Help me pick a new title

Dec 04, 2025 4:28 pm

December News

Contents

Introduction, updates, and newsletter giveaway
Sales, freebies, and/or new releases
Giveaways and promotions
Book recommendations
Closing remarks
My books

Hi ,

For everyone who participated in last month's giveaway, thank you for your recommendations. The winner of last month's giveaway is Cindi at ms ... dk at aol dot com. If this is you, you should have received your gift card by now. Unfortunately, I'll need to pause my monthly giveaways because my earnings have dropped to where I can't continue for now. I hope to make this a short pause, but I don't know how long I'll need to go without doing these giveaways.

I'm deep into the plotting/brainstorming phase of my next book and I'll hopefully be ready to start writing soon. I've been calling it Once upon a Stepmother for years, but I realized that it's a title that doesn't necessarily fit. My initial thoughts when I gave it this name were along the lines of this being a prequel for Once upon a Shoe. However, the focus of this book is well before Iris becomes Ella's stepmother. So that focus in the title doesn't make much sense to me anymore.

So I want you to help me decide on a new title. The ideas I'm currently considering are Once upon a Vow, Once upon a Secret, Once upon a Cage, Once upon a Key, and Once upon a Forbidden Door. What are your thoughts? Do you like any of these better than Once upon a Stepmother? Should I stick with my original working title? Do you have any better ideas. You can either hit reply and tell me your thoughts or fill out this google form.

Sales, Freebies, and/or New Releases

I'm participating in the Smashwords end of year sale which runs from the 8th this month through the first of January. Once upon a Shoe, Once upon an Isle of Treasure, and The Fox Assassin will all be free on Smashwords and the rest of my books will be discounted.

I'm also aware of 2 different Advent Calendars for free books this month. I'm not part of these events or affiliated; I'm just aware of them and wanting to pass on the chance for free books to you. Robyn Sarty's should be 100% clean and sweet, and features multiple authors. Laura Greenwood's is, to the best of my knowledge, all her own books and she writes a variety of heat levels, some of which are clean. If you only want clean books, she has a heat level guide here.

K. M. Shea has her book, Princess Ahira, free right now. It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember it being a wonderful clean romantasy with the humor I've come to expect from K. M. Shea's books.

Giveaways and Promotions

Book Recommendations

The Reborn Prince by Julianne Munich

He was a prince, forced into a new life as a pauper.

Luc, a poor but vain young man in 1775 Paris, is confused by his dreams of gilded ballrooms and unknown people in lace and jewels. What's more, everything before the past two years is a hazy fog in his mind. His only link is Aunt Mathilde, who gives him few answers.

What he doesn't know is that 'Aunt Mathilde' is in fact his mother—and a Sorceress. She keeps him captive under her magical veil, desperate to both protect him and punish him for the evil deeds of his royal past.

When disease leaves Luc scarred and weakened, he feels his life is over. He pushes away his humble friends, including Emilie, a young housemaid.

Emilie, scarred from smallpox, is resigned to life as a spinster. Yet, she sees beauty and joy in life and understands Luc's despair beneath his bitter, beastly attitude.

Unless Luc can embrace his inner strength, care about others, and love unselfishly, he risks destroying himself once more.

This is Book 1 of the Mages in the Mundane historical fantasy series and is an adult twist on Beauty and the Beast, with family drama, a secret underground society of Mages, and a sweet love story. The novel ends with a lead-in to the sequel.

The Gingerbread Thief by Robin Winters

When you try to bake the perfect man, but he runs away...

Arin Sweetbread has a problem. She wants to be ugly. Well, maybe not ugly, but at least a bit less attractive. The village men stare at her longingly, faeries regularly plot to steal her away, and the village girls absolutely detest her. To make matters worse, she is useless in her family’s bakery, even when following recipes from the Sweetbread family’s magic cookbook. In fact, her cookies can kill a man if thrown with sufficient force.

Arin’s parents insist on marrying her off as soon as possible since she has no future as a baker. But Arin doesn’t want to wed any of the lovesick boys in her village. The only answer to her dilemma is a trip to the forbidden Goblin Market, where she hopes to purchase something that will make her plain. There she meets a mysterious faerie who offers her a magic stone that will help her bake the man of her dreams. But soon Arin realizes that the “gingerbread man” does not want to steal her heart; he has his sights set on stealing something far more valuable—her family’s magic cookbook. NOTE: This is a no-spice, sweet and clean YA novel.

HERE ARE THE TROPES:

Enemies to Lovers

A Faerie Prince

Faerie Falls in Love with Human Girl

Soulbound to the Orc by Luna Draven

When darkness falls, only hope survives.

Nell believes orcs and humans can coexist peacefully. Rhun thinks she's either a spy or dangerously naive.

When optimistic human fighter Nell is assigned to guard her village's merchants at the annual Blood Moon harvest festival, she sees it as proof that peace between species is possible. Young orc scout Rhun is certain the cheerful human woman making terrible puns and offering him honey cakes is up to something. No one is that trusting of orcs.

Then the Blood Moon rises, ancient magic activates, and vengeful spirits from an old battlefield trap everyone inside the festival grounds. Separated from their groups and hunted by hostile ghosts, Nell and Rhun have until dawn to reach the central shrine and complete the blood sacrifice ritual, or everyone dies.

Fighting side by side through the cursed ruins, Nell's relentless optimism challenges Rhun's desperate need to prove himself through reckless heroics. She sees a brave protector beneath his impulsive exterior. He discovers her cheerfulness isn't naivety but courage, choosing hope in the face of darkness.

But the ritual requires blood from "enemies turned allies." And when their peoples find them, both will have to choose between the approval they've always sought and a love that could bridge two species.

Because surviving the night was the easy part. Admitting they fell for the enemy? That takes real bravery.

Princess Ahira by K. M. Shea

When Princess Ahira gets kidnapped by dragons on her sixteenth birthday, she calls it the best present ever.

Good-bye endless etiquette lessons, hello fire-breathing freedom!

Instead of a tower cell, Ahira is assigned to “assist” Azmaveth—a powerful, brilliant, and spectacularly messy dragon whose magical experiments tend to explode. Between dealing with dubious potions and sweeping up scorched feathers, Ahira discovers a world of new friends in the dragon's den and the enchanted forest around it.

Everything would be perfectly wonderful…if not for Kohath.

Azmaveth’s human steward is bossy, infuriating, and absolutely determined to ruin Ahira’s fun. He’s also clearly hiding something behind his vague explanations and odd presence.

But when the enchanted forest is attacked, even dragons can’t avoid politics forever. When a shocking betrayal sends Ahira back to the life she thought she’d escaped, she has to decide: stay the perfect princess, or fight for the messy, magical friends—and maybe even the maddening steward—who’ve stolen her heart.

Princess Ahira is part adventure, part fantasy romance for kids, topped with a sprinkling of fairy tale humor! If you've been searching for dragons, miniature unicorns, and spunky princesses, snuggle up with this cute and cozy read today!