End of year round up!

surely

        December 18, 2025

2025, huh?? *slaps thigh jovially* What an absolute shitshow! 

We made it through 2025... but at what cost?

I hope your 2025 was a little less, uh, absolutely bananapants than mine. It feels like everything that could happen did happen, from family stuff to a book cancelation (more on that later) to a sick cat to a torn ACL/meniscus situation to all of the ongoing worldwide horrors. Surely, surely, 2026 will be a little less eventful? Maybe, maybe not, but all we can do is plan like things will actually turn around. And while I can't control the horrors, what I can control is... writing.

So. What is the plan?

I mentioned a book cancelation. Welp. Some of you may have heard that Harlequin suddenly canceled several already-written books for its Afterglow imprint, and I'm sad to report that the follow-up to The Grump Whisperer was one of those books.

Listen. Publishing is a whole mess, and in the best of times not exactly a thriving, dependable operation. Was I sad? Yes. Am I going to stop writing and publishing? Absolutely not! I haven't done much on the writing front over the past year (see the above for "2025 was a shitshow" etc.). But I do have a plan.

I've been meaning to dip my toe into self-publishing for a while, but didn't have the time or motivation to learn how to do it. But when you have a completely written sequel that you love and want to get out into the hands of readers, you suddenly find yourself with motivation, if not time. So, all this is to say that The Hero Renovation is 100% going to be published, just by me instead of Harlequin. I don't have an exact timeline yet, but I'll share as soon as I do.

For fun, here's a little close-up of what should be the cover for The Hero Renovation. Can you guess whose story this is?

My best books read in 2025

In the meantime, I usually do a "best books I read" post on Instagram each year, and this year you get to see it here first. Now, 2025 isn't technically over yet, and I have set the goal to finally, finally read Stephen King's It over winter break, but as of right now this is what I've got:

After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian

Mate by Ali Hazelwood

All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles

Breakout Year by KD Casey

Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Soil by Camille T. Dungy

Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly

Lastly, I'm not sure if anyone has heard of this completely obscure hockey romance TV show called Heated Rivalry? 😂 Guys, I really think it might catch on! In all seriousness, the show is fantastic, just a pitch-perfect romance adaption, and I am as obsessed as everyone else. If by any chance you haven't read the book series by Rachel Reid that it's based on, do yourself a favor and get to it. You can thank me later. 

And of course I would be completely remiss in my authorly duties if I didn't remind you that I also wrote a couple of hockey romances with the same publisher as Heated Rivalry: Too Much Man and Too Hot to Touch. So, if you're looking for more hockey romance, here you go!

If you made it this far through my ramblings, THANK YOU! Here's a festive picture of Gus the cat for your trouble:

All the best,

Katy

Mailing address:

Katy James

P.O. Box 2121

Haddonfield, NJ 08033

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