Shail Rajan's Blog
August 12, 2025
It’s Here! The Summer Breeze Bookshops & Vineyards Is Now Available!
July 21, 2025
NEW RELEASE: The Summer Breeze Bookshops & Vineyards
July 13, 2025
A New Chapter Is Almost Here!
January 27, 2025
10 Authors to Follow on BookBub
Are you on BookBub yet? I love this free service that helps readers discover amazing deals on handpicked recommendations along with real-time updates from their favorite authors! If you'd like to learn more, click HERE.
Whether you're just getting started on BookBub or a long time fan, here are 10 Women's Fiction Authors to follow!
Shail Rajan
C. D'Angelo
Jan Moran
Janis Wildy
Pamela Kelly
Jill Shalvis
Debbie Macomber
Julia Clemens
Jan Karon
Rachel Hanna
November 7, 2024
Action, Adventure, Revenge & Romance - 3 Minutes with Sarah Branson
This week on 3 Minutes with the Author, I was thrilled to welcome midwife turned award winning author Sarah Branson to the show! We chatted about her upcoming release North Country, the latest installment in her PIRATES OF NEW EARTH series. Sarah's stories, featuring airborne pirates and bada$$ women (yes!!!), are filled with everything from action and adventure to revenge and romance. North Country (January 22) follows four remarkable women as they set out on a dangerous mission while searching for their own truth.
Want to discover more unique stories and new authors? Tune in to 3 Minutes with the Author, where I bring you the best in women's fiction in less time than it takes to brew a cup of coffee.
About North Country:
Four women, each with a secret.
None will return from the North Country unchanged.
2372. After floods, fires, famine, pandemics, and war, New Earth is recovering. The pirate nation of Bosch may rely on a burgeoning drug trade to prop up its economy, but it is home to women who dream of change.
Master Commander Kat Wallace is haunted by the violence she’s experienced and doled out, in equal measure. Seizing the opportunity to follow an extraction team to North Country, she’s determined to silence her ghosts.
Carisa Morton’s body is betraying her. As her nerves unravel, independence threatens to slip through her fingers; heading north promises one last adventure.
Sergeant Flossie Porter is hiding her past — and her family fortune — behind another name. Infatuated with her Master Sergeant, Flossie will make any excuse to serve by her side.
Master Sergeant Diamond Miata is a woman on a mission. Beautiful, dangerous, and hungry for power, she won’t hesitate to use the weakness of others to further her cause…
As each woman confronts pain, desire, and betrayal, the barren land they traverse yields an unexpected fruit: the truth.
October 31, 2024
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 3 Minutes with Patti Procopi
Welcome back to 3 Minutes with the Author where I bring you author interviews and the latest in the book world—all in less time than it takes to brew your morning coffee.
This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Patti Procopi who writes her contemporary family dramas that are both heartwarming and heartbreakingly relatable. Patti’s latest release, STOP TALKING, takes readers on an emotional journey through the good, the bad, and the ugly of family relationships. And for for all you mystery fans out there, Patti just announced her upcoming book The Murderer You Know, inspired by a famous true-crime case, which is set to release in early 2025!
Watch the entire episode HERE.
About STOP TALKING
Finally, Rose has found her soulmate, Jack, and is ready to live her best happily-ever-after life. But tragedy strikes in Alaska, where Rose's brother and family live, and soon her world is turned upside down... again. Rose and Jack do the only thing they can: they take their niece, Fern, who has suffered a tremendous loss, home to Virginia.
Fern is adrift, grieving in a strange place with only her wolf-dog for a companion. Her mother is dead and her father is missing. Nothing will ever be the same again, but Rose is doing the best she can for young Fern, even as the temptation of addiction lingers at the edge of her world. Can Fern find her way in this new environment, moving from the wilds of Alaska to the wilds of suburban middle school? And will Rose and Jack survive too, or will they be casualties of an upheaval neither expected?
A deeply moving novel that speaks of the strength of family and the cycle of life, Patti Gaustad Procopi has managed to weave heartfelt emotion into a sweeping family saga that reminds us all of how much we yearn for home.
October 24, 2024
A Lowcountry Beach Read (3 Minutes with Laurie Beach)
This week on 3 Minutes with the Author, I was thrilled to sit down with Lauri Beach, a reporter turned women's fiction writer, about the award winning books in her Crickley Creek series. Laurie’s stories are set against the vibrant backdrop of the Lowcountry in South Carolina, where setting becomes a character in its own right and creates an immersive reading experience. Laurie’s writing blends women's fiction with a touch of romance. Her debut novel, The Firefly Jar, recently won the Maggie Award for Excellence in Fiction.
If you're a fan of Southern beach reads with memorable characters, don’t miss the full episode of my conversation with Laurie Beach. We dive into her inspiration, the making of her Crickley Creek series, and how she brings her settings to life. Watch the entire episode HERE.
Get quick author insights and reading recommendations delivered straight to your inbox and find your next favorite book in less time than it takes to brew your morning coffee by subscribing to my newsletter.
About THE FIREFLY JAR
Welcome to Crickley Creek, where dreams are encouraged—as long as they fit within the proper rules of etiquette.
