On Writing: Series

It turns out that I've written a lot of series.  And most of them weren't intentional.

Yes, I'm an accidental series writer.

It all started with the first book I sold to Silhouette Romance.  Do You Hear What I Hear? was the story of a mother with a hearing impaired daughter.  I set it on Perry Square...a real area in Erie.  Only I added my own businesses to it (the real ones are lovely).  When I finished, I wondered what happened to everyone else on the Square and...well, I started thinking about a designer who needed legal help and a lawyer who needed a fiancé fast...and discovered A Day Late and a Bride Short.  Then...  Well, my Perry Square series ended up with eight books in it.  Erie even got their own royalty in that series. (I think my town has everything...except maybe royalty, so I gave us that! LOL)

That need to know what happens next...it's a writer's curse.  But it's a reader thing, too.  I can't tell you how many times a reader has asked for another book in a series.  More than that, specific character's stories.  It's one of the biggest compliments a writer can get.

I wrote Pip's story, Carry Her Heart, then I wrote another book, These Three Words, set in that same "world."  And then, in the middle of the book, I found Pip's daughter come into the chapel and cry and I realized that after I left Pip and Ned in their happily-ever-after, something happened.  I needed to know what...so I wrote Hold Her Heart.

I work to make every book can stand alone, but readers can frequently tell that there's another book in the series.  I love when someone discovers there are more books and feel glee. 

One of the biggest writing tools an author has is the question, What If?  Those two words have become every book I've written.  But in addition to that question, another questions that fuels my writing is What Next? That's the question that fuels my series.

Back to Pip...here's the thing, every book I write has held the promise of the happily-ever-after.  Even when something hard happens in their life.  I like to think in that way, my fiction represents real life.  Bad things happen...but we can find our way back to happy.

I think that's why I can move from Romantic Comedy to my more emotional Romance + stories, to Cozy Mysteries.  All of them answer that What If question and many answer What Next.  And every single one of them has a happily-ever-after.

Holly

PS I have a handy-dandy list of series in order on my website here Holly's Series.

PS It's a sales palooza week.  (Publishers just send me notices...I have no control most of the time and just like to pass them on.)

Hold Her Heart
Just One Thing
Everything But...series
Fairly Human

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!

Can't Find NoBODY

Happy New Years everyone...well, happy new year +11 days!!  I hope you had a lovely holiday, surrounded by family, friends, love and of course Glee!! I've got a new (old) release for a new year!!  Can't find NoBODY!!  It was originally published as Found and Lost. I am so happy that this ebook version is going back to my title.  I mean, a disappearing dead body romance...could there be any better title than Can't Find NObody???  Nope.  I wrote this book for Harlequin's Flipside line...but the line was on its way out by the time the book came out, so this might be an older book, but there's a good chance it'll be new to you!  Here's more about it... ~~~ Fans of Holly Jacobs' bestselling Maid in LA Mysteries are in for another zany who-dunnit. This time there's a disappearing (and reappearing) dead body. As she hurries out the door on Monday morning, Markie Walkowicz trips over a body. A very dead body. She calls 911 from her closet, because what sane woman would stay on the porch with a dead body and a potential murderer hanging around? To make a bad Monday worse, the cop who shows up is Detective Zac Marshall--her longtime (former) friend. He announces there's nobody...uh, no body on her porch. Over the next few days that body in its orange and green plaid suit keeps turning up—but never sticks around long enough for Zac to see it. Will he have to hang around full-time before he believes her? Markie eventually admits that having Zac hang around isn't that bad. Even if she can't find no body, maybe she has found her somebody. Read Can't Find NoBODY Reviews: "Holly Jacobs' latest . . . is a delight. A darkly comic whodunit, it's her best book yet."  ~RT BOOKclub "Ms. Jacobs delivers a sweet love storyfilled with humor to enchant her readers . . . prepare to be thoroughly entertained."  ~Love Romances "Holly Jacobs is the master of humorous writing."  ~Writers Unlimited Reviewer "Holly Jacobs hits the laugh track again with this fabulously funny tale of love and mystery."  ~Romance Junkies ". . . an exceptionally humorous and delightful tale."  ~CataRomance Reviews

Here's my new cover for my second release in 2017  Not Precisely Pregnant.  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 who reports using the tagline Nice News Matters. To be honest, I do love nice news and think the world could use more of it!  It's out February 7th!  But you can preorder it now!!

