I hope you’re doing well! I have a new book coming out soon, woohoo! It’s a YA romance novella called THE KISSING CHALLENGE!
If you’re subscribed to The Cookie Jar Newsletter you may have already seen this, but I wanted to post here as well!
Here is the swoon-worthy cover <333.
And here is the summary:
The challenge: Kiss your best friend.
Sixteen-year-old Anne Elliot is in love with Captain.
He’s been her best friend for years. A rising musician with a special smile he reserves just for her, Captain even lets Anne practice her makeup skills on him—though his bandmates give him flack for it.
When Anne gets an anonymous comment challenging her to kiss her best friend, it threatens to reveal her secret. But how can she resist doing the one thing she’s wanted forever? It’s just one kiss. She and Captain’s relationship can stay the same…right?
The real challenge: Kiss your best friend, and don’t let him know you’re in love.
This YA romance novella is fun, fast-paced, and flirty, the perfect story for anyone who loves best-friends-to-lovers. Inspired by TikTok & Jane Austen, THE KISSING CHALLENGE is sure to make you swoon!
Again, I’m so excited to share Anne & Captain’s story with all of you! It’s 20k words, full of YA romance goodness, and I hope it makes you smile and swoon :). You can add THE KISSING CHALLENGE on Goodreads–and I hope you will lol! A few people have added it, and just seeing that really made me glad.
I’ve been feeling kind of tired and down. September is always hard, but I’m trying to stay positive. If you’re struggling, I hope you are able to stay positive, too.
Most of my focus has been on a charity event that I founded and have organized for the past few years to raise awareness & funds for childhood cancer. If you wouldn’t mind, please cross your fingers that it all goes okay. I’d truly appreciate the good vibes.
I hope you are all well, my lovely readers! Virtual hugs and good karma to you! Stay safe out there!
I’ve been sick for a bit. Blah. If you’re wondering, I was tested for COVID-19 (just to be on the safe side), but I’m very thankful to report the test came back negative. Whatever I’ve got is still hanging around. Hopefully, it will go completely away soon. But even with all that, I still managed to post on FB and Instagram, so yay?
Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that I reached another goal!
I didn’t tell anyone besides a few family members and one friend about it because I was afraid I’d jinx it and fail.
Story of my life ha.
My goal was to complete a 20K-word novella in ten days. And guess what? I did it, hooray! The story is a fun, swoony YA romance, and I’ll be offering to my newsletter subscribers for free just as soon as I can get a cover lol!
I’ll also make it available for $0.99 on Amazon because I’m not sure if everyone even knows about The Cookie Jar Newsletter–let alone this blog! *cries* But it’s cool! I just want everyone who loves my books (or wants to try my books ;)) to be able to read it, and from what other writers have done, I think that’s a good way to get the word out :).
I’ll have more on that later, but you guys!
Twenty thousand words in ten days!!! Not too shabby, especially for me and how slow I usually write.
If you have any goals you’re working on, I hope you reach them! I’ll be cheering you on from here and giving you virtual cookies along the way! Hope you are staying safe and having a wonderful week, bookworms!
I’m still here lol! And I’ve been writing! Yayyy!!!!
Tonight, I hit 50k on my current WIP, hooray! I am absolutely in love with this YA romance, and I’m hoping to finish it this week. That’s a big goal for me as I am not the fastest writer, but I’m going to try.
A little while ago, I attended a virtual writing conference held by The Writing Gals! (Sidenote: They are awesome and kind and so generous with the info they give to other writers! If you are a writer, I’d definitely check them out! :))
It was wonderful, you guys!
I haven’t gotten a chance to watch all of the courses that interest me (there were SO many awesome ones), but I did get to do a few things.
One of the things I did was writing sprints!
That’s where you sit down, set a timer for 20 minutes and just write as much as you can. I may have done this at some point, but it was never with a 20-minute time frame or with other authors. I always did at least an hour, usually two hours and would feel so disappointed if I got tired half-way through or didn’t end up with an awesome word count.
Long story short, the writing sprints have dramatically increased my productivity, and I am so thankful!
Now, I know I am capable of upping my word count, and it doesn’t feel so draining to sit for hours on end, hoping for the words to come. Who knew taking a little break and then jumping back in could be so effective? Everyone but me? Okay then, lol ;).
Again, I’m thankful for the conference and for Maggie Dallen’s course on writing faster and more efficiently (she mentioned sprinting, too, whoop!), and for all of the awesome live chats/panels I got to see!
