iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Subbing "creepy" for eerie - talking Halloween costumes! From the first draft of the Brayden spinoff.

The cool air is refreshing. I push my long hair out of my face, but it falls back into its usual pace as I walk. Music pours from at least one party on every block, with dressed us people passing me by. In the dark, I can’t tell what most of the costumes are except for the obvious classics like superheroes or creepy clowns.

My 95 year old grandmother just finished reading my romance novel 🙈 I told her at what chapter she should stop reading then skip to the last chapter, but she didn’t listen

Hope,
Contrary to popular belief, your grandmother just finished reading your book-all chapters !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very well written concerning young college students these days. College, family, and love interests are all present
as they also were in my time. Such life experiences are always shared , but in different ways and timing.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 03/10/2026

This got me to finally find the face card for the MMC in the Brayden spinoff - and I've landed on athlete Ryan Hartman, even though he plays a different sport and is older than Brayden is in the story.

compilation image of three images of hockey player ryan hartman with long brown hair and a beard and blue eyes with the text saying Ryan Hartman Face card for Brayden Syska

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 01/10/2026

September was a great reading month - 6 novels, 2 audiobooks, 1 novella!

stats from storygraph for user sasquatchmom - 10 books, 3,154 pages, average rating of 3.9, highest rated reads unforgettable kieran mitchell 4.25, get lucky charm 4.0, half his age 4.0 average book length 374 average time to finish 5 days

graph from storygraph user sasquatchmom's september 2025 reads: the assassin's blade, unforgettable kieran mitchell, heir of fire, half his age, the evaluator, the summer i turned pretty, queen of shadows, get lucky charm, this is why they hate us

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 01/10/2026

I'm Hope and I write romance, mostly from the male POV and right now working on a college sports series! I can't be contained so I will not choose between plotter or pantser. I am a chaotic blend of both.

Literary This or That

PAPERBACK – HARDCOVER (chose paperback)
SERIES – STANDALONE (chose series)
TEARS – LAUGHS (chose laughs)
COFFEE – TEA (chose coffee)
HERO – VILLAIN (chose hero)
CHARACTER-DRIVEN – PLOT-DRIVEN (chose plot driven)
COMPUTER – PEN & PAPER (chose computer)
SWEET – SALTY (chose sweet)
SILENCE – SOUNDTRACK (chose silence)
BOOKMARK – DOG-EAR (chose bookmark)
PLOTTER – PANTSER (underlined both)
LUSH – MINIMALIST (chose minimalist)
VOMIT DRAFT – SLOW CRAFT (chose vomit draft)
MORNING – MIDNIGHT (chose morning)

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 27/09/2026

Wrote this yesterday, from the spinoff romance WIP: Brayden finds himself as his friend's date to the sorority semi-formal that she had a big role in planning. I'm sure they'll still be just friends by the end of the novel...

“We’ll see how it turns out. It was my idea, so I really hope it’s nice. Anyway, we also aren’t doing the charter busses this year, so I can drive us. I can pick you up. Is six-thirty good?”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 26/09/2026

This tag helped me realize I use the word "see" way too much so I actually swapped it in here for variety and it fit the passage better! From the hockey romance short story:

Biscuit once again tugs the leash as we approach the gate to the dog park. I can’t blame him, but I'm forcing us to walk at a normal pace, like we're not on a secret mission. I look through the fencing, but see nothing but shrubs and a few people clad in dark colors.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 26/09/2026

From the Brayden spinoff WIP, a super rough voice draft. I had fun brainstorming his class lineup and finding a way to drip out that backstory all in one.

Watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Law and Order counts for my assignment analyzing how the criminal justice system is represented in media, but I don’t need help with that. I know when they get it right and get it wrong and take liberties to earn a laugh from the viewer.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 25/09/2026

No one enjoys being sick but I indulged in crushing my ARC of Get Lucky Charm by @paisley-rose.bsky.social in less than 24 hours 📚 Get your pre-orders in people! www.amazon.com/Get-Lucky-Ch...

image of the cover of the novel Get Lucky Charm by Paisley Rose featuring a male character picking up and kissing a female character with a cat on some laundry in the background and a pink gradient hue

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 23/09/2026

Voice dictated 390 words on a lunch walk Ran into someone on the trail after vultures flew overhead and it caught our conversation. Not sure why it spelled jay as "Jayy" but you know what? I like it

I thought it was a vulture a turkey vulture. I didn’t know that was a vote. I did see it flat. I think I think I scared one of them when I was walking through. They’re huge blue Jayy, but I’ve never seen a turkey vulture I’ve seen the actual turkeys around here though well one time when driving to the train station I had to stop my car on the road because all these turkeys were crossing the street. I had no idea that there were turkeys here and then if you walk down a little bit past that big apartment complex and there’s that kind of nature preserve area I’ve heard turkeys making their sounds so they’re around here so I hope the vultures don’t go for the turkeys. I want all the birds to live.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 23/09/2026

Emerson's crutches tumble down from their resting spot during class.

