Harper and the Happiness Handbook

I’m almost finished with Beyond the Pale. Sigh. This book was SO hard. Time travel is hard. Historical research is hard (I love it—but it’s hard.) And I’m ready to switch gears. I want to do something happy.

Something like Harper and the Happiness Handbook. This is how I see it: Harper, who gave up her job, apartment and life to follow the man of her dreams, suddenly finds herself unemployed, homeless and unhappy. Her mom, the bestselling author of The Happiness Handbook, will lend Harper a helping hand and a place to stay, but only on the condition that Harper practices the concepts taught in her book.

And of course what follows are chapters of Harper trying to find happiness and failing in disastrous and sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartwarming ways, because life is like that. Even when you follow a recipe, happiness isn’t guaranteed. Good deeds get punished. Mistakes are sometimes rewarded and applauded. Sometimes, when you’re trying to be kind, you end up hurting the one you were trying to help.

It’s like that old story of the dog who asks the cat how to be happy. “Happiness is in your tail,” the cat tells him. So, the dog chases his tail. “Silly dog,” the cow tells him. “Just go on your way and happiness and your tail will follow.”

I’m really looking forward to spending time with Harper and the Happiness Handbook.

But first:

STUCK WITH YOU, a novella published in the Weddings on Main Street Anthology June 9^th.

BEYOND THE PALE, the third and final book in the Beyond Series, coming sometime this summer.

ANYWHERE ELSE, a short story, also this summer.