Kelly Jamieson's Blog, page 8
February 5, 2020
Reading order
Google tells me that one of the most common search terms that brings people to my website is “Kelly Jamieson reading order.”
If you’ve come to look for the reading order of my series, I don’t have a specific list anywhere, but on my “Series” page you’ll see all my series and the books in each series are listed in order, left to right. All these books can be read as standalones, but if you like to read a series in order, there you go!
February 4, 2020
January 28, 2020
RELEASE DAY FOR FIRECRACKER!
WARNING: NOT A HOCKEY ROMANCE, LOL
But never worry, this book still has all the heat and humor, heart and hookups you’d expect from my books. In FIRECRACKER, a hot, protective (overprotective?) firefighter reunites with his teenage crush—his best friend’s older sister, the perfect prom queen whose life isn’t so perfect…
AMAZON | B&N | APPLE | KOBO | GOOGLEArden Lennox’s charmed life may be in pieces, but she’d sooner get her hoohaw bleached than move back in with her parents. She’s no longer the prom-queen princess married to the football star. She’s a broke, penniless widow, and it’s time she stood on her own two feet.
An under-construction unit in a quaint Chicago brownstone is cheap (free), but it comes with an unexpected surprise. Tyler Ramirez, her brother’s gawky high school best friend, is now a smoking hot firefighter who spends most of his spare time in her unit hammering, drilling, and screwing. Usually with his shirt off—a temptation she has no intention of indulging.
Tyler can’t believe his high school crush is living right across the hall, or how fast his fierce lust for her comes blazing back. She’s still gorgeous—a little sadder, a little quieter, but still with the amazing smile and sweet body that fueled his awkward teenage fantasies.
Despite her best intentions, Arden can’t resist grown up Tyler but the sparks between them send her into full retreat. And by the time she realizes the heat between them could last a lifetime, it could be too late to tell him…
January 7, 2020
December 31, 2019
Happy New Year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It’s the last day of the year, and I just sent a manuscript to my editor and a cover art form to my cover artist, for what will be my June 2020 release — GAME CHANGER (a Wynn Hockey book). It seems like a good time to reflect on the past year - in fact, the past DECADE, as 2019 closes out.
I published my first book in 2009. So it’s been a decade of being a published author for me. My goals as an author have changed over the years. First, it was to see if I could write a book. Then to see if I could get published. When I started making money, I hoped I could make enough that some day I could be a full time writer. Then I did make enough, but things happened in my personal life that stopped that from happening. It took longer than I wanted, but I go into 2020 as a full time author for the first time ever. And that makes me so happy!
I already made a plan for 2020, but typical in this business, it already has to change. I got some great news as the year ends that my publisher Penguin Random House will still be publishing my books! Woop! We’re going to start something new, which I’m working on, so stay tuned.
But that won’t necessarily mean the end of my Wynn Hockey books — see above — I’m self publishing it! Another change and a challenge for 2020!
So I’ll figure out a new plan and I’m excited about it and about sharing more of my stories with all of you
Happy New Year!
December 17, 2019
December 9, 2019
November 29, 2019
Updates!
It’s been a while since I posted updates. I’m going to do better with that because I AM NOW A FULL TIME AUTHOR! Woop!
That’s right, that’s my biggest news. Around the end of October, I left the day job and am now writing full time. I’m in heaven! This is what I’ve wanted my whole life. I’ve come up with an ambitious publishing schedule for next year, let’s hope I can do it!
My other big news is this little girl…she joined our family in early October. This is Penny, now four months old. She is sweet and sassy (a lot sassy, LOL) and so, so cute! She’s keeping me busy, so good thing I only have one job now!
In November, I traveled to Houston for the fabulous Romance Author Mastermind conference. I learned a lot and hung out with my author friends. I love that so much, they really get me! And yes, we did drink a little wine.
Me with Kat Mizera and Tess Thompson
If you’re following my release schedule, I have a surprise! I’m going to squeeze in a release in January, in between Wynn Hockey books. Here are the details:
Arden Lennox’s charmed life may be in pieces, but she’d sooner get her hoohaw bleached than move back in with her parents. She’s no longer the prom-queen princess married to the football star. She’s a broke, penniless widow, and it’s time she stood on her own two feet.
An under-construction unit in a quaint Chicago brownstone is cheap (free), but it comes with an unexpected surprise. Tyler Ramirez, her brother’s gawky high school best friend, is now a smoking hot firefighter who spends most of his spare time in her unit hammering, drilling, and screwing. Usually with his shirt off—a temptation she has no intention of indulging.
Tyler can’t believe his high school crush is living right across the hall, or how fast his fierce lust for her comes blazing back. She’s still gorgeous—a little sadder, a little quieter, but still with the amazing smile and sweet body that fueled his awkward teenage fantasies.
