Writing: Monthly update for March 2021

Happy April!

Hello friends!

We sat on the porch and didn't freeze to death! Every year, it seems like spring will never come. It teases us with sunshine but the temps are still freezing. Or it gets warmer but is cloudy, windy AF, and raining. But finally, we have sunshine and warm! How's the weather where you are?

And of course, now that it's warm, I have one more inside thing I'd rather be doing. LOL If you've been wondering why I haven't made new stickers for Love on Luke and Main or Running Into Trouble, it's because my old Wacom drawing tablet stopped working several months ago.

But check it out! I have a new one now and I've already started drawing! If you remember, Haley gets drunk on margarita's and gets a little too handsy with Luke in his truck. That is the inspiration for their sticker! Isn't it cute?!

BULLET JOURNAL SPREADS!
This was a fun month to put together. Love the colors and the rain drop mood tracker should be cute when it's finished!

How was your March?

💕Anastasia

COVER REVEAL

LOVE ON BLAKE AND MAIN
A steamy workplace romance coming May 18, 2021

BLURB:
Blake
I can't promise I'll never get into another fight, but I can promise the only girl I'll ever fight for, from now on, is Parker Rose.

Parker
Hiring Blake Anderson to oversee my co-op to coffee shop renovation is the best—and easiest—decision I’ve ever made. But inviting him to rent my spare room might just be the worst.

He’s my contractor. I’m his client. We should not be living together. But when he gets kicked out of his friend’s place for fighting, I don’t take no for an answer. After all, Blake fought for me.

This arrangement has disaster written all over it.

We have nothing in common. Blake is a kind, professional Jekyll by day and a broody, violent Hyde by night. While I’m just a silly girl with a furry purse who is failing miserably at passing herself off as an entrepreneur.

There’s a good chance Blake will demolish my heart. But like he says, “It gets worse before it gets better.”

I hope he’s right.

PRE-ORDER today! - https://books2read.com/u/bojDK9
Add to your Goodreads TBR! - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56026080-love-on-blake-and-main

If you'd like to help me promote Blake's book before the release or apply for the chance to receive an ARC (advanced reader copy) of his book, please fill out this form!
Street team/ARC application - https://forms.gle/qnSdPyaJdQ9LJWTK6

Read in March:

OMG! I loved Tied! It was a slow burn between two tortured souls. I can't write stories like this but I LOVE reading them. All the angst and drama! Strongly recommend this and the first book, Torn.

Lucky Dog was a short, erotic read. Super steamy but light on story and character. 

What did you read in March? Find any new favorites?

Currently Reading:

Still trying to make it through A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. This book is SO long and chapters are even longer LOL (That's what it feels like.) Not that I'm not enjoying it. It's just every time I sit down to read it, I swear it gets longer.

Hitching the Cowboy has been fun, so far. Just haven't had time to read in a week. :(

Current Romance WIPs:

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Workplace romance) - Need to do a final edit and proofread before it's ready to publish! So excited for you to read this one. Blake and Parker were difficult characters to write. You'll see when you read it :P

Love on Oliver and Main (Love on Main, #3, Age Gap) - I'm well on my way with this one! Over 10K words written in March. These two are SO cute! It's been a while since I've had characters that don't hide from me and a story that begs to be written. Can't wait to get back to it tonight!

Lucky One (Heating Up the Holidays anthology St. Patrick's Day romance) - I haven't made much more progress on this. I did make this aesthetic though! She's a musician. He's a mechanic. There's a small age gap. Not more than about 6 years but she's only 18. Plus, it's brother's best friend. A bit of forbidden for ya!

Heat up your holidays! Join us for a year of steamy celebrations and go home on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with seven different, sexy book boyfriends.

This anthology of steamy contemporary stories is packed with your favorite tropes.
Age gap with older woman, younger man
Brother's best friend
Fake relationship
Roommates to lovers
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
And, of course, happily ever afters for all!

