Zara Keane

My goal to update this blog a couple of times a month hasn't happened. I had a deadline at the end of January, and I have another one at the end of this month. Note to future self: schedule more recovery time between deadlines!

On the writing front, I've completed the third draft of Love and Shenanigans. I'll finish the fourth draft in March, and then it's off to beta readers. In the meantime, I'm working on Love and Blarney (Ballybeg, #1.5). This is a novella featuring a secondary character from Love and Shenanigans and his estranged wife. It will be around 20,000 words in its finished form.

Fun news: my website has has a new look. I'll be updating it soon with excerpts of Love and Shenanigans, and covers for Love and Blarney and Love and Leprechauns, but the blurbs for all three stories are already up.

In preparation for the launch of Love and Shenanigans, I've been playing around with images on PicMonkey. I've created a couple of rudimentary book teasers. As you can see, I won't be setting up shop as a graphic designer anytime soon, but I had a lot of fun making them. :D

Due to my crazy schedule—not to mention small people falling sick—my To Do list has turned into a mountain. I haven't had as much time to read as I'd like, especially as I just got a new Kindle Paperwhite, but I have managed to read a few good books over the past few weeks.

Nick Stone's The Verdict is a brilliant British legal thriller with a genuinely nice guy as the main character. (They're a rare breed in crime fiction.)

I also enjoyed the third book in Nadia Lee's contemporary romance series, Redemption in Love.

Elly Griffith's A Dying Fall is the fifth book in her series featuring forensic archaeologist, Ruth Galloway. I didn't care for the fourth book, so I'd left it on my To Be Read pile for ages before I finally got around to reading it. I'm glad I did. It's a strong murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns.

Have you read anything good lately? Is there a book you're particularly looking forward to in March?

Picture Credits:

Teaser 1: Photo purchased at iStockphoto and tweaked courtesy of PicMonkey.

Teaser 2: Photo purchased at iStockphoto and tweaked courtesy of PicMonkey.