Julia Gabriel's Blog
March 14, 2021
Anything for Her Releases Mar. 23!
Anything for Her releases March 23! Read the Prologue and Chapter 1 now for free: http://bit.ly/AnythingForHer
And here's a snippet from further on in the book ...
“Oh god.” I let the hot water pour over my head. “I mauled Ethan McNamara last night. Or early in the morning. Or sometime between the tequila and the black coffee.” He’s just too sweet and nice to tell me. I cover my face with my hands and moan. My humiliation is complete. I can tell from the way my body feels that we didn’t go all the way, which means he shut me down.
Of course.
Ethan wasn’t interested in me back when we were both hormone-addled teenagers. He was always the perfect gentleman, which for a teenage boy, is simply code for “not interested.” And it takes a lot for a teenage boy to not be interested in sex. I’m a teacher. I spend seven hours a day around the cretins.
And why would he be? I’m the only idiot saving myself for marriage.
I’m sure Ethan’s no longer a virgin. I mean, no one is still a virgin at our age. Other than me. He probably has women lined up around the block. Rich, handsome … gorgeous chest with just a smattering of curly dark hair, just the right amount to play with as you lie in bed.
Not that I have any personal experience of playing with a man’s chest hair, but I do have a rich fantasy life. And a high-end vibrator (a Christmas gift from Danny last year).
I shampoo my hair and rinse, then turn off the water. The bathroom is filled with a fog of steam and for the first time in my life I don’t wipe off the mirror with a towel. I’m too embarrassed to look at myself.
I propositioned Ethan. If only the Avondale Hotel had a proper bar, I at least could have propositioned a complete stranger.
Anything for Her
And here's a snippet from further on in the book ...
“Oh god.” I let the hot water pour over my head. “I mauled Ethan McNamara last night. Or early in the morning. Or sometime between the tequila and the black coffee.” He’s just too sweet and nice to tell me. I cover my face with my hands and moan. My humiliation is complete. I can tell from the way my body feels that we didn’t go all the way, which means he shut me down.
Of course.
Ethan wasn’t interested in me back when we were both hormone-addled teenagers. He was always the perfect gentleman, which for a teenage boy, is simply code for “not interested.” And it takes a lot for a teenage boy to not be interested in sex. I’m a teacher. I spend seven hours a day around the cretins.
And why would he be? I’m the only idiot saving myself for marriage.
I’m sure Ethan’s no longer a virgin. I mean, no one is still a virgin at our age. Other than me. He probably has women lined up around the block. Rich, handsome … gorgeous chest with just a smattering of curly dark hair, just the right amount to play with as you lie in bed.
Not that I have any personal experience of playing with a man’s chest hair, but I do have a rich fantasy life. And a high-end vibrator (a Christmas gift from Danny last year).
I shampoo my hair and rinse, then turn off the water. The bathroom is filled with a fog of steam and for the first time in my life I don’t wipe off the mirror with a towel. I’m too embarrassed to look at myself.
I propositioned Ethan. If only the Avondale Hotel had a proper bar, I at least could have propositioned a complete stranger.
Anything for Her
May 29, 2018
Two of Hearts is here!
Book 3 in the St. Caroline Series released today! This is Matt and Cassidy's story and I am so excited for you to read it ...
Two committed commitment-phobes …
Cassidy Trevor is the backbone of her family’s quilt shop, the one everyone relies on, the person who makes the trains run on time. She has a good life with loving parents and sisters, a job-for-life that she enjoys, and respect as a capable businesswoman within the community. Still, she can’t help wondering … is there something more out there?
Matt Wolfe has spent his entire life living down to everyone’s expectations. He’s the body, the workhorse, the guy who always says yes. As a member of a firefighting family, he’s also seen too many people lose everything they hold dear within the space of a heartbeat. He knows it’s easier to let go of things if you never really wanted them in the first place.
… warned away from each other by their families …
The Wolfe and Trevor families aren’t the Montagues and the Capulets. Just the opposite. Both families have been close for years, but one love match between them is enough.
