Ava Mallory

  What kind of books do you like to read? Do you only read one genre or are you like me? I'm an eclectic reader. If it sounds good, will teach me something, make me feel something, will make me cry, laugh, sing, or all the above, I'm all over it. Don't tell anyone I told you this. I'll deny it in court. (Kidding!) But I have two Kindles that have over 3000 books each on them. That's just the beginning. I also have what I estimate to be a few thousand books I've read, started to read, haven't read yet, or forgot I owned all over my house. I kid you not. Our house has more books than our local library. My book obsession is real. With all these books, you'd think finding my next read would be easy, but you think wrong. I can make anything complicated. True story. I don't know about you, but my eclectic reading taste stems from needing to be "in the mood" for a specific genre or writing style. Like many people, at the beginning of the year, I a...

  I don't know who, what, where, or why, but somewhere along my almost 7-year journey into this writing gig, I received the distinction of uber-productive writer. Cue maniacal laughter. Daily, I invite authors to write with me. I post a daily writing post on my Facebook page and cheer authors on as they write. It's my thing. People look for those posts and enjoy "playing along".  I'm a reluctant early riser. Lupus, an aging bladder, a brain that never relaxes are to blame. I have the most energy right after I wake up. IF I work out, I can count on my energy level remaining steady throughout the day. When I don't work out, I move slower than the slowest sloth. I spend most of my fighting to keep my head upright. So, when people applaud my productivity and discipline, I always look behind me because surely they're not talking to me. I'm lazy and mostly unmotivated. You're probably wondering why I'm writing this blog post. I mean, I just admitted ...

  Did someone say reading goals? Anyone who knows me knows how much I'm obsessed with making and hitting goals. Do I always hit them?  Nah. Let's be honest. Goal setting is the easy part. We all think we're so much more disciplined and productive than we actually are. When we sit down to write out our goals, we envision having hours upon hours to sit with our thoughts, muse about how productive we are, and check off every item on our to-do lists with broad smiles on our faces and songs in our hearts. Then reality hits. The kids are whining. The pets are running amok. The husband/wife/partner/roommate is having a bad year and must detail every last second to you. The boss is on your back. Your BFF is blowing up your phone. You know the drill. You're pulled in different directions and that stack of books on your nightstand or all the books you've downloaded to your e-reader eagerly await your attention. So, what do you do to fix that problem? You create a manageable r...

  Almost seven years ago, my life fell apart. It wasn't a perfect life. We (my ex-husband and I) weren't even pretending we were happy. We went through the motions. Correction. I went through the motions. He disconnected more and more every day. I saw it. I knew it was happening. I cried, yelled, begged, pretended it wasn't happening. But that's not what this post is about. That's old news. It happened. He left. No forwarding address. No phone number. (In a rage, I had his phone shut off.) He left and didn't look back. I, on the other hand, wallowed, and continue to wallow, in the pain. I don't like it. I try to ignore it, pretend I'm over it, live life as if none of what happened matters. But night after night, day after day, it's there. It festers under the service. It's behind the smile. It's masked by jubilant social media posts. That's my fault. I let that happen to me. I let that pain become as much a part of me as my curly hair and...

  I love the new year! New to me means a second chance, a do-over, an opportunity to reverse course or ramp up something good that you're doing. It's time to start with a clean slate. And speaking of clean... Wink. Wink. If you haven't already, this is a good time to organize and - wait for it - CLEAN! Listen, I'm a keep-it-simple kind of girl. I don't have time for weeklong cleaning projects. Who does, right? So, if the thought of cleaning makes you cringe, this is the cleaning checklist you need. I promise it won't hurt a bit. For those of you who are everyday cleaners (Who are you and when can I expect you to, you know, clean my house?) 1. Make your bed as soon as you wake up. You can do it. It's a great motivator. If you accomplish nothing else, at least you made your bed. 2. After you make the coffee or tea, clean the coffee pot/maker or the tea kettle. Why? So it will be ready for you tomorrow morning. 3.  Sanitize all surfaces you use daily like the k...

