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Stephanie M. Matthews

@stephaniem.matthews

1.7K

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1611

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🇨🇦 CAD Author
💼 Juggling work-life-writing balance
📖 #TheEvesEnd #1 Amazon best seller
🏛️ History nerd
🔗 Free previews & purchase my books below

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I may be setting myself up here 😄 It's okay, you can choose A Christmas Carol. Who can compete with Charles Dickens? The original, modern, non-nativity Christmas story? But what if those two stories got together and had a dark-metal baby? What if you found a story that made you choose "That" over "This"? What if "scary ghost stories" is really what keeps us coming back to the beautiful magic of the Christmas lights and softly falling snow? What if we need one for the other? What if...you need to read The Gift to remember what Christmas is at its heart? There's no Santa here, no Hallmark romance, and no mass consumerism. Just a character with a really big chip on their shoulder and their soul on the line. Wait, which of the two stories am I still talking about?

Now is the time to find out the answer to those questions. Link in my bio to check out.

#thegift #christmasstory #thisorthat #achristmascarol #truemeaningofchristmas #bookrecommendation #booklovers #booksbooksbooks #readersofinsta #whattoreadnext #goodreads #greatreads #bookstagram #indieauthorsofinstagram #indieauthor #bookster #writersnetwork #christianfiction #christianthriller #readersofinstagram #readersofinstagram #canadianauthor #readthenorth #ottawawriters #ottawaauthor #canadianwriter #supernaturalthriller #psychologicalthriller #thriller #thrillernovel #thrillerbooks by @stephaniem.matthews

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3 years ago

More arrows, more fun! Did I miss anything that you would've added?

You can discover all my book tropes for yourself by reading my "curiously odd titled" book, available at online retailers! There's also a free sample of a couple chapters with the link in my bio 😀

#theevesend #booklovers #booksbooksbooks #authorsofinsta #readersofinsta #trending #popularbooks #readthisbook #authorscommunity #writingcommunity #goodreads #greatreads #bookstagram #indieauthorsofinstagram #indieauthor #booksbooksbooks #writersnetwork #readersofinstagram #readersofinstagram #canadianauthor #readthenorth #ottawawriters #ottawaauthor #canadianwriter #booksofinstagram #whattoread #whattoreadnext by @stephaniem.matthews

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3 years ago

Turns out, this "book and arrow" fad was supposed to call out your book tropes. 🤷‍♀️ I like my take on it better.
You can discover all my book tropes for yourself by reading my "Generic yet very accurately titled" book. Available at online retailers and there's a free sample of a couple chapters with the link in my bio 😀

#thegift #booklovers #booksbooksbooks #authorsofinsta #readersofinsta #trending #popularbooks #readthisbook #authorscommunity #writingcommunity #goodreads #greatreads #bookstagram #indieauthorsofinstagram #indieauthor #bookster #writersnetwork #readersofinstagram #readersofinstagram #canadianauthor #readthenorth #ottawawriters #ottawaauthor #canadianwriter by @stephaniem.matthews

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3 years ago

Confession time:
When I first saw this tote bag, I naturally, and without prompt, read it with a Scottish accent and thought it was fantastic that Winners were selling a tote bag supporting authors: buy my books! Buy my books and call me pretty, okay sure; I would really just prefer you buy my books, and adding the "pretty" part felt a little gimmicky, but it was just great that authors were being represented as well as readers!.... It took me over 24 hours to see that this tote wasn't intended to be ready with a Scottish accent, and it was just a demand for free books.

Freudian slip, falling back into my Scottish summer, or is this just who I am as a person, misreading things for how they are not actually intended? 🤷‍♀️😄

#booksbooksbooks #booktote #indieauthorsofinstagram #winnersfinds #scottish by @stephaniem.matthews

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a day ago

My latest project has been released! 😃🐝 Just because I haven't been writing doesn't mean I haven't been working, and I'm really excited to share that my latest project is finished and is looking great! I had the privilege of working with my wonderful friend, Giorgio Franchetti, on HIS latest book, a deep look at the presence of bees, bee keeping, and honey around the ancient Mediterranean. His original is in Italian, and I helped him bring this work into smooth English 😎 There's so many interesting things to learn about bee keeping in the ancient Mediterranean world, like how some cultures would put their bee hives on the backs of donkeys, or on boats, and travel down the river with them so the bees could use the water flowers for their honey, or to bring them to better pastures when their previous source of pollen was drying up. The visual of a bee hive gently bobbing down the river through water lilies may be one of the most pastoral, whimsical images ever to come out of the ancient world! 😄

Most people just buy regular honey from the grocery store, but have you ever tasted a honey curated from specific flowers? Do you have a favorite?

#newbookrelease #ancienthistory #beekeeping #historybooks #writercommunity by @stephaniem.matthews

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5 months ago

A reminder that the prices for my books haven't gone up since their original release and I don't plan on raising them either 🙌 Books are meant to be read by all, and while your grocery bill goes up, rent rises, health insurance jumps, you can count on my books to be as affordable as possible.

