Meet your heroes

My first author event was a banger, and a Goodreads giveaway!

I already titled my first post “go big or go home” so sadly I can’t use that here even though it’s 100% apt for my first ever public-facing author event.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from my Canadian publicist, saying that the romance buyer at Indigo has invited me to moderate an onstage conversation between Tessa Bailey and Laurie Gilmore. Of course, the moment I saw the email, I had the only reasonable reaction I could have had: I burst into tears.

Not only was I blown away to be on the radar of the biggest book retailer in my country, but they’d like me to participate in an event with two #1 New York Times bestselling powerhouses, and one of them happens to be my favourite author. I have gobbled up every Tessa Bailey book that’s come out in the last five years, and the lion’s share of her backlist too—she’s an auto-buy author for me, a top comfort-read, and was a pretty significant writing influence for The Book Tour. So to say this email made me emotional would be an understatement. For my first event as an author to be this??? Go big, indeed.

I am newer to Laurie Gilmore’s work but immersing myself in her Dream Harbor series and the cheerful, escapist, warm-blanket-with-a-cup-of-cocoa world she’s created is one of the greatest gifts I could have gotten this season. What a joy it is to be a romance reader and discover new authors to love.

The event itself was last week, and it was about as amazing as I expected it to be. Laurie and Tessa are total pros and absolute gems on stage and off—fun, funny, personable, able to keep the hundreds of people in the audience rapt at their every word.

Photo evidence I didn’t dream the whole thing: Tessa Bailey, Laurie Gilmore and me on stage and off.

And! My publisher kindly provided ARCs of The Book Tour for all the VIP ticketholders and I got to sign them! For readers! At a table next to my favourite author! Truly a bucket-list item that I somehow get to check off right at the start of my career. Unreal.

Photo evidence but you can still pinch me: signing my first ARCs. 🥹

The attendees were so kind and generous with their enthusiasm, and meeting would-be readers added immensely to the whole dream-come-true vibe of the day. I can’t thank Indigo and my publisher enough for this opportunity.

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Meanwhile, over on Goodreads

We are exactly four months out from the release of The Book Tour (!!!) and baby’s having her first Goodreads giveaway! Five copies of the ARC are up for grabs, so enter for your chance to win! US only for now—sorry, Canadian friends, we’ll getchoo soon. 💛

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My own good reads recently

Pitcher Perfect by Tessa Bailey: Obviously I preordered the queen’s latest well before I knew about the event, and obviously it did not disappoint. Tessa is known for her grumpy heroes but she blessed us with a golden retriever this time in Robbie Corrigan—a good boy if ever there was one. His romance with softball pitcher and Amy Santiago–level planner Skylar was just as delectable as a TB offering promises to be. (Bonus points for the baseball theme coinciding with my city’s beloved Blue Jays going to the World Series—they may not have won the championships but damn if they didn’t win our hearts.)

The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore: If you want to feel like you’re getting a hug from someone who loves you, and then being nestled into cozy cushions and handed a warm cookie right out of the oven, read this book. Set in the aptly named Dream Harbor (because is this town ever dreamy), with a dual timeline that will have you turning the pages at lightning speed, and featuring a long-awaited couple & a delicious enemies-to-lovers/second-chance dynamic, this book is everything I wanted in a seasonal small-town romance.

The Summers Between Us by Noreen Nanja: If you look up “sweeping romance” in the dictionary (that’s an entry, right?) you’ll find this gorgeous novel at the tippy top. Fans of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After will gobble up this Canadian cottage country–set story—a dual-timeline narrative following Lia, a second-gen youngest daughter with good-girl conditioning (hi, it’s me), and her forbidden love with Wes, the cinnamon-rolliest boy next door who still lives in my mind rent-free even though I finished reading this book months ago. I laughed, I cried, I swooned.

Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm (coming Feb 3/26): If you’ve ever loved an Ali Hazelwood novel (which, who hasn’t), you will adore Hannah’s debut. It’s got your STEM themes, your flawed but lovable characters, your fake dating, the kind of chemistry you want to lick off a spoon, and a satisfying growth arc that will have you clutching your copy to your chest long after you finish the last page. It’s no wonder this ARC has been a top-requested title on NetGalley for months. I am so excited to watch this author take the world by storm.

Racing Hearts by Ann Adams (coming Feb 10/26): I was swept right up by this story of ambition, resilience, self-discovery and love. It features my favourite kind of FMC: strong, ambitious, ready to fight for her rightful place (in this case, in her competitive sport of rowing). And my top book-boyfriend-material MMC: supportive, never asking her to change herself but rather praising the qualities she’s often disparaged for…and, well, HOT. A romance based on mutual respect and admiration? Sign me up.

*The last two are fellow debuts whose books haven’t released yet, but they’re up for preorder and I can’t recommend them enough! 📚