Don’t forget to pre-order my latest release and first historical fiction, “When Dealing with Horses”! It will show up in your Kindle Library early Christmas Eve morning for you to enjoy over the nice long holiday break.
It’s been a good year for reading for me! I had a lot of historical fictions, a ton having to do with Scotland and America, some fantasy, some horse related, and so much more! Here is the list of books I read in 2024. I didn’t read a single book I didn’t like, so I highly recommend them all! Be sure to follow me on Goodreads and Bookbub for reviews.
“Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics” by Chris Grabenstein
“Highland Healer” by Florence Love Karsner
“The Two Towers” by JRR Tolkien
“The Lily of Ludgate Hill” by Mimi Matthews
“The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes
“And Echo in the Bone” by Diana Gabaldon
“The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst
“The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel” by Alyssa Palombo
“Midnight Sun” by Stephanie Meyer
“Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer
“New Moon” by Stephanie Meyer
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by JK Rowling
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
“The Muse of Maiden Lane” by Mimi Matthews
What I’m Working On
All of 2025 I will be writing and editing my next historical fiction, which is also a twist on the classic “Little Women”, one of my favorite books of all time. I reimagine the ending of the story and continue on in a new on as if Jo HAD said yes to marrying Laurie. I’m so excited to work on this and be a contribution to the classic tale. Look for it coming out November of 2025!
Pre-order my first Historical Fiction, “When Dealing with Horses” today and have it delivered right to your Kindle Library first thing Christmas Eve morning! This story is chocked full of American History, Horses, and Christmastime vibes for the holidays.
In the 1860’s, Anastasia Ambrose returns to her family’s horse breeding farm in Northwest Indiana after her lover abandons her and her daughter. She hopes to take over her father’s horse and carriage business in town only to find that after his passing in the Civil War her mother sold everything off. In need of a way to support herself and her baby, Anastasia heads to Vanatta & Sons Horse and Carriage Dealership to ask for a job. There, she discovers her passion for horses and a desire to be a part of her father’s dream. Her goals are clear; get out of her oppressive mother’s home and help horses find their right owners…but love has a way of finding Anastasia when she least expects it.
I can’t believe November is already over. I know, I say that every newsletter for every month but does anyone else feel like falltime went by super fast? We already had our first snowday here in Northwest Indiana! It was magical and gone the next day. I loved it! Everyone here thinks I’m crazy because I love snow so much, but I can’t help myself. I love cozy sweaters and blankets, hot coffee and hot chocolate and hot tea, and I love my usual holiday rereads; Harry Potter and Little Women! What are you reading this holiday season?
Latest Release
Don’t forget the last installment in my Zooey Zombie series is out now! “The End of the Undead” wraps up the exciting story of what happens after the zombie apocalypse is over. It’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited all the time and will even be the giveaway for this year’s Black Friday deal.
Coming Soon
Here is the final final cover for “When Dealing with Horses”. I loved all the springtime sunflower covers I had, but this one is just a better representation of the story, which starts and ends in the winter holiday season. If you like Little Women, you’ll love “When Dealing with Horses”. It has a strong and independent female lead during the years following the Civil War. There’s holiday scenes, lots of snow, family struggles and joys, and even a little romance. I wanted to make the hardcover version as reminiscent of olden books as much as I could, so here are some sketches that will be included depicting scenes from each chapter. I hope to have this one out before the Christmas holiday for everyone to enjoy the nostalgic holiday feels inside.
Also coming soon is the Zooey Zombie box set! This will be released in a Kindle Box set, free to read on Kindle Unlimited, and in a paperback and hardcover collection in one book.
After those two are out, it’s anyone’s guess what I’ll work on next! I always have about ten book ideas at once so it will all depend on what mood I’m in. Here are some in the works. Give me your vote for what you’d like me to write next!
We have a historical fiction set in 1000 AD Scotland when the idea of formal clans just began to emerge. It combines the fantasy fairy tale of the “The Light Princess” with history in a magical way!
The next is another “When History meets Fairy Tale” story, Beauty and the Beast meets the French Revolution!
The third is a Fantasy trilogy with its own world and magical creatures.
The last is a reimagining of Little Women if Jo had married Laurie.
What I Read this November
This has been the month for rereads. In October I had started rereading the “Twilight” series (Don’t laugh!). I got through New Moon, but then my holiday nostalgia feels kicked in and I had to take a break. I reread “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” while rewatching all the movies. Now I am rereading “Little Women” for the hundredth time while rewatching all the different movie versions. What is your favorite book you could reread a million times?
Free and On Sale Indie Books!
And here’s what you’ve all been waiting for! The links to hundreds of free and on sale indie books to enjoy over your holiday breaks. Stock up those eReaders and cozy up by the fire.
Thank you, everyone, for all your support. Not just of me and my writing, but of all indie authors out there. Have a Happy Thanksgiving this week! May you find all your Black Friday deals with ease.
Please follow me on Instagram to stay connected and up to date on sales, giveaways, and releases.
The fifth and final story in the Zooey Zombie series is out today! Don’t miss this exciting conclusion to the popular novella saga. It’s available through Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback, and Audiobook (tomorrow).
