So I dropped everything and ran out the door into the frigid darkness. I'd already been the the grocery store twice that day for last minute food items, but I started there, braving the jammed parking lot. No copies of USA Today left. I tried the minimart/liquor store, the gas station store, and the other major grocery store in town, trying very hard not to have a fender bender in my anxious state. Finally, striking out everywhere and not even 100% sure the Bestseller List would actually *be* in that day's paper, I decided I'd try one more store before returning home to get on with the abandoned meal prep. Walgreens. I found two copies left, and I frantically flipped through until I found the list. It was there and Love Under Fire was there! I bought both copies and navigated the traffic home a bit more calmly.
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| Two spots beneath the Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, who I once signed books next to at an event! |
Many thousands of copies have to be sold to make this list, and I'm so proud of the promotional work all the authors on the team did to spread the word about our collection. We each contributed a brand new, never-before-published novel or novella to the set, and all the stories have elements of romance, suspense, and mystery, with various subgenres represented as well (paranormal romantic suspense, historical romantic suspense, romance/cozy mystery, etc.). In line with our release near Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, we decided to donate 50% of our profits to Pets for Vets, a wonderful charity pairing shelter animals with veterans seeking companion animals. So this was very much an author give-back as well as cross-promotion for all of us, with the opportunity to share our work with thousands of new readers.
My book in the set is The Haunting of Hillwood Farm, and the first editorial review from N.N. Light's Book Heaven gave it 5+ stars! It's spooky, as it's a ghost mystery, but the good thing about the Romance genre is that Happy Endings are a must (at least for the main characters...we're not making promises beyond that!).
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| My ghost mystery/romance in the set |
You can see a great round-up of all the titles in the set, along with each cover and blurb, here. So many great stories!
When I started this journey 11 years ago, writing the opening lines (later cut!) of Silver Lake on a long car ride, I never dared to dream about something like this! Over the years, I've experienced many highs and lows associated with writing, and I've spent several Novembers in the throes of NaNoWriMo, forcing myself past writer's block by getting in the required daily word count. So it will be nice to associate Thanksgiving with this year's memory now! As I reflect on the most important things I'm thankful for--family, friends, health, a roof over my head--I'm also thankful to have reached this personal milestone and to have helped raise so much money for Pets for Vets. Time to open the champagne!
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| Jinx wanted to help celebrate too! All 3 of my rescue pets love the charity we supported! |
