June 2026 Writing Update + What I Read in April and May 2026

Photo by Sean Oulashin on Unsplash

This is the first time in roughly three years since I started this blog that I missed a month of posting. But I had good reason. I’ve been working hard, preparing for my launch of Our Secret Intentions, the book that started it all on Wattpad. It has since been edited, updated and polished, and is currently in the hands of my ARC readers.

Whew! I had no idea how involved a book release is. There is literally something to do every single day to prepare.

It started with rereading the book from start to finish, with my editor hat on, polishing as I went. That took a long time. Much longer than I thought it would. Then I had to decide on a new cover. I had to figure out exactly how to format it differently for the paperback (more involved – requires a cover, spine and back in a wrap) vs. the ebook version (just the cover). I had to format the inside of the book differently for the ebook vs. the paperback. I learned that ebooks don’t have headers, and things flow fluidly within the epub versions.

I created the front matter (the copyright page and dedication page) and the back matter (author bio, newsletter instructions, etc.). I checked spelling in Reedsy, which I wouldn’t use again, personally. It helped with spelling, but when it came time to save it as a fully formatted book, it looked funny to me. It added chapter numbers, which was unnecessary, because I already numbered my chapters, and it included language that couldn’t be deleted. So, I had to do a lot on my own to fix it.

Also, I don’t have Microsoft Word anymore, so I edited it in Pages. When you export your book from Reedsy into a Word doc, then into Pages, it doesn’t keep all your italicized words. That was fun to learn.

Once I finished formatting it, I started recruiting ARC readers. I created a Google Form for my ARC group so people could apply. That was a first. I joined several Facebook ARC groups and recruited there. I posted to Instagram, TikTok and Wattpad. Most of my ARC readers came from my newsletter, Facebook, Wattpad and TikTok.

I purchased a new website and created socials for my imprint. I joined Amazon’s KDP. They had to verify my driver’s license. I started using Kit for the first time to send my newsletters. I made sure I collected my metadata in a document – how many pages, how big the book was, what kind of paper I was gonna use. It’s a whole thing.

I ordered my paperback proof yesterday. I decided not to do a hardcover yet. That would include getting involved with Ingram Spark, and that’s a whole other beast I will handle later.

Oh, and there’s more. I bought IBSNs, which are barcodes, or basically the fingerprint for your novel, because I wanted to release my book wide. I copyrighted it. I paid for a Draft2Digital subscription so I could release it everywhere, not just on Amazon. I paid for Bookfunnel to handle sending my ARC copies.

Before I even decided to release my book, I queried my vampire novel. So far, no bites (pun intended). But I will press on with about 10 more queries, I think, and see what happens.

Did I mention I also drafted chapter one of book two in the series!? And I’ve got the whole book outlined. It’s gonna be Patrick and Angel’s story, someone we haven’t met yet. And I’m all too excited to explore this new world.

I can’t believe I can do all this by myself. There are so many moving pieces, as you can see. It’s incredible, this indie author world. I’m new to it, but I’m so thankful that we live in a day and age when there’s so much information out there from other authors who’ve paved the way and graciously share their experiences and advice.

Our Secret Intentions will be released everywhere on June 30, 2026! The ebook is available to preorder on Amazon here. Wide retailers are being added here. More to follow!

Yes, that was a lot, but I’m beyond excited! Thank you to my early readers. Thank you to my Wattpad readers. Thank you to my family and friends who’ve already read it too! This has been an amazing journey I will hold with me forever.

Now, these past couple of months haven’t been all book publishing.

April brought us Easter, spring break, my third, (maybe fourth?) trip to Medieval Times. Such a great show. Our knight won! WOO!

I also went to this New Metal DJ event in Atlanta. And let’s just say, it was a vibe. People dressed in black mesh and fishnets, walked in a circle, some shirtless, some not, and got particularly hyped during certain Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit songs. Mosh pits commenced. People watching peaked. Drinks were drunk. Pictures were definitely taken.

RIP Anthony Head, aka Giles.

Me and my sisters

In May, I went to see “Six, The Musical,” with my daughter. I’d never heard of it before, but Solaris loves the songs from the play and was so excited to see it. It wasn’t a typical musical. It felt more like a concert with some talking in between. Each of the ladies were phenomenal. They did their thing.

