A New Face for an Old Friend

Anyone up for a stroll down Memory Lane with me?

It was September of 2014. We had barely started our homeschool year with a fourth-grader, a third-grader, and a first-grader, and my husband and I had just finished liquidating the last of our small business. And I was obsessed with John Thornton and Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Like, OBSESSED.

I really don’t know why this sickness began. I wasn’t dissatisfied with my man (in fact, maybe what I liked best about JT and FD was that they reminded me of him?). I was contentedly going about my young mom life and puttering around our little “farm” during the days. I had a pretty busy calendar and lots of chores to keep me hopping. But at night, I would invent love stories. Some of them were pretty darn engrossing.

And, sadly, I didn’t know anyone I could talk to about my favorite gents! No one in my circle “got” it. So, I was the twitchy one in the corner at family parties (remember those?), who would busy herself washing the dishes and daydreaming while everyone else chatted or did cool things, like staring at their phones and texting people in the same room.

And who would have thought I would write love stories? I’m a farm girl! I tried… I really TRIED to write animal-themed books for kids. That’s what I always thought I would write if I ever wrote a book. You know, something like Summer of the Monkies, or Misty of Chincoteague. My brain just would not cooperate (and I have the abandoned manuscripts to prove it).

Well, you know how it ended. I basically threw off the covers one night and said “FINE! I’ll write the darn love story!” That was the beginning of my first book, No Such Thing as Luck. I was having fun writing it–sneaking my phone in the shower (you only think I’m kidding) and tapping away at my Google Docs app. My husband probably thought I was suddenly spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook. Whatever. I was having the time of my life, finally putting mushy words on paper (or phone, as it happened).

A month or so later, another story got me out of bed again. That book is probably the reason I’m still writing today because it brought me squarely into a universe I never knew existed. Jane Austen Fiction. That story, Rumours and Recklessness, also helped us get out of the last of our debt from the business we had sold. That was enough for my husband to throw his wholehearted support behind my writing endeavors (even though I never told him what I was up to until the day R&R went live on Amazon!).

Rumours went live about five and a half years ago, and it’s still a reader favorite. To be honest, I believe my later books are better. (At least I hope they are, or that means I haven’t learned anything, right?) However, there is something sweet and fun about R&R that just brings a smile.  But the cover was due to be freshened up.

A few years ago, I asked my dear Janet Taylor to spruce up my original (very amateurish) cover image. She gave it a lovely facelift, but she was limited by the fact that I wanted to keep the same image. I liked the classic painting, and I thought it would be best to stay with the familiar “look” of the book. She did a beautiful job! I loved the lavender colors, and I still like that “Is this really happening to me?” look on Elizabeth’s face.

This time around, though, I have a teenage daughter who is interested in graphic design. She and I have been puttering with tutorials and programs, and we had a bit of fun. I’m definitely not gifted with photo editing, so don’t expect me to be designing my own covers in the future. It was a fun project, though, and I hope you guys will enjoy the new look. 

Click and drag the slider bar to see the before and after!

Rumours & Recklessness is also available in Audible format, recorded by the incomparable Stevie Zimmerman, as well as a Spanish language edition translated by the lovely Cristina Huelsz. Those covers will be updated soon, so look out for the new pretty face! And just for fun, Rumours is will soon be my first book available in hardcover. I am excited to see it live! I was hoping it would be by today, but it was not to be. Soon, I promise!