This month, Ylva Publishing and Bywater Books decided to pool their resources and jointly produce a blog hop. You can check out the initial post, including the full lineup of lesbian fiction authors, HERE.

As luck would have it, my blog is the first stop!

One of my favorite parts of writing lesbian fiction is the wonderful community of women who support our (authors in general) work, buy our books, and encourage us through the writing process.

Writing is generally a lonely profession, characterized by long hours alone in front of a computer. For me, it’s really easy to lose site of the rest of the world. I get caught up in the space contained within the four walls of my office, and I forget that there are other voices I should listen to beyond my characters.

Sometimes, that realization is a bit of a shock. I look up and realize I haven’t left my house in a week, and maybe I haven’t showered, and my kids have completely forgotten what I look like. When I emerge from my office, grumpy and grumbly and moving slow because my body is protesting movement, they are just as likely to run away from me yelling “ACK! House troll! Run!” as they are to run to me and give me a hug.

The pay off is, periodically, I get to publish a new book.

My latest release, Cake, is a short, sweet, snarky novella. I’ve spent a lot of time shouting about it in the past few weeks because I’m so excited about it. If you’re sick of hearing about it, my sincere apologies. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the skinny. Cake is a novella length lesbian romance, my first release since leaving the fine folks at Bold Strokes Books and joining the managerial team at Ylva Publishing.

As excited as I am about it, I’m equally nervous. I know it’s a snack-sized story (a big snack), and that might not appeal to some folks. But I love this length for a fun, flirty erotic romance. This takes me back to that community I started to talk about a few chapters ago.

That nervousness isn’t likely to go away completely, but it is muted because I know the women (and men) who will pick up a copy are loving and supportive and generally kind. But, that also creates, for me, a higher level of expectation. As much as I appreciate your kindness and support, I don’t want to disappoint you all.

So far, Cake has received some good early reviews and readers seem to enjoy it. You can check that out over at Goodreads. Feel free to click on the little “Want to Read” button. It gives me a thrill to see that. And, if you decide to pick up a copy, I hope like hell you enjoy it. That is, after all, the whole point of this business we call publishing.

Thanks for checking out my stop on the Ylva and Bywater Blog Hop. Next up in my friend Rachel Spangler. She made the move to Bywater around the same time as I migrated to Ylva. She’s a fabulous human being and I wish her nothing but success.

Cake

A sexy romance about two women, one inconvenient wedding, and a shared love of cake.

Kelly and Elana’s relationship is a recipe for disaster. First, they meet at a wedding, and that never works. Second, Kelly’s older brother is marrying Elana’s ex-lover. And third, Elana is still painfully, undeniably in love with said ex.

When it comes to other people’s lives, Elana Verdad is an expert. As a licensed psychologist and life coach, she helps people overcome obstacles. Her own life, on the other hand, is a disaster. Her lover left her for a man, so she drove over his mailbox accidentally on purpose. Now, not only did the judge take away her driver’s license, he also assigned her to community service at the local women’s prison. In what may be her worst idea ever, Elana decides to crash their wedding.

Kelly Miller may not understand her brother’s rush to marry his girlfriend, but when he asks her to bake his wedding cake, it’s not as if she can refuse. She’s in the catering business after all. At the wedding, she meets a beautiful, complicated, and seriously damaged woman. Although Kelly knows it’s crazy, she’s drawn to her nonetheless.

Despite the reasons they shouldn’t be together, there’s still an undeniable something between them. All they need is a chance to enjoy their slice of the cake.