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When Plans Go Awry: A Review by Veronica Jorge

July 22, 2024 by in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as , , , ,

WHEN PLANS GO AWRY by DENISE M. COLBY—A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE

WHEN PLANS GO AWRY
Best-Laid Plans Book One

DENISE M. COLBY

Scrivenings Press

2024

ISBN: 978-1-64917-391-1

A Review by Veronica Jorge

Olivia Carmichael couldn’t have wished for a better life. A beautiful home on her family’s estate. High society friends. And at age 19, the perfect fiancé. God is in His heaven smiling down at her and all is well.

Until tragedy strikes like a lightning bolt.

The sudden loss of Olivia’s parents is difficult enough to bear, but she can probably get through that with the help of her faith. But when her father’s fraudulent business dealings are discovered she loses the house, her status, her so-called-friends, and her fiancé. Where is God now she wonders.

Homeless and penniless, smeared with the shame of her father’s actions, and finding it impossible to continue living in her Cincinnati town that will never again accept her, Olivia answers an advertisement to move to California to become a teacher. She steels her heart to live an independent and loveless life because people cannot be trusted. And determines to make her own way in life without depending upon anyone…not even God.

Olivia prepares to fight to survive when she reaches Washton, California, but she is not prepared for the warm welcome she receives from the townspeople. Their kindness disarms her and she grows to care for the children she teaches. Add to the mix a certain young man who makes her heart leap with possibility and hope, emotions she promised herself never to feel again.

But can Olivia who vowed to stand alone learn to trust God with her life? And can she open her heart to love again?

When Plans Go Awry is a lovely debut novel about strength and resilience, the power of love, and the importance of faith in God.

And if you love an old fashioned love story, this is the book for you.

To learn more about Denise M. Colby and her writing connect with her at, www.denisemcolby.com.

Veronica Jorge  

See you next time on August 22nd!

Other Books Reviewed by Veronica Jorge

BLACK FOOD: STORIES, ART & RECIPES FROM ACROSS THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

INCIDENT AT SAN MIGUEL

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INCIDENT AT SAN MIGUEL

REFUGEE

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REFUGEE

THE WITCH WHISPERER

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THE WITCH WHISPERER
UPROOTED: THE JAPANESE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE DURING WORLD WAR II

THE ORPHANS OF BERLIN

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THE ORPHANS OF BERLIN

DISTANT RELATIONS

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DISTANT RELATIONS

FIVE BELLES TOO MANY

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FIVE BELLES TOO MANY

THE ONLY ROAD

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THE ONLY ROAD

THE LAST GOODNIGHT

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THE LAST GOODNIGHT

MIGUEL’S BRAVE KNIGHT

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MIGUEL’S BRAVE KNIGHT

FOUR CUTS TOO MANY

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FOUR CUTS TOO MANY

FORGIVING MARIELA CAMACHO

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FORGIVING MARIELA CAMACHO

FORGIVING STEPHEN REDMOND

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FORGIVING STEPHEN REDMOND

FORGIVING MAXIMO ROTHMAN

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FORGIVING MAXIMO ROTHMAN

MY FRIEND JACKSON

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MY FRIEND JACKSON

THREE TREATS TOO MANY

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THREE TREATS TOO MANY
SERIOUSLY, MOM, YOU DIDN’T KNOW?

SECRET RELATIONS

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SECRET RELATIONS

TWO BITES TOO MANY

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TWO BITES TOO MANY
#PLEASE SAY YES (#HermosafortheHolidays Book 1)

FOREIGN RELATIONS

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FOREIGN RELATIONS

ONE TASTE TOO MANY

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ONE TASTE TOO MANY

THE ALLIANCE

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THE ALLIANCE

A DRAKENFALL CHRISTMAS

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A DRAKENFALL CHRISTMAS
THE RELUCTANT GROOM AND OTHER HISTORICAL STORIES
THE DAY BAILEY DEVLIN PICKED UP A PENNY

THE SCRIBE OF SIENA

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THE SCRIBE OF SIENA
THE DAY BAILEY DEVLIN’S HOROSCOPE CAME TRUE

SEVERED RELATIONS

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SEVERED RELATIONS
WHEN PLANS GO AWRY

A BIRD WILL SOAR

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A BIRD WILL SOAR

NEMESIS AND THE SWAN

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NEMESIS AND THE SWAN

FLORES AND MISS PAULA

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FLORES AND MISS PAULA

I AM FLAWSOME

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I AM FLAWSOME

LA NOCHE BEFORE THREE KINGS DAY

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LA NOCHE BEFORE THREE KINGS DAY

A SKY FULL OF SONG

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A SKY FULL OF SONG
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A Month of Happily Ever After

July 12, 2024 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , ,

Writing a romance is all about the happy ever after. As a reader, I love the “ah” at the end when the two characters are finally together. Where they learned something new about themselves, opened their heart, and found the one that completes them.

