Book News
Some housekeeping first – there were some minor errors in the version of Hugs & Quiches that went out for the first day. If you preordered the book or bought it on release day, you’ll have a much better experience if you go to Manage Your Content and Devices and update the file!
If you aren’t sure how to do that, there’s a handy guide here!
In more fun news…
It’s Ace Awareness Week, which means that yet again, I can be perceived by the universe. How droll. In honor of this glorious week, I’ve decided to put Wrapped Up In You on sale!
Fun Fact: Wrapped Up In You takes place in the same town as Mrs. Mix Up!
Wrapped Up in You is the sequel novella to Learning Curves, featuring the same couple! Cora and Elena are just as sweet as ever, but they have some plans for Christmas Eve.
It’s been two years since Cora and Elena of LEARNING CURVES discovered how easy it is to learn to love–but with Christmas just around the bend, they’re going to have to learn to cope when both their families descend on their household for the first time ever. With her brothers and parents underfoot and a million dishes to cook, it’s hard enough for Elena to plan her double surprise for Cora, even harder when she has to corral her wayward brothers into it–but when Cora’s own surprise plans tangle with Elena’s, it may be impossible to tie up the holiday in a neat little bow.
There’s mayhem and laughter, warmth and unexpected turns–and even if it all doesn’t go according to plan, neither Cora nor Elena care so long as they can stay wrapped up in each other.
Instead of being $3.99 as usual, this is on sale for only $0.99! This can easily be read as a standalone, but it’s even better if you read the beginning of their love story in Learning Curves!
Buy it Now!
NaNoWriMo is Almost Upon Us!
I am actually not taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. I am doing something radical and planning to not work on fiction at all once I’ve finished this novella for the anthology!
However, I am helping to host a NaNoWriMo hashtag on Twitter and Instagram with my friend Amara Lynn! Come check it out and join us! Here are the twitter prompts…
and you can find the Instagram prompts on my instagram! I hope to see you all there!
Other Fun Things!
AAA Literary Journal will be posting new literature by Asexual, Aromantic, and Agender writers all week in honor of Ace Awareness Week! This includes two poems by my friend Amara Lynn, so go check it out!
If you want to check out an Asexuality 101 video lecture, here’s your chance!
You can also learn more about asexual history from aceweek.org!
If you know of other ace things or bookish things going on in the next week, let me know about them! I wanna know all the things!
What I’ve Been Doing:
Reading
Love All Year Anthology – This winter holiday romance anthology from all sorts of cultures is something I’ve been reading slowly – partly because I’m struggling to focus on words on my phone screen but mostly because they are all really lovely. I highly recommend you go grab it for yourself!
Deal with the Demon by Chace Verity – You probably noticed in last week’s newsletter that I’m friends with the fabulous Chace Verity. That is partially because their books are always amazing and partially because they themselves are fantastic. When they surprise dropped this into the universe, I had to buy it instantly! I regret nothing. It’s fluffy and domestic and romantic and beautiful. Go get it!
Playing
Hades is still incredibly addictive and I love it very much. BUT a new game has entered the scene. Monster Camp is a new game out from Beautiful Glitch, and much like its predecessor, I love just about everything about it. It’s part stat builder, part dating sim with vibrant characters and hilarious!
Here’s a screencap from my first play through.
How could I resist??? I also love that you can filter out content with triggers in the game settings so that you have a more enjoyable experience while you play! It’s a great way to give people better options! I love it and can’t wait to play more!
The Soupening
My roommate has been recovering from having her wisdom teeth removed since we last talked, so we have been eating a lot of soup this week. Before this, I had made approximately two kinds of soup in my life – chicken and dumplings and potato leek soup. Neither of those soups was particularly well suited for someone who wasn’t able to chew things at all for two days, so I had to get creative. So, I did one of my favorite things – I went recipe hunting. Here’s what we found and how it turned out!
Miso Soup
This is the easiest one we made. We always keep miso dashi paste in the fridge, so when Taylor needed clear liquids only immediately after her surgery, we made it happen! Quick and easy to make in small portions, which means we made a lot of it!
Curried Pumpkin Soup – recipe from Taste Of Home
This was our first big soup adventure and one that was controversial in my house. My husband, bless his soul, does not like pumpkin. I’m not particularly wild about it myself, but this sounded incredibly tasty! And it was! I left the apples out because I turned all of ours into applesauce beforehand. Oops.
This soup was really simple to make and very delicious. I found that the three teaspoons of curry powder gave our soup a nice spice level (for three very white folks), so if you like more spice or more heat, you may want to supplement that. We also thought that adding some cheese would help, and we were right! I dipped a grilled cheese sandwich into it and it was Delicious. We also tried adding a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella and that was also very good! We highly recommend it!
Chicken & Dumplings Soup
This is a staple in so many Southern households, and our recipe is one that came from Taylor’s mom’s family. The ingredients include one rotisserie chicken, meat shredded into the soup (saving the bones to make a stock for later), a lot of celery, a lot of carrots, one container of chicken stock, one can of cream of chicken, one can of cream of celery and one tube of storebought biscuits. You combine all the things except the biscuits into a large pot (or slow cooker, up to you!) bring it to a boil then cover it and let it simmer for approximately 8 hours. An hour before you want to serve it, pop open those biscuits and smash them flat. Then, tear chunks of it and toss them into the soup! Put the lid back on and come back in an hour.
Potato Leek Soup
This is my husband’s recipe, and as such, I have no idea what quantities are needed for it. He is a “throw things in a pot and it’ll cook fine” kind of chef. There will be some potatoes, there will be some leeks, there’ll probably be some bacon bits. That’s all I can guarantee about it when it gets made. But it’s a good puréed soup and we enjoyed it!
I’ll stop talking about soup now, though. 500 words is plenty of words about soup, right? Seriously, though, if y’all have soup recipes you love, I would love to get links in the comments! We’re gonna be eating them for a while to make the roommate’s life easier!
In other news, today is my first wedding anniversary! I cannot believe it’s been a whole year already, but it also feels like we’ve been together forever. (We basically have, lol) I’m really glad I get to have such a steady partner in my life, even though we don’t see eye to eye on a few things. I’m looking forward to the next year already!
Last but not least, if you have read any of my books under either name, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review on Amazon. Even if it’s only a line or two! It really helps me to be able to do more promotions and get my books in front of other readers.
As always, I hope that you are happy and healthy, as much as you can be in these times. My US readers, I am begging you to vote early. Vote the Orange Ooze out of office and take as many of his cronies in your area out while you’re at it. Please.
