Back to School!

Orientation

I'm going back to school this fall. My first official school event was orientation. About a dozen adult students and grad students gathered and listened to the Adult Ed people talk about schedules, dates, parking...  Travis headed the team.  He asked who was nervous...no one raised their hands, but I glanced around the room and a few people did seem to fall into that category.  He talked about making sure you got the best grades you could in every class.  Scholarships and Grad programs rely on it.  I've got to confess, I wasn't nervous.  You see, I'm in this weird position.  Most of the adult/grad students are working toward a specific degree with a specific goal in mind.  I have no goal.  I'm going back to school for fun and for personal growth.  And while I'd like to get good grades, I will confess, I'm sort of ambivalent about the idea of someone else judging what I learned and accomplished in a class. I've spent my entire adult life taking classes and learning new things.  From my work advising lactating moms, to learning sign language, to beer classes, herb classes, composting class, water conservation class, basketweaving classes...and oh yeah, writing workshops.  You've seen some of my eclectic learning reflected in my books.  I covered composting in Her Second-Chance Family, sign language in Do You Hear What I Hear?...

But here's the thing, none of those learning experiences came with grades. My kids have assured me that years of working at home in a fictional world has ruined me for the real world.  I'm my own boss. I create my work environment every day.  I create my coworkers...otherwise known as my characters.  I choose my projects, set my schedules and basically learn what I need (want) to learn for fun.  And I'll confess, even though I will be graded on this first ceramics class, I'm going in with that same sense of learning for the joy of it...for the glee of it if you will.

I plan to blog the experience, so keep an eye out for my first day of class...it's almost here!

Holly

You can also keep your eye out for my newest releases:

2017 Beach Reads

Can't Find NoBODY

Confessions of a Party Crasher

The Book

Not Precisely Pregnant

Happy Mother's Day!!

Tomorrow's Mother's Day...are you ready?

I am a mother and I am the mother of three daughters (and one son!!). And I'll confess, I love writing mother-daughter relationships in books (I love writing sons too...I don't want him to feel bad). I love exploring their relationships and how the relationship impacts a heroine's romantic relationship.

One of the most Odd Couple combo's I've written was in Confessions of a Party Crasher. The mother and daughter loved each other, but frequently didn't understand each other. Annabelle is larger than life and lives her life out loud. My heroine, Morgan wants nothing more than a 'normal' life. She's got plans and goals. They love each other, but look at life from different perspectives.

As Morgan comes home, her mother offers her some good advice...

I loved writing this mother-daughter pair. They've always loved each other, but they begin to develop a better understanding of each other.

I sometimes feel like my daughters' Annabelle, but thankfully they still hang out with me on purpose! We just got back from a weekend in NYC a bit back. We saw Hamilton and my pick this year for the Tony's...Dear Evan Hansen. Have you seen it??

Yes, you're welcome! Ben Platt was amazing! The entire cast was! Speaking of amazing, that whole weekend was just that. There's something so amazing when you're sitting at brunch with your daughters and realize you've raised your own best friends! Okay, back to Mother's Day...when you're done shopping for your mom (or if you're the mom in question), maybe you deserve a treat for yourself?? Check out Confessions of a Party Crasher!

"...a funny tale of falling in love when you least expect it, best friends, and off-beat mothers..." WWR

Happy Mother's Day to all your Moms and to your Moms! Holly

Beauty Break

A couple weeks ago, I had a running-around day.  I went to the nursing home, picked up a form and had to run it downtown... While I was there, I decided to give myself a beauty break.  Uh, no, I'm not talking about a day at the salon (pedicures are my idea of hell!). I'm talking about a visit to the Art Museum.  I went to the museum for that talk with Ohio artist, Susan Shie, a month or so ago.  She was amazing. I wanted to see the full Earth Stories exhibit.  Here are a few pics in no particular order...

 And here's Susan Shie's piece in the collection.  Uh, if you read my first Day of Beauty, you'll remember how much I like making myself part of the art (see my shadow?).

After the visit, I went next door to Glass Growers.  If you've never been...go.  I drop in every time I'm down that way because they always have something new and cool.  I've mentioned before that I love to collect Erie stuff.  We have a number of prints.  Well, I bought a cool picture of Beach 10 on Presque Isle by Jason Floyd Lewis.  (You can see my reflection in it as well! LOL)

If you're one of my Erie friends, head down to the Art Museum and then stop in and check out Glass Growers.

This isn't a paid endorsement...I just love my city! If you're not in the area, I hope you enjoy visiting through my books and blog.  And if you're in the area, drop in for a real visit!!

Holly

Confessions of a Party Crasher

Everything But a Groom

PS.
Confessions of a Party Crasher is live on Amazon for pre-order and if you haven't heard, the Everything But... series is going to audio and there are sample's up, and the entire series is on sale this month in advance of the audio releases!

In time for Valentine's!

Not Precisely Pregnant is this month's release! I pitched this romantic comedy to my editor as Shrek meets Pollyanna!  It features two reporters...one who covers hard hitting news stories and one whose reports use the tagline Nice News Matters. To be honest, I do love nice news and think the world could use more of it! Here's the blurb: Nice News matters to reporter Paige Montgomery, aka Pollyanna Paige, reports on news that makes you smile. When she finds herself (not precisely) pregnant and in trouble, she’s rescued by an unlikely savior...cynical newsman, Riley Calhoon. Paige is intrigued with this unprecedented heroic streak, but Riley prefers to keep that particular scoop to himself. Riley might doubt Paige’s reporter’s instincts, but she’s following his story with a tenacity that even he can admire. The problem is, whenever she’s around he finds himself being assaulted by hockey pucks, killer cats and even a run-away trucks. He either has a chronic case of heartburn… or maybe it’s love? Reviews: "...guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment, and more laughs than should be legal." ~Kelley A. Hartsell, Love Romances Reviews "Holly Jacobs returns with NOT PRECISELY PREGNANT, a wry, warm-hearted screwball comedy featuring an appealing pair of lovers...and an attack cat." ~Romantic Times "Ms. Jacobs has done it again!...Her books are lighthearted joy to read..." ~Carol Carter, Reviewer "In "Not Precisely Pregnant", Holly Jacobs spins a marvelously funny tale about love, ratings, sex and stubbornness." ~Women on Writing "I picked up this book with the intention of reading the first couple of pages to see what it was about. I didn't have time right then to read it. Well, it got read sooner than I thought! Ms. Jacobs grabbed my attention and kept me reading. " ~Lydia Funneman, Writers Unlimited

Other News: Honor Roll: I'm so excited to announce that I'm on Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll now!!  And I want to thank you all...I'm there because of all your support and all the books you've bought,  Thank you! Subscriber Only Giveaway:  I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed the giveaway last month!!  I wanted to do something for all my subscribers this month, not just a lucky few.  So, I've put up a short story that only you can read for free before it goes up for the general public.  It all started with a book.  I went to a house sale and found a copy of Gene Stratton-Porter's The Harvester.  I've always loved her books and had never read this one.  Imagine my excitement!!  I picked it up, took it home and found...   I know...sad, wasn't it?  But, this maimed book did inspire a story.  Newsletter subscribers read it for free last week. It will be up this week for readers on Kindle, Kobo and Nook. So what's up next?  Confessions of a Party Crasher.  It's an older book that Harlequin bought for a line that was in its death throes before Party Crasher ever went on sale.  So it made it to very few bookstores, which means it's probably new to you.  So let's call it a new old book! LOL  More on that soon! Hope you're having a great start of the year!  And hoping 2017 is one of your best years yet! Have a wonderful Valentine's!! Holly

Recent Releases:

Valentine's...It's Not Just for Sweethearts!

February is a big month for love. For me, that love doesn’t just come in the form of Valentine’s Day and celebrating with my husband. There are so many kinds of love, and though I write romance, I try to honor love in all its forms in my books.

My new release this month is, Everything But a Mother. The Everything But... series started with a trilogy (Everything But a Groom, Everything But a Bride, Everything But a Wedding) in which a Hungarian grandmother, Nana Vancy, accidently cursed her family to bad weddings and spends three books breaking the curse. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how she’d break the curse at the beginning...or even while I was writing the middle book. In fact, I reached the last book and started feeling a bit panicked because she needed to break the curse, but I had no clue how. In the end, Nana Vancy and her friends figured it out for me. Phew!

