Melbourne Café on Sale Now

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Hello friends. I know, I know, I haven’t posted in a while, but can you really blame me? Summer was awesome, but now that it’s over it’s time to get back to work. I’d like to announce the release of my new book called Melbourne Café: A Single Dad Romance. I hope you enjoy reading this one, folks. It’s a funny one. It is the 3rd book in the On the Cape series. Like I’ve said before, you can read it as a standalone, but there are a lot of recurring characters so it might be better if you read the series in order.

The first two books were about Brooke and Melanie. This one is about Patty, that lovable but grouchy barista who works at the Melbourne Café. I think I mentioned it in my last post, but the fellow she falls in love with is a handsome European who just moved to Cape Cod with his daughter. The problem: he’s opening a café right next door to Melbourne and will be in direct competition with Patty.

The story is filled with heartwarming scenes and laugh-out-loud situations, but as usual, it ends the way my readers like—with a “happily every after” ending. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as the first two, but now I’m faced with a bit of a dilemma. Now that the stories of the three friends have been told, I have to come up with some new characters to keep the series going. But worry not! I have something good percolating in the depths of my mind that I’m sure will satisfy the romance reader in you.

Thank you and keep reading. Until next time…

G.C. Riley

Melanie’s Second Chance on Sale Now

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Hello friends. Melanie’s Second Chance, book 2 in On the Cape series is now live and available on Amazon. Even though it’s a continuation of Pine Cone Point, it still is a standalone story and can be read on its own too. There are a lot of recurring characters, so it probably would be better to read the series in order, but not totally necessary.

I’ve already got a good story in mind for the third book in the series. As you may have guessed, the next one is going to be about Brooke’s and Melanie’s friend Patty, that quirky but lovable barista who works at the Melbourne Café. I’ve been thinking about this story for quite a while now, and it should be a good one. (Especially if you love hunky European billionaires who are single dads)

With all the post book release stuff I have to do this week, I’ll probably be busy working mostly on marketing for the new book. However, I should start writing book 3 by sometime next week, with a rough release date of sometime in late May or early June. I’ll keep you in the loop with regular updates. I know I haven’t been too diligent with that sort of thing, but I promise I’ll try to do much better. I found a new café across the street that serves delicious cappuccinos. Great place to chill and write an update post when I’m taking a break. Until next time.

G.C. Riley

Update for 04-19-2024

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Hello friends. Once again, I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I have some good news. The second book in the On the Cape series is complete. I’m not talking about the first draft. The whole thing is written, edited, and ready for upload to Amazon.

All that’s left is formatting the ebook itself, deciding on a cover, taking care of some metadata every book needs to have in place, and it should be for sale very soon. I figure you should be able to read it by this Sunday or Monday afternoon at the very latest.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, this book is about Brooke’s friend Melanie and her boyfriend Jack. I’ve already got the next few books planned out. Sorry if I’m playing it close to the vest, but I’m not sure in which order I want to write them yet. Thanks again for reading, and until next time.

G.C. Riley

Next Book in the Series

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Hello friends. I hope you’re all enjoying Pine Cone Point, the first book in my new On the Cape romance series. I just wanted to let you know I’ve already started work on the second book in the series.

I’m not talking about plotting out the story or developing new characters. That’s already done. I’m well into writing the first draft, and I don’t mind telling you it’s been going very well.

As some of you may have guessed, this book centers around Melanie. She was Brooke’s best friend in the first book. And before you ask, yes, all the old characters are back with a few new ones as well.

Unfortunately, these are the only teasers I want to give you at this time. Look for book 2 in the series to become available by late March or early April. By the way, I’ve already got book 3 planned out. That’s how excited I am about this series.

Once again, thanks for reading, and until next time…

G.C. Riley

Pine Cone Point Now on Sale

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Hello friends. This post is to let you know my new romance titled Pine Cone Point: A Small Town, Feel-Good Romance is now on sale at Amazon. It is also part of kindle select for you kindle unlimited subscribers. This is the first book in the brand new On the Cape Series which I already have at least three more books planned for. Depending on how well the series does, I hope to be adding many more books than that, however.

This one was so much fun for me to write since I know New England and South Florida so well. As you know, I live in South Florida now, but I’m originally from Eastern Massachusetts. My children still live in New England. Can I still call them children? They’re grown men already. In any case, both regions hold a special charm and meaning for me. I hope it shows through in my writing.

