Shinbone Lane just got some love!

I’m pasting in an email I sent to subscribers on Substack earlier this evening. You can subscribe, too, using the form below—and get a free book of stories for signing up. Here’s a link to Substack, too, if you’d rather read it there: https://lauramchaleholland.substack.com/p/shinbone-lane-just-got-some-love

Despite glorious sunshine, morning unfolded tangled and contrary. Every step I took seemed slightly out of sync with the world. I was trying to smooth out some things in advance of Shinbone Lane’s official launch next week, which will include days when the ebook will have a promotional price of $0—that’s right zero. (I’ll give you details on that next week.)

I needed to upload a new file for the print book on Amazon (because, of course, I found yet another little error in the text).

I uploaded the file, but was notified the gutters were incorrect even though the file’s format was exactly the same as the previous file I’d uploaded, which Amazon had no problem with.

I thought I’d try generating a new file in Vellum just to see if there was some glitch with the file that failed Amazon’s review, but to my dismay, when I opened Vellum, all my book files were gone. Disappeared. As though I’d never formatted a single book with that application. I fretted about that, tried to get help from Vellum’s customer support, but they were basically useless, kind of condescending, too.

Then I realized the print book is all set to go on Ingram Spark, so I can just not publish the print book through Amazon for the time being (and maybe never). Ingram can supply any paperbacks that sell on Amazon. That brought a measure of relief, but it was like yanking a single weed from an overgrown garden—I still had a thicket of website updates to tackle, and with my lack of design skills, I faced hours of work with no guarantee of beauty in the end.

I’ll skip detailing the rest. I was feeling bedraggled, frazzled, incompetent. But then—ping!—a five-star review from Readers’ Favorite brightened my inbox, snapping me out of my funk. It’s a different type of review than a customer review and will go in the Editorial Reviews section on Shinbone Lane’s sales page.

A stellar review

Here it is:

Reviewed by Shrabastee Chakraborty for Readers’ Favorite

Shinbone Lane, nestled atop a hill in San Francisco, has more to it than an unusual name. Ostracized from the nearby neighborhoods, it dances to its own rhythm, with houses teeming with intriguing characters. The number 346, especially, is a safe haven for lost souls, be it a poet with dangerously low self-esteem, an upcoming musician with a fear of commitment, or a photographer who hasn’t dared to come out of the closet yet. When a teenage runaway enters this strange community, she doesn’t question why their neighbor’s backyard can stretch to unfathomable dimensions or how the resident pigeon with colored plumage can speak perfect English. Yet, Shinbone Lane has its long-held secrets, too. What happens when these secrets threaten to unravel the idyllic lifestyle? Find out in Shinbone Lane, a novel by Laura McHale Holland.

With her deft storytelling, Laura McHale Holland repeatedly blurs the boundary between magic and reality, seamlessly blending one into another. Her beautiful prose creates a vibrant picture of the magical environment that swaddles the neighborhood in its cozy embrace. An asset of the novel is its eclectic cast of characters, some eternally kind while others are morally grey with questionable life choices. We empathize with the characters scarred by their horrid experiences while feeling pity for those oblivious to their selfish, toxic selves. Yet, Holland views every character through a lens of tenderness. As the story progresses, we catch glimpses of their nuanced lives. Violent pasts crash with unpredictable futures, the severed ties culminate in newly forged relationships, and through all the cruelty and heartbreak, hope emerges. The story leaves a bittersweet aftertaste that stays with us for a long time. I heartily recommend Shinbone Lane to anyone who loves magical realism. It is a perfect read for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Heather Webber.

I’ll be in touch next week

I don’t typically send emails often, but I’ll send a gentle reminder on launch day, Tuesday, May 13. I hope you’ll download the book and enjoy it. Members of the Shinbone Lane ARC team are gearing up to leave reviews that day, so you’ll be able to view other readers’ thoughts on the book, too.

If you’re on the ARC team, you can see that I don’t know how to segment lists on Substack. Will I learn? Hard to say. But thank you, thank you, thank you for your help.

Till next time be your adorable self through and through.