Welcome Wednesday: TJ Brown's New Year's Resolutions

We're thrilled to have TJ Brown grace our first Welcome Wednesday post of the new year. She's written the great new Summerset Abbey series which takes place in Edwardian England just after the turn of the 20th century. The series is billed as a New Adult Downton Abbey and I for one can't wait to read it! But first, TJ's got some very inspiring words to share for the new year...

I love New Year’s. It’s a time to reflect back on the old and adjust things for the new. I pretty much have the same resolutions year after year and, like many people, my shiny resolutions go to the wayside by March. But this year is different. Why? Because last year was different.

Last year, I got my second three book contract in six months and that changed everything.

Last year, I was diagnosed with throat cancer and that changed everything.

A poor diet and lack of exercise had drained me of vitality, but like many people, I accepted that not feeling good was a part of getting older. Then I was diagnosed with cancer and spent five months undergoing and recovering from radiation treatments. I found out exactly what it’s like to feel bad. Really, really bad.

So this year, I’m not going to accept feeling just okay anymore. I’ve changed my diet, try to get 75 minutes of exercise a week and have started writing morning pages to jumpstart my creativity every day. This year, I am going to run a couple of 5k’s, learn how to cook delicious, healthy meals and keep myself centered, so I waste as little of my life as possible on anxiety-induced stomach aches.

And this year, my resolutions are not going to be simply cast aside when they become inconvenient because trust me, nothing is as inconvenient as not feeling good. Granted, cancer is a whole different ball game than just not feeling good, but while I remain cancer free, I’m going to feel as great as I possibly can every minute of every day of the New Year.

Summerset Abbey1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war. . . . 

Rowena Buxton...Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “under class” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.  

Victoria Buxton...Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret. Now, Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever… Prudence Tate Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as ladies maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls.  And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey… 

Other books in the series: A BLOOM IN WINTER (Summerset Abbey #2) March 5, 2013 SPRING AWAKENING (Summerset Abbey #3) August 6, 2013

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TJ Brown is passionate about books, writing, history, dachshunds and mojitos. If she could go back in time, she would have traveled back to England, 1910, Paris, 1927 or Haight-Ashbury, 1967. She resides in the burbs of Portlandia, where she appreciates the weirdness, the microbreweries, hoodies, Voodoo Donuts and the rain.

To learn more about TJ visit her here: Twitter |  Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  Website