Isabelle Peterson's Blog
May 12, 2025
7 Sleeps and Counting!
It's been a minute since I've finished writing a book, let alone had one ready for release.
Over the past few years, I've done a LOT of learning and I KNOW that it's evident in my newest release, Open Roads, Open Hearts
The early reviews have been EXTREMELY gratifying and I can't WAIT for everyone to get to know Hayes and Gabe... and then continue with the Bucket List Romance Series. I have 9 books slated.
Pre-orders until May 19th when the price will go from $2.99.
Over the past few years, I've done a LOT of learning and I KNOW that it's evident in my newest release, Open Roads, Open Hearts
The early reviews have been EXTREMELY gratifying and I can't WAIT for everyone to get to know Hayes and Gabe... and then continue with the Bucket List Romance Series. I have 9 books slated.
Pre-orders until May 19th when the price will go from $2.99.
March 20, 2025
New Release Coming Soon!
So, I've been in hibernation for a few reasons... But, I've finished the first book of an 8 book (maybe more?) series... the Bucket List Romance Series. A contemporary, MM, Road trip romance... OPEN ROADS, OPEN HEARTS. Open Roads, Open Hearts ... Releasing May 19, 2025. Go ahead and mark your TBR. 📚
And, if you'd like a sampling of this book (while still in the throes of editing, mind you - which I'm doing right now)...
Also, in the actual book, there won't be the * or $ or @ things... those are just to keep things PG-13 here...
~~~~
OPEN ROADS, OPEN HEARTS
by Isabelle Peterson
© 2025
There was a split second when fire hit Gabe’s eyes as I was asking who hurt him, but his answer wasn’t anything I could have been prepared for.
Gabe’s answer was to, in a flash, thrust his hand through my hair, his fingers grabbing a fistful as his mouth crashed onto mine.
Someone moaned, maybe me, and our tongues danced.
I felt so alive. I’d never felt a kiss like that. Ever. Bar none. It was fierce and rakish and ravishing and hungry as f*ck. It was like the man was trying to own me. And there wasn’t any question that I wasn’t the first boy he’s kissed.
Then, as quick as it started, it was over. He ripped his mouth from mine, his eyes staring at my lips, which were no doubt red and swollen from that unexpected “exchange.”
And what an “exchange” it was. His strong lip, his big hand behind my head. My whole body was energized and revved for more, but when his eyes met mine, we weren’t on the same page. And I had no idea how to read what was in his head. Rage? Regret? Self-loathing? Desire? Why was this guy so hard to read? What was he hiding and so afraid of?
Sure, says the guy who is on a year long break from dating.
Gabe said something then turned and left. Standing there, shell-shocked, my brain attempted to process what Gabe said before he stalked to his car. But my mind was summarily dismissed as my eyes took in his a$$.
His totally g@y a$$.
Sh*t! F*ck! Now what?
The growl of his Mustang’s engine reached my ears and I realized he’d already made it back to his car. I kicked myself into gear and headed to the parking lot to find him glowering behind his steering wheel.
Gabe did not look to be in a good mood, even if he looked amazing behind the wheel of his 1965 Mustang. Maybe I should just hire an Uber or plane to get back to Chicago.
But the idea of parting ways with Gabe didn’t sit right on many levels.
I slid into the passenger seat and barely had my seatbelt on, which was just a lap belt, nothing for the shoulder, before Gabe was backing out of the parking spot and heading back to the interstate. He’d changed the playlist that was coming through the sound system, the only element of the car he’d said wasn’t accurate with his restoration, but music was important to him, so he made the concession.
Indecipherable energy was still trapped in the car despite the top being down.
We were maybe five minutes back on the interstate when I couldn’t keep quiet. “So, are we going to talk about… about what happened back there?”
“No.” And with that, he turned the volume up, and some random song from the 80s I vaguely recognized spilled from the speakers.
And, if you'd like a sampling of this book (while still in the throes of editing, mind you - which I'm doing right now)...
Also, in the actual book, there won't be the * or $ or @ things... those are just to keep things PG-13 here...
