First Cup of Coffee – August 5, 2025

I have bookplates for all of you! Also, I'm FINALLY showing off the incredibly gorgeous, exclusive Owl Crate edition of NEVER THE ROSES - and giving some spoilery, insider tidbits about it. 

You can get signed bookplates from me here! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/store (scroll to the bottom)

You can preorder MAGIC REBORN at https://www.jeffekennedy.com/magic-reborn

Buy LoveLitCon tickets here https://lovelit.com/ Be sure to use my author-specific code for a $10 discount! LOVE8368

 STRANGE FAMILIAR is live! https://www.jeffekennedy.com/strange-familiar  

The posture-correcting sports bra I love almost more than life itself is here https://forme.therave.co/37FY6Z5MTJAUKQGA

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Transcript

00:01.75
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, also writing as Jennifer Kay Lambert, author of epic fantasy romance. I'm here with my first cup of coffee,

00:15.18
Jeffe Kennedy
which is delightful as always. Today is Tuesday, August 5th, 2025. And if you're on video, you will see that like my first cup of coffee has been sucked down quite a bit. I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole ah talking in one of my author chats this morning.

00:33.79
Jeffe Kennedy
Some interesting things going on lately, which I may or may not talk about. but I am discreet. i That's why I always tell people is like, you should hear all the stuff I don't say.

00:46.11
Jeffe Kennedy
So I always try to blab, try not to blab or whatever. I try to consider my blabbiness judiciously. But I have things to share today because, because book plates, Owlcrate edition, I finally get to show you. Well, book plates, I could have shown you before, but you know, hey.

01:07.75
Jeffe Kennedy
So for a very long time, I have had Jeffe Kennedy book plates, um Um, we're going to need more of those. All right. Limited edition. This is my last sheet of Jeffe Kennedy book plates, apparently.

01:22.73
Jeffe Kennedy
So, uh, These are on my web store. I got so excited. started spitting. Please excuse me. Salivating over the last sheet of Jeffe Kennedy book plates. It has the um the hat logo and everything. They're super cute.

01:37.52
Jeffe Kennedy
ah You can get these through my web store. We finally uploaded them to the web store. We also have... Beautimous Rose book plates.

01:49.44
Jeffe Kennedy
ah These are a light purple color and they've got a box with a golden rose inside of it. ah Assistant Carien made these designs these and so I've been taking them with me on book tour, which was really great to have. I learned this from PH Low, who had them at the Columbus Book Festival and it's great because then people can.

02:17.21
Jeffe Kennedy
if they don't like that, a lot of people were coming up to me, for instance, at San Diego comic con saying, I have never the roses at home. And I could say, would you like a book plate? Would you like a signed book plate?

02:30.13
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, so you can get both of those through the web store. I think it's like $2 to cover my costs and postage. So, um, let me know if, if you want one of those, just purchase it through the web store.

02:43.64
Jeffe Kennedy
And if the web store gives you trouble, there's a link on there to email. assistant Carien and she will help you. She's very helpful and very patient. She used to be in like online customer service. So she, she knows how to do all the things.

02:58.91
Jeffe Kennedy
Now also drum roll, which I'm bad at doing. ah I can share with you the owl crate edition of never the roses.

03:09.94
Jeffe Kennedy
Look how beautiful this is I have been sharing this. Sure. God, What's wrong with me today? I've been sitting on this for like a month.

03:20.84
Jeffe Kennedy
They sent me a box full of them or yeah, probably a box full. Uh, and they're beautiful and I asked, so can I share this?

03:33.79
Jeffe Kennedy
And I see, see, here we are back to the same thing about like, I do sometimes remember to ask if I'm allowed to blab about things. And in this case, the answer was no. So it was a good thing I asked because I like nearly did it anyway.

03:49.40
Jeffe Kennedy
ah before I asked that I thought, Hmm, maybe I should ask. And so it turns out Owl Crate said, Oh, well, the books are supposed to be our surprise. And I was like, Oh, well, uh,

04:01.47
Jeffe Kennedy
guess I didn't know that, but now I know. And so I've been waiting and waiting and waiting. And I had been seeing ah people saying things like rumored Owl Crate Special Edition.

