Deja Brew & the Pumpkin Spice Romance

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This October is set to be a busy time for me with three (3!!) anthologies being published.  With 12 Knights of Christmas, Cooking Up Death, and the Pumpkin Spice Romance, I have been kept busy with marketing and all of the pre-release items that go into these ventures.  It has been exciting to work with editors and other authors to see these anthologies come to life.  However, I think that in my next forays into submitting short stories, I may pay slightly more attention to publication dates.  I just didn’t think that all of the stories I submitted for October anthologies would get accepted!

The Pumpkin Spice Romance

I’m particularly excited to share this anthology with such fantastic stories and authors!  I’m also excited for our online release party on October 25th.  The Caffeinated Romance Readers Group is a romance readers group on Facebook that focuses on clean romance books.  During the “party,” I’ll be giving away some free e-books and the other authors will also be sharing some prizes as well.  Join the group if you want to win some prizes on release day!

ORDER THE PUMPKIN SPICE ROMANCE NOW

JOIN the GROUP

Deja Brew – Bethany Maines – Sometimes love needs a splash of pumpkin spice magic. Even with the ability to glimpse the future five minutes ahead, chaotic coffee shop owner Maddie Scott can’t stop herself from soaking a grumpy (and gorgeous) new customer, Felix Faraday, in pumpkin spice. But as sparks fly and supernatural secrets brew, it’ll take more than magic to keep this romance from boiling over.

Pumpkin Spice Joy Ride – K. Harris Tully – Toy store manager Carrie Smith needs a boyfriend, a Thanksgiving side dish and a hundred thousand dollars (not necessarily in that order). When ex-high school crush Buck “Bad Boy” Buchetti shows up with a shipment of the hottest toy of the season, Carrie jumps at the chance to save her store. There’s just one catch to this ’90s nostalgia second chance romance: Carrie may have to join the mob.

There’s Pumpkin Between Us – Kathryn LeBlanc – Running her family’s pumpkin farm keeps Autumn Piper too busy for love—especially when her old flame shows up unannounced. Graham Oakley never planned to return to Hayden, Vermont, or face the fiery redhead he left behind. Amid small-town charm, crisp autumn nights, and one mischievous goat, second chances take root. There’s Pumpkin Between Us is a cozy, small-town, second-chance romance filled with laughter, farm life, slow-burn chemistry, and the irresistible magic of falling in love.

Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Love – Birdie Song – She was still his favourite human, after all these years: When Leonie walks out on a failed marriage, she never imagines running into Hayden, that shifter boy from school now all grown up and running his own café. Old feelings rekindle as fast as ever, but is Leonie still that human kid who couldn’t stand up to her paranoid parents? Hayden hopes not, even though he’ll love her all the same.

Picture of Love – Virginia’dele Smith – Scarlett St. James has a chip on her shoulder and a camera in her hand, and that’s all she needs…until a fabulous job sends her to picturesque Green Hills. There she’s tasked with producing the annual Pumpkin Spice Festival. With little time to work, Scarlett accepts help wherever she finds it. Enter Noah Ford. The affable — albeit hot — small-town assistant is so much more than Scarlett bargained for. Can she trust the feelings he incites? Or is his instalove too good to be true?

>ORDER THE PUMPKIN SPICE ROMANCE NOW<

Pen Names & Projects

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A New Pen Name for a New Project

As some of you may remember from earlier in the year, I was on a writing and submitting spree. Novella’s, short stories, writing contests—I was on a writing rampage! And with some spicier romance novellas in the collection, I asked for your help picking a pen name, so that I could differentiate between the standard spicy and the extra peppers brand.

And you came through!

Readers Helping Writers

There was a poll.  Everyone responded and the pen name Vivienne Cross was selected as the winner!  I was excited to start using it, but decided to hold off on doing any prep work until I had set on my branding strategy and had the right release to go with it.

Well, welcome to fall! Welcome to new contracts. Welcome to having the work I’ve been doing pay off.  And now… welcome to wishing I had done some additional work on the pen name.

It was the 21st of September

In September, I went to acquire the domain name (for reasons I won’t discuss until next month) for Vivienne Cross and found that it was not available.  Suspicious.  I typed in the web address and, low and behold, it was being firmly occupied by someone who had put out a new book in August of this year.  Complete face palm.  While I had done my due diligence to see if anyone was using the name when I came up with it, there is nothing I can do about someone grabbing the name before me.

Inventing the Skateboard

Once my father said he invented the skateboard.  And I know you’re thinking… No, he didn’t.  But yes, he came up with the idea of putting his rollerskate wheels on a plank all on his own.  And so did at least three other people out there in the 1950s.  So, while I could be deeply suspicious that this author stole it from me, I have to admit that my own experience suggests otherwise. Every time I’ve tried to come up with a pen name, I’ve had at least three names that I considered genuine winners only to find that someone is already using it.

Forward Momentum

But I still need a pen name!

So I went back to the list and while I liked the runner up I found that I was no longer willing to take any of the secondary names. So I went back to the drawing board and worked with my business partner and another writer to workshop a new pen name.

The Criteria

We quickly established some guidelines for what I wanted to achieve with the name and assessed which names had ranked higher in the poll to find names in a similar style.

  • Must not be in use by another author
  • Preferably uses a last name that hits earlier in the alphabet for higher billing in anthologies
  • Must resonate with the paranormal romance and fantasy genres
  • Brings main character energy

With those boundaries in mind, we developed our list, did some research and settled on (drum roll please)…

Author Banner for Sirena Corbeau, the pen name of Bethany Maines

Sirena is a name originating from the mythical sirens and Corbeau means crow in French. I liked the symbolism and I liked the sound of the name.  And yes, I threw myself on acquiring the domain name without delay. Thank you all for your help in selecting a name and I wish our efforts had not been in vain! But hopefully now we can all enjoy Sirena Corbeau and her future novels.