Hello Sweeties!
This weekend is my 46th birthday. I’m having a nice dinner and cake with the family, but I wanted to celebrate with my readers because y’all are helping me live my dream. To say thank you, below is a freebie, a get-to-know-me section, and a Kickstarter I’m 100% behind.
BIRTHDAY FREEBIE
To say thank you for supporting my dream of being an author I want to give everyone a copy of the first book in my new series - Love In the Woods. The best way I can give you a free copy is through Book Funnel. (You have to give your email, but don’t worry, you won’t start getting duplicate emails from me.)
Feel free to share the link with your book besties, friends, and coworkers. Just not your enemies - if you hate them, I hate them. That’s how it works.
Get To Know Me
It has been a while since I did a get to know me post, and what better time than my birthday?
I am lucky enough to live in a house hidden in the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Every time I walk out the door is like walking into an enchanted forest from a story. I see everything from the chipmunk family that lives under the front porch to the armadillos, foxes, and deer that live in the woods around the house. Bears also use my sidewalk and driveway like their own personal highway through the undergrowth.
Hubby and I have been together sixteen years and have two beautiful children. Yes, he was my high school sweetheart, my first husband, and now my third and final husband. (He is why I will always believe in second chance romance stories - because I’m living mine.)
Mermaid (my daughter) is in middle school. Loves to play her flute, bake with me, read books past her bedtime, and tell jokes. My son Tank is 17 months old (do the math on that) and is a literal tank. He is the size of a three-year-old, climbs everything, and loves to study anything with wheels or gears he can get to.
We have 2 German shepherds and two cats who keep us on our toes. See if you can figure out who they are all named after: Beast, Dorian, Lucy, & Ranger
Some things that get in the way of me putting out as many books as I would like would be my disabilities - Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s, PCOS, and anxiety/depression - along with all the symptoms and associated problems that come with them. I don’t talk about them often, but I will cheer loud and proud for anyone who is also battling them.
I probably should explain the comma counter at the bottom of each of my posts … commas are my kryptonite. When I send my book to my editor she does one pass through for nothing but commas. I send her a 60k-word, novel with about thirty and she adds thousands of them. It’s to the point if I ever get a tattoo it will be a comma on the middle finger of my right hand. The soul purpose would be as a reminder to use the darn thing.
In the past I have written low spice open door romances, but that isn’t calling to me anymore. In the future my books will be ‘minty’. That means there will be tension, kissing, and all the feels, but when i comes time for the couples to get down to business the scene will fade to black. you will still get the claiming, just not the banging.
Want to know something I didn’t cover? Leave me a comment below and I’ll answer it. (Use your common sense. I won’t be sharing my bank pin, bra size, or anything I wouldn’t want to explain to Hubby.)
TK Eldridge Kickstarter
I’ve shared several free books from my book bestie TK Eldridge and judging by the number of downloads y’all love her brand of romantic suspense.
Well, she is hosting a Kickstarter for her books to be printed in hardback, with a limited number of signed foiled copies. If you have someone in your life who loves a good hardback check them out. They would make great shelf trophies, or gifts for Mothers/ Father’s day.
That’s it. Enjoy the book and make sure to find a slice of cake somewhere - if anyone dares ask tell them it’s your friend’s birthday and you are celebrating from a distance.
xx,
Shelly
PS: Mermaid suggested I sign off with xx (kiss kiss) so that is what I do.
Happy, happy birthday, my friend! 🍰🥂🥳
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! 🎉