My books World Travels: Carry Her Heart went going to Turkey. Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow went to Spain. Once Upon a King went to Portugal. A Valley Ridge Christmas went to France...for a second time. Ready, Willing and Abel? & Raising Cain are going to Spain. I love taking Erie, PA all over the world! I've got to confess, I love the idea that readers in other countries are reading about Erie!

As always, thank you everyone for all your support!  2016 has been an amazing year!  September's Hold Her Heart has been on the bestseller list and the first book in the Words of the Heart series, Carry Her Heart, is a bestseller in Turkey.  And Just One Thing passed 100,000 books sold!  And I know that every one of those successes is because of you! So again, thank you! I've signed on for blogging here for another year!  You can catch my posts on the 13th of every month! Holly PS.  The dead body in Can't Find NoBODY appears...then disappears. I set the book in Philadelphia not Erie. Why? Both get cold, but Philly doesn't get the snow we do. And everyone knows, if you're dragging a body, frozen earth is so much better at preventing drag marks than snow is! Can't Find NoBODY

Hold Her Heart...What makes a family?

Last time I blogged here, I talked about heading to New Jersey...and I made it! I thought I'd share the highlight of my trip with you!  I had such a great time at the conference.  I traveled down with my pal, Susan Gable.  She shot the awards presentation.  You'd think, as a writer, I'd have prepared a speech.  Uh, obviously I didn't.  LOL  But I meant what I said, thank you to the New Jersey Romance Writers group, and to everyone who's picked up one of my books!

My big news...my new release, Hold Her Heart is out!!  

One of my all time favorite reviews is, "With books like this, if you aren't a Holly fan, you're likely a robot." ~S. Stone   It's part of my bestselling Words of the Heart series.  All the books are stand-alone, and yet they all tie together.  

This book, like so many of my books, deals not only with a romance, but with the question...what makes a family?  It's a theme that I write about again and again.  You'd think that the question would eventually be answered to my satisfaction, but here's the thing...families are made in so many ways.  I'm pretty sure I could ask that question for the rest of my writing career and never fully answer it.

I look at my own family. It's diverse and always growing.  And to date, my heart has never run out of room...and I don't anticipate that changing in the future!

I've been calling the books in this series (along with Just One Thing), Romance+ books.  They're definitely romance, but they're more than that.  They're a woman's journey...a journey that includes romance but isn't the reason for her journey.  Yeah, I tried to coin the term Womance (women's fiction + romance) but for some reason that didn't take off!  LOL  Romance+ seems to be doing better!

Some other Hold Her Heart reviews:

I will definitely be adding this to my must re-read list. Five stars doesn't come close, but that's all they give us. Please add this to your collection and enjoy.
By Literature Litehouse on September 14, 2016

Thanks for another beautiful story, Holly. And thanks for how you've woven these stories together. I an looking forward to the next one.

Published 12 days ago by Amazon Customer

This was a great addition to Holly's works of literature. She reminds us of the treasure of family, life and love. Another great read!

Published 25 days ago by Beth Anne

This is a realistic story of a child given up for adoption and she had a normal and happy childhood. Her mother's husband comes searching for her due to his wife's illness.

Published 1 month ago by Hcquarles

Hold Her Heart was an absolutely beautiful and emotional read. I cried my eyes out. Holly Jacobs truly played the emotion card when writing the follow up to Carry Her Heart. 

Published 1 month ago by Carolyn

A few readers read the opening and got worried...so I'll reiterate my promise here: There is a Happily-Ever-After.  Honest.

Other news...I started using Instagram.  Come visit if you have a minute!  

Holly