Smashwords - Read An Ebook Week

I have great news! 

IT'S THE SMASHWORDS READ AN EBOOK SALE! 

All my books are discounted on Smashwords today through Saturday, March 8. Even better, all book downloads can be read on all readers!

GRANT'S CROSSING ROMANCE 

DON'T CALL ME SUGAR - Don’t Call Me Sugar is a slow-burn, Grant’s Crossing Romance - where family and friends mean everything, and happily-ever-afters are guaranteed.

HEROES OF GRANT'S CROSSING SERIES (Contemporary military fiction / drama)

Book 1: WAYWARD GUILT (This book will make you cry. Keep some tissues handy.) 

Three friends leave home to serve their country. Only two make it back. 

What do you do when your best friend is no longer there? 

Book 2: SAFE NOW (This book will make you angry!) 

Some secrets can't be kept. 

Some people can't be protected. 

Some brothers can't be stopped.

How far would you go to protect your family?

Book 3: END OF A NEW LIFE (Pre-order - Coming Summer 2025) 

A troubled veteran.

    An abandoned home.

        Some repairs take time.

So, which one will you pick up this week? Or should I ask, which series? 

Take care, and happy reading! 

 - Heather 

A strong-willed bookstore owner - a smokin' hot firefighter - and three flirty septuagenarians. 

What more could you ever need? 

Don’t Call Me Sugar is a slow-burn, Grant’s Crossing Romance - where family and friends mean everything, and happily-ever-afters are guaranteed.

Don't Call Me Sugar is available wherever books are sold online. If it's not already there, you can request it at your local library in paperback and digital for Libby and Hoopla.

Get your copy today!

Add to your Goodreads TBR

Haven’t yet read Wayward Guilt, Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 1? 

No problem. Click here to find it in print and digital on Libby / Hoopla or wherever books are sold online.

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Join my Leaux Cay Readers on Facebook

Pride 2023 - Books and Authors Day 13 - Wrath

Hello and welcome to Day 13 of 30 Days of Pride - Books and Authors! 

For Pride Month 2023, I’m sharing some of the fabulous books and authors I’ve discovered featuring LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly characters or written by LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly authors. 

Sometimes you just need a good cry. Yeah, sure. Maybe it's a girl thing. Whatever. 

Sometimes though, you may need a good cry, but damn if you don't end up getting the most heartwrenching ugly cry that you feel the life draining right out of you. Sometimes you need to let the pent-up emotions that have been simmering a little bit below the surface explode to the point where you're left absolutely spent as if nothing is left within you to go on.

Wrath.

Wrath by Ellis James is what will give you the most gutwrenching ugly cry you can imagine. It's the horrible story of abuse to a young gay man being forced to undergo conversion therapy, and my god is it awful. 

The story is technically a romance. A dark romance, but a romance all the same, which means that, by definition, it has a happy ending. So yes. It has a happy ending for the boy, along with a message that no matter what is tried, no matter who a person is, no matter who that person loves, that person is who - they - are. They can never be changed, no matter how cruel your methods.

This is a great book. Sure - it's too long, especially in the first half, but damn if I didn't bawl my eyes out in the second half. People can be cruel. Fortunately, in this book, love won out. 

Learn more about Ella James' books at Goodreads. Wrath can be found on Amazon.

Take care, and happy reading!

- Heather 

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Pre-order your e-Copy of WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1! (Print version will be available for pre-order in early July.)

AMAZON - KOBO - BARNES & NOBLE - APPLE

Find me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Follow me on Facebook

Pride 2023 - Books and Authors Day 11 - Happy Birthday Grant's Crossing!!

Hello and welcome to Day 11 of 30 Days of Pride - Books and Authors! 

For Pride Month 2023, I’m sharing some of the fabulous books and authors I’ve discovered featuring LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly characters or written by LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly authors. 

Hey friends - so I'm engaging in a bit of self-indulgence this weekend. Yesterday, I introduced you to two LGBTQ couples in my book, WAYWARD GUILT Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1, and today... well - I'd like to celebrate Grant's Crossing's birthday! 

This may not be an LGBTQ-specific post, but trust me, I don't limit sharing great LGBTQ books and authors to June. I'll be back with another post featuring terrific stories and authors tomorrow for Day 12!

Grant's Crossing likes chocolate, too. 

Three years ago today, I was a month into reading romance novels - something I started while I was furloughed from work after the lockdown started. I'd read about six or so novels by this time, with the 5th and 6th being pretty awful. What did I do? I complained about it to my mom. Hey - I'm the kid. She's the mom. It's what we do. 

