Gah, I just think it’s so beautiful. Chase O’Brien is so swoon-worthy. I can’t even!
Seriously, though, don’t you just love it??? I’ve had this beauty since February, and I couldn’t share because I wasn’t finished with the book yet. The model is perfect for Chase (no pun intended ha!). That stare, the intense-yet-vulnerable look in his eyes…swoon. And then the gorgeous colors, title, and tagline set everything off.
I love it–and I hope you do, too :).
I hope it made you smile/swoon.
This book is truly one of my favorites I’ve ever written. Don’t get me wrong; I love ALL of my books.
But there’s something special about this one.
I love Charlie. I love Chase. I love them together, and oh, I had so much fun writing their story. ***This is a new adult sports romance recommended for readers 18+.*** If you love sexy-sweet stories featuring brothers guaranteed to make you swoon, I truly hope you’ll give The Perfect Play a chance!
Hope you are well and having an awesome weekend, bookworms!
Honestly, I feel like that title describes my life lol.
Work in progress.
Trying, trying some more, hopefully progressing.
Anyway, WIP probably describes everyone’s life, so at least I’m not alone :).
Here are a few updates on my books and what I’ve been doing recently (I’ll try not to make it too boring ha).
WALLFLOWER is out in the world, and it’s been doing so well! If you’re reading this, I cannot say thank you enough. So: Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love Viola & Dare so much, and people are actually reading their book, enjoying the story, writing such sweet reviews! Ugh, thank you again!
I’ve actually been working on several projects–which is so crazy bc I’m used to only working on one at a time. It’s been…a learning experience lol! And it’s not done yet.
Project #1: Editing my YA romance for Entangled! I just turned in my first pass of the manuscript to my editor and can’t wait to see what she thinks! Hoping, hoping, hoping all of you will love it! The title of the book is CUPCAKE. <3 It’s actually already on Goodreads. I’ll post more about it soon, but I love this book! Ugh, can’t wait to share it with you!
Project #2: Another YA romance for Entangled! Still in the early idea stages with this one. I’m waiting for approval of the summary, but I already am so excited about it!
Project #3: The co-authored project I’ve been writing! It’s YA. It’s awesome. It’s almost finished…maybe. The last time we spoke we said it will likely come out in June/July. Very excited (and nervous) about this ha!
Project #4: The O’Brien Brothers Book 2!!! I’m so looking forward to finishing this one–not because I don’t love it, but because I do! The book is at about 56k words. Still a few chapters to go. I love it SO much, and I’m just trying to do the main couple and this wonderful family justice. Again, I can’t wait to share and hope readers will swoon! *Also, the cover is GORGEOUS!!!! I need to finish the book first, but I can’t wait to put that bit of loveliness out in the world! *
Those are my WIPs!
Besides myself, of course :-).
I was sick last week, so that kind of sucked. FeedBurner is apparently going to stop sending email notifications–like the ones you get when I do a blog post. So, I need to figure that out for the ten people who actually read these posts ;).
I hope you’re all staying safe and that wonderful things are happening where you are!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. Oooh, and ADORKABLE is now available on the KISS app! It came out today! Yayyy!!! I think the publishing model is interesting; it involves tokens/chapters etc. Hope the KISS readers love Sally & Becks! š
So, itās the last Friday of Februaryācan you believe the month went by so fast???
March is right around the corner, and I wanted to do a quick post to check-in :).
First, congratulations to Judy G.!!! She was the winner of my giveaway to celebrate ADORKABLE hitting 10,000 ratings on Goodreads! I hope you enjoy your gift card, Judy, and thank you so much to everyone who entered!
Second, Iāve been trying to write! Iām loving the book(s) Iām working on, but honestly, I havenāt quite mastered the skill of writing more than one project at a time lol. My brain takes a minute to flip between stories. I just want to be consistently productive. Still trying to get the hang of this!
And third, thereās less than a month until the release of WALLFLOWER, yayyy! Iāve been trying to make sure itās ready. Thereās a blog tour and blitz scheduled. I sent out a few ARCs. Trying to work up the nerve to contact some authors for newsletter swaps (cue the nerves LOL). I still need to work on my dedication and acknowledgments.
Iāll definitely be posting more about WALLFLOWER in the coming weeks :). I so love this book. I hope you will, too! Crossing my fingers so hard!
