Cathy Lamb's Blog, page 2
August 10, 2025
20 Years Ago it Seemed Hopeless
20 years ago I almost gave up on writing books.
There had been too many rejections from agents and editors.
Not for weeks or months.
For YEARS.
Becoming a published writer seemed absolutely hopeless. Eventually I thought there was a greater chance that I would turn into a tiny fairy with sparkling wings.
Read more on my FREE Substack newsletter…
July 22, 2025
A Little Music, a New(ish) Book
Hello everyone,
Click on my video below for a little music, and a little information about my new book, “I’m Not Yours.”
Super summer reading, happy ending, funny at times…
July 20, 2025
Happy Summer Reading
Hello everyone! Happy summer reading to you!
I just wanted to let you know that “Ruthie Deschutes O’Hara Has Ulterior Motives” and “Ten Kids, Two Lovebirds, and a Singing Mermaid,” are now on Kindle Unlimited in case you need a summer read! 
Here’s what they’re about…
RUTHIE DESCHUTES O’HARA HAS ULTERIOR MOTIVES:
A hilarious, touching story about love…at any age.
Ruthie Deschutes O’Hara is 70 years old. Her huge family, eccentric and rebellious, owns a popular tequila business in central Oregon, which they run off “the homestead.”
A retired English teacher who loves books, Ruthie has been widowed for five years. Her beloved late husband and she used to watch a reality TV dating show called “Marry Me,” along with their dignified old dogs, curious cats, snorting pig, and scary rabbit who sometimes screams.
The “grooms” on “Marry Me” had the intellectual capabilities of grunting cavemen, according to Ruthie, as they dated the “brides,” and yet, the show was oddly entertaining.
But Ruthie has a big problem that needs to be solved in a creative way. She decides to do something daring. Something out of character. Something…outrageous.
She will become a contestant on a new “Marry Me” for seniors! She’ll compete for a groom, along with two dozen other “mature” brides.
She has no interest in the groom, that would be ridiculous. She’s not looking to fall in love again, that would be silly. Good heavens, she’s certainly not looking to wed the man, but if she was chosen for “Marry Me,” she could probably solve her perplexing problem. All would then be well again…
Ruthie Deschutes O’Hara has ulterior motives.
She is not going on “Marry Me” for the right reasons.
She is not prepared for what happens next.
+++++
TEN KIDS, TWO LOVEBIRDS, and a SINGING MERMAID:
Set in Huntington Beach, California in 1979, the O’Briens and Rossis become next door neighbors and life is never the same again.
July 2019
Jesse O’Brien receives the phone call she never wanted and never expected. Her frightened sister, Joyce, tells her, “She’s missing.”
June 1979
On the day Jesse’s mother’s marriage fell apart, her face was slathered in snow-white cold cream, everything but her mouth and small circles around her eyes covered. She wore a plastic cap to dye a few gray hairs snaking through her thick brown waves and a pink polyester housedress.
Annie O’Brien, usually calm and cheerful, is livid as her husband tells her he’s leaving her and their five children for a woman who looks like Barbie.
Stunned, Jesse follows her furious parents outside as her father loads his suitcases into his Alfa Romeo and her mother loads a pie into her hand and heaves it at her father then waters his face with a hose.
When the dust settles, the Alfa Romeo roaring down the street, the cold cream now mixed with cherry pie filling, the shattered O’Brien family meets the Rossi family who have just moved in next door: Tommy, a Vietnam vet who looks like a motorcycle gang leader; his sister, Liliana, who believes she’s a mermaid; and Tommy’s five kids. They are mildly surprised at the family drama, but eager to get to know their exciting new neighbors.
Five kids plus five kids equals ten, and the adventures begin with an ending no one saw coming.
Inspired by Cathy Lamb’s childhood, TEN KIDS TWO LOVEBIRDS, AND A SINGING MERMAID is a funny, sweet story about life changing pies and Slip ‘N Slides, swearing parrots and sunny days, and mending aching hearts…together.
BOTH BOOKS ONLY AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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July 10, 2025
Need a summer read?
I bet you need a book that will make you smile.
And laugh.
And take you away from life.
I have one for ya.
Only on Amazon: https://shorturl.at/MtRHH
July 8, 2025
For Women who Need Wine, a Bubble Bath, and a Break…
Click on the link to see my new article on Substack about my book I’m Not Yours.
I chat about the two novellas, June’s Lace and The Apple Orchard, how women can wear cool glasses in a bubble bath, balance wine on their stomachs, and how cackling like a witch helped me to write my latest stories.
https://cathylamb.substack.com/p/my-newish-book-is-out-today
Happy reading to all!
My New(ish) Book is out TODAY!
