Happy April, everyone!

Boy, it has been a wild ride since January 1st hit, huh?

Like you and everyone else, I am spending a lot of time at home these days, which has been quite an adjustment. I’m naturally an introvert, so it’s going better for me than I imagine it is for others, but still the cabin fever sets in.

I haven’t seen my students since March 13 — over a month! — and I’m really feeling the loss of that daily interaction. While I’ve been spending time cobbling together virtual lessons, I also have consulted my 2020 Goals list to see what I’ve accomplished and what I could work on.

I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve probably accomplished three of those twenty so far. In my defense, one goal involves making it to a hockey game, and now that may be impossible for me to fulfill.

However, there is one goal on my list I’ve been working hard to make possible:

20. Publish Cardinal Virtue.

And guess what? IT’S HAPPENING!

Two weeks from today, May 5th, I will publish my debut novel Cardinal Virtue, the first in the Eastfall Saga!!

You’re probably like “WHOA! This came outta left field!”

Well, maybe, but I’ve been working on this damn thing for four years, and it’s FINALLY TIME TO GET IT OUT THERE!

“Well, Jenn, what the hell is your book even about?” you wonder.

My friend, ask and ye shall receive.

Here is the full blurb:

A beloved schoolteacher, her gruesome death, and a series of cryptic symbols left behind by the killer are just the beginning…

Police legacy Lara Nadeau never thought she would find herself anywhere but her beloved Boston. However, after the death of her father and one too many missteps on the job, she is transferred to Eastfall: a small, charming city near Salem. Wracked with grief and haunted by a hostage situation gone horribly wrong, Lara spirals into a toxic mire of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. She hoped the slow pace of small town policing might be a calm retreat to help set her back on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, not long after her arrival to idyllic Eastfall, a brutal, ritualistic murder of a beloved educator sends the community reeling. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is the police chief’s son, Police Sergeant Zachariah Braddock. Charming and handsome, Zach has a few demons of his own, but is he capable of such atrocities?

Lara’s only wish is to return to Boston and prove she is not her past mistakes, but one death was only the beginning. A sequence of peculiar murders of local women, a house with a mind of its own, and the return of an old flame, threatens to derail her. If Lara can’t overcome her own personal demons to help find the killer in time, her chances of clearing her name and saving her own life, will be dead in the water.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Sounds intriguing. What does your front cover look like?”

I can give you that too!

Drum roll, please!

TA DA!!

Isn’t it gorgeous?? All the cred goes to Caroline Teagle Johnson for designing this beauty. Thanks, Caroline!

SO… stay tuned! My book will be available May 5th through Amazon in ebook and print format. I will post a link as soon as it’s live! If you haven’t already, please consider following my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts for updates aaaaand maybe be on the look out for signed copy giveaways!

Stay safe and STAY HOME!

Ciao, friends!

Jenn or rather… J.R.