Halfway through class, I see the crutches start slipping from their spot on the wall in my peripheral vision. I lean forward to try to catch them, but can’t quite reach. They come crashing down to the floor in the middle of the lecture. Dozens of faces turn to the source of the noise.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 22/09/2026

Listen I had a bit of social anxiety growing up and I can't deal with loud noises or crowds but this is the first time someone has called me this I am in fact aggressively neurotypical so much so that people with ADHD flock to me for the executive functioning excess I seem to have I am cackling

screenshot of an instagram comment from user msekonefraser commenting "oh my sweet (neurodivergent) summer child... at a certain point you will never forget his ... more 18 m

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 20/09/2026

Emerson arrives at Grand Central in late November. It's chilly on those underground platforms!

I step off the train onto the platform and brace for a wave of humidity, but instead feel the crisp air hit my face. I have to zip up my coat, but it's already more pleasant than sweating the second I arrive in the city.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 19/09/2026

The ultimate vibe swap. Bratwurst is in a tube shape

She retrieves her bratwurst. “I have to do it the authentic way, then. I can’t say I’ve ever tried one like this before.”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 18/09/2026

Settling the check at the end of the double date!

The server comes around with a handheld tap terminal, and Trey and I put our cards forth. As we settle the bill, I see groups of people take pictures holding their paintings. I feel like it would be weird to take a picture on a first date, and would we do a group one?

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 16/09/2026

Without the context for spoilers you can't tell but this is one of the highest points of tension in the short story!

"That sou-" Paloma starts, only to be cut off by her phone ringing. “Sorry.”

She quickly reaches for her pocket. I release my hold on her, and see the smile slide off her face.

“It’s - it’s Mai. And she never calls. I- I should take this.”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 15/09/2026

Vibes today from the hockey short story - talking about being outside and living adjacent to something else. Excited to lock this one in over the weekend. The anthology cover is done and SO cute, can't wait to share!

“Can I drop you home somewhere?” I ask.

“I actually just live just on the other side of the dog park…”

We step outside, and away from the space heaters, it’s a cold and wet night.

“On second thought… I’ll take you up on the offer.”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 14/09/2026

The dichotomy of the social media experience I have no clicks to my Linktree (which is only in my IG) for yesterday or today but I got 15 new followers and did make a paperback sale, and earned the full royalties even though the book is still 21% off!

Screenshot of an instagram reels feed showing two videos. the first is a purple toned video saying "At Your Pace baseball word count" with 65 views. the other is a video of me, a caucasian brunette woman in a blue painted room, talking into the camera with the text saying "through Heir of Fire" which has 15,800 views

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 13/09/2026

I feel like I may have shared this before? Anyway, an Iris chapter in "Where We Land" when she's apple picking with the girls:

Peyton rests her head on her hand on the table with a sigh. Everyone looks at her, but I’m grateful for the distraction.

“I wish I had someone to do a couples costume with,” Peyton whines.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 10/09/2026

Chapter 1 of my WIP romance sequel "Where We Land" - bringing the girlfriend home to meet the family

I give Valeria a quick tour of the first floor of the house - just the kitchen, our living room, dining area, the hall bathroom. She stops and looks at the old school portraits of Rob and me hanging up in matching frames, accented with more recent group shots of the whole family.

“Is that you in braces?” she asks me, smiling, not taking her eyes off the photo. “And your hair was so light!”