  Happy New Year! And the world breathes a sigh of relief! There's no looking back because looking back is equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating. I won't do it. I won't forget what we've been through, but I will do my darndest not to dwell on it. Not today Satan, as the saying goes. I'm not good at resolutions, so I'm definitely not going down that route again. This year is all about one step at a time. I want my eyes forward, my head in the game, and my energy going to what makes me happy and what helps me achieve my quarterly goals. Yep, I said it. I'm only loosely planning one quarter at a time. That's a nice bite-sized chunk of this year. Because I'm a firm believer in manifesting my dreams (with hard work, dedication, a little luck, & a lot of heart), I will share my Q1 goals with the world (or the one or two people who read this blog). Here are my Q1 Goals, world. Let's make them happen! 1. I will fast draft three books in Q1. Fast ...

  Buy Now! My contribution to Christmas Cookie Cozies introduces brand-new characters in a brand-new cozy mystery world. The title is Christmas Cookie Catastrophe. Here's the blurb: Blurb: Consuelo “Cookie” Alvarez is great at a lot of things, but baking isn’t one of them. When she inherits a bakery from her favorite aunt, she’s dead-set on closing the business so she can pursue her dream of becoming a citizen detective and true-crime blogger. What she doesn’t expect is a letter from her late aunt asking her to take her place in the county-wide Christmas Cookie Bake-Off. Now she has two weeks to perfect the super-secret award-winning recipe before the competition, but there are major obstacles in her way: she can’t bake, the recipe is missing, and her competitors are a who's who of shady characters with sticky fingers. Can she fulfill Aunt Birdie’s wishes, or is this where the award-winning cookie crumbles? Want to read an excerpt? Scroll down. “That’s a first.” The baritone vo...

Want to win a Kindle Fire? Head over to my Facebook page and see the pinned post for your chance to win! Enter to win here:  https://www.facebook.com/AvasCozyMysterieswithHeart/

If you'd asked me forty years ago. I would've told you I'm well-rested. I was the kid who woke up at the crack of dawn, wide awake and ready to go. I'm still an early riser, but with a bit of strange twist. (Thank you, weak bladder and noisy children.) According to my Fitbit (I affectionately call it The Tattler because it rats me out all the time.), I sleep an average of 1 hour and 39 minutes a night. Yep, read that again. That's per night! What is wrong with me? I'll tell you. (Since you asked.) I am a five-foot-one-inch on a good day ball of stress and anxiety. I never used to be that way. Somewhere between, Mom, can you give me a ride to the mall? and Because I said so, that's why!  I lost my way. Sure, I could completely blame it on my roommaates. My children, I mean. I could also blame my ex-husband for it (and about a million other things along the way), but we don't speak about him. At least not on purpose. (Don't ask. I mean, se...

Pre-order Today! Blurb: Veteran nurse Mercedes “Mercy” Mares didn’t ask for a change in plans, but after the hospital lays her off, she’s forced into it. Lucky for her, she has friends in high places. When her best friend offers her a job at her new traveling nurse agency, Mercy jumps at the chance to see the world and meet new people. Unfortunately, her first assignment is anything but something to write home about. The patient is an eccentric billionaire with about as much charisma as a fruit fly and a few too many quirks for her taste. Throw in his family, employees, and a cesspool of greedy associates, and this assignment is a disaster. When one of them is found facedown in the Olympic pool, a few hours after a not-so-friendly exchange with Mercy, her visions of living the high life and escaping to exotic locations are dashed. If she doesn’t find the killer quick, she just may earn an all-expense paid trip to the slammer. Find out how quickly Mercy’s life changes whe...

As the snow/rain falls where I live, I find my mind wandering. I'm a dreamer by nature. I can build an elaborate world out of nothing. Stories swirl in my head. Most often when I'm supposed to be doing something else. Today, like most days, is filled with a long lists of tasks to complete, because deadlines are real. Real stressful? Yes. Real motivating? Yes. I've checked what has now become my morning tasks off my list and am working hard to get my head in the game and get to the real work. You know, the one that pays the bills. Before I sign off the interwebs for some much-needed quiet writing time, I want to share some things bibliophiles will find fun. First, Bewitching, the first book in my Beatrice Montoya Mysteries, is on sale for only 99 cents for a short time. Buy or Borrow with KU Misbehaving is on sale for 99 cents! Buy or Borrow with KU Thrush to Judgment, the prequel to the Mercy Mares Mysteries is available for pre-order f...