Sweet Charlotte Sinclair has no idea that "bless your heart" is the same as "screw you"—and she’s about to find out the hard way. After her mother’s death, Charlotte moved from free-wheeling California to her mother’s tiny hometown in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, longing to feel closer to her and searching for closure.
Charlotte loves her status as a popular coffee shop owner and is enjoying her budding romance with local hero Will Rushton more than she’d like to admit. So why is she still struggling to find acceptance within the Crickley Creek community? There’s a secret nestled among the plantation homes and Spanish moss-covered oaks—a truth her mother’s arch rival will do anything to hide.
And if Charlotte doesn’t learn how to overcome the damage some well-placed gossip can do to her reputation, she might lose everything, including her rose-colored memories of her mother. But is it possible for an outsider to belong in the deep South and still remain true to her own roots?
October 18, 2024
Remember the Ladies (3 Minutes with Libby Carty McNamee)
This week on 3 Minutes with the Author, I was thrilled to talk with Libby Carty McNamee, author of the historical fiction series REMEMBER THE LADIES that brings to life real women from pivotal moments in American history.
From Susanna Bolling’s brave Revolutionary War mission to Dolly Madison’s iconic role during the War of 1812, Libby's writing process includes research conducted between the pages of history books and on the same streets her heroine's walked. Her passion for history is both palpable and infectious!
If you want to discover history in a fresh and engaging way, don’t miss the full episode of my conversation with Libby, where we explore how she brings history to life through the eyes of remarkable women. Watch the entire episode HERE.
Get quick author insights and reading recommendations delivered straight to your inbox and find your next favorite book in less time than it takes to brew your morning coffee by subscribing to my newsletter.
About SUSANNA's MIDNIGHT RIDE
As the former Colonies struggle for freedom, the American Revolution is in the hands of a brave and resourceful teenage girl. At sixteen, Susanna Bolling is like America in rebellion; she craves independence. While her brothers are off fighting for the Patriots, she longs to do more than tedious household chores and attend spinning bees in sleepy City Point, Virginia. When British General Cornwallis invades her family’s Bollingbrook Plantation, she overhears his secret plan to defeat the Patriots. Much to her shock, she finds herself at the center of the war. Now America’s fight for liberty hinges on her. But can she overcome her mother’s objections, face her own fears, and outwit the famed General and his entire Army?
Based on the TRUE story of revolutionary courage and conviction that’s sure to captivate readers of all ages.
October 17, 2024
FREE Short Story in the Summer Breeze Series!
I have a surprise for you which I’m so excited to share! I took a one week break from writing book 4 in The Summer Breeze series to write a short companion story to the series that popped into my head and demanded to be written. I think you’re going to love it!
This short story will be completely free to anyone who’d like to read it. It’s also a standalone, meaning that you can read it without having read books 1-3 in the series.
If you have read the other books, think of it as a way of reconnecting with Callie until the next book comes out .
To get your free copy, click HERE.
The Summer Breeze Family & Friends
(A FREE Short Story in The Summer Breeze Series)
Callie Williams is back where it all began—her childhood bedroom—unemployed, unengaged, and utterly unsure of where her life is headed. With her career in shambles and a wedding that never was, Callie’s return home could feel like a step backward. But a day spent with her family and an unexpected reunion with an old friend might just change everything. As old memories resurface and new possibilities arise, will Callie find her true purpose? Or will she remain stuck in the past?
October 11, 2024
Partners in Crime & An Occasional Scandal (3 Minutes with Nancy Yeager)
This week, I welcome contemporary women's fiction and historical romance writer Nancy Yeager to 3 Minutes with the Author to talk about her most recent release WHEN WE WERE FRIENDS. The story explores the complexities of friendship and nostalgia as two women confront their past and the choices that shaped their lives. Nancy is also the author of the Harrow's Finest Five series which feature smart women, sexy men and the occasional scandal in Victorian England (spice level 3!).
Watch the entire episode HERE.
Do you want to discover new authors and find your next favorite read in less time than it takes to boil an egg? Check out my free, bite-sized interview series 3 Minutes with the Author! Subscribe to my newsletter to have the episodes delivered straight to your inbox!
About WHEN WE WERE FRIENDS
They were best friends. Sisters of the heart. Partners in crime. Until they got caught…
Five years ago, Frannie Willets committed grand larceny to help her best friend, Lexi Maddox, escape an awful situation. Now paroled and prospectless, Frannie needs to disappear from her dead-end life. To do so, she’ll need her share of the stolen money that Lexi has been hiding all these years. But Lexi has other plans.
By all appearances, Lexi is thriving, but in truth, nothing in her life is going according to plan. She can’t carry a pregnancy to term, her sweet stepdaughter hates her, and even the family’s new rescue dog knows she’s a failure. Lexi’s only path to happiness is making amends with the friend she dearly misses. But the only thing Frannie wants from Lexi is cash.
Out of desperation, Lexi offers Frannie all the money, with one catch: Frannie must stick around for one month. Stranded in their suffocating small town, Frannie gets tangled up in Lexi’s issues, her mother’s questionable dating life, a lonely kid’s desperate attempts to find friends, and a high-school crush’s fantasies about what could have been. Suddenly, leaving doesn’t look as easy as it once did. But when an old enemy surfaces, Frannie realizes her staying endangers everyone she loves. And even though she might have found her heart’s true home, there’s no guarantee she can keep it.
