Hush Now Series

Hello to all five of my fans! 😊 Love you guys. Seriously. Mad love.

I wanted to take a minute today and talk about the new series that I'm working on. About a year ago, I published a book of short stories about postpartum depression/anxiety and pregnancy loss. As a survivor of both, it means so much to me to spread awareness about these issues. I've seen it time and time again when I talk to other moms that are suffering: when I open up about my experiences, it gives them permission to do the same. When we start talking, we open the door for real improvement.

The book of short stories is called Hush Now. You can find it here for $.99 Hush Now: Short Stories

It's raw and real. It's fiction but based on my own personal experiences and those of other women that have opened up to me. It was rough to write. I won't lie to you. I wouldn't lie to my top five fans now, would I??? But it felt so important to me, so I pushed through the tears and bad memories and wrote it. Then I kind of left it alone.

But I wasn't done with it.

I recently decided to pick it up again and turn some of those stories into full-length romance novels. My idea is to have all of these women connected by the health care professionals that they visit. They will make very small appearances in each other's stories to illustrate the point that we have no idea what the stranger sitting next to us is going through. These books will obviously have a very different tone than my Stone Girls series, especially Even Though You're a Weirdo. That one is all sarcasm and awkward situational humor. I love it. I love funny and witty. I'll get back to funny and witty soon. Promise. I just need to write these books, you know?

I finished the first one! Yay! It's about Britt, the young single mom with anxiety. It deals with a really heavy topic, but I tried my best to add a little humor, a lot of sweetness, and a pinch of hope. Nothing I write is perfect. I'm fully aware of this, but I hope that I've created something beautiful that will stick with people after they read it. 

 You can find it here Don't Try to Save Me

And now I'm working on the next book in the series. This one is called When the Smoke Clears, and it's about Olivia and Brady as they wade through the grief of miscarriages. It's also a romance, as I spend a lot of time focusing on their love story. Pain can tear people apart, or it can bring them closer, and there's no possible way for the pain of losing a baby to not affect your relationships. Once again, I'm trying my best to add a little hope and sweetness to this heavy topic. This one feels even heavier to me, so after I finish, I might need to take a little break from this series. 

Phew! Glad I got all of that off my chest! 

So, if you're down to cry with me, if you've experienced the old PPD/PPA, lost babies, or if you just want some sweet happy/sad stories then read this series!! If you HATE crying, then wait for me to get back to light-hearted sarcasm. I already have plans for it, so fret not. 

If you made it this far, then you really are a fan! Thanks for sticking with me, Samantha. SAMANTHA? I don't even know a Samantha! Fun fact, did you know little boys also like Frozen? I mean, they don't like it as much as they like Ninjago, but it has a place in our lives, for sure.

Have a lovely day in COVID quarantine. Thanks for reading! 😘

FREE Short Story

Hey everyone! I promised this free short story a long time ago, and it was done a long time ago. Then we moved from Utah to Washington, and my life was a mess for a solid three weeks! I'm just now starting to pick up all of my "grand writing plans" off the floor. Let me just dust them off...

Okay, so this short story is about Tara and Ella's mom, Helen, from the Stone Girls books. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I feel like it's best read after the first two full-length novels in the series. Both are available on Amazon and are in KU if you'd like to read them first! They can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B087QPSDPR

And now, here is the PDF link to Even Though You're Lost! Download, read, enjoy, share! 😊

https://drive.google.com/file/d/120dZq2ZxFg2-FPQhQ8cqLAbGp9KmSGNc/view?usp=sharing

Even Though You're a Weirdo

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BTPQ1Y6

Book Two will be here July, 15th, and I had a blast writing it! Ella, everyone's favorite sassy little sister from Even Though You're Wrong is back and all grown-up! Well, not too grown-up. I 💙 Ella. She is my favorite character that I've written so far. She is sarcastic, dramatic, ridiculous, and so loveable. I just think we'd be friends if she was real. I also love her book boyfriend, but I won't tell you too much about him yet. It's pretty obvious once you start getting into the story, but there could be some question about who she'll end up with, so I won't spoil it. 