I miss warm days. I miss being able to get outside and walk around one of my favorite places on earth. This park (see photo) is about five miles from my house, but it might as well be a million miles. There, there is no chaos, no children glued to cellphones or other devices (Well, there are, but they're not mine.) There is all about nature and serenity and getting some much needed exercise. This whole writing gig is a solitary business. If you want nature, you have to make time for it. That's easier said than done with deadlines looming, words to write, editors and proofreaders to coordinate with, and of course, family and personal obligations. I'm afraid I'm guilty of ignoring the outdoors. I let myself get into the routine of producing more work, meeting more deadlines, sitting for long, long stretches, then regretting it later. On this cold winter day, I'm in my office (of course) eager to get outside. Who cares if it's only five-degress outside, r...

See January New Releases here:  https://writeravamallory.wixsite.com/avamallory/mystery-promos Nursing a never-ending cold is no fun, but you know what is fun? New releases! 💓 Check out the list of this month's (so far) new cozy mystery releases! Happy Reading! 💓💓💓💓

Available for e-book & print:  Buy Now! Did you buy your copy of Year-Round Trouble yet? Here's what readers are saying: 🤩 🤩 🤩  "A delightful collection of trouble." "I Love Trouble!"  🥰 🥰 🥰 🥳 🥳 🥳 "My kind of trouble, my kind of fun!" "Now THIS is a different kind of Trouble!" 😍 😍 😍 Grab your copy from your favorite e-retailer site here:  books2read.com/YearRoundTrouble

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It's that time of year. We all know it's coming. Many of us plan for it, get our one word ready, buy new planners, make to-do lists, do all the things necessary to prepare for what's next. I do. December was a race to the finish to check those things I'd ignored in 2019 off my to-do list. I made so much progress. I was a productivity maven. I was ready for the new year. Then, 2020 happened and a long Christmas break for the kids hit me like a bag of bricks to the bag of the head. Ouch! I had goals. They were multiplying. (Sing to the tune of You're the One That I Want from Grease.) The problem was even though I'd spent so much time in 2019 telling myself how productive and on task I'd be in 2020, I didn't think realistically about how "busy" (she says in quotes because no one should ever be too busy to pursue their goals) my life truly is. Here's the reality. It's cliche, I know, but if you want something bad enough, y...

I find my mind wandering on this cool Friday evening. I have work to do. I always have work to do, but I'm distracted by other things. I wish I could say I'm dreaming up the next great series arc or I've finally plotted my passion project, but those would be lies. No startling revelations here. My mind is all over the place. Nothing profound was realized today. (In case you weren't aware, I'm really not that interesting.) I'm dreaming of gym workouts (YAWN!) and fudge brownies (YUM!) and the weird redness on my cheeks (GROSS!). I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror today and YIKES! My rheumo tells me it has nothing to do with my lupus. My primary says it's an issue for the dermatologist. The dermatalogist shrugged and said (I kid you not) "So what!". That's how that cookie crumbles. Why blog about this? Well, because my social media posts give the impression that I'm uber successful and extraordinarily productive...

Happy New Year! May your 2020 be filled with love, laughter, and light! Nothing excites me more than a do-over. I love them! Because I'm a planner girl, a lot of the excitement is all about the set-up, new possibilities, and building my dream. I can't get enough of it. This year, 2020, is all about peace for me. That's my one word. I want to demonstrate peace, feel peace, strive for peace in all I do, say, and think. Last year was a stressful one for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself. It's a sickness. I overschedule, over-commit, over think. My health and my sanity took a huge hit because I lived under a constant state of chaos and stress. I know better. Right here, right now, I'm promising msyelf to treat myself better. My Kanban board is all set-up with four sections - three dedicated to my writing business and one all about my health. If you're not familiar with Kanban boards, here's a great video by Sarra Cannon  https://www.yout...

Buy or Borrow Here! Chapter One The way I saw it, I had two options and neither of them was ideal. I could use a forbidden spell and make this strange kid disappear or I could ignore my motherly instincts and let him walk out the door with my one and only daughter. Had I not said goodbye to my penchant for snooping, Camila wouldn’t have thought she could make a run for it with a boy her father and I never met. If I’d held on another year, this all could’ve been avoided, but, no, I ignored my suspicious nature and embraced life as a normal . A lot of good that did me now. My kid had crossed the line and broken our trust. Nothing would ever be the same again. From now on, I’d never leave her side. “Mother?” she pleaded, but I needed a minute. I had to wrap my head around what had transpired before I could respond accordingly. My gut reaction never did me any favors in stressful situations. In fact, it almost always made matters worse. I had to tread lightly or suffer the c...