Rob pops up behind us. “Emerson’s teeth were so wonky before.”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 09/09/2026

Okay I’m going to lose one of my few TikTok followers after this but fr Saskatoon? The Irish turned Californian punter for a team in Wisconsin during football season is living in Canada??? I am debating continuing to play along or calling him out

Screenshot of a TikTok direct message for Fred with spam account, pretending to be Daniel Whelan, the punter from the Green Bay Packers, with him asking where I’m texting from and me saying New York and him saying Saskatoon

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 09/09/2026

Someone catfishing as the punter for the Green Bay Packers followed and messaged my author account on TikTok and I’m curious what the scam is, so going to mess with it

Screenshot of a TikTok direct message exchange between an account called Daniel Whelan and author Hope Engel.

Daniel whelan: hi Engel
Hope Engel: hi Whelan
Daniel whelan: how are you doing
Hope Engel: a sticker that says Great in pink text

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 09/09/2026

subbing "car" for "rig" - but it's a big hefty SUV

“Turn right at the next block and just keep going for a bit,” Paloma directs. “You know, I would have guessed your car would be more… flashy?”

I laugh. My plain black Range Rover is more of a “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” kind of thing. The engine is sick and it even has a little fridge in the center console.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 07/09/2026

Emerson gets around more slowly after getting injured during a game:

I make it through my classes walking around campus slower than usual, and I take the elevator instead of the stairs.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 06/09/2026

I signed the last of the typo books to participate in the Books for Boobies charity giveaway and I had to practice my signature since Engel is not my surname and I never write it out Thank goodness I practiced because I missed a letter and looks like a little kid learning how to write lol

Photo of a college ruled notebook with the signature Hope Engel written 3 times in purple ink

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 06/09/2026

Valeria is tipsy and saying this to her boyfriend of almost a year at a party with all of his teammates:

“I dunno how I got so lucky. You’re so sweet to me and so nice and so fucking hot. And you have a really nice di-”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 06/09/2026

Went for a nice hike with my husband this afternoon

Photo of a park situated in a gorge with a stream, lush green plants on a sunny partly cloudy day

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 06/09/2026

Only had one sigh in the 10,000 word short story! Our MMC does a nice gesture and worries he fumbled it. But all is well, because this is a short story. If this was a novel, could have taken a different turn to build tension:

“Oh, I’m getting hungry, and I saw they have a bratwurst on the menu, and I haven’t had a good one since I visited my parents, so I impulse ordered us some. And fries. Oh wait, I didn’t even ask if you eat meat, or have allergies or anything.”

“I don’t-” she starts.

Ah, shit. Well, I can take down a second bratwurst, unless she’ll be disgusted by me eating meat in front of her…

“-have allergies. And I do eat meat. That sounds awesome. Thank you,” she says.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “Yeah, of course.”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 05/09/2026

An Iris snippet today! She recaps a PhD interview:

“You have experience at two different labs,” she says, reaching over for my hand. “And you present about them so well, that has to get you above others who just have been working on one thing.”

“Thanks,” I say, squeezing her hand back. “I don’t want to look into it too much, but one of the people on the panel has been studying RNA therapeutics and got pretty excited about the enhanced hammerhead ribozyme turnover rates research. Oh! And I think I had a good answer about how I pivoted when something went wrong - that did end up coming up, thanks for including that in the mock interviews…”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 05/09/2026

Amazon dropped my price not just 3 more cents but $0.36 since I last checked a few days ago Paperbacks available for $12.81 (and last paperback I sold I got the full royalties as if I made a $15 sale) The sale continues I am stoked www.amazon.com/Your-Pace-Hu...

Amazon listing for the book At Your Pace (Hudson Valley State)
by Hope Engel (Author) Format: Paperback
4.6 out of 5 stars (6 reviews)
Book 1 of 1: Hudson Valley State
See all formats and editions

Description:
Emerson Davies has everything under control.

Junior year of college should be perfect for a guy like him: baseball star, dialed-in athlete,
ironclad routine. The only thing missing? Any kind of love life—and that’s exactly how he’s kept it.

When his best friend gives him an ultimatum, Emerson has one shot to prove he’s ready to take a risk: ask out Valeria Rivera Betancourt—the driven, quietly confident girl in his project group—or she’ll step in and do it for him.

