Lots of Loving at LakeWatch!

 

Two sons. Two lovely women. Two weddings.  Right here at LakeWat4A336950-330F-418A-AD28-7AFD8C2796BCch.  Five weeks apart!  Tents.  Caterers.  Flowers.  Cakes.  Music.  Chaos.  An eclectic gathering of families, friends, children, and even dogs—all times two.

Did I mention these amazing celebrations took place five weeks apart?  My sons had thirty-four and thirty years to find the love of their lives, and what do they do? They meet two remarkable women within a few months of each other, propose to them three years later within seven weeks of each other, then marry them six and seven months later. (Rumor has it there was a brotherly … discussion as to who would propose first, which the elder son apparently won.)

LakeWatch wasn’t exactly looking its best when the two happy couples showed up en masse and asked if they might have their weddings down on the beachfront.   It was mud season, you sIMG_0422ee, and everything was rather battered and bleak-looking from the winter.  My first thought was: “What will the parents of the brides think when they come check out the venue?”  My husband’s first thought was: “Wow, I have some highly-motivated free labor to help me whip this place back into shape.  Heck, with four able-bodied people onboard, I can even add a few extra projects to the roster.”  And off he went to talk to a man about a bulldozer.

Whenever I dared peek out the window in April, May, and the first part of June, (Hey, I had a book to write!) it was to see five adults, two excited children, two clueless dogs, and a faded green tractor straightening fence posts, cutting broken branches off our towering maple, oak, and pine trees, lugging said branches deep into the woods to fashion brush-pile homes for various critters, arranging (and rearranging) a diabolical puzzle of docks, revitalizing planting beds, mowing, raking, and painting.  And yes, one day I saw Robbie sitting on a bulldozer … rearranging dirt.904EBC32-2E04-450E-B04E-6A1CBF88BAEF

By June 15th, when the first tent went up on the beachfront, (one week after I turned in my book!), LakeWatch was almost as beautiful as the two brides about to call it their home.  (Have I mentioned I can throw a rock from my porch and hit either of my sons’ homes?  Oh, they dutifully went out into the great big world, but they came back—for the lake, of course, not us.)  The second tent went up on our bright green, perfectly mowed front lawn on July 18th, with chairs set out on the beachfront for the ceremony. (Son number one and our new daughter-in-law’s ceremony actually took place at a bed and breakfast up in the mountains overlooking Moosehead Lake, which they celebrated with family and friends the following weekend here at LakeWatch.)

Yes, this veteran romance writer cried—at both ceremonies—quiet sobs of sheer joy.  And I nearly lost it again the day after the first wedding, when I went on FaceBook and caught myself wracking my brain trying to remember who Jessica Chapman wIMG_0444as only to suddenly realize she was my new daughter.

The tents have disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived, all the guests have come and gone—for the second time—and the three mailboxesat the end of the driveway now all bear the same name.  And so six adults, two children, two dogs, two cats, and fourteen laying hens are all nicely settled into happily-ever-after and eagerly waiting to see what the universe has in store for us next.

Wait!  Are babies as contagious as weddings?

Speaking of the universe, I have to appreciate its impeccable timing.  Disaster was surely avoided when the universe obligingly kicked my writing muse in the butt so I could finish my book in time to enjoy a summer of festivities—while nicely saving me from having to straighten fence posts and paint.  And then it thoughtfully brought this amazing summer to a close by releasing Jess Sinclair’s love story, It’s A Wonder Wife, on August 25th.

Oh yeah; definitely lots of loving going on up here in Maine!

Please help settle a small argument…er, I mean discussion.

I was having a little discussion with some of my friends the other day, and I mentioned that my previous poll (eighteen months ago) on what my readers are using to read my books showed that 39% of you use e-book readers and 60% read  print.  Around 1%  listen to audio books.  But since only two of my books are in audio, and I’m asking how you read MY books, I’m not offering audio as an answer this time.

Anyway, I told my friends that the numbers have to be closer to 50-50 now, what with all the tablets that have been and are being sold. Because really, who wouldn’t love being able to carry a hundred books in their purse?

So help me out, would you?  Because these particular friends are certain a new poll will still be largely in favor of print books.  Thanks!

Well, Lachlan it is!

This is to announce that Alec and Carolina MacKeage are the proud parents of Lachlan MacKeage (middle name to be disclosed in future book), born in the basement of a church in Spellbound Falls two weeks before his parents were married. Thank you all for helping me choose a name for the mystical little bugger. I can’t wait to see what havoc he wreaks!

Meanwhile, check out the maps of Bottomless Sea and Spellbound Falls.  You’ll find them under the Spellbound Falls tab on the menu bar above.  And I’ve updated the Genealogy Chart all the way up to THE HIGHLANDER NEXT DOOR.

Oh, and before you leave the site, don’t forget to vote.  I’m very curious if I should be Tweeting regularly, because I suspect Twitter is mostly authors following other authors rather than readers following us.  But if enough of my readers want me to Tweet, I will give it a go at least once a week but probably more.  I’ll likely post pictures of what’s happening around Maine in general and LakeWatch in particular.  Then again, I guess I could also post those pics on FaceBook.  But Tweeting is so easy, I’m more likely to do it more often.  I already have a Twitter account: JanetWrites. (I have no idea if there’s suppose to be a hashtag included because I have no idea what they do.) So, I guess I’ll leave the decision up to you.  Vote!

