Silver Medal Winners

I’m thrilled to announce that The Never Witch and the audio edition of Blood Mark have each won silver medals from the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. It’s gratifying to see these books doing so well, and to know that the writing and packaging are resonating with readers and judges alike! The medals are en route from Britain and haven’t arrived yet. I’ll include a photo next month.

Hexborn Progress

The second book in The Thorne Witch Novels, Hexborn, will be released on August 4, 2026. It has now completed the editing process and I’ll soon be handing it off to my intrepid team of beta readers. You can already pre-order it here from your favourite retailer.

Next up … the cover. This time, the folks at 100 Covers are handling the design. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

A Special Anniversary

My husband and I travelled to Ontario’s cottage country in April to celebrate my dad’s ninetieth birthday and my parents’ seventieth wedding anniversary. They married on a Friday the 13^th —brave of them, I thought. I wrote about it ten years ago on their 60^th. You can find that post here: https://jpmcleanauthor.com/would-you-get-married-on-friday-the-13th/ This is a photo from this year.

April weather in Ontario is unpredictable—sometimes warm and dry, other times wet and windy. This year was wet and wet. Here is a photo of the flooding of the Manitouwabing River at my sister’s place. Happily, the water didn’t cause any major damage.

Next In-Person Events

On May 9^th from 11 am to 4 pm, I’ve been invited back to Coles in the Driftwood Mall on Cliff Avenue for an encore book signing of The Never Witch. That’s the Saturday before Mother’s Day, so if your mom prefers books over flowers, swing by and get a signed copy. Better still, get her a book AND flowers.

What I’m Reading/Listening To

I’m listening to the audiobook of Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister—a paranormal mystery about a woman stuck in a time loop trying to prevent a murder. I’m finding it quite interesting, especially the mechanics of waking up one day earlier each morning. My novel Blood Mark has some time slip in it, so I know firsthand how tricky that can be to write.

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