Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. May you gather safely this year.
People often ask me where I get my ideas for stories. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know. There are stories all around me–something I hear, something I see, even someone I meet. When I agree to write a new book, I usually stort by choosing a title. In my Cocktails for You series, I use the name of an alcoholic drink. Why? Well, this series is a product of the Covid 19 Pandemic in that I started writing it shortly after the first lockdown in March of 2020. Then, because we had more and and more time at home, I continued with the series. These books were all very different from my usual style, lighter, and designed to make the reader laugh just a little at the everyday events surrounding us.
The series started with Tequila Sunrise. I wrote this book after my last vacation to the south in January of 2020. We spent a couple of weeks with family in Los Cabos, and I used my memories of the places we’d been, the things we’d seen and done to flesh out the story. The romance is fictional. Trying to figure out a trope for it, I went with second chances and boss-employee romance. Essentially, how could a chance encounter after many years go when the two involved never really got over meeting each other in the first place?
Sun, sand, and mind-blowing kisses!
Kelly Winters, an up and coming recreational facilities designer for Dreamscapes, is thrilled to be part of a Think Tank Conway Enterprises is putting together—so thrilled in fact that she agrees, despite the fact she hates flying.
Liam Conway, the heir apparent to Conway Enterprises, can’t believe his luck when he spots his Kellyanne in the airport and discovers she’ll be his seatmate on the flight to Mexico City. He was sure they’d connected that day ten years ago, and not just because she’d literally left him in stitches. He searched for her for weeks afterwards, but it was as if she’d vanished into thin air.
Kelly is stunned to see Liam after all these years. Discovering that not only is he participating in the same Think Tank she is, but he’s also her boss leads to more than she bargained for. Can a ten-year-old attraction blossom again, or will their positions keep them apart?
The next book was Champagne Cocktail, a Christmas story that brought back memories of the year I struggled to getmy six-year-old daughter a Cabbage Patch Doll. For the trope, I chose second chance at love and enemies to lovers, with a little mean girls and secrets tossed in for excitement.
Do you believe in Christmas magic?
When life gave Ronnie Daniels lemons, instead of lemonade, the single mother learned to make Lemon Drops.
This Christmas, times are tougher than ever, and Ronnie’s number one priority is making the holiday as normal as possible for her five-year-old daughter. All Dottie wants from Santa is a Famous American Ballerina doll. The problem is not only are they expensive, but they’re impossible to find.
After another failed attempt to secure one of the dolls, in her frustration, Ronnie sends a scathing letter to the company, Thomas Toys. As the doll’s manufacturer, one advertising a product they don’t have on hand and can’t deliver before Christmas, it’s their fault that her daughter’s dreams won’t come true.
When the company’s new CEO comes into the bar to apologize for the mishap and try to make amends, Ronnie refuses to listen to him, not just because of Dottie, but they have a complicated history. Determined to fix this, Wyatt won’t back down, and before long the doll isn’t the only thing Dottie and Ronnie want for Christmas.
After Christmas comes New Year’s and Buck’s Fizz. Everyone’s heard of a Mimosa, but a Buck’s Fiss is its grwon-up rich cousin. Once more I relied on my second chance at love trope, but tossed in an overbearing parent intent on an arranged marriage, a bully, and an adorable child.
You can run, but you can’t hide!
In order to escape an arranged marriage to a rude, insufferable man, Jewel Wellington leaves home and The Met to hide with a honky tonk band on a Southern promotional tour. As Jess Wells, she and the other Silvertones step into The Squawking Tomcat, a bar on the outskirts of Alice, Texas, expecting to have a three-week gig. The problem is, the bar’s owner, Lance Corcoran, isn’t expecting an all-girl band.Frustrated at this sudden reverse of fortune, Jess makes a deal with the bar’s owner—pick any song by any artist, and let her prove she and the Silvertones can do it. What she doesn’t expect is to realize that the bar’s crusty cowboy owner is none other the surfer she spent one steamy night on the beach with eight years ago, one she left without saying goodbye.Will Lance recognize her? And if he does, will it cost them the gig?
