Thursday, August 12, 2021

WAIT FOR IT is Here! by Jenn McKinlay

 

WAIT FOR IT 
IS
HERE!!!
It came out on Aug 10th and received a starred 
review from Booklist, and was chosen by Buzzfeed, 
Loanstars, and Goodreads as a TOP pick for 
August for which I am just thrilled!


JENN McKINLAYWait For It came to me in the shower. Isn’t that always the way? You’re standing there, naked and sudsy with nary a pen in sight, and BAM, you get hit with a fabulous story idea. This never happens when I’m perched over my keyboard waiting for something great. Oh, no, that’s when my brain is a barren sun dried wasteland of duh. But make it impossible to write down my ideas and suddenly I am an inspiration orchard in full fruit. It’s maddening. 

    Originally, I hadn’t planned to write a story for Annabelle Martin, the irrepressible sister of Chelsea Martin who is the heroine of my previous novel Paris is Always a Good Idea. But Annabelle was such a force of nature when she arrived in the Paris book as a twice-divorced, twenty-seven-year-old big-hearted free spirit, who couldn’t find happiness that I couldn’t ignore her. She kept picking the wrong men, trying to fill the void left by her mother’s death, and she was a fixer, choosing men who needed her instead of wanted her. I just had to know how life worked out for her and so Wait For It was born.

     How does a person break the patterns of a lifetime? This was the question that drove the plot of this romantic comedy. As previously mentioned, our heroine Annabelle has a habit of picking the wrong men. The consummate fixer, she chooses broken men and then fixes them, becoming the lovable lawnmower wife in their life, mowing down any obstacles in their path. Her unspoken hope is that they will come to need her so much, they’ll never leave her, but of course they do. 


      Enter Nick, our hero. From a broken home, he is deeply distrustful of relationships, having witnessed first hand how devastating love can be. Driven to succeed, he had mastered life as a successful builder, creating new neighborhoods where only poverty and despair had existed before. He was living his best life, or so he thought, until an ischemic stroke took him out at age thirty-five. Now bound to his home and a wheelchair, as he can’t shake off the residual aftereffects of the stroke, he is a veritable shut in. Still, he thinks he is managing. He thinks he is fine. He isn’t.


     Having ditched her life in Boston to start fresh in Phoenix, the only contact Annabelle has with her curmudgeonly landlord, Nick, comes in the form of his very exacting notes, telling her in very specific detail what rules he expects her to follow while she is renting his guesthouse. Ever the fixer, Annabelle is determined to meet the old goat and win him over. When she does, she discovers how very wrong she was in her assumptions about her landlord. He is hot and young and wounded. And best of all, she is quite certain that he needs her.


     What follows is the love story of two people who have to change their default settings if they want the romance that is sparkling right in front of them. This is much more challenging than they anticipate. Can Annabelle learn to ask for what she wants in a relationship instead of always putting her partner first? Can she stop picking men who need her instead of want her? Can Nick confront his anxiety and fear and be the man he once was? Can he believe in true love and its power to heal instead of harm? 


          Whenever I think about Wait For It, I smile. If someone were to ask me what it’s about, I would describe the plot as…Everything was fine (not really) until she moved in. Because ultimately, that’s the heart of the story. Nick and Annabelle each believe they are doing okay but when they finally meet and the magic is there, they have to let go of all the self-limiting behaviors they’ve been using to survive this crazy thing called life and take the biggest risk of their lives by loving someone more than they ever could have imagined. 


     So, tell me Reds and Readers, who are you more like? Annabelle who runs from her problems or Nick who refuses to admit there's a problem at all? 



54 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your newest book, Jenn . . . “Wait for It” sounds wonderful and I’m looking forward to reading it.

    I sometimes wish I could be like Nick and refuse to admit to the existence of a problem, but I haven’t yet copied Annabelle’s propensity for running from problems . . . .