Priced at $4.99 for an ebook or $12.81 for a paperback 15% off the list price of $15

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 04/09/2026

Accurate. Earlier versions of this quiz struggled because I have a lot of words I say like a New Englander since my mom and grandma are yankees, but I grew up in socal. The "big road you drive fast on" = freeway solidified this for me. Now that I live in NY it's so obvious.

screenshot of a map of the US showing my dialect concentrated in california with 53% of my answers matching a typical resident, with the south of Louisiana being the least like me

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 04/09/2026

And just like that draft 2 of "Where We Land" is done! I was so convinced this whole time the book would be meaningfully shorter than the first one... nope, just 1,000 words longer. So excited to let this simmer and get feedback from my alphas for (probably) the final draft! #amwriting #amediting

Screenshot of a spreadsheet with the chapter breakdown of word count between draft 1 and 2, chapters 1 -20. The total word count of draft 1 was 77259 and the total word count of draft 2 was 86876. The percentage increase was 12.45% for the whole manuscript.

Screenshot of a spreadsheet showing the chapter breakdown in word count between chapters 21 - 41 and the epilogue. The average difference per chapter was 15.42%

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 03/09/2026

He said this post made him sound mean and he would buy me ice cream :)

Image of a pint of ice cream called signature select brownie moose tracks

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 02/09/2026

Sort of pre-NSFW snip 🌶️ From the second draft of "Where We Land" which I edited just a few days ago!

I pull myself away from her and take it off as she undoes the button on her shorts and takes a condom out of her pocket. We help each other slide off the rest of our clothes off, quickly.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 01/09/2026

correcting the subtitles from the auto transcription when making my social videos is a slog except when I get gems like this one day I'll learn to pronounce my words (10 seconds earlier in the recording it spelled and capitalized it correctly)

screenshot of the Riverside auto transcription which says: "order and it make sense, but everyone online said start with throwing up glass."

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 01/09/2026

A solid reading month because I had time between jobs. 4 ARCs and my first trad pub ARCs! And my first audiobook in like a year!

Chart from the StoryGraph showing user Sasquatchmom’s August 2026 wrapped up with nine books 2804 pages and average rating of 4.14 stars, the highest rated reads being potential twist at 4.5 stars only once Summer in Berlin at 4.5 stars and automatic noodle at 4.25. The average book length was 313 pages and the average time to finish with. compared to July there were 50% more books in 15% more pages

Chart from the StoryGraph app showing user @SasquatchMom’s August 2026 wrap up with 100% fiction 44% books under 300 pages and 56% books above 300 pages, and format 67% print 22% digital and 11% audio, for the number of books 5, and romance, three and fantasy two and contemporary one in LGBTQIA plus and one in literary

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 29/08/2026

Summer may be coming to an end, but the mayhem is just beginning. The Misfits and Menaces sale is going on now! Stuff your shelf with stories with sassy characters that will have you simultaneously cheering them on and saying "NO NOT LIKE THAT!" linktr.ee/misfitsandme...

Background image is of a beach. Text says End of Summer Misfits and Menaces with book covers of the Anhelos Saga, Ungovernables, Dance of Demons, Talismans of Sin, Legacy, and At Your Pace

Promotional graphic advertising ebooks for $1.99 showing cover art for three series: Anhelos Saga, Ungovernables: Poisoning the Well, and Poison and Opium on top of the beach image

Promotional graphic advertising KU exclusives showing cover art for two books - At Your Pace and Legacy Book One the Awakening on top of the beach image

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 28/08/2026

This line inspired by combating romance novels where no one seems to ever call out some of the real gross parts of being human. Emerson keeps this to himself, wisely, but that's the joy of inner monologue.

It is a little gross, but I will take that to my grave.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 28/08/2026

Snuggling is a big part of why I write romance but in the hockey short story, we see pet snuggles:

Horchata snuggles on my mom’s lap. She just might edge out Biscuit as favorite grand-dog.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 28/08/2026

It can! This is yesterday’s: But to be fair this is for the third book in the series and I know these characters very well at this point. I’ll often move dialogue around when I am rewriting! I find the easiest way to start is a scene of internal monologue

OK, so what kind of wedding venue are you thinking of Valeria asks?
Something nice?
Do we want to get married in a church? She asks
Not particularly, I respond.
Is that gonna be a problem for your mom?
I mean, she knows we don’t go to church
we go on easter and Christmas, she counters
There are a lot of people that only go to church on Easter and Christmas and still get married in a church she points out
Really? Why?
I don’t know a sense of tradition? She says

