Ruth Ann Nordin's Monthly Newsletter

Done with the Enchanted Galaxy Series!

I just uploaded the final book in the series to Smashwords.  I have never tried to release a book early when it’s been in pre-order, but I’m going to try it with this one.  So sometime in the middle of October, I’ll try to get these three books out.  In case I can’t get the books out before November 20, 21, and 22 (the current release dates), I’ll hold off on announcing they are available.  Remember, this a romantic fantasy series, not full-fledged romances.  I’m not sure if that’s everyone’s cup of tea, so I wanted to make that clear.  The last thing I want to do is mislead anyone. 🙂

A Groom’s Promise will be released on December 20!

This book follows Bride by Arrangement.

It’s finished and with the editor as we speak.  My publisher is in the process of getting it up on pre-order.  At the moment, it’s only on Amazon, but it should be going up on other sites soon.

Janet and I made a book launch page to go with it.  So if you want to see what the characters are saying, more information on what the two stories in this book are about, and/or a picture of me and Janet together, that will be over there.

Wagon Trail Bride’s First Draft will be done by October 10!

Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1)

This puts me right on schedule for the book’s upcoming release on January 3.  I have to get the book edited before it’s ready for publication.  Richard Larson’s story has turned out way better than I hoped.  It took me three years to finally get this one right.  I had started it several times, and none of those “took”, so I had to go back and restart the entire thing from scratch.

Today I got to chapter 22.  Now, it’s a matter of giving him his happy ending.

I have created a book launch page to give an overview of the book.   I linked it to where it’s currently on pre-order (which is only iBooks at this time).  I’m still waiting for my publisher to get it up on other sites.  But, what is really fun about the page are the characters’ thoughts about the book.  I really enjoy bringing in characters.  That is my favorite part in doing those book launch pages.

I’m over halfway through His Wicked Lady!

His Wicked Lady (Marriage by Arrangement: Book 1)

If you’ll recall, Malcolm Jasper (the hero in this book) was Melissa Jasper’s brother in Ruined by the Earl.  Anyway, in this book, he gets to have his romance, and as luck would have it, he and Logan (aka Lord Toplyn who is also Melissa’s husband) still don’t get along.  This makes the perfect set up for this book because Logan and Regan (the heroine in His Wicked Lady) do get along.  Logan is even giving her advice on how to get Malcolm to think of her in more favorable terms.  Because…Malcolm wasn’t all that happy to learn he was matched up with her for the marriage.

For fun, I made a post the other day on my author blog where I give a sample scene showing how Malcolm and Logan are taking jabs at each other.

But to be fair to the heroine of this book, Regan did try to let Malcolm know she was the one who was to marry him.  I made a post about that, too.  So really, Malcolm only has himself to blame.

If you want to see the book launch page for this book (along with pre-order links, character endorsements/or non-endorsements), here’s the link.  

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I think I’ll stop there since I just dumped a lot of information in this post.  I’ll have more to share next month.

I hope everyone has a great October!

The Rest of the Enchanted Galaxy Series is With the Editor! (A Royal Engagement is Book 1 and is already out.)

I’m officially done with my part of working on these books, and they are off to the editor.  I told her no rush.  My publishing goal for all of these books is November.  I plan to publish them at the same time.

If fantasy is not your thing, you probably want to skip them.  While romance is there, the fantasy is pretty dominant.  I couldn’t get around it with the way the plots were set up.  To make them less fantasy-ish, I’d have to change the stories, and honestly, I’d rather focus on my current works in progress.

Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1)

I think I finally worked out the kinks in this one.  (I really hope I did, anyway.) This has been one of the hardest books I’ve ever written.  Trying to figure out how I got Amanda and Richard Larson to marry has been the biggest challenge in this whole thing.  I know there’s a lot of expectations on this story, and I want to make sure it lives up to its expectations.

I’m in chapter six now (which is 14,000 words in), so I still have a ways to go.  My estimate is to have this out in December or January.  We’ll see.  But this will be going to my publisher, Parchment & Plume.