Friends, I sincerely hope you have as much fun reading this book as I had writing it. This is not just an author thing I’m saying. I really did have a lot of fun putting this one together. The scenes, sights, and sounds were so vivid as I was typing it out. Once again, thank you so much for reading my books. I love you all. You are the best readers any author can hope for. Now, on to book 2.

G.C. Riley

When I’m not Writing, I Cook to Relax

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G.C. Riley’s Version of Lentil Soup

Yes friends, it’s true. When I’m not writing, I cook to relax. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much chance to cook lately. I’ve been quite busy trying to get this new romance series off the ground. Once the first book is complete and the series goes into a sort of autopilot, I should have more time.

I cooked this lentil soup last weekend. It was only the second time I tried it, and I came pretty close to it being as good as any I’ve ever tasted. I think I used just a tiny bit too much salt. Other than that, it was great. I’m confident the next time I try it, I’ll have it all nailed down.

This type of soup is yummy, filling, and quite easy to make. Along with some feta cheese and fresh bread, it makes a fabulous meal. There are several recipes online, each as good as the other, so if you want to give it a try, I highly recommend it.

As far as my latest book, the second draft is complete. Now I just have to take care of a few things and it should be ready to go on sale. See my last update below for more details.

G.C. Riley

Update for Monday 01/29/2024

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Hello friends. Just a quick update to let you know where I’m at in my latest book. I finished writing the first draft over a week ago, and now I’m in the editing phase.

I’ve got about 5 or 6 chapters left to polish and tighten up, then I have to format the whole manuscript before I can upload it to Amazon. After that I need to put in some work on the product description and metadata that helps you folks find my book. I figure I should be done by the end of the week with the book for sale by next weekend or early the following week by the latest.

This is the first book in a brand new contemporary romance series I’m just about to launch. If you liked my Pinewood Valley Series, you’re sure to love this one too. It’s almost finished and will soon be available, so hang on just for a bit longer. As usual, I’ll let you know when it’s ready via this website and also my email list. If you haven’t signed up for it yet, you can do so by clicking the link in the upper right of this page. Until next time.

G.C. Riley

Look What Flew by my Window Yesterday

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Hello friends. This is what flew by my window yesterday. It’s always fun to see this blimp float by. It was actually very close, so it wasn’t like I had to take this picture and enlarge it very much

It’s down here, prowling the coast of South Florida quite often. I see it about once every six months or so on average.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I just finished a whole bunch of household chores—everything from going through the week’s mail to doing the Laundry. Right now, I’m watching the AFC championship football game. Later, I’ll cook a yummy lentil soup for dinner.

Hopefully, every one of you is enjoying your weekend as much as I am. Relax, enjoy, and have an exceptionally good time, whatever you’re doing. Catch ya next time.

G.C. Riley

Happy New Year

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Hello friends. I wanted to take the time to wish you and your families a happy new year. Happiness, health, and prosperity to all of you for the coming year and beyond.

G.C. Riley

Happy Holidays… and an Update

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Hello friends, I want to wish each and every one of you happy holidays. I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves with your families at this very special time of year. Unfortunately, I’m here down in South Florida by myself this year. I didn’t have the chance to be with my family, but all is good. I decided to get myself away from my keyboard for a couple of days and relax a bit. (Well, all except taking the time to write this short post.)

I know I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks, but I’ve been very busy, hard at work on my new series. Bullets & Doves fans, have no fear. That series is continuing. If you haven’t bought the latest release titled Eagle Rock Canyon, you can do so now.

The new series I’m hard at work writing is a contemporary romance. I’m sure my romance readers will be happy to finally hear that. I know the Pinewood Valley series was very popular with you, and I’ve been getting requests for another series like it. Well, the wait is over. That’s exactly what I’m working on now, and I’ve honestly been surprising myself. The amount of work that I’m producing every day is quite phenomenal.

The first draft of Book 1 is 75% complete, at least that’s what my tracking app tells me. I anticipate a mid-January release date. I’m very excited about it and I honestly can’t wait to get it to you. The next book in Bullets & Doves should come soon after that. Once again, happy holidays to all my readers. You’re the best. Until next time.

G.C. Riley

Update for 11-29-2023

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Hello friends. Just letting you know what I’ve been up to the last week or so. I mentioned in a previous post that I was planning on working on a new series, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Have no fear, Bullets & Doves is not finished yet. As a matter of fact, it’s far from finished, but before I write another book in that one, I’d like to get this new series going.