~~~~
OPEN ROADS, OPEN HEARTS
by Isabelle Peterson
© 2025
There was a split second when fire hit Gabe’s eyes as I was asking who hurt him, but his answer wasn’t anything I could have been prepared for.
Gabe’s answer was to, in a flash, thrust his hand through my hair, his fingers grabbing a fistful as his mouth crashed onto mine.
Someone moaned, maybe me, and our tongues danced.
I felt so alive. I’d never felt a kiss like that. Ever. Bar none. It was fierce and rakish and ravishing and hungry as f*ck. It was like the man was trying to own me. And there wasn’t any question that I wasn’t the first boy he’s kissed.
Then, as quick as it started, it was over. He ripped his mouth from mine, his eyes staring at my lips, which were no doubt red and swollen from that unexpected “exchange.”
And what an “exchange” it was. His strong lip, his big hand behind my head. My whole body was energized and revved for more, but when his eyes met mine, we weren’t on the same page. And I had no idea how to read what was in his head. Rage? Regret? Self-loathing? Desire? Why was this guy so hard to read? What was he hiding and so afraid of?
Sure, says the guy who is on a year long break from dating.
Gabe said something then turned and left. Standing there, shell-shocked, my brain attempted to process what Gabe said before he stalked to his car. But my mind was summarily dismissed as my eyes took in his a$$.
His totally g@y a$$.
Sh*t! F*ck! Now what?
The growl of his Mustang’s engine reached my ears and I realized he’d already made it back to his car. I kicked myself into gear and headed to the parking lot to find him glowering behind his steering wheel.
Gabe did not look to be in a good mood, even if he looked amazing behind the wheel of his 1965 Mustang. Maybe I should just hire an Uber or plane to get back to Chicago.
But the idea of parting ways with Gabe didn’t sit right on many levels.
I slid into the passenger seat and barely had my seatbelt on, which was just a lap belt, nothing for the shoulder, before Gabe was backing out of the parking spot and heading back to the interstate. He’d changed the playlist that was coming through the sound system, the only element of the car he’d said wasn’t accurate with his restoration, but music was important to him, so he made the concession.
Indecipherable energy was still trapped in the car despite the top being down.
We were maybe five minutes back on the interstate when I couldn’t keep quiet. “So, are we going to talk about… about what happened back there?”
“No.” And with that, he turned the volume up, and some random song from the 80s I vaguely recognized spilled from the speakers.
June 23, 2023
I'm OBSESSED!
This new cover for
Penelope's Paths is so perfect I can't stand it!
"What is this book?" you ask?
It's a "Steamy Contemporary Romance" meets "Choose Your Own Adventure" ... It's a "Choose Your Own Steamy Romance!"
If you've ever read a book and didn't like a choice the heroine made... This is the book for you.
Penelope's Paths is so perfect I can't stand it! "What is this book?" you ask?
It's a "Steamy Contemporary Romance" meets "Choose Your Own Adventure" ... It's a "Choose Your Own Steamy Romance!"
If you've ever read a book and didn't like a choice the heroine made... This is the book for you.
August 5, 2022
Release (rerelease) coming August 24Th!
If you’ve gone onto Amazon over the past month to grab a copy of Beau Tyed…and couldn’t find it…it’s because it’s currently unpublished.
And coming August 24th, it will be re-released into the wild!
“Why the unpublish and republish?” you might ask.
Well, I will tell you.
To do that, I need to go back a bit first.
In the latter half of the 2010s, I was struggling with some mental health issues.
After a lot of research - I was fairly certain that my struggles were due to ADHD (after all, my daughter had been diagnosed when she was 10).
My every day was like the books by Laura Numeroff — ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,’ ‘If You Give a Moose a Muffin,’ and others. Making my first cup of coffee was diving into the dishwasher to get my mug, but that would remind me that I had laundry in the washer from yesterday, so I’d head to the laundry room. But there were clothes in the dryer. I like to fold & hang directly from the dryer, however there were no hangers, so I’d go upstairs to get hangers. I’d get to my bedroom and see that the bed was unmade, and would decide to make that. FINALLY, half an hour or more later, I’d remember that I was trying to pour coffee!