His Wicked Lady (Marriage by Arrangement: Book 1)

I’ve officially started my next Regency series.  This picks right up where the last series (Marriage by Deceit) ended.  Helena, Chloe, and Melissa are going to be arranging some marriages, and their first couple will involve Melissa’s very own brother, Malcolm Jasper (from Ruined by the Earl).  And, as you might have guessed, I’ve decided to pair him up with a lady who can teach him it’s okay to stop stressing over silly things like the Ton’s rules.  I expect this one to be a lot of fun.

I’d like to get this out in January 2016.

The Convenient Mail Order Bride

(standalone in the Mail Order Brides Collection)

This is a standalone book.  It doesn’t come as a part of a series.  It is, however, a book I am writing that features a mail-order bride.  That being the case, I am putting it in with the Mail Order Brides Collection.  Each book in this collection is a standalone, so there aren’t any order they have to be read.

I do so many series that I like to take a break and do standalone romances from time to time.  It helps me to stay creative if I can do a variety of stories.  In this case, the hero wasn’t told someone placed an ad on his behalf, so when his mail-order bride shows up, he’s not too happy.  Don’t worry.  He doesn’t take it out on her.  The man who wrote the ad didn’t tell her he wasn’t really the hero.  I’ll have to see where things go.  At the moment, I’m only at chapter 2 when she finds out she’s been lied to.  (The hero won’t find out until a little later.)

I’d like to have this out in January.  *fingers crossed*

That’s about it for now.  I hope everyone has a fun August!

The Earl’s Stolen Bride is now Available!

I wanted to wait until this was out before I made this blog post.

Here’s the description:

Orlando Emmett, the Earl of Reddington, has one regret in his life: letting the lady of his dreams go. Before he could make his feelings known to Miss Chloe Boyle, he found out she married Lord Hawkins. Night after night, he’d think of all the things he should have told her when he had the chance, and all he could do was watch her, secretly admiring her from afar.

A year later, fate intervenes. News of Lord Hawkins’ death has just given him a second chance, an opportunity to make his dreams come true, but he’ll have to risk a scandal to take it.

Chloe was relieved when news came of her husband’s death. The two had hardly spoken more than a few words to each other before he left for India on their wedding day. And a full year passed with only polite correspondence between them. While some envied her marriage, the aching loneliness in her life only reminded her that money couldn’t buy happiness.

Fate intervenes when a friend takes her just outside of London to meet Orlando, a handsome stranger she only barely remembers. During her entire marriage to Lord Hawkins, all she’d wanted was a husband who’d love her so much he’d give up anything to be with her. And now she just might get her wish, if only she’s strong enough to take it.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble US

Barnes & Noble UK

Kobo

Smashwords

It should be up on iBooks and other channels soon.

Finished with A Groom’s Promise

Both Janet Syas Nitsick and I completed our stories in the anthology, A Groom’s Promise.  Right now we’re on edits.  I think we’re going to wait until January for this one.  Long story short, the edits are intense and so will be the formatting.  With co-authored projects, it’s just hard to get things together, so it takes longer to get a book ready.  (Plus, I’m moving to another state, which means less time being able to work on this with her.)

I’ll Write in Wagon Trial Bride When I Have Time

Since I am in the process of moving, things are going to be hectic.  It’ll be easier for me to polish up books for the Enchanted Galaxy Series than try to work on a new one.  I will do what I can in Wagon Trail Bride.  I’d love to have it out in September, but that is a very tentative release month.  It’s likely it’ll be later.

Putting This On Hold

I love this story idea, but I have to put it on hold because of the move.  At this point, this one will have to wait for 2016.  I had to decide between this one and Wagon Trail Bride, and since people have been waiting patiently (and for a long time) for Wagon Trail Bride, I’m going to put my efforts in Wagon Trail Bride.

