A book launch countdown has a different kind of energy. It’s equal parts excitement and “is everything actually done?” And right now, I’m living right in the middle of it.
Mending Hearts is so close I can almost smell the salt air off Sunrise Beach—and I really wish I could be in my fictional town. And yet, there’s still work to do. That’s actually the part I want to talk about today.
What the final stretch actually looks like
People often imagine a book just magically appears once the writing is done. You finish the last chapter, type “The End,” and somehow a beautiful, polished novel shows up for the readers. I wish! The reality is a little more complex than that.
Right now, in the middle of this book launch countdown, I’m in the proofreading stage—going through the manuscript with fresh eyes, reading carefully, catching anything that might have slipped through earlier passes. It’s different from editing. You’re not reshaping scenes or reworking dialogue.
You’re looking for the small things, like a word used twice in the same paragraph, a character’s eye color that mysteriously changed, a line of dialogue that’s missing its closing quotation mark. It’s detail work, and it matters, because every small thing you catch is one less thing that could pull a reader out of Rachel and Greg’s story at just the wrong moment.
And then there’s the cover. If you’ve ever wondered why authors talk about their covers the way they do, it’s because the cover is often the last big piece to come together, and waiting on it is its own special kind of anticipation. The cover is your book’s first impression—the thing that catches a reader’s eye before they’ve read a single word.
Getting it right matters enormously, and I am beyond excited about what’s coming. Members of my Fourthwall community will be the very first to see it when it arrives. If you’re not already a member, now might be a great time to join!
Why this book launch countdown feels personal
A late-April release date wasn’t a random choice — with my birthday just around the corner in May, launching Mending Hearts felt like the perfect way to kick off the celebration. A story about second chances and fresh starts, shared as a little pre-birthday gift to the readers who’ve been cheering me on.
Rachel and Greg’s story has been living in my heart for a while now, and there’s something really meaningful about sending it out into the world on a day that already feels celebratory. I love the idea of my readers and I sharing that kind of moment together.
Jessie and Belle have been excellent company through all of the final prep. Jessie mostly supervises from her dog bed next to my desk and offers moral support in the form of demanding belly rubs at inconvenient moments. Belle mostly sleeps.
Both are fully convinced they deserve extra treats for their contributions, and honestly, they’re not wrong. I don’t know what I’d do without these two keeping me company through every stage of this book launch countdown.
What’s coming for you
If you’re already signed up for The Beach Escape Club, you’re in the right place. You’ll be among the first to know when Mending Hearts is officially available and ready to land on your e-reader.
And if you’re brand new to Sunrise Beach, my reader magnet novella Returning Home is a wonderful place to start. It introduces the town, the community, and the warm coastal world that Rachel and Greg call home. You can grab it and settle in before the release.