Playing With ARCs

Among other things, I’ve been busy sending out review requests for the multitude of trade paperback ARCs I received for WHERE SHE BELONGS. Five Star/Cengage sends the ARCs to big review sites like Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, etc. They also send to a couple of romance sites and a couple of independent reviewers, but with 20 ARCs at my disposal, I wasn’t about to let them go to waste. Several have gone out for review, and I need to save one for the Romantic Times co-op ad I’ll be participating in (the February 2012 issue). The February issue of RT, I’m told, is on newstands and in subscribers’ mailboxes in January, which is when my book will most likely appear in libraries and bookstores despite the December 2011 release date (the shipping date is December 16th, for those who want to mark their calendars and order from Amazon) and the in-store date is January 6th, but the likelihood is you’ll need to special order from stores or order on-line, considering Five Star/Cengage is primarily a library press. I’ll probably give the remaining ARCs to family and friends.

As I was packaging another ARC for mailing today, it occurred to me that I hadn’t yet shared the back cover copy for the story. I now have it, because it’s on the back of the ARCs! WHERE SHE BELONGS finaled in the Long Contemporary category of the Golden Heart contest in 2007 under the title, Her Hometown Man. The final product is much tighter and leaner. As I read the ARC to proof for errors, again I was struck by how much I love this book. Am I ever glad I didn’t let it sit under the bed gathering dustballs. Am I ever glad I decided to take it out again and work on it, because that Golden Heart entry led me, in a roundabout way, to submitting to Five Star.

Here’s the blurb:

She never wants to go home again.

For Jess Morgan, Destiny Falls holds too many painful memories. Nine years ago, a logging accident near the remote timber town killed her dad and her high school sweetheart. Despite Jess’s broken heart, her mother immediately sought comfort with another man. That choice tore Jess apart and drove her to seek a life far away. But now fate steps in, and family obligations force her return home. Before long, she’s convinced that persuading her mom to live with her in Toronto will repair their bond and Jess’s own sense of belonging. However, she doesn’t count on a long-ago friend re-entering her life and challenging those same convictions.

Rugged forester Adam Wright believes in family, roots, and not running from heartache. Now, all he wants is to help Jess break down the walls of the lonely sanctuary she’s built for herself and heal her past hurts. But it’s not until she rejects his proposal that Adam realizes his dogged persistence has pushed her even further away—not at all what he intended. Has he lost his chance? Or can he convince Jess that where she truly belongs is with him…forever?

Set amidst British Columbia’s lush forests, WHERE SHE BELONGS delivers an engaging romance with complex characters, honest emotion, and heart.

Yes, this book is a far cry from BORROWING ALEX and HEAD OVER HEELS, which are both comedies. I never fail to cry when I read certain scenes from WHERE SHE BELONGS, and I hope the story touches readers’ hearts as much as it has this writer’s heart.

I was once told by an industry professional that I didn’t know when to give up on a story. You’re damn right I don’t. I refuse to give up on a publishable book just because it doesn’t suit the one editor at the one house who could consider it at the time (the book was originally targeted to a category romance publisher). I believed in myself, and I believed in my story. I reworked and reworked it until it was ready to share with my readers. And am I ever glad I did. I love this book!