Iāve got a to-do list about a mile long and am slowly making my way through it. Also, in case youāre interested, my current WIPs are a co-authored YA and book 2 of the OāBrien Brothers, woop! What have you been up to? Anything interesting? š
Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you’re doing well and that you got to read some awesome books over the holidays :). I didn’t get a chance to read, but I did finish writing a book, woop!
This one is for Entangled, and it’s with my editor now (very thankful to work with an amazing editor!). I love it, so I’m very much hoping she will, too! Crossing my fingers!
Just being honest: Sometimes it feels like I get nothing done lol. And with last year being so full of sadness, suffering and scary times, I was surprised to see that I’d reached several of my goals.
Bookish goals achieved last year: I published my 5th book baby and first ever New Adult romance, The Best Mistake, woohoo!!! The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad came out in paperback, and the Hungarian translation Piszkos TĆ”nc was released, yay! I also published my first novella, The Kissing Challenge <3! The ADORKABLE paperback got a second printing! *happy dance* In June, some wonderful people helped me do the #passthebookchallenge with ADORKABLE (still so thankful & would love to do it again)! I attended a virtual writer’s conference hosted by The Writing Gals–which was awesome! Pretty sure I wrote more than I ever have in a year (completed 2 books + 1 novella and started another co-written book!).
I also had a few goals I didn’t achieve…but I’m rolling them over to this year :). Okay, so here we go. Bookish/Writing Goals for 2021: Write a book (or several! 2-3+). Publish a book. Write more and consistently. Send newsletter once a month. Post on blog, FB, Instagram without being scared/freaking out. Participate more in the author/book community; again, don’t be afraid to reach out. Learn how to run ads.
I also have several personal goals, but here are the big ones: Be thankful & focus on the good.Spread love & positivity.
And there you go! No idea if I’ll be able to reach any or all of them–but I’m going to try. How did your 2020 goals turn out, and what are your goals for this year? I’d love to know!
I wish you all the best and hope 2021 is treating you well so far! Be safe and well, bookworms!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I’ll do another post soon, but in case you’re interested, my upcoming release is on Goodreads!!! This is truly a book of my heart. <3 It’s my first time mentioning it anywhere; I’m already beating myself up that it’s in a post script ugh, but I just wanted to say thank you so much to the 4 people who have already added WALLFLOWER! You rock!!! Be on the lookout for another post soon, you guys! I can’t wait to share it with all of you! š
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? š 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! š
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 youāre all doing well! Yes, Iām still here and just…trying, every day trying, like everyone else.
My last blog post wasnāt sent out for some reasonāand 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 sentāand if it doesnāt, I guess Iāll ask the people at WordPress lol? Not really the best with technology, so Iāll 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! Iām really in love with this book and the characters. Itās a YA romance with funny and swoon-worthy moments and…ugh, I hope to keep writing, canāt wait to finish and share it with you guys!
THE BEST MISTAKE, my New Adult sports romance, is doing awesome! Itās gotten some wonderful reviews, and Iām so thankful for all of them! Hereās a pic from back when THE BEST MISTAKE reached 100 ratings on Goodreads! *sigh* If you havenāt read it yet, I hope youāll check it out, and let me know what you think of the OāBrien 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 itās not just any book. Itās for two characters that I love: Nesta & Cassian! <333 Canāt 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 Iām 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 donāt know how this has become an argument. Itās not about infringing on peopleās rights; itās not even about you protecting yourself. The masks are worn to protect others. Itās about caring for those around you because you could have the virus, be asymptomatic, and spread it to a loved oneāor to someone elseās loved one. Iāve had my own experiences, and Iāll 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. Iād caught a cold which of course wouldnāt 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 Iād likely recover from couldāve 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 wouldāve done anything to protect her. Wearing a mask was not a hardship. I wish I couldāve 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: āWell, she was dying anywayā or have ever said something cruel like that to a person with cancer, please donāt buy or read any of my books. They are written for people with hearts. And Iām pretty sure youāve 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 youāre all safe and healthy, finding happiness during this time. Be well, readers.
…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 tĆ”nc (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! š
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! š I love each and every one of them! My YA books are swoony & sweet, and there are actually 4 out now <3!
