive mood, too, I caved. (As I always do.)

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So I put him to work. I have him a bit of help in the actually putting up of the tree,  but he decorated it.

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He loves Christmas more than I do. He’ll go over the decorations, remembering where they came from. He’ll laugh about things he remembers from when he was little. It’s not just a piece of decoration for him. It’s a piece of our family.

Mr. Johns is less of a Christmas person than I am, but he always brightens up when he gets home from work and finds that Christmas has hit our home. The tree is up, the lighting is soft, the garlands are hanging above the windows, and it just feels… warm.

Of course, we’re in Canada, so our Thanksgiving has already passed in October, so there aren’t any other holidays between us and Christmas. So it might be a little different for you if you live in the US.

But Christmas has come to the Johns home. And it feels good!

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Library cards and cows… sigh! <3

05 Monday Nov 2018

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I have a photographer friend who lives a few hours from me. She’s very good, so if you’re in the Lloydminster, Alberta area and want a photographer, she’s the one to look up! Her name is Barrie Jane, and she has such an eye… Take a look at her work if you don’t believe me. I’m not just a gushing friend, I promise! When I next need pictures, I’m going going to her!

Anyway, Barrie Jane and I have been friends since junior high, and she recently sent me the most beautiful gift!

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It’s an apron with a vintage library card and cow theme! It’s lined with lace, and is nice and roomy so it wraps all the way around my sides. I just love it!

She had it made by her friend, Jennifer Herron, who has an Etsy shop called For Fabric’s Sake. Check her out if you want an apron like mine! 🙂 Or, hey–Christmas shopping!

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Forgive the hallway selfie–it was the best I could do under the circumstances, but it’s just a gorgeous apron, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

 

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Feeling the jiggle

01 Thursday Nov 2018

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Last New Years, I jokingly wished for a parrot. It was one of those wild wishes that I never thought would come true for me, but here we are–and I’ve got a small parrot of my own–Pichu.

He’s my little writing buddy. He loves to sit with me while I hammer out my novels, and he’s just so much fun. He talks and imitates, which is very cute. He’s such a smart little guy, and I’m so glad he’s ours.

Here he is is dismantling Lego man legs on my shoulder while I write. He has a very big, strong beak, but he’s trained now so that if he gets too nippy or rough, I can hold his beak and tell him to be gentle, and he stops right away. I guess it communicates that I’m the boss, or something. It works!

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And here he is sitting on my wrist because he likes to feel the jiggle while I type. Such a funny guy!

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This is the writing life–lots of time alone. 🙂 But I’ve got a little parrot to keep my company, and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s a good set up. No complaints from me.

Bathroom art

26 Friday Oct 2018

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So I have a new hobby…. I like to find funny hand washing quotes to use in our bathroom to remind our ten-year-old to make use of the soap. It amuses me, what can I say? And it amuses the rest of my family when they come home to a new funny saying in the bathroom.

This was the first one I ever put up:

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Mr. Johns is a pretty quiet guy, but when he got home from work and went in to wash his hands, I got a genuine guffaw out of him for this one!

So I thought I’d use it to give funny messages to my family. There were a few others that were cute, but Mr. Johns wasn’t on board. Like this one:

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“So we’re staring at people peeing now? Like… a guest? Are we threatening guests with voyeurism?”

“No, I’m saying I find YOU attractive!”

“But I know that. We need to keep this focused on hand washing. That’s an important message.”

Have I mentioned that he’s very serious? But he also had a point. So that one came down. Although, I did think it was cute!

This is our most recent one, and I like it. 🙂

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Bathroom art–my newest pass time. Now, I can print off the funny little sayings I see and post them for all to see… Well, maybe just for my family to see. Whatever. I’m enjoying myself. 😉

And speaking of love in the air… have you picked up your copy of Her Lawman Protector yet??

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4.278504.512.9781335633828Their relationship isn’t real…

But his feelings for her are!

Detective Jack Talbott has devoted his life to ending police corruption. His latest target is Liv Hylton, the ex-wife of a dirty cop. She’s also the woman he’s secretly loved for years. To get close to her, Jack’s going undercover as her boyfriend. But when the evidence points to Liv’s innocence and a threat to her safety, he’ll do anything to protect her. Even risk his career…

 

A veritable media blackout

18 Thursday Oct 2018

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This week, I turned the big 4-0. I am now officially a woman in my 40s, and I think I like it!

I’ve been looking forward to this, actually, because I noticed something about women 40 plus–all those things they told us mattered most when we were growing up, suddenly start mattering a whole lot more. You remember those talks we had with our parents, when they told us to ignore the mean girls, to power through heartbreak, to be brave and know our own worth? That’s when they told us what mattered most–character, brains, a sense of humour. “And you have those, sweetie. You’ll see. Life has a way of turning things on their heads.”

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Life at 40 isn’t about how cute you are anymore, because if you’re still adorable at 40, you’re doing something wrong! 40 is not cute. Laugh lines, a solid line of gray down the part in your hair, and a new appreciation for when it’s too late to eat is not adorable. And I’m glad, because the whole cutie-pie thing past 16 is very annoying. It’s come full circle again, and life is now about the very things our mother’s predicted: character, brains, a sense of humour.  So if you haven’t spent the last 20-odd years developing the important stuff, it’s going to be painfully obvious. Because “cute” no longer cuts it.

The media has a lot to say to women under 40 about who they should be, what makes them beautiful, what they deserve… But there is a veritable media blackout for women 40 plus! The actresses–except a select few playing grandmothers and storekeepers–slip into the background. And some might think that’s a bad thing because it implies we’re no longer relevant, but I disagree. It’s freeing! Nobody cares what we do anymore! 