That said, a happily ever after at the end of our novels doesn’t necessarily mean the hero and heroine get married at the end of the book. They could be newly engaged. The couple could decide they are now in a committed relationship. Or they could say I love you for the first time. There are so many options, that it really is the character journey that determines what fits best for our endings.

Personally this past month has been filled with happily ever afters. One fiction, one real life.

The Fiction Happily Every After

The first one was my debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, released in early June. Luke and Olivia’s story is not so much a will they/won’t they (although they didn’t know they would, we did). But the how were they going to figure it out and end up together. 

I won’t give away what happens to them at the end, but it’s been so well received and I have found it so much fun to talk with readers about the characters and the town of Washton, like they were real people. Having these discussions has made me feel the happily ever after my characters feel, and that has been so motivating for me as a writer.

Here are several review statements. Also last month I shared information about the launch activities and launch party held in my honor.

The Real Happily Every After

The second example and the real life one, is that my middle son found his happily ever after and married his sweetheart the last weekend of June. A beautiful ceremony, beautiful couple, and a wonderful day filled with love, laughter, family, and friends. With lots of planning before hand, everything came together perfectly.

And I now have a daughter in the family. It’s been so fun to have a front row seat watching them grow and bond as a couple and plan their future life together.

The Magic of Cinderella

As a little girl the story of Cinderella was my favorite. She has a fairy Godmother, she finds her prince (or the prince finds her), and they all live happily ever after. I now know that life is not as simple as that and that those endings are a moment in time where the couple is happy together. But they are still my favorite stories to read.

A story has to end somewhere, why not have it end happy. We all want that hope, love, and joyful feeling when we realize we are in a committed relationship and someone loves us just as much as we love them. 

There’s something about escaping in a story where the ending is just that. And that is what I love to read and love to write.

Here’s to many more stories of happily ever afters in our lives. Both fiction and real life.

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My Debut Novel, When Plans Go Awry, Released This Week

June 12, 2024 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , , ,

My very first book release happened last week (June 4, 2024). I have had so much fun launching my debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, into the world. From putting marketing plans in place to seeing them be implemented, I have enjoyed every single step. And learned a lot. 

When Plans Go Awry, my book baby, is now available at Amazon in paperback, eBook, and on Kindle Unlimited. The paperback is also available on Barnes and Noble’s website. Already great reviews have been posted. I’m just so thankful for the positive response so far. It can be quite a nerve-racking experience releasing a debut novel. 

Other Debut Novel Excitement

I’ve been busy creating author and book accounts at AmazonFictionfinderGoodReads, and BookBub, so if you are on any of these, please follow me! And if you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, please do so to stay informed of future book events and books.

I’ve created a logo, with the help of my son, who drew the schoolhouse.

Debut Author Denise M. Colby logo with red one-room schoolhouse, name and Historical Romance

And a variation with my tagline.

Denise M. Colby Historical Romance word only logo with tagline sweetened with faith, hope, & love

And a graphic of my rooster character, Bert, drawn by my son!

Bert the rooster from when plans go awry debut novel by Denise M. Colby

Almost every reader has shared that they love Bert. I love that he makes people laugh out loud with his antics and I’m happy he’s been so well received.

And my son’s drawings have now been made into buttons and stickers.

rooster and one-room schoolhouse buttons and stickers for denise m. colby

It’s been great to have some fun with this character for my debut novel.

Other Firsts

I’ve had my first author blog interview, and my first author podcast interview, and my first book blog tour that just finished on June 10. And I’ve received my first red rose from the OCRW writers group. 

Denise M. Colby with her red rose from the OCRW writing group June 8, 2024

For those that have been around a long time, you know that OCC gives out different color roses for published work. Twelve years ago I watched others receive a red rose for a traditionally published novel and I set a goal for myself. Here I am twelve years later receiving my first red rose! Finally!

Debut Book Launch and Signing Party

I’ve also had my first book signing party. This past weekend my friends threw me a debut novel book launch and signing party at my home. It was so much fun to celebrate the release with friends and family and several of my launch team members. I’m so thankful I stuck with it over the past twelve years (which in itself was something to celebrate). And now my house smells like a flower shop this week!

Here are some pictures from the event

I’m just so grateful Luke and Olivia’s story can be read and enjoyed by everyone. Happy Book Launch, Happy Release Day, Happy Debut Novel Launch, and Happy Book Birthday to When Plans Go Awry.

Thank you to this writing community for your support. If you are interested in reading When Plans Go Awry, I hope it makes you laugh as well. And if you feel led to leave a review after reading it, that would be so appreciated.

Blessings, Denise

Denise’s most recent posts are related to her book launch and include details about the events leading up to her book launch and a debut author checklist she created.

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My Debut Novel When Plans Go Awry Releases June 4, 2024

May 12, 2024 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , , , ,

The time is finally here! I’m so excited to announce my debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, launches on Tuesday June 4, 2024. I have a pre-order link on Amazon for the digital version. If you are interested in an actual book, Amazon does not allow pre-orders (which I find absolutely frustrating). Anyway, you’ll be able to snag it for the special pre-order price of $3.99, if you order now. Click on the book cover to take a peek.

