November 14, 2026
We have entered the cozy season here in Nova Scotia – that’s when the clocks roll back an hour and days get shorter, inviting one to snuggle in and read or watch movies in the evening and just be cozy. And we are supposed to see some snow by morning as I write this on Thursday afternoon while the sun is slipping close to the horizon and the shadows in my corner of the living room that I call my office are growing long and will soon have me turning on a lamp.
However, it was nice and sunny and 6 degrees Celsius earlier today while I was doing some Uber deliveries. So that was lovely! It’s been rainy a fair bit lately so seeing the sun was really nice. November tends to be a bit grey.
I am still holding pretty well to my part-time writer schedule, and hitting my writing and audiobook time blocks fairly consistently. It is tricky to get everything done that I want to get done though.
I will soon have an office with a door! My eldest son moved out at the beginning of the month, so currently, my husband is working on getting his room repainted for me. Then, when the smell of the paint off-gasses enough, I will be moving my office to that room.
I think that’s all the personal update stuff for now. So, let’s move on to the book news.
IN WRITING NEWS
I am still working on Lydia’s story. I have completed through chapter 10, which I just shared on Patreon this week. I will not have a new chapter there next week since I can only write an average of about 500 words per day during my writing time block. And some of those time blocks get taken to write things like this newsletter and the Harriet and the Colonel excerpt at the end of this newsletter. 🙂
I will be writing some new vignettes and scenes soon for the Sigh-worthy Tearoom newsletter that I do with Rose and Zoe, because we’re planning to write to prompts in 2027 that our readers get to help choose. Zoe introduced the plan in the most recent SWR Tearoom post which you can read at this link. If you haven’t subscribed to the Tearoom, we would love it if you did.
IN AUDIOBOOKS NEWS
I will be done adding all my YouTube videos to my website and Substack before Christmas. This week, A Very Mary Christmas was added, and next week, I’ll be adding Not An Heiress, which is my newest audiobook release.
Not an Heiress is now available at an introductory price of $4.99 in retail stores and $9.99 in library catalogues. This is about 50% of what the regular price for the audiobook will be when it goes to full price in December.
My audiobooks are now all listed on Chirp (find my books here). That’s a new thing for me. I noticed today when I went to get the link for this newsletter that several books are $1 off. I don’t control that special pricing, so I do not know when that will end.
I have begun work on a new by-the-chapter audiobook. In fact, as you read this, the first chapter of that book posted on YouTube. The book is One Winter’s Eve. This is the second book in the Darcy Family Holiday’s series. (Two Days before Christmas is the first book.) And my plan is to work my way through that series so that maybe I can have Lydia’s story ready as an audiobook not long after it goes live at all the retailers.
For the production of One Winter’s Eve, I am using the newest model at Elevenlabs called v4. Up until now, I have been using v2. (I missed v3 somehow – it may have been too challenging to figure out how to get it to do what I wanted and I was happy with how things were going with v2.)
Anyway… this new model is currently presenting fewer things to tweak as I go through each chapter to get it ready. That means, the chapters are being produced a bit faster. (A first pass was taking up to 2 hours to do with v2. Now, I can get that done in about 1 hour. That’s a big improvement.)
And it’s a more expressive model that is easier to direct to read things as I want them read. I always enjoyed listening to Christopher read my stories to me, but with this new version, it’s even more enjoyable.
Remember that Christopher is an authorized voice replica, which means the real person who owns that voice has licensed it for use and gets paid when his voice is used.
IN BOOK PROMOTIONS
I want to start by giving you a heads up that some special multi-author book sales are coming up soon. One will be the Black Friday weekend, and the other will be the first week of December. So, be watching for those. I will have at least one $0.99 book in each of those.
But for now…
This month’s $0.99 book is Delighting Mrs. Bennet. (That’s $0.99 USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, with all other currencies also reduced and on all my regular eBook retailers.)
OR…
You could get Delighting Mrs. Bennet as one of your two eBooks to Keep as a paid Patreon member. Memberships start at $2 and unlock access to my full library of 69 eBooks, 14 audiobooks, and new releases first.
The other eBook to Keep for paid Patreon members this month is Confounding Caroline, which also happens to be a free read for all free followers until the end of the month.
Until Monday, November 16, if you are in Canada, the US, the UK, New Zealand, or Australia, you could pick up the two Marrying Elizabeth box sets for 3.99 GBP or 4.99 CAD, USD, NZD, AUD at your favourite retailer. This is because it was selected to be part of a Kobo Historical Fiction sale, so I price matched it in those geos at all my regular retailers.
Starting Monday, November 16, ALL my eBooks (both pen names) will be included in the OverDrive End of Year sale. I have marked them 50% off the regular library price. So if you’re a library eBook reader, now is a great time to request my books from your library if they purchase from that catalogue. (If your library has Libby, then your library uses OverDrive since Libby is part of OverDrive. That’s one way to know. The other is to ask.)
And now for…
SOMETHING NEW TO READ
In this section, we will finally make it to London. However, we still do not know what has happened to Wickham or what other schemes might be in play.
Please remember that there are sections where previous chapters from all the Harriet and the Colonel stories can be read on whichever platform you subscribe to.
- On my blog, look for Harriet and the Colonel in the menu options.
- On Substack, look for the Harriet and the Colonel section on the home page.
- On Patreon, look for On the Way to a Wedding in the collections tab.
Chapter 4 (Part 2)
No one has seen him for two days. Those were the words that kept playing over and over in Harriet’s mind as their carriage travelled from the inn to London.
“Where could he be?” she muttered. More than once.
Richard had squeezed her hand each time she had done so. It was his way of assuring her that all would be well if he had anything to do with it.