Here are a few fun facts about Book Two:

• This book can be read as a stand-alone. You don't have to read the first book for this one to make sense.
• We get to see more of Tara and Jared! But funnier, because it's from Ella's point of view.
• There are still a lot of complex family relationships going on. Things don't magically get better overnight. 
• The swearing and the sexiness are turned up just a little in this book, but I still don't write detailed explicit sex scenes. That's just not my goal with these books!
• This story is about the expectations we put on ourselves and others, and the difference between what we think we're supposed to do with our lives, versus what we actually want to do with our lives.

Here is the blurb! Please read and review! 😁

"Perfection is stupid, and I don't need it. So what if I don't have a relationship with 'God' or my dad? Why does it matter that I'm not like my sweet, beautiful, incredible sister? And who cares if I don't have a plan for my life yet?

I have sarcasm and a killer sense of humor instead.

Not to brag, but I also have the world's hottest boyfriend, and I get paid to play with dogs all day. Maybe my life isn't perfect, but it's pretty freaking great.

Like I said, I don't need perfection.

But is there a difference between 'perfect' and 'perfect for me?' What if 'perfect for me' has been staring me in the face since the day I met him?"

Even Though You're Wrong

                                                 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087N3L951

It's finished -- my very first Romance! Let me tell you a little bit about it:

• It's about young love. When the story opens, Tara Stone is 18 years old.
• It's about belief systems, and how sometimes they strengthen and lift us up, and other times they blind us and hold us back.
• It's about complex family relationships and healing.
• It's pretty clean! There is some language, but not a ton, and no sex scenes.
• There will be more books about these characters!

I got the idea for this book a very long time ago. In fact, I wrote a version of it back in 2017, but it was a hot mess! In the end, I hated the way I told the story, but I knew the bones were good, and I wanted to try again. I re-wrote the entire thing and made it five-thousand times better.

Tara is a good Christian girl. Jared is an atheist. They are both wrong. They are both right. I wrote a story that's close to my heart as I attempted to show that nothing is black and white and that it's possible to learn something from different viewpoints. Beliefs don't have to divide us.

If you read and enjoy, please leave a review! 

First Things First, Let Me Introduce Myself

I'm surrounded by boys, and I write about love. That's funny, right? I think it's funny. Sometimes I wear pink when I don't even want to, and add flowers to all of the decor in our home just to make sure my femininity is noticed. It's loud at our house, and there are dirty socks, video games, and "weapons" everywhere, but really, my boys are the best. I think I'll keep them.

I've been writing since I learned to hold a pencil and spell the word "the," and in the back of my sixth-grade yearbook, it says that I'm going to be an author. Kids know things, so... 

Words are my happy place. I love how you can say so much and bring someone's imagination to life with just a few, well-chosen words. It's a beautiful thing. I like the stories that make you ugly-cry and soul-search. I like the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat, skimming the words like a crazy person, so you can find out what happens next! I like the ones that make you laugh out loud, and the ones that make you sigh because they're so damn cute. Basically, I like all the stories.

Besides writing, I'm a fan of creating Pinterest fails, begging my kids to sleep, and pretending that I like working out.

Fun Facts about me:

• Nicole is my middle name. 
• I lived in the Amazon Jungle for three months.
• I pushed out my two babies without drugs, like a crazy person.
• I lost my first baby when I was ten weeks pregnant.
• I am a PPD survivor.
• I hate social media.
• I've been with my husband for over ten years, and we can still make each other laugh.
• I'm a friendly ex-Mormon. 
• I'm a tech wife that could spend hours debating the best VR headsets and the best VR use-cases. I had a headset before it was cool.
• I didn't initially want to write Romance. I thought I was a cynic, then I tried Romance, and it was fun! WHAT??? (I don't write erotica... just sayin'. If you like to read it or write it, though, you do you!)
• I'm pretty much as sarcastic as they come.

And I think that's all you really need to know about me. Click subscribe if you want to be updated on my super exciting life, my works in progress, new releases, exclusive freebies, books I'm reading, etc. Really, what more could you want?