“You want somethin’ to drink?” Crawford asked, walking around behind the bar. “Uhh, sure.” Keane took a seat on a nearby barstool. “A water please.” Crawford gave him an unimpressed look but pulled out a glass and filled it, silently sliding it across the scuffed wood. “Thanks.” Keane took a sip. “So, um, how’s the bar business?” “Pretty good so far.” Keane sighed internally. Aaand that seemed to be the end of that conversation. “The team’s doing good,” he blurted out, try

This week I made some tough choices AND had some good things happen, so let’s get into it! Migraines have been … not great and I made the incredibly tough decision to drop out of Hockey Romance Night with the Grand Rapids Griffins. That has nothing to do with the event or the organizers, they are wonderful! It’s simply that I don’t physically feel up to it. Because the migraines have been so debilitating for the past few months, I haven’t been able to adequately prepare for

Once again, life has been a little bonkers (just typed binkers, which made me giggle for some reason). There are still some migraines happening and I can’t WAIT until my appointment later this month. My keyboard randomly decided it no longer needed to work, so I had to wait for a new one to arrive. Last week, my PA, Kim, and the people in her household all had Covid, so Kim & I threw in the towel and said, “fuck it, we’re doing the bare minimum”. Usually that includes the new

Eee! I am so excited! I KNOW how much you all loved Tanner & Leif and how much you love the recordings James Edward Jones does. He did a fabulous recording Game Misconduct and I really, really think you’re going to love hearing it in audio. If you haven’t started the audio for the series, now is a great time to do it as the series is now complete in audio (minus the extra Christmas at O’Neill’s novella coming in December). I wish I had something more clever to say about i

I wish I could tell you that life has totally calmed down but, alas, it has not. You probably guess that when you didn’t get a message from me last week. I’ve had a few migraines (boo!) and my mom had to go to the emergency room via an ambulance after passing out and falling. She wasn’t hurt but given her age, they had to be thoroughly checked out to be sure it wasn’t a heart attack or stroke. She came home the next day but it took about a week to figure out the diagnosis. It

As soon as I finish writing Christmas at O’Neill’s, I’ll be diving into The Neutral Zone Series! It’ll be a six-book series featuring the New York Rockets. The first book will be called Game Delay and features Nicholas (Nicky) Calhoun and Beauregard (Mac) Major McCann III. Nicky, a (semi) closeted gay man, is captain of the NY Rockets. Following a terrible concussion, he struggles with persistent post-concussion symptoms. When he returns from a prolonged absence, he realizes

Pretty soon after I started writing the Scoring Chances series I got a vague idea for a Christmas story set at O’Neill’s Pub. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to work it into my schedule last year. When I looked at the second half of this year though, I realized it would fit perfectly! It’ll be a cozy holiday novella set in the pub featuring a hockey player and cute but nerdy accountant who knows nothing about hockey. When O’Neill’s Pub owner Liam retires and sells the place to

I’m alive! Still battling periodic migraine attacks as the weather shifts back and forth but this week was much better than last week. I’ve been heavily prioritizing rest and gentle exercise. I got a super cute puzzle that is the front of a flower shop! The name of the shop is Wonder & Bloom, which of course reminded me of Seb’s shop, Twig & Bloom in Cheap Shot. I couldn’t resist buying the puzzle when I spotted it in Home Goods a few week ago. It’s only 500 pieces (about h

I hope you love the illustration that Colleen did for Luke. We originally had a different pose picked out but just before she started working on it, it hit me that Luke needed to be fighting! I asked her if she could do that and she said she absolutely could. I LOVE the way it turned out and I think she really nailed Luke’s look and personality. The gloves on the ice are the perfect touch. We are taking pre-orders for the gorgeous special illustrated editions of Cheap Shot

It’s officially August! If you read last week’s newsletter you know that there was a plumbing disaster. It has now been fixed knocks on wood, the bathroom’s clean again, and I was even able to take a nice relaxing candlelit bath in there the other night. Things did NOT go as smoothly when it comes to the cover image, so check out yesterday’s post for more on that. The important thing is, Game Misconduct is live and you can read the book readers are calling a “definite must-r

