Life and Book Updates on 2020 & 2021

This past week has been incredibly difficult.

Those of you who are members of my Facebook group might already know, but my babcia (grandmother) passed in Poland. She had worked a farm and a homestead her entire life, and had done it alone for over twenty years. She was strong, independent, and extremely stubborn (so now you know where I and the women in my family get it from). She was 91 and my last remaining grandparent. I couldn’t travel there (for various reasons), and didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

My friend Nicolette said these things happen in waves. I am sad to say that my husband’s great aunt (his grandfather’s sister) also passed this week at age 87. She was a very caring and generous woman, whose kindness I will never forget – when we were poor and had nearly nothing, she helped furnish our home and gave us many things we needed but couldn’t afford. Her heart was so big that despite having many other family members and being active in her community, she took extra care to check on us and make sure we were okay.

At this time, I am focusing on my family and not spending much time on social media (which is for the best, considering where I’m at emotionally right now). Prior to this, I’d made plans, but 2020 has a way of spitting in the face of plans, doesn’t it? I had pre-scheduled promotions for both Feast of the Mother with Nicolette Andrews and my Blade and Rose boxed set for this coming week, and unfortunately, the timing couldn’t be worse. I am grieving and I considered canceling it, but everything has already been paid for and pre-scheduled, and I am blessed to have both Charity Chimni and Lea Vickery, my assistants, working on my behalf. (So if you see posts and such, it is thanks to their hard work during this time.)

I have gotten some questions during this period, while I have been taking a social media break to focus on my family. That said, I don’t want to leave anyone hanging – I know it can be frustrating when timelines shift and you can’t easily find information. While Lea and Charity have been answering in my stead during this time, I wanted to provide some updates really quickly so you don’t have to feel left in the dark:

  • There are new preorders for Bright of the Moon (The Dark-Elves of Nightbloom #2), The Dragon King (Blade and Rose #5), and Crown to Ashes (The Dark-Elves of Nightbloom #3). You can preorder these if you want to help me – I am always grateful for it – or you can wait for the release email from me or Amazon. (Preordering does help books get “visibility” in the store, so more people learn about them, so it’s always a big help.) These are mostly posted to show readers I am working on them and they are going to be released, but Amazon doesn’t let me move release dates more than a month, so rescheduling requires me to cancel preorders and make new ones.
  • The preorder for Immortelle (Blade and Rose #6) is down for now. The book will still be released of course, but because I don’t have a firm release date and book five isn’t out yet, I’m waiting to set a new pre-order until I have a firmer date in mind (probably 3-12 months after book five).
  • Dark Lich Prince (Curse of the Fae Lord #1) has been moved one month later to January 2021. I still plan to serialize it in this newsletter after Bright of the Moon is released.
  • The preorder for Blooded (Court of Wolves #1) is down because I don’t have a firm release date. It’ll likely be around Immortelle‘s release date, as the two series are very closely tied.
  • The Sky Realm, whose cover I teased in my FB group about a year ago, is likely coming in 2022. (It was a close-up of a white-haired young woman.)
  • The Celestial War series, a romantic epic fantasy like Blade and Rose but based in Chinese mythology, is likely coming next summer. Nicolette Andrews and I are working out the details.
  • The super-secret fantasy romance series with Emma Hamm is in the works but with no firm release date right now.
  • My current order of projects is: Bright of the Moon (continue with beta and edits, then revisions, then ARC); Dark Lich Prince (finish drafting, then serialize, then beta and edits); The Dragon King (finish drafting).

I will be making this blog a regular thing, so if you want to stay updated, click to Follow.

2020 has been horrible in general, and it has been worse personally than I ever could have imagined, but the support of my author friends and readers and your comments and messages have been a bright spot in an otherwise dark and difficult time. Thank you for being kind, caring you.