Book Cover for Denise M. Colby's Debut novel When Plans Go Awry

Debut Novel and Author Things

As I mentioned in my Debut Author Book Launch Checklist post, I’m learning all the variety of things needed to launch oneself as a debut author (and for a any new book debut). I’ve been busy creating author and book accounts at AmazonFictionfinder and GoodReads, building a new logo, and getting everything ready for my launch team. 

For my logo’s, I wanted to focus on the one-room schoolhouse theme, since that’s the setting for my books. I seem to use this word a lot, but it’s so true. Excited for how these came out.

I have loved partnering with my family to launch my debut novel. My son, Kyle, drew the one-room schoolhouse. He also drew the map I included in my book. My husband drew the journal shown at the beginning of each chapter.

For so long I was building my platform without a book to promote. I’m finding it so fun to finally have a book cover to include in all my author accounts. Here’s my new Facebook author cover.

Also for my debut novel, I’m partnering with Silver Dagger Book Tours and she created this lovely blog banner from my book cover. If anyone runs a book blog and is interested, I’ve included the link here where she is taking signups still to participate.

The blog banner for debut novel When Plans Go Awry for Silver Dagger Book Tours

Launch team for When Plans Go Awry

My launch team fun for my debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, begins this next week. I’m so looking forward to this. It’s not too late to join us. Click on this link to signup. When Plans Go Awry Launch Team Application.

Thank you

I just want to say thank you to all my author friends for their support. I have been on this unpublished journey for over twelve years. If not for my writer friends, I wouldn’t have stuck it out and made it to see the day I could say I have a debut novel!

Yippee!

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All the Emotions with Designing My First Book Cover

March 12, 2024 by in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as , ,

This month I have had the pleasure of experiencing all the emotions of designing my first book cover. We all know how important book covers are. Book covers sell your book. They communicate what’s inside. And there are numerous blog and social media posts just on covers. So EVERYONE looks at book covers, because they are very important. 

Blog Header with title All the Emotions with Designing My First book Cover by Denise M. Colby and photo of a book with a plain brown cover

Initial thoughts for book cover designs

I think many of us newbie authors visualize what we think we want for our covers at the beginning of chapter 1. So I knew going in that I had an opinion. And ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. So how do you put all those ideas together into something appealing. A design that sells your book?

I have a graphic design background. Sort of. Things have kindof evolved since I was in college over thirty years ago, and even though I work in the field of marketing, my years of experience is more on layout now then specific design elements. I’m also a visual person. So I like to see something to see how it would work. 

My publisher, Scrivenings Press, has a questionaire we fill out to add our ideas and thoughts behind the story for our book cover design. This is useful to communicate key messaging and visuals desired. I might’ve had a lot of ideas written down on my sheet. I certainly didn’t fill it out like a work project. Many emotions were tied into all my ideas. And it was hard for me to land on just one set.

Can anyone else out there relate?

Taking out the emotions when looking at book cover design

So I have to give a shoutout to my husband who asked me some very pointed questions like he would a marketing packaging project (he works in product marketing), since my book cover is my packaging. 

This discussion was not emotional based, but true design and product packaging based. He asked me what is the main element of the story that you want people to know? And then asked to look at some books and guessed what the stories were inside.

When I told him what elements were most important, he agreed that those were in my cover design.

Our Emotions Can Get In The Way of Our Decision-Making 

And this is when I realized I had a slew of emotions tied up into my cover design.

First, we spend years writing our first novel and agonize for weeks on the verbiage we use, editing continuously our words. My book cover was designed in less than a week. Something as important as a book cover shouldn’t be done overnight, right? But I have to remember my publisher makes mulitple covers a month and know what they are doing. They have standards and expertise. I need to trust that and get out of the way.

Second, we have so many ideas to convey the story on the front of our cover, but then realize that all those elements would make it way too busy and really don’t work the way we think it would’ve. Simpler really is better.

Third,  I’m terrified how my cover will be received. But I’m also terrified on how my entire book will be recieved. So my emotions may not be just about the cover.

A Moment to Grow 

Now that I’ve realized these new things (remember GROW is my word this year), I can learn from them. Processing emotions is an important step for me (and writing this blog post has helped me immensely).

I do not make decisions quickly. I kindof over think things a bit (Hello! Remember twelve years working on book 1). With a contract and deadlines (I love saying those words and wrote about that last month), everything is moving so fast and it’s all new territory. 

There’s bound to be fear, uncertainty, and second-guessing. I need to allow myself room to feel those, but also know that this is all normal and not get caught up in them too much.

Clearly, I will have a much better handle on the process and my emotions for the next round (right?)

Now to agonize on how to do the cover reveal!

Denise’s first book, When Plans Go Awry, will launch June 4, 2024. Watch her facebook page and instagram page for her cover reveal

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