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    1. I think they might be into something, Joan. As for me, Hub calls me the “flight risk” - I’m a runner.

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  2. So many congratulations, Jenn! I loved Paris is Always a Good Idea and can't wait to read the new one.

    I have usually been Annabelle's opposite - facing problems straight on, sometimes to my detriment. I could use a touch more of both her and Nick, I think.

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    1. Also - friends gave me a waterproof little pad of paper and pencil (they know me too well). Both attach to the shower wall with suction cups. Invaluable!

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    2. WHAT???!!! Aqua notes - that’s brilliant!!!!

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  3. I am waiting for Poisoned Pen to send me my book. I ordered it from them in February. (Sigh) The story sounds delicious and I love your rom coms and your cozies. (Don't feel too badly for me, I have Lucy's Scone of Contention in my lap.)

    I am a bit of a fixer myself so Annabelle will feel very familiar. But, I am also very good at waiting for a better time to address problems than the hot, crusty moment when everyone is furious and looking for a fight. So, I'm not ignoring the problem, just devising a strategy for solving it.

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    1. Oh Judy, that is so smart, to let that hot crusty moment pass:)

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    2. That’s brilliant, Judy. I need to learn to take a beat usually I just leave to go on a cupcake run :) Thanks for the kind words about the book! Much appreciated!

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  4. Congratulations Jenn!! I am reading this right now. I can picture you, all sudsy, wrapped in a towel, running for the keyboard. I wonder how much of the story came to you then, the premise, or the whole plot? (In which case, I'd be hopelessly jealous.)

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    1. Whole plot. Sorry! But my agent and editor then pulled out their red pens so it was edited into something a bit different than my vision but better for it.

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    2. That's just magic, Jenn. Had it ever happened to you like that before?

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  5. This synopsis sounds so good I might have to squeeze this book into my reading schedule before I start on the book club pick for next week! Congratulations, Jenn, and on the starred review, too!

    Another fixer here, but I wish I had some of Judy's self-control to allow things to settle before wading in to make them better. That's an enviable skill.

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    1. Self preservation, Karen, I am not a very good fighter.

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    2. Yes! I really need to learn to take a lap before I commence fixing or running.

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  6. Congratulations on your latest release! I keep a notepad and pen on the bathroom counter, but they're not waterproof. Unless it's something like a rusted out mailbox that the postal carrier refuses to use, I tend to step back, analyze, and think through various options before solving a problem.

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  7. Congratulations, Jenn! I can't wait to read this one! I don't think I am much like either of your characters. I am a worrier but I am working on that.

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    1. Ah, yes. Worry is a beast! It took me a long time to realize it only made me suffer twice but I still have to actively push myself not to worry . Exhausting.

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  8. Happy book birthday, Jenn and congratulations on the starred review! I'm a head-on kind of person, but I have learned about that step back while I weight solutions. I wish I could be a runner. Not in my DNA. Sigh!

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    1. Thanks, Kait! I need to learn to step back. I tend to get my Irish up - working on it!

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    2. Thanks, Kait! I need to learn to step back. I tend to get my Irish up - working on it!

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  9. Congrats, Jenn! I enjoyed the Poisoned Pen interview last night.

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    1. Thank you so much, Emily. The Pen is always fun!

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  10. "You’re standing there, naked and sudsy with nary a pen in sight...."

    Oh, the image... :^) And yet, Jenn, you somehow managed to remember the Idea. Well done. I'm looking forward to this.

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    1. Thank you so much, Susan! Edith has enlightened me to aqua notes! Who knew?

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  11. YAAYY!!!! I I have TWO copies--one each from two different bookstores--so hmm, seems like a giveaway in called for! A COPY OF WAIT FOR IT TO ONE LUCKY COMMENTER! (The other one? You're not gonna pry it out of my hot little lands.)

    And, like Judi, I am neither Nick or Annabelle--I am an I SEE IT, I understand it and then..I worry. And then I decide..oh, something will happen to change that anyway.

