Katherine H. Brown talks to us about Love on the Rink and Rest, Relax & Run For Your Life

 

 Welcome to cozy and romance author Katherine H. Brown!

Katherine H. Brown is a Texas author with a love of reading and chocolate chip ice cream. Book lover and weaver of words, Katherine always has several projects going at one time but is most recently occupied with a new baby born April 2020. Katherine loves to hear from readers and often gets input from them through newsletter polls to help choose character names or book titles.

Social Media:

www.katherinebrownbooks.com

www.instagram.com/katherinebrownkatie

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18681694.Katherine_Brown

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/katherine-h-brown

https://www.facebook.com/katherinebrownkatieauthor/

https://www.amazon.com/Katherine-Brown/e/B078J72H8M

Newsletter sign ups: https://mailchi.mp/3ed2f71e303c/kbbnewsletterbookishinfo

What would you say are your strengths as an author?

I would say my strengths as an author are 1) neverending flow of story ideas and 2) strong characters / voice. Creating and being the characters as I write is really one of my favorite parts.

How often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?

This year, I’m working on getting back into a stricter routine. My baby girl was born April 2020 so I took basically 8 ½ months off – some willingly and others out of necessity because for the longest she absolutely wouldn’t nap without being held and I had zero time for anything, not even a shower lol. Now, at almost a year, she takes a nice morning nap and I focus as hard as possible on my writing during that time 5 to 6 days a week. Because it is a short time frame, I’m planning to release more novellas this year and return to full length novels sometime when she is older and we have a more structured routine with independent play.

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

Five years from now, I hope to be releasing two to four novels per year and to have improved in tightening up my writing style so that a very low level of edits are needed. I also hope to be earning enough from my author life to help pay some of our bills, which at this point is not where my income level is yet.

If you could offer once piece of advice to a novice writer, what would it be?

Do not stop writing. I took several years where I believed what everyone said about it not being possible to earn a living or break into publishing etc. And I don’t regret them, necessarily, but I wish I had continued to write and build up stories so that when I learned more about how to go about publishing my books I had more of them to release right away.

What would you consider to be the best compliment a reader could give your book?

The best compliment that I can think of is when a reader says, “will there be another one?”

What are you working on now?

I just wrapped up the Ooey Gooey Bakery Cozy Mystery series as well as a short clean romance novella, Love on the Rink. For the rest of 2021, my plans are to work on a holiday historical cozy mystery for a Christmas anthology, and to write a wonderful book that has been brewing in my brain for years about a librarian and a journey to Ireland to save a beautiful little village that she didn’t know she was connected to. Stay tuned!

 

LOVE ON THE RINK (sweet romance novella)

Macy can't believe she picked up and moved from Texas to Minnesota with so little thought. Especially as she shovels snow from her driveway. Again. She wasn't prepared for weather like this.

Her first day in her new job as a nurse at Warren High School, Macy realized she wasn't prepared for walking on an ice rink or dealing with the attitude of the school's hockey coach, Kirk Wilson either.

Can Macy find what it takes to settle into her new life?

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJH3HV9

REST, RELAX, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE (Ooey Gooey Bakery cozy mystery book

Two best friends & a bakery!

Piper and Samantha are in heaven. Well, close. More like a long weekend at the O Heavenly Day Spa.

A few mysterious notes start appearing everywhere, things get uncomfortable. As spa treatments go awry things get dangerous. A threatening message convinces Piper and Sam that they have to find out who is behind all of these disasters. When the smoke alarms go off and the spa erupts into panic, the chaos separates the friends and Piper stumbles into trouble. Will someone help her before it is too late?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P1P5N2K 

Also audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/Rest-Relax-Run-for-Your-Life-Audiobook/B088G27S7P

 

 

Debra Goldstein reveals her Sarah Blair Mystery series

 

Mysteries with recipes and cuddly animals? Welcome to Debra Goldstein!!