So how did Mom respond? "Write your own romance novel." 

Huh?

So this is what I came up with that night. I had no idea about a storyline or anything. Aside from a handful of romance novels, I'd been reading tons and tons of cozy mysteries, so I used that as a framework for brainstorming. Light stories that are fun, filled with likable characters, a small-town setting, female business owners, gotta have a detective in there somewhere... yep. Got it. 

Small town? Check. 

Quirky characters? Check. 

Good story? Check.

I'm not a visual artist (See? I'm self-aware), but this is what I came up with. 

So with all this in mind, happy ending, light, beach read, etc... I wrote my first scene. 

What was it, you ask? Heh heh heh.

In a nutshell, it was a scene on an overcast day where an ambulance with two paramedics pulled up to an abandoned industrial complex only to find a barely-old-enough-to-drive kid hanging out the side of an old car, apparently overdosing on opioids. From a 2nd story window inside the dilapidated factory, a young girl watched from above through dirty windows. After the ambulance drove away with her friend, she returned outside and ran home as the rain began to fall. 

Spoiler alert - the kid in the car makes it and will appear in a later book. 

The two paramedics? They became Derek Mitchell and Kiro Marinov (Pronounced like Hero with a K and Marine + off). Derek's the main character in Wayward Guilt. As for Kiro, you meet him in this book but get to know him better in subsequent books like Safe Now, Warm Drink on a Cold Day, and End of a New Life. 

This is my second attempt at creative writing, with the first being a total fluke - The Weaving Loom - a short story I wrote while serving in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria. My only question is why the heck did I not start writing earlier in my life? I absolutely love writing and bringing these characters to life. 

I hope you love these stories and characters, too! 

Take care, and happy reading!

- Heather 

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Pre-order your e-Copy of WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1! (Print version will be available for pre-order in early July.)

AMAZON - KOBO - BARNES & NOBLE - APPLE

Find me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Follow me on Facebook

Wayward Guilt - COVER REVEAL!

WELCOME TO GRANT'S CROSSING, OHIO!! 

I love my cover!  

THANK YOU COVER CULTURE / Kylie Sek for the gorgeous cover! 

WAYWARD GUILT is the first book in my HEROES OF GRANT'S CROSSING series and is available for pre-order today! (My goal is at least 100 pre-orders by July 25!) 

AMAZON

APPLE

BARNES & NOBLE

KOBO

(Paperback pre-orders will be available in early July)

If you're on Goodreads, you can go ahead and add WAYWARD GUILT to your Want-to-Read shelf! (I'd be grateful if you did!)

⭐️ Small town
🇺🇸 Friendship
⭐️ Service 
🇺🇸 Loss & Grief
⭐️ First loves
🇺🇸 Family
⭐️ MM Romance
🇺🇸 Honor

Three friends leave home to serve their country. Only two make it back.

After the twin towers fall, Derek Mitchell enlists in the U.S. Army with two of his best friends. He dreams of helping people, whether in the field of combat or back home in Ohio.

Juan dreams of marrying his high school sweetheart and starting a family.

Joey dreams of being happy and living his own truth.

Together, they serve in multiple deployments until Juan and Joey are each grievously injured in separate combat missions. Thirteen years after initially enlisting, one doesn’t make it back.

Four months after the funeral, friends and family gather to celebrate Derek’s return to civilian life. With each story shared, he relives their final missions together, carrying the guilt of having saved one friend but not the other.

What do you do when the one friend you’ve always turned to is no longer there?

CW: This book contains on-page domestic violence, combat and combat deaths, on-page adult scenes, suicide attempt.

Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 2 will be out in 2024. 

Happy reading! 

Heather - a.k.a. H.M.S. Brown 

Follow and friend me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook to learn how you can join my Leaux Cay ARC team!

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Wayward Guilt - Available for Pre-order

Hello! 

WAYWARD GUILT is available for pre-order! Click any of these links to pre-order the eBook for $2.99.

AMAZON

APPLE

BARNES & NOBLE

KOBO

(Paperback pre-orders will be available in early July)

If you're on Goodreads, you can go ahead and add WAYWARD GUILT to your Want-to-Read shelf! (I'd be grateful if you did!)

This is my debut novel and I can't wait for all of you to read it! 

⭐️ Small town
🇺🇸 Friendship
⭐️ Service 
🇺🇸 Loss & Grief
⭐️ First loves
🇺🇸 Family
⭐️ MM Romance
🇺🇸 Honor

Three friends leave home to serve their country. Only two make it back. 

