It's release day for This Time Around!

Want to know a dirty little secret?

Seven years ago, I never imagined marrying a single dad or
writing a rom-com inspired by that unique dynamic. Funny
how things turn out!

If you go back and read through posts I wrote seven years ago when this blog was brand new and my life was much, much different, I'm betting you'd catch me in a lie.

It wasn't a lie, exactly. Just a steadfast belief that I would never, ever want to write a rom-com with kids in it. For that matter, I'd never, ever have kids in my own life. Period.

Funny, how things change.

That's actually the idea behind my new romantic comedy, This Time Around. That notion of looking at the life you expected as a younger, more naive version of yourself, and setting that pretty picture next to the framed photo of how things actually turned out, and then asking yourself, "what in the ever lovin' hell was I thinking?"

Okay, here's another declaration I might live to regret someday: I can't imagine ever writing romance with a nubile young 21-year-old heroine and her equally-inexperienced, fresh-faced love interest hero. Those kinds of stories don't appeal to me. I love characters who've lived a little. Who've set off running in one direction, tripped over their own ambitions, and wound up falling ass-over-teakettle into something they never saw coming.

That's how it is for Jack and Allie, the thirty-six-year old stars of This Time Around. They were high school sweethearts whose relationship imploded a couple years into college when it became clear they wanted different things out of life. But when they meet up again sixteen years later, it's clear they both ended up in much different places than either expected.

Is it okay to admit I kinda love it when people have to eat their words? Even when they're my own words and I'm the one doing the snacking. Words are delicious, by the way.

Oh, and there are cats! Lots and lots of polydactyl cats in this book. Not sure what a polydactyl cat is? I can help you with that!


So that's a little bit of what to expect in my new romantic comedy, This Time Around. Want to buy it? You can do that right here for only $3.99.

And while you're at it, please comment below to let me know one thing you once predicted for yourself that now makes you laugh a bit with the power of 20/20 hindsight.

WARNING: You maybe shouldn't read my new book

My parents' initials, permanently inked.

"So you know how you guys have read every book I've ever published and I'm so, sooo grateful for that? Like so grateful I even have a tattoo commemorating the role you've played in supporting my writing career?"

This is how I began a conversation with my parents a few weeks ago. For the record, I really do have that tattoo.

I also have a new book coming releasing today that's . . . um . . . a little on the risqué side. Like, more risqué than normal. That's saying something.

My mother paused before answering. "Are you suggesting we not read your next book?"

"Uh, well . . . it's just  . . . maybe I should tell you ahead of time which pages to skim?"

On second thought, that's an awful lot of pages. See, my new book, The List, is being billed as "erotic romantic comedy," which I didn't even know was a thing. Or maybe it's not a thing. Maybe we just made that up.

But in any case, it's kinda steamy. Like really steamy. So steamy I asked my agent at one point if I should consider publishing it under a pen name so readers who loved my complex, heartwarming books like About That Fling and Now That It's You wouldn't sit down next to a co-worker in the break room at work with The List open on their Kindles, and find themselves blushing furiously over their egg salad sandwiches.

"You don't need a pen name," my agent assured me. "I'm sure the cover will clue people in about what kind of book this is."

So yeah, there's the cover. If the image itself weren't an indicator, there's the cover blurb from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely, which says, "Tawna Fenske's hottest book ever! The List sizzles, and it's freaking hilarious, too!"

All that to say, this book is kinda dirty. If you want to preserve your wholesome, untarnished mind, you should maybe not buy it.

Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.