My Focus Will Be On Finishing Up The Enchanted Galaxy Series

(This is a fantasy romance series set in a contemporary time period.)

Since this is a light rewrite, progress is fast in this one.  This is Book 2.  I should be halfway done by Monday.

This one should also be a light rewrite.  This is Book 3.

I wasn’t going to do Book 4, but as I was thinking of how Book 3 played out, I realized I need Book 4 to complete the series.  Books 1-3 feature Ann and Hathor as the main couple.  Book 4 is about their daughter when she assumes the throne.  In order to dismiss Book 4, I’d have to do serious changes to Book 3, and I like Book 3 the way it is.  So I am adding this, and I would like to get this out by the end of the year with the other books.

But there is something about Book 4 that is unlike the other books I usually do: this one will have no sex in it.  It’s not set up for it, so sex would add nothing to the story.  I don’t believe in adding sex for the sake for sex.  It has to serve a purpose to the plot, and in this case, it doesn’t.  So the heat level is squeaky clean.  This is one of my PG books.  All that happens in a kiss.  (As you know, I rarely write PG.)  Books 1-3 do have sex in them.

I want to publish all three out in the same time frame, which will be this fall.  So I’m going to try to get it all done this summer.

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That’s all I got for this month.  I hope everyone has a great June!

The Earl’s Stolen Bride is Finally Picking Up Speed

And that’s a relief, too, since I was struggling to figure out where the characters wanted to go in the story. 🙂  I’m not the type of author who plots out a book.  I go in knowing how the story starts, and from there, I write to figure out the rest.  As you’d guess, this does involve a lot of uncertainty when writing a book, but I find it’s also the reason why I enjoy it so much.  I never know how any story is going to go until I’m writing it.

In this case, I’ve been able to write a lot more in the past week than I have all month.  I’m now hovering near the halfway point in the story.  I’m really hoping to finish the first draft by the end of this month.  *fingers crossed*

One thing I do enjoy a lot about this story is that the hero is extremely devoted to the heroine.  He’d been in love with her secretly for over a year, and now that she’s a widow, he can finally be with her.  (Of course, being a widow in the Regency era meant you had to be in mourning for a year before you could do marry again, but that isn’t what this couple did and naturally, that is where the bulk of this story is about.)

At the moment, I’m expecting this out in July.

My Novella in A Groom’s Promise Has Turned Into a Novel

This story keeps going on and on.  It’s just passed the 40,000 word stage.  I expect it to be at 50,000 words or a little more.  I don’t know if I can finish this by the end of this month or not.  It depends on how much longer the characters of this book want it to be. 😉

I keep going back and forth on the title of my novel in this anthology, and I think I’ll just go with The Shy Groom.

I think this will also be out in July.

I Currently Have This On Hold While I Work On The Earl’s Stolen Bride and my novel in A Groom’s Promise

I also have what I’ve done so far with a trusted beta reader to make sure the story is progressing nicely.  This is one of those stories where I’m having trouble deciding what’s best for the characters.  I’m hoping something will click at some point (like it did in The Earl’s Stolen Bride).

I have no idea when this will be out, but I am planning for it to be out this year.  I’m hoping toward the end of this summer.

I’m Going to Finish Up The Enchanted Galaxy Series This Year

These are contemporary fantasy romances. Book 1 is A Royal Engagement, and I published it late last year.  It’s long overdue for me to get the rest of the series finished so I’m going to do that this year.

Book 2:

Book 3:

I have November and December down, but I might be able to bump it up to either September or October, which is what I’d love to do.

This Has Been Moved Back to a January Release

I just can’t fit it in with everything else for this year.  My calendar is too full with my other projects, and I promised my publisher I’d get A Groom’s Promise and Wagon Trail Bride to  them this year.  The others I’m publishing myself, so I can switch the dates on those as I need to.

As excited as I am about this book, I have to push it back.  There’s not enough time to write everything I want to. 😀

I hope everyone will have a terrific May!