04:16.92
Jeffe Kennedy
and ah And I was like, covering my mouth where it's like I can neither confirm nor deny. ah yeah I know it's silliness.

04:29.84
Jeffe Kennedy
So anyway, now I've been seeing the videos out there of the unboxing and I can do my own. It's not really a boxing, but it's a reveal. So this is best done on video, but if you're on audio, I will show you it's Never the Roses with a special cover. It's got a huge purple rose on the front with Onira's house rising out of it.

04:51.16
Jeffe Kennedy
The font, the Never the Roses title and my name are in purple, dark purple foil. The side has a chain of roses.

05:04.44
Jeffe Kennedy
And the back has the house again inside of a circle of thorns. And it says, the world made us enemies, not we ourselves.

05:16.26
Jeffe Kennedy
Also in that dark purple foil. And there is Bunny, the scáthcú. And there's Adsila, the Kestrel in there. And also Come on. Where's Moriah? Is it Moriah in here?

05:36.37
Jeffe Kennedy
It was really fun working with the artists. They let me choose artists. They gave me like lists of artists for different aspects of the book. And, huh, I guess Moriah is not on the back. I don't see her. Maybe she's hiding.

05:52.23
Jeffe Kennedy
It would be very tricksy and on brand for her. Uh, so i got to choose the artists that I liked, like I ranked them and then they invited the artists to do things. And, um,

06:03.69
Jeffe Kennedy
Yeah, it was really fun. And I got to see the various iterations and give feedback. Owl Crate people were amazing. Okay, so sprayed edges, spredges. So on the side, there are The big side, the long side, there are different colored roses, purple and white.

06:22.57
Jeffe Kennedy
And there's Moriah. She's looking up at one of the roses. And at the top, there's Bunny again amidst the roses. And on the bottom, there's Adsila, this time in full color, in the the rust and blue color.

06:37.28
Jeffe Kennedy
So that then, then you the dust jacket and we'll do this part first. This, I think this is my favorite thing. Look at this inside of the dust jacket.

06:51.17
Jeffe Kennedy
They made essentially tarot cards of Oneira and Stearanos. ah And it's just amazing. They've got them listed as Stearanos as the Stormbreaker and Oneira as the Oneiromancer.

07:07.64
Jeffe Kennedy
And they've got all these great Tarot elements in there. And it's it's like they knew I loved Tarot. The Stormbreaker's got fireballs on his hands. And Oneira has the roses and dreamlike elements.

07:21.91
Jeffe Kennedy
And then on the the little flyleaf flap, And on the Stormbreaker side, it says, even the sages do not know how the heart heals. And on the back flap, it says, I've washed my hands of it all. I'm done with war.

07:39.76
Jeffe Kennedy
So cool. It's so beautiful. Okay, so now once you take the dust jacket off, look at what they did here. Because if you have not read the book, you might not know, but there's this whole thing about the library about Stearanos library and them ah trading notes, but it starts because Oneira steals a book from him. She's bored.

08:03.54
Jeffe Kennedy
she goes and she finds the book that he's been reading most recently because why not? If he's interested, let's see why. And it's called ah guide to cultivating Viridian roses.

08:15.19
Jeffe Kennedy
And so they put that on this, um, the case, it has that book. And then they have a couple of replications of the notes that they exchange that they leave for each other.

08:30.66
Jeffe Kennedy
And then on the back, They have what looks like the actual cover of The Adventures of Beastly Bunny, which is a book that Oneira leaves for him um mainly to get under his skin.

08:46.66
Jeffe Kennedy
that was a book from her childhood that had belonged to her grandmother and she valued it. And so she was like trying to ah give something of equal value and rarity, a book he couldn't get anywhere else, but also it's the adventures of the beastly bunny. And there's this whole thematic element with that ah where Oneira is also a gardener. They're both gardeners. They share that, that's cultivation of red and roses.