The curse was broken, and I thought the series was over. But it turned out readers really

loved my tiny Hungarian dynamo and wanted more of Nana Vancy and the Salo family. And so a new trilogy was born. Nana Vancy, and her two best friends, The Silver Bells, try their hand at matchmaking in Everything But a Christmas Eve. Love did find a way, but not without a bit of chaos. This second book of that trilogy, Everything But a Mother, opens on Valentine’s Day after the hero and heroine of EBA Christmas Eve’s wedding. The trio of older ladies are looking for two new victims...er, friends to match up. Add a nursing home a daycare center, a little girl who feels she’s been abandoned by her mother, a professor who’s trying to parent as best as he can and a daycare teacher who finds three older ladies trying to fix her up and chaos ensues...but so does love! (And I should mention adding in one small dog with a big name, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who is based on my daughter's dog!) This book isn’t just a love story between Henry and Heather, it’s the story of the love of a family and the love of friends. Nana Vancy and her two friends have a friendship that’s been years in the making. I’ll confess, I have no worries about getting old...not if my friends make that journey to old age with me! That love of friends leads me to my next release...

But before we talk about the book, let me explain that I met Pam Hanson (who writes with her mother as Jennifer Drew) at my very first Romance Writers of America Conference. I knew her from online, and I was rooming next door to her at the conference. The night of the big RITA Award ceremony, I was in my room getting ready and singing Aida (the musical, not the opera...me singing the musical was bad enough, Heather Headley, I’m not!) and it turns out I was singing it loud enough that Pam heard me. In her room. Through the wall.

Sooooo embarrassing. She assured me that I sounded wonderful. Note to all you not so wonderful, but enthusiastic singers...you always sound better if people are listening through a wall.

Pam's one of my best friends. We’ve never lived in the same state, much less the same city, but I talk to her almost daily. A couple years after Aida-Through-the-Wall, Harlequin Duets asked me to write a book for their 100th Duet. They told me that the other author was...Pam and her mom (aka Jennifer Drew)! I had so much fun working on tying together the 100th anniversary themed stories and working with them (I've offered to steal Pam's mom, Barbara Andrews). And I’m thrilled that The 100-Year Itch is finally being released as an eBook this month. I’m also thrilled that after all these years, Pam is still one of my best friends. We’re talking about taking a girls’ trip next year. We went looking for a city somewhere between our homes and have settled on Chicago. Yes, the windy city better watch out when the two of us blow into town. It may never be the same. LOL Speaking of blowing into town... (another good segue!)

Finally, Harlequin is also rereleasing Confessions of a Party Crasher as an eBook. My heroine in this book had built a perfect life. She had everything planned. Everything was on track. Then her world turned upside down and she ended up back in Pittsburgh, PA...with her mother.

Yes, this is a romance, but there’s another kind of love in this book...the love of the heroine and her mother.

I grew up with brothers and mainly babysat boys. After one horrendous babysitting job (3 girls, an overflowing toilet, the cops coming about a complaint about the family dog and the whining...lots of whining) I gave up babysitting girls and stuck to babysitting boys. I understood boys. Girls...they mystified as much as they whined. Of course, I went on to have three girls and one boy, and while there was some whining I’ve discovered that girls are fantastic. My three daughters are not just my kids...they’re friends. They’re people I truly love spending time with. (Now for the sake of not playing favoritism, I will confess, I also love my son, and love spending time with him, too!) Anyway, Confessions of a Party Crasher, isn’t just a romance, it’s a story about that love between a mother and daughter. About knowing you can always count on your mom...to be there when you need her, and to drive you crazy in turn! But to always, always love you! I work to strike that balance of love, crazy and counting-on with my daughters (and son)!

Valentine’s Day...it’s not just for sweethearts. It’s for friends. It’s for crazy grandmothers. It’s for mothers. It's for kids. And it’s absolutely for romance novels!!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

Holly