THE SUMMER SHARE is OUT!!!

WELOME to Jungle Red Writers Lite!

We're posting Mondays and Thursdays for the summer!

And with that, let me share my BIG news...

BUY NOW

Jenn McKinlay: Here she is! My 60th book! Crazy, huh?

As you can imagine, coming up with new and different ways to get people to notice your book can be rather challenging after so many releases. Thankfully, I have a helper (lookin' at you Jenel!), who has created some awesome promo videos for me. 

The first one is using a scene from the book (a sea turtle hatching), hoping to draw in those animal lovers:

The second is sharing a review on the odd chance someone else's opinion will sway a potential reader:

Lastly, there is a book quote video to see if that will get a reader to click the buy link:

Now tell me, Reds and Readers, which is your favorite of the following types of promo video and which would entice you to pick up the book?

Here' s more info if you want to know more about The Summer Share (which was given a starred review from Booklist):

When two misfits discover they’ve inherited the same beach house, sparks fly in the most unexpected ways, in this hilarious and heartfelt rom-com from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading.

Free-spirited travel influencer Hannah Spencer has spent five years touring the country in her vintage van. An unexpected inheritance from her Pops brings Hannah to Cape Split, North Carolina, where she learns she’s the new owner of a worse-for-wear seaside beach house. Or, rather, fifty percent of one. Turns out Simon O’Malley inherited the other half from his Gramps.

As Simon and Hannah spend the summer tag-teaming repairs on the crumbling cottage, they discover the house was once home to a timeless love story. Soon, they begin to wonder if the house’s romantic past may be a good omen for their future together. But there’s one problem—Simon is set on selling the property at the end of the summer.

Hannah thought one summer at the Split would be enough, except it isn’t like any place she’s ever been, and Simon isn’t like any man she’s ever known—and she’s thinking about putting down some roots. She just needs Simon to see their budding relationship and this newfound community the same way or their first summer share might also be their last.

What We're Writing: If Summer Never Ends by Jenn McKinlay

 

JENN McKINLAY: I'm on deadline. I'm probably going to be late because this current romcom IF SUMMER NEVER ENDS (May 2027) has taken a few unexpected turns, such as...

     The look on Lorelei's face. I wanted to take a picture and frame it. She opened her mouth and then closed it. She blinked once, twice, and then opened her eyes wide. She glanced from the donkey's backside to me and then she huffed a sigh of outrage.

     “That is not a thing, Chance,” she said. “A donkey can’t tell if a person is lying.”

     Maybellene stomped her foot and brayed again.

     “Test her,” I said. “Tell her two truths and a lie.”

     “No, I am not playing whatever game this is.” Lorelei turned to walk away.

     “What’s the matter? Afraid?” I taunted her.

     “Afraid!” she scoffed. “That a donkey can tell if I’m lying? Get over yourself. I’m not afraid of anything, it’s just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard and I know you’re pranking me.”

     “Am I?” I bit my lip and wagged my eyebrows at her. She glowered and I almost did a fist pump when I realized I was getting under her skin. I gestured to the donkey in the stall. “There’s only one way to see if it’s true. Two truths and a lie.”

     “This is ridiculous.” She gestured to Maybellene. “There is no way a donkey can tell if I’m lying and how will you know if I’m fibbing or not. We haven’t seen each other in a decade. You have no idea what’s happened in my life.”

     “That’s a fair point.” I scratched my chin. “I guess you’ll have to keep it to things I do know.”

     “Such as?”

     “You sing in the shower,” I said. “Really loudly.”

     Her face turned bright pink and she said, “I have never sung in the shower, you must be remembering a different girlfriend.”

     Maybellene spun around in her stall and stuck her head out over the half door. She stomped her foot and let out a bray that I swear sounded like the word “liar”.

     Lorelei jumped. Her eyes went wide. She tentatively put her hand on Maybell’s nose. “That was just a coincidence, right?”

     I shrugged. Maybell snuffled Lorelei’s hands and pockets as if a snack might have magically appeared.

     Lorelei narrowed her eyes at the donkey and said, “I stole a car when I was a teenager.”

     Maybellene didn’t bat an eyelash, but I did. “You what?”

     Lorelei waved a hand at me. “I returned it, it was fine.”

     “Say something I know,” I said. She was quiet for a moment, sifting through the memories of our time together to choose something I could verify.

