Happily Ever After Thoughts

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

An Update

Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

I actually have no topic today but that’s all right. I figured I’d give you all an update (and seriously, I don’t want to talk about the weather – it’s been in the 90s here in Arizona and truthfully, I am NOT ready for this heat!).

As you know, I have finished The Madam and Mr. MacLean. It’s going through beta read right now, which is fantastic (I love my beta readers! They are so good at seeing things that I don’t!). I do still need to work on the cover sheet request—that’s the paperwork that accompanies the manuscript when I submit it to my publisher. There’s a few other things I need to work on, too, like the ‘long’ blurb and the short ‘tagline’. Believe it or not, those are really hard. I can write an 86-thousand-word story but condensing it down to 350 words is a little daunting. Oh, and the cover! I have an idea in my head on what I'd like to see but need to finalize it (my publisher does the best covers!).

I am making great headway with Wife Unexpected, the next story in The Wives of Bravado County series. So far, I’m at 10 thousand words. Now, if all those words were in a linear fashion that would be great, but I gotta write the scenes as they come to me so, in all truthfulness, I am all over the place, but I’ll puzzle it all together as I reach those scenes. I know! Crazy, but that’s how I do it…and so far, it has worked for me.

What else? Today (Sunday, when I’m writing this), the DH and I are going to a birthday party. This isn’t just any birthday party. It’s for our lovely, beautiful, so very young at heart friend. She is turning…wait for it…one hundred years old. Or I should say one hundred years young. To look at her, to spend any time with her, one would never guess she has reached this milestone. Truthfully, the woman doesn’t sit still. She’s very active in the community, thinks nothing of hopping on a plane to visit friends and family, and this past summer, she spent a couple weeks in Alaska. She sent pictures of all the fish she caught. I love that woman!

And that’s all for me. Still a lot of things to do before we head off to that celebration. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Unafraid by Nyssa Kathryn

Amber Ridge is a quaint and cozy town. Just where Aspen Davies can travel several states, room with a friend, and leave her ex and controlling mom behind. She can find a nice cafe and continue to write her romance novels.

Jesse Hayes feels he's doing the right thing by letting a room to his friend, Aspen. The long and unusual hours he works as a police officer will give her privacy while she familiarizes herself with the town. He prefers to keep a distance between them. After all, she is hurt from a breakup, and it is impossible not to be interested in her.

For such a cute town, not a single restaurant or cafe serves good coffee. Matter of fact, it is awful. The English lady who owns a tea and coffee house makes the best pies but needs lessons on how to make a good brew. It will be a great hangout for writing and a place to keep her away from gorgeous and wonderful Jesse.

Aspen begins receiving texts from her hard-to-handle mom. After replying with her new address, her mom claims Luke, former boyfriend, needs to see Aspen. That would not happen on her watch. Why did Aspen give her mom the address? Mistake number one.

Space in town is tight when her mom shows up. Discovering that Luke has a criminal record, Jesse's hackles rise when Luke is also spotted. Aspen pretends it's manageable, but her nerves are shivering, her writing is not happening, and doors and windows need to be locked.

A hug and more attention are offered from Jesse, when the danger mounts. It's okay, they're just friends. Really good friends, which is a perfect way to start something more if they can both drop their guards at the same time.

At the same time, Luke, with the help from another, plots to have or let no one else have Aspen.

Increasing danger, Aspen's faltering confidence, and Jesse's badge make a combination of safety and an opening for romance.

Happy reading,

Dawn

Monday, February 23, 2026

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A COWBOY by Lexi Post on Sale for 99¢ only through Feb 26th

Between a Rock and a Cowboy (Rocky Road Ranch: Book 1) on sale for 99¢ only through February 26th.

When Amanda Hayden becomes the first Hayden to step onto Rocky Road Ranch in twenty years, sparks fly.

Amazon | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU

Tanner Dunn must take the reins of the Rocky Road cattle ranch after his father’s stroke. With a brother long gone, a brother deployed, and his youngest brother wanting to leave for his own career, he has his hands full. Still, he’s adamant his father receives the best care. But when their adversary’s daughter, Amanda Hayden Davis, arrives to provide his father’s therapy because she’s the best, it becomes more than he’s willing to shoulder.

Amanda is not happy she’s been assigned to the patriarch of the Dunn family, nor that she is the first Hayden to step foot on Rocky Road Ranch in over twenty years. But she’s a ray of sunshine compared to the grumpy eldest son. When she’s told to leave before she’s started her work, she doesn’t budge. No one tells her what to do. She willingly argues with Tanner, often winning. Despite that, she finds herself respecting his work ethic, his moral compass, and his heart. It doesn’t help that he also has the shoulders of her dreams and looks amazing in a suit.

Tanner admits he’s grateful for Amanda’s efforts with his dad, but that doesn’t mitigate the damage her family has done to them over the years. It’s the Hayden’s fault Rocky Road may have to become a Dude ranch, something Tanner has fought against for the last year. The problem is, he’s fighting his attraction to Amanda as well. Not only is she kind, but she has a zest for life that he can’t resist. But if he gives in to her, will he lose the ranch? Or will resisting her be the biggest mistake of his life?

About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

Website

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Wednesday, February 18, 2026

The Madam & Mr. MacLean

Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

As you may know, the first draft of The Madam & Mr. MacLean, the third book in the Matchmaker Mischief series is done and as of right now, the last critique has come in so…

What are my next steps? A read through, from beginning to end, to see what I’m missing, to fix any holes, to make sure my word choices are appropriate.

