Ev Bishop's Blog
February 18, 2021
Something Old - a NEW read for you!
How do you find the strength to start again?
Madeline’s world caves in when her husband, daughter, and sister are ripped away in one fell swoop.
Trapped in a limbo of grief and loneliness, she realizes that to survive, she needs to fight her way back to some kind of life.
She throws her belongings into storage, sells her house, and heads to a new-to-her small town. There she invests every dime she has to open what had been her and her daughter’s shared dream: an upscale secondhand, consignment, and upcycling store. It has to work, or else—No. She can’t think about that. It has to work.
The birth of Madeline’s heart-healing Second Chance Shop is not without pain. And the clock is ticking on whether the shop can support her. Still, she is floored to find things she’d lost hope of ever experiencing again: laughter, dear friends—including a fat, slightly cantankerous cat and a distinguished old yellow lab—and surprising moments of joy.
She even has a second chance for love.
If she’s brave enough—and if she can come to terms with her loss, shed her guilt, and fully embrace living.
If you enjoy emotionally compelling stories about family relationships, women’s friendships, romance for women over forty, and the pets who bring us so much joy, you’re going to love The Second Chance Shop, a brand-new small-town contemporary romance series about overcoming heartbreak, starting over later in life, and finding home again. . . .
September 30, 2020
FREE series starter!
It's FREE wherever eBooks are sold. I hope you enjoy it immensely and fall in love with the characters and setting the way I have.
Get your copy from your favorite vendor here: https://books2read.com/WeddingBands
Wishing you very happy reading!
💕 Ev
If you had a second chance with your first love, would you take it?
Ditched by her high school sweetheart, Callum Archer, on the night they're supposed to elope, Jo Kendall casts out on her own, broken-hearted.
Over the years, Jo reels in a life she loves, centered on the outdoors, fishing (favoring a lucky wedding band lure), and her fine dining restaurant—a life that crashes away when her husband and business partner cheats her, leaving her bankrupt and alone.
Then her uncle dies, bequeathing Jo and her sister, Samantha, his rural property. Jo returns to Greenridge, determined to build a new business and permanent home without a man's help. Unfortunately, Samantha wants her inheritance in cold, hard cash and hires a lawyer to get it for her, a lawyer who turns out to be none other than Jo's long-lost love, Callum.
Jo's fledgling plans—and her heart—are in danger once more.
If Jo can fight her insecurities and see through the big lies of someone close to her, she might end up with a wedding band that doesn't come with a sharp hook. But can she risk everything she's worked for, yet again?
August 31, 2020
SOUL SISTERS AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN LODGE
This is a FREE prologue novella to introduce you to the wonderful characters in our connected Christmas series, releasing in October, SOUL SISTERS AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN LODGE.
You'll meet Maddie, the woman, who struggling with a tragic loss and grief opens her heart and home to four foster girls. The girls, range in age from eight to fifteen and are all suffering their own heartbreaks.
It's the perfect story to remind us that even when things look bleak, there is hope.
Read it today and get ready for the release of the other books in the series. The next book releases on October 1 and every week thereafter in October.
Christmas Kisses
Christmas Wishes
Christmas Hope
Christmas Dreams
Christmas Rings
In the meantime, pop over and join me and all the other authors in our private Facebook Group, Soul Sisters Book Chat. We'll be interacting with our readers there and you'll be able to learn more about our inspiration and characters. https://www.facebook.com/groups/souls...
Also, we'll be kicking off our series with a fun-filled party on September 24th, but only in our Soul Sisters Book Chat Facebook Group. You won't want to miss it! Here's a link to the event in GR for more information. https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...
I hope to see you there!
Until then, very happy reading!
:) Ev
August 25, 2020
Soul Sisters Book Chat wants you!
I'm very excited to announce a brand new Internet hot spot - LOL! - and a new adventure for me: https://www.facebook.com/groups/souls...