Judge Debra H. Goldstein authors Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series including recently published Three Treats Too Many, 2020 Silver Falchion finalist Two Bites Too Many, and January 2019 Woman’s World Book of the Week One Taste Too Many. Debra also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories have been chosen as Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer finalists. Find out more about Debra at:

Website – www.DebraHGoldstein.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DebraHGoldsteinAuthor/      

Twitter - @DebraHGoldstein

Instagram – debra.h.goldstein

Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debra-h-goldstein

What would you say are your strengths as an author?  

My biggest strength as an author is and has been my passion to succeed as a writer. That motivation is what has enabled me to willingly learn from other authors, readers, books, and classes how to better my writing. It also forced me to translate my ideas into written words that eventually were enough for a short story or a novel.

How often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?  

I wish I could say that I write daily or have an established routine, but I don’t. When I was still on the bench, I was more disciplined – writing between midnight and four a.m., as well as on weekends, but now, days blend into each other and I only write when the muse hits me or I have a deadline.

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?  

Five years from now, I hope I am a better and more disciplined writer who gives back in the same manner people have extended themselves to help me. In terms of my writing, I would love it if my Sarah Blair series is still going, my short stories are continuing to be accepted, and I have written a standalone that is well-received.

 If you could offer once piece of advice to a novice writer, what would it be?

Assuming the novice writer is writing rather than talking about it, my advice is “Be a sponge.” Take classes, attend lectures, read books on writing, network, learn from writers who are higher in the food chain, and read and dissect well-written and poorly written books in the genre you are writing in.

What would you consider to be the best compliment a reader could give your book?

The best compliment is that my book was fun and made the reader, for a little while, forget about the real world. 

What are you working on now? 

Because Three Treats Too Many, the third book in Kensington’s Sarah Blair series, was released on August 25, I’m busy juggling promoting it with writing the fifth Sarah Blair mystery. I recently turned in the fourth book. It will be published in June 2021.

THREE TREATS TOO MANY - published August 25, 2020

When a romantic rival opens a competing restaurant in small-town Wheaton, Alabama, Sarah Blair discovers murder is the specialty of the house . . . 
 
For someone whose greatest culinary skill is ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the building inspector to get around to them, an attention-stealing new establishment—run by none other than Sarah's late ex-husband's mistress, Jane—is having its grand opening across the street. 
 
Jane's new sous chef, Riley Miller, is the talk of Wheaton with her delicious vegan specialties. When Riley is found dead outside the restaurant with Sarah's friend, Jacob, kneeling over her, the former line cook—whose infatuation with Riley was no secret—becomes the prime suspect. Now Sarah must turn up the heat on the real culprit, who has no reservations about committing cold-blooded murder . . . Includes quick and easy recipes!

TWO BITES TOO MANY - 2020 Silver Falchion Finalist - published October 2019

Things are finally looking up for Sarah Blair following her unsavory divorce. Settled into a cozy carriage house with her sassy Siamese cat, RahRah, she has somehow managed to hang on to her law firm receptionist job and – if befriending flea-bitten strays at the local animal shelter counts – lead a thriving social life. For once, Sarah almost has it together more than her enterprising twin, Emily, a professional chef whose efforts to open a gourmet restaurant have hit a real dead end…

When the president of the town bank and city council is murdered after icing Emily’s business plans, all eyes are on the one person who left the scene with blood on her hands – the twins’ sharp-tongued mother, Maybelle. Determined to get her mom off the hook ASAP, Sarah must collect the ingredients of a deadly crime to bring the true culprit to justice. But as neighbors turn against her family, can she pare down the suspects before another victim lands on the chopping block.

ONE TASTE TOO MANY - published January 2019

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty‑eight, Sarah Blair knew starting over would be messy, but things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by her twin sister’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah, her Siamese cat, wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and her sister wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!    

 [Recipes in One Taste Too Many include Jell-O in a Can.]

Buy Links:

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Treats-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719492

Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-treats-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1135275342?ean=9781496719492