Coming in July 2014!

You can now pre-order TYING THE KNOT, the 9th and final volume of The Newport Ladies Book Club series.

Below is the description:

When Athena Di Jasper accepts dashing bookstore owner Grey Ronning’s proposal for marriage and they sit down to work out the details of the wedding, they discover it’s a daunting task. Most of Athena’s family lives in Greece, so Athena and Grey decide there’s only one thing they can do: take a cruise and have a destination wedding in Athens—and with their trademark show of support, the women of the Newport Ladies Book Club are going international with them.

The cruise turns out to be life changing for more than Athena and Grey. Aboard the ship, each book club lady unfolds a new chapter of her life. In this final installment of the beloved Newport Ladies Book Club series, discover what’s in store for Athena, Ruby, Ilana, Olivia, Victoria, Daisy, Paige, and Shannon. From mending marriages to overcoming addictions, the women of this remarkable group meet their triumphs and tragedies as they always have: together.

COVER REVEAL: Tying the Knot

Coming Summer 2014! 

Add to your Goodreads List!

We are excited to announce the 9th and final book in The Newport Ladies Book Club series. If you are amazed, we are just a little amazed as well. This book was written in answer to many of our readers who wanted more of Daisy's and Paige's stories, along with a few of the other ladies. Tying the Knot takes place after all of the other novels in the timeline. All eight of the women are in this novel, and the chapters have alternating points of view from each of the women. We wrote this book in round-robin style, which is why all of our names are on the cover. We spent a day plotting the story, then passed on the manuscript as we finished each chapter. The next author would read from the beginning, editing as she went, then write her next chapter, then pass it to the next person.

Cover Reveal: Ilana's Wish

We're only about eight weeks away from the release of Ilana's Wish, the final stand-alone novel in the series!

Here's the cover:

I can hardly believe we made it this far. It's been both a very long and very short journey, as so many things in life are. Most of all, this series has been a blessing for me.

After Ilana's Wish, only one more book awaits: Reunion, which, as we've mentioned before, was co-written by all four of us, round-robin style. It's been officially submitted, and if all goes as planned, readers will finally get to see what happens to all eight women and where they end up. We've had readers asking, especially those without everything wrapping up in a tidy bow at the end of their books like Paige and Daisy. I'm pleased with how Reunion turned out, and I think readers will be happy with it too

Remember, Victoria's Promise is in stores and available on Kindle now, and Ilana's Wish will be released in April!

Author Perks

It's super fun when the doorbell rings and I am still in black yoga pants and a t shirt with my hair pulled into a bedraggled sort of ponytail. Feet are bare. Teeth are not brushed. Yes, it is after ten in the morning. Thank you for asking. (And people think an author's life is so glamorous . . . if by glamorous you mean afraid to answer your own door, then yes, yes it is) It is that moment when I wonder, "Do I dare answer? What if it's important? What if my dog bit the pool guy while I wasn't paying attention? Or what if it's a random stranger selling girl scout cookies?"

At the thought of the cookies, I actually get up to answer the door. The pool guy can take care of himself. I have homeowner's insurance. The cookie salesman, however, waits for no one.Curses! It wasn't the cookie salesman. I swear the Girls Scouts of America do not try hard enough to search me out and sell me calories I don't need but desperately want. Happily, it wasn't the pool guy missing appendages either. What it was instead was a box on my doorstep. Our postwoman always rings the bell when she's leaving a package. She is terribly considerate that way.

Inside the box were my author copies of my latest book Victoria's Promise! HOORAY! The Newport Ladies Book Club series marches ever onward. I love this book. It's super fun, filled with heart and all those aching love-sicky feelings that a good romance should have. I dedicated it to my ever-inspiring editor, Kirk Shaw, who ditched me to go be a lawyer. He is so lucky I love him and haven't used the voodoo doll I bought of him when he told me he was leaving me. Actually, I am super proud of him for making good choices for his family and am so grateful that he helped me be the writer I am.