In fact, he had wanted to join Samuels on his search of Wickham’s normal haunts – to hunt him down and demand answers. But he had, reluctantly, agreed that it would draw too much attention, and there was more at stake than seeing a deserter like Wickham pay. It was better for Richard to continue to London, and while there, he could, perhaps, revisit the places that had already been searched.
“You have been dreadfully quiet,” Samantha said as they wound their way through the streets of London to Lillesley House. She had been watching Harriet closely as they travelled, but try as she might, Harriet was not able to pull her mind away from the puzzle that was Mr. Wickham to enter into any sort of conversation. No matter how much worry shone in her sister’s eyes.
Harriet only smiled half-heartedly at the comment.
“That fellow you were talking to in the yard…” Samantha began. “He is the one that visited Edmund, is he not?”
Harriet nodded. “I am surprised you did not ask that hours ago.”
“Oh, I have wanted to,” Samantha assured her with a laugh. “But I also did not want to disturb you when you are obviously attempting to piece things together. That being said, however, I will remind you that I did help you know how to discover what we needed to know while at the estate.”
This was met with a rather heavy sigh from Julian.
“I just cannot figure out where Mr. Wickham might be,” Harriet said.
“Dead?” Julian asked hopefully.
Richard chuckled. “You are not the only one who would be relieved to hear that he was.”
“Did you not say that he was fearful of whomever it is that is at the top of this investigation?” Harriet asked Richard.
“I did.”
“Do you believe he was acting a part and not fearful at all?”
Richard shook his head but added a shrug. “I did not believe he was. He looked truly terrified, but, then again, he has never been known for his honesty.”
“That means if it was true that he was afraid, then, he was terrified at first but even more scared recently? When he finally began to offer information…” Harriet looked out the window. She could just see Lillesley House. If only they could travel faster. She needed to see that Edmund was well.
“That is excessively suspicious,” Julian agreed with the thought that Harriet had not voiced but was thinking.
“It is,” Richard added.
“He is afraid of both sides,” Samantha summarized.
“But which one poses the greatest threat or heftiest reward?” Harriet asked. “And what would he do to escape the danger or claim the prize? He has already kidnapped a former friend’s sister and his betrothed.”
Richard scrubbed his face. “If he is not dead, I would be happy to be of service in making him so,” he muttered. “The man loves all the ‘pleasures’ money affords but cannot seem to keep money from running through his fingers.”
“And he is willing to go to great lengths to gain an ill-gotten payday,” Julian concluded with a shake of his head and a glare for Harriet. “Samantha will not be visiting anyone, including you and Edmund, unaccompanied until we know this fellow is not able to harm her or you. I would say you should also never be unaccompanied, but that is not my responsibility, though I may suggest it in very strong terms to your brother if the colonel does not do so first. What is to keep this fellow from attempting to kidnap you and your sister in an attempt to force your brother’s hand in a way that brings him exactly what he and his ne’er-do-well associates want.”
Harriet’s eyes grew wide. Julian had always seemed like such a soft-spoken man with an easy manner that flowed calmly as the world moved from one place to another. Of course, Samantha had assured her that Julian was not without limits to which he could be pushed. But until now, Harriet had never seen the edge of those boundaries so clearly, nor had she heard his voice hold so much authority and even an edge of danger.
She smiled. It was perhaps not the expression one would expect to an angry outburst from a normally placid gentleman. But she could not help it, for it meant that her sister had chosen very well for herself when she had fallen in love with Julian. For, there was no doubt that her husband would defend her and his family – which included Harriet – with his dying breath.
“I will tell him myself,” she assured her brother-in-law. “And I dare say he should not travel alone.” She blew out a breath. “We have already lost one brother to this intrigue. I will not abide another one being taken.”
Those were the exact words she repeated to her brother not more than half-an-hour later after both she and Samantha had embraced him soundly – much to his dismay – and they were all seated in the little library.
“You told Samantha and Julian?” was his reply. Not, of course, it only makes sense to be cautious. No, his own safety did not seem to take precedence over the revelation of secret information.
“It was necessary,” Harriet protested.
“I made the decision,” Richard added. “Sack me if you will, but I stand by the choice. If I had known about Wickham before Georgiana and Elizabeth had been taken…” He let the thought trail off without completing the thought. He let a very hard glare add the rest.
“Neither of us will harm your investigation,” Julian said. “We do not need to know more than we do, and we will not –” Here he looked at his wife. “– seek to know more.”
Samantha grimaced. “No, of course not. I have enough to worry about as it is.” She did not sound overly happy about agreeing with her husband, but it truly was the best thing. Harriet would make sure she knew that later. For now, she just smiled and nodded at her sister, hoping that she could read the reassurance in the gesture.
“And I will need your help planning a wedding breakfast and making sure all is prepared for my wedding. That is, after all, why we are in town.”
“I do not believe you will limit your activities to that,” Edmund muttered. “But I would be happy if you did. There are plans in motion that cannot be altered.” He shook his head when Harriet turned curious eyes to him. “It is not mine to decide who knows.” He grimaced slightly as he glanced at Richard. “Very few know.”
Richard’s left eyebrow arched over a questioning look, but he nodded his agreement. Apparently, he was not in the party that was allowed to know either.
“This is not because of me?” she asked her brother softly as she motioned to the colonel.
He shook his head.
“Then, it seems I am available to be your escort while you complete your wedding plans and prepare for a dinner party with the Darcy’s,” Richard said.
And Harriet sighed – almost contentedly. While she did not like being kept in the dark about… well… anything. She found it was not so dreadful a thought when it meant she would get to spend more time with her colonel.
—
Thank you so much for being my readers! Have a lovely weekend!
<3 Leenie
