Kat Parrish's Blog, page 2

Easter Sweets List from Chef Jin!

 I am a big fan of the baked goods prepared by Chef Jennifer Pasquill, an award-winning pastry chef who ives in the Pacific Northwest. We know each other in real life and are birthday twins, both of us born on September 12th. (Virgos rule!) 

every year, Jennifer prepares seasonal boxes of sweets you can customize to your taste. She even has gluten-free options (this month it's a yummy coffee cake and her scrumptius candied walnuts.) There's also an "off the menu" option for a small "chef's assortment" of cookies that includes shipping for just $25. 

You will not be disappointed. Everything she makes is incredible.

Here are the two lists of items, plus info you need to order. Get your Easter orders in by March 26 to meet her mailing date. 
And if you're a fan of chocolate truffles (and who isn't?), this is your last chance to order them until weather gets cold again. 
(There is nothing sadder than getting a box of melted chocolate you have to scrape off the waxed paper.)

She'll orovide a tracking number and put in personalized messages if you're sending the sweets as a gift. (She only ships to continental US.)

And if you're a fan of a particular sweet from a previous list, shoot her an email and ask her you can special order anything. (I'm fond of a couple of things that she only has at Christmas, but I know she bakes year 'round.

Spring!

 

In my parents' house, a forsythia hedge separated their back yard from one of our neighbors. It was about five feet high and in spring it was solid yellow. It was always the first thing that bloomed, always just a week or so before the pink and white dogwood trees started to blossom, and about the same time as daffodils and violets. The Pacific Northwest is pretty stunning in all the seasons, but the spring with its apple and cherry blossoms and flowers is one of the best.

Two new logos

 

When I went to 20 Books to 50K in Vegas, everone seemed to have a logo--on their business cards, on their websites, even in front of their books. Everyone was talking about "branding," and it felt like if I didn't have my very own logo, I was going to be left behind.

So I went to my favorite place (Etsy) and commissioned an artist to make me two different logos. One is for my regular books--the Love is in bloom logo, and the other is specifically for my Christmas romances.

Christine Morgan made the designs (for a very fair price), and I could not be happier with them.  She's a star seller and also does book covers. You can find her here.

Years ago, I read a really intersting magazine article (remember print magazines) where the writer had gone to five different people--celebrities and regular people alike--and asked them about their support system--who helped them be their best selves. then the magazine photographed them with their "entourages" and it was everything from their mailmen (who picked up packages sent out by a home business) to massage therapist. I could not exist as a

professional writer if I didn't have a small army of cover designers, my formatter Amit Dey, my various editors and beta readers and general cheerleaders. (My aunt buys all my books!!) 

The entrepreneurs and artisans on Etsy and Fiverr work hard for their money and offer incredible value and deals. I could not do what I do without them. 

A new series from Katherine Moore

 

In addition to my Silver Birch stories, I'm starting a new collection of cozy workplace romances, all with the "enemies to lovers" trope. The series title is: Corporate women. The series kicks off with Lydia from Legal, the tale of a corporate merger and two feuding lawyers who knew each other in high school (#second chance romance) and can't deny their attraction to each other, even though they hate each other.

The series continues with Sara from Systems, Anna from Admin, Rita from R&D, Sofia from Sales, and Faye from Finance. Book Covers Online did Lydia from Legal's cover, Dawn Taylor created the follow up books.

I love vector-based covers for this type of story. I feel like they convey the tone of the story and that they're on the sweeter side of romance. (Although not always. I just read a hilarious spicy romance featuring a southern woman who is in love with a hometown boy who is definitely a bad boy. (It's called Enemies with Benefits by Roxie Noir. Check it out. Noir brings both the snark and the spice and as someone who was brought up in Virginia, the southern stuff really rings true as well. It's one of a series about a family with a bunch of interesting sounding sons.)

It's been fun plotting this series and trying to get in what it's like to work in different departments at a big corporation. Before I went freelance, I had a lot of jobs. (Back in the day, I worked as a temp. Remember Kelly Girls?) I worked at banks. I worked at utility companies. I worked at an insurance cmpany. I worked for government agencies. At one of my temp jobs, all I did, all day long, was type type up purchase orders for various different screws and bits and pieces of hardware needed to make Magnasync movieola machines (which are now virtually obsolete.) I would amuse myself by mentioning that the names of the suppliers sounded like Nordic porn magazines (Benthic Screw is the only one I can remember) and oddly, no one thought that was funny.We got a half hour break for lunch and we started at eight in the morning. I was a long-term temp there and valued because I typed fast. But I burnt out. And when one of my coworkers was killed by a car blowing through the crosswalk on the street in front of the office, I took that as a sign to request another assignment. On the plus side, I met a woman who became one of my closest friends, so there was that.Corporate life has changed in the details since I worked in an office, but some things have stayed the same, even in this post-pandemic age of hybrid workdays and Zoom calls. There are still managers that inside on having staff meetings when the agenda could be covered in an email message. There are still managers who schedule those staff meetings at four o'clock on a Friday afternoon and are very surprised that no one is really paying attention.
There are still horrible "trust building" events and corporate retreats and Christmas parties (command performances, often without significant others). There's office politics. There's ... you get the idea. I think the experience is universal, and hope to make the situations fresh and funny and yes, romantic. 

Pre-order now, out December 12th

 

The Christmas just keeps coming!!! Katherine Moore has got a lot of Christmas stories out this season. In this anthology, she returns to Silver Birch with a story of second-chance romance, "Countdown to Christmas."  You can pre-order it here.