Heating Up the Holidays will be available for a limited time! Don't miss the party! Pre-order your ebook today! → https://books2read.com/u/49le1X

Add to your Goodreads TBR → https://bit.ly/3q5Ery5

Join our Street Team and apply to review and ARC! → https://forms.gle/kEyNMv7skEZQzEGs8

Follow the authors:
https://gemmasmithwrites.com/connect
www.adriannaschuh.com
https://www.theanastasiaaustin.com/newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/hattie.lou.90
https://heatherblairauthor.blog/
https://www.mindymckinley.com
https://www.instagram.com/authorbreehowland/

Publishing news:

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

Avaliable now! - https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE is an age gap romance about a girl just starting life as a sous chef after college and the early 40’s, stubborn, but super sexy potter she runs into at the supermarket. After offering to help him cook dinner for his teenage daughter, they try to keep their distance but no matter how hard they try, they just can’t stay away from each other.

BLURB:
Daniel
When I run into Riley, who does not look old enough to buy the wine in her grocery cart without a fake ID, the only thing I should exchange with her is an apology. After I tell her about the gumbo dinner I’m sure to ruin, we end up exchanging phone numbers. And boy, am I glad to have the hot little sous chef in my contact list when my roux goes up in smoke.

Riley expected my call but I didn’t expect it to go so well. To be taken in by her and not want to let her go.

She’s half my age. Better off being friends with my eighteen-year-old daughter or out hiking with her college-age friends than dating me. Riley has her whole life ahead of her. Between my age, my college football injury, and my addiction to my pottery wheel, I’d only hold her back.

I have to let her go. Don’t I?

This is a steamy, 18+ read with a happily ever after!


RUNNING INTO TROUBLE (universal link) -> https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z
Amazon.com US -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJHQ7J1

Add the book to your Goodreads TBR today!
Running Into Trouble ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57041459-running-into-trouble

Word Count:

Not as consistent as I'd like to be but I got a lot accomplished, so I can't be too upset about it.

Not as consistent as I'd like to be but I got a lot accomplished, so I can't be too upset about it.

Binge my books!

Running Into Trouble is a standalone age gap novella!
Link to Amazon listing

The first full novel in the LOVE ON MAIN series is Live!
"Small town matchmaking shenanigans, which cracked me up. Slow burn, but when these two finally give in...whew. A sweet epilogue and a hea. Next book please. #SubtleLikeAMackTruck" - BookSnobSue Review
Link to Amazon listing

Reunited is a standalone prequel novella to the Love on Main series!
Link to Amazon listing

Read the Fate series in this order!
Fake to Fate - Amazon Listing
Fighting Fate - Amazon listing
Facing Fate - Amazon listing
Forcing Fate - Amazon listing

Sharing is Caring

PROMO ENDS APRIL 19th

PROMOS END APRIL 11th

PROMO ENDS APRIL 30th

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

Join my MeWe group! ♥

Join my MeWe group! ♥

Writing: Monthly update for January 2021

Happy February

Hello friends!

It's my birthday month! I'll be celebrating 39 years on the 27th! Hopefully, if I'm allowed a cheat day on my birthday, I'll be celebrating with chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting and vanilla ice cream. I love mashing it all together and making chocolate cake ice cream! It's SO good!

How was your January?!
We went to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri as a sort of mini vacation. Stayed at the cutest little motel. But I think they sold my phone number. Ever since we got back, I get half a dozen or more spam calls a day. UGH!

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We finished watching How I Met Your Mother! I still hate the ending but I forgot how amazing the music in that show is. I've been listening through it while I write!

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Oh! And thanks to How I Met Your Mother and, apparently, every cooking channel on YouTube, I started hardcore craving spaghetti and meatballs.

We drastically changed our diet last summer though, cut out all simple sugars and simple carbs. Black bean spaghetti just wouldn't kick the craving. My sweet husband, who loves to cook, allowed us a cheat day to get it out of my system. Look at this beautiful plate of pasta! He's the freaking best!

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I put off creating my February bullet journal spread until the last minute. Still turned out pretty good, I think! For my mood tracker, I'll draw a new conversation heart every day and color it according to my mood. Forgot to add my key before taking the picture. WHOOPS!

Tell me, how was your February?

💕Anastasia

Read in January:

Totally meant to read more in January. Instead, I read one new book and reread a favorite. LOL Gravity was a good taboo menage with a HEA with one guy. 

Credence is as amazing as I remembered. ♥

What did you read in January? Find any new favorites?

Currently Reading:

These two are on my TBR for this month!

