Here is a recent interview I did for The Colorado Sun about my 2020, Colorado Book Award finalist novel, Her Perfect Life.
Goodreads Giveaway for The Secret Next Door
My publisher, Sourcebooks, is currently giving away 25 print copies of my new book, The Secret Next Door, on Goodreads. The official release isn’t until November 9th, so this is a chance to win a copy early! Here is the link.
It’s the perfect neighborhood, filled with not-so-perfect people.
Alyson Tinsdale is giving her son the childhood she never had: a stable family, loving home, and a great school in a safe neighborhood. When they move into the home of her dreams in one of Denver’s most sought-after developments, Alyson works hard to fit in and impress the other mothers.
Bonnie Sloan is the neighborhood matriarch. With her oldest son headed to Yale, and her youngest starting kindergarten, Bonnie is now pursuing her own long-held political aspirations. But it’s her middle child, Elijah, and their private family struggles, that cast a shadow over her plans.
When the open space behind some of the most expensive homes gets slated for development into an amusement facility, the neighborhood becomes deeply divided. The personal pressures and community conflicts ratchet with every passing day, but it’s when a thirteen-year-old boy is found dead beside the lake, that simmering tensions boil over into panic.
Gossip flows, lies are exposed, and accusations are made as cracks run through the community’s once solid foundations. The neighborhood’s faith in exterior appearances is eclipsed by the secrets every house keeps.
Rebecca Taylor, author of Her Perfect Life, returns with this fast-paced, engrossing novel that reminds us that nothing is ever as perfect as it seems.
The Secret Next Door NetGalley Listing
The NetGalley listing for The Secret Next Door is now live from my publisher. If you are a book blogger/influencer I hope you’ll consider checking it out and requesting it for review. Here is the link. If you do post a review, please be sure to let me know so I can share it with my readers and on social media. Feel free to email me the link to your site or the review: rebecca (at) rrtaylor.com
Not a NetGalley reviewer? No problem! You can also add The Secret Next Door to your Goodreads shelf here.
I just had the marketing meeting with my agent, Kevan Lyon, and my publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, earlier this week, and I have to say I’m super excited about what they have planned for the coming months as we get closer to the November, 9th launch date. Please stay tuned for information about future book giveaway opportunities, author visits/signing, and interviews.
And this brings me to… Are you a book blogger? Do you think The Secret Next Door is a good fit for your readers? Would you like me to join you for an author interview as we barrel toward the release date? If so, leave a comment below or email me directly at rebecca (at) rrtaylor.com and we can get something on the schedule.
The Secret Next Door:
It’s a perfect neighborhood, filled with imperfect people.
Alyson Tinsdale is giving her son the childhood she never had: a stable family, a loving home, and a great school in a safe neighborhood. When they move into the home of her dreams in one of Denver’s most sought after neighborhoods, The Enclave, Alyson works hard to fit in, and impress, the other mothers—despite the growing sense she’s out of her league among their affluent social clique.
Bonnie Sloan is The Enclave’s matriarch. Her family built this neighborhood. With her oldest son headed to Yale and her youngest starting kindergarten, Bonnie is now pursuing her own long-held political aspirations—a Colorado senate seat. But it’s her middle child, Elijah, and their private family struggles, that cast a shadow over her plans.
When the open space behind some of the most expensive homes in the community gets slated for development into an amusement facility, Extreme Golf, the neighborhood becomes deeply divided on the issue. The Enclave community page suddenly erupts with long-held grudges, grievances, and verbal abuse. Seemingly overnight, Alyson’s dream neighborhood has devolved into a war zone while her once stable marriage is fracturing before her.
The personal pressures and community conflicts ratchet with every passing day, but it’s when a thirteen-year-old is found dead beside the neighborhood lake, that simmering tensions boil over into panic.
Gossip flows, lies are exposed, and accusations are made as cracks run through the once solid Enclave foundations. The community’s faith in exterior appearance is eclipsed by the secrets every house keeps.
Book Review: Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
A brutally honest, cuts you to the bone observation of modern-day motherhood, wifedom, and the biological and sociological shackles that (some) women both love to wear and struggle to maintain a personal identity with. There were so many lines and paragraphs in this book that succinctly nail what it means to live every day along the chaotic spectrum of motherhood, from the heights of immeasurable joy to the deepest depths of depression. Again, and again, and again Yoder captures the often unspoken everyday experiences of the mother-wife-women expertly while wisely choosing to communicate them through the only medium that could bear the full weight of conveying such a narrative–it’s a Grimm’s fairy tale of the truest sort.
