New Releases, Service, and Gratitude

We have been writing for some of you for decades now, and if there is one thing we have learned, it is that the people who read our books are not just our readers. You are our friends. You are the reason we keep showing up with more stories, even when life makes that harder than it sounds.

This week is one of those weeks.

Jim is with me as I go through scans for my metastatic disease and my fifteenth stent replacement. Fifteenth. We laugh about that number, because what else do you do? We have learned over the years that the body has its own timeline and its own strange sense of humor, and the best you can do is show up, trust the people taking care of you, and keep writing the next chapter…literally and otherwise.               

Your kind words, your messages, your reviews, and your loyalty mean more to us right now than we know how to say. Thank you for being here.             

We have more news , but first...two books we cannot wait to put in your hands and they are available NOW.

SECOND STREET

Harbor View Cozy Fantasy Series, Book 2

Harbor View is back.

So are Skye, Ocean, Jo, Henry, and a town that keeps its deepest secrets buried, sometimes literally.

When a body turns up in a locked house with no visible way out, Skye Randall finds herself pulled into a mystery that reaches back decades: stolen art, hidden tunnels beneath a Revolutionary War-era house, and a leather journal written in code that someone is willing to kill to recover.

Her fifteen-year-old daughter Ocean has an edge nobody sees coming. She can talk to ghosts. Three of them. Each with opinions, agendas, and a stubborn refusal to stay out of the investigation.

Second Street is not a romance. But it is deeply, completely about human connection. The family you are born into, the family you find, and the ones who stay with you even after they are gone. It is about a mother and daughter learning to trust each other with the impossible. It is about a town that remembers everything and the people brave enough to ask it what it knows.

We hope you love it as much as we loved writing it.

TREMORS OF THE PAST

A Caleb Marlowe Short Story

For those of you who have been riding with Caleb Marlowe through the Elkhorn, Colorado series, this one is for you.    

“Tremors of the Past” takes us to Denver, 1882, where Henry Jordan, a man carrying more history than most. finds himself in the middle of something he did not go looking for and cannot walk away from. It is a story about survival, about the weight of the past, and about what it means to stand up when standing down would be so much easier.

Not a romance. But every page of it is about what binds people together when the world is trying to pull them apart. About loyalty. About the kind of courage that does not announce itself.

We think you'll feel it.

More News!

September is a full month for us, and we want to share it with you.

Our children and grandchildren are coming to visit, and we cannot tell you how much we are looking forward to that. After the kind of week we are having, there is nothing more grounding than the people you love most filling up the house.

Jim and I will also be spending a week volunteering with Little Pink Houses of Hope, an organization that provides retreat weeks for families living with breast cancer. It is one of the most meaningful things we do all year. If you are not familiar with Little Pink Houses of Hope, we encourage you to look them up. The work they do is extraordinary.

And at the end of the month, I will be traveling to San Francisco to serve as a co-moderator at the International Lobular Breast Cancer Symposium, a gathering of researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates working to advance understanding of invasive lobular carcinoma. As a patient advocate myself, being part of that conversation is an honor I do not take lightly.

September, in other words, is for us a month about service. About showing up for the people and the causes that need us. About remembering that the stories we tell, in books and in life, are always, at their heart, about human beings taking care of each other.

One small ask, from our hearts to yours.

Neither Second Street nor "Tremors of the Past" is a romance. But we believe deeply that they are about everything that romance is really about.

The bonds between people.

The loyalty that survives loss.

The love that does not require explanation.

The family that shows up, living or otherwise.

If these books find a place in your heart, we would be so grateful if you would tell someone. A friend. A book club. A stranger on the internet who looks like they need a good story. Also a review, however short, often gives other readers the courage to take a chance on something new.

You have always been our best ambassadors. We would not be here without you.

Posting this with deep love and gratitude!

Some news, a sneak peek, and our latest kitchen obsession...

Hi dear friend,

We hope this note finds you well—with a cup of tea or coffee in hand and a good book nearby.

Lately, life has been wonderfully full. We've spent countless hours at our desks (still sitting across from each other after all these years), happily debating plot twists, polishing chapters, and occasionally insisting that our version of a scene is the better one. Thankfully, we've learned that the best stories usually come from somewhere in the middle.

Before anything else, we simply want to say thank you.

A little while ago, we made the decision to limit the number of subscribers to this newsletter. It may seem like an unusual choice in a world where everyone is chasing bigger numbers, but for us, this has never been about the size of the list. It's about the people on it. We'd much rather have a smaller community of readers who truly love stories and enjoy sharing this journey with us than a huge mailing list where those connections are lost. Your emails, your reviews, your kind words, and the moments when you tell us that one of our characters felt like family...those are gifts we never take for granted. You are the reason we keep writing, and we hope you know just how much we treasure this little corner we've built together.