In this thrilling conclusion to the Zooey Zombie series, Zooey’s world falls apart. Her once-friend Ren forces her to take a serum that transforms her back into a zombie. But she’s not any ordinary zombie. She’s a super zombie who can think, talk, react, and is the perfect killing machine. Zooey fights her zombie urges as she’s taken back to the Undead Ward for study and arrest. While there, she discovers she’s not the only one Ren turned. Can she find a way out of the Undead Ward to stop Ren before he destroys the world with his new serum?
Writing this series has been so fun for me. I love that they are quick to read with short chapter I can just sit down for a few minutes and enjoy, but at the same time they are so packed with mystery and adventure! This whole world started with my Dead Soil series, which follows several groups of people, including Christine Moore who is a character in Zooey Zombie as well, through the hellish year of the zombie apocalypse in Chicago. It was interesting for me to travel out of my hometown area of Chicago, and place myself and Zooey in one of my favorite cities in America, Boston. It has such history and beauty to it! It was exciting to bring that to life in this series. I loved the falltime vibes the books brought, cozy mystery meets supernatural thriller!
A lot happens in this series for its timeframe to only span a few months. Zooey is found wandering the Boston Common as a zombie at the end of the apocalypse. She isn’t too far gone, and so she can be revived with the new Z-shot, a serum that turns zombies back into living beings. But these beings are a little different than regular humans, and so a new race is created. The Undead. Get it? Because they were dead and now they’re not? Anyway, Zooey spends the first book in rehab where she learns to interact with the human world again. She meets lots of Undead friends, including Ren, a mysterious British Undead with lots of big ideas about how the government is handling this new race of beings. In book two, Zooey is released back into the world and she tries to put her life back together. Her first stop is the re-enroll in her Psychology graduate program at Harvard, but she quickly learns her kind is not wanted there, nor at her former job. In fact, it seems the humans don’t trust the Undead at all. As more discord grows between the two races, the Undead are segregated more and more. They are required to wear giant U patches on all clothing at all times so everyone knows they are not human, and they even have strict curfews. Zooey adheres to the rules and goes to every Z-shot and therapy appointment she has, though she quickly realizes the shots have less effect each time she goes, and the hunger for brains is quietly playing in the background of her mind at all times.
The military develops its own branch called the Z-Division of the National Guard, and these soldiers patrol the area, keeping the streets zombie-free and the Undead under control. While strolling through the Boston Common, where Zooey was found as a zombie, she meets a Z-Division soldier who is different than the others. A bond is formed between Miles and Zooey that eventually becomes unbreakable, though she tries many times to break it in order to keep him safe. Together, Zooey and her friends fight injustice as the laws against the Undead get more and more unfair. Zooey is thrown into the Undead gated town of Mattapan without warning and has to figure out a new way of life without her human companions. The only reprise she gets is when she is approved to work at a zombie escape room in the heart of Boston. But when a group of college kids take their hatred of the Undead too far, Zooey is caught up in a mystery only she and her friends can solve, and her former friend Ren is at the heart of it as he develops his own serum to unleash the inner zombie within the Undead.
In the final conclusion, Ren has forced Zooey to take his new serum, turning her back into a monster. But she’s not a mindless, hungry zombie this time. She can think, feel, plan, and she’s a deadly killing machine. She fights her overwhelming urge for brains in order to stop Ren before he destroys her beloved city, and possibly the world, with his new serum.
The series might be over, but the world continues on. Check out the last page in the book to see the next monster we’ll be following in this supernatural alternative world!
Hello all my reader friends! Have you been having a wonderfully spooky October this year? I love everything about autumn from its magnificently colorful sunrises and sunsets, to the changing of the leaves, the blustery cool breezes, and walks through the crunchy woods. And I always have fun picking out my spooky reads each year! This October I was able to squeeze two in.
What I’m Working on This October
I worked all this year on my first Historical Novel, “When Dealing With Horses”. I got all the way up to the final edit, and then the spooky season hit and I had to follow my inspirations where they took me. I decided it was time to power through and finally wrap up Zooey Zombie’s story. A few weeks ago I released the fourth book in the series, “Wanted Undead or Alive”. This short novel was action and emotionally packed so it was really fun to write. The story just flowed out of me effortlessly. I truly love Zooey and her friends, so I never have a difficult time jumping back into their post-apocalyptic world.
Once I finished and released the fourth book, I jumped right into continuing the story with the fifth and final book, “The End of the Undead”. This story is coming to me effortlessly and it’s so exciting to see it come to the culmination of everything Zooey has been dealing with as a member of the Undead race. The villain, Ren, is out of control as he tries to create an army of new zombies, ones that can think and talk and have inhuman strength and capabilities. Does humanity stand a chance as he tries to wipe it out? You’ll just have to see! I most likely won’t have it released by Halloween, so we’ll keep the spooky season going into November.
For the holiday season I will also be releasing the Zooey Zombie box set! A new character makes a brief appearance at the end of the final book, one that will have the honor of claiming their own series from the same world. Could it be a different breed of monster on the loose now? Could be! I have not settled on the series covers yet, but this image is in the running and it makes a great teaser!