Countdown to The Secret Next Door Release: Four Months!
It’s Sunday and I’m working on my planner set up for the week. Actually, I mean planners since I’m now operating out of seven separate ones. (If you didn’t catch my Happy Planner haul video last week, here’s the link). So I’m surrounded by washi tape, markers, stickers, and my lists and I realize it’s about time to really start thinking about the rollout for The Secret Next Door.
Specifically getting the word out, “Hey, I have another book coming out soon.” And all the events that go along with that like giveaways, blog posts, reviews, etc, etc. If you were a fan of my last book, Her Perfect Life, I think you’re going to love The Secret Next Door. Feedback from the author blurbs and pre-readers has been fantastic. “Page-turner” “Impossible to put down” “Kept me up all night”–exactly all the things I love to hear about my books because these are some of the very qualities that I love as a reader too.
If you haven’t yet had the chance to read Her Perfect Life, here’s the link to my books page with the links for all the major retailers. Or better yet, order it from your favorite indie bookstore. These amazing book-loving people need our support, so if you’re able to buy local, please do!
And if you already know you love my books, well then here is your chance to be a huge support to this author by placing your pre-order for The Secret Next Door (which I hope you’re going to LOVE.) Pre-orders are kind of a big deal in publishing. I was trying to think about how to explain it to anyone outside of publishing, but Google had the best answer:
Why are pre-orders important? For an author, pre-orders can alert retailers and consumers that they should pay attention to your book. From the bookseller perspective, the pre-order quantity is a good early indicator of a book’s success and can lead to retailers increasing their initial orders.
So this is my first of probably many promotional book posts that will be coming over the next few months–sorry, but it’s sort of part of the author deal. You have to plug your own books. But I promise it won’t be a constant stream of “buy my book” because:
- Eyeroll
- If I don’t want to write only ad copy here then I know you definitely don’t want to read only ad copy here
- Other people have written some killer books that will also be landing in the next few months so I’ll be reading and posting about those too
- Planners. I want to write more blog posts and record more videos about planners. If you, like my husband, don’t understand this, I’m sorry I can’t explain it
- Life. Maybe I’ll like go out to dinner somewhere that isn’t my kitchen and I’ll have some nice food pictures to post
- My NEW, NEW book, as in the one I’m currently writing. I’m excited about it
- Which brings me to the topic of productivity
- Also mental health
- Which reminds me, my daughter is leaving for college…I have some feelings about this
- Plus anything and everything else there is to talk about beside “please buy my books” like, maybe how I don’t take the time to really learn how to use my great camara. Or about how there are tons of great instructors on Peloton but I always end up taking Cody Rigsby’s classes…stuff like that.
Book Review: The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates
Release date September 7th, 2021 from Poisoned Pen Press
From the publisher:
From bestselling gothic horror author Darcy Coates comes a chilling story of a quiet house on a forgotten suburban lane that hides a deadly secret…
Leigh Harker’s quiet suburban home was her sanctuary for more than a decade, until things abruptly changed. Curtains open by themselves. Radios turn off and on. And a dark figure looms in the shadows of her bedroom door at night, watching her, waiting for her to finally let down her guard enough to fall asleep.
Pushed to her limits but unwilling to abandon her home, Leigh struggles to find answers. But each step forces her towards something more terrifying than she ever imagined.
A poisonous shadow seeps from the locked door beneath the stairs. The handle rattles through the night and fingernails scratch at the wood. Her home harbors dangerous secrets, and now that Leigh is trapped within its walls, she fears she may never escape.
Do you think you’re safe?
You’re wrong.
Review of advance reading copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss:
The Haunting of Leigh Harker is a chilling horror story that will keep readers turning the pages well into the night. This gothic ghost story, which is also a murder mystery, is both beautifully written and sure to keep readers guessing. While the first act is a bit slow to get the plot moving forward and runs the risk of readers giving up early because they believe they have the whole book figured out–they don’t. Once we cross into the second act and our initial suspicions about Leigh are confirmed, the book moves onto an entirely different level of mystery, suspense, and horror. Darcy Coates expertly maneuvers her characters through their own revelations and fears while always keeping the reader both guessing and on the edge of their seat.
