Announcing my debut novel as Jane Kolven and first with Bold Strokes Books!

The Holiday Detour is a road trip romance between a lesbian who’s lost her way in the world and a nonbinary person who rescues her. It’s sweet and funny. As I was writing it, I was inspired by my own spouse and our relationship. While the story is fictional, there’s a lot of us in there. I was also inspired by Hallmark, which I watch more than I want to given the channel’s politics. Although representation for women of color is beginning to improve, the network’s conservative Christian past still makes it staunchly heterosexual. There aren’t even gay best friends (which at least Netflix rom-coms offer). But what movies on Hallmark do well is move at a fast pace, sweeping viewers away in a romance that blossoms really quick, using tropes and subverting them to the uniqueness of the story. It’s that spirit I wanted to capture in The Holiday Detour.

Here’s the official blurb:

Sometimes it takes everything going wrong to make you see how right things are.

Dana Gottfried is a stressed-out Jewish lesbian who’s just quit her job and who wants to get home to see her grandmother. When her car breaks down in Indiana on Christmas Eve, Dana is stranded – until she’s rescued by Charlie, a pig farmer who doesn’t identify as male or female. Although they come from different worlds, Dana is intrigued by Charlie’s sense of humor and kindness. Despite her better judgment, Dana says yes when Charlie offers a ride.

But the journey home is paved with detours. From car accidents to scheming ex-girlfriends to a snowy and deserted Chicago Loop, everything that could go wrong on their road trip does, but it leads Dana down a path of self-discovery that just might end in love.

After a few years off writing romance, I’m excited to be back in the game and working with Bold Strokes. They have an incredible history and attention to authenticity and inclusion that is, sadly, missing from some other niche publishers who put out LGBTQ books. Once I know more about publication date, I’ll keep add updates to this blog. In the meantime, I’m still working on my next book, but I’m definitely looking toward the future and The Holiday Detour’s release!