Jenn Neal

Hello Makers of Mayhem,

How is it already May? I had the wild realization that not only are the first round of ARCs going out this month(!!!), but I am 3.5 months away from publishing? I am releasing the ARCs between May 18 – June 20th on a rolling basis. I don’t want anyone to feel rushed to finish, or like they have to drop everything to participate, so I am giving you all a few months to read.

If you applied for an ARC, know that I am sending out the first round of ARC Team Emails on May 11. There will be several rounds, so if you don’t get an email that does NOT mean you won’t receive an ARC, I may have just not gotten to you on the list yet (because yay! There are way more of you than anticipated), so keep an eye out.

ALSO please check your SPAM because in that email will be the day you are receiving your eARC from bookfunnel, a link to some fun ARC team assets, and a link to my discord! You don’t want to miss out!

If you haven’t signed up for an ARC yet and you would like to, you can do that HERE

I won’t lie, this whole process has me in a state of excitement and a solid bit of terror. It’s just that Vicious Miscreations has always been my baby, and as soon as this book hits inboxes, it is out there in the world. It belongs to everyone who reads it. That is a beautiful thing, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share it. But I’d be lying if I said that didn’t scare me a little. I mean, would I even be an author if I wasn’t experiencing imposter syndrome on the regular?

STILL. I am more excited than anything else.

April updates:

This month has been a wild ride. I FINISHED Vicious Miscreations, began some outlining (this is more shocking than you know) of VM2 and I ordered my first physical copy from IngramSpark. I am awaiting it’s arrival as we speak. I also finally got the entire back finalized so I have a real life full spread to share with you all.

Look at the weapons at the bottom on the back cover. Each one represents one of the characters in my crew of anti-heroes and I am so here for it. Nate did a freaking phenomenal job on this cover. I have no words and I cannot wait to work with him again for book 2 & 3.

Also, I cannot thank Rebecca Brodkey enough for blurbing my book. I am a huge fan of Darker than the Starless Night and you should all read it if you haven’t. It is so good and I think our books would be friends! If you like bisexual disasters, peaky blinders vibes, magical forests and twists and turns, you should really order DTTSN today!

I was also interviewed about my book here! If you’d like to know more about my book and my writing process!

I want to shout out Sam Silberberg, my dear friend who who is releasing his Monster Hunter x Monster Romantic Fantasy this year and just revealed his cover. Look at it! Isn’t it stunning?

I had the joy of beta reading this book last year and it had me by the throat the whole way through. You will not want to miss out!

If you aren’t already following this legend, please give him a follow on instagram! And add his book on Goodreads and Storygraph!

Author Spotlight:

You guys, I am so excited to share another ARC application that is also open. Stephanie Storm has opened her ARC applications and her book sounds absolutely fabulous! The cover? Gorgeous. The Premise? Yes please!

Please check her out! Learn more about her book below!!

The Devil Wears Prada meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this Hansl & Gretl retelling. Inspired by Norse Mythology, we follow Gia in this action packed dark urban fantasy, where darkness is everywhere you turn, but hope can be found where you least expect it. A classic story of good vs. evil, Gia will stop at nothing to defeat and vanquish the wicked forces that threaten this world, once and for all.

ARC APPLICATION HERE

Follow her on Instagram here! And add the book on Goodreads here!

Normal Every Day Shenanegans

It’s been a weird spring. That is to say, we have skipped spring and smacked face first into summer (ummm hello? It was 94 yesterday). It has me a little worried about fires over here in the PNW. Still, my garden is already in full swing and I have been thrilled to actually have the energy and time to get my hands dirty this year.

Some of our other bigger trips have become a bit more complicated, as Mojo, resident old man dog, ruler of our house, and absolute love of our lives has been showing his age. He can’t do long trips anymore with his bad hip and arthritis, which means we have to adjust the way we adventure. That’s fine. It’s worth it. But it is a definite change.

We did get him out for a short camping trip already this year, and my partner, Josh, took this very cute photo of Mojo. Don’t mind me wandering around in my pajamas looking like I live in the woods.

But overall things are good. Life is lifing. A dear friend got married this month, and I am eternally happy for him. Several of my friends had babies and my whole heart is full for them (I may not want one myself, but my friends’ babies just do something to my heart). And several of my writer friends have upcoming publishing news that I am absolutely bursting to share. Stay tuned and I will see you next month!

The TLDR Version of This Month’s Milestones!

-Vicious Miscreations surpassed 100 adds on Goodreads and is well on it’s way to 150. Thank you to EVERY ONE of you who has added it. And if you haven’t, there’s still time! Next incentive is sharing my full map with you all!

-My book is in the process of getting it’s first test print!

-The full cover is here!

-We have surpassed 150 ARC applications (which was my ‘there’s no way in hell but that would be awesome’ goal) and the number is still climbing. I am honestly SPEECHLESS. Thank you to every one of you who has applied. You are making dreams come true over here!

See you all soon!