Happy Valentine's!! I've got a gift for you...

Happy Valentine's!  I hope tomorrow is a wonderful day for you.  I've got a houseful here, so it's bound to be chaos...but a good chaos!

 Once Upon a Valentine's is the perfect book to talk about on the day before Valentine's!  This is the third and final book in my PTA Mom series.  If you missed they other two, you can find them here!   This is Carly's story.  She's my accidental arsonist.  Yes, that's a thing.  And when she's partnered with an Erie cop for her community service, Sparks Fly. (I know, I know, that was bad, but I just couldn't help myself!)  

What are people saying?   

"An overcommitted and lovable but prickly heroine and a no-nonsense hero spar brilliantly in this sassy, tender, sometimes hilarious romance set in Jacobs's hometown of Erie, PA. Another winner from the author of Once Upon a Christmas." ~Library Journal  

"After Carly burns a couch -- and the neighbor's shed -- she's court-sentenced to help steamy lawman Chuck teach fire safety classes in the schools. As things heat up with Chuck, Carly struggles to balance her responsibilities: her kids, her last semester of nursing classes and her PTA seat. And when Chuck isn't satisfied with keeping things casual, Carly gets in way over her head! Jacobs reminds readers that not having time to fall in love won't keep it from happening." ~Romantic Times BookClub    

In other news,  I've started my second Ceramics class. Keep an eye out for more My Novel Freshman Experience posts and pictures!  And keep an eye on future newsletters...I have some fun giveaways and plans for the year!  I was in the studio working a few weeks back, carving some clay spoons and had an idea for a short story.  As my Valentine's gift to you all...it's free this week.  (Those are my spoons on the cover.)  You can grab a copy here...SPOONS.

I posted my 'gift' on FB yesterday and a friend said that giving spoons on Valentine's was a tradition.  I found it on Huffington Post...
"One traditional romantic Welsh gift is a love spoon. As early as the 17th century, Welsh men carved intricate wooden spoons as a token of affection for the women they loved. Patterns and symbols were carved into these love spoons, each signifying a different meaning. A few examples include horseshoes, which stand for good luck; wheels, which symbolize support; and keys, which symbolize the keys to a man’s heart." You guessed it...I had geek glee all over the place!  

That's it!  Wishing you a wonderful Valentine's filled with spoons, good romance stories and lots and lots of love!

Holly

PS. Briar Hill Road is out in March.  I'm so in love with this cover!

Word of the Year

I know we're a few week into 2018 and most New Year Resolutions are already forgotten, but I think there's still time to...well, not make a resolution, I gave those up years ago.  Instead, I pick one word to build my year around.  I love that other people have joined me in the tradition.  I've used words like Stop, Moment, Awareness, Step, Optimism, Change, Stretch, Time, Hope...

I spent a great deal of time mulling 2018's word and finally landed on Chapter.  With that word I'm acknowledging that things changed last year and will continue to change next year.

In 2017 I lost my mother in July and losing her has left a hole in my life.  I went back to school in August and discovered so much glee in Ceramics and My Novel Freshman Experience.  My family is another year older and they're lives are changing and evolving, and I'll confess, I feel such a sense of pride when I look at what amazing people they all are.

So 2018 sees me in a new place...a new chapter if you will.  By choosing that as my word of the year, I'm reminding myself that even when change is hard, I should more than accept those changes, I should embrace them!  I should try and make this chapter the best one yet.

So even though we're a couple weeks into the year, I hope you reflect on what you want from 2018.  Do you have a word of the year?

Happy New Year, my friends.  I love stopping by this blog every month.  Thank you to everyone who's followed my pottery adventures and a huge thanks to everyone who's picked up a book, left a review and shared a bit glee with me!

Holly

PS The 3rd book in my PTA Mom trilogy it out...Once Upon a Valentine's 
and
Hold Her Heart is on sale for $.99.  It's one of my Romance+ stories...a story about woman's journey that includes romance, but romance isn't the reason for her journey, nor is it her final destination!

Come back to school this Thanksgiving with Once Upon a Thanksgiving!

In celebration of my new PTA Mom trilogy, 

let's play a Jeff Foxworthy-esque game:

You Might Be A PTA Mom if...

Here are a few to get you started...

10. ...when you appear in the teacher's workroom all the teachers rush over to see what you brought them to eat. ~Ellen Too

9. ...you know the location of every public washroom in town—field trips help that along. ~Kaelee

8. ...you've dressed up in a grass skirt, aloha shirt, and carried around a pink, plastic, blowup dolphin as volunteer reader for the annual Scholastic book fair . . . in a snowstorm. ~Shelley

7. ... your kids' friends call you "Mom." ~Patti

6. You might be a PTA mom if you can sing "Found a Peanut" in your sleep. ~Jody

5. ...you take every school fundraiser to work and then end up having to carry in 100 tubs of frozen cookie dough ~Tammy

4. ...you've popped so much popcorn to sell on Fridays that when you go to the grocery store later that day, you notice people around you sniffing the air and saying, "Do you smell popcorn?" ~JV

3. ...the students wave in the hall and say, "HI Laminating Lady!" rather than "Mrs. ____" ~Donna

2. ...you're so busy with PTA stuff that your husband has to dress out of the dryer in the mornings. ~JV

1. ... if you've ever forged another mom's name on a volunteer sheet. ~Ellen 

So add your own You Might Be a PTA Mom if, or share a story about your time as a PTA Mom! 

