It's Fall, Y'all!

Happy October, happy Friday, happy World Pasta Day! (I looked it up. It's a thing.)

1. 1) BookFunnel - double the fun, double the TBR pile
2. 2) Is it November yet??? (AKA Book Release Month!!!)
3. 3) Poll: what's your favorite fall drink?
4. 4) Covid blows

BookFunnel Promos

My upcoming anthology, Winter Wishes and Holiday Kisses, is running in two BookFunnel group promos right now! If you click the links, I'll get a little "social credit" with BookFunnel which will help me participate in future promos and allow me to bring you MORE COOL BOOKS to browse! (No purchase necessary.)

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Speaking of Winter Wishes and Holiday Kisses, which comes out on NOVEMBER 12 (YAY!), I have another story in the Light My Fire anthology coming out on NOVEMBER 20 (MORE YAY!). I mentioned in my last newsletter that these stories feature the same couple, David and Celia Mack. I love these two. Their relationship is so solid, but... they're human. Which means sometimes their fears and doubts get in the way. I love how they turn to each other to make it through the hard parts. The story in Winter Wishes, "The One That I Need," is the very first I wrote in The One That series, and where I first "met" the three hot Mack brothers and their (arguably hotter!) widower dad. I'm grateful for the day Celia sassed her way onto the page, forcing David to wake up to his responsibilities.

Light My Fire *also* has a special, more poignant place in my heart, and along with the story I wrote for it, "The One That I Miss." What got me interested in the project was knowing that all proceeds will go to charity in the fight for mental health support.

You see, over the course of 5 years, starting when I was 14, four young men in my orbit died by suicide. I didn't know all of them personally, but each was a loss felt in the community that ripples to this day. One was a family friend I'd know since I was 5, a vet who came home from his time in the service and didn't speak for two years. Two. Years. I remember talking to him about a week after he graduated from college a couple of years later, asking him what he'd do with his new shiny degree. A kid in college myself, I was so excited for him! So many possibilities!

A week later, he was gone. I still ask myself: was there some clue I missed? Some intervention I could have undertaken? Like a lot of writers, I used that real life heartbreak to fuel the emotional foundation of "The One That I Miss." And lest you think it's a bummer of a story, I promise, it's honestly sexy, funny, heartwarming and will leave you feeling hopeful. I double promise! (Proceeds for Light My Fire will be split between two charities: Wounded Warrior and the International Mental Health Association.)

One final story note: while these stories both star David and Celia, they can be read as stand alone stories. If you *do* purchase both though, you'll want to start with the story in Winter Wishes and Holiday Kisses. The events in Light My Fire occur about a year later.

It's Poll Time!

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Covid Blows

I was at a really fantastic writing retreat last weekend that turned into a mini super spreader event! About half of us came home feeling under the weather and I think maybe 4 of the bunch, including yours truly, tested positive for Covid. I hate being sick! I think I may already be on the mend, but woof, I'm tired. All this to say: during this cold, Covid, and flu season take good care!

Ciao for now,

Keely

J. Keely Thrall
Thrilling, Enthralling Romance

P.S. A birthday tea -- complete with fascinators! --at the Covid-spreading writers retreat. Pictured left to right are authors Lisa Dyson, J. Keely Thrall, Cathy Maxwell, and Traci Carter. Second photo is of me at DFW traveling from between terminals to catch my flight to Austin for the recent Romance Writers of America conference. Not sure if you can tell in the photo, but I'm not only wearing a pair of headphones, I also have my sunglasses perched atop my head. Multitasking for the win!