Many of you have also followed our family's journey over the past few years, and we wanted to share a small personal update. As most of you know, Nikoo continues to live with metastatic breast cancer. August brings another stent replacement, scans and doctor appointments—a reminder that life with metastatic disease comes with its share of challenges. But we've learned that while cancer takes away many things, it doesn't get to decide how we spend our days. The love of family and friends, your encouragement, and the opportunity to give back through volunteering have become some of life's greatest blessings.

Here’s a favorite quote is from Winston Churchill: "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

That has become something of a guiding principle for us. Whether it's mentoring another patient, volunteering with cancer organizations, or simply being there for someone having a difficult day, we've discovered that giving has a remarkable way of bringing hope right back to the giver. It keeps us all moving forward.

On the home front, we're looking forward to a house full of family over the next couple of months. There is something wonderfully healing about hearing grandchildren laugh, sharing long meals that last well past dessert, and ending the day with conversations in the backyard—or watching the sunset at the beach. Those moments remind us what matters most.

Then, in September, we'll be traveling back to Connecticut to volunteer once again with Little Pink Houses of Hope, an organization that's especially close to our hearts. They provide week-long retreats for families living with cancer, giving them time to simply breathe, reconnect, and make beautiful memories together. It's one of the highlights of our year, and we're honored to be part of it.

NOW FOR SOME BOOK NEWS!

We're delighted to tell you that Second Street, the next novel in our Harbor View Cozy Fantasy series, will be available to order on Wednesday, August 12—which also happens to be our younger son's birthday. We can't imagine a better day to send another story into the world. We cannot wait for you to return to Harbor View and spend more time with Skye, Ocean, Arthur, and all the wonderfully quirky residents of our favorite little seaside town.

Until then, we'd love to share a sneak peek at the next chapter….Here’s the link

And if you're in the mood for something completely different, we've also temporarily lowered the price of our Scottish Starter Box Set to just $1.99. It includes the first novels from three of our Scottish series and is a wonderful place to begin or revisit—or perhaps introduce a friend to our Highland adventures. No pressure whatsoever; we simply wanted to let you know while the sale is running.

And finally (not book news!), our newest obsession...

Every Friday has somehow turned into an unofficial Sourdough Bake-Off at our house (see picture of our dinner rolls above!). We're experimenting with starters, comparing crumb, arguing over hydration percentages (yes, really!), and discovering that baking bread is surprisingly addictive. We suspect many of you have fallen down the same rabbit hole. If you're a sourdough enthusiast, we'd love to hear your favorite tips—or even see a picture of your latest loaf or rolls!

As always, thank you for inviting our stories into your lives and for letting us be a small part of that. We never take your friendship, your encouragement, or your readership for granted.

Until next time, take good care of yourselves—and keep turning the pages.

Something to do. Someone to love. Something to hope for.

Immanuel Kant's Rules for Happiness

Dear friends,

    As I prepare to begin my fifth line of treatment this summer, Immanuel Kant’s ‘Rules for Happiness’ keep coming back to me...quietly, insistently, like a compass pointing home:

Something to do...

Books, books, and more books!

    If you know me and Jim at all, you know we pour ourselves into our work...and we’ll have a lot of exciting news to share about what’s coming in June.

    First, we are so grateful that our publisher has returned the ebook and print rights for three beloved Nik James novels, which we are now bringing home to our May McGoldrick readers. Beyond the Silver Moon, Beyond the Eclipse, Beyond the Christmas Star are retellings of the Caleb Marlowe novels...this time told through the heart of his relationship with Shiela. Revised as historical Western romances (PG-rated), these three books follow Caleb and Shiela from their first meeting all the way to their ‘happily ever after’.

    Also, the next installment of our cozy fantasy mystery Second Street is coming in June. Ocean, Skye, and the full cast you fell in love with in First Street return to Harbor View with another mystery to unravel. We cannot wait for you to read it!

    And this Saturday, we have a BookBub special deal on The Promise. The book that first put us on the USA Today Bestseller List over twenty years ago. It remains the best-selling novel of our career, and it holds such a special place in our hearts. If you haven't read it, there has never been a better time. We’ve down-priced it for you right now!

Someone to love...

You already know who you are!

    Jim, my sons, my daughters-in-laws, and our grandchildren are the light of my life — every single day.

    And then there is you. Our readers. Some of you have walked alongside us for over thirty years, through books and through life, through the highs and the lows, and you have been a true rock in our career and in our hearts.

    We love you more than words can convey.

Something to hope for...

A cure — for me, and for every cancer patient.

    I hope for a cure, not just for myself, but for every person living with cancer. And as I've always believed, actions speak louder than words. If you feel moved to do something, please consider supporting cancer research. That is where change is made.