And Check Out the PTA Mom Trilogy...they're available for Kindle and as a paperback!  Once Upon a Thanksgiving is on sale today! 

Holly

PS Get out the popcorn...

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

Once Upon a Christmas

Coming in January, available for pre-order,
the final chapter in the PTA Mom Trilogy
Once Upon a Valentine's

Back to School with Holly Jacobs

I mentioned here before that I've gone back to school.  I'm taking a ceramics class at a local university.  When I go in to my 8 am class, I try to tone down my glee because the kids I'm in class with look more sleepy than gleeful.  I said something to that effect the other day and one of the girls laughed and said I didn't do a very good job at it.  Alas, I have leaky glee!  LOL

Really, no one should have this much fun for a grade!  I am not a pottery prodigy, but I'm learning a lot!

When you're done going back to school with me in the video, go back to school with my three PTA Moms,
Samantha in Once Upon a Thanksgiving,

Michelle in Once Upon a Christmas, 

and Carly in Once Upon a Valentine's!

I won't talk to you all over here until after Halloween! Hope you have a great one!  I talked about pottery in Just One Thing (even when I was writing it, I knew I wanted to take a ceramics class!) and my heroine, a potter, went to a Halloween party with crazy hair (which I sympathize with) round glasses and carrying a clay pot.  Yes, she was a HAIRY Potter!  (I know, I knew, leaky glee!)

Holly

Back to School

Like the post header says, I've gone back to school!!  I'm taking a pottery class at a local university and I'm having a blast!  I know, I'm not a pottery prodigy, but really I'm learning so much!  We had to make a kiln god...I went for a kiln goddess instead.  You can see she has the basic shape of a beehive kiln.  LOL The flowers in her hair came out a bit funky, but otherwise, I'm pleased with her.  And I've made cups.  One had to be asymmetrical...I went for a heart shape. I love the other two.

Not only am I going back to school, but my books are, too!  My PTA Mom trilogy comes out in time for the holiday season!  What happens when three PTA moms miss the first meeting and get stuck on the worst committee the organization has?  Did I mention they were three SINGLE moms?  Hm, so what happens as Samantha, Michelle and Carly plan the Thanksgiving Pageant, Christmas Fair and Valentine's Dance?  Laughter, Friendship...and of course, love.

This was such a fun series to write because frankly...I've been a PTA Mom.  I planned a Thanksgiving kids' zone for years.  And yes, it's a crazy life, but I wouldn't have done it any other way.  Neither would my three moms!  Hope you'll come join them this holiday season!

Holly

Once Upon a Thanksgiving

Once Upon a Christmas

Once Upon a Valentine's

Friday the 13th...

Friday the 13th...I've never had a problem with the day.  I've never noticed it was particularly more unlucky than any other day of the week.  I sort of feel bad for it.  I mean, in China the number 4 is unlucky, and I've never had a particular problem with fours, either.  

Luck.

When I sold my first book to Harlequin 9 years ago this March, I think there was an element of luck to it.  It landed on the right desk of the right editor on the right day.  But I also had been working hard towards that goal.  I'd written books, received rejections, taken the comments to heart, written more books, got more rejections...  I worked at it.  I didn't give up.  I stuck to it.  So, though there was an element of luck, there was a lot more to the sale.

Maybe we make our own luck?

So what about you?  Do you worry about Friday the 13th?  Do you believe in luck?

Holly

ONCE UPON A VALENTINE'S...on the shelves now!!!

PTA Mommisms

I have a new series starting in October at Harlequin American Romance. These are my first books for the line, and I have to confess, I'm quite excited. The research was...well, easy. You see, this American Dad trilogy centers around three PTA Moms who miss the first meeting of the year and get "volunteered" to head the Social Planning Committee. These three single moms all have enough on their plate, but the pitch in to plan the Thanksgiving Pageant, the Christmas Fair and the Valentine's Dance for the school.

What they find is not only true friendships, but love.

The great thing about this series is I've been talking to other PTA Moms, running a Jeff Foxworthy-esque contest, YOU MIGHT BE A PTA MOM IF____________. We'll be voting on the top ten this week. And I thought maybe you all might like to join in the discussion. Are you a PTA Mom? Have you ever volunteered? Any fun stories??

Holly

ONCE UPON A THANKSGIVING, 10/08

ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS, 12/08

ONCE UPON A VALENTINE'S, 2/09