And that was just the start of my every day.
The lack of focus, the sometimes hyper-focus (to the point of forgetting about the world around me and to do things like eat), the procrastination - especially with larger tasks that required multiple steps, the impulsivity, the spinning/buffering, the most problematic symptoms.
The most devastating 'side effect' of ADHD is my impulsivity and lack of filter... It's cost me many friendships over the years.
But I guess it's like 'they' say... I might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm someone's shot of whiskey.
So anyway, I sought out a doctor for ADHD in 2018, and we started working together.
She decided to treat me for depression and anxiety disorder…which I didn’t feel was what I was dealing with. Not really. She was treating a symptom of ADHD - I was depressed and anxious because I couldn’t get things finished!! (and the friends I was 'too much' for.)
A few months after we’d started working, some things were going on in her life, and she pulled out of private practice to work entirely in a special ward for in-patient care at the local hospital.
So I was left without a doctor…
I kept putting off the search for a new doctor (there’s that procrastination - oh, the irony!). Come April 2019 - I finally got around to trying to find a new doctor.
In mid-May, I had my first appointment with the new one and she went straight to depression and anxiety as well! Grrrr.
And I get it. It’s easier to treat those disorders b/c the meds are not “Schedule 1” meds. But seriously… I went along with her - and it was not good. The meds she chose were bad (I won’t go into why - just know they were not good for me!). So, the next month she put me on a different med and that was WORSE.
Now - let me start to put these pieces together for you. I started writing Beau Tyed in February 2019… And finished writing it in late June. With ARCs having gone out in early July for an August 6th release.
I started writing Beau Tyed while super distracted. I finished writing Beau Tyed while on meds that fucked with my head.
On release day, things were so bad that I didn’t even get out of bed. Didn’t go on social media. I did cry a lot - for no good reason.
So - I “fired” that doctor, as you might imagine.
Fast forward to November 2020, I finally had a brilliant idea! Why not talk to the doctor that worked with my daughter and HER ADHD. We set up a Zoom Appt and I told her all I’d gone through and she said to me: “I could have told you that you were ADHD 8 years ago.”
OMG - Anyway - So, then started the meds for that…
WOW - been able to study so much better and think so much more. Now…it’s not perfect, but it’s SO much better.
Hell, I was finally able to finish writing the very complicated Choose Your Own Romance - Penelope's Paths.
All of this to say is that I was looking through Beau Tyed one day to grab a quote for something and saw some things that made me cringe! Reflecting back, I realize I had made some bad decisions here and there, cut some corners with the editing process, and so on. So, I unpublished and have been going through it - fixing sentences, improving things here and there, completely reworking some scenes…
AND - I will be re-releasing it on AUGUST 24th.
If you would like a copy of the new and improved Beau Tyed, you can sign up with Enticing Journeys PR... Here's the link:
https://forms.gle/6gNasRgDuTLDLqZf6
And if you're struggling with your own mental health issues - DON'T GIVE UP! Keep at it! There's help to be had. 💗
And coming August 24th, it will be re-released into the wild!
“Why the unpublish and republish?” you might ask.
Well, I will tell you.
To do that, I need to go back a bit first.
In the latter half of the 2010s, I was struggling with some mental health issues.
After a lot of research - I was fairly certain that my struggles were due to ADHD (after all, my daughter had been diagnosed when she was 10).
My every day was like the books by Laura Numeroff — ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,’ ‘If You Give a Moose a Muffin,’ and others. Making my first cup of coffee was diving into the dishwasher to get my mug, but that would remind me that I had laundry in the washer from yesterday, so I’d head to the laundry room. But there were clothes in the dryer. I like to fold & hang directly from the dryer, however there were no hangers, so I’d go upstairs to get hangers. I’d get to my bedroom and see that the bed was unmade, and would decide to make that. FINALLY, half an hour or more later, I’d remember that I was trying to pour coffee!
And that was just the start of my every day.
The lack of focus, the sometimes hyper-focus (to the point of forgetting about the world around me and to do things like eat), the procrastination - especially with larger tasks that required multiple steps, the impulsivity, the spinning/buffering, the most problematic symptoms.