It was just such a breath of fresh air, a bit of light in all this darkness, and it really has lit a fire under me to finish this book–and hopefully, many more to come.
I hope you are all doing well, my lovely readers! Stay safe, keep reading, and May the Force be with you!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. ICYMI: The Best Mistake is now available in paperback, and it is oh so pretty! <3 Have you got your copy of Honor & Archer’s story yet? 😉 I hope you love it!
I have some book mail to share with you today, yayyy!!!
The Best Mistake proof came, and it is gorgeous! Thank you so much to Sarah Hansen for her beautiful cover design! See pics below :).
The awesome cover! *swoons*
Lovely spine!
And wonderful back cover!
And of course, I had to get one (or three lol) of Archer O’Brien and me together! (Totally knew this mask would compliment the cover :))
I love the paperback SO much! Very excited with how it turned out and can’t wait to add it to my shelves! It’s going to look so gorgeous up there!
Also sidenote: I don’t love how KDP puts that not-for-resale line across the books–however it is nice to know the cover still looks amazing even with the line running across his mouth lol!
The Best Mistake paperback will be available on July 30, 2020!!! That’s right, you guys! The Best Mistake comes to print tomorrow (or today depending on when you get this), hooray!
Probably only like three people will want it–including myself ha!–but maybe more awesome readers will discover Honor, Archer and all of the O’Brien brothers in this new format <3. I hope so anyway!
Hope you’re all doing well, bookworms! Stay safe and healthy out there!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. The Best Mistake paperback comes out July 30, 2020, YAYYYYYY!!! I can’t wait! 🙂
In an effort to make your Monday awesome…I have a giveaway for you!
Hosted by Tina Donahue, who recently celebrated a new release (if you’re into hot paranormal romance/reverse harem, you might want to check her out!), she let a whole bunch of authors be a part of her giveaway! Yay!
The prize is $365 in gift cards as well as a ton of ebooks–including The Best Mistake!
It’s a milestone for each of my manuscripts, and I’m so thankful to have reached it! The story is a YA romance, and I am absolutely loving it! Seriously, sometimes the joy of the process gets lost. It’s easy to celebrate the final product, but I really enjoy the writing–especially when I fall head-over-heels for the characters and their love story *sigh*.
Oh, I hope you’ll like it, too!
The downside is this means I haven’t been working on my next O’Brien Brothers book…BUT I do plan to write more in the series!
I’ve gotten questions about whether I’m going to continue the series, and every single time, it makes my heart glad <3. My first foray into the NA romance world has been going well! People are actually reading The Best Mistake! Honestly, I wish even more people would read Archer & Honor’s story! Ugh, I just love it! But I’m so grateful to the readers who have read and taken the time to send me their kind words and leave a review! It means more than they will ever know!
This weekend I formatted the paperback, and I’ve contacted my cover designer about the print cover, woop! So hopefully, that will be coming soon! I promise, I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready :)!
Also, I’ve been in talks with Entangled about possibly doing another book with them, so yay! Hoping and crossing my fingers that wonderful things come from this!
And that’s pretty much all I’ve got. Just trying to hang in there, stay hopeful, and keep creating during this frankly awful time in the world.
I hope you’re doing well, my lovely readers! Hope you have a wonderful week!
I hope you’re all doing well! Yes, I’m still here and just…trying, every day trying, like everyone else.
My last blog post wasn’t sent out for some reason—and it was a nice one about a fun ADORKABLE bookish video I was able to do with some truly awesome people! <3 (ICYMI: here it is!)
I hope this one gets sent—and if it doesn’t, I guess I’ll ask the people at WordPress lol? Not really the best with technology, so I’ll definitely need help ha.
But anyway, here are a few writing/book-related updates:
I reached 10,000 words on my current WIP yesterday!!! Yay, yay, yay! I’m really in love with this book and the characters. It’s a YA romance with funny and swoon-worthy moments and…ugh, I hope to keep writing, can’t wait to finish and share it with you guys!
THE BEST MISTAKE, my New Adult sports romance, is doing awesome! It’s gotten some wonderful reviews, and I’m so thankful for all of them! Here’s a pic from back when THE BEST MISTAKE reached 100 ratings on Goodreads! *sigh* If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you’ll check it out, and let me know what you think of the O’Brien brothers!!!
Just found out Sarah J. Maas is writing another book in the A Court of Thorns & Roses series! Literally one of my favorite series ever! And it’s not just any book. It’s for two characters that I love: Nesta & Cassian! <333 Can’t wait to read!