Current Romance WIPs:

191a77ee-a245-487e-b091-c37242e13024.png

Call of Booty (Saturday Morning Serial, #2) - I typed "The End" on this one! Still need to revise it but that shouldn't take more than a couple of days. It's a shorter story. Roughly 70 pages. More about it's release and cover reveal in the Publishing News section below! 

FYI, those blue triangles with the exclamation points in the picture? Those are the steamy scenes! The red flags are the scenes when the chemistry boils to the surface but they don't follow through.😘

About the story:
A Best Friend's Brother Romcom
(Other tropes you'll love: Friends to lovers, fake dating, roommates to lovers)
  
Josh is starting his dream job as a game developer but his apartment isn't going to be ready for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, he's staying with his sister and her best friend, Gwen. The girl he's had a crush on since they were kids. Gwen needs to get an overzealous co-worker off her back. When Josh volunteers to be her fake boyfriend at her company picnic, things get a little too real.

This story is connected to the Fate series! Katie, from Fighting Fate, is Josh's supervisor at Asteroid Studios. She and Isaac make an appearance.

This is a steamy, 18+ read with a happily ever after!

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Fixer-upper) - I've written more but somehow I'm still only about halfway through the first full draft of this one. Now that I'm done with CALL OF BOOTY, I can focus on this. Goal is to get it done before the end of February to gear up for an April release!

Publishing news:

LUKE AND HALEY ARE LIVE!

"This was a fantastic read that I enjoyed! It had a great balance of romance, hot sexy times, and swoon worthy moments. Simply put, this was just a great book to curl up with! I loved Luke and Haley and can't wait to see what's next for this series.

Definitely check out Luke and Main! You'll be glad you did! " - The Romance Reader Gal review (@the_romance_reader_gal on Instagram)

READ FOR F*R*E*E WITH Kindle Unlimited - https://books2read.com/u/bzg2Lj

BLURB:

There’s always been a place for her in the back of my mind. My first crush. The one woman no other will ever live up to, because no relationship will be as good as the one I lived out in my head, with her.

Haley Reed doesn't know I've been in love with her from the moment I saw her. I was the new kid. A lowly freshman that never had a chance at catching the attention of the senior head cheerleader. Now, the owner of the local cafe, my chances aren't much better with the billionaire’s ex-wife.

Having the odds against me is a good excuse not to go after her. However, our meddling friends disagree. Despite their best efforts to push us together, it’s not until we're alone, in the middle of nowhere, that everything changes.

Drunk and frisky, Haley confesses to having dirty dreams about me and tries to make one come true. I stop it before it goes too far but now that I know how she feels, I don’t know how much longer I can keep my distance.

It turns out, a little distance (and some flirty texting turned sexting) is what we needed to bring us together.

How ironic that a text message is all it takes to tear us apart.

This is a steamy, adult read. Contains swearing, some other woman drama but no cheating and a HEA with no cliffhanger! Read all the way to the end for a bonus scene that bridges Luke's book with Blake's!


LOVE ON LUKE AND MAIN (universal link) -> https://books2read.com/u/bzg2Lj
Amazon.com US -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RZFD36K

Add the series to your Goodreads TBR today!
Love on Luke and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/3m04Yvw
Love on Blake and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/33cq3LR
Love on Oliver and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/2UX3PJ7
Love on Apollo and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/2IWmgeS

Newsletter Exclusive Announcement:

The Saturday Morning Serial will return on Saturday, February 6th, 2021 with CALL OF BOOTY.

Check out that cover! I spent the better part of a day putting it together and am thrilled with how it turned out! I even made it my phone wallpaper 🤣

LAST CALL FOR RUNNING INTO TROUBLE
With the start of the new edition of the Saturday Morning Serial, comes the end of the last edition.

The download for RUNNING INTO TROUBLE will expire on Monday, March 1st, 2021. You have all of February to get it for F*R*E*E before I publish it on Amazon in March!

SIGN UP TODAY!

Word Count:

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My goal for 2021 is to be consistent. Starting with writing at least 500 words every day. I think I averaged that in January!

Binge my books!