The most devastating 'side effect' of ADHD is my impulsivity and lack of filter... It's cost me many friendships over the years.
But I guess it's like 'they' say... I might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm someone's shot of whiskey.
So anyway, I sought out a doctor for ADHD in 2018, and we started working together.
She decided to treat me for depression and anxiety disorder…which I didn’t feel was what I was dealing with. Not really. She was treating a symptom of ADHD - I was depressed and anxious because I couldn’t get things finished!! (and the friends I was 'too much' for.)
A few months after we’d started working, some things were going on in her life, and she pulled out of private practice to work entirely in a special ward for in-patient care at the local hospital.
So I was left without a doctor…
I kept putting off the search for a new doctor (there’s that procrastination - oh, the irony!). Come April 2019 - I finally got around to trying to find a new doctor.
In mid-May, I had my first appointment with the new one and she went straight to depression and anxiety as well! Grrrr.
And I get it. It’s easier to treat those disorders b/c the meds are not “Schedule 1” meds. But seriously… I went along with her - and it was not good. The meds she chose were bad (I won’t go into why - just know they were not good for me!). So, the next month she put me on a different med and that was WORSE.
Now - let me start to put these pieces together for you. I started writing Beau Tyed in February 2019… And finished writing it in late June. With ARCs having gone out in early July for an August 6th release.
I started writing Beau Tyed while super distracted. I finished writing Beau Tyed while on meds that fucked with my head.
On release day, things were so bad that I didn’t even get out of bed. Didn’t go on social media. I did cry a lot - for no good reason.
So - I “fired” that doctor, as you might imagine.
Fast forward to November 2020, I finally had a brilliant idea! Why not talk to the doctor that worked with my daughter and HER ADHD. We set up a Zoom Appt and I told her all I’d gone through and she said to me: “I could have told you that you were ADHD 8 years ago.”
OMG - Anyway - So, then started the meds for that…
WOW - been able to study so much better and think so much more. Now…it’s not perfect, but it’s SO much better.
Hell, I was finally able to finish writing the very complicated Choose Your Own Romance - Penelope's Paths.
All of this to say is that I was looking through Beau Tyed one day to grab a quote for something and saw some things that made me cringe! Reflecting back, I realize I had made some bad decisions here and there, cut some corners with the editing process, and so on. So, I unpublished and have been going through it - fixing sentences, improving things here and there, completely reworking some scenes…
AND - I will be re-releasing it on AUGUST 24th.
If you would like a copy of the new and improved Beau Tyed, you can sign up with Enticing Journeys PR... Here's the link:
https://forms.gle/6gNasRgDuTLDLqZf6
And if you're struggling with your own mental health issues - DON'T GIVE UP! Keep at it! There's help to be had. 💗
August 25, 2021
Congrats & I hope you're enjoying!!
Congrats to the 100 winners of Penelope's Paths!!
I hope you've seen your copy in your Kindle Library and maybe even started reading it! I would love to know which path you choose first! Which Hero you love the most! And especially - would love to see your reviews when you're done.
Don't hesitate to reach out to me! I don't bite!
And if you weren't one of the lucky 100... {{{hugs!}}} I know the feeling!
I'd still love to hear from you! If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it for FREE!
So far all the reviews have been FANTASTIC and I'm looking forward to what YOU have to say.
I hope you've seen your copy in your Kindle Library and maybe even started reading it! I would love to know which path you choose first! Which Hero you love the most! And especially - would love to see your reviews when you're done.
Don't hesitate to reach out to me! I don't bite!
And if you weren't one of the lucky 100... {{{hugs!}}} I know the feeling!
I'd still love to hear from you! If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it for FREE!
So far all the reviews have been FANTASTIC and I'm looking forward to what YOU have to say.
June 24, 2021
Isn't it so pretty???
Look at this cover! Isn't it so pretty?
Only been holding onto it since 2017!
And yes, it's taken me that long to finish writing, and re-writing, and re-writing this book. Actually, I started writing it back in 2015!!!
