Sandy Nicks grew up surrounded by family members who loved to read, write, dance and draw. Her dad enjoyed writing, her mom was a voracious reader, her aunt was a Rockette in the 1930’s and her sister and grandmother loved to draw portraits and landscapes. In a house filled with laughter and creativity, she found her passion for writing after realizing she couldn’t dance or draw a stick figure. Her grandmother taught her to read at a very young age and it was her grandmother’s made-up bedtime tales that Sandy says sparked her creative flame and inspired her to tell her own stories.

In 1993, she joined Romance Writers of America and the New Jersey Romance Writers. She served on the NJRW board for many years in various positions. The friendships formed and the support provided by NJRW and RWA are invaluable and very dear to her heart.

Her publishing credits include a short romantic story (written under the name Sandy Ferguson) in the 1999 anthology Romance Recipes for the Soul by Pisces Press Publishing, greeting card copy, newsletters and freelance pieces.

In 2008, Falling for Autumn won first place in the Celtic Hearts Romance Writers “Golden Claddaugh” contest in the Mainstream with Romantic Elements category.

Sandy grew up in northern NJ, but spent childhood summers in Seaside Heights with her family. She currently resides close to the Jersey shore with her family and many spoiled pets, but says it won’t be close enough until she has an office with a beautiful view of the ocean.

She wrote Falling for Autumn with the belief that love and a sense of humor go hand-in-hand. Falling for Autumn is Book 1 in the Sisters for All Seasons Series.

Newly released Circle of Eternity, a time travel romance!

Falling for Autumn by Sandy Nicks

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Circle of Eternity by Sandy Nicks             

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Starting over feels like the end when thirty-nine year old Autumn Winters has to say goodbye to marriage and her college-bound son, and hello to finding a job and being single. After being home for nineteen years to raise her son, finding a job, with limited skills, isn’t going to be easy.   Her mother, who has a penchant for all things cosmic, insists an aura cleansing will solve her daughter’s problems.  Autumn doesn’t believe in any of her mother’s new age antics and knows it’s going to take more than a spiritual fix to get her life in order.

Thirty-six year old Jack Ayres had apprehensions when he agreed to ghostwrite a book with the ex-girlfriend of a former hitman, but the money far outweighed the possible danger.  One year after publication, the money’s been spent and the hired gun has returned.  While visiting his mother and a brother who’s undergoing a gender change, Jack learns he’s the hitman’s next target.

Insecurities rise and self-image plummets until Autumn and Jack rediscover themselves, accept the new direction their lives are taking and follow the path that brought them together.

Romantic comedy...suspense...great fiction to while away a weekend! - Brendt Maguire


Falling For Autumn is a heartwarming story that touches one's soul from the first page.
 
As a woman finds herself a product of divorce at age 39, thrust into a world of uncertainty, Sandy Nicks takes you through a humorous, somewhat suspenseful journey.  Family situations, amusing personalities sprinkled with everyday thoughts from real life situations are so realistic you'll find yourself shaking your head saying "yes I agree!".
 
Set in New Jersey, the author's home state, Autumn finds herself attracted to a handsome yet mysterious man who is instantly attracted to her, but he himself has issues that he can't reveal.  Jack finds himself in several precarious and amusing circumstances each time he tries to hide his secrets from Autumn.
 
In the meantime, Autumn's eclectic yet loving family pressures her to see things "their way".  As hard as Autumn tries to dismiss their advice, deep down inside she questions her own view of life.
 
Together they all find a way to teach each other there is no right or wrong way to live their lives, but to love and support each other.  As the mysteries unravel, the paths become easier to follow.
 
Falling for Autumn will keep you laughing yet wondering exactly what will happen next!
-Cathy Kittell

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Excerpt 1 

Chapter One

 

Desperation can do strange things to one’s psyche. 

Autumn glanced at her notes.  Three job interviews all on the same day?  Surely, I'm beyond desperate.  I'm insane.   

She’d spent the past three weeks unpacking her belongings and adjusting to her new residence.  It was lonely settling into a new place without Trevor.  Yes, he would only be forty-five minutes away in New Brunswick at Rutgers University, but to her the distance felt more like forty- five hundred miles. 

She was proud of her only child.  He was her whole world and now that world had been reduced to part time when he would be home on weekends or school breaks.  Her baby was now nineteen.  He was a young man about to begin his life without the constant watch of his mother. 

And where was she now?  Searching classifieds.  She shook her head.  Fortunately, despite her lack of work experience, obtaining an interview wasn’t as difficult as she’d imagined.  Then again, it wasn’t like she was applying for top level management positions.  These were entry level.  No experience required.  Computer knowledge helpful, but not necessary. 

What else could she expect?  She wasn’t running out of the starting gate as a college graduate.  She’d been a homemaker for the past twenty years.  It was like she’d been playing a role on a television show that had been abruptly canceled, and now she was being forced to audition for parts she’d never performed before. 

She tapped her finger on the table.  She had never expected to be single again at thirty-nine years old.  She’d always thought her life with Kevin would last a lifetime.  She even had imagined that once Trevor had gone off to college, she and Kevin would spend mornings sipping coffee, afternoons browsing book stores and nights making love. 