Author friends Tammy L. Grace, Author, Violet Howe, Judith Keim, and Tess Thompson Author have started Soul Sisters Book Chat, a cozy little spot for us to meet with kindred spirits and talk *everything books* (my favorite thing!) and other cheering stuff.
If you're looking for a safe, fun place to relax and decompress (and find new books to read and potential friends), Soul Sisters Book Chat is for you. I hope you'll join! 💕 https://www.facebook.com/groups/souls...
August 21, 2020
Super deal alert!
I’m incredibly grateful to the kind readers who enjoy my stories and describe them as “full of humor, love and wisdom,” set in places “where breathtaking scenery and the magic of love are the best medicine for the soul.” If you’re unfamiliar with my books, now is a great time to get introduced! My River’s Sigh B & B Box set, Vol. 1 - 4, is on sale everywhere right now for just .99 cents—but only until August 30. I hope you’ll check it out!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rivers-Sigh-Vo...
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/river-s...
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/d...
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rive...
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id14...
August 9, 2020
A brand new small town contemporary romance series! My favorite!
Just a few weeks ago it was Christmas in July. Are you someone that celebrates July 25 with family and friends? I use it as an excuse to treat myself to a small present (Surprise: It's usually a book! You're shocked, I know.), but that's about it. In my family, however, it is historically a big deal.I have a large family, especially by today's standards. There were six of us kids growing up, two of whom were foster sisters who joined us a whopping 36 years ago!
The other side of their family, the "blood" side, used July 25 as a sort of informal reunion every year. One of my sisters' aunts has lake property, and family upon family would show up with camping trailers, motorhomes, tents, you name it. There would be a Christmas tree, a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and a gift exchange. (It got started because the area we live in has extreme winters, and December roads are hazardous. "Christmas" in July created a fun reason for a big get together during an easier-to-travel time, plus allowed people to still do their regular Christmas with their smaller family units.)
Was I jealous of my sisters' jolly summer celebration? Oh, yes, LOL. It sounded so fun! (Sadly, the COVID-grinch kiboshed this year's event.)
Anyway, my relationship with my sisters (three total), and how fortunate I am to have them, has been on my mind the past weeks as release season for an exciting, long-in-the-works multi-author project draws near. (I call it a "season" because it will be six books in two months. Woot woot!)
While the stories are complete fiction, the premise that kicks off the series—how four unconnected girls and an amazing woman and her mom find each other and become family—is very near and dear to my heart and to my personal experience.
Let me present to you (with much happy noise and fanfare!), SOUL SISTERS AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN LODGE.
Each book is up for pre-order and the prologue story, Book 1, CHRISTMAS SISTERS will be free. Whoohoo! Consider it a belated Christmas in July gift. (It shows as .99, but will be 0.00 before release day and any preorders will pay the lower price.)
Christmas Sisters
Christmas Kisses
Christmas Wishes
Christmas Hope
Christmas Hope
Christmas Rings
May 20, 2020
The Monster—er, ART—of Marketing and Promotion from a Small Town
Calling all writers: join me for an online marketing workshop!
When: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. PST Sunday, May 24, 2020
Where: Online, via Zoom.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a rural writer in possession of good ideas just wants to write*—and that’s a completely legitimate way to live your creative life. If you also have dreams (needs?) of eating regularly, heating your home above freezing, or buying shoes occasionally and you don’t have a kind benefactor, however, at some point you need to find people who want to read (aka buy) your work.
The very words marketing and promotion tend to sicken the gut of even the most introverted stalwart author. They don’t need to. There are ways to find your unique readers, build your brand (Gag! Doesn’t that sound horrific and money grubbing?! Don’t worry, I’ll try to de-horrify it. 
April 3, 2020
I’m “booking” regular getaways. How about you?
Like a lot of you, my husband and I are self-isolating these days and feeling pretty housebound. It’s harder on him than on me because he’s more social than I am, plus he’s not a reader. (I know. The HORROR. I feel so badly for him. Not joking!)