A kind person at work got me a Kindle! It happened around Christmas, was totally unexpected and just really thoughtful. Because of this, I now have 3 free months of KU! Very excited to read all the books lol!
Also, on a totally different note, and because I’m a real person who cares about you and your loved ones, and I hope you care about mine: Please, if you have to go out and be around people, wear a mask.
I don’t know how this has become an argument. It’s not about infringing on people’s rights; it’s not even about you protecting yourself. The masks are worn to protect others. It’s about caring for those around you because you could have the virus, be asymptomatic, and spread it to a loved one—or to someone else’s loved one. I’ve had my own experiences, and I’ll share them here.
The first time I ever had to wear a mask was five years ago. It was to protect my best friend who had cancer.
Her immune system was down because of the chemo treatments. I’d caught a cold which of course wouldn’t usually be too concerning. But for someone with cancer and lowered immunity, a cold could turn into something far worse, like pneumonia. My little cold that I knew I’d likely recover from could’ve been life-threatening to her.
So I wore a mask.
To protect her.
Because I love her.
I had to do this a couple of times because I got sick again while she was undergoing treatment. I would’ve done anything to protect her. Wearing a mask was not a hardship. I wish I could’ve done so much more. She was and still is my favorite person of all time.
*And if you at any point while you were reading this thought: “Well, she was dying anyway” or have ever said something cruel like that to a person with cancer, please don’t buy or read any of my books. They are written for people with hearts. And I’m pretty sure you’ve misplaced yours.*
There are still people who I love that I want to protect. So again, when you go out and are around people, please wear a mask.
I hope you’re all safe and healthy, finding happiness during this time. Be well, readers.
So, this has to be one of the coolest things I have ever done. And it was made possible by all of the wonderful people in this video! <3
If you need a little brightness added to your day, check out our ADORKABLE #passthebookchallenge! Featuring some awesome people who I have so much love for! So thankful!
If you’ve followed me on this publishing journey, from ADORKABLE and beyond, you know that I believe the world has too many tragedies and not enough happy endings. That is why I strive to give all of my characters happily-ever-afters, and why I try to spread at least a little happy where possible.
I’ve included this on all of my posts so far because it’s true:
Wherever you are, whatever you are going through, I hope this brings you some happiness!
Sidenote: Piszkos tánc literally means Dirty Dance…which makes me think of Dirty Dancing…which is awesome bc I looove that movie!
What’s even more awesome? The LOL readers seriously rock!!! They are just so lovely and kind!
They send wonderful book pics like the ones below *__*.
They also do amazing collages! Truly, these brought tears to my eyes; they are so perfect for Sadie & Colton’s book! <333
Also, they made me realize the Sprouse twins, Dylan & Cole, could totally play Colton & Kyle in the movie version of The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad!!! 😀
P.S. There’s actually no movie, but maybe someday. *sigh*
P.P.S. If there ever is a movie for any of my books, you’ll be the first to know :).
Also, there was this!!!!! Some awesome person had to do a newspaper book report for school, and they chose Piszkos tánc! Oh my heart! <333
The LOL readers have shown me a lot of love, and I just wanted to share some of that love with you!
I’ll also be doing a live event on the LOL Facebook page Wednesday at 12:00 AM EST/11:00 AM CST/6:00 PM in Hungary. We’ll be talking about my books and writing and tbh I just hope I don’t mess it all up ugh. So so nervous lol. Cross your fingers for me, would you? I’m pretty awkward, so I welcome and appreciate all the good karma/vibes you can send.
I truly hope you’re well, everyone! Staying safe, reading awesome books and spending time with your loved ones (whether in person or virtually :))!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
*Note to self: Figure out how to share other people’s posts on Instagram. That’s where I first saw those collages *swoons*. Hope you all have an awesome day!*
…and my readers are the BEST of the best! Period. <3
Seriously, hands down, they rock! Book baby #5 has been out in the world for a little over a week, and I’m so thankful for all the love people have been showing Honor & Archer! Thank you so much to InkSlinger PR and Xpresso Book Tours and to everyone who participated in The Best Mistake Blog Tour and Book Blitz!
Also, thank you for this beautiful banner which I will be keeping forever and ever lol! <3
And thank you to every single reader who has read and reviewed so far!!!