Of course the bastard would get the chance to do those things because he’d already found someone else.

When Kevin had told her he wanted a divorce, she’d felt blindsided.  Yes, she had noticed things beginning to change between them, but nothing she thought was life altering.  Yet here she was, a year later, removed from her beloved home and sitting in the small kitchen of her new townhouse.  Alone.

She looked around the kitchen.  It wasn’t big but it had new oak cabinets and the counters were done in a beige swirl.  The previous owner had recently installed tan ceramic tile on the floor and the diagonal pattern cast an illusion, making the room appear larger than it really was.

She then glanced into the living room.  It was long but not very wide.  Her furniture set had to be broken up.  The couch, coffee table and entertainment center fit fine, but the oversized chair and ottoman had to be placed in Trevor’s room—also known as the finished basement.

She frowned.  Ok, so the new place wasn’t a house, but she owned it.  From the sale of the home she’d lived in for over twenty years and a little help from her mother, the new place was paid in full.  She picked up her notepad.  Now she needed to find a job to pay the taxes and help with Trevor’s tuition. 

She eyed the notes again.  The first interview was with Edith’s Bra Boutique.  The specialty bra and panty store was in need of a cashier/stock person.  The second was for We Have Scents, which was a faux designer perfume store in need of a cashier/stock person.  Sterling Advertising was the last one of the day.  They needed a personal assistant.

Oh the choices---bras, perfume or kissing ass. 

She turned her attention to the sliding glass doors that led to the little deck off her little kitchen.  It was raining lightly and wasn’t expected to end until this evening.  She watched the droplets slide down the glass and her thoughts drifted back to the day the divorce was finalized.  The day she went back to being Autumn Winters.  Now that Trevor was nineteen, she’d decided to drop her married name of O’Reilly.  What was the point of continuing to be someone she wasn’t?  Although she wasn’t fond of her maiden name due to the cruel jokes she’d endured as a child, the choice to change it gave her power and a sense of liberation.  If Kevin no longer wanted her, why would she go through the rest of her life carrying his name?

She breathed a heavy sigh.  How she wished that she could just curl up on the couch with a good book and spend the day lost in someone else’s life.  Rainy days made her feel that way, but that couldn’t happen today.  She’d promised her mother she would volunteer at the animal shelter to walk the dogs.

Buddy, her yellow lab, nudged his head against her leg, jarring her from her thoughts.  “I’m sure you’ll be on the couch or my bed all day,” she teased.

He wagged his tail in response.

She gathered her notes for the interviews and set them on the counter.  Today she would walk dogs in sweatpants and a raincoat.  Tomorrow, she’d be wowing potential employers in a business suit. 

Except…she didn’t own a business suit.

She slapped her forehead.  She had roughly twenty-four hours before the start of the interview marathon.  She had casual separates and dresses for weddings and funerals, but definitely no suits.  Over the years, while she was at home raising Trevor, she’d lived in jeans.  Driving from one sport to another didn’t call for a power suit.  It called for power bars and gallons of coffee.

Panic set in and grew with each beat of her heart.  Clothes that screamed they came from a former decade would surely lessen her chances of securing a job.  She hurried into the living room and grabbed her sneakers.  The quicker she finished her volunteer duties, the sooner she could get to the mall and take care of this fashion crisis.

A loud knock, followed by Buddy’s barking, interrupted her thoughts and she hurried to the door.  “Who is it?” she asked. 

“It’s me.”

She opened the door.  “Hi, Mom.”

Daisy’s blue eyes sparkled as she stepped over the threshold.  “I’d like you to meet Julia. You know, she volunteers at the shelter with me.”

Autumn extended her hand to the older lady who followed her mother into the house.  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.  Mom talks about you all the time.”

Julia gave Buddy a pat before shaking Autumn’s hand.  “Likewise, dear.”

“Honey,” Daisy began, “We’re here to do a quick cleansing since you refused when you first moved in.”

 Autumn closed the door so the dog wouldn’t run out.  “I was just on my way to the shelter.”

“Oh, you don’t need to go now.  Charlotte already did the morning walks.  I need you this afternoon.”

“It would have been nice if you called and told me that, Mother.”

Circle of Eternity by Sandy Nicks

 

When her husband dies in the arms of another woman, Samantha Brooks travels to England where the Earl of Brindlemoor has opened both his manor house and the ruins of Brindlemoor Castle to tourists.

 

A mystery ensues when Samantha follows a quiet calling in the upper reaches of the castle and she encounters the taciturn Greyson Pierce, hell bent on protecting Brindlemoor from intruders and gawkers.

 

As Greyson confronts the American woman, they both reach for a shining amulet, a Celtic Cross, and that cross transports the modern pair back to the twelfth century – a time of danger and intrigue somehow linked to the present. Now, they must work together to discover the quest that will lead them back to their own time.

 

The quest to right old wrongs becomes a personal journey for the hero and heroine to overcome past betrayals and renew their capacity to trust – each other, and in the future…