… strike a mutually beneficial arrangement …
When Cassidy and Matt are volunteered to co-chair a holiday event, their working relationship slides into a secret friendship … with benefits. Everyone gets what they want. Matt gets to sample the forbidden fruit he has coveted for years and Cassidy gets some much-needed stress relief from the pressures of running the family business while planning her escape from St. Caroline.
… and get more than they bargained for.
Cassidy has avoided commitment because she doesn’t want anything tying her down. For Matt, a fling with Cassidy is perfect—the built-in expiration date means no messy breakup and no disappointment when expectations aren’t fulfilled. But now the one person who “gets” her, who supports her dream to leave St. Caroline, is the one person Cassidy can’t bear the thought of leaving. And, for the first time in his life, Matt is discovering expectations he wants to live up to … his own.
Start reading today!
Amazon https://amzn.to/2s1gko5
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/2rYE4tb
iBooks https://apple.co/2kp1Pah
Kobo http://bit.ly/TOH_Kobo
Two committed commitment-phobes …
Cassidy Trevor is the backbone of her family’s quilt shop, the one everyone relies on, the person who makes the trains run on time. She has a good life with loving parents and sisters, a job-for-life that she enjoys, and respect as a capable businesswoman within the community. Still, she can’t help wondering … is there something more out there?
Matt Wolfe has spent his entire life living down to everyone’s expectations. He’s the body, the workhorse, the guy who always says yes. As a member of a firefighting family, he’s also seen too many people lose everything they hold dear within the space of a heartbeat. He knows it’s easier to let go of things if you never really wanted them in the first place.
… warned away from each other by their families …
The Wolfe and Trevor families aren’t the Montagues and the Capulets. Just the opposite. Both families have been close for years, but one love match between them is enough.
… strike a mutually beneficial arrangement …
When Cassidy and Matt are volunteered to co-chair a holiday event, their working relationship slides into a secret friendship … with benefits. Everyone gets what they want. Matt gets to sample the forbidden fruit he has coveted for years and Cassidy gets some much-needed stress relief from the pressures of running the family business while planning her escape from St. Caroline.
… and get more than they bargained for.
Cassidy has avoided commitment because she doesn’t want anything tying her down. For Matt, a fling with Cassidy is perfect—the built-in expiration date means no messy breakup and no disappointment when expectations aren’t fulfilled. But now the one person who “gets” her, who supports her dream to leave St. Caroline, is the one person Cassidy can’t bear the thought of leaving. And, for the first time in his life, Matt is discovering expectations he wants to live up to … his own.
Start reading today!
Amazon https://amzn.to/2s1gko5
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/2rYE4tb
iBooks https://apple.co/2kp1Pah
Kobo http://bit.ly/TOH_Kobo
October 18, 2017
Next to You just .99 this week!
If you haven't read Next to You, the first book in the Phlox Beauty series, now's your chance! It's .99 all week.
RT Book Reviews gave it a 4-1/2 Star Top Pick Review:
“Next to You is a bittersweet story about perseverance and adversity. Burdened with emotional and physical scars, Phlox and Jared have to learn to deal with these drastic changes to their appearance and soul. Julia Gabriel does an amazing job of conveying the characters’ feelings. The writing style is flawless, and the characters are both multifaceted and dynamic.”
Grab your copy here while the price is low: http://bit.ly/2vZ70oU
RT Book Reviews gave it a 4-1/2 Star Top Pick Review:
“Next to You is a bittersweet story about perseverance and adversity. Burdened with emotional and physical scars, Phlox and Jared have to learn to deal with these drastic changes to their appearance and soul. Julia Gabriel does an amazing job of conveying the characters’ feelings. The writing style is flawless, and the characters are both multifaceted and dynamic.”