Can you believe it’s August?? My brain is still somewhere back in May … The good news is that my foot is looking MUCH better. It’s been a little over two weeks since I slipped and fell on the stairs. I am so grateful that it wasn’t anything more serious than a soft tissue injury because the swelling has all gone down and the wildly colored bruises are gone. It just looks like my normal foot now! The bad news is that there’s been a plumbing disaster. There’s currently a hole

Although I was very much looking forward to resting and recharging at the cottage last week, that was cut very short by the wildfires (see yesterday's post for details on that). Climate change is impacting us all and it’s very worrisome to imagine how much worse it will get in the future. I tried to rest and recharge at home the best I could, but I am still teetering on the edge of burnout and am not quite sure how I’m going to deal with that. Given the state of the world, i

I am currently writing this almost a week ahead, because by the time you get this, I will be at the cottage! Not that cottage, but I am spending the week at my best friend’s family cottage with her, her kids, and her parents. It’s an annual tradition and I love it so much. It’s supposed to be HOT (hitting 100°F!) by mid-week and I am planning to pretty much roll out of bed and into the lake. As someone who loves the water and grew up on a lake, spending a huge amount of time

As always, James did an incredible job recording Made to Order. He brought Donovan and Tyler to life in only the way he can. The tender scenes made me cry and OMG the spicy scenes are just 🔥. Absolute fire. If you haven’t started the series yet, now is a great time to do that.

I survived the gauntlet of four days of extremely high heat and thunderstorms and came out alive! I even felt up to going to a 4th of July party at a friend’s house (even though I did not feel like celebrating where this country is currently at) and had a nice time. I got to play with a cute doggo, eat some delicious food, chat with friends, and play games. This week I’ve been putting the finishing touches on Game Misconduct and it’ll be off to edits while I am up north hang

Colleen did a beautiful job with the illustrations for Graham and I really am delighted with the way the Delayed Penalty cover turned out. I also had a blast creating the merch and couldn’t resist making a little backwards cap, movie popcorn, and eggplant sticker with quotes from the book! The hoodies turned out really cute too and are slightly different styles, because the players have one style and the people who work for the team have another. We’re taking pre-orders for D

I had a lovely time last week. I got a haircut, walked along the river, then went to the farmer’s market. I came home with black raspberries, asparagus, a little ceramic container, dill Havarti cheese, blue cheese stuff olives, and raspberry & vanilla macarons. I chatted with a few lovely people, enjoyed some dogs, then took myself out to dinner. It was exactly what I needed! This week has been a challenge. Michigan is in the midst of a heatwave and we have four days of storm

I hope you enjoy the illustrations that Colleen did for Mickey & Rafe. I think she nailed their expressions perfectly. Rafe looks like a big ol himbo and Mickey looks focused (grumpy) on the ice. I hope you enjoy the gorgeous special edition paperback of Slew Foot. ​We are taking pre-orders for Slew Foot now and signed paperbacks will begin shipping August 25th. I also designed some fun merch for Mouse and Turtle. It’s a toss up between my favorite sticker but the Level 4 B

Hockey season is officially over with the Hurricane’s Stanley Cup win. I don’t know if any of you are Vegas Golden Knight fans but I think we can all agree that seeing Carter Hart fall apart at the end was very satisfying after the league worked so hard to get a horrible person back on the ice. I wasn’t really rooting for Carolina either but I DID root for Seth Jarvis. He’s an absolute ball of chaos with a delightful friend group and although he wasn’t who I pictured when I c

As much as I loved the illustrations Colleen O'Malley did for Connor and Jesse on the Goaltender Interference cover, I think Gavin’s illustration might be one of my favorites. He looks exactly like I pictured him. Every inch the stressed-out Boston Harriers general manager! I did not have Colleen do an illustration of Dakota so we could prioritize getting these paperbacks done. I am hopeful that once we wrap up the paperbacks, I can have her do illustrations for the other non