Category Archives: Aspen Lake Series

October 2022 Round Up

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Halloween is almost upon us. To be honest, I don’t go to a lot of trouble. I put up a few decorations, we carve a pumpkin, make a couple of crafts, and hand out candy. Most of that effort is because our adult daughter, who has an intellectual disability and still lives at home. She keeps us young!

I have to say the highlight of this October was once again finding myself in a theatre seat to see the musical Come From Away. The story of how Gander, Newfoundland, with a population of under 10,000, found themselves hosting almost 7,000 air travellers who were redirected there on 9/11. It was so uplifting and so inspiring and just what I needed. If you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

Also, it snowed. Ugh. But it’s melting. So, yay! A couple of fashion brands to mention. The black sweater is from Sarah Sue Design, a sustainable and ethical, female owned fashion brand out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is one of my very favourite brands. The blue tunic is from another lovely brand, sustainable, ethical and female owned, Cider and Vine. From Estevan, Saskatchewan, they focus primarily on linen, although the one I’m wearing is a heavy terrycloth. The black pants are Eileen Fisher and the burgundy pants are Free Label (Vancouver, Canada, ethical, sustainable, female owned). Both pants are several year old and have been worn multiple times.

The banana bread recipe was delicious and from my new favourite baking site, Sally’s Baking Addiction. The delicious apple cake is my Mom’s recipe. I’m going to try and get that recipe up in December.

I’ve never written a Halloween story. The closest I’ve come is Exposed, which takes place in October and centres around Aspen Lake’s annual Gothic Revival Festival. One of the key events of the festival is The Mad Man’s Ball. I had so much fun brainstorming ideas for this festival and then putting them to paper. The whole town gets into and it’s a major source of income to many of the businesses. Putting those details into a story is what makes writing so much fun.

The Abbey, where the ball takes place, was inspired by the Moosehead Inn at Kenosee Lake, southeastern Saskatchewan. I spent lots family time at Kenosee Lake as a child and I worked at Moose Mountain Provincial Park, right next door, for two summers. I met my husband that first summer. Sadly the Moosehead burnt down in 2021. No one knows what happened to the resident ghost, who was quite infamous, and a total troublemaker…

Until next time…

What’s everyone else up to? Is Halloween a favourite holiday for you? Or are you a bit meh about the whole idea?

Love Audiobooks

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Escaping our daily worries can be a challenge, especially these days, and it is no secret that reading can be a powerful tool in balancing our mental health. So, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not reading. Listening to audiobooks provides the same benefits as reading print or ebooks. Each of them is a different experience, but each are valuable. Audiobooks are simply a different way to consume content. They offer us an opportunity to fit books into our day in a new way.

Ways I Listen to Audiobooks and Some Suggestions:

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of listening to the latest hit single on the radio for the 100th time, so instead I might listen to something like Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, narrated by Rosamund Pike. Hopefully we’ll be out in our yards and gardens soon. This is one of my favourite times to listen to audiobooks. What better way to pass the time pulling weeds, then listening to something by Nora Roberts, like Northern Lights, narrated by Gary Littman. I’m also clumsy. But I can walk and listen without the fear of getting a concussion. Maybe try a Susanna Kearsley book, like her latest The Winter Sea, narrated by Rosalind Landor. And, these days, when keeping our distance is essential, why not try listening to Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, narrated by Adjoa Andoh, while shopping for groceries and take the boring out of picking out fruit.

The popularity of audiobooks show there is a real thirst for audio content. And as much as audiobooks are for those of us who love reading, they are also popular who people who don’t love books. Not everyone consumes content in the same way. As much as they are a boon to those of us who can’t read enough, they are essential to people who can’t read print or ebooks.

The video below has some great tips on how to get started with audiobooks!

I’m always about romance novel recommendations! Check out Audiofile Magazine’s Listen To These Five Scandalous Romances. “Judge for yourself if these couples are outrageous, skirting propriety, or simply falling in love on their own terms.” With audiobooks by Mary Balogh, Olivia Dade, Rosie Danan, Carly Phillips, and Hadley Beckett.

My romantic suspense series, Aspen Lake (Backlash, Exposed, and Gone), is available in audiobook. So is my romantic suspense, Off The Grid.

I read all three types of books: print, ebook, and audiobook. I don’t have a preference. I just love reading!

Until next time…

Do you enjoy audiobooks? Do you have a favourite narrator? When do you listen to audiobooks? Or drop a recommendation in the comments!

Creating Secondary Characters

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In every book I write there is a secondary character who’s tried to take over the story. In OFF THE GRID it was Sophie’s sister. I could have written a whole series based around Marnie’s character as a Finder in the infamous Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. In BACKLASH it was Jason, Lily’s student, a teenage boy who was targeted by gang members. In EXPOSED, Sunni, the mistress of Kate’s father, Bill Logan, drew me in and she could have had her own story, too. Ian Connelly in GONE stole my heart from the beginning with his silence and his gruffness.