Despite her best intentions, Arden can’t resist grown up Tyler but the sparks between them send her into full retreat. And by the time she realizes the heat between them could last a lifetime, it could be too late to tell him…
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OE3GXq
Apple: http://bit.ly/kjfirecracker
Nook: http://bit.ly/firecrackerN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/firecrackerK
Things I’m loving…
I’m still obsessed with these red wines that are aged in whiskey or bourbon barrels. This is the latest one I’ve tried…
I’ve been listening to this playlist on Spotify a lot…
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/16gXsmg48MdRTqCLNnx9Cu?si=U_V8T-GNR5OKNaV1TYwPFA
And my favorite Bath & Body Works scent is back!
November 19, 2019
WIN BIG now available
It’s FINALLY release day for WIN BIG! I’m so sorry for the delay in getting this book out there, but yay! It’s finally here!
And I’m SO happy because I loved writing this book and you’re going to love it too!
Amazon | B&N | Apple| Kobo | Google
When your name is Wynn, victory’s the only option. . . .
Everly Wynn: As the only daughter in the Wynn family of hockey heroes, I never shared the ice with my brothers—or the approval they got from my father.
And that was before the scandal that ruined my life at sixteen.
Now that I’ve put all that behind me and built a successful career, the last thing I need is another hockey player in my life.
Especially one like Wyatt Bell.
He’s an arrogant, fast-living party boy. I hate how he gets by on his good looks and charm.
So why can’t I get him out of my mind?
Wyatt Bell: Life is short, and you’ve got to live it to the fullest. I learned that the hard way.
So on the ice, I always play to win, and on the town, fun and flirting are my game.
Because it’s better to laugh your way through the pain than to let them see you’re hurting—but I’ll never stop wishing I could find someone to share the real me with.
Something about Everly Wynn makes me think she could be the one.
But all she sees is a hockey jock hooked on good times.
If she didn’t take herself so seriously, maybe she would take a chance on being happy.
Everly is a special character for me, and I love Wyatt for his struggle – he is truly a hero.
August 28, 2019
Can you still love someone who did bad things?
I have been struggling for weeks now about something that is happening in Romancelandia and how to deal with it.
Someone I worked with who I liked and respected professionally has recently been the subject of a lot of scrutiny, of both her present and past behaviour. My struggle is multi-faceted—how to reconcile the person I thought I knew with her beliefs and the actions she took; how to be an ally to authors of colour and maintain a relationship with this person; do I want to maintain a relationship with this person? Should I speak up or stay out of it? I'm not impacted personally, but what kind of ally am I if I stay quiet? And the uncomfortable realization that staying quiet is using (abusing) my privilege when others have been hurt.
Can you still care about someone who did bad things?
To try to understand my feelings, I read articles about how women were feeling after men they knew and loved were accused of sexual assault. Experts referred to this as a "secondary trauma", since these women weren't harassed or assaulted, but they experienced a deep sense of betrayal by someone they cared about. Now, it's not exactly the same thing—I don't "love" this individual; we were not especially close, and no longer have even a professional relationship, but I do like her and I'm grateful for the support she's given my career. Her behaviour wasn't violent, but it was hurtful. And I learned that these women felt the same kinds of things I'm feeling now, and I gained some insights.
I learned that it's important not to make excuses for the person's behaviour.
I could talk about my own positive experiences working with this person—but that's irrelevant. What matters right now are the people who've been hurt by her actions.
We could consider how society was different in past decades, where African American romance authors had their books shelved in the "African American" section of bookstores, rather than romance. We can't blame one person for that; we can't change the past. But we can acknowledge that was wrong, and unquestionably hurt Black romance authors. We can apologize for that. We can do better.
I also learned we shouldn’t put their actions into a hierarchy of badness. Yes, this wasn't violent behaviour against other people, but it did negatively impact other people. So trying to put this on a scale of 1 to heinous racism doesn't matter. Trying to figure "what's worse—this or that?" can minimize the actions or even deny them.
I'm a member of RWA and we recently went through a painful examination of how past actions have hurt authors of color and LGBTQ authors. I learned so much from that intense discussion, and as uncomfortable as that was for many of us, it had to happen. It hurts and it's hard and it's ugly. We discovered awful things about people we respected, people we admired and looked up to as role models. We may have learned some painful things about ourselves. But this difficult conversation is necessary for us to move forward and be better. People must be held accountable for their actions.
So…can you still care about someone who did bad things? Someone’s whose beliefs are profoundly different than yours?
I would like to believe so. The world needs more caring and empathy. I write about love. I believe in the power of love.
One of the articles I read offered an opinion from experts that "The best chance of saving a relationship is if a person offers a sincere apology both to the victims and secondary victims, is generally remorseful and works to make amends to the people they’ve hurt."
This is what I need. I need to see acknowledgement of the hurts that were done. I need to see contrition. I need to see remorse. I need to see an honest effort to make amends.
I apologize for staying silent so long. It often takes me time to process things, and my inner conflicts and fears paralyzed me until I put my fingers to the keyboard to write about my feelings. I'm trying to learn and do better.
