Nell Iris's Blog, page 10

Goodbye January…

…and good riddance. I never wanna see you again, Stupid Awful Month.

Usually, my worst month of the year is November because it’s gray and dreary and dark, but surprisingly, November didn’t suck last year. So I thought I’d made it through this winter season without the obligatory The-Darkness-Makes-Nell-Very-Depressed episode…but life and the universe had other plans. They decided to postpone the episode to January instead.

Because seriously. Has January been darker than usual? Grayer? Mo...

Sunday Book Recommendation

A week or so before Christmas, I was grumpy because I couldn’t find anything to read. I’d spent a ridiculous amount of time scrolling through the many Facebook book groups of which I’m a member without finding a single thing that spoke to me. The current popular tropes (fake boyfriends, sports romances, daddy/boy age play) aren’t tropes or themes I tend to gravitate toward, and it felt like it was the only thing I saw in my feed.

So I complained in the group chat I have with Ally and Ofelia,...

Read Around the Rainbow: How to Romance a Romance Writer

Read Around the Rainbow is a blogging project featuring yours truly, A.L. Lester, Ofelia Gränd, Holly Day, K.L. Noone, Amy Spector, Addison Albright, Fiona Glass, Lilian Francis, and Ellie Thomas. Every month, we pick a topic and then we blog about it. Check the other blog posts by clicking the RAtR widget in the sidebar, or the links at the bottom of this post.

The first RAtR topic for 2023 is how to romance a romance writer.

I was the one who came up with this topic; I thought i...

New Release Spotlight: Squirrel Circus by Holly Day

The lovely Holly Day is back on the blog today. Yay! She’s here talking about squirrels, and let me just say one thing before I leave the floor to her: even with Temporary Squirrel Brain Syndrome, Holly is more organized than the rest of us when we’re our best selves!

Welcome, Holly!

Hello, everyone! Thank you, lovely Nell, for allowing me back on the blog I hope you’ve all had a good start to the new year. I feel like I’m standing a little steadier on my feet again – I lost my mothe...

New Release Spotlight: Gentlemen’s Agreement by Ellie Thomas

Thank you so much, lovely Nell, for having me as your guest again today. I’m Ellie, I write MM Historical Romance novellas, and I’m here today to chat about my latest release, Gentlemen’s Agreement which is currently in the 20% off pre-release/new release sale at JMS Books until January 20th.

This is the fourth story in my Regency romp Twelve Letters series, with an ensemble cast and a London setting. The first story takes place during the spring Season of 1814 and introduces three potential ...

Goodbye December

New Year’s Day
sunlight on every field
is beloved

Matsuo Basho

That was 2022, folks. There have been better years, don’t you agree? But the focus of this blog post is December, and overall, it wasn’t too bad. Some parts were even excellent. Shall we have a look?

The first weekend of December, we went to visit my daughter to set up the Christmas tree. This year we had help: my very bossy and enthusiastic grandbaby did most of the work…as you probably can see on this detail image from the...

Read Around the Rainbow: Do you have a writing plan for next year?

Read Around the Rainbow is a blogging project featuring yours truly, A.L. Lester, Ofelia Gränd, Holly Day, K.L. Noone, Amy Spector, Addison Albright, Fiona Glass, Lilian Francis, and Ellie Thomas. Every month, we pick a topic and then we blog about it. Check the other blog posts by clicking the RAtR widget in the sidebar, or the links at the bottom of this post.

The RAtR topic for December is Do you have a writing plan for next year?

I’m not the kind of writer who makes detailed wr...

New Release Spotlight: A Christmas Engagement by Ellie Thomas

Thank you so much Nell for having me as your guest blogger today. I’m Ellie Thomas, I write MM Historical Romance and I’m dropping by today to chat about my new release for JMS Books’ Naughty or Nice Christmas call A Christmas Engagement.

When I chose Nice as my theme for this Regency-set Christmas story, I wanted that quality to embody one of my two main characters so that quality would shine through when all looked lost. Of course to engineer that, I had to cause a major crisis, so at the b...

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) or a happy Saturday (if you don’t). In Sweden, our main celebration is today, on Christmas Eve, so as you’re reading this, I’m either stuffing my face full of food (Christmas ham!), drinking glögg (mulled wine), watching Donald Duck (it’s a Swedish thing), or playing with my darling grandbaby.

And I thought, maybe you wanna read a book full of Swedish Christmas traditions today on Christmas Eve? All of the things I ...

M/M Euro Book Banter Advent Calendar

Today’s the day I’m taking over the M/M Euro Book Banter Facebook page for their fun Advent Calendar Event. Come hang out with me!

M/M Euro Book Banter