After the twin towers fall, Derek Mitchell enlists in the U.S. Army with two of his best friends. He dreams of helping people, whether in the field of combat or back home in Grant's Crossing, Ohio. 

Juan dreams of marrying his high school sweetheart and starting a family. 

Joey dreams of being happy and living his own truth. 

Together, they serve in multiple deployments until Juan and Joey are each grievously injured in separate combat missions. Thirteen years after initially enlisting, one doesn’t make it back. 

Four months after the funeral, friends and family gather to celebrate Derek’s return to civilian life. With each story shared, he relives their final missions together, carrying the guilt of having saved one friend but not the other. 

What do you do when the one friend you’ve always turned to is no longer there?

CW: This book contains on-page domestic violence, combat and combat deaths, on-page adult scenes, suicide attempt.
Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 2 will be out in 2024. 

Happy reading! 

Heather - a.k.a. H.M.S. Brown (My real initials!)

Follow and friend me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Wayward Guilt - Status Update May the 4th (be with you!)

Good evening! 

I started the process of listing my first novel, WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1, this week, and I'd like to say how grateful I am that so much of this process of creating/setting up author pages, listing books, is a one-time thing.

Goodness! 

Planned release date is July 25, 2023!!

I plan to publish wide, which means I won't be exclusive to a single publisher. Plus, I plan to offer both digital and paperback versions of my book. (I haven't yet delved into the large-print version of the paperwork, but that's down the road)

• I've submitted the book via Goodreads, and once listed, I can convert my profile to an author page.
• Draft2Digital (D2D) has been started
• Apple Books - They're verifying my EIN
• Kobo, Google Play, Amazon, BN, Smashwords, etc. - Mostly TBD - 1 down, 4+ to go.
• Bookbub - I've submitted my one listing and claimed my author name. Once approved, I'll be able to list my book and convert my current profile to an author page so I can keep my reviews in place. (I have about 60+ reviews) This can take up to a week.
• Payhip - Started

My book goes to my editor on May 22 - the story itself is in great shape. I just need to work on the misc stuff, i.e.

• Copyright page
• Author's notes
• Content/trigger warning
• Acknowledgments
• Character page - still debating
• Contacts and social media links
• Teaser for next book
• Link to preorder for Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 2 

I'm shooting for late winter/early spring 2024 for Book 2. 

Wish me luck!

Once I'm set up, I can truly jump into the marketing, though this kind of counts. BUT - I want to include links. In the meantime, you're welcome to like and follow my author page at HMS Brown. I'd love to hit 100 likes by the time I get these listed and over 250 by the time my book is released the end of July!

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Take care, and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Follow and friend me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Update - Wayward Guilt - Coffee Tour #2

Day 2 of my neighborhood coffee shop tour brought me to the Grandview Grind, the closest coffee shop to where I live, though it's maybe a block or two closer to the next shop, so not too far. 

I'm making some great progress on my book. By the end of the day, I've uploaded 44 out of 46 chapters in Wayward Guilt. See? Progress! My draft has 46 chapters and an epilogue though Chapter 45 will be rather tough, I think. Sure, it's drafted, but well... it's just a tough one. And I usually cry whenever I work on it. Can't help myself! 

Before I stopped at the Grind, I took a walk down Grandview Avenue to stop by Pure Imagination Chocolaterie to treat myself to a 4-pack of delicious truffles for my birthday. I picked up 4 different flavors: Espresso, Vanilla Bean, Coconut, and Key Lime. The Espresso is already my favorite! 

Special thanks to the gentleman working behind the counter. He treated me to a little birthday present, too - two pieces of chocolate-covered coconut. They didn't last long. (TASTY!)

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Take care, and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Follow and friend me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

WiP Wednesday, er Friday

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

What are you reading or writing this weekend?

Yeah - had a great idea for a novel and must have dropped water on it because like a bunch of gremlins, I now have 7 novels in the works. They're all in the same town and have overlapping characters, but goodness! The creativity - thank goodness - never ends! I have one Lit Fic, but the next 6 are all romance novels coming to life.

WiP Wednesday has come and gone, but here's a book update. And no - nowhere near publishing yet, but I'm making great strides.

Wayward Guilt - 113,191 words - Grant's Crossing Novel - Lit Fic - About 90-95% through the initial draft. Don't Call Me Sugar - Steve and Tara - Grant's Crossing Romance - Working on edits / revisions / cuts. So many cuts.