This isn’t news to the other women. I’m just new to the party, so it’s all exciting and novel. The lack of societal supervision is heady. It doesn’t mean we aren’t beautiful still, but with the bulk of the attention off of us, we could do a whole lot while no one is looking…

Character, brains and a sense of humour. I knew they’d come back into style eventually. 😉

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Pass the crayons

11 Thursday Oct 2018

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I stumbled across this a few days ago, and it made me laugh out loud!

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Anybody else feel like it all piles up sometimes?

I’m an author, a wife and a mom to a ten-year-old. And there are some stresses that aren’t really negotiable, you know? Like parenting stress–you can’t exactly let the ball drop when it comes to your child. And there are a few stresses that I’m not willing to downgrade–like the writing. So, every once in a while, I just need to vent some stress.

Oh, did I mention that I’m an introvert? So going out and getting social doesn’t do that for me.

Lately, my favourite release is going alone to my parents’ place and watching their TV. My parents record a few of my favourite shows, and I go there to watch them. It sounds so trivial, but it drains the stress away, and when I get back home, my husband has taken care of the parenting stuff for me.

It’s more effective than colouring would be… I think. But then again, maybe I should get an angry red crayon and give it a try. 😉

 

Care to pre-order?

08 Monday Oct 2018

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I have a few books coming out in the next few months, and you can pre-order now to make sure you get them as soon as they release!

I thought I’d give you a little list for your convenience. 🙂

4.280109.512.9781335478924Coming January 1, 2019. But you can pre-order now!

Two stubborn hearts. One ranch.

Could Montana Twins unite them?

With orphaned twin infants to care for, Casey Courtright hoped to buy the ranch he works on—but he can’t match Ember Reed’s offer. Nevertheless, Casey agrees to show Ember the land she plans to use for her therapy center, but only if she’ll help him with the babies. And as the twins draw them together, Casey might just find that Ember is his perfect partner.

 

 

 

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Falling for the Cowboy Dad
(Book 2 in Home to Eagle’s Rest miniseries)

Cover to come.

Coming out March 1, 2019, but you can pre-order now!

He’s always been the one…

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

 

*****

 

The Bishop's Daughter MM

Coming May 2019, but you can pre-order now!

In this poignant, beautifully written novel, a faithful young Amish widow is reunited with her wayward first love . . .

As a bishop’s daughter and good Amish mother, widowed Sadie Hochstetler teaches her young son that God blesses those who try their best to please Him. But her brief marriage taught her that life is infinitely more complicated than that. Older, and serious, her late husband seemed a sensible choice—especially compared to Elijah Fisher, the spirited boy with whom she butted heads and hearts. Then Elijah abruptly left for the Englisher world, taking Sadie’s beloved brother along with him—a double betrayal she still strives to forgive. Especially now that Elijah has returned . . .

Elijah plans to stay in the Amish community only as long as he’s needed, helping his family and working for Sadie’s ailing father. The outside world has changed him, leading him to question rules and restrictions that others take on faith. Once, he’d been head over heels in love with the bishop’s daughter—a girl he was judged unworthy of courting. Nine years have changed so much between them. Yet something remains—a spark that, for all their differences, might light the way home again . . .

 

 

You can pre-order any of these upcoming releases! I think you’ll love them, too. ❤

 

Every time…

04 Thursday Oct 2018

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Working hard on a first draft, I tend to block out pretty much everything else. I mean, I can keep my family running, so I’m not completely useless, but I feel like I come up out of a fog.

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And recently, I’ve finished a first draft. 🙂

Thank you, thank you. It does take a lot out of me, but it feels AMAZING to get a first draft hammered out and finished. It’s a terrible piece of writing–all first drafts are–but it’s ready to be edited! And that first draft is the majority of the work.

In the rest of my life, I’ve been fooling around with cooking on the weekends so I have a freezer full of food to call upon during the week, and thus spend less of my writing time on boring household tasks like cooking.

It’s working, but I have to say, I find eating the freezer food a bit boring. So I can’t win there, it seems. LOL! What I really need is a cook.

Don’t we all!

But don’t forget that my newest release is on sale this month! You can find it online–Amazon, Harlequin, and pretty much anywhere else you buy books online.

So check it out! 🙂

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4.278504.512.9781335633828Their relationship isn’t real…

But his feelings for her are!

Detective Jack Talbott has devoted his life to ending police corruption. His latest target is Liv Hylton, the ex-wife of a dirty cop. She’s also the woman he’s secretly loved for years. To get close to her, Jack’s going undercover as her boyfriend. But when the evidence points to Liv’s innocence and a threat to her safety, he’ll do anything to protect her. Even risk his career…

 

Bring on school!

03 Monday Sep 2018

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School is almost here–as in it starts TOMORROW!–and that means I’ll have my workdays to myself again. Of course, I’ll miss my son, because he really is my favourite kid on the planet, but I’m really looking forward to some quiet. It might not surprise you to know that writing books is much easier when you don’t have a ten-year-old singing his own inappropriate versions of Christmas carols to the parrot in the same room. 😉

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This summer flew by! I had planned my summer with a light workload, so when things came up I kept dropping them into my summer thinking, “It’s fine… I have a light summer.”

Yeah… it was a REALLY busy summer! My parents moved out from Toronto, my husband had a month off of work (which is way less helpful in getting work done than you’d think), and then there were all those little jobs I’d left for myself to get done. But I got it all done!

And I am so ready for the fall!

Especially my October release…

I’ll just put this right here… in case you wanted to check it out… 😉 4.278504.512.9781335633828

Available NOW in e-book on the Harlequin site!

*For the paperback copy and any other e-tailer, you’ll have to wait for the official October 2 release.