My new speculative fiction novel has been released as of September 1st. What has me excited is that it’s already been selected as an Amazon Editors’ Pick for September in the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy category! It is now available in paperback and ebook, with audiobook to follow. Also available at Indigo.ca, Apple Books, Bookshop.org, and other book sites.
After global collapse, the island of Newfoundland in the warming waters of the North Atlantic has survived under female rule. Children are raised by a network of caregivers, guided by the principles of “It Takes a Village.” But the civilization is threatened when its birth rate suddenly stagnates.
THE WOMEN OF WILD COVE is a survival tale of divided loyalties, love and sacrifice, gender equality, and uneasy alliances in a climate-changed world.
Hello friends, followers, and my fellow book lovers. I am pleased to share some news. My latest novel, The Women of Wild Cove, will be published on September 1st.
Publisher: Running Wild Press
A short synopsis:
After global collapse, the island of Newfoundland in the warming waters of the North Atlantic has survived under female rule. Children are raised by a network of caregivers, guided by the principles of “It Takes a Village.” But the civilization is threatened when its birth rate suddenly stagnates.
THE WOMEN OF WILD COVE is a survival tale of divided loyalties, love and sacrifice, gender equality, and uneasy alliances in a climate-changed world.
At this time, the book is available for pre-order in e-book form only. Here’s the Amazon link.
When the book is officially released on September 1st, the paperback will then become available.
About the Author:
Jennifer Kelland Perry is a Canadian blogger, writer, avid reader and animal lover. Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, she left the city behind in 2010 to enjoy rural life beside the ocean with her husband and two spoiled cats. Jennifer is the author of Calmer Girls, a two-book coming-of-age series, and a proud member of WritersNL. Visit her writing and photography blog at: jenniferkellandperry.com
By the way, if you are a member of LibraryThing, their April 2025 Batch is now available for Early Reviewers! Hit the link and scroll down to my book if you’d like a chance to review my new novel for free.
As an avid reader, I am always looking for something a little different when it comes to novels. Happily, I found four books this year which fit the description well. All four are very well-written, have vibrant female central characters, and yes, they are also authored by women.
In The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, “a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose – selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives who have wronged them – setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.”
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In Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, “Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. And like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why Elizabeth finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. And she isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.”
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In The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, “an aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love.”
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The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn is “an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm, Mila Pavlichenko, who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.”
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I enjoyed all four of these novels, although to a lesser extent, the last one, because war is not a subject I care to dive into very often.
Have you read any of the above? How did you find them?
Do you have any recommendations for other books with unconventional female protagonists? Do tell!
All around the world, people are playing Wordle. The popular daily word game has become a must for me (at least until a paywall presents itself), as it has for many of my friends, relatives and acquaintances.
Thinking about word games reminded me of a post I wrote ten years ago this month, not long after I started this blog. I spruced it up a little and added a couple of photos:
As far back as I can remember, I have had a penchant for words, especially the written word. Whether that love was instilled in me by a father who himself had a strong interest in language and books, or because I genetically inherited from him, I do believe he deserves most of the credit.
A familiar scene from my childhood was seeing Dad enjoy a little “light reading” before bed—devouring such tomes as War and Peace and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. On more than one occasion he was known to take an atlas to bed, to study up on the world geographically in relation to the news of the day.
Remembering my father that way always makes me smile. If only I could talk to him more about the books we’ve read. If only we could watch one more episode of Jeopardy together or play one more game of Trivial Pursuit as a family. He would have been eight-eight years old tomorrow (March 21), but we lost him nearly twenty years ago at sixty-nine. I’ve missed him every day of my life since.
I usually read about a book a week, but my passion for words doesn’t stop there. When I think of games, word games have always been my favourite. Give me a competitive game of Scrabble any day over other board games. I also delight in solving a difficult crossword puzzle, anagram, cryptogram, or jumble. And if playing Jeopardy, what is my favourite category? You guessed it: Word Origins!
When I think of word origins, one particular book comes fondly to mind, recommended and owned by our father, and now in my possession. Our Marvelous Native Tongue – The Life and Times of the English Language by Robert Claiborne, is probably the best book ever written about the origins of our language. Thorough in its examination and encompassing the first intonations of our caveman ancestors to the many dialects of today, I found it hard to put down, even on a second reading. Particularly notable are the many words we ‘borrowed’, and then kept from other languages, making English a true amalgam, and the rich, colourful and ever-evolving tapestry of words and speech we know today.
“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.” ~ Truman Capote
Readers and writers: Do you play Wordle? What—or who—instilled in you your love of words? Do tell!
*Most of the above is from an Evergreen Post written in March 2012.
Jennifer’s Journal all started with a little procrastination on my part because I couldn’t pull myself away from my best-loved musical / fantasy / children’s movie, The Wizard of Oz. Check it out!
Follow the Yellow Brick Road…
PUBLISHED ON
Hello, and welcome to my Journal! This is my first foray into the world of blogging, so being a total newbie at this, I am not even sure where my words will take us. The one thing I can tell you, Dear Reader, is that Jennifer’s Journal will be a sharing of my thoughts in the forms of prose, poetry and musings. As well, I plan to include selections of photography that I think you will like.
