December 31, 2019

A look back at 2019...

The end of 2019 marks the end of an incredible decade for me! 

 

Ten years ago, I was a college student dreaming of becoming an author, hoping to land some sort of job in publishing after graduation, and unsure of my place in the world. Flash forward to now, and I'm a full-time author with 20 novels and 6 novellas under my belt. My books have been reviewed by USA Today and Publishers Weekly, featured on a B&N end cap, and turned into audiobooks. One was selected as a Top Kindle Book of its year by Amazon, and one is currently being translated into a foreign language. I've sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and have interacted with so many amazing readers. Not to mention I got married to the love of my life, we bought our first home, and we became doggie parents. I truly feel so blessed! 

It's been such a wonderful, tiring, crazy, fulfilling, and unbelievable ride. I can't thank you all enough for coming along with me :) I wouldn't be here without you!

This past decade has been unreal, and 2019 was the perfect way to close it out. Here's my Instagram Top Nine for the year--I'm so happy to see so much love for The Raven and the Dove on there!


Without further ado, here are...

My Top Five Author Moments of 2019!

1) Finishing my To Catch a Thief romantic comedy series!


I launched this series in 2018 with the first book, Hot Pursuit, and in 2019 I published the final two books in the series, Stolen Goods and Off the Grid! I'm so pleased with the wonderful reviews all these books have received :) Romantic suspense was a new genre for me, and I had so much fun crafting these quirky tales filled with a little baking, a little thieving, a little mayhem, and a lot of love!

2) Finishing my Once Upon a Curse series and publishing them in audio!


Okay, okay...the end of this series was a longgggg time comingI know! Gathering Frost went on sale back in 2015, then Withering Rose in 2016, and then I left you all with a cliffhanger until this year. BUT I'm happy I waited! Instead of rushing, I let my inspiration guide me and I was able to finish these stories the way they deserved to be finished, and now these fairy tale retellings have an extremely special place in my heart.

3) Working on multi-author anthology and contributing to the Kingdom of Sand and Wishes boxed set!


I'm an introvert by nature, so it's very easy for me to sit in my home office all day, interact with zero people, and focus on my writing. However, it's been a goal of mine for a few years now to branch out of my comfort zone. When the opportunity rose to join this box set, I pounced! Working with my fellow authors was a fabulous experience, and I would love to do something like this again in the future!

4) Selling my first foreign translation rights to an international publishing house!

This is something I am SO SO SO excited about! I haven't mentioned it very much because I still sort of don't believe it's real, BUT I sold the foreign translation rights to one of my books to Eksmo Publishing in Russia. They're going to translate the book and sell it overseas...AHH! How cool is that?! I don't want to say anything more until I'm holding the book in my hands, but I had to share a little teaser :) I'm currently in talks with a few more international publishers, so hopefully this is just the beginning!

5) Revealing the cover for The Raven and the Dove!


The Instagram cover reveal for The Raven and the Dove is probably my favorite cover reveal ever! The response to the gorgeous art and the book itself were so incredible, I still get overwhelmed just thinking about it! I truly can't wait to share this world and these characters with you in 2020. The story came straight from my heart, it's my most ambitious fantasy series yet, and I think you will all just love it.

And those are my top five moments of the year! :) Like I said, 2019 was a great one!

Since I'm a reader first and a writer second, I also want to include...

My Top Five Reads of 2019!

1) The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller


My dad recommended this to me ages ago, and I finally got around to reading it this year. All I want to know is...why did I wait so long?! This book is phenomenal! I love ancient mythology, and this book did a better job than any other I've read of bringing the old legends to life. Even though I knew how the story ends, I was breathless in anticipation, hoping somehow the tragedy would be rewritten. I can't recommend this enough!

2) The Wicked King by Holly Black


I enjoyed The Cruel Prince...I LOVED The Wicked King! Wow. This was one of those stay up until 4am sort of reads. I couldn't put it down! Jude and Cardan had me utterly engrossed. Their characters and the whole world of faerie were phenomenal!

3) Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor


Honestly, Laini Taylor could write a grocery list and it would probably be one of my favorite reads of the year. She is an unbelievable writer. I adore everything she's ever written, and this was no different! If you've never read anything of hers, drop what you're doing and go pick up one of her books! You'll thank me later :)

4) Whatever You Do, Don't Run by Peter Allison


I went on safari with my family this year, and this was the perfect book to read before the trip! Peter Allison worked at one of the camps where we stayed, so reading these stories and then seeing the animals/places in real life was a wonderful experience! If you've ever been curious about safaris, I highly recommend this book. It's entertaining, educational, and guaranteed to make you smile.



This is another book that's been on my TBR for a while, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up this year! The old cover really didn't interest me, but when the publisher repackaged it with this amazing art, I had to grab a copy immediately. I'm so glad I did! I'm a total Simon Snow fan and I can't wait to read the second book in the series!

And that's all for 2019!

Happy new year!! See you all in 2020!



No comments:

Post a Comment