The entire story was magical. I read this book in a single sitting because I legit couldn’t put the book down. –Vanessa at Novel Nerd Faction
I loved the slow burn romance!–Lauren at SERIESous Reviews
The most delicious mix of sweet & steamy…with a little bit of socially awkward too! A total 5 stars and a home run for The Best Mistake!–Krista, Goodreads Reviewer
I loved that their connections were more than just sexual or baseball, it gives the sense this relationship will go the distance.–Becky Burrier at Bookcase and Coffee
Sweet, steamy, fun, lighter.–Briana at Renee Entress’s Blog
“The Best Mistake” by Cookie O’Gorman deserves 5 golden stars!–Abbey, Goodreads Reviewer
This is one of the first books in a while I told my hubby to ‘be quiet’ because I was reading. The Best Mistake is definitely a must-read.–Sharrice at Reese’s Reviews
The Best Mistake was one of the first books I’ve picked up and finished in weeks.–Sanne at Scandalous Book Blog
This was a heartfelt love story that left me with a smile on my face.–Cindy at Read.Review.Repeat
The Best Mistake is a swoony, romantic new adult sports romance that is refreshingly free of much of the angst that NA books usually feature.– Becky at Becky on Books
Give this book a chance. It will never feel like a mistake, I can assure you that!–Andy, Goodreads Reviewer
You’ll have to hit those one click buttons to see how it all plays out! HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!–Jennifer Pierson, Amazon Reviewer
To say that I have fallen in love with all the characters in this book would be putting it mildly. I loved every single O’Brien sibling, and am so hungry for all of their stories.–Ree at Ree Cee’s Books
Ugh, you guys!!! As a self-published author (I think I’m technically a hybrid now, but most of my books–including this one–are self-pubbed), I appreciate these early reviews so much! Honestly, I appreciate every review that comes at any time lol! But the early ones help and let others readers know 1) why they should give the book a chance, 2) that it’s worth their time, and 3) what to expect. On a more personal note, reviews–the nice ones–also give me so much joy and warmth to know actual people are reading & enjoying something I wrote!
So again: Bloggers, reviewers, awesome bookish peeps, you rock!!!
Thank you so much!
NA sports romance is a genre that I love, but it’s difficult to break into ha! There are so many well-known AKA Superstar Authors in the category.
(Side note: I don’t know any of them… I did make a list of YA & NA authors to do newsletter swaps with for the release; it was a good list. Guess how many I contacted? If you said zero, you’d be correct LOL! However, I reached out to a few readerly peeps, asked if they’d like an ARC, so that’s good :)).
Anyway, it’s hard not to fade into oblivion–which I guess can be said about all genres, but it’s true of NA sports romance as well. Whenever I release a new book, I just wish I was less introverted and more outgoing!
Because I love my books so much! I truly do. And I hope they give people a breath of fresh air, a much needed pick-me-up, and yes, a taste of happily-ever-after! <3
Thank you so much again, bookish peeps! The Best Mistake had a fantastic first week, and that is all thanks to YOU!!! Honor & Archer’s story is finally out there, hooray, and people are already asking for the next O’Brien Brothers book–which makes my heart so glad! **Also, reminds me that I need to get cracking on the writing lol!**
I hope you’re all safe and well! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I’ve also received a lot of love from Hungary and saw so many gorgeous pics from the blog tour for Piszkos tánc (aka The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad)!!! Gah, LOL is awesome and so are the LOL readers! I’ll have a post about that as well! 🙂
Ahh, you guys, I’m feeling all the feels! Part of it may be lack of sleep/stress lol, but the real reason is I’m SO excited to share this book with you! The Best Mistake is my first New Adult sports romance, and I hope you fall in love with it! <333 Honor Tierney (innocent bookworm determined to guard her heart), Archer O’Brien (gifted athlete, protective/oldest O’Brien brother, made up of swoon), gah, I love them so much!!! And ALL of the characters! Can I just say, I am head-over-heels in love with everyone in this book? Not that I’m biased or anything ;).
If you love sweet & sexy NA romance, college sports, hilarious cases of mistaken identity, and brothers who are guaranteed to make you swoon, I hope you’ll give The Best Mistake a try!
In this uncertain, scary time, I hope this story brings a little brightness to your day! I hope it lifts you up and gives you some happiness! Thank you so much to every person who has supported me and this book! It means everything <3. Be well and safe, my lovely bookworms!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. ***Again, The Best Mistake has mature content and is intended for readers 18+.*** If you are younger, please consider trying one of my young adult romances! 🙂 I love each and every one of them! My YA books are swoony & sweet, and there are actually 4 out now <3!