New Year’s Eve 2011 is upon us, and 2012 beckons with promise. I should be getting gussied up for the Ball at the Barbour site here in Newtown in a few hours, the first one in several years for us. I should be primping and preening, painting my nails, curling my locks and donning a frock to ring in the new year in style with the local revelers. Instead, I’ve happened upon The (wonderful) Wizard of Oz, a movie that has hijacked my attention for the hundredth time.
And once again, I ask myself, What is it about the Scarecrow (always my favorite), that makes my silly heart melt? Is it the way he falls about in his straw-filled pants, like he hasn’t a bone in his body, or is it the way he talks so kindly to Dorothy, making me wish I was her? Yes, I smile at the Tin Man, and I laugh at the Cowardly Lion, but it is the Scarecrow that makes me PVR the rest of the movie before I am reluctantly pulled away.
And I know it is the last day of the year, but I didn’t want to wait for January One, which would have been the expected start date of a blog. I had to ask that very important question today.
I’m thrilled to see that my debut novel, Calmer Girls, has been reviewed by American writer and poet, Luanne Castle, on Goodreads and Amazon. This is something that never gets old for an author, and is especially appreciated when such a sparkling review is from an esteemed writer like Luanne. Have a look below! You can also check out Luanne’s website and blog here.
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: Calmer Girls and its sequel Calmer Secrets are on sale for 99 cents each on Kindle until January. Here are the links to Amazon: Calmer Girls Calmer Secrets 5 out of 5 stars – “Exciting, gritty coming-of-age story” “Samantha is the introverted, artistic, good girl sister of beautiful party girl Veronica. Veronica is very self-absorbed and can be cruel to her little sister. Their parents have separated and their mother has moved the girls across the island, away from their father. Their mother, Darlene, upset over the separation and her husband’s responses (including not always sending money for the girls) finds it hard to keep a job and begins to drink far too much. Samantha feels so alone. She falls for a handsome boy, Ben, but what will happen? Every boy is always attracted to Veronica at Samantha’s expense. The book explores these events and lead to a dramatic climax. The characterization of Samantha is so well done. She is a good girl, but when she goes a bit “bad,” we can understand why. She’s only human, after all. Perry uses quotes from the Bronte books to begin every chapter, and they relate very well to what is going on. When Samantha begins to “act out,” the very next chapter begins with a quote that made me nod my head in agreement. The quotes add to the story being told, and they are meant to show what Samantha herself is reading (Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights). Veronica is less carefully drawn, but that is because the reader is really seeing her through Samantha’s eyes. Samantha has every reason to despise her sister. The question is, does her view change by the end of the book? Read it and find out! You won’t be disappointed!”
Wait—what?? How can this be? I had thought my November would have dragged by much more slowly, after I signed up for NaNoWriMo and sequestered myself to my writing cave for thirty days. Most of those days started early too—pitch-black early before the clocks rolled back on the 7th—and yet the month flew by anyway.
It was pleasant rising with the sun on those mornings. Most of this blog’s “sun photography” has been of the sunset variety like the one on my header, but there is something special about the quality of the sun at dawn. The stillness, the quietude, the fresh hope that gives birth to each new day is perfect inspiration for writing a new chapter in a novel or starting a new chapter in your life.
“I write for the same reason I watch the sun rise every morning. Not to express some great truth, but because it makes me feel wildly, gloriously alive.” ~ Marty Rubin
Another 1700+ words added to my NaNoWriMo work-in-progress today. So far so good. To stay on the topic of writing, I’m sharing a guest post I wrote for The Writer’s Path a few years ago, where I blog about my experiences as a novelist. The book idea I decided to set aside back then is the trilogy I’m working on now. Have a look!
Even though it’s November, we are still seeing shorebirds around Perry’s Point. Sandpipers, plovers, whatever the species, I like them all.
And I love that they make their home here in late spring, summer and fall. With the cold temperatures increasing, I predict our feathered friends will be winging their way south very soon. Here are three of my favourite shots of them from my files.
This one seems to have something to say!
So imagine my delight when I scored these lovelies at HomeSense recently:
Now I can enjoy beach birds all year round. 🙂
Bloggers and e-friends: My apologies for not visiting your blogs as much this month, due to my participation in NaNoWriMo. By the time I finish writing each day, I need to take a break from constant screens. But I shall return!
Dreaming about writing a novel? NaNoWriMo is a great chance to get your book idea going. During the month of November, aspiring and published authors from around the world have committed to writing 50,000 words in thirty days.
Jennifer Kelland Perry
Today we welcome NaNoWriMo published author Jennifer Kelland Perry, whose book Calmer Girls was part of a NaNoWriMo challenge.
Thank you for joining us, Jennifer!
How many years have you participated in NaNoWriMo? First of all, thank you for inviting me for this interview. I’m truly honored to be here. I have taken part in NaNoWriMo three times since 2013. The first two times, I worked on the Calmer Girls series, a duology. I successfully reached the word count of 50,000 words with both. The third and most recent time I participated was in 2016, where I didn’t reach the goal – life and a bad flu bug got…
Jennifer's Journal 