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Heard It in a Love Song Trade Paperback Release Day and New Book News!

  • January 31, 2023

 

Hello, everyone!

Happy 2023! I hope you’re having a wonderful start to the new year. I am happy to announce that today is the trade paperback release of Heard It in a Love Song. Isn’t the cover pretty? I love seeing the modifications to the cover image for the different editions of the book, and St. Martin’s Press always knocks it out of the park. If you’re someone who prefers a trade paperback, today is the day to grab your copy. And if you’d like it signed, you can always send it to me at Tracey Garvis Graves, PO Box 35092, Des Moines, IA 50315. Simply enclose a padded postage-paid mailer with your name and address and I’ll happily sign your book(s) and mail the package back to you. You can pick up the trade paperback at the retailers below:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Books-A-Million 

Indie Bound 

Bookshop

Target

I have more fantastic news! There’s a new Tracey Garvis Graves title heading your way. Book 10 is complete and my publishing team and I are hard at work behind the scenes getting everything ready. Stay tuned for the cover and title reveal as well as pre-order links. I cannot wait for you all to meet Wren and Marshall. More details to come, but for now, I’ll leave you with this: Romantic Dramedy. I think you’re really going to love it.

So many of you have written to tell me that you absolutely loved the character of Janice from The Girl He Used to Know. As I’ve mentioned online a few times, the character was named after my own close friend, Janice. Then, in Heard It in a Love Song, I featured a four-legged character named Norton who was adopted by Josh (and later cared for and taken on walks by Layla). In a further example of art imitating life, Norton is the (real) Janice’s (real) dog. Isn’t he a majestic-looking fella? He is also a very good boy. I obviously got a big kick out of this and hope it puts a smile on your face too. 🙂 

Lastly, thank you for all of the heartfelt messages I’ve received telling me about your own friends-to-lovers journey or how you found your true soulmate the second time around. I’ve loved hearing all about it. I deeply appreciate all the support you’ve shown for Josh and Layla and can’t wait for you to meet Wren and Marshall.

xoxo,

Tracey

 

Heard It in a Love Song Is Available Now!

  • November 9, 2021

 

Hello, everyone!

It’s finally here! Heard It in a Love Song is available TODAY. I want to thank you all for your patience with the supply chain issue. The delay was completely out of our hands, and all we could do is make the best of it. I’m truly thankful that the publication date was only pushed back a week. We are living in unprecedented times.

I’m so excited to share this story with you. Real Simple Magazine chose Heard It in a Love Song as one of their November picks, referring to it as feel-good fiction (and we could all use some of that). Amazon also chose the title for one of their Best Books of the Month for November. Booklist had lots to say – “[Layla and Josh] are appealing, sensible characters who have good banter, and it is especially satisfying to watch Layla’s journey back to her rock-and-roll roots. [A] quiet, romantic novel that delves deeply into how relationships fall apart and how love can blossom again.” And Publisher’s Weekly had this to say, “Graves has a sure hand with depicting the complexity of dating after divorce. This will please readers looking for a realistic spin on taking a second chance at love.” 

To purchase your copy simply click on the retailer of your choice below or pick up the absolutely stunning hardcover at your favorite bookseller.

Amazon

Apple

IndieBound

Books A Million

Bookshop

Walmart

Target

Kobo

Google Play

Libro.fm

Book Depository

Indigo

Barnes & Noble 

Again, thank you so much for your patience. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!

I hope you <3 Heard It in a Love Song.

Tracey

 

 

REAL SIMPLE TOP PICK!

  • October 13, 2021

Hello, everyone!

I’m honored and thrilled to announce that Real Simple, one of my all-time favorite magazines, has chosen Heard It in a Love Song as one of their November Top Picks (referring to it as feel-good fiction – I totally agree!). I can’t wait to hold the issue in my hands. The book will be released on Tuesday, November 2nd, which is coming up fast. I can’t wait for you all to read it!

 

 

If you’d like to pre-order Heard It in a Love Song, you can click any of the links below.

Amazon

Apple

IndieBound

Books A Million

Bookshop

Walmart

Target

Kobo

Google Play

Libro.fm

Book Depository

Indigo

Barnes & Noble

Elin Hilderbrand Authors Visiting in Des Moines Zoom Event

  • May 28, 2021

 

 

I’m very excited to announce that I will be moderating the Des Moines Public Library Authors Visiting in Des Moines event with Elin Hilderbrand from 7:00-8:15 p.m. CST on Wednesday, June 9th. I am a longtime fan of Elin’s books, and I can’t wait to discuss her upcoming novel, Golden Girl, which will be released on June 1st.

This is a virtual event, so you can Zoom with us from the comfort of your own home. Even better? It’s absolutely free. To register, click here.

Please join us! It will be so much fun.

Elin Hilderbrand is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and the Iowa Writers Workshop. She has become known as “The Queen of Beach Reads,” having written more than 20 novels, including romance, murder mysteries, historical fiction, and more. She’s perhaps most well-known for her best-selling “Summer Books,” including Summer of ’69, The Identicals, and The Perfect Couple. Her newest book, Golden Girl, is released June 1. Other series include The Winter Street Series and the recently concluded Paradise trilogy.