Any who... It's finally done & in the hands of beta readers. And on August 17th, it could be in YOUR hands!
1 heroine...9 possible heroes...10 unique endings.
What if you made different choices?
Mark your TBR!!!
Penelope's Paths
Only been holding onto it since 2017!
And yes, it's taken me that long to finish writing, and re-writing, and re-writing this book. Actually, I started writing it back in 2015!!!
Any who... It's finally done & in the hands of beta readers. And on August 17th, it could be in YOUR hands!
1 heroine...9 possible heroes...10 unique endings.
What if you made different choices?
Mark your TBR!!!
Penelope's Paths
May 21, 2021
Coming Soon!!! And a glimpse of my 'gray matter'
What is this madness???
Yeah, WELCOME to my brain. ~
This is a book I've been working on (literally) since 2015--- and Thanks to Covid, I've gotten the urge to bring this one back and and make it reality.
There have been many sad things from Covid... [Hugs to all who have suffered any of the detrimental outcomes. (too many, and too sad to name) ]
But there have also been some good things!
I really like:
~ the single queue system at the grocery stores.
~ I like the way online communities have become so strong.
~ I love the ways families have connected (we have family 'Zoom' calls with several family households every Thursday night! It's been AWESOME!)
~ The fabulous ways businesses have pivoted and THRIVED!
And so much more!
And soon - One of those "Good Things" will be - Penelope's Paths !!!!!
Anyway... Here's that peek into my brain (as promised) and what will be landing on Kindles (and shortly thereafter) the paperback world this summer. AND IF You haven't already, ADD IT TO YOUR WANT TO READ shelf. (Need that link again? ***Penelope's Paths ***)
Again - LOL - If you want this on your TBR - >>>> Penelope's Paths
XO
Yeah, WELCOME to my brain. ~
This is a book I've been working on (literally) since 2015--- and Thanks to Covid, I've gotten the urge to bring this one back and and make it reality.
There have been many sad things from Covid... [Hugs to all who have suffered any of the detrimental outcomes. (too many, and too sad to name) ]
But there have also been some good things!
I really like:
~ the single queue system at the grocery stores.
~ I like the way online communities have become so strong.
~ I love the ways families have connected (we have family 'Zoom' calls with several family households every Thursday night! It's been AWESOME!)
~ The fabulous ways businesses have pivoted and THRIVED!
And so much more!
And soon - One of those "Good Things" will be - Penelope's Paths !!!!!
Anyway... Here's that peek into my brain (as promised) and what will be landing on Kindles (and shortly thereafter) the paperback world this summer. AND IF You haven't already, ADD IT TO YOUR WANT TO READ shelf. (Need that link again? ***Penelope's Paths ***)
Again - LOL - If you want this on your TBR - >>>> Penelope's Paths
XO
October 1, 2020
HAPPY BIRTHDAY x 2!
Today is the Book Birthday of Win for Love (2 years) but also the cover model's 29th Birthday! (She just so happens to be my niece).
To celebrate BOTH awesome birthdays, I've marked down WIN FOR LOVE to just 99¢ so everyone can Celebrate and WIN!
Get yours now exclusively on Amazon
🎂 Buy on Amazon>
Win For Love
January 8, 2020
Looking for New Authors & a Free Book to boot?
Grab some New Books and find some New (To You?) Authors! <3
More than 100+ Books to grab!
Click Here>>> https://books.bookfunnel.com/janroman...
More than 100+ Books to grab!
Click Here>>> https://books.bookfunnel.com/janroman...
Last 24 hours of this sale!
Nothing like starting your year off with a WIN!
Grab Win For Love for FREE!
Goes back to full price on the 10th - so OneClick now!
>>> mybook.to/WFL
(**Win For Love - and all of my titles - are a part of the KU program - so if you subscribe, you can read all my titles for FREE!)
Grab Win For Love for FREE!
Goes back to full price on the 10th - so OneClick now!
>>> mybook.to/WFL
(**Win For Love - and all of my titles - are a part of the KU program - so if you subscribe, you can read all my titles for FREE!)