“Fair enough. Anyway Me going to mass on Easter a d Christmas is more like me going along with what the family does rather than a statement one way or the other about my religious beliefs. I can give up an hour or so a few times a year”
“well, if we can’t find a priest who will marry us because we already live together then it’s an non-issue” she says
“ see that’s what I don’t get like the rules can be inconsistent based on one dude’s interpretation of it all” I say
“ I hear you.
“ And your parents aren’t gonna have an issue if we don’t get married in the church?” I confirm.
Valeria scoffs “No, my divorced parents are not exactly going to be pushing us to get married at the Catholic Church,”

“Okay fair point”
“ so back to venues I think that means we will need somewhere that can do a ceremony and

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 26/08/2026

no "symbol" so going with "logo"

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 26/08/2026

Two people who don't know each other and read this draft in different documents called out this line, so this is the winner:

I close my eyes, feeling her bury her head in the crook of my neck. We don't say anything. We don't need words. We talked over the break - what I need now is just her presence around me, filling a depleted bank.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 23/08/2026

Emerson is more comfortable with emotions and less comfortable with sex. Valeria is the inverse. They complement one another and take charge in their domains.

illutrated image of yin and yang with yin being moon and mountains and trees and the night sky at the top and yang being a sunrise over an ocean with birds

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 23/08/2026

Jakob, the MC of the hockey short story, struggles to connect with his date and acknowledges his taste in music may be a barrier:

We keep painting in silence. I don’t know what to bring up that might go anywhere. I don’t have time to keep up with any of the popular TV shows. I doubt she’s into gaming, and I would be even less willing to bet she shares my love of German metal music.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 22/08/2026

First time tabling at an art market! It’s at a skate park! (I’m actually sharing the table with my camera shy husband so we set this as a pose and I have a picture frame with my QR code payments but those are associated with my legal name so I skipped those so just imagine it’s not as blank)

Image of Hope Engel a Caucasian woman sitting at a table with a blue tablecloth with books for sale and bookmarks and the Goodreads rating printed out and taped on the front

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 21/08/2026

Fave paragraph Friday - Iris and Valeria get drinks one-on-one when Emerson is gone for an away game. Valeria opens up to Iris, and Iris perceives what's really going on beneath the surface. Then describes it in her chaotic way, and I actually had an idea to polish it while making this snip:

Oh, I get it now. This girl has baggage, and not like a cute little weekend bag's worth. She's carrying out the full size checked luggage spinning roller suitcase of baggage. I don’t want to invalidate her experience, but I just can't imagine Emerson operating that way. It would be giving him too much credit for someone whose approach to life is generally "wing it." That, and I have the advantage of history on my side.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 21/08/2026

Chapter one of the romance sequel "Where We Land" - Valeria bakes Emerson's parents a cake upon meeting them and immediately wins over Emerson's mom. My mom always said "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." I believe this also applies to your significant others' moms.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Davies-” Valeria starts.

“Please, we’re Abby and Jeff,” my mom insists, as my dad offers a handshake.

Valeria pulls out a small gift bag and presents it to my mom. “Thank you so much for having me. Um, I love to bake so I baked you a little something. It's an olive oil cake."

My mom’s eyes sparkle like she's being presented with the Holy Grail. “That is so sweet of you! Thank you,” Mom gushes. “Let me just go set this down.”

Ler was right. The cake was the right move.

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 21/08/2026

In the hockey short story, the first date takes place at a paint and sip place and I had to shout out Oregon wines! (Which I didn't appreciate enough when I actually lived there).

We barely have time to look over the wine list before a server comes by. “Welcome! We will be getting the painting started in a few moments. I do want to highlight that all of our wines are sourced from local Oregon wineries. What can I get for you to drink?”

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 20/08/2026

Have a little squee moment from draft 2 of the hockey short story! It still needs work (I've got like, 50 words left to work with lol) but I love an admission of feelings scene

“That day at the brewery? I haven’t felt a connection with anyone like that in so long. And I don't think I was just imagining it. I can’t stop thinking about it. And I just… I had to let you know, in case it wasn’t one-sided. But I didn’t have your number, so I thought, maybe you would be here… anyway, if you didn’t feel it, I - I totally respect that-”

“I did,” she cuts in. “I felt it, too.”

My heart soars.

She reaches for my hand, only to realize there's a metal fence between us.

"Hang on!"

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Hope Engel 📚 @hopeengel.com · 20/08/2026

Going with "footsteps" as a sub! Emerson's roommate and friend stumbles upon him and Valeria shopping at an inconvenient moment.

I hear footsteps and out of the corner of my eye, someone walking into our aisle stops. I look up. Asher's there, frozen.

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