Here's the pitch:  

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺ 𝕲𝖞𝖕𝖘𝖞 𝕻𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘 ༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺ 12 𝕯𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝕺𝖋 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖞 ༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝕹𝖔𝖜: https://books2read.com/12DaysXmas𝕽𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖙𝖊: 12𝖙𝖍 𝕯𝖊𝖈𝕭𝖑𝖚𝖗𝖇𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘 𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖊𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖌𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖘.𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖇𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖌𝖎𝖋𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖚𝖓𝖜𝖗𝖆𝖕 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊?𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘 𝖎𝖘 𝖆 𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖑 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖒𝖘 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖚𝖊 𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖒𝖎𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖕𝖊𝖓 𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖎𝖙 𝖘𝖓𝖔𝖜𝖘.𝕯𝖊𝖑𝖛𝖊 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖎𝖓 𝖆 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖒 𝖍𝖚𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖒𝖊𝖑𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖘 ⁺˚⋆｡°✩ ✸ 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 ✸ 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖: ✸ 𝙺𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚢 ✸ 𝙺𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚢, ✸ 𝙰 ✸ 𝙶𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗, ✸ 𝙺𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚎 ✸ 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚛𝚎, ✸ 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚢 ✸ 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚜 ✸ & ✸ 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎 ✸ 𝙹𝚊𝚢𝚗𝚎 ✸ ✩°｡⋆˚⁺[image error]Available now at your favorite digital store!

And the season begins with Xmas Tales

 In my USA Today bestselling persona of Katherine Moore, I decided to go all in on the Christmas romances this year. The goal is to publish a Christmas novella every day in December. I've been writing the stories all year and I'm excited to get them out into the world.

One thing I've noticed is that certain themes keep surfacing. One is that I write a lot about family. My parents died young and I miss them. My little sister died young too, and I really  miss her. We were eight years apart in age but close in sisterhood. We spent most Christmases together the last decade of her life. 

I also write about heroines and their grandmothers. I was brought up in a three-generation family, with my maternal grandmother living with us for huge swathes of time while my grandfather was in and out of the nearby veterans' hospital. My grandfather was old and rather remote, but my grandmother was very much involved in our lives. And she was a character and a half. I use a bit of her and her various sisters and friends every time I write an older woman. You can purchase it here.

You can also pick up the other stories (all of them bite-sized and available on Kindle Unlimited for your reading enjoyment). 

Available December 4, 2023.

A Cozy Christmas Night

Preorder here.

This is one of two divorced couples/second chance love romances on offer this Christmas. The other is Merry Christmas, Darling, which is one of my Silver Birch stories. 

You can preorder that here.

Probably one of my favorite stories on preorder is Gifts for Christmas, which is a love story, but it's also about a distressed community coming together and providing a lovely winter holiday for all its citizens. This is a story that was first inspired by the loaves and fishes, but also by the children's book Stone Soup. I first learned about that book becuase it was one of the books featured on Captain Kangaroo. I've remembered it all these years. 

Both my grandmothers were award-winning bakers and fine cooks, and during the holidays, they set bountiful tables. I've akways been grateful for that bounty, and as I've gotten older, I have become well aware that too many people are hungry. There are all kinds of giveaways for the holidays, and people are usually generous with their donations to food banks around the season, but people are hungry all year long. I'm lucky in that there's a tiny food pantry near me, so donating is easy. But when I have extra money, I also like to support the work of Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen. 

Upgrade your romance game!

 

Pre-order here!

Join me for a new Silver Birch story.

As the night sky lights up with a dazzling display of fireworks, these stories of unexpected encounters, fiery connections, and smoldering attractions come together to create an unforgettable anthology of summer love.

From sweet and tender moments to passionate fireworks that will set your soul ablaze, these stories capture the essence of summer romance.

Join these Authors as they weave their tales of summer passion and feel the sparks fly off the page!

Get it today!

Authors in this Anthology:

Brigitte Ann Thomas

Vic Leigh

Katherine Moore

M Leigh Morhaime

Rae Goldman

Leanora Cowan

Rose Bak

Cecelia Conway

MacKade

Becca Turner

Sofia Aves

Britney Bell

E.S. McMillan

The best season is here...

 

Magic Discovered is live!

 

Out Now! Available with Kindle Unlimited. 

https://books2read.com/u/m2qraG 

Magic has always remained hidden from the world. That's about to change. 

When magic is revealed, all hell will break loose as humans try to adapt to a world of witches, the fae, orcs, and dragons. Nothing will ever be the same again as they fight for survival against powerful beings with abilities they can only imagine. 

Is this the end for mankind? Or can they learn to live with magic? 

Magic Discovered is a limited collection of urban fantasy and paranormal fantasy stories.

Available now at your favorite digital store!

Get it here.

Available now at your favorite digital store!

Magic Discovered by S. K. Gregory, Kat Gracey, Sarina Langer, Kat Parrish, Kat Gracey and more! 

The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club Book One by Ann Warner

I used to facilitate a mystery book club that was primarily composed of women in their late sixties and seventies. And before we got to the book discussion each month, we often got into a discussion of what they'd suffered under the patriarchy. This book is about women in a retirement home who ALL have stories like that, and they all have pasts, sometimes dark pasts.I loved this book and cannot wait to read the sequels. The characters are women who could be in my friends group. There's the teacher who "took care" of the bully, accidentally paralyzing him but knowing that she saved a lot of other kids pain. There's the woman who hides an original Edward Hopper painting in her room. There's the woman who took up handwriting analysis as a hobby to occupy her retirement. 

 TThe book is free today on Kindle.