Hello, beautiful people!
This post will be short because there are too many words and too many emotions in my head at once and I need to focus. I have a book to write, dammit! But something amazing just happened and I absolutely had to let you know.

Here’s a quote from the official announcement: “INDIES finalist status recognizes the talent, commitment, and craft of the authors, publishers, and university presses who participated in this year’s competition. These titles will now be evaluated by teams of librarians and booksellers who will determine the gold, silver, and bronze winners across all categories.”

There are eight other finalists in the Romance category, including Switch by the legendary Ann McMan, Tapout by Nicole Disney (also a finalist in the LGBTQ category), and Too Forward by Kristina Rivers. Congratulations to them and to all the other finalists! It’s such an honour to see our names next to yours.

Honestly, my mind is blown and my heart happy. In the maelstrom the world has become, you bet I’ll take my joy where I can, and professional recognition feels great.

Fun fact: a lot has been happening in our lives recently and Marguerite and I were driving to the nearest LEGO store to build our complimentary—and celebratory—lightsabers when Milena McKay texted that we were finalists. Since it’s now part of the story, here’s my lightsaber: