Kelly Jensen

My Unquantified Life

There’s a scene in Counting on You where Henry shares a memory from his childhood where he tries to count all of the grains of sugar in a single serve packet. His mother interrupts before he gets too far, dusting the sugar from the table while pleading with Henry to stop counting things. She may as well have asked him to stop breathing. Henry doesn’t just love to count things. He needs to. Knowing the quantity of a certain item makes him more than happy. It’s calming and soothing and makes him feel in control of his environment.

How do I know this? Do you really have to ask?

Available for Preorder!

It’s been a minute since my last book, eh? Well, it is my hope that Sundays with Oliver will be worth the wait—and so far, early reviewers agree:

“Sundays with Oliver perfectly blends romance with family responsibilities and everyday commitments, making it the sweetest of reads. Kelly’s writing is fresh and addicting and reminded me of why I love to read romance novels that feature a slow, gentle slide into love.”
—Amy Aislin, author of the Lighthouse Bay series

Not So Ugly

I am way behind on my gaming posts—which could be considered reviews but are more me talking about the games I’ve played. So here are my thoughts on Cyberpunk 2077, about five months overdue.

There came a point, sixty-five hours into Cyberpunk 2077 where the only actionable quest of consequence on my list was meeting Hanako at Embers, otherwise known as the point of no return. There were a few gigs I hadn’t gotten around to and a series of Beat on the Brat quests I had no interest in. Otherwise, I was done. Sort of. In actual fact, I was waiting for a number of people to call me back. Judy, Claire, Kerry… There wasn’t a side character who didn’t owe me a call.

By the Tropes: Hurt/Comfort

I didn’t even know Hurt/Comfort was a trope until I started writing romance. Actually, I was writing my fifth book before I discovered that two of my previous titles included hurt/comfort situations. In retrospect, it should have been obvious. I had one character in hospital and the other character comforting them. I had not realized this was a situation readers might look for. But now that I do know, I totally get it!

There’s little that accelerates a relationship faster than one party holding the other’s hair back while they vomit. I mean… it’s a ‘zero to a hundred in sixty seconds’ situation. With the added danger of getting one’s shoes dirty.

Sickness isn’t sexy. But caring for someone while they’re under the weather can bring a new closeness to any relationship. A part of falling in love is sharing your vulnerabilities with someone. Opening up and inviting another person inside. Being at your worst, physically, can make this so much harder, but also easier. Being laid up makes it all the more difficult to run away and hide.

The LET’S CONNECT series is now available in German!

I’m so excited for this series to reach a new audience. The Let’s Connect books are some of my favorites, particularly Robin’s story, which I will always think of as my “Covid-19” book. I wrote it from a place of being in lockdown and I love a good neighbors-to-lovers story. And artists and gamers are two of my favorite characters to write.