I put The Refusal in for as many awards as I could find, expecting that the competition would be fierce and maybe I'd win something if I was lucky. If I put in for ten awards then surely something would come from one of them, right? Little did I know that so many people in the book community would take The Refusal to heart and love my nerdy couple. I'm so thrilled with how many awards it's won. My confidence wasn't high going in to all this, so thank you all for loving it so

I am so thrilled to be a semi-finalist in the Indies Today 2021 book awards. Their book review for The Refusal is amazing too (see below). If only I could write reviews as beautifully as this . . . mine are usually "great book" or "loved it" ! Cosmopolitan meets homegrown in this flawlessly written slow-burn romance. Like a shining fairy tale with a modern twist, Jo rides in on her symbolic white horse to bail out Janus in his time of need. Janus Phillips is your run-of-the

One of the joys of being involved in the bookish community on social media is exploring fun things to post, alongside promoting my books. The every day hilarity of husbands, wives, partners and just putting up with each other day in day out, has generated some great online comments. Here are some of my favorite tweets: Here's the whole thing on Buzzfeed you want to read them all. You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. Eve .. . . #marriage #t

So I was scrolling down the page thinking . . . yeah, yeah, won't even have got placed. There's not even a romance section . . . there's no way . . . then Aaarrrgghhhhhh!! Runner up!!!! GENERAL FICTION!!!! Not *just* romance! Omg!! SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK FESTIVAL AWARDS 2022 "THE REFUSAL" EVE M. RILEY RUNNER UP GENERAL FICTION (find the awards here). 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 Have I said how much I love the people in Southern California???? 🥰😍😍😍 Still can't believe this has actually h

One of the great joys of being on social media is all the amazing readers who get in touch. When @romance.novel.junkies (find her here) put together this amazing video for The Refusal, I was completely bowled over. Getting other people's perspectives on the characters takes my thoughts about the book in new and unexpected directions. . .You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. . .. #evemriley #janusandjo #iwantajanus #therefusal #technologyrom

Readers of The Refusal have had a lot they want to talk to me about. That lift scene. Does Janus's company go down? Is Fabian guilty? And of course, THAT SEX IN CHAPTER 34! It is so nice getting all their messages. There's definitely a sweetspot for Fabian and I am so looking forward to bringing you his book! (Working on it now!). You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. Eve #evemriley #janusandjo #iwantajanus #therefusal #technologyromance #t

One of the joys of sharing The Refusal on social media has come from fans responding with their own ideas about the book, often in quite an amazing way. It's been quite lovely to see the edits people produce and the excerpts they like and want to share in posts. Here's a lovely one produced by @zoe_isreading (find here here), along with her lovely review below. @zoe_isreading ⚘Review and Edit - The Refusal by @evemriley⚘ Do you want a slow burn romance with two strong yet vul

One of the joys of writing is including places you love, and The Techboys Series contains a whole series of places in New York that are close to my heart. When Jo and her best friend, Kate, meet up in a café to thrash out Jo’s relationship with Janus, there was really no other choice for me than this place: The McNally Jackson Café. From the books suspended from the ceiling to the folding desks that drop down from the wallpaper of rustling book pages, it’s a booklovers paradi

I'm delighted to announce that The Refusal is being included in a romance bookbox and I am so excited to be included with Elle Nicoll and K. M. Ryan in a delicious box full of steamy, sexy novels! Just look at these amazing covers! There's a whole range of amazing boxes: As well as some gorgeous author swag. If you're interested in signing up, head over to the Hidden Treasures Romance website here. You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. Eve

Although I've written a book, probably like all authors, I'm first and foremost a reader. But I'm a very specific kind of reader - a romance reader. And all romance readers know the form and delight in the nuance and the encounters, the building tension, the meet-cute. So getting positive feedback from readers of this kind on social media has been a joy. I can't thank the lovely bookstagram community enough. This one came from a lovely romance author, C.G. Miller: You can

When the first author copies arrived it was so exciting to hold The Refusal in my hands for the first time and see all my words in print (you can probably tell from this video that I've never done an unboxing video before!) With hundreds of people buying the books now, Janus and Jo feel very real with their very own typeset chapter headings and words bursting from the page. You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. #evemriley #therefusal #techn

I absolutely love it when people message me on instagram and ask what's going to happen next, or just to be excited, when they are part way through The Refusal. Putting my author hat to the side for a moment, there's nothing quite like the thrill of being caught up in a good book. As an author, of course you love your book, but you also know you're a little weird and could have done more editing, and, and, and . . . So here's an early comment I had from a lovely lady, Anne,

There's something about running in the highlands that makes for an adventure. Sometimes I trip over and injure myself like I did this weekend (not so great) and sometimes I find new friends. Like these guys. Sometimes I can even convince myself that I'm in the Caribbean (this is a view from Harris and the water was ICY) You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. #evemriley #therefusal #technologyromance #techboys #techromance #techhero #iwanta

Another message from another reader mid book. I hope that when I've got lots of books out there, I will feel just as excited about these messages as I do now. This one was from a lovely lady called Amanda on instagram as @the_retro_reader. You can find out more information about The Refusal here and buy it here. You can find Amanda here #evemriley #therefusal #technologyromance #techboys #techromance #techhero #iwantajanus #janusandjo #techboysseries #booklaunch #selfpublis

My ARC readers came to me via Instagram and gave me such lovely feedback about The Refusal, often as soon as they started reading or in the middle of an exciting scene. It made me giddy to get this feedback as I hadn't had many beta readers. Here's a message I recieved from a lovely lady called G.H. Brookhorn, who's also a romance writer. It felt to me like she was the first person who had 'properly' read my writing (without all the glaring errors!). You can find out more

I started out with this post thinking it might be fun to explore some writing before and after it’s edited. What was I thinking? One of the things I do after I've finished the first draft is what I call a ‘show don’t tell’ edit. But looking back at the first version of the novel is not helping me at all. I’m looking back at things I wrote thinking, why did I cut that out? This is from the first time Jo meets Janus. Authors out there – are we ever happy with our novels? Cl

Here's the blurb: Never let down your guard. Never let anyone see your weakness. You can’t say I wasn’t warned . . . ​When I first walked into Janus Phillips’s offices, it was right into a high-profile hacking problem the scale of which I’d never seen before. That word high-profile? Been there, done that. Not stepping through that doorway twice. But the trouble was, I didn’t really have a choice. And I wasn’t prepared for Janus. God no. He was determined to get through

I recently recruited an advanced reader copy (ARC) team for my debut novel, The Refusal. It's been a complete thrill getting all the team's comments on the story before it's released. If you'd like to be involved with this and other novels in the Techboys series, fill in the mailing list form here and let me know that you'd like to ARC. I am only just getting organised on ARCs (and even having readers – yikes!) but I'll be offering other things such as giveaways and merch an

I really feel that this lovely book cover design belongs to all of the people who voted for it on Instagram. This was the clear winner: 30% vs. 70%. I mean I love it, and Mark Thomas @coverness designed it, but the lovely readers and authors voted for it and gave me lots of great comments. 🎉 Being so very indecisive, it made a huge difference to the decision making. (My husband now wants all these voters to come live with us so he can rid himself of my dithering forever). C

A little sneak preview from the final editing I'm working on. This is from the first lunch my two main protagonists (Janus and Jo) have together. Check out The Refusal here #techboys #romanceauthor #contemporaryromance #eroticromance #techromance #technologyromance #booklaunch #romancenovel #indieauthor #newauthor #newromancebook #bookrelease #debutnovel #bookrecommendations #romancebook #goodreads