     “Chance Whitaker was my first love.” Lorelei’s voice was soft and there was a vulnerability in it that about broke me.

     Maybellene didn’t even flick an ear. It was the truth.

     Lorelei glanced at me and said, “You know that’s true. I told you at the time.”

     “You did.” My voice came out hoarse and I cleared my throat.

     We glanced away from each other as Lorelei pondered what whopper to tell the donkey. She drummed her fingertips on top of the stall door and then snapped her fingers. “Got it.”

     “I was Miss North Carolina 2017,” Maybellene let out a high pitched heehaw and stomped around her stall.

     Lorelei burst out laughing. “I know it was a lie but you don’t have to be offended by it. It could have happened.”

     The donkey brayed again and Lorelei turned to face me with her eyes twinkling. “You know that was a lie as we were dating at the time and I am not a pageant girl.”

     I smiled at her. When she looked at me with that sparkle in her gaze, it was hard not to feel as if I’d been transported back in time to the summer we fell in love. The urge to hug her was almost too much to resist, but I liked my arms attached to my body so I refrained.

JENN: I think this snippet best answers the question, where do you get your ideas? Y'all, I have no idea where a lie detector donkey came from but I am already ridiculously fond of Miss Maybellene.

Side note: Lorelei and Chance pop up in THE SUMMER SHARE (May 2026) as a very small subplot and I liked them soooo much, I gave them their own story. 

Do you enjoy it when side characters get their own stories? Yes, no, or maybe?

The Evolution of a Book Cover

 JENN McKINLAY: I may or may not get into trouble for sharing the evolution of my most recent book cover. Maybe I should ask first but I long ago discovered it's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

So, my upcoming 2026 romcom THE SUMMER SHARE just had its big cover reveal. It came out great I'm thrilled, but how did we get there?

About a year out from publication, my publisher always asks what I want on the cover. Given that this is a story about two people who inherit a cottage in the Outer Banks only to discover when they get there that it's a shared inheritance, I knew right away I wanted a cottage on the cover, a beach, our heroine, our hero, and the heroine's Great Dane named Dude, or "El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing" -- bonus points if you can name the movie that quote comes from!

Being ever helpful, I sent my publisher a mock up (with notes) of what I thought the cover could look like.

There was some debate about changing the cover from my previous  romcom styles (see my website for examples). It's the old debate about whether or not "cartoon" covers were out of fashion, etc. Given that I write comedy, I feel like a cartoon cover is a good heads up about what you're going to get but what do I know?

A couple of months passed and I received three options for the new cover. Wow!

How great are these? I sent them to everyone I know (the Reds can testify this is true) and asked for help with choosing. I mean, they're all amazing. I felt like I was tasked with the impossible. The colors on book one dazzled, the blue water on book two was so inviting, and the cottage with the couple sitting on the title was ridiculously charming. After several weeks of debate, my editor and I picked our favorite elements from the covers and sent our thoughts back to the art department. And this is what they came back with: Perfection!

PRE ORDER NOW (May 2026)

You can see the final is vastly different than the mock up I sent in and yet it captures the vibe I was hoping for. This is why I'm a writer and not a cover artist. 

So, what do you think, Readers? Did the art department do right by me? There is no wrong answer here as art is purely subjective.

More about the book:

When two misfits discover they’ve inherited the same beach house, sparks fly in the most unexpected ways, in this hilarious and heartfelt rom-com from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading.

Free-spirited travel influencer Hannah Spencer has spent five years touring the country in her vintage van. An unexpected inheritance from her Pops brings Hannah to Cape Split, North Carolina, where she learns she’s the new owner of a worse-for-wear seaside beach house. Or, rather, fifty percent of one. Turns out Simon O’Malley inherited the other half from his Gramps.

As Simon and Hannah spend the summer tag-teaming repairs on the crumbling cottage, they discover the house was once home to a timeless love story. Soon, they begin to wonder if the house’s romantic past may be a good omen for their future together. But there’s one problem—Simon is set on selling the property at the end of the summer.

Hannah thought one summer at the Split would be enough, except it isn’t like any place she’s ever been, and Simon isn’t like any man she’s ever known—and she’s thinking about putting down some roots. She just needs Simon to see their budding relationship and this newfound community the same way or their first summer share might also be their last.