Her most recent mega-bestseller, 28 Summers, tells the story of a love affair spanning several decades between a woman, Mallory, and a man, Jake, that perseveres through marriage, children, and Jake’s wife’s rise to presidential hopeful. As Mallory is on her deathbed, her son uncovers the truth of his mother’s one-weekend-per-year affair, and everyone learns the way the relationship complicates and enriches their lives.

The event will be moderated by Tracey Garvis Graves, an Iowa-based bestselling author of novels such as On the Island and The Girl He Used to Know. Her next novel, Heard it in a Love Song, will be released in November.

Heard It in a Love Song Cover Reveal and Pre-Order Links!

  • January 15, 2021

Hello, everyone!

How much do I love cover reveals? So, so, so much! I’m incredibly excited to share the gorgeous cover of Heard It in a Love Song with you today. I literally gasped when I received the cover image, and then I just stared at it for a while. I think it’s breathtakingly gorgeous and I was wrong when I said that nothing would ever top the cover for The Girl He Used to Know. The book will be released on November 2nd, 2021. I know that seems like a long time away, but I promise it will go fast! Make sure to follow me on all my social media channels because I will be giving away signed ARCs every month from now until the release.

So, what is this book about? Here’s the blurb:

 

Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?

 

I was asked during a recent book club Zoom meeting how similar this book was to The Girl He Used to Know which sparked the kind of discussion I love. I replied that all of my books are different but also similar in that they adhere to my tagline of ‘contemporary fiction with a happily-ever-after.’ However, plotwise this book is quite different. In The Girl He Used to Know, we had two main characters who had a history together and were giving their relationship another try. I find second chance love stories fascinating because they require both characters to grow and change and compromise and find their happily-ever-after together, despite what occurred in their past that led to their breakup. Using a dual timeline allowed me to show the reader both periods of time so they could see for themselves how the characters had changed.

In Heard It in a Love Song, I once again used a dual timeline. But this time, I showed the separate pasts of the main characters (who are both recently divorced) so that readers could see what had gone wrong in their marriages and how this might affect them as they brought their history into a new relationship in the present. I wanted to write a relatable friends-to-lovers story that would resonate with anyone who’s ever found themselves on the other side of a breakup and wondered, now what?

 

Here are the pre-order links:

Amazon

Apple

IndieBound

Books A Million

Bookshop

Walmart

Target

Kobo

Google Play

Libro.fm

Book Depository

Indigo

Barnes & Noble 

Please click here to add Heard It in a Love Song to your Goodreads shelf. And please click here to sign up for my newsletter. Next month, I’m giving one lucky subscriber the entire signed library of my books, including a physical ARC of Heard It in a Love Song. The giveaway is open to everyone – US and International.

Thanks, everyone! I’m so excited to share this book with you.

xoxo,

Tracey

 

 

 

 

 

Ebook Sale!

  • November 18, 2020

Hello, everyone!

I wanted to let you know that the Kindle editions of Covet and The Girl He Used to Know are both on sale. You can purchase a digital copy of Covet for $1.99 and The Girl He Used to Know for $2.99. If you haven’t read them yet, now would be a good time to scoop them up.

I’ll be releasing details about my new book in December, so stay tuned! I’m so excited to share what I’ve been working on with you.

Tracey

 

Creativity in the Time of COVID-19

  • August 29, 2020

Hello, everyone!

I have fantastic news. Book number nine has been turned in and will be on its way to the copy editor soon. I can’t wait to share all the details. I’m not going to lie – getting across the finish line with this one was a challenge. I was about 75-80% done with the most recent draft of the manuscript when COVID hit. I had just reached my favorite place in the creative process because most of the truly heavy lifting was behind me and I was mostly focusing on fixing things that didn’t work and/or still needed another revision pass. I’m someone who writes a lot of drafts and the first two or three (or 7) are extremely messy. When I write a book, I use those early drafts to tell the story to myself. Once I have the story down, I start making the necessary revisions so I can tell it to you. I love knowing that each pass of the manuscript makes it stronger and I also enjoy knowing that I’ll be done soon and can move on to the next shiny idea that has already begun knocking on the door of my creative brain.

Like everyone, I was thrown by the news of an impending global pandemic. I spent way too much time in the early days of COVID – 19 doomscrolling on my laptop while simultaneously watching the news. When they closed my daughter’s school for the rest of the year, I knew we were about to experience an unprecedented event. Before COVID – 19, I worked all day in an empty, quiet house. Now, my house was a makeshift online school for my daughter. Focus and balance became an issue as I worried endlessly about my family members, many of whom I would not see in person for the next four months. Manuscript deadlines don’t care about viruses, so I buckled down and harnessed my creativity in fits and starts. I use the Pomodoro technique when I write. I set a timer for half an hour and I write until the timer goes off. It’s a forced warm-up, a way to block all the distractions so I can drill down and focus. Once the timer goes off on the first thirty-minute session, I’m lost in the story and will keep setting the timer until I’ve reached the end of my writing goal. It got to the point where I could only set the timer for 5 or 10 minutes. Anything more than that felt like too much to handle and would sometimes spark a two-hour doomscrolling procrastination session which only added to my anxiety, both about the state of the world and the work I wasn’t getting done. Sometimes it took three 10-minute sessions to find my groove, but I always found it. Progress was incredibly slow compared to what I’m used to, but I kept inching forward.

