My newest book is here!
Hi friends!
It’s been a while since I hit the publish button on my Amazon KDP dashboard. The last book I published on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) was the third and final book of the Khan Sisters Trilogy and it was called This is It. It was published in April. If you think that’s not too far away, in the life of an indie author or hybrid author such as myself, that’s quite a few months between books. So, here we are, all these months later with the next book from a series I originally began writing in 2022, but never managed to complete.
A Love to Embrace had been one of the books I’d planned to write for the Hotel Moonshine quartet but a lot of other things kept happening and this one slipped through the cracks. Never mind though. It’s here finally.
I’ve had a tricky relationship with this series. The first one got blocked for no reason whatsoever, leading to my account being suspended for an entire day which felt like a year to me, wherein I wondered what I would do with all my books and where I could possibly publish them.
Now, almost two years later, I’m aware that Amazon can still do that. There’s no saying why they do the things they do, but until someone else brings out a subscription model that’s as good as KU and as cheap, nothing much can be done because readers aren’t going to read if they have to pay for every book.
So, it was with a great deal of hesitancy and some PTSD that I hit upload on this book. But, I’m hoping it has been worth the wait.
Surrounded by happy couples, Sunaina Kumar is desperately aware of her reluctantly single status. With a broken engagement behind her, the new event manager of Moonshine Hotel knows that love isn’t in her future. Until she meets the new doctor in town.
A complicated relationship with his father has Dr. Prashant Bhat fleeing Karimbagh the minute he’s able to. But now he’s back, caring for the family hospital until his father recovers from a heart attack. A hospital his father has sworn to never let him inherit.
Despite the scars the past has left, sparks fly when Sunaina and Prashant meet. Sparks that are visible to everyone and launches the small town gossip mill into overdrive. Sunaina is mortified and a commitment averse Prashant wants nothing to do with any of it, until his father offers him the hospital in exchange for marrying a local girl and settling in Karimbagh. Prashant accepts and proposes to Sunaina, sending the gossiping aunties into paroxysms of delight.
Sunaina believes all her dreams are coming true and Prashant doesn’t have the heart to disappoint her by revealing his true reasons for the marriage. When the truth finally comes out, Sunaina, once again, finds herself betrayed by a man for his own materialistic ends. Can she ever forgive Prashant his deception? Or are they destined to live together and yet, forever remain apart?
A Love to Embrace is Book 3 of Hotel Moonshine. It can be read as a standalone but will make more sense if read in order.
Order of the books –
Book 1 – An Evening to Remember
Book 2 – A Night to Cherish
I’m already hard at work on the next and final book of this series – A Kiss to Reclaim. It’s available on preorder at a specially low price until release, so don’t miss out on preordering it.
This one is turning out to be very angsty and Aashna and Ethan’s interactions are just…
Wait. See for yourself from this small snippet:
Jumping in fright, she looked around. Dark rain slashed the ground and she shivered. She hadn’t got wet in the rain but the cold air whipped around her. Ethan probably hadn’t heard the doorbell over the sound of the rain. Just as she lifted her hand to ring it again, the door snapped open.
Ethan stood there, hair wet, chest sprinkled with raindrops, a towel wrapped around his hips. Her gaze took him in quickly, efficiently, and she tried not to think of the way his tattoos climbed across his chest, at the tantalising glimpse of his abs and the way his towel…
Stop.
He looked shocked on seeing her there.
‘Well, princess, didn’t expect to see you here,’ he drawled, crossing his arms. He was completely unself-conscious and that made her a little more self-conscious.
‘I had to give something to you,’ she said, aware of how silly and breathy her voice sounded.
He stared at her for a few long seconds and then his jaw tightened. She wondered what he was making of all this, so before she could change her mind, she handed him the gift.
He didn’t take it but he looked down at it suspiciously. ‘What is it?’
There was another boom and she jumped in fright.
‘Christ, come inside,’ he muttered, and she almost thought he would yank her inside but he kept his hands to himself.
Warily, she walked inside, feeling like she was stepping inside the lion’s den. She tried to take in the interior of this cottage and could only register the exposed wooden beams on the ceiling and the wooden floor below. A creak sounded out when she walked inside and saw that there was a well-worn moss green sofa to one side.
She just couldn’t imagine him living here. For some reason, she’d expected him to live in a dark, gloomy cave. But the sight of those fluffy cushions on the sofa broke her brain.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
‘I’m sorry, what?’ he asked, perplexed. He still made no move to go and get dressed and she had to focus very hard to look at his face and not his chest. Swallowing, she realised how stupid she sounded.
‘Forget it,’ she muttered. She handed him the gift again. ‘This is a gift, Ethan. Nothing too fancy. Please accept it.’
Since her hand was outstretched, Ethan exhaled loudly and took it from her. She’d gift wrapped it carefully and she waited to see his expression as he saw what it was.
‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ she asked.
‘Now?’ he growled out.
She nodded. ‘Yes, please,’ she said, feeling somewhat idiotic for sounding so eager.
She thought he would tear into the packaging but she was entranced by the way his fingers worked the tape free. She saw his index finger slide inside the slit he’d made and her breathing accelerated.
If you liked what you read, preorder it right away! It’s only INR 99 for a short while and will go back to its full price of INR 199 soon.
Now, for some other interesting things.
First up, Scare Walk got a fabulous review here.
Next, I will be discussing Of Mothers and Other Perishables with Radhika Oberoi in Champaca on September 15. By the way, this book has been longlisted for the JCB Prize 2024. Congratulations Radhika!
I will be in Bhubaneshwar on 22 September to speak at the Odisha Literary Festival with Shabnam Minwala about YA writing.
Shilpa Suraj brought out the third novel of her Dynasty Rebels series – Married in Rage – and it’s by far my favouritest of them all. Consider me a true blue Harshian.
Lastly, Neev Literature Festival is taking place at the end of this month and my novel, The Henna Start-up has been shortlisted for the Neev Book Award.
And, I saved the best for the last because The Henna Start-up is getting published in the US and it got a Kirkus review as well. In fact, the release date for it is today, September 10.
Now, for some free books courtesy Bookfunnel.
That’s it for now! Until next month!