I’ve always read a lot (at least two novels a week, usually more), so reading a lot these days is . . . not a change. The consistency of my “schedule” is very comforting, not to mention entertaining, happy sigh giving, educational, etc., etc. etc. I may not be leaving my house much, but I’m traveling all over the place via books and enjoying every type of getaway and fun (or thrilling!) escape you can imagine. 
March 8, 2020
Happy International Women’s Day!
Hello and happy March 8th, AKA International Women’s Day 2020!
I have to admit that I recently searched “How long has there been an International Women’s Day?” online because while it’s a day that gains greater significance for me with every year that passes, I don’t recall ever hearing about it as a younger woman or as a kid. Apparently that’s just the circles I lived and grew up in, however (something . . . interesting to me for a lot of reasons, in and of itself). It’s been around for over 100 years.
Anyway, the best site I came across is called (very cleverly, LOL!) InternationalWomensDay.com. I heartily recommend checking it out and (especially!) sharing any of the tidbits that interest you with kids in your life. Recognizing International Women’s Day, honoring it, talking about it, celebrating it, is not a slight to men or an attempt to denigrate them in anyway; it is about starting to address how much (and for how long) history failed to acknowledge women’s personhood and our contributions to the world (and, sadly, often still does). We’ve all heard and learned lots about male inventors, male pioneers-in-various-fields, male explorers, male artists, male authors (and so on and so on), and that’s wonderful because the things people have done are inspiring and great to learn from, regardless of their gender. But it’s really important to see opportunities for your own unique self, as fuel, fodder and motivation for your personal dreams, inclinations, talents and strengths. If you’ve never seen or heard about someone like you doing a particular thing, it’s difficult (maybe even impossible) to even understand it’s an option for you.
And on a personal note, if you’re a woman reading this, I encourage you to do something special, even if it’s very small, to celebrate YOU and the hard work that you do, the dreams (secret or “out there”) that you nurture, and the things you’ve overcome. 
February 13, 2020
Thoughts on completing my first book series and life
I spent much of January brainstorming and planning, tasks I always find slightly amusing because I “map” my new year every year, but then, pretty much without fail my well-laid plans run amuck because, well . . . squirrel! That said, even knowing much of what I dream or schedule may change, the time spent looking back—and imagining what might lie ahead—felt extra special this year because for the first time in a long time, I’m looking at the start of a brand new series, and that’s not only exciting. It feels symbolic.
The last “official”* River’s Sigh B & B novel (The Catch, Book 8) launched on January 9, and as I think back on the process of writing this series—what I went through and experienced book by book, chapter by chapter, heck, sometimes paragraph by paragraph—I am struck by how it’s a little like looking back at life.
Knowing what I know now, are there things I would’ve done differently? Oh yes.
Was there heartbreak and indecision and self-doubt a plenty? Absolutely. So much at times that I didn’t always know for sure that I wouldn’t just . . . give up.
Did I screw some things up and make some embarrassing mistakes? Uh huh, for sure—though thankfully, with help from people close to me—I rectified the most serious problems. (Or so I hope, LOL!)
During the writing of pretty much every book, I hit a place before it was finished where I felt I’d totally lost my way and that it was hopeless, that I’d never be able to muddle my way out. When that happened, I went for long walks and had big talks (whine fests!) with a few trusted souls—but I persevered. Eventually, as I tiptoed along in the dark, a light would suddenly go on. The way through would be perfectly clear—so clear that I wondered why on earth I hadn’t seen it before.
But the biggest takeaway from completing River’s Sigh B & B (which also echoes life) is that even if it was excruciatingly difficult at times or brought up painful things or my nerve threatened to fail me, there was simultaneously so much joy and laughter and growth (for me, not just my characters!) in the process, so many moments I’d never change for anything. So much fun.
I can’t share a lot of details about my new series yet (because they’re still coming together in my own head)—but even that feels fitting. After all, whoever truly knows how the future will unfold? But eeeei! I’m excited to see what the next chapters of life and writing hold.
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