Visit to the Tattered Cover Bookstore New Location in Downtown Denver
Yesterday my husband and I took the train downtown for brunch and I was able to make my first visit to the newly located Tattered Cover Bookstore. I will admit that I was sad to learn that the iconic bookstore would be moving from it’s 16th Street location across from Union Station. I have so many amazing memories of browsing those aisles and attending author events (before the second floor of that building was vacated by the store due to increasing costs.)
I’m happy to report that the new store, right across from Coors Field, is beautiful and two stories once again. The space is modern and new, but with the addition of the old wooden shelving and some of the furniture from the 16th Street location, they have created a beautiful bookish space and I look forward to once again spending my time, and my book money, there.
I’m hoping the new location can be added to the list of stores I will be visiting when my new book, The Secret Next Door, releases on November, 9th.
Happy Planner Haul
Here is a video of my recent Happy Planner haul and a little bit about how I’m switching up my planning for Q3
Back From Vacation
It’s been a week since I got back from my vacation in Cancun and I still seem to be mostly roaming around my house looking for some sense of a schedule.
What is it about these disruptions to daily routines that are so hard to bounce back from? Not that I don’t love vacationing and travel in general, because I do. But being a creature that loves her habits and spaces, a week in a foreign country, flight cancellations, and disruptive digestive tracts are sure going to take me a minute to move on from.
A little bit about our trip. We had a great time…mostly. I will say that this particular resort, Moon Palace, came HIGHLY recommended by one of Rod’s co-workers. They, apparently, go there all the time. So, even though I NEVER do this, I went ahead and booked this trip without a ton of research.
Well. The resort was lovely. The rooms were nice with a great view. Although that was only after begging to be moved from our original ground floor room with a view of the laundry while sliding the registration clerk a little extra cash. The food was decent (which, apparently can’t always be said for an all-inclusive) and the drinks (also included) were great and plentiful so long as you kept tipping which I’m more than happy to do, honestly. The service was wonderful! The highlight was the pool, which was for sure gorgeous, well maintained, and EXTENSIVE. Seriously, that thing seemed to go on for miles.
So this sounds mostly pretty great, right? What was the problem?
The ocean was completely overrun with seaweed. And I don’t mean, wow, there is quite a lot of seaweed on the beach and in the water, and it’s slightly annoying but I can still SEE the water and SWIM in the water. No. I mean the ocean WAS seaweed. Completely brown. Foul-smelling. Reminiscent of sewage and you instinctively don’t want to go ANYWHERE near it. Not a single person in this huge resort was either on the beach or anywhere near the water. When we first arrived we were like, “What is that horrible smell?” Well, that rotten egg, slightly sulfur smell is what rotting seaweed smells like, apparently. I will say that at least it only smelled bad the day we arrived and the day we left. I have no idea what combination of weather, temperatures, and winds collaborated to make our vacation not 100% stinky, but I am thankful for it.
We did have one wonderful day at a beach further north where there is active surf, you could see those famous crystal turquoise waters, and loads of people were in the water and enjoying the beach. But we needed to take a 25-minute cab ride to get there.
Now before you think we had a horrible vacation, I will say that once our expectations were adjusted (this is not a beach vacation, it is a pool and resort vacation) we ended up having a good time. Not amazing. Good. If you head over to my Instagram account you can even see some of our pictures.
I will say that will be the last time I ever book a vacation again based solely on a recommendation. Because that seaweed issue would have been a no-go for these beach lovers, for sure, and Trip Advisor had loads of information about it.
Colorado Book Award Finalist Reading: Mystery and Thriller 5/26/21 7:00 PM MT
I wanted to remind you that tomorrow tonight 5/26/2021 at 7:00 PM Mountain time, the finalist for the Colorado Book Awards Mystery and Triller categories will be reading short excerpts from their nominated books and answering questions.
I will be there reading from Her Perfect Life.
The event starts at 7:00PM Mountain Time and you can watch it either on Facebook or on YouTube. Here is the link to register for the free event.
bit.ly/CBA2021_Finalists
And here are the Facebook and YouTube links for Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book where they will be streaming the event live.
https://www.facebook.com/cohumanities/
https:/youtube.comchannelUC4cOF59Ju74mHeiO3M_z1QQ
Hope to see you there!