This last week, I’ve sort of been fleshing out the next few books I want to write. I want to model the new series after Bullets & Doves, but to get it off the ground, I need to put a bit more planning into it. Each book will be a standalone, like B&D, but it will all take place in the same town with recurring characters.

For that reason, I’ve been putting some work into developing the characters and town itself. The more details I take care of now, the faster I can get you these books when I actually start writing. So when will that be, I’m sure you’re asking just about now. Well, I have most of it planned out already, and I figure I’ll get down to writing the first draft by this coming Monday.

Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow, I’ll write a detailed plot. I already know what most of the first story is going to be about, and I have a couple of pages of notes I need to put together into a formal plot, so I’ll take most of the day to get it all in order.

On Friday, I will go and shop for groceries and fill the fridge and pantry with most of the things I need so I won’t have to do major grocery shopping for a couple of weeks. It helps when you don’t have to worry about an empty refrigerator. This has become a kind of tradition with me before I start a new book. I really don’t like to waste time going to the grocery store when I’m writing a book. Honestly, shopping for food is one of my least favorite chores. Don’t laugh. We all have our quirks.

Laundry, computer backups, other household chores, and football take up most of the weekend. And then, like I said, I’ll start the first draft Monday. With marketing responsibilities on autopilot for now, I think I can get this first book ready and out for sale in four to six weeks. (I’ll probably do a bit of writing on the weekend just to get a jump on the deadline I set, but officially, I’m starting Monday)

There you have it, folks. That’s where I’m at right now. I’ll let you know how it’s progressing in a week or so. I’ll also have a tentative date for the release. Until next time.

G.C. Riley

Eagle Rock Canyon Now on Sale

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Hello friends. I’m glad to announce my latest book in the Bullets & Doves series titled Eagle Rock Canyon is now on sale. I know I’m way behind schedule with this one, but I’ve been busy with marketing responsibilities which has been taking up a good amount of my time in the last month or two.

Anyhow, I’m glad I finished this book and it’s now out there for you to enjoy. Eagle Rock Canyon is the fifth book in the Bullets & Doves series, and like I said in a post earlier on in the year, I still have many, many more ideas for westerns I’d like to bring to you. I know that might not be what my romance readers want to hear, but fear not. I’m working on a new romance series that should be out by Christmas time. (…and another western soon after that.)

As for this latest release, if you loved Hellfire Trail, you’re sure to love Eagle Rock Canyon. You can buy it here on Amazon, or read it for free if you have KindleUnlimited. Have a wonderful day, my friends. Until next time…

G.C. Riley

Did You Know… (Legend of El Dorado)

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Did you know: The Legend of El Dorado is a real legend. One of my books in the Bullets & Doves series titled Ryder’s Gold is loosely based on this legend.

El Dorado, also know as The Lost City of Gold, was a myth perpetuated by European explorers during the 1600s. It was based on an ancient tribe in the Andes mountains, known as the Muisca tribe. The area in South America where the Muisca lived is known today as Colombia.

As far as anyone knows, El Dorado has never been found. Explorers and treasure hunters in the past have attempted to locate it unsuccessfully. As a matter of fact, over the hundreds of years since this legend surfaced, there have been many expeditions that have searched for El Dorado, including some mounted by well-known Spanish conquistadors. Unfortunately, many also perished in search of this legend, never to be heard from again.

Update for 09-28-2023

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Hello friends. I just wanted to let you know that everything is proceeding on schedule for the fifth book in Bullets & Doves. I originally said the book would be ready to go on sale by late September or early October.

The last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on marketing quite a bit like many other independent authors this time of year. The summer is over and it’s time to ramp up advertising campaigns for the fall season.

Unfortunately because of this, I haven’t been able to put in the writing time I would have liked. Fear not. I was ahead of schedule anyway, and my next book will be coming out on time. Early October is still very doable. Thanks, and until next time.

G.C. Riley

Did You Know… (Mayday Distress Call)

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Did you know: the mayday distress call, used by aircraft and ships in trouble, is usually said three times in quick succession. (mayday…mayday…mayday) This is so that it is not confused with some other similar sounding phrase.

The person who came up with the idea to use mayday was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. His name was Frederick Mockford. He thought the word was especially fitting because it sounded like the French word m’aidez, which means help me. The mayday distress call has been in use since the early 1920s.