Welcome!

IMG_0554Welcome, readers, to my beautiful new website.  Keeping it simple and hopefully interesting, this is where you’ll meet the real me and the real Maine—um, before I started rearranging several of the mountains.

Thanks to one of my readers, Joan Valone, we now have a descendents chart to sort out my Highlander, Midnight Bay, and Spellbound Falls Series, since they’re all intertwined.   And I am in the process of drawing a map of Spellbound Falls and the new Bottomless Sea, so check back.   I’ll post the Letters From LakeWatch you find in the back of my books, but here on the site I can include pictures.  And, I am going to actually BLOG (again, with pictures).  Of course my books are here, organized by series, along with a printable booklist.

There’s also a sign-up if you want to be reminded when I have a new book hitting the stores, and a box you can checkmark for me to let you know when and where I’ll be appearing here in Maine to read and sign books.  And I’ll be running contests through WriterSpace, so sign up to win. (I believe this will also put you on my mailing list if you don’t opt out.)

There’s a link to my FaceBook page (Janet Chapman – For her Readers) that a very lovely lady in Maryland named Vanetta started for me several years ago—out of sheer frustration that I did not have a FaceBook page. Vanetta is still running the page and I drop by when I can.  Vanetta loves to run contests, so I’d love for you to also drop by our little community of fantastic ladies and join the fun.

Until later, you keep reading and I’ll keep writing!

~ Janet

Genealogy Chart

A MacKeage, MacBain, Gregor, and Oceanus geneology chart!  And a huge THANK YOU to Joan Valone of Massachusetts for making a beautiful, hand-written Descendents Chart for me, which I then copied into a PDF file that you can print out.  I will keep the chart updated as babies are born and more time-travelers appear.  For now, click on the link below and enjoy!

MacKeage Geneology Chart

Heart of A Hero

Book #4 of Spellbound Falls Series

Spellbound Falls #4

Spellbound Falls #4

New York Times bestselling author Janet Chapman welcomes her fans back to Spellbound Falls, where no one is immune to the magical powers of love…

Originally from the ancient mythical island of Atlantis, Nicholas has spent the last year deep in the mountains of Maine, serving as Director of Security for the Nova Mare and Inglenook resorts. Fully embracing his life in the twenty-first century, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to a trouble-prone employee, and is determined to keep her safe.

The last thing Julia Campbell needs is a man with a hero complex, especially one as handsome and imposing as Nicholas. All she has to do is keep it together until her younger sister turns eighteen, and then she can focus on her own life. But strange things have been happening at the resort—and it’s Nicholas who keeps coming to her rescue. When Nicholas is suddenly the one in trouble, Julia realizes he’s not quite what he seems—and that she’ll do anything to help the man who’s stolen her heart…

The Temptation of Her Love

The book titled The Temptation of His LoveThe (which is excerpted at the back of The Seduction of His Wife) was changed just prior to publication to The Stranger In Her Bed.  It’s the second book in the Loggers Series.  Sorry, if you’ve been hunting for that book.

Mystical Warrior Misprint!

Hey everyone,

Some–only SOME–copies of Mystical Warrior are missing the last couple of chapters.  If you happen to get one, you can take it back to the bookstore (including Wal-mart and Target), show them the book, and get your money back.  Or, you could check the ones they might have in stock to make sure they’re NOT misprinted, and the store should exchange it for you.  Or, you can have them order you a new copy in exchange for the bad one. (Except Wal-mart and Target, because they don’t order individual books. You’ll just have to get your money back from them.)

I’m so sorry this happened to some of you.  I would be bummed to have read an entire book and have it abruptly stop very near the end. (Someone told me the misprint stops right in a love scene. Yikes!  Talk about leaving a person hanging!)  But, thankfully, it appears only a few books were misprinted, not ALL of them.

Thanks so much for your understanding.

Janet

Wedding The Highlander misprint!

It has come to my attention that some readers are opening Wedding the Highlander, only to find that the first 20 or so pages are actually the beginning pages of Loving the Highlander — then the book switches to the real Wedding the Highlander.  Apparently a batch of reprints went out this way, and I am so sorry for your frustration.

 

But my editor at Pocket Books has come up with a brilliant solution! Anyone who has a defective copy of the book can send it to her, she will send you back a “good” copy of Wedding the Highlander, as well as any one of my Highlander books that you haven’t read. And if you’ve already read them all, then she will send you one of my contemporary romance novels. How cool is that; two books for one! She needs the defective copy back so the production team at Pocket Books can get to the heart of the problem, and she also needs a list of which Janet Chapman books you’ve already read so she doesn’t send you a duplicate. (You can check my printable book list page on this site to see which ones you’ve missed.) Oh, and also mention where you purchased the book to help them track down the other misprinted copies.

 

Send to:    Micki Nuding, Senior Editor

Pocket Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

 

Write “Wedding the Highlander” on the outside of the envelope, please, and then sit back and wait for double the fun!

 

Thanks, everyone, for your understanding.

Until later, keep reading!

Janet