Second half of the year
and I’ve done... something?
Somehow, it's July.
Half the year’s gone, my calendar’s confused, and if you're in Australia like me, the end of the financial year has your brain convinced it's already December. Except instead of Christmas trees, we get “EOFY SALE!” signs everywhere (that’s End of Financial Year, for the uninitiated).
I started January with big goals:
Launch a new pen name ✓
Write 4 novellas a month (lol)
Exercise, because gravity is winning
Then life happened. Health stuff. Family stuff. And somewhere in the middle of it all, my 9-year-old decided to become a Roblox game developer. So now the house is full of noisy YouTube tutorials I don’t understand.
It’s wild watching him just do it—not just the tech, but the fearlessness. This new generation doesn’t wait. Zero hesitation. No second-guessing. Meanwhile, I’m over here perfecting the same sentence for three hours.
What I actually did these six months:
Wrote 11 novellas under this pen (yes, really—then unpublished most because I want them spicier and can’t stop tweaking)
Started this very newsletter
Made watching anime a nightly family ritual
Taught my son to touch-type
Consumed unhealthy amounts of coffee
Became weirdly fluent in Gen Alpha slang
Every time I open my Amazon dashboard and see only five lonely books staring back—and a Scrivener full of unedited drafts—I get that creeping "is this it?" feeling.
So, if you started the year with big plans and got tangled in real life instead, you're definitely not alone.
But here's what my tiny game developer is teaching me: Just do it. No overthinking. No being too hard on myself. After sending this email, that's what I'm exactly going to do.
Here's to the next half of the year. Time to steal some nine-year-old energy.
...and speaking of just doing it—if you haven't checked out my newest release yet, this is a sign...just do it ;)
Mountain Man Grump
She's on the run from a controlling past. He's locked himself away, believing he's unlovable.
When Lian arrives in Hillcrest with dreams of opening her grandmother's Chinese restaurant, the abandoned brick building next to Kade's garage seems perfect. Too bad its owner—six-foot-something of tattooed muscle and permanent scowl—takes one look at her designer clothes and decides she won't last a week in his mountain town.
This is a wounded hero story that will sweep you away to the misty mountains and straight into your heart.
BOOK RECS
Found by the Untamed Lumberjack: A Forced Proximity Wild Man Instalove Romance
This is a sizzling instalove story featuring a gruff mountain hermit and the passionate scientist who sees beyond his scars. With forced proximity during a mountain storm and primal attraction, this fourth book in the Lumberjacks of Silver Ridge series offers the ideal escape for romance readers who crave possessive mountain men and the strong-willed women who find their forever in the wilderness together.
Mountain Man's Single Mom: A Small Town, Curvy Girl, Instalove Romance
This is a short, sweet, and steamy small town instalove romance with a happy-ever-after. It can be read as a standalone or together with the rest of the books in the Fox Ridge: Mountain Men series.
His Mountain, His Temptation: Steamy Instalove Strangers to Lovers Short Romance
“It’s a short story but it hit all the feels for me. I found Emma to be relatable and Ryan a typical manly man but with a big heart and mature for the ‘drama’ portion of the story. There was humour, spice, drama and romance. A.K Sarai’s writing is easy to digest. A.K makes you want to believe that instalove is still possible out there. Now i’m off to read the rest of the series!”
Unexpected Passion: A Limited Edition Age Gap Romance Collection
Older women, younger men, and every trope you crave.
These women have zero patience for fairytale scripts or mediocre men. They’ve built lives, buried heartbreak, and rewritten every rule that claims love has a shelf life. But when a younger man sees her—all of her, from polished confidence to raw vulnerability—he doesn’t hesitate. He’s not just younger. He’s obsessed.
From one-night stands and a workplace fling that risks everything to secret crushes igniting in small-town bars, cabins, or conference rooms, these stories bring flirty banter, explosive chemistry, and “touch her and die” devotion. He’s the best friend who never stopped loving her. The firefighter who saves more than lives. The intern who calls her “ma’am” with a smirk and a plan.
She’s smarter, off-limits, and labeled “too much” by men who never measured up. But to him? She’s the one who rewrites his world. Whether it’s a small-town reboot, a high-stakes second chance, or a fling that refuses to fade, every story delivers a forever kind of love that proves this: love doesn’t follow timelines—it shatters them.
Guarded by the Possessive Mountain Ranger: A BWWM Grumpy/Sunshine, Forced Proximity Small Town Instalove Romance
Park ranger Paul Montgomery believes in order, discipline, and avoiding mess—especially the emotional kind. After watching his uncle cycle through divorces, he’s vowed never to risk his heart. But when he’s sent to Snowberry Falls as a temporary replacement, he meets Autumn Reed, a fearless, plus-sized wildlife photographer who challenges him at every turn.
Autumn’s used to being the almost girl—almost pretty enough, almost wanted enough. She hides her insecurities behind a bold personality, but Paul sees through it. When a storm forces them into close quarters, their chemistry is impossible to ignore. But Paul’s afraid of commitment, and Autumn’s afraid of rejection. To make this work, they’ll both have to face their deepest fears—and decide if love is worth breaking their own rules.
Blue-Collar Romance Collection
Hardworking, hot as hell, every hero in this collection brings the heat, the heart, and happily ever after.
Happy reading,
Violet xoxo