That is where hope becomes possibility.

    Thank you for bringing so much happiness to our lives.

I Had No Idea… (They Actually Surprised Me!)

Hello dear friends—

     They surprised me!

  And if you know me at all, you know that’s nearly impossible.

   Jim always says I can read his mind (and it’s true). So planning anything behind my back? Nearly impossible.

   But my suddenly very sneaky husband somehow did it. With the help of two of our friends, he did it. For weeks, Jim apparently walked around the house saying “la-la-la” in his head whenever I tried to mind-read him.

   When I entered the room that night and saw everyone, I had to walk right back out. Tears. Overwhelmed. Grateful beyond words.

   Have you ever been truly surprised like that? 

Over the years, we’ve tried to surprise you too.

  Not with parties…. but with our stories.

   Somehow, over three decades, we’ve written in just about every genre imaginable:

✨ Young Adult
✨ Fantasy & Time Travel

✨ Pirates
✨ Cozy Ghost Stories
✨ Scottish Historical Romance
✨ Contemporary Fiction
✨ Thrillers

✨ Warriors
✨ Lawyers

   There’s something here for practically everyone.

   If you haven’t explored our backlist in a while, this might be the time.
   We’ve included a 25% off coupon in this newsletter — and if you’d like to share it with a friend, that would mean the world to us.

   (Word of mouth is always magic.)

On the health front…

I had another stent replacement last week. I try to put up a brave, positive face — but I won’t pretend each surgery isn’t getting harder to recover from. Next week I begin radiation. We’re hopeful it helps with the bone pain.

   As I travel this cancer road, people often ask, “What can we do? How can we help?” Jim and I are deeply moved every time.

   In December, a young author friend of ours, Elizabeth Briggs, died of colon cancer at just 45. Her family shared words that struck straight through us:

   “If you would like to support Elizabeth’s family, please honor her by buying her books… Some part of her will always be alive as long as her stories have readers.”

   Cancer robs us of so much — our energy, our plans, sometimes our identities. It takes from families emotionally and financially. It interrupts the work we love.

   So I’ll say this gently, while I’m still kicking around (slower, but still kicking):

   If you’re an author, maybe one day there’ll be a ‘Nikoo’ character in your book.

   If you’re a reader, maybe you'll recommend one of our stories to a friend or share this newsletter.

   If you're looking for a book for yourself or a friend, you'll use the coupon at our bookstore.

          Here's the 25% off coupon code…    THJVU9Y9I0  

   And you'll keep reading our stories…   

That’s how a writer will always remain alive. 

Thanks!

Taking Steps — Empower, Educate, Advocate…

Fifteen months have passed since my life took an unexpected turn with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. Since then, anytime there is silence on our social media accounts, I get private messages asking, ‘How are you doing?’ And it warms my heart to know that you're with me on this journey.

My weeks are a symphony of scans and appointments, a continuous rhythm that has become my new normal. And yes, I will always be on one or another type of chemo. And no, I won’t be done with it. Ever. When it comes to discomfort, I have pain. I’ll always have some pain, but I can live with it.

To those friends and family who have followed my journey through this blog, you remember the challenging six months leading to my diagnosis. The confusion, the fear—those emotions were all too real. And the emotional toll that followed was profound. The statistics were terrifying.

“Only one-third of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S. live for 5 years after diagnosis.”

I needed some space to get comfortable with my diagnosis. I needed time to find my strength and search for a purpose for the time I have left. Yes, writing is our profession. It pays the bills, so that had to continue. But there were deeper questions that kept me up at night.

What more can I do with the time I've been given?

How can I help people who are going through the often scary stages of diagnosis?

How can I support others living with MBC, now and in the future?

Jim and I have always believed in the power of giving back. Early in our marriage, our wise landlord, Tom Kepple, shared a lesson that stayed with us: "Always give more than you take." In a way, his words were an echo of Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?"

With those words as our guide, Jim and I decided to dedicate our time and energy to advocacy. I found my calling in patient advocacy, while Jim is getting involved with caregiver advocacy.

Advocacy starts with each of us, as individuals, speaking up. It's when the appointment schedules don't align with our lives, when medications bring debilitating side effects, when second and third opinions are essential. And later, it’s when we share our experiences, offering empathy and practical insights.

Breast cancer is a multifaceted challenge, and my focus is on helping patients ask questions and finding resources. I decided early on to share my journey, and hopefully, to inspire others in embracing life fully.

The realm of advocacy is vast and unending, but I'm committed to immersing myself in it, learning, and being a voice for change. As I prepare to attend my first in-person medical conference as a patient advocate, I'm mindful that there are no long-term guarantees for MBC patients like me. However, I refuse to let statistics define my path. I am a unique statistic, ready to empower, educate, advocate…and live.