The first full novel in the LOVE ON MAIN series is Live!
"Small town matchmaking shenanigans, which cracked me up. Slow burn, but when these two finally give in...whew. A sweet epilogue and a hea. Next book please. #SubtleLikeAMackTruck" - BookSnobSue Review
Link to Amazon listing

Reunited is a standalone prequel novella to the Love on Main series!
Link to Amazon listing

After you read Fake to Fate, download this box set and read the rest of the Fate series!
Link to box set

Sharing is Caring

PROMOS END FEBRUARY 28th

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

If you'd like to chat with me, please join my Facebook reader group! I would love to see you there♥

If you'd like to chat with me, please join my Facebook reader group! I would love to see you there♥

Writing: Monthly update for June 2020

Hello friends!

Well, June did not go as planned. It started out strong. Writing was going great and I was well on track to finishing Forcing Fate by the end of the month to get it out to beta readers. Then my computer crapped out on me. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve my files but I couldn't edit them without the risk of losing my progress since I still couldn't reliably save anything. So, I waited for my new computer to arrive.

It took a little over a week to get my new computer, a refurbished MacBook Air. That only gave me like 3 or 4 days at the end of the month to get anything done. So, I'm behind on my publishing schedule. BOO!!! :P

So far, July has been going well. (Knock on wood) With any luck I'll have a publishing announcement for you in August.

Thanks for sticking with me!
💕Anastasia

Read in June:

I read two books that were on my June TBR! Wrong and California Dreamin'.

Four of my five reads were age gap (no surprise there lol.) Wrong, California Dreamin', Forbidden, and Daddy Me. 

Two were novellas, California Dreamin' and Daddy Me.

One was a reverse harem and taboo, Forbidden.

On the Rocks was my favorite read. I think brothers books are going to be a new favorite trope of mine, as well. I love the family dynamic and can't wait to read about the other brothers!

What did you read in May? Find any new favorites?

July TBR:

Word Count:

Here is where you can see how well the month was going before my computer died. I did get back to it on the 27th. Hopefully, I can keep that up in July!

Here is where you can see how well the month was going before my computer died. I did get back to it on the 27th. Hopefully, I can keep that up in July!

Current Romance WIPs:

Forcing Fate - This is my priority. I'm getting SO close to the end. The plan is to have the beta reader copy ready to go some time next week. Then do another revision after I get their feedback. Then it's off to the ARC team for advanced reviews. At that time, you should also be able to preorder the ebook!

That preorder link will either be available in my August monthly update. Or you might be able to get a link to the preorder, and possibly even the paperback, earlier if you're a member of my Facebook reader group.

And now, without further ado... The cover reveal! 

I hope you're as excited as I am for Forcing Fate! Remember to add it to your Goodreads list.

I hope you're as excited as I am for Forcing Fate! Remember to add it to your Goodreads list.

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

Suddenly! A Cover Reveal!

Because I have zero chill and even less patience, I’m skipping the teasers and just letting you all see this beauty! The cover for my next release, Reunited! An all new stand alone coming in April 🥰🎉

Tropes you can look forward to:
• Friends to Lovers
• All grown up
• Light Fake engagement • Fling
• Unrequited Love
😘❤️

Fighting Fate Cover and Blurb Reveal!

This book has been a constant fight but I'm loving the characters and their story is super cute.

Revisions are coming along nicely. Slower than I'd like but nicely. lol

I'm not exactly sure when it will be up for pre-order but you can now add FIGHTING FATE to your Goodreads lists!

Without further ado, here's the cover and blurb for the second book in the FATE series, FIGHTING FATE!

Katie has everything planned out; school, career, social life. And she isn't going to let anything get in her way. Until she repeatedly crosses paths with poster-child frat boy, Isaac Johnson.She hesitates when all he wants is a hook up. She pushes …

Katie has everything planned out; school, career, social life. And she isn't going to let anything get in her way. Until she repeatedly crosses paths with poster-child frat boy, Isaac Johnson.

She hesitates when all he wants is a hook up. She pushes him away when he shows signs of wanting more. Then she's torn, when she finds him all alone and sick as a dog after his frat brothers abandon him for spring break.

Katie should leave. Stick to her plan. Finish the project that could make or break her college career.

But she can't leave him like this--to fend for himself when he can barely breathe--or ignore the connection building between them. The one she's not sure she can fight anymore.

Read Book 1, FAKE TO FATE, today on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.