(Beta readers = Invaluable, wonderful, awesome people!) Okay to Fall - Logan and Nick - Grant's Crossing Romance - 2-3 chapters in. I may save this for NaNoWriMo 2022 End of a New Life - Callie and Derek - Grant's Crossing Romance - Outlining / drafting / this one's weird, but I love it! Warm Drink on a Cold Day - Kiro and Celeste - Grant's Crossing Romance - Outlining / Drafting Romance #5 - Emerson and Aimee - Grant's Crossing Romance - Outlining / Notes Romance #6 - Tim and Jenna - Grant's Crossing Romance - Outlining / Notes If only I could win the lottery and head off to a cabin in the woods somewhere. Of course, it would need to be catered, or at least have someone come in to do the dishes. I have needs.

Take care and happy reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

 - Heather 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

My NetGalley ARCs

I read a lot of ARCs which are Advanced Reader Copies of books in order to help generate buzz for soon-to-be-released books. I get them from a couple of websites, but mostly via authors directly.

Sometimes, like an extra appetizer on the menu, my eyes get a little hungrier for titles to read than my time allows. Sometimes I also put my name in for books and then start writing my own. 

NetGalley is a great resource for generating buzz on new books. Used primarily by small and large publishers alike, it's a treasure trove of new books of all genres for readers to dive into. The only requirement is that you write a review of the books you take. I currently have 10 books out. According to the NetGalley group I'm in, that's not at all unusual. What's unusual is that I recently went into NetGalley to discover I hadn't read them all. (Don't look at the dates. Really. Don't look. Sigh. Fine. Look.)

I have 10 books out - 8 are cozy mysteries, 1 is a romance, and 1 is a biography on a Pakistani cleric credited with the internationalization of the global jihadist movement. It'll take me a while to get through, but it's quite good so far. It's actually not the first book on that topic that I've read. 

I had 12 books before and have just posted a couple of reviews in my efforts to whittle down my book list. 

Cozy mystery - To the Tome of Murder by Lauren Elliott - Goodreads Review

Romance - Off the Grid by Kay Richard - Goodreads Review

I have high hopes for the balance of the books on my list. Yes - I'm way past due for a bunch since they're almost all already published, but I'm working on it. I take books that intrigue me or that are written by authors I already know I like. 

I hope you'll friend me or follow my reviews on Goodreads. 

I'm in there as H.M.S. Brown which will be my pen name when I start publishing. And yes - those are my real initials, with the addition of my mom's maiden name to add the S. I couldn't resist! And no - I don't use her maiden name of Scribner for passwords. But Yes - Scribner, like the publisher. We're distantly related. Think that'll give me an "in?" 

(Scratches chin) 

Hmm.

Hope you're all having a great weekend! Take care and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

A Much-Needed Break

Ever need a break? Ever actually take one? What do you do? 

After about 5-6 hours of editing my book this past Saturday, my "Grant's Crossing brain"shut down. I probably started at my screen for about a half-hour before it really hit me, but it eventually did. I ended up shutting down all my software and taking a much-needed break - which lasted the rest of the weekend! 

I'm a knitter and a crocheter and have posted a lot of things about both on my Itinerant Knitter blog. I haven't touched it in ages, but if you're a fellow fiber enthusiast, you might find some fun things there. 

Aimee, the owner of No Strings Attached yarn shop in my fictional small town of Grant’s Crossing, Ohio, would love this. Maybe she’ll make one for Emerson someday! Foreshadowing? Why yes! I do believe so! (You'll meet Aimee and Emerson in Tara & Steve's book which will be published later this year.)

Over the weekend, I worked on a crochet project, something I call a Blanket of Insanity. Yes - I'm crocheting a blanket using fingering weight yarn. Don't know what that is? It's super thin yarn. I'm using a super small crochet hook to make super small stitches. For an entire super awesome blanket. It'll be gorgeous and the drape will be incredible. I'd even go so far as to say super gorgeous and super incredible, but I don't want to super overdo it!

I have more pictures and a video on instagram.

For my fellow fiber enthusiasts, this uses mostly hand-dyed fingering weight yarns and a US Size G - 4mm crochet hook. I’m making up the pattern as I go along and have even made changes already since one row of single crochets took forever. Now I’m solely using rows of crisscrossed doubles. Maybe when I’m done, I’ll write up the pattern and put it in the back of one of my books.

I love that my first skein used / gorgeous color was dyed in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Urban Girl Yarns.

