Another month and 2020 doesn’t seem to be going any better, not globally, not even personally. Since I last wrote to you, my mother-in-law passed away, and my best friend’s mum was diagnosed with cancer. 2016 was so bad John Oliver blew it up at the end of his last show of the year. One must wonder what he is going to do this year, because it’s catastrophic so far. If they let him out of his house, that is.

Still, one good piece of news for the upcoming year, tampons are finally going to be considered essential items in the UK, and they’ll remove the VAT on these products. Thus far, the product considered essential for menstruation where the old belts, used until the 60s. I mean, I get it that they met a need back then, but they are not even sold anymore, although I am sure there is some hippy grandma still making them and selling them on Etsy. So, while everything else might be awful, we have this one bit of sociological and commercial progress to look forward to, yippee!*

In other news, and due to the pandemic, the minister in the UK has banned casual sex. That’s Tinder out of business, then. On the other hand, a great opportunity for PornHub…

It’s funny how I say that like I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been married for ten years, I can’t even remember what casual sex is, and I don’t know what Tinder looks like. Mind me, the way married life goes sometimes I might need it in a not too distant future.

Married life is hard, especially in times of global health crisis (Love in Times of a Global Health Crisis, there is a romance novel for you). Humans are not meant to be locked in the same house for this long, and it doesn’t matter how much you love each other. I’m putting a case together for Marriage Retirement; I think a lot of people would back me up on that one. Nobody gets better with age; if your husband is already driving you mad, imagine what it will be in twenty years.

Anyway, enough rambling, and more books.

Light attempts at comedy aside, I’ve finished the first draft of A Dance of the Past. I am aware that people are not keen on cliffhangers (I do take your reviews on board, my lovely readers), so this novel will have a proper ending for Jo and Adam. This said, I never considered the end of Across the Line as a cliffhanger. Rather a UFN (unhappy for now) ending. But it’s not like Good Boys Breaks your Heart abandons Jo and Adam. While the second book of the series deals with what happens to Anna after Across the Line and Through the Lens, you’ll be happy to hear you still find out what happens to Jo and Adam in the meantime

The problem with trying to avoid a cliffhanger is that I am avoiding a third book about Jo, and that means ADotP is over 170 thousand words. That’s two books worth, really. I’m going to try to cut it as much as I can during editing, and it will go on sale as a single e-book, but as for the paperback, it might need to go in two parts. I don’t know just yet.

I've announced the book will come out in December, but I thought I'd give my readers the full thing. It will be available on Monday 7th of December, with special offers on Across the Line  and Good Boys Break Your Heart during launch week.

With the personal issues this month, I've only managed one book, so here is my own review this month.

I hope you have enjoyed this month's newsletter. If you want more romance to read, you can get Across the Line and Good Boys Break Your Heart here.

My next newsletter will be the first Friday of November. In the meantime, I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. You can e-mail me to sophie-anne@sophieamonroe.com. 

Have a good month, and good reading!