Need two entertaining summer romances?
My new(ish) book, “I’m Not Yours,” is out TODAY. The two modern love stories, “June’s Lace” and “The Apple Orchard” were written for women who need wine, a bubble bath, and a break.
Oh, and a few laughs.
Only on Amazon: https://shorturl.at/BtFnQ
A little info on these two novellas…
THE APPLE ORCHARD
Allie Pelletier was fired from her executive position at a fancy clothing chain after her boss, a difficult and deranged woman, threw her Manolo Blahnik shoes at her head.
Allie was relieved as her seventy-hour work weeks were exhausting. She caught the shoes and headed out. She sold her condo in a flash and moved to the old farmhouse and apple orchard that her estranged late father left her, along with a menagerie of funny pets.
When Spunky Joe the horse accidentally kicked her, Allie landed in the emergency room.
When Dr. Jace Rios, the love of her life she pushed away years ago, walked in, she ingloriously fainted at his feet.
And there we begin. Two people must overcome a painful history and buried secrets to be together again.
With a little apple pie, it just might work.
(SHHH. BIG secret: It does work! But this is a romance story so you knew that.)
JUNE’S LACE
June MacKenzie is a wedding dress designer living in a charming blue cottage on a cliff above the Oregon Coast. Her dresses are eccentric and daring – a black leather and white lace dress for a motorcycle enthusiast, a dress filled with tiny white lights for a bride who loves fireflies.
June is positive she will never design her own wedding dress because she’s going through a mind-numbing divorce. Her soon to be ex-husband is a controlling vermin-man who has decided he wants part of her business. She would rather be hit by lightning.
But when June is knocked over by a sneaker wave and rescued by a sincere and steamy-hot country music songwriter, she knows she’s been knocked over by more than just water.
Amidst planning her sister’s wedding with her hilarious, eccentric family, can she learn to trust the singing cowboy in front of her?
(SPOILER ALERT! Yes, she can!)
*** Eons ago, almost in the time of castles, knights, and yore, June’s Lace was previously printed in Beach Season and The Apple Orchard was previously printed in You’re Still the One.
July 4, 2025
Happy Fourth of July!
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
We’re having a BBQ with friends, then my neighborhood will sound like it’s exploding, and next I’ll settle in to read a book.
Wishing you a joyful day.
PS My new(ish) book “I’m Not Yours,” with two novellas, is out next week!
June 29, 2025
Merry Summer
Editing my Christmas book, today. It’s going to be a loooong few months.
I shall need some magic from Mrs. Claus, help from Rudolph, and an elf or too.
Wishing you a Merry Summer.
June 26, 2025
I’m Not Yours
Greetings! I’M NOT YOURS is out in a few days, I think, probably, hoping…Here’s what the two novellas, The Apple Orchard and June’s Lace, are about…
The Apple Orchard
Allie Pelletier was fired from her executive position at a fancy clothing chain after her boss, a difficult and deranged woman, threw her Manolo Blahnik shoes at her head. Allie was relieved as her seventy-hour work weeks were exhausting. She caught the shoes and headed out. She sold her condo in a flash and moved to the old farmhouse and apple orchard that her estranged late father left her, along with a menagerie of funny pets. When Spunky Joe the horse accidentally kicks her, Allie lands in the emergency room. When Dr. Jace Rios, the love of her life she pushed away years ago, walks in, she ingloriously faints at his feet. And there we begin. Two people must overcome a painful history and buried secrets to be together again. With a little apple pie, it just might work.
June’s Lace
June MacKenzie is a wedding dress designer living in a charming blue cottage on a cliff above the Oregon Coast. Her dresses are eccentric and daring – a black leather and white lace dress for a motorcycle enthusiast, a dress filled with tiny white lights for a bride who loves fireflies. June is positive she will never design her own wedding dress because she’s going through a mind-numbing divorce. Her soon to be ex-husband is a controlling vermin-man who has decided he wants part of her business. She would rather be hit by lightning. But when June is knocked over by a sneaker wave and rescued by a sincere and steamy-hot country music song writer, she knows she’s been knocked over by more than just water. Alas, she can’t “do” love again, even though Reece likes to dance with her on the sand…
*** Eons ago, almost in the time of castles, knights, and yore, “June’s Lace” was printed in “Beach Season” and “The Apple Orchard” was printed in “You’re Still the One.”
June 24, 2025
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Coming soon….one brand new Christmas novel, one three-novella Christmas collection, and one two-novella romance. Links to follow.
**** Eons ago, almost in the time of castles, knights, and yore, the stories in “WANTED: Christmas Miracles” and “I’m Not Yours” were printed in different anthologies. Hear ye, hear ye, you probably didn’t read them.
