Like Attracts Like
Reinvention, reinvigoration, and cleansing out the old
Cross-posted to my website.
Hello, my beautiful readers! It is March! My busiest season is over! It is warming up! My PA, Kayla, bullied* me into a fresh, new look for this newsletter! I truly feel like a butterfly emerging from it’s cocoon. Which is why we’re talking about reinvention today, and attracting the energy we want in our lives. But first…
*She just went in and updated it herself which was a nice little surprise, but we love it, don’t we?? I do!
Along with the new season has come a return to cold brew and salted caramel flavor. It is just so good. It makes me happy, and we all need a little happiness in our lives, don’t we?
Does anyone else feel this desire to reinvent themselves right now? Or is it just me? I’ve written here and there about some of the health issues I had in the fall. My recovery continued through the winter, and I’m finally feeling mostly back to 100%. (I say mostly because early perimenopause still hit me like a truck, but alas…that’s just a normal part of life, I guess.) But ya girl made an appointment for a new tattoo and for some fun hair dye (if I’m going to go gray, I might as well have some fun doing it), and I am READY for Allie 2.0.
As I was perusing Threads the other day, as one does, I came upon a post by thevisionher talking about quantum entanglement, which apparently is a theory in quantum physics. My dad is a physicist, but I have to admit I never took to science. Does it fascinate me? Yes. Do I understand it? Not really. But from what I can tell, the theory of entanglement is similar to the invisible string theory—we are subconsciously connected to people who are meant to be in our lives on a molecular level.
As lovers of romance, I think we are all familiar with this concept. But this thread went on to explain that, if your nervous system is still in fight-or-flight mode, that’s the kind of energy you’ll attract. They say, “your body is choosing what it already understands.”
And that resonated with me a great deal. I started therapy again in the fall after all of these health scares triggered a deep anxiety in me that I couldn’t shake. I’m no stranger to anxiety, but I had it managed. I had coping mechanisms that worked really well. And when those failed, I was able to hang on until it was over. But this fall, I was stuck. Everything felt like an emergency. My body literally could not tell the difference between being chased by a bear and my kid saying “Mom” for the 9,038th time.
My coping mechanisms were not working. And I couldn’t explain to my new therapist why this was such a problem. On the outside, things looked great—my day job has much improved from last year, I have a 3-book publishing deal, and my body was on the mend.
But behind the scenes, I was struggling to write, my book sales tumbled right off a cliff, my presence online wasn’t fun anymore, and after pulling out of several events, I decided not to do anything in person anymore.
In The Perks of Being a Wallflower (an all-time favorite of mine), there’s a quote I keep coming back to: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” I think quantum physics might explain this, too. We attract the energy we put out into the world. Like attracts like. Success attracts success. Doubt, in turn, attracts doubt.
We see this all the time. Someone who sees a lot of success tends to continue that upward momentum for a while. But what we don’t see a lot—because social media is a highlight reel—is when self-doubt, fear, and negativity are snowballing. And friends, I think that is what has been happening to me.
This isn’t mean to be all woe-is-me. We all hit low points in our lives. It happens. But it’s what you do after them that can change your trajectory. So, new hair color, a new tattoo, and a brand new book that is—quite frankly—flying from my fingertips and onto the page. Allie 2.0 is coming, and I am ready to fly.
The entire Strong Enough series is available for preorder now and releasing this year!
Not a Strong Enough Word - June 2, 2026
Not on the Same Page - August 18, 2026
Not the Way it Ends - November 10, 2026
Preorder information, blurbs, and playlists for all three books can be found at my website.
Preorder now to get the limited edition sprayed edges!
And add them to your Goodreads TBR!
INTRODUCING… LEADE PARK SPECIAL EDITIONS! We have paperbacks and hardcovers, all with bonus epilogues, and they are open for a limited-run preorder NOW!
Books are sold in a 6-book set, 3-book sets, or the 2-book hardcover completion set (for those of you who have The Write Place hardcover already). They are not sold separately! After the preorder closes on 4/10, I will not be selling these again outside of select signings, so if you’re interested in nabbing these beauties, get in there soon!
And to sweeten the deal, use code EARLYBIRD for 15% off from now through March 15!
Natalie Bradshaw—the name I’ve carried since I married my high school sweetheart over a decade ago. But then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Now I’m a widowed single mom, drowning in responsibility and quiet grief, terrified that moving forward means betraying the only love I ever believed in. I don’t get to fall apart—not when my daughters are watching, not when our bookstore, our dream, still needs me standing.
My girls are my everything. The shop is my anchor. And somewhere along the way, I forgot how to breathe … or who I was before survival became my only skill.
Loving again was never part of the plan.
Until Holden Clay—retired hockey legend, powerful CEO—walks through the front doors, with sadness behind his whiskey eyes, the kind only someone carrying it too could recognize. He’s lost almost everyone he loves. His family history is tangled with secrets, betrayal, and a father who may be running out of time.
He’s learning how to forgive. I’m learning how to feel and how to open my heart for the first time since it shattered, but every step forward reminds me exactly why I shouldn’t.
He says he’s falling for me.
He says he’s patient.
But we both know this kind of love doesn’t come without risk.
And I don’t know if we can survive losing everything again.
Fletcher Adams is not just the man that stole my heart at fifteen and never gave it back.
He’s also my brother’s best friend, and now one of the most famous players in the NFL.
But now he’s back in Blossom Peak for our mutual friend’s wedding, and guess who are the maid of honor and best man?
That would be us.
I’ve spent the past twelve years ignoring what happened between us that fateful night, and avoiding him as much as possible when he did pop into town to visit.
But now he’s everywhere.
In my salon getting a massage to support my business.
Participating in yoga to support my family’s winery.
And even hacking into my phone to monitor my glucose—which makes me furious and also a little bit weak in the knees.
Then he finds out that my ex-fiancé never satisfied me in the bedroom, so he instantly volunteers for the job.
Turns out time couldn’t snuff the flames that still burned between us.
But Fletcher has demons from his past he hasn’t faced, the kind that you can try to bury but always manage to get washed up in a storm.
And this storm just might destroy us both.
There’s one thing we can’t deny however, even though we try—feelings still matter, even after all this time.
**Also available on audiobook with duet narration by Teddy Hamilton and Samantha Brentmoor.
Is anyone else reinventing themselves right now? Tell me about it in the comments!