Grab your copy here while the price is low: http://bit.ly/2vZ70oU
September 18, 2017
4.5 Stars Top Pick Review from RT Book Reviews for Hearts on Fire
Book two in the St. Caroline series portrays the emotional roller coaster of the lives of Becca and Jack. The love story is interesting in how the characters fall in love after knowing each other for many years, and their passion and tenacity make the inevitable romance blossom. Julia Gabriel does an amazing job with this devastatingly, heartbreaking love story.
Set in St. Caroline, Maryland, Jack and Becca’s story starts out with a drunken night in high school they would both rather forget. After graduation, Jack and Becca set off to find themselves. Unfortunately, their soul searching brings them both disastrous results. They each feel like they are disappointments to their families. Various events in their lives bring them back to their hometown and face to face once again. Unfortunately, Becca has a life-changing secret that is going to change their lives forever. —RT Book Reviews, 4.5 Stars, Top Pick
Set in St. Caroline, Maryland, Jack and Becca’s story starts out with a drunken night in high school they would both rather forget. After graduation, Jack and Becca set off to find themselves. Unfortunately, their soul searching brings them both disastrous results. They each feel like they are disappointments to their families. Various events in their lives bring them back to their hometown and face to face once again. Unfortunately, Becca has a life-changing secret that is going to change their lives forever. —RT Book Reviews, 4.5 Stars, Top Pick
July 18, 2017
Hearts on Fire: Read chapters 1 to 6 free!
Now available on Amazon, Google and Kobo ... iBooks and Barnes & Noble coming later this week! Download direct to your tablet, phone or e-reader ...
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tdz833
Google: http://bit.ly/2tE1Ppj
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2uAhSIK
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tdz833
Google: http://bit.ly/2tE1Ppj
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2uAhSIK
July 16, 2017
Will there be more Lucy and Sterling?
I’ve been getting this question a lot lately … and the answer is “yes!” The characters in the St. Caroline Series books will make appearances throughout the series. I know some of you were disappointed that Lucy and Sterling were not in Hearts on Fire. (Actually, Sterling was, but his scene got cut … sorry!) But both of them play a role in Once in a Lifetime. Ashley Wardman in Once in a Lifetime works as a wedding photographer at the Chesapeake Inn (Sterling is beginning to see the business potential in expanding the Inn’s wedding services). Ash is also friends with Lucy (who has opened her yoga studio).
June 26, 2017
RELEASE DAY for Hearts on Fire!
Hearts on Fire is now available on all retailers!
The girl who couldn’t get anything right …
No good deed goes unpunished. That pretty much summed up Becca Trevor’s life. Help out a woman being harassed in a bar—and get fired? Check. Come home for parents’ anniversary party—and cause her mother’s quilt shop to burst into flames? Check again. Help a geeky classmate and family friend lose his virginity before college—and get pregnant? Check check check.
The boy who could do no wrong ...
Jack Wolfe was the golden boy of St. Caroline. Smart, Ivy League-educated, law school-bound. He has a nice, steady job as an attorney with a hotshot tech company in California … well no, scratch that. The thought of spending his life in an office pushing paper filled him with such existential dread that he dropped out of law school a year ago without telling anyone. He’d much rather follow his father and brothers into the family business—firefighting. But he’s also the namesake of his uncle Jack, who was killed in the line of duty. It would kill Jack’s mother to see her youngest child join the fire department, too … and she’s dying already.
And a secret that will change their lives forever …
The last thing Jack Wolfe needed was a baby. All those Ivy League dreams would go right down the drain—and Becca knew she would get blamed for it. So seven years ago she left town without a word, had the baby by herself, and arranged for the adoption. She never intended to see Jack Wolfe again. But now they’re both back in St. Caroline and falling into a friendship … maybe even more. Becca always planned to keep their baby a secret forever. But now that secret needs her and Becca can’t say no—and can’t keep the news of their daughter from Jack any longer. Can their budding love survive the revelation that they are already a family?
Can the biggest mistake of their lives be the best thing that ever happened to them?