I spent Mother’s Day with my mom and sisters, which was nice. We had Mexican food, obviously. I mean, if you know, you know.

My son had a late baseball game in the playoffs, and I kid you not, since the teams were tied, we went into overtime maybe three, four times. We didn’t get home that night until around 11:30 pm, and on a school night. And we lost. It was a tough night.

And I’m just gonna throw this out there. My son flew an airplane. Like an actual plane!

Then the end of school and the beginning of summer happened. We already had a family vacation in the mountains. I celebrated a birthday. I did nothing but shop, rest and watch a movie. And I had a birthday party, paint and sip thing. I painted my beautiful cat, Mickey, may he rest in peace.

How’d I do?

If you can believe it, on top of all that, I read seven books in April, two of which I DNF’d. I only rated one of the books four stars or higher. I don’t know. April wasn’t a great reading month for me.

In May, I also read seven books, four of which I rated four or more stars. Yes! Much better! Let’s get into it!

April Books

Lover Mine by J.R. Ward (Book 8 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series)

I read the paperback library book. You can check out my reviews for the first five books in the series here, and book six here.

I absolutely loved the ending. Was it predictable? Yes, but I still loved it. Now, this was John’s and Xhex’s book mostly, but there’s so much that happens. My favorite parts were when John was trying to find her. He got to the right place, but he couldn’t see her because the bad guy, Lash, had some sort of cloaking spell over her. She couldn’t escape Lash’s grasp; that was very sad and just heartbreaking. John was there, and she could feel his love for her. More happens, but I don’t want to spoil it. Just know, hearts are broken, there’s swooning, crying. These are two broken vampires coming together against all odds. It is a wild ride.

The push and pull of Blay and Quinn was heartbreaking. Blay was all in, but Quinn didn’t know how to navigate being gay with him, so he pushed him away.

Lash was evil incarnate. Nothing redeeming about him. Since his existence was unnatural, he started to decay and went through some gross stuff.

Then, it focused on some news crew that does this fake paranormal show. I felt it slowed the story down. Why do we care that the human producer guy and this sort of newbie lady in front of the camera are falling for each other? The guy starts to see her in a new light, and he’s like, ‘You know what? You really are smart. I wasn’t giving you a shot before, but I actually really do like you. Let me treat you with respect.’ Okay. That’s all nice and good, but do we care? No, not really. Because ultimately, this whole storyline of theirs was just put in there to introduce that Xhex’s ex, Muhrder, is still alive and sort of hanging out in this haunted mansion.

The storyline that I totally skimmed through was this flashback with Darius and Torment, and them being there for the birth of Xhex. And how her mother killed herself right after she gave birth because, I think, the mother maybe was sexually assaulted. I can’t remember. As I said, I skimmed that section.

Then there was yet another storyline with Payne, one of those white-robed people. I don’t really know much about her. Her story will apparently be the focus of book 9. Virgin mother kept the fact that her brother is from the brotherhood and he’s still alive from her. I can’t remember which one is her brother. It was a lot in the 615 pages, and the words were small. It took a really long time to get through, over two months.

because I loved John and Xhex’s story so much…

4.25/5 stars

May Books

Unsteady by Peyton Corinne (Book 1 of The Undone series)

I listened to this on Audible. I chose this book because both this one and the one I’m querying have ice skating themes, so really, I read it for research. Plus, it got good reviews, so I figured why not?

It was enjoyable and entertaining. These are two broken characters who came together. And who doesn’t love that? At times, I felt that the MC, Rhys, was a little feminine. Like, could he really kick somebody’s ass? I don’t know. But Sadie was kind of hard-core. You wouldn’t wanna mess with her. She slapped a girl who was around Rhys when he was super drunk and dealing with his post-traumatic stress. Yeah, she’ll cut a bitch. She didn’t want to let anybody in. She just kept people at arm’s length and only used them for sex.

Enter this puppy dog, boyfriend material type of guy, and you’ve got opposites attract.

