Sunday, January 4, 2015

Beginnings

“And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” ~ Meister Eckhart

Happy 2015, peeps! Welcome to another new year full of beginnings!

I love this time of year. Nothing says “fresh start” like a brandy new set of 365 days, and I have plans for this year. BIG plans.

I finally published book three in my Maple Leaf Series and that was something new for me. I had resisted writing a series for many years, and I’m not going to lie, writing one was tough. I’m the type to enjoy a set of characters for 80,000 words worth of story then be totally and completely done with them. Having to carry characters across books was challenging. By book three, I was dying to write something else. Anything else. Even a grocery shopping list and I HATE grocery shopping.

But I made it. I started something new and saw it through to the end… well, the end of three books anyway. I’ve got three more nearly written for this series, but I changed up the cast and the setting. I had to. For my own sanity. For reader satisfaction. In the name of happily ever afters.

Check out my Maple Leaf Series today. Vermont, lumberjacky-type men. Women who unravel the threads of their quiet, in-the-woods lifestyles. Pets who scamper onto the scene left and right. Happily ever afters guaranteed. Love grows in the woods.

And here’s more about the latest in the series, More Than Rum:

Web designer Hope Stannard has watched her cousin and her sister fall madly in love. She’s waited patiently for her turn to roll around, but her last boyfriend broke up with her via text message and the new guy she’s interested in disappeared on her for months with no explanation. Perhaps it’s time to throw in the towel, be content living with her Dalmatian puppy and her mother, and accept the official title of Unmarriable Old Maid.

Ex-Marine Adam Rouse fills his days with lumberjacking and building furniture. His nights are spent wide awake as he relives a raid in Afghanistan gone wrong. He emerged as the sole survivor, but questions why. Certainly other members of this team were more worthy of living than him. Deciding that bartending at night would be a better use of his time than battling insomnia, Adam applies at Black Wolf Tavern, the only place to hang out in small-town Danton, Vermont. He couldn’t drown his own troubles in rum, but maybe he can help others do so.

When Hope is attacked just outside the tavern, Adam comes to her aid, and the frosty winter temperatures can’t cool the heat that’s always been between them. Can Hope scale Adam’s fortress walls? Can Adam believe he is worthy of a woman like Hope? Will they rescue each other?   

   

What are your plans for 2015?

Toodles,
Chris

6 comments:

Margo Hoornstra said...

Way to stay with it, Chris. I just started a four book series. So far so good, but Im only on book one! Best of luck with your latest.

Jannine Gallant said...

I like doing series, but my previous characters only make cameo appearances in the other books. It works for me. This story sounds terrific. Congrats on getting it out there!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Jannine and Margo. We'll see where 2015 takes me.

Alison Henderson said...

What an energetic start to the new year, Chris! MORE THAN RUM sounds great, and I look forward to hearing about the new series you have planned for 2015.

Diane Burton said...

More Than Rum sounds intriguing. I'll have to add that to my TBR pile. Last year, I completed a 3-book series. Whew! Now I'm writing the 3rd book in another series and plan at least a 4th. Like Jannine's series, my characters make brief appearances but the books are stand alone. I love my characters and the world I built around them and don't want to leave so a series is fun for me.

Leah St. James said...

The new book sounds fantastic. Love the cover!