Hearts on Fire
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2rUViq0
iBooks: http://apple.co/2sfNXkj
Google: http://bit.ly/2saQOQe
B&N: http://bit.ly/2sfQ7jP
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2saJV1r
The girl who couldn’t get anything right …
No good deed goes unpunished. That pretty much summed up Becca Trevor’s life. Help out a woman being harassed in a bar—and get fired? Check. Come home for parents’ anniversary party—and cause her mother’s quilt shop to burst into flames? Check again. Help a geeky classmate and family friend lose his virginity before college—and get pregnant? Check check check.
The boy who could do no wrong ...
Jack Wolfe was the golden boy of St. Caroline. Smart, Ivy League-educated, law school-bound. He has a nice, steady job as an attorney with a hotshot tech company in California … well no, scratch that. The thought of spending his life in an office pushing paper filled him with such existential dread that he dropped out of law school a year ago without telling anyone. He’d much rather follow his father and brothers into the family business—firefighting. But he’s also the namesake of his uncle Jack, who was killed in the line of duty. It would kill Jack’s mother to see her youngest child join the fire department, too … and she’s dying already.
And a secret that will change their lives forever …
The last thing Jack Wolfe needed was a baby. All those Ivy League dreams would go right down the drain—and Becca knew she would get blamed for it. So seven years ago she left town without a word, had the baby by herself, and arranged for the adoption. She never intended to see Jack Wolfe again. But now they’re both back in St. Caroline and falling into a friendship … maybe even more. Becca always planned to keep their baby a secret forever. But now that secret needs her and Becca can’t say no—and can’t keep the news of their daughter from Jack any longer. Can their budding love survive the revelation that they are already a family?
Can the biggest mistake of their lives be the best thing that ever happened to them?
Hearts on Fire
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2rUViq0
iBooks: http://apple.co/2sfNXkj
Google: http://bit.ly/2saQOQe
B&N: http://bit.ly/2sfQ7jP
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2saJV1r
June 1, 2017
Hearts on Fire releases June 26!
Book 2 in the St. Caroline Series, Hearts on Fire, releases June 26 ...
Return to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Julia Gabriel’s new series about love, family, and second chances ... The 300-year-old town of St. Caroline, Maryland, is part fishing village and part summer playground for the wealthy and powerful. Meet the Trevor women—Michelle, Becca, Charlotte, Natalie, Cassidy and Lauren—and their popular quilt shop, Quilt Therapy. Across town, the men of the Wolfe family have been the backbone of the St. Caroline fire department for generations—and Tim, Jack, Matt and Oliver are continuing the tradition.
The girl who couldn’t get anything right …
No good deed goes unpunished. That pretty much summed up Becca Trevor’s life. Help out a woman being harassed in a bar—and get fired? Check. Come home for parents’ anniversary party—and cause her mother’s quilt shop to burst into flames? Check again. Help a geeky classmate and family friend lose his virginity before college—and get pregnant? Check check check.
The boy who could do no wrong ...
Jack Wolfe was the golden boy of St. Caroline. Smart, Ivy League-educated, law school-bound. He has a nice, steady job as an attorney with a hotshot tech company in California … well no, scratch that. The thought of spending his life in an office pushing paper filled him with such existential dread that he dropped out of law school a year ago without telling anyone. He’d much rather follow his father and brothers into the family business—firefighting. But he’s also the namesake of his uncle Jack, who was killed in the line of duty. It would kill Jack’s mother to see her youngest child join the fire department, too … and she’s dying already.
And a secret that will change their lives forever …
The last thing Jack Wolfe needed was a baby. All those Ivy League dreams would go right down the drain—and Becca knew she would get blamed for it. So seven years ago she left town without a word, had the baby by herself, and arranged for the adoption. She never intended to see Jack Wolfe again. But now they’re both back in St. Caroline and falling into a friendship … maybe even more. Becca always planned to keep their baby a secret forever. But now that secret needs her and Becca can’t say no—and can’t keep the news of their daughter from Jack any longer. Can their budding love survive the revelation that they are already a family?