Support your local authors, we believe in books just like you do 🙂

#affordablebooks #readerscommunity #ottawawriters #indieauthorcommunity #readmorebooks taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @stephaniem.matthews

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9 months ago

Not all lunch breaks need food 🤩 We got a dump of snow last night and what better way to celebrate than to go for a quick snowshoe in the fresh powder over lunch?

Authors are always asking each other how to clear their head, how to focus, how to get out of a rut creatively. My first answer? Get. Outside. Move! 😃

#authoradvice #stayactive #winterforest #winterwonderland #creativeprocess taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @stephaniem.matthews

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9 months ago

And so begins 2026. This past year has been a strange one for a number of people, and strange in the “world crumbling around me” sort of way; I haven’t actually met anyone who has stood up and exclaimed that 2025 was their Best. Year. Ever! And yet, here we are, at the other end of that tunnel. Ragged, haggard, maybe not so worse for wear if your year was alright, but not sure if things will be better this year, and hoping to God that it had better be.

This year, for 2026, I’m not going to review the same pessimistic outlook that still hangs over us now. A dying climate, war, famine, impossible costs of living, lunatics in power, Silicone Valley forcing everyone into techno-serfdom… that will remain unchanged. But now that we’re getting our feet truly wet in the hardest years our world has seen in decades, and our planet has seen for maybe millenia, I’m just going to ring in 2026 with a gritty statement of You. Can. Survive. Maybe even thrive.

There’s been studies done on the results of shouting curse words to help endure pain (when I broke my wrist in 2021, the surgeon setting my bones back in place was really surprised I got through it without swearing. I found screaming bloody-murder worked just fine), and there’s been lots of studies on mothers who remember the pain of childbirth not being SO bad that they actually want another baby, and parents who remember the positives of parenthood more than the negatives so that, evolutionarily speaking, we as a species continue to have families! What I’m saying is that no matter what 2026 brings, not only can you get through it, but it’s the memories of the good that will help you through. Like 2025 there was, and there will be, beautiful moments and life highs. This pain too shall pass. Maybe like a kidney stone, but whatever 2026 brings, you will get through it, because f*ck. Yeah.

#2026vibes #happynewyear #newyear #lookforward #staystrong by @stephaniem.matthews

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9 months ago

I have never read Stephen King's "It", nor have I ever watched any of the screen adaptations. Someone in my circle, however, is reading "It" for the first time and couldn't help but see parallels between my book "The Gift" and "It", even down to a character who is a famous architect (or, she will be by the time "The Eve's End" comes around). Shared evil genius or the luck of infinite monkeys, either way, I'll take this as a good sign for my writing future 😊

Have you read or watched "It"? Did you like the story?

#thegift #stephenking #horrorstories #writercommunity #readersofinstagram by @stephaniem.matthews

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10 months ago

Have you read these Christmas thrillers yet? It's not too late to pick up a copy for a Christmas experience unlike any other. Beautiful European Christmas village? ✅ Big city girl out of water in a small town? ✅ Un peu de français mixed in? 😁✅ Christmas carols and Nativities? ✅ Dark events forming even darker mysteries? Psychological madness and a fight to survive against the backdrop of Christmas unlike any other story you've ever read?? Love torn apart by dark forces, will it ever recover?! ✅✅✅✅

And for anyone who loves a little extra mystery, look for the letter hidden in each chapter number:it's the coolest idea for books!
(Also, I spy in the second photo of this post, a Santa squirrel and a cat trying to be subtle 😄)

#christmasreads #christmasstory #readersofinstagram #bookrec #thrillerbook taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @stephaniem.matthews

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10 months ago

I found my mom's Ukrainian shirt 😊 Two weeks ago I helped my mom downsize her home and move into a smaller place and among many other interesting items and treasures I found this shirt which I've now adopted as my own. Proud of my Ukrainian heritage now more than ever before 💪 #ukrainianstrong

#standwithukraine🇺🇦 #ukrainian #canadianukrainian #canadianauthor taken in Ottawa, Ontario by @stephaniem.matthews

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10 months ago

My book has found another reader! 🥳 🥹 I saw this recently posted review and melted a little on the inside- swipe to read the full review. After getting tired of reading novels from some of my go-to, traditionally published authors, where the story left almost no impact and were rather forgettable, I was fed up and wrote a story that won't be quickly forgotten after you read the last page. I couldn't be happier that this reader found my story ☺️

Thank you to everyone who leaves an honest review for the books they read! It takes only a minute or two and can mean the world.

#thegift #honestreview #bookreview #favoritenewread #bookreccomendation #bookrecs #bookreaders #christmasreads #thrillerreads #thrillerbook #immersivebooks #darkchristmas #readersofinstagram #readthenorth #canadianwriter by @stephaniem.matthews

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10 months ago