I followed up on that book with The Tipsy Pig. Who knew you could make a cocktail with bacon it it? This story, set during the pandemic has a different trope. Sometimes your life comes crashing down all around you, and those who lost jobs and friends to the pandemic cerainly felt that way. I also saw how some powerful men devalued women and treated them like dirt, only interested in how they could use them. Social media was full of stories about stars, athletes, millionnaires, singers, and politicians who’d traded on their fortunes and power to use and abuse women–wives included. I decided to put my heroine in a position when a poor choice in a husband cost her everything. Now, she’s starting from scratch.
A former socialite, a recluse, and a tipsy pig—the perfect recipe for disaster or romance?Dreading publicity over her recent divorce, her ex-husband’s arrest, and her upcoming 40th birthday, Sahara Larson, the former CEO of Larson Enterprises, escapes from Toronto to hide away at a friend’s rustic cabin near Algonquin Park. The future looks bleak, but among her neighbors is Hiram Colson, a reclusive bestselling author who rescues discarded pets. Will he be able to rescue her, too? Can a potbellied pig with a penchant for homemade dandelion wine unite two lonely people?
Next, I came up with Make Mine a Manhattan. When I started the book, I couldn’t quite see where I wanted it to go. I had writer’s block. I knew it had to be funny. My mother was going through a rough patch–she’s 94 and delusiuonal, so sometimes what comes out of her mouth is judgmental and unkind. And, to be honest, I can be a klutz. So, the story took shape. An author not staisfied with her work, looking for inspiration. For the trope, I chose strangers to lovers.
What’s an author to do when, thanks to writer’s block, she’s hopelessly stuck?
With only eight weeks left to finish her newest novel, bestselling author Sydney Sanders, aka Robin Langford, is stumped. On impulse, the thirty-three-year old introvert decides to take her agent’s advice and shift gears, but instead of going on a short vacation, she decides on hands-on research. Immersing herself in her story and assuming her heroine’s identity, she heads to Manhattan to live out the plot. What could possibly go wrong?
As Savanna Long, she boards the train, expecting a quiet ride and time to refresh her muse for the chore ahead. But a lot can happen during the thirty-eight hour trip, especially with her imagination and the drop-dead gorgeous passenger in the next car.
My newest book in this series is Emewrald Glow, currently only available in papaerback but soon to be released as a part of Cute But Crazy 4, Qiurky Careers. When we took a trip out west this summer to celebrate our Fiftieth wedding anniversary, we met some incredible people. They were the inspiration for the story and they, along with hubby and I appear in the story with a completely fictional hero and heroine. Once more I went with the Starngers to Lovers trope and hopefully tosse in enough laughs as I describe the beauty of the Canadian Rockies and all of the wonderous sights we enjoyed.
She’s given up on finding the right man. After a painful divorce, he’s sworn off women. But you don’t always get what you want, especially when a typo can spell disaster.
Following a breakup that’s soured her opinion of men, photographer Lee Andrews is hoping this assignment for an online e-zine will help her set her life on the right path. If she can stay focused on her job and ignore the opposite sex, so much the better.
Alexander Fedorov is a burned out journalist, tired of covering one disaster after another. His recent divorce has left him bitter and determined to stay as far away from the female sex as possible. This new assignment offers a change of pace. As long as he can avoid meddlesome females, he’ll be fine.
When they meet, sparks fly and personalities clash, especially when the full impact of a small typo and making assumptions makes itself known loud and clear. Both are determined to be adult about the situation, keep their distance, and complete the job. But that may be easier said than done, especially when the attraction they feel for each other is magnetic.
As always, all of my books in this series are exclusive to Amazon. You can find buy links to them and to my other books on my website. https://mhsusannematthews.ca/
Happy reading!
Living the Dream 