I’m also in the middle of selling my house and building a new place which was all set in motion last August way before any of us knew what was heading our way. The first sale of my house fell through in June and the second fell through in July. It has since sold a third time and my fingers are crossed that the September closing will actually happen. Meanwhile, we’ve squished ourselves into an apartment because the new place is behind schedule and isn’t finished being built. It’s been almost sixteen years since we’d last moved, and I’d forgotten how stressful it can be. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been for the last six months, now you know.

I met my deadline and sent the manuscript off to my editor. When I received her message saying she had just turned the last page and loved it, I burst into tears like some crazy person. Guys, I was just DONE. But I was also proud of my accomplishment, and I felt the weight of so many things lift from my shoulders. I’m truly grateful to my publisher and especially my wonderful editor because I’ve felt very supported as I worked my way through this creative process during an unprecedented time. I know we’ll be on the other side of it someday and that better days are ahead. So, stay tuned to my social media. I’ll share all the details about my new book as soon as I have them. I can’t wait for you to see the cover, read the blurb, and add it to your TBR shelves. In the meantime, be kind, be safe, and be healthy.

xoxo,

Tracey

The Trade Paperback Of The Girl He Used To Know Is Available Today!

  • January 7, 2020

 

Hello, everyone!

I’m so excited because today is the release day for the trade paperback edition of The Girl He Used to Know. And there is something super special about it. Do you see the little red box at the upper right-hand corner of the picture above? That’s right! I am thrilled to announce that Target has selected The Girl He Used to Know as its January Book Club Pick! ! They choose one book per month and I can’t tell you how happy I was when I learned it would be mine.

And not only did Target select the book, but there are 7,800 signed limited edition copies on their shelves! It took me a month and 10 Sharpies to get them all signed, but it was such an honor that I’d have signed twice as many if they’d asked me to. I love Target and I’ve always loved seeing my books on the shelves there. But this book is extra special and I’d love it if you picked one up either in the store or at Target online.

I hope you’ll pick up a paperback copy of The Girl He Used to KnowOprah Magazine named it one of the best romance novels of 2019 and the Philadelphia Inquirer says “the ending had me riveted.” The trade paperback is available in stores as well as online at the following retailers (simply click on the highlighted link):

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Indiebound

I’ll be going live on my Facebook author page at 7:00 p.m. CST tonight. I’ll be doing a Q&A, so have those questions ready. I’ll be giving away some signed paperbacks and tote bags, too, so I hope to see you there!

xoxo,

Tracey

The Girl He Used To Know Dream Cast

  • January 2, 2020

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been asked by quite a few readers who I’d want to play Annika and Jonathan if The Girl He Used to Know ever made it to the big screen. I’ll admit that I find this difficult because when I’m writing the book, the characters look sort of like faceless blobs in my head. Slowly, they come into focus but explaining what they look like can be challenging (with the exception of Annika who I compared in the book to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy).

For one, the actors I choose need to match up fairly well with the ages of the characters. This was the hardest thing about coming up with the actors who could play T.J. and Anna in On the Island. As each year went by, actors I’d chosen in the past started aging out of the roles. Luckily for me, Annika and Jonathan are a little easier. Here are the actors I’d love to see in the roles if Hollywood ever comes knocking (these choices first appeared on a Q&A I did for Chick Lit Central):

For Annika, Hillary Duff.

 

 

 

 

 

You guys, I love Hillary in Younger (which is a fantastic show if you’re not already familiar with it and looking for something addictive to binge-watch). Her character, Kelsey Peters, has never met an obstacle she couldn’t overcome, but I think it would be amazing watching Hillary portray Annika’s vulnerabilities and fears (as well as her giant heart).

For Jonathan, Robbie Amell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first movie I ever saw Robbie in was The Duff. He was awesome, he’s adorable, and he seems like he would embody all the best qualities of Jonathan: handsome, respectful, and kind.

For Janice, Emmy Rossum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, I could totally see Emmy Rossum giving Annika advice, helping her to get ready for her first date with Jonathan, and being there for her when it seemed that all hope was lost.

If you had other actors in mind, feel free to tag me on Instagram @traceygarvisgraves and I’ll share your choices! I’d love to see them.

Tracey

 

Bookreporter Year End Contest

  • December 18, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning, everyone!

I wanted to let you know about a fantastic end-of-the-year Bookreporter.com giveaway featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bets On picks of 2019. I’m honored to announce that The Girl He Used to Know is one of the selected titles. One lucky winner will receive all 52 titles and thirteen others will each win four selections. This is huge!

To enter, click here. The contest is open through January 6th at noon ET. My giveaways are always open internationally, but this contest is not sponsored or hosted by me and is US only.

Good luck!

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