They are essential in helping tell the story of the protagonists by either supporting or resisting them. They are a great way to drop hints, reveal information the reader needs to know but the protagonist might not, and to foreshadow events. They also represent the state of the world being created in the story. They have essential knowledge of the inner workings of your world, be it contemporary, paranormal, or historical. They have secrets, their own lives, and their own motivations but remain in the background. They are the stalwart mentor, the quirky best friend, the loyal confident, the cynical co-worker, or the jealous family member.  

If you’re a Harry Potter fan and I mention Dolores Umbridge, her snickering laugh and pink outfits will instantly come to mind and make you shudder. Large Marge in Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone is a strong, resilient big-city transplant who represents the landscape of Alaska and what is needed to survive there. Often in romance, secondary characters are way to introduce the protagonists of the next book in the trilogy or series. They are a way to carry the theme or premise of the series to the next book and give us a delicious insight to what will happen next.

And, ultimately, they exist to help keep us entertained!

Until next time…

Who are some of your favourite secondary characters?

Fictional Small Towns

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I grew up in a small town. Or, to be exact, on a farm outside a small town. And I’m talking small. Not city small. But with a population that numbered in the hundreds. Like under five hundred, if you counted dogs and cats. And I couldn’t wait to leave. I’m a city girl at heart. It’s where I feel the most comfortable and relaxed. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love small towns or appreciate the people who live in them. Because, I do! 

As a writer, I think the fascinating thing about small towns is the sense they are small and big at the same time. Small because they take up less geographical space and have far fewer inhabitants than their urban counterparts. Big because that small space hosts people with the same big hopes and dreams as city dwellers. And they go about creating opportunity without the resources a more urban centre provides.

Creating a fictional town gave me the opportunity to explore the romantic notion of small towns with their famous unlocked door policy and their famed resilience. In my fictional town of Aspen Lake, everyone is looking to make a fair living wage, to fit in, and to protect those they love. A rural setting is also an opportunity to delve into the less than ideal aspects of living in a fishbowl. Because no place is exempt from struggle. There is no prefect paradise. No one’s life is devoid of conflict. 

I hope in Aspen Lake you’ll find both the ideal and the unsavoury. Big city violence invades the quiet steadfastness of Aspen Lake in Backlash. Exposed has more of a snake in the garden vibe. And Gone is all about secrets.

Until next time…

What are some of your favourite fictional small town settings?

Battling The Winter Blues and a Giveaway!

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FYI: the following maybe too much information, but here I go, anyway. I can’t think when I’m in my pyjamas. I know some writers spend the day in their sleep clothes and are productive and go about slaying the universe, fictionally speaking, of course. But, me? Not so much. I put my pyjamas on when I go to bed, or possibly at some point during the evening, like if I’ve worked out and I need to shed my sweaty workout gear.

Right now I’m sitting at my desk, in front of my computer, in my pyjamas. And it just feels…wrong.

It might be that I need new pyjamas, but, I think for me, day clothes signal productivity. Although lately, some days I’m not exactly setting fire to my to-do list, even when wearing my day clothes. I blame winter!

frosty mornings and toasty mugs www.karyngood.com

I’ve read all the lists on how to ease a winter malaise. I know I’m supposed to eat healthier, exercise, take Vitamin D. And those things work! But the cold winter still makes me want to hibernate in a pile blankets with a good book. Luckily, there is an endless number of good books out there to choose from.

I’m eagerly awaiting the release date of GONE, Aspen Lake Series, Book 3!

I’m open to suggestions on how to survive the rest of the winter! Or your opinion on pyjamas! Comment below on some of the ways you battle the winter blues, or any kind of blues, to be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Comment to win $25 gift card. Closes February 27, 2019.

Until next time…

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it’s turn. ~ Hal Borland

Cover Reveal!

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Oh my gosh, I’m so excited to share this cover! My newsletter subscribers got a early peek last week, along with a chance to win a fabulous prize pack of goodies. But this week, I’m sharing it with everyone! And thank you Kim Mendoza for doing such a wonderful job on my cover.

Ever since a devastating family tragedy seventeen years ago, Grace Bighill has struggled to keep her remaining family from falling apart. Then the discovery of her mother’s body in the woods unearths a connection to a decades old murder case, and Grace is dragged into a politician’s bitter bid for revenge.

Constable Mike Davenport’s days in Aspen Lake are numbered. He’s ready to take his next step up the career ladder somewhere a lot more cosmopolitan. He’s avoided any emotional attachments, despite having fallen hard for a certain stubborn local. But when a body turns up, Mike’s careful intentions collapse in the face of Grace’s grief and her exhaustive efforts to care for her family.

A search for answers leads Grace and Mike down a twisted path proving no one can escape their roots. But someone might die trying.

Karyn Good, Romantic Suspense

The release date is coming soon!

GONE is the final book in my Aspen Lake Series. Check out BACKLASH and EXPOSED to see where the series started. There will be more snippets and giveaways to come in the following weeks. For now, check out my giveaway that ends tomorrow!

Until then…

Tell me what you think of my cover!