Victoria's Promise turned out really well. I am pleased with my finished written product--pleased with how well it tied into the series and how the other Newport ladies helped Victoria on her journey. Feel free to go see the nice reviews on Amazon. I love people who leave nice reviews. We won't talk about how I feel about those other people. Didn't their grandmothers teach them not to say anything when they didn't have anything nice to say? So sad they missed out on a valuable education. Actually, there's a lot to be learned in the not-so-nice reviews as well. Anyway, I digress.
The point is that I have my author copies and books in the mail is always super fun. Feel free to go buy a copy. I may not be Lord Byron, but I am infinitely more entertaining.

Author Copies! And as a fun aside, my book has a doppelganger. The first person to discover the title of my book's doppelganger will receive a prize. Hint . . . it has something to do with the red bike. Leave a comment with the title to win cool prize.

REUNION book is turned in!

After months of round-robin writing and editing, we have turned in the REUNION book to our publisher.

Reunion is the final installment of the Newport Ladies Book Club. After hearing from our readers and reviewers that they wanted more about Paige's story and Daisy's story, we decided to write a final volume.

We are hoping for a summer 2014 release. We'll keep you posted!

Cover Reveal! Victoria's Promise

 

A luxurious mansion. Thirty stunning bachelorettes. One very eligible bachelor. All of the ingredients are in place for a successful reality dating show, and behind the scenes, Tori Winters is set to pull the romantic strings as assistant director of Vows. Despite her distaste for public exhibitions of love—which spelled the death of her last relationship—Tori intends to give the public exactly what they want: scintillating footage of a bevy of beauties vying for the attention of Christopher Caine. But Chris, a consummate Southern gentleman and the star of Vows, seems almost too good to be true—and soon, even Tori finds herself falling under his spell. Despite legal obligations to avoid fraternizing with the talent, it’s clear her feelings are anything but unrequited. With the support of her friends in the Newport Ladies Book Club, Tori must make a life-altering decision: is she willing to jeopardize all she’s worked for in order to embrace her own fairy-tale ending?

Victoria's Promise releases January 15th! So be on the look out for it!

So What Exactly Is Happening with the 2nd Set, Anyway?

We have so many wonderful readers who have followed the women in the Newport Ladies Book Club on the first leg of their journeys, and now some readers are eagerly asking for clarification about what's happening with the second set because they don't want to miss a single book. (Hooray!)

For a brief period, several parts of the publishing equation were in flux, so we couldn't answer the questions with clarity. While we still don't have exact dates, we do have some solid information and thought it would be good to pass it along to our fans!

A brief refresher: 
The first set of Newport Ladies titles cover October through February, and feature Olivia, Daisy, Paige, and Athena. While they were published in that order, they are parallel stories, so they can be read in any order.

Those who have read them all will know how you'll see the other characters pop up in each book, along with elements of what happens in their stories, but you won't know the end of their story until you read their book, and you won't know what they're really thinking and feeling and all of that without reading their book.

Now for the second set! 
We get to focus on the other four ladies in the book club, and the timeline begins where the first set left off, beginning in February and covering the next four months. These are also parallel novels, but you'll find some differences from the last set.

For one thing, there is less cross-over in plots this time. Some of that was a result of logistics: the four of us weren't able to get together for planning and writing sessions quite as much as with the first set. This means that as before, each book stands alone; it may stand even more alone than the titles in the first set, if that makes sense.

Another change is in the covers, which have a slightly different feel to them, and which don't include the series banner. The titles are now more than the main character's name.

Here's the current lineup:

Shannon's Hope, by Josi S. Kilpack. Release date: July 2013
On sale now, in both paperback and e-book on Kindle or on the Deseret Book e-bookshelf!

Ruby's Secret, by Heather B. Moore. Release date: Fall 2013.

Victoria's Promise, by Julie Wright. Release date: Early 2014.

Ilana's Wish, by Annette Lyon. Release date: Spring 2014.


This series has been an absolute labor of love for us. We've all learned so much in the process, and the stories these books tell are ones dear to our hearts.

As always, thank you so much for your support of the series! We had a feeling that there were readers itching for women's fiction, and seeing the concept of the series turn into published books read by excited fans has been enormously fulfilling!