Can the biggest mistake of their lives be the best thing that ever happened to them?
Return to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Julia Gabriel’s new series about love, family, and second chances ... The 300-year-old town of St. Caroline, Maryland, is part fishing village and part summer playground for the wealthy and powerful. Meet the Trevor women—Michelle, Becca, Charlotte, Natalie, Cassidy and Lauren—and their popular quilt shop, Quilt Therapy. Across town, the men of the Wolfe family have been the backbone of the St. Caroline fire department for generations—and Tim, Jack, Matt and Oliver are continuing the tradition.
The girl who couldn’t get anything right …
No good deed goes unpunished. That pretty much summed up Becca Trevor’s life. Help out a woman being harassed in a bar—and get fired? Check. Come home for parents’ anniversary party—and cause her mother’s quilt shop to burst into flames? Check again. Help a geeky classmate and family friend lose his virginity before college—and get pregnant? Check check check.
The boy who could do no wrong ...
Jack Wolfe was the golden boy of St. Caroline. Smart, Ivy League-educated, law school-bound. He has a nice, steady job as an attorney with a hotshot tech company in California … well no, scratch that. The thought of spending his life in an office pushing paper filled him with such existential dread that he dropped out of law school a year ago without telling anyone. He’d much rather follow his father and brothers into the family business—firefighting. But he’s also the namesake of his uncle Jack, who was killed in the line of duty. It would kill Jack’s mother to see her youngest child join the fire department, too … and she’s dying already.
And a secret that will change their lives forever …
The last thing Jack Wolfe needed was a baby. All those Ivy League dreams would go right down the drain—and Becca knew she would get blamed for it. So seven years ago she left town without a word, had the baby by herself, and arranged for the adoption. She never intended to see Jack Wolfe again. But now they’re both back in St. Caroline and falling into a friendship … maybe even more. Becca always planned to keep their baby a secret forever. But now that secret needs her and Becca can’t say no—and can’t keep the news of their daughter from Jack any longer. Can their budding love survive the revelation that they are already a family?
Can the biggest mistake of their lives be the best thing that ever happened to them?
February 19, 2017
Goodreads Challenge 2017: Book 4
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
As a romance author, I write about relationships so I am always a sucker for nonfiction books about relationships. This is an excellent one about attachment theory and the three types of attachment people experience—secure attachment (good news! most of us fall into this category), anxious attachment and avoidant attachment. Even if you're securely attached, the book's sections on how to interact with loved ones who are anxious or avoidant are very valuable–and a good reminder that sometimes you have to meet people where they are, not where you want them to be.
As a romance author, I write about relationships so I am always a sucker for nonfiction books about relationships. This is an excellent one about attachment theory and the three types of attachment people experience—secure attachment (good news! most of us fall into this category), anxious attachment and avoidant attachment. Even if you're securely attached, the book's sections on how to interact with loved ones who are anxious or avoidant are very valuable–and a good reminder that sometimes you have to meet people where they are, not where you want them to be.
February 1, 2017
Goodreads Challenge 2017: Book 3
Book 3: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Okay, this might be cheating a little on the Goodreads Challenge because I started this book last year, so two-thirds of it was read in 2016. Normally, I don't have a problem abandoning a book if it's just not holding my attention but I loved Life After Life so hard that I felt compelled to finish this one. As you can tell, I didn't love A God in Ruins the way I did its predecessor—I wanted more of Teddy's story and less of the other characters. But I liked it enough to keep the book sitting around for months as a reminder to get back to it ... and eventually, I did.
Okay, this might be cheating a little on the Goodreads Challenge because I started this book last year, so two-thirds of it was read in 2016. Normally, I don't have a problem abandoning a book if it's just not holding my attention but I loved Life After Life so hard that I felt compelled to finish this one. As you can tell, I didn't love A God in Ruins the way I did its predecessor—I wanted more of Teddy's story and less of the other characters. But I liked it enough to keep the book sitting around for months as a reminder to get back to it ... and eventually, I did.
