Books, Edits, and New Stories

Today brings an absolute bounty of new books from some of my favorite authors!

Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews

First up, happy pub day to Ilona Andrews for Ruby Fever! I’ve been in a horrible reading slump for months, but this book smashed through it. It’s so good! Catalina and Alessandro are perfect for each other and this book is an excellent end to their trilogy. It’s intense, y’all, so block off time to read it straight through. You’ll thank me later! :)

I’m friends with Ilona and Gordon, so I’m biased, but it’s an objectively fantastic book (and series!), and it got a starred review from Kirkus, so I’m not the only one who thinks so!

Two more books out today that I’m excited to read: To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins (two words: Grifter. Heroine.) and Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean.

I told you today was a book extravaganza! :)

I finished edits on Honor and Shadows, the HTS prequel novelette. The story didn’t change too much, but the word count grew from 10k to nearly 14k because I added a couple of new scenes. It’s off for copyedits, and I haven’t received edits on Capture the Sun yet (but I have seen an early draft of the cover and it’s 😍!), so that means I get to work on something new.

I sent my fantasy romance beginning to my agent, and she enjoyed it and told me to keep going, so I started working on that. It’s (very loosely) inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and I’m having an absolute blast so far.

I wrote 1500 words yesterday, which is a lot for me, and it was joy from start to finish. Earlier this year, I was skating on the edge of burnout, so it’s nice to work on something with no expectations and no deadline. I don’t know if this will end up with a traditional publisher or not, we’ll just see how things go, but I’m hoping to maybe have it written by the end of the year.

Maybe. I’m not going to push myself quite as hard this time around, and I still have edits/copyedits/etc for CTS, plus the holidays, so it might push into early next year.

I’m trying to be okay with that. We’ll see how that goes, too. 😂

In less good news, I heard from my publisher that they will not be printing physical Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Capture the Sun. (Note: This is for the early reviewer copies only, and does NOT affect the final copies. The book will still be available in print.) There will be e-ARCs, and they are going to try to get me a few bound copies for my standard ARC giveaway, but if you are a reviewer who is used to getting a physical ARC, that won’t be happening this time. Printing and paper costs are through the roof, so they had to make cuts, and unfortunately, CTS was cut.

But since I don’t want to end on a sad note, here’s a picture of my first attempt at Japanese Milk Bread (recipe from King Arthur). It’s a little lopsided because I didn’t exactly divide the dough evenly, but it tastes delicious!

An uneven loaf of Japanese milk bread on a wire rack.

Making it was fussier than my standard sourdough, so it won’t be an all-the-time bread, but it is beautifully soft.

And since I bought real milk for the bread (we usually drink non-dairy milks), I also made the soft cinnamon roll recipe, and that one is a definite win! I’m convinced that coffee and a cinnamon roll is the breakfast of champions. :)

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

8 thoughts on “Books, Edits, and New Stories”

  1. No new recipes lately since it’s been too hot for baking.

    If you like the Mercy Thompson series, Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs is also out along with the other two books mentioned. I haven’t started reading Soul Taken yet. I’m recovering from being at a wonderful concert last night.

    Ruby Fever is awesome! I was able to get a copy of the book last weekend and read it through in two days.

  2. Yay! Already reading Ruby Fever and just finished the latest in the ‘Devil’ series from Kit Rocha (per your recommendation) – can’t wait to read your new books too. I was in a horrible reading slump recently so I feel your pain. These new releases have been a great way to stay out of another slump. I noticed that T.A. White (another recommendation from you) is coming out with another Firebird book soon too. Yay!! Thank you again for all of your terrific recommendations!

  3. Finished my second read of Dance with the Devil just in time to pick up Soul Taken and Ruby Fever last night (ebooks drop at 9pm PT). Starting second read of Ruby Fever- slowly, this time.

    Greatly intrigued by Honor and Shadows, and of course looking forward to Capture the Sun.

    For recipes, haven’t tried any new ones, but I hit upon the genius idea of actually taking notes on what I tweak in my fave recipes and what the results are. Crazy, I know. I did my semiannual paella (July for my birthday, then at Christmas) with detailed notes, and I’ve been trying to get chai right.

    That milk bread looks really nice, though, so I might try that!

    1. It took me *so long* to remember to write down what I tweaked in recipes, especially things I only make once a year. Every year was a new (or repeated? who knew!) experiment until I started writing it down. 😂

      1. I’m embarrassed to say that it took me so long to think of writing them down. Like, I’ve been making paella for over a decade. I would always think “oh I have to remember that next year” and trust that I would. And I’m a software engineering manager, I write specs and docs for a living! 😂 Anyway now I have precise notes for next time.

  4. I immediately read Ilona Andrews of course. So did Patricia Briggs! I did that one as well obviously. I didn’t know Sarah McLean had one! I’ll have to check my library. Excited to hear that CtS is underway.

    I actually bought the same Émile Henry bread pan that you recommended a while back. I absolutely love it. We make sourdough bread about twice a week so it’s very lovely to have.
    Question: Do you put your lid into the dishwasher? I’ve only been brave enough to put the base into the dishwasher so far despite some official literature stating the lid should be safe enough. I’m soliciting opinions here.

    1. I haven’t put any of it in the dishwasher. 🙈 I know it says you can, but I usually hand-wash my other nice pans, so I just do the same with it. But it’s good to know that you’ve been successful with the bottom piece, at least!

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