09:15.09
Jeffe Kennedy
and she has a hard time with the rabbits in her garden. This may be a little bit autobiographical. For me, it's not rabbits, it's rock squirrels.

09:26.77
Jeffe Kennedy
But Onira has made a vow never to kill anything again, so she really struggles with the rabbits. And The Adventures of Beastly Bunny is about a bunny that goes into a garden and eludes all of the gardener's efforts to stop it.

09:42.31
Jeffe Kennedy
And so then there's also ah quill pen dripping ink and a couple of little fragments from the notes. And there's also a little fragment of ah sort of like a little line drawing of the beastly bunny chewing up a book, which is a thing that I should have said there's spoilers, but I'm glad I get to finally talk about this book, right?

10:10.24
Jeffe Kennedy
There's a ah moment where Oh, near up because she's an owner man. So she controls dreams. She inserts the image of beastly bunny chewing up a book into analysis dreams because she's annoyed.

10:27.33
Jeffe Kennedy
All right. So then on the inside, Maybe this is a flyleaf. I should have gotten my terminology right. Look at this beautiful, beautiful illustration. It shows Steranos asleep on his desk.

10:39.74
Jeffe Kennedy
And it even has like the note that he's writing to her as her sleep enchantment hits him. And Oneira is leaning over his shoulder and looking at him.

10:51.31
Jeffe Kennedy
And yeah. and And you can even see it says a little bit where he's writing cowardly thief. He's trying to he can feel the sleep spell coming on. And so he starts writing that and tells her, he's trying to um prod her into waking him up.

11:11.09
Jeffe Kennedy
And then it's also shows the ocean outside and the moon and all of these details are so perfect. It's all directly from the story. So then at the back, look at that. Isn't that beautiful?

11:23.65
Jeffe Kennedy
It shows them Stearanos shirtless, which, you know, we like that. And Oneira with her hair down now. And they are in her house at this point.

11:35.29
Jeffe Kennedy
And this is a scene from near the end of the book. But you could see a little bit of ah this kind of altar that Oneira makes. And she puts flowers on every day.

11:47.49
Jeffe Kennedy
That's part of her her grieving process.

11:52.66
Jeffe Kennedy
So then, but wait, there's more. There's also a set of Ginsu knives that dates me, I think. So then inside, remember how I was signing all those tip-in sheets? This is what it was for.

12:03.98
Jeffe Kennedy
it could be where the rumors came from. I may have accidentally like spilled this early. uh, never the roses. It's got the the tip in sheet, which I'm sure I showed you all.

12:16.04
Jeffe Kennedy
but And there's beastly bunny chewing on the book and my legit signature, my original signature. And then on the facing page is a handwritten letter from me, uh, that they reduced and put in there. And it's some very small print cause I wrote it too long, but it's, um,

12:36.50
Jeffe Kennedy
It's there. You can use your magnifying glass to read it or take a photo and blow it up. And then the inside is the same. The inside is the same as the, you know, Torah edition.

12:51.08
Jeffe Kennedy
But let's see where it's there. I know there's some additional... Ah, yes, there is some bonus content, exclusive bonus content. It even says there, I will create exclusive content.

13:09.53
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, and this was fun to do because, uh, these are, um, One of it, one of them, the first one is ah something that's taken from a book that Oneira started writing and then decided not to write and it breaks off.

13:27.62
Jeffe Kennedy
ah She tears it away because she decides this knowledge is too dangerous and she doesn't want other people to use it for a bad. And then on the next page,

13:38.21
Jeffe Kennedy
There are, drs it says various drafts of letters discovered in his eminent sorcerer's Stearanos desk. And it's all of his various drafts, beginnings of leaving notes for Oneira.

13:55.30
Jeffe Kennedy
And then also, ah then there's various fragments discovered Oneira's fireplace, mostly burnt because she burns stuff, ah And it's all of her starts where she makes her drafts in writing to him.

14:12.43
Jeffe Kennedy
The finals are, of course, in the actual book. But so there's your insider's breakdown to Owl Crate edition, which i adore and love. And now I can prominently display with the other editions. I was like keeping it down out of sight before this.

