Happy New Year and 2025 Wrapped

How is it New Year’s Day already when it was only Christmas Eve yesterday? I’d thought that the run-up to Christmas went by incredibly quickly for me thanks to writing deadlines, family events and my daughter returning from her first term at university with three weeks’ worth of washing but Twixmas seems to have gone by even quicker and I’m somehow already back to work. Eek!

In all honestly, the whole of the second half of this year has gone by in the blink of an eye but I suspect January will last about three months as usual!

I haven’t blogged in ages. I’ve had so many things I’ve wanted to talk about but I just haven’t been able to find the time but I’m determined to get back to it this year as I really enjoy taking a moment out to write something that isn’t part of a book. It therefore makes sense to start as I mean to go on with a New Year’s Day post.

First thing to say is…

Do you use Spotify? If you do, then you’ll likely have received your 2025 ‘Wrapped’ several weeks ago detailing the artists/tracks you’ve listened to most across the year. My audiobooks have been on Spotify for a few years now and my listenership has been building over there so I thought I’d start by sharing some of the ‘Wrapped’ information I was sent as a Spotify author.

What my Spotify Wrapped told me was that The Start of Something Wonderful was my most popular title but (not shown) it told me that Sunshine After the Rain was most popular with new listeners. My biggest audience is in the UK followed by Australia, USA, Canada and Ireland, my top demographic is females in the 45-59 age group which doesn’t surprise me.

Spotify apparently have great plans to make their service more book-friendly across 2026 so I’m excited to see what that looks like.

Inspired by my Spotify Wrapped, I thought I’d create my own 2025 Wrapped…

I released three books in 2025, one from each of my three settings. A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft completed the Bumblebee Barn Collection of three books and was released in January. Sunshine After the Rain, out in May, was the fourth book in my Escape to the Lakes series. Books 5 and 6 will be out in 2026. Finally, in September, it was back to Whitsborough Bay’s Castle Street for Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop.

This was my second year in a row of having three books out but, in 2026, the plan is to publish four.

2025 wasn’t just a year for books written in the English language either. My incredible publishers, Boldwood Books, secured 21 titles to be translated into 9 different languages across the year. A couple of them came out really quickly but most will be out across 2026-27. The image shows two of four titles translated into Norwegian - the audiobook of Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes and the paperback of Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop. I love these covers so much. They look just like a promo poster for a Hallmark movie.

The nine deals across 2025 bring my total up to 45 titles into 14 different languages. I’m excited to see what deals 2026 brings.

I had one book go into branches of The Works in 2025 - The Start of Something Wonderful - as part of a special programme to have an entire bay devoted to Boldwood authors. I had great fun visiting some of my local branches to sign copies. Fingers crossed for more titles into The Works in 2026.

I still get excited every time I spot a book of mine in The Works but what’s extra exciting is when I find copies of my books ‘out in the wild’ when I’m out and about - in a garden centre, Waterstones, a discount bookshop or a pre-loved bookshop - because it’s unexpected. I had several of those special moments last year.

I love seeing my books in libraries too and, if I’m in a new place when the library is open, I can’t resist a peek to see what I can find on the shelves.

A really special moment in the early part of the year was discovering that The Best is Yet to Come had been shortlisted as a finalist in the Popular Romantic Novel category in the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Novel of the Year Awards. It was the third title of mine to be up for an award in the space of four years. I kept telling myself ‘third time lucky’ but I still haven’t bagged a win yet. Maybe 2026 will be the year. I’ve probably jinxed it now and won’t be shortlisted! It was a lovely event, as always, and it’s nice to have a trip down to that London, especially when the sun’s shining.

The day after the RNA Awards, I stayed on in London for my publisher’s summer party. I decided to wear orange as it’s my publisher’s brand colour … but it does make me stand out somewhat in all the photos!

Other writing-related events across the year included Meet Cute with my bestie, Sharon Booth, where I was on a panel with the fabulous Heidi Swain and equally fabulous Cressida McLaughlin. It was lovely to finally meet K T Dady in person.

I went to the RNA’s summer fling in Birmingham with Joy Wood and Cath Hill, which was a fabulous one-day event with great company and interesting sessions.

I also went to the fabulous York Tea with Sharon and Eliza J Scott, organised by Lynda Stacey and Jane Lovering. I didn’t take nearly enough photos but did manage to get one with three of the four lovely admins from the warm and friendly Facebook group, The Friendly Book Community. I already have my ticket for the same event in September this year and am really looking forward to it.

I had a couple of trips to the Lake District this year where I was able to pose my Escape to the Lakes series by Derwent Water and Coniston Water. Although I’d already written Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop before I went to Iceland, it was lovely to take the book with me to visit main character Lars’s roots.

I celebrated a very special milestone in late May when I hit ten years as a published author. I still find it a ‘pinch me’ moment to think that I’ve been writing for twenty years (as it took me ten years to learn my craft and get my first novel written and published!) Here’s to the next ten…

In Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop, there’s a character called the Paperback Pixie who gifts books around Whitsborough Bay so Boldwood and I decided it would be great to emulate that in two of the settings that inspired the creation of Whitsborough Bay - Whitby and Scarborough. Armed with twenty signed and beautifully packaged copies of the book, I toured round both towns gifting books. At the time of writing this, I’ve had contact from five finders, which is lovely.

I love Jellycats and have quite a collection of them but I restrict myself to ones which have a relevance to my books. The release of Sunshine After the Rain couldn’t have been more perfectly timed with the release of several weather-related amusables. I’m so in love with the raindrop and his green wellies!

I intentionally wrote a plot point involving a snow dragon into Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop after falling in love with the snow dragon. Hee hee! And the hot chocolate and marshmallows fit with so many of my cafe-set books so I had to get them too.

I made several new friends this year. Can’t resist a giant Jellycat and anything bear-related!

On the subject of friendship, I’m so grateful to all the lovely writing friends I have and the time spent with them unlocking tricky plot points and discussing the highs and lows of writing. You know who you are and I send you big snuggles, particularly those who’ve had a tough 2025.

And, to finish, a thank you to you all…

Wishing you all the best for a laughter-filled, dream-fulfilled, magical 2026.

Big hugs
Jessica xx