I lost the love of my life and dream home all in the same day and I am not okay.

It's taken a long time to send out a newsletter and blog because typing this makes it more real. On Wednesday, December 17th, at about 5:50 AM, a tree fell on our house and crushed Kent, the love of my life, killing him instantly and trapping me. The fire rescue guys, the insurance guy, and the engineer who spoke to Kent’s sister all said that neither my son nor I should have survived, especially my son. His bedroom was right below ours and most of our room caved in on top of his, but fell in a circle around him with just enough room for him to get out. I still don’t know how I got out from beneath the tree limbs and roof supports that fell on me. Aside from a panic attack at the ER and some scrapes and bruises, I wasn't really hurt. The worst was inhaling and swallowing some of that weird foam insulation. Better than fiberglass, I guess. I couldn't eat or speak much the first couple days after. I'm still having nonverbal periods and memory blocks. I got super lucky with friends and family taking over. My movie club co-admin set up a Go Fund Me, which is dire because now my son and I are staying at a hotel until temporary housing is found. We won’t know if the house is rebuildable until probably February, and if it is, it could take up to a year before we’re able to move back in. I really hope we can. I’m going to be partly out of work as I work with the family to handle insurance, contractors, and the daunting task of salvaging and handling all that was left behind. And there's so much the insurance won't cover, like death expenses, only having one running car that needs a ton of work...just...I'm scared and overwhelmed. The loss of Kent wasn’t just as a life partner, though that is the most painful and irreplaceable. He was the IT Guy for two family businesses as well as for my author website, which is currently down, right when I have a new book release. I don’t even know how we’re going to handle everything that was lost in that regard, or even if someone could be hired to recover or replace what he built and maintained. But losing him as a partner still hurts worse. He was tied with my son in the best things to happen to me. He was like a real life romance hero and supported me in everything I did. He did countless things to make me happy, like painting the house purple. 😭 I'd long gone by my first and middle name for my art and my romance books because I didn't want a man to get credit for anything I did. But then, because Kent encouraged and helped my author career in every way, like taking care of responsibilities when I wrote, cheering on my progress, giving me and teaching me Photoshop for covers and promo stuff, assisting me at cons, the list goes on. So when I needed a pen name for my non-romance horror stuff, I took his. We were supposed to get married for real. He made me a lilac wood staff just like the mage characters in my Brides of Prophecy series, which is tantamount to a proposal. The fact that he listened and remembered that detail still blows my mind.

This is my fave pic of us together because even though the book signing for One Bite Per Night was a failure due to the publisher postponing the release until readers forgot about me, being too broke to market it because I'd recently escaped a bad marriage, and the bookstore putting me and my adult vampire romance in the kids' toy section, KENT came to my signing and let me get a pic with him. I'd based Vincent's looks on him back when I crushed on him from afar, so having him there was a fantasy come true. I really don't know how to go on without him, but I have to. While there’s a huge painful hole where my heart used to be, I’m going to do my best to keep living and keep writing. I owe that to my readers and Kent, who encouraged me every step of the way wouldn’t want me to quit. I will also live for my son. He turned out to be a really good and awesome man, and hopefully some of you can meet him when I'm able to attend conventions again. On a happier note, we’ve recovered all of our four cats and got them microchipped ASAP. Shadowpaw and Mischief were easy to get as they are the most social, and then we got Mayhem, who I’m most worried about because she was most attached to Kent. Chaos was the toughest to catch. We had to use a trap for him. Both he and Mayhem have lost weight. I'm going to give them some of Phantom's prescription food when I get it from the house. What's next in writing. 2026 will be a big year for audiobooks. My summer camp slasher romance, His Final Girl, my regency vampire romance, Bite At First Sight, and my short Brides of Prophecy prequel, Tesemini, will all be releasing in audio in the coming year. I will be re-releasing my haunted house romance, Her Haunted Heart, in late spring/early summer.  I will also have to work on my Brides of Prophecy 11, but that one will probably take longer and come out in 2027. And there's also my lighthouse horror novel that I'd outlined and started. My agent will hopefully be done reading my coming of age horror novel, The Graveyard Girls, my first full-length Brooklyn Ann Butler novel. Then, if she doesn't hate it, she'll hopefully find a good home for it. When my mom died, my muse went historical and fluffy to get as far away from my grief as possible. With the loss of Kent, I don't know if I'll shy away from romance or dive further in to feel like falling in love with him over and over (even though the majority of my characters aren't based on him, and even fewer based on me, the happy and healthy love he and I shared had an indelible impact on my writing). I dedicate every romance to my mom to give her all the happily ever-afters she didn't get in life. Maybe I'll start writing some for myself. As for my horror, I don't know how this loss will affect those stories. I DO know that I still love fun monsters, supernatural spookiness, cheesy tropes, and a touch of feminism. The characters in my lighthouse book are two women, so maybe that will be a good temporary escape from the pain of losing a man who was almost too good to be true. Anyway, if you've read all of this, thank you for keeping me company in what will probably be the worst time of my life and thank you for being one of my readers. You're a big part of what keeps me from curling up on the ground and giving up.

I will try to have that cover reveal for Her Haunted Heart done by the weekend. Bye-bye until then and big virtual hugs! -Brooklyn A. Series by Brooklyn Ann Brides of Prophecy (Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy/Romantasy) Also don't need to be read in order until book 5...kinda Tesemini (short prequel, Newsletter Exclusive!  Wrenching Fate Ironic Sacrifice Conjuring Destiny Unleashing Desire Pleading Rapture Melding Souls Reclaiming the Magic Leaving the Shadows Bewitching the Vampire Redeeming the Angel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brides of Prophecy standalone spinoffs  To Tempt a Sorcerer To Wed a Warrior ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hearts of Metal (Contemporary Romance) Standalones that intertwine Kissing Vicious With Vengeance Rock God Metal and Mistletoe Forbidden Song Tempting Beat Heart Throb Scandals With Bite (Regency paranormal romance) Books do not need to be read in order Bite Me, Your Grace One Bite Per Night Bite at First Sight His Ruthless Bite Wynter's Bite The Highwayman's Bite  The Final Couples (formerly B Mine) (Horror Romance) HIS FINAL GIRL HER HAUNTED HEART HIS SCREAM QUEEN HER HALLOWEEN PARTY