The Red Rose: Update

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The Red Rose (book cover)

While procrastinating—I mean taking a break from diligently toiling away at the keyboard and periodically wiping my brow—I dropped some little hints about my next book, The Red Rose. 

  • I’ve added a page for the book. Just click “Coming Next” up there in the menu.
  • I’ve created a Pinterest board, which I’ve done for a number of my books. It’s particularly helpful for this book because so many of the locations are real or inspired by real places I’ve enjoyed during my almost annual visits to Edinburgh (Covid notwithstanding). So I’ll be updating that with location pics.
  • I’m continuing to update my writing playlist. Again, this is something I create for every book, but they’re usually just for my own inspirational use as I write. This one, however, I’ve shared because it directly relates to the subject matter—which you’d know if you subscribed to the J.L. Jarvis Journal. (Click “News” in the menu to sign up.) You can find the playlist on The Red Rose web page with links to the YouTube, Spotify, and Tidal playlists.
  • Since the last issue of The J.L. Jarvis Journal went out, I’ve discovered a new artist, Claire Hastings, and her song, “Fair Weather Beggar,” with a music video coincidentally shot in some key locations for my book. Watching this should really put you in the mood for The Red Rose! 
  • If you like what you hear, support the artists by buying their music.
Play Video

Fair Weather Beggar, Claire Hastings

Happy National Sandwich Day!

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I know. You’ve waited all year, and it’s finally here—November 3, National Sandwich Day! So here’s a shout out to a man who had the meats way before Arby’s did.

In 1762, John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, ordered beef between two slices of bread so he could eat and gamble at the same time. In a time when cutlery was all the rage, the Earl’s practice of eating with his fingers raised more than a few eyebrows. Evidently, no one had a problem with his gambling so obsessively that he couldn’t take a break for a meal now and then. No, it was his hands-on approach to eating that so shocked a nation—until they tried it.

What does this have to do with books, you might ask? Well, later that year, English author, Edward Gibbons, observed two men eating cold meat between bread slices in a small cafe called the Cocoa Tree. He was so impressed by the sight that he wrote about it, thus providing the first written record of the term sandwich.

So next time you chow down on a sandwich, thank an author.

Coming in October

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They’ll be best friends forever, and that is the problem.

Marco is the best friend a girl could ever want. Lydia just wishes he loved her, too. But it’s hopeless. So she takes charge of her life and sets out to put distance between them. Otherwise, she risks pining away for the rest of her life all alone—like her mother. Except even her mother has found someone to love. So when a guy in one of Lydia’s college classes asks her out, she sees her big chance to get over Marco.

Marco has breezed through life—or at least his love life. The rest of his life hasn’t been quite so breezy. He was orphaned at ten, and his older brother raised him. Now eighteen, Marco and his brother own the Silva Brothers’ Brewpub, where Marco works the bar and charms the ladies. But his old pain-avoidance tactics have caught up with him. He’s kept Lydia at bay. They’re best friends, but best friends can grow close. By the time he realizes he’s in over his head, she finds someone to date. He didn’t see that coming.

In the small coastal town of Pine Harbor, Lydia’s Christmas wish could come true, but she’ll never know it.