This month has been rough for our family. And with all the adjustments to the blog and being away from home more than usual, it might take me a while to get my posts settled into a routine. I hope you'll bear with me and enjoy what I'm able to share.
On with the challenge responses!

Thank you so much for joining me at the blog today! I'm happy to share the third installment of my feature on Leah Atwood, an excellent example of an indie author who delivers on her promise. What promise is that? Her goal is to leave the reader smiling when each book ends. So far, at least for me, she's held true to that promise. You'll see what I mean. Let's get to that review!

Am I really so busy? Time flies by so fast I can barely keep my days straight. I've gotten into the practice of writing most things down so I can try to remember them. That works...as long as I remember to check my list. XD
I'm still doing everything I can on both Surge and The Tale of Outh'n Durr. More on that in the last portion of today's post.
Ready to check out my challenge responses for the last week? Let's go!

This week, I've got a clean, historical romance to share with you from Leah Atwood. If this is your first visit this month, then you should also check out last week's book review. I'm featuring the books I've read from Leah's vast collection of writing. I hope you'll find one or two that strike your fancy.
Also, if you read all the way to the bottom, I've included some thoughts that have been rattling around in my head on the topic of free short stories and novellas designed to introduce readers to new authors. I hope it'll be helpful to indies everywhere.

I've updated some of the elements on the blog but I'd also like to change up the content a little. I feel like that's been lost in my pursuit of staying busy with my writing. I feel like I've been spinning my wheels and not making much progress.
I hope you'll look forward to the slow changes I'm going to start incorporating. I definitely want to publish Surge this year (2020), as well as a short story that will sort of set up the story for the secondary characters. Just because they're secondary characters doesn't mean I shouldn't fall in love with them, right? :) Well, in any case, I do enjoy writing their stories and can't wait to share them with you!
Until then, please enjoy these writing/bookish challenges I've decided to participate in this month.

Well, my promised indie author interview for the winter has fallen through. This is the last month when I really thought things would work out but life seems to get more hectic instead of easing up. So instead, I'll feature my indie author friend's books this month. I have five reviews or so to share with you. I hope you'll see one that sparks your interest and support another indie author who's just doing her thing.

We've finally come to the end of another month. They speed by when you're busy, don't they? So I'm going to get these out and start up a new challenge or set of challenges for February. Also in February, I'm planning to share the first Indie Author Interview with Robin. I wanted to start off with the author who I wasn't able to interview back in November. Her work is perfect for February, though. Stay tuned and you'll see what I mean. :)
For now, let me share my challenge responses!

This week, I have two more contemporary romance novels for you, but they're by the same author. I enjoyed the first one enough to check out the next one in the series, but... Well, let's just get to the reviews.

As January progresses, I find my time is dragging by. I've been able to get some decent work done on Surge and a side story based on another character from the book. I want so much to get short stories out to my newsletter subscribers. What's stopping me? Properly editing them. I can't stand getting a free "book" only to find multiple typos and style issues which keep me from truly enjoying it. So I've been trying to work on two things at once to get at least one short story ready to send out. If you want in on that, scroll to the bottom of any page on my website and you'll find the newsletter sign-up section.
With business out of the way, let's take a look at this week's challenges!

This week, I've got a couple of reviews on contemporary romance novels. Sometimes, I just feel like these types of stories are so rushed. Am I the only one? I sometimes wish for more info on the characters and their reasoning, or more about the area they live in, or a little more plot depth. I realize romance novels don't necessarily need these things to qualify for their genre. ... But does anyone else think it might make the stories more lasting?
Enough questions... On with the reviews!