I think I might try something different. Normally, I print out the entire thing, sit at the kitchen table with my dictionary, thesaurus, and several ‘writing’ books and read it out loud but I think, this time, I want to try the ‘read aloud’ option provided by MicroSoft Word (besides, my printer is broken and I haven’t replaced it yet. It’s not quite in the budget). I’ve never done that. Might be interesting.

I’ve also been told that saving the story as a PDF can help finding mistakes. I might try that, too.

And then, I send it off to my beta readers. Honestly, I depend on their read through (and they’re both excellent at this task). Of course, I depend on my critique partner, too. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without them. I’m serious.

In addition, I have started Wife Unexpected, the fourth story in the Wives of Bravado County series. It’s going pretty well. My characters aren’t quite talking to me yet, but they will. I have faith. Incidentally, that’s my heroine’s name. Faith. It’s appropriate for who she is.

The day job is still kicking my butt and I admit to being exhausted at the end of every week but it’s all good. Less than two years before I retire (and believe me, I’m really looking forward to that). More time to write. More time to read. More time to experiment with cooking (I have to be careful about what I make because the DH has a sensitive stomach, but seriously, I’m tired of making the same things all the time). I’ve been collecting recipes from Facebook. Some of them look really good!

And that’s about all for me. Gotta get back to the writing. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

The Honey Pot Plot by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer

Rose is trying to settle in Rocky Start. The difficult part is that she's a former assassin and so are many of the other residents. Tough crowd. Many are of the retirement age except for her daughter Poppy who is another worry on her mind as an unknown assassin has attempted to disrupt and kill the current crowd of retirees.

Rose's new and hopefully permanent mate, Max, is hiking the Appalachian Trail. He's claiming to hike the treacherous snowy path for the exercise and beauty, but there's also the suspicion of a hidden treasure somewhere in the trees.

Poppy helps her mom with an incognito second-hand shop while a quiet newcomer, Marley, parks his truck in the alley behind Rose and Poppy's home for protection. It takes a while for Poppy and Marley to trust each other. It's a town that trust needs to be earned, yet each laugh, coffee, lasagna, and meeting advances the romance.

After several attempted murders on multiple residents, the "good" assassins collaborate and weed out the bad. Just in time to allow social activities to resume in a semi-normal romantic venue. Makes me believe romance can prevail in almost any situation!

Happy reading,

Dawn

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

To Write or Not To Write

Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

Well, the day job kicked my butt again these past two weeks. Too much to do and not enough time, but you all know what that’s like.

Still, I survived and actually got some stuff done that I haven’t been able to get to and this makes me happy.

What else makes me happy? Well, the writing, of course. I admit, I would be lost without it and I know this because…

I didn’t write for over ten years. I know, that’s a long time. Why? Well, a few reasons, but looking back, none of them were good. We all have our own self-editors in our heads. You know the nasty, little voices that say “Who wrote this drivel? Why do you even try?”

And then, there are the external voices. In my case, it was a particularly devastating rejection letter. In the past, I let those things bother me (lots of tears and then self-soothing chocolate) so I decided I was going to stop writing at all.

And I did. For ten long years.

I noticed something about myself when I wasn’t writing. I’m not the same person as when I do write. There is a need in me to get those words on paper (or on the computer), a passion for making up stories that keeps me sane. And, if it can bring joy to someone else, all the better.

So, what made me start writing again?

I was cleaning out my file cabinet and I came across that rejection letter, the one that made me put down my pen. In a clearer frame of mind (and ten years of personal growth and developing a thicker skin), I read it again. And again. No, I was not torturing myself. I was learning, seeing what that agent saw that I hadn’t seen before.

And suddenly, two things clicked in my brain at once. An epiphany, if you will. I realized how much I missed writing and how much I was denying that part of me.

What was the other thing? Plain old stubbornness. Yes, I said that and I mean that. I am stubborn. Have been all my life (and believe me, sometimes stubbornness will see you through a situation more than anything else).

So…I sat down to write. A story so full of conflict that there could never be any doubt (which is what the agent had pointed out in the letter…that I didn’t have enough conflict).

Finding and reading that letter again happened in 2006. In 2008, I published my first story. That was eighteen years ago. Since then, I’ve published fourteen stories, finished the first draft of another, and started four more.

I still have that rejection letter. It’s framed on my wall. And it reminds me…never let go of your dreams.

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go! Marie

Friday, January 30, 2026

COWBOYS OF POKER FLAT boxed set by Lexi Post is on Sale for $3.99!

Cowboys of Poker Flat

(Poker Flat Series: Books 1, 2 & 3)

I like starting the year off with a sale, and what could be better than a boxed set sale? How about a boxed set sale at half price! That's right, the cowboys that started it all for $6.99 are only $3.99. But this is for a very limited time, so grab the first 3 books in this series for a bargain.

Welcome to Poker Flat nudist resort, where for guests, it’s clothing optional, but for the misfit staff, baring their souls for love is mandatory.

Kendra Lowe hires cowboy Wade Johnson as the new stable manager for her soon-to-open nudist resort. She soon discovers when the odds are stacked against them, Cowboys Never Fold. Good thing too, because he’s determined to find out who is trying to sabotage her resort even if he loses his heart.

Cowboy firefighter Cole Hatcher suspects Lacey Winters, his ex-girlfriend, of arson…again. But it’s soon made clear that the resort’s bookkeeper is still this Cowboy’s Match. So as the heat rises, he needs to find the real arsonist or his love will go down in flames.

Security guard and Army veteran, Hunter McKade lost his wife, but he can’t deny his attraction to the hot bartender, Adriana Perez. Indulging his curiosity, he discovers she doesn’t want a relationship. But when she becomes the target of an angry guest, only he can help her…if she’ll accept that she’s this Cowboy’s Best Shot at happiness.

About Lexi:

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.