    YAY Jenn!

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  12. Oh, yes, the Poisoned Pen interview last night was so much fun! I am planning to tune in for a couple more events to celebrate Lucy's and your new releases. Woo-hoo!

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  13. Can I say both? If there is a problem (which I seriously doubt), I'll just bury my head in the sand until it goes away.

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    1. And congrats on the new release!

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    2. This is why we read, right? To avoid problems? LOL. Thank you!

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    3. The problems in books (at least the ones I read) are solved when the book is over. If only real life were like that.

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  14. Jenn, congrats on the release and all the wonderful praise!!! It seems like we've been waiting a long time for this book:-) I know it's going to be a huge success!

    I am an "ignore things but worry anyway," if that makes sense. I'd be much better off tackling things head on. So looking forward to Annabelle's and Nick's stories!

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    1. Thanks, Debs! It really depends upon the type of problem for me. Sometimes I put it off and then it's resolved in five minutes and I think why did I wait? Argh.

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  15. Jenn, congratulations! I like that we're going to meet Nick and see beyond the wheelchair. And I'm both. Sometimes I try to fix things and sometimes I take off running. But then I stop and consider how best to fix things....

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  16. So looking forward to reading this book! I react different ways to different problems. I may see it, step back, and think about it a long time. Then do nothing or wait and see if it goes away. Or I may see it and choose to ignore it. Or see it, reflect, and figure out how to solve it. However I handle it or not, I will spend hours worrying about it. As my mom complained I am a worrywart.

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    1. I try not to worry but, yeah, sometimes i just can't help it.

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  17. Happy Book Birthday!

    I’m sort of an “ignore it for now until I have had time to process what’s happening, and then I’ll attack it” kind of person. If that makes sense. The book sounds like fun!

    DebRo

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    1. Thanks, Deb! Ignoring can be very helpful in an information gathering sense. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

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  18. Jenn, Wait for It sounds like such a great story. I can remember when I was working with fourth grade students on their fiction piece for their writing portfolios. It was the hardest piece for them to write, and, quite frankly, the hardest piece to help them write. It's as if some of them didn't have one imaginative thought in their heads, which, of course, I knew wasn't true. But, it is true that harnessing an idea for a story isn't in everyone's wheelhouse. And, then there are people like you, Jenn, who have such a great imagination and stories just waiting in line to pop out. I am in awe of you and your storytelling.

    Like others have said here, I'm neither a Nick nor an Annabelle. I certainly don't run from my problem and I can't ignore that there is one. However, I don't hurry into a solution either. I try to think it through, unless it's something that requires quick action.

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    1. You sound like you've figured the whole problem thing out, Kathy. I'm still working on it.

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  19. Congratulations on Wait for It, Jenn !
    How could I not buy this book after reading this post. Not only are you a good writer, you are are also a good seller :)

    I can admit there is a problem and I don’t hide but I’m a procrastinator, it can take some time before I tackle it.

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    1. *raises hand* Procrastinator here! I always hope I can wait things out - it never seems to work, tho.

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  20. JENN,

    Congratulations on WAIT FOR IT! I look forward to reading the novel. I have been seeing many, many, many bookstagrammers mention the novel in their feeds and stories on Instagram.

    No idea who I am like, though.

    Sorry I am late here commenting. I just woke up!

    Diana

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    1. No worries! Yes, the fantastic cover has the bookstagrammers all aflutter :) Yay!!!

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  21. Congratulations, Jenn! Sorry I'm so late to the party, but this week has been insane on so many fronts.

    I think I tend to be more like Nick - at least when it comes to my personal life.

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    1. This week has made me want to be like Nick. I might even barricade the door. Ugh!

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  22. I enjoyed The Poisoned Pen interview. I usually don't rush to act on a problem. Looking forward to reading Annabelle's story.

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    1. Thank you! Always fun to visit the Pen even virtually.

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