In my romantic suspense, The Flygirl’s Cowboy, Vanessa sends out a mayday distress call when her aircraft is going down in a snowstorm over the mountains of Colorado. Being the calm, cool, professional pilot she is, she follows procedure and says it three times. Read it for yourself. Flygirl is the first book in the Pinewood Valley series.

The Rise of gcriley.net

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Yes friends, I finally did it. I registered the domain name gcriley.net so from now on that’s what you’ll type into your URL bar at the top of your browsers when you want to visit this site. If you have this sight bookmarked, either edit the bookmark to the new domain name or delete the old bookmark completely and create a new one that contains the new domain name.

It was about time I did this, and honestly, I’m not sure why I was putting it off. I have to admit, gcriley.net is much easier to remember than what it was before. I also finally paid for the site too. I had a free account with WordPress, my website hosting company, but now I paid for a premium account with them. If you’ll notice, the distracting ads that were previously stuck between my posts are gone, and I’m happy to say, will stay gone.

I plan on revamping this site in the coming weeks. Nothing too drastic. Maybe just move a few things around and reorganize certain pages. The books page is in dire need of a good reorganization. Since I am a multi-genre writer, I plan on separating the books in order of series, and perhaps writing a small intro for each series and what it’s about.

I hope you’re all enjoying your weekends. I’m just catching up on some odds and ends right now, but I plan on calling it quits soon. There are a few good college football games on this afternoon and evening, and I’ll be watching. Have a good weekend, my friends, and I’ll catch you all next time.

G.C. Riley

Flygirl’s Cowboy on Sale for This Weekend Only

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Hello friends. Just a quick note to let you know I’m running a Countdown Deal on Amazon this weekend only. (Sept.16-17) The Flygirl’s Cowboy is book 1 in one of my first series called Pinewood Valley Series. It’s normally on sale for $2.99 but for this weekend only, the price has been reduced to $0.99.

A word of warning for my western fans who are reading the Bullets & Doves series. Although there is a certain amount of romance in my western books as well, the Pinewood Valley Series leans more towards romance, but there is a healthy dose of Action/Adventure too. Read the Description here.

If you’d like to give it a try, what better time than this weekend when it’ll cost you less than the price of a cup of coffee. Have a great weekend, people. Catch you soon. Ciao.

G.C. Riley

Update for 09-15-2023

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Hello friends. Sorry for the long silence, but you know how things are during the summer. Nevertheless, just because I haven’t been posting too often does not mean I haven’t been hard at work.

I hope you’re all enjoying Ryder’s Gold, the fourth book in Bullets & Doves. I’m more than halfway through the fifth book in that series, and it should be ready by the first or second week of October. Again, don’t hold me to that, but as of today, the app I use to track my work says I’m 72% of the way through the first draft.

Of course that depends on my estimates of the book when I started to write it a couple of weeks ago. However, I think it’s going to run a bit over what I’d originally planned. I know I told you all I was going to plan things much better, but you know how stories sometimes take on a life of their own. Personally, I think if I were to revise my estimates, it would be something like 60%.

In any case, fear not, I’m in the home-stretch as they say, and the release is coming very, very soon. I hope you all had a wonderful summer. I know I did, with friends and family coming down here to South Florida for visits. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and with the coming of fall, we all have to get down to some serious work. The good news—Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. Until next time…

G.C. Riley

Ryder’s Gold on Sale Now

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Okay friends, I’m happy to announce the fourth book in Bullets & Doves is finally finished and on sale now. This one took twice as long as I anticipated for a number of reasons. If you’ve been following my posts since April, you all know I ran into a number of problems. From flying up to the Northeast to attend a number of graduations to my personal health problems. (Don’t worry, I’m fine now, although it was a bit scary there for a while.)

Anyway, that wasn’t all of it. Just recently, the A/C unit in my condo crapped out on me, and as you might guess, that is not a fun thing to happen in the summertime when you live in South Florida. I had to deal with calling in a crew to install a brand new unit—quite an expensive prospect. These things cost a small fortune, and it was not an easy installation, so it took a bit of time and effort on my part.

The amount of disruptions during the writing of this book was phenomenal. Add to that the important fact that this book ran a lot longer than I’d ever dreamed. I know it’s been a long wait for you all, but believe me, I think the effort was well worth it. I have a feeling you’re going to like this one…a lot.

Let me know what you think. Have a wonderful summer, friends. Hopefully, I’ll have another book for you by sometime in September. In the meantime, I’ll keep posting to let you know of my progress.

Ciao. Until next time…

G.C. Riley