What do you find Tasty?

and last chance for a do-over deal

Tasty is the final book in my Do-Over series. January’s been a great month to feature The Do-Over Boxed Set 0.99 sale (ending tomorrow, so grab yours now):

and then Feisty, Hasty, and now Tasty.

How do you top the perfect wedding to the perfect man in the best hometown with the greatest best friends ever?

With an even better reception.

And how do you top the best reception ever?

With the picture-perfect honeymoon in Fiji.

Except…when our past comes back to haunt us, things don’t go quite as planned. I wanted hot sex on my honeymoon.

Not hot sex being filmed next door. On the deck.

With a cringe-worthy view that makes me feel inadequate.

How do you bend like that?

Anyhow…

Will and I met on an adult film set (it’s not what you think…), so when those two worlds collide again, the perfect honeymoon becomes the perfect nightmare.

Between a lascivious film crew in the adjacent beach house rental, a didgeridoo that doubles as something else that starts with D, an unexpected altercation with the police (again…), and some old friends (er, can I call them that?) from my fluffer days (again, not what you think), our extraordinary honeymoon has devolved into a fight for boundaries and — in the end — a stroke of genius.

Which is not the kind of stroke we had in mind, but it’ll have to do.

Because by the time we’re done untangling this mess, we find perfection again.

On our terms.

Just like love.

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Tasty takes place after Chapter 15 in the book Hasty, in New York Times bestselling romantic comedy author Julia Kent’s Do-Over series. Join Mallory, Will, and all their friends and family as they celebrate their wedding… and the outrageous honeymoon antics that follow.

If you somehow missed Tasty’s release, you can get in on it now. Like the rest of the series, it’s narrated by Erin Mallon, and available on Audible:

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This Month’s FR3E eBooks

Find your next favorite author. Two of my author pals are excited to share these books with readers.

I've have had a crush on Ryder Williams for years.
Years.
What better chance to make my move on him than when he’s sacrificing himself on an auction block for a squealing mass of fans at a campus charity event? Too bad I'd rather hide in the bathroom hiding than raising my auction paddle--even if it is for a good cause.
What girl actually bids on a guy who doesn’t know she exists? Not. Me.
No way.
But that's what friends are for... and mine are the meddling kind. One overpriced bid (while I'm in the bathroom) later, and Ryder Willams is mine for the taking. Too bad for them I have no intention on collecting his debt.
Too bad Ryder is determined to find out why I don't seem to want him.

Is a week of passion enough to warrant changing my life forever?
He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
An enigmatic, French businessman with red hair, blue eyes, and an intensity that stirred something deep inside me that hadn’t yet been awoken.
I wanted him instantly.
And for some reason, he seemed to want me too.
Only, he wasn’t mine to have.
He was older, wiser, and infinitely richer with a sophisticated girlfriend back home and no time for a holiday affair.
But that was exactly what he proposed.
A seven day, no-strings attached, illicit affair on the warm, sultry shores of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
I was innocent, naive in the ways of men, but I didn’t care.
I had to have him regardless of the consequences.
Even if it meant losing my heart in the process.

For a very limited time, through January 30, Barnes & Noble is featuring fr3e shifter books. If you don’t already know, I am half of Diana Seere, shifter author.

Our book, The Billionaire Shifter’s Curvy Match, is on us at B&N right now:

You can also get Owl Be Bear For You, D.J. Jennings’ first in a series fr3e. Darla writes shifter novels? WHAT?

Yeah. I know.

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Where Do You Find Peace and Connection?

I find myself turning toward peaceful, connective media these days. It could be a good old print book (I read a lot of those), a movie, music (just resting on the couch, eyes closed, listening), a funny video clip, a poem.

And I realized maybe I need to share what gives me peace. That in the sharing, we’ll all feel more connected.

So here goes: I can’t stop listening to this gorgeous, indescribably holy experience.

When I had my babies (the three who were born live, that is), I chose a “labor song” for each one.

• Kid 1: Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

• Kid 2: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber

  [Note: there is no consistency or pattern here]

• Kid 3: Hallelujah, sung by Rufus Wainwright

Kid #3, D, was a 28-hour labor, 15 of it on Pitocin. No pain meds, no epidural (which I regret, but that’s for another story). So I listened to A LOT OF RUFUS WAINWRIGHT.

And in spite of listening to his version of Leonard Cohen’s perfect song, I don’t associate it with pain. I associate it with birth and rebirth, with the cycle of life.

When Clark and I were in NYC in 2019, we saw Waitress on Broadway. it was an accident, one of those “what do you mean, tickets are $99 and we can grab some?” moments, an impulsive decision I am NOT known for.

I am a planner at heart when it comes to vacations (not when I write books, though), so making a last-minute decision like this was out of character, but so wonderful.

Learning that Sara Bareilles (creator of most of Waitress) and Rufus Wainwright sang She Used to Be Mine from Waitress made me run to YouTube and — oh.

Oh.

Watch the video. Listen to their rendition. It’s haunting and gorgeous and uplifting.

Transcendent.

I find peace in it, through it, and after it. I hope you do, too.

YouTube’s algorithm knows me well, and offered up one of my favorites after I watched Sara and Rufus. Here’s an oldie but goodie from Jeremy Jordan, singing It’s All Coming Back to Me Now:

A VERY different song, performed quite tongue-in-cheek, and it made me an instant Jeremy Jordan fan! You have to watch the whole thing - it’s good singing, but outstanding showmanship as the piece continues.

Nathan Pyle’s Strange Planet comic strip is another source of peace. I feel understood when I read his comics. I also feel challenged intellectually, trying to discern what he means:

© Nathan W. Pyle

We stumbled across a television show based on his comics, on Apple+, and you can buy his books as well at his website.

I just read them on Facebook and laugh, but now I’ll go get a book!

I am always looking for more sources of rest, relaxation, connection, peace, laughter - tell me about yours!

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One Night (Hand) Stand Sample Listen

Heyo! If you love audiobooks, listen to this - the first chapter of One Night (Hand) Stand, narrated by the extraordinary duo of Shane East and Samantha Brentmoor.

You can pre-order it here on Audible:

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