October Book Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
This was my choice for this year’s Halloween read. In that alone, I was disappointed but only because this is more of an epic love story than a creepy legend come to life like I thought it would be. That being said, it was still a really amazing book that dove deep into an imagined love tale between the familiar Ichabod and Katrina of Sleepy Hallow. Immediately after, I reread Washington Irving’s original story. The author of this retelling did a great job staying true to the original while incorporating her own spin on things. It’s a bit 🔥 spicier than I like my novels but it worked. I highly recommend this for a fun romance mystery, any time of year! There were several postings on Facebook reading groups and Instagram about it, but the cover and the fact that it’s a spin off of a classic is what sealed the deal for me.
Now for the next book review…DON’T LAUGH!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I actually just finished it early this morning so my review is not even posted to Goodreads or Bookbub yet. Yes, I gave it five stars. It was about 650 pages long and I devoured it in about a week. If you know me at all, you know that is very unlike me. It’s hard in my busy life to find long stretches to read, so I am typically a one book a month reader. (Plus I’m a slow reader by choice. I like to savor my books and really picture the scenes in detail in my head.)
I don’t know how Twilight popped into my head this spooky season but it did. The series and I have a love/hate relationship. I have always loved monsters, scary movies, and classic vampires. Vampires were actually my favorite of the classic monsters, mostly because I grew up watching Lost Boys on repeat. When I turned twenty I even got a vampire tattoo on my forearm. It was the iconic vampire barring his teeth with a female victim in his clutches. I loved it! Drew it myself even. And immediately after…the Twilight movie came out. Now, I hadn’t heard of it until the books had the theater covers already on them. I was working in a minimart and happened to be bored and looking for something to read to pass the time when there was no customers. I saw a pale Robert Pattinson paired with Kristen Stewart and thought “Hm, I’ll give it a try”. Shortly after, I was relentlessly teased for my “Twilight tattoo”. I hated it! And the worst part of it all? I actually loved the books (and let’s not lie, I love the movies too). I am not a fan of the glittering vampire, that part is cheesy, but I love star crossed lovers who overcome their obstacles together. I’m a romantic sucker.
Fast forward seventeen years, my vampire tattoo is now a garden of hibiscus and roses. And the curiosity to revisit an old favorite stirs within me. I searched Amazon for the box set to lose myself in, and then found this! Twilight told from Edward’s thoughts and perspective! I ordered it as well, and have been shamelessly binge reading while binge watching the movies.
This book is a bit darker than Bella’s perspective. I didn’t realize just how much murder Edward really thought about, and in such great detail. I am now reading this as a Christian and can see the author’s Christian inspiration woven throughout. I know that was a huge complaint of the novels over a decade ago, but honestly I really liked it. Carlisle is obviously a Jesus parallel. He goes about life different than everyone else and he gains followers who are wanting to live life in his different way too. Edward uses Carlisle to draw strength to be good and deny his vampire urges. Drinking blood represents sin, and he notes that everyone has slip ups, we all make mistakes, including vampires trying to be “vegetarian”. The vampires who still drink human blood represent worldly people still living and reveling in their sin. Anyway, I could appreciate her Christian roots to the story. If you’re not a Christian and know nothing about Christianity, you probably wouldn’t pick up on it at all.
The story was familiar, like coming home. I don’t really know what it is about Stephanie Meyers’ writing, but I love it and can’t get enough of it. She has a wonderful way of describing something in great detail, but making it sound like a love poem. It draws me in and keeps me reading. There were many times I could feel my emotions taking over me to match the intense feelings of the characters. She is not a spicy writer by any means, but the slow and painful drawn out aching first kiss, now from Edward’s perspective, still had me sighing aloud.
Go ahead. Laugh. That’s fine. But I stand by my guilty pleasure in the Twilight Saga!
It only took me ten years, but I finally finished my vampire cover up. In 2013 I covered the vampire with a rose, but left the lady thinking I could be okay with that, but I just never really liked it. Now I’ve added the hibiscus, as a remembrance of my years spent living in Hawai’i. Pink for my daughter, blue for my husband, and purple for me. I love it! But now that the Twilight mania has passed I do find myself kind of missing my original vampire tattoo.
Free and On Sale eBooks from Talented Indie Authors!
It’s not too late to get some last minute Halloween reads into your eReaders this October! You’ll find hundreds of books by dozens and dozens of talented indie authors. You’ll even find a few of mine in there if you’re missing any. Enjoy and Happy Reading!
I love interacting with other readers, especially those who have enjoyed my books. I am active on Instagram! @horsey_bookworm is my handle. Give me a follow. I try to follow back any reader friends so we can keep in touch and exchange our awesome reads with each other.
Have You Had the Chance to Read any of my Books Yet?
I absolutely love hearing what readers think of my beloved books! If you’ve read any of them, I urge you to please please leave a review. Amazon is most important for authors, obviously, but Goodreads and Bookbub and even social media posts help other readers find us. If you could leave a review of any book of mine you’ve read I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thank you.