14:33.38
Jeffe Kennedy
ah So, um, it's not exciting. So now let's see. Um, what news do I have? What news?

14:46.27
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, I am going to world con next week. If you are planning to be at world con, I don't have any official events, but I will have book plates with me and I might bring some books and um I have UK editions too. I think I already did my side-by-side comparison of those.

15:07.30
Jeffe Kennedy
And so I'll be around. Tag me on social media. I'm mostly socializing. I'm going to have lunch with my editor, Allie Fisher, and with Debbie Pillai, the publisher.

15:21.93
Jeffe Kennedy
So that's going be really fun. I'm going to Parties. ah but I'm not exactly bar conning because I did register. I'm just not on programming.

15:32.95
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, so, and then gossip. Do we want to talk about gossip? There's one of the big things this morning is that, um, so this is kind of like an industry thing that all of you may or may not know about, but,

15:51.03
Jeffe Kennedy
There are these people out there who have businesses oh making merchandise of Sarah J. Moss's books and characters, right?

16:04.26
Jeffe Kennedy
um You know, so they like make dust jackets. So something like this, something like the Owl Crate Edition. They did this working with my publisher, right? Right.

16:15.61
Jeffe Kennedy
ah because of the way Sarah J. Moss's career grew and because the merchandising thing is newer, I guess, there are all these people who started up businesses selling dolls and I don't know, tote bags and dust jackets and all this kind of thing for based on Sarah J. Mass's books, her intellectual property.

16:41.05
Jeffe Kennedy
And they are licensed to do that. You're not supposed to do this with without a license. Not that people don't. ah But yeah, there are some people out there who think, oh, I love this book. I'll just make dolls from it or posters or sell my art of it.

16:56.00
Jeffe Kennedy
And you actually don't get to do that because it's somebody else's intellectual property. Right? So these are people that did license it, but now the license is being revoked. They've all been notified that they have 60 days, which, you know, is arguably a very short period of time to, um,

17:17.05
Jeffe Kennedy
to, to cease and desist essentially. So there are some people going on social media saying that they have $10,000 worth of inventory and how are they supposed to get rid of it in the next two months?

17:30.70
Jeffe Kennedy
And, um, yeah, that's, that's a difficult, it's a difficult thing. um but also,

17:40.67
Jeffe Kennedy
You know, it's just when when you're licensed for something, when you're selling something based on intellectual property that is not yours, it's a risk.

17:54.32
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's even if you've licensed it legally, you know, that's what can happen is they can they can yank it back. And it's unfortunate. And I'm seeing lots of people upset. But then I'm seeing other people saying, well,

18:10.63
Jeffe Kennedy
why not diversify? You know, why not look at other fantasy romance authors and make merchandising agreements with them? Uh, why not, um, you know, instead of putting your eggs all in one basket and, and I suppose this is just a life lesson. That's a business lesson lesson learned. And it's, um, yeah, it's really hard, but you know, especially when an author is really powerhouse like Sarah J Maas,

18:40.84
Jeffe Kennedy
eventually the corporations are going to take it over. Right. It's kind of like, you know, Disney being so draconian about all of their trademarks, you know, that that's why they, they want that intellectual property and they're going to, they want to be the ones making the money off of it.

18:57.22
Jeffe Kennedy
So um I feel for those people having to get rid of that amount of merchandise, but also, yeah, yeah, it's hard. It's rough.

19:09.46
Jeffe Kennedy
So i am starting a new book today. You all will be thrilled to hear that I'm starting magic reborn. ah the ninth book that began with in the series that began with, uh, dark wizard, we're going to wind this puppy up.

19:26.01
Jeffe Kennedy
So I'm getting to work on it. We're shooting for an a August, ha but that not August, date. And, uh, yeah. So,

19:34.58
Jeffe Kennedy
and yeah so i hope you all have a great rest of your week, and I will talk to you all on Friday. You all take care. Bye-bye.