The last skein is One First Street NE in honor of our newest Justice, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson - beautifully dyed by Neighborhood Fiber Co.

1. Urban Girl Yarns
2. Faerie Girl Yarns
3. Cornbread and Honey
4. Groovy Hues Fibers
5. Manos Alegria
6. Blue mystery yarn - received in a swap!
7. Lolodidit
8. Neighborhood Fiber Co

I have an extra skein of the Cornbread and Honey so I’ll probably use it as a border. I love these yarns!!

In between stitches, I've started a new mystery by one of my favorite authors, Julie Anne Lindsey. It's the latest Bonnie and Clyde cozy mystery. These are wonderfully addictive, so please take a look if you haven't already. Book one is called Burden of Poof and is a terrific whodunnit!

Naturally taking a break from writing and editing my books must involve more books, but at least they're already written. I can just sit back and enjoy them and that is so nice to do.

What did you do over the weekend? How did you relax? Leave a comment below telling me how you spend your downtime!

Take care and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

I Did It!

 I DID IT!!! 

I finished Tara & Steve’s story in my Grant’s Crossing series of romance novels. Theirs is one of the first stories to tell, but holy cow did it feel fabulous to type the words “THE END” at the end of my epilogue. 

Don’t get me wrong, it is far from ready. I haven’t even run a spell check on it yet, but I’m going to take a few days off then delve into the editing process. 

Yes - starting with a spell check!

I’ll be doing a few rounds of self-edits this month and then running things by my beta readers starting the end of May. Once I make it through that, it’ll go to the editor. 

In the meantime - I FINISHED MY FIRST BOOK!

Happy reading everyone! 

- Heather


Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - HMS Brown

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Yes! Write!

Two years ago this June my mom challenged me to write my own book. (teaches me to complain about a couple of cheap romance novels - and no, they are not on my Goodreads shelves!)

I’m not yet published, but my first book - which is going through rewrites and revisions - I just started writing without any sort of plan at all. I had no idea what I was doing. Was it a mess? Oh yeah. Definitely, but there are a lot of great parts that I plan to use in the rewrite. My spinoffs? I have two that are nearing completion of my first draft and two more that are in the planning stages. 

My subsequent novels are a lot cleaner and much better planned. My vision for the stories is a lot better plus my writing is a lot smoother. Amazing what happens when you practice your craft.

I just turned 52 and I started writing in June 2020. June 11, 2020, to be exact.

My initial idea started when I literally sketched out a town square. Then, I created a list of all sorts of characters I thought would be fun. I started giving a handful names, histories, etc, and from that my first story developed. It’s a weird process, but it’s working for me for that is the basis of all my stories set in Grant's Crossing, Ohio, a small town conveniently founded during the Grant administration. And after nearly two years of writing, asking questions, learning, rewriting, asking more questions, learning more… I’ve found my groove

I’m hoping to have at least two books ready for publication by the end of 2022. I have no specific timeline beyond that but I've discovered I absolutely love writing!

Looking to write? This is my suggestion that may or may not work for you, but it's what I did. 

• Jot down some ideas as bullet points. Then keep adding bullet points. 
• Done with bullet points? Add some details. Bulk them up. When you can’t think of any more details with one, go to another. 
• Then, create your outline - move stuff around and see what works. 
• Go from there and start creating a story. 

You can do this. I’ve never dreamed of writing which is crazy considering how much I now love it. By all means - have at it and never worry about how you have to write or even how much. Just start writing and see where it goes. You can always revise and reorganize as you go along. There’s no right or wrong way. 

Good luck to you! 

Happy Reading! 

        - Heather

P.S. I love bullet points. Can you tell? HMB

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing 

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown - for this and all my book reviews

Mocha - Preferred Beverage for Historical Romance

I have the privilege of reading a friend's book tonight so I thought I'd proof while sipping a cup of Irish Cream Mocha. The book is Opal Finds Purpose, Book 5 of the Maxwell Brides series. It'll hit the shelves at Amazon next Monday, November 1. If you hadn't read these yet, what are you up to? Follow the stories of Jeni - Sarah - Abigail - Maggie and, on Monday, Opal. Watch for reviews! (hint: Maggie's my favorite so far, but Sarah is pretty awesome! And you can't help but love Jeni and Abigail - she's great!)

Simply put? DELICIOUS! 

What do you drink when you read your friend's book?  

Happy Reading, everyone! 

        - Heather

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing 

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown - for this and all my book reviews