We already knew that after they hooked up, he wanted her, but then she suggested this friends-with-benefits thing. So, he agreed so he wouldn’t miss his chance with her. But he still protected himself by not going too far with her, because actual sex would mean something to him. So he held back to stay sane. Respect.

ultimately, I really like these two together. I love when the guy falls first. He was there for her family. Her mom was never around. Her dad was a thief. She was dealing with a lot of family shit and didn’t want people to know that about her and feel bad for her or anything. She didn’t want to ask for help either.

The spice? I think they did it like three times. Nothing particularly memorable other than ‘oh, you’re so big. Will you even fit?’ Overall, an enjoyable read.

4/5 stars

Heated Rivalry (Book 2 of the Game Changers series) by Rachel Reid

I read the paperback library book. I was really impressed by how much the producers of the show stayed true to the source material. Normally, adaptations take a lot of liberties. But this show was an homage to the book. Kudos. The show and the book were brilliant.

I just love these characters. I was surprised how closely the TV show followed the book line for line, scene for scene. That’s not to say there weren’t differences. Rosenoff’s brother in Russia had a bigger part in the show. In the book, when Hollander is wearing his glasses on FaceTime or Skype, it fades to black in the show. But in the book, they do a little cyber connecting.

I felt these characters. They felt real. I love Ilya. I didn’t understand in the TV show, after Shane walks away, and Ilya says, “Hollander, Hollander,” with that look that says ‘don’t leave.’ I didn’t understand that Shane got weird after they were intimate because Shane was getting the sense that Ilya was falling for him in that moment. In the show, I thought he left because Ilya wasn’t talking about what was going on with his family, but I was mistaken. Shane felt that Ilya was falling for him, and Shane wasn’t fully convinced that he was gay yet, so it weirded him out, and he walked away.

It was funny being in Ilya’s head when he was like ‘I hate his stupid, cute, beautiful freckles and I hate his stupid, perfect manners.’ Anyway, the book was a good time!

4.75/5 stars

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen (Book 1 of the Bridge Kingdom series)

I listened to this on Audible. There were many times when I was going to DNF this one, but it had one hell of an ending that I did not see coming, so I will be continuing.

The whole plot revolves around Laura being a spy for her dad and her kingdom, by marrying King Aaron, gaining his trust and then eventually taking them down. But the more she spends with him and his people, she learns they’re not the enemy, and she’d been lied to.

I appreciated what the author was doing with the story, battling kingdoms. Laura thought she was doing it all for a good cause, but then she learns they’re kind of suffering. While he figures out that she’s a spy, he’s falling in love with her, and she’s falling in love with him. She was jealous at one point of an old girlfriend of his, which was interesting. Only one spicy scene. It was barely anything.

I found it tedious to get through at times. A lot of action descriptions, which I don’t love. I really prefer the romance, and romance was kind of an afterthought. This is more of a romantic adventure, more plot than relationship-building, more battling kingdoms, double-crossing government-type stuff throughout, which is not necessarily what I’m into. But because it ended the way it did, I am intrigued and will be continuing.

4/5 stars

Bloody Cruel Psycho (Book 5 of the Sick Boys series) by Lucy Smoke

I read this on Kindle Unlimited. You can read my reviews for the other books in this series here. This one ended on a cliffhanger, so of course, I’m reading the next one.

Braxton seemed to hate Clover. Whenever their sexy scenes happened, it was never about love. He was only having sex with her cuz he owns her, type of thing. Not hot either. Kind of weird. And she hated herself for getting off on it. The degradation. He never seemed to put her pleasure above his own. And it never really was about pleasure. Just power.

Then it was hard for me to reconcile that when she left him, he was broken to the point where he didn’t shower or shave, and he just stayed drunk all the time. He acted like some love lost puppy.

I believe he’ll make anyone who took her pay, but he’s got to prove his love. I believe she had feelings for him. He, on the other hand, was too fucked up to realize he had feelings for her. It was definitely a unique story.

Avalon, even though she was more of a guest star, was still annoying to me. I don’t remember Luc Kincaid from the other books. But he was still interesting. Certainly pushed Braxton’s buttons.

The whole time, it felt like Brax didn’t know what he was doing. He was kind of in over his head. Trying to hunt Clover’s brother down, but having barely any leads. I’m very interested to see the coming battle.

4/5 stars

Thanks for reading!