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Welcome to King’s Crossing: A Sneak Peek at Book Six

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I have to admit, book six was the most fun to write, and part of the reason it was so fun was because of the friendship that evolved between Zane and Gage. Gage is kind of snarky, sarcastic, and Zane’s quiet, hardened by life and what the Blacks have done to him. He won’t let anyone fuck with his family and he knows he can go to Gage for help, and he does. I like how they interact with each other, respecting each other and working toward the same goal–to keep Zarah safe. There are a few scenes where they’re alone, talking, and their conversations both amuse me and give me some big feelings too.

Here’s what I mean:

Zane’s waiting for me to say something, do something, but hell if I know what. Finally, I shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you. She’s obviously having a problem with me, and what am I supposed to do? Chase her every time she decides we’re moving too fast? Run after her every time she thinks I’m no good for her?”

He meets my eyes. Doesn’t speak until he has every ounce of my attention.

“Yes.”

I blow out a breath. “Fuck.”

Zarah knows what to say if she wants me to leave her alone and she didn’t say it. 

“Fine. Did you track her phone?”

“I didn’t want to. I wanted to find her some other way first.”

“Well, your other way doesn’t know where she is. You did put the app on her phone that traces it, didn’t you? When you took it after her breakdown?”

“I might have,” he mumbles, “but only for her own protection.”

–Shattered Dreams, King’s Crossing Book Six, VM Rheault

That scene goes on for a while… I don’t want to give too much away, but this is a great example why book six was so fun. I hope you enjoy their “bromance” too.

It took me a long time to get the ending just right. You don’t end a six-book series without trying to tie up every loose end possible. I ran into that when I finished up my Ghost Town trilogy. That trilogy is over 300,000 words, and I wanted to get the ending just right. I wanted my readers to get a serious book hangover after reading the last book, and I hope I accomplished that.

I took the ending of this book seriously, too, and when I first wrote it, Zarah finished up. It felt good, the way she had the last word. It felt right… until it didn’t. There’s something about an Epilogue that, when stunningly written, can leave a reader wanting more, even if there is no more. I liked the way Zarah’s point of view ended the books, but I realized it ended hers and Gage’s story, not necessarily the series.

So, I took a few days to mull over what I wanted to do about that. Stella started the series, the first chapter of the first book is in her point of view. She’s the catalyst that began the beginning of the end of the Blacks, and so I thought, well, maybe Zane should be the one to wrap things up. Completely. Forever.

There was always one tiny part of book two that was never addressed in the rest of the books, and it niggled at me. Before I decided to write the Epilogue, I wondered how I could mention it, bring it up, so it could be resolved, and I never figured out a way. I read through these books several times, as you can imagine, and nothing ever popped. Then I had a lightbulb moment and thought writing the Epilogue in Zane’s point of view could be just what I needed to address what could have been considered a minor plot hole, and test Stella and Zane’s love…again. Of course, saying that Zane and Stella have a happily ever after isn’t a spoiler, and they do have a happily ever after as do Gage and Zarah. I was just so happy that I could circle back to book two, the entire premise for the books, if you want me to be perfectly honest, and end in Zane’s voice because I started in Stella’s.

I don’t know…this series is long and maybe no one will ever get to the Epilogue. I’m asking a lot of readers to read 500,000 words, but I hope if readers make it that far, they are as pleased as I am.

Here’s the cover and the blurb for book six.

Gage

Zarah made it clear she wants space to do her own thing, but that doesn’t mean any of this is over. Zane asks Pop and me to look into another murder, and I reluctantly agree. We find some interesting evidence at the crime scene, pointing fingers at people I never considered could be a part of it all.

When Zarah’s therapist kidnaps her, Zane, Stella, and I race against time to figure out where they could have gone, and what she wants with Zarah.

What we find will change my life forever.

Zarah

Breaking up with Gage was the biggest mistake of my life, and he’s the only person I can call when I’m in trouble.

Despite getting back together, he still encourages me to go through with a trip I had planned. Jerricka intercepts me at the airport, and she knows just the right buttons to push to convince me to go with her instead.

Revealing secrets from the past seven years, she explains the real reason why Ash locked me away in Quiet Meadows, why my memories have disappeared, and what she plans to do with me.

I know, without a doubt, if she gets her way, I won’t survive.

I’ll be getting the ARCs together as soon as I possibly can. I’ll have more information when my proofs come. How soon the ARCs will be available depends on if I have any tweaking I need to do to the interiors or the covers and if I run into any issues formatting the ebooks. I shouldn’t, but formatting the ebooks and uploading them to Bookfunnel always takes longer than I think it will. I’ll keep you updated.

In the meantime, don’t forget you can download a copy of My Biggest Mistake as a thank you for stopping by and (hopefully) subscribing to the blog. Lots of news coming your way–don’t miss out!

https://BookHip.com/CMSVSNK

Welcome to King’s Crossing: A Sneak Peek at Book Three

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So, when I was writing this book, I thought this would be the end of the story, but, I should have known better. I was naïve right up until practically the end. You know how authors say their characters are in control and we’re just telling their stories? That is absolutely true. I had no clue what was going to happen or that it would create the need for three more books.

In fact, when I opened the document for book four, I had no idea what I was going to write, who Zarah’s love interest was going to be, or what her story was going to be about. Nothing. All I knew then was that she needed her chance at happiness because someone had taken it away from her at the end of book three.

This post isn’t about book four though–we’ll get to that next week.

Book three wraps up Zane’s and Stella’s stories. Not completely, as they don’t disappear in books four through six and they feature in the series’ epilogue, but they do get their happily ever after, even if they have to tackle some difficult situations later on.

Zane was in love with Stella from the second he saw her, and I do feel bad it took them three books to find their happiness. But Zane… he’s different from other heroes I’ve written in the past. One of which is, he’s younger than any of the male characters I’ve published so far. His age makes him vulnerable, too trusting in the wrong people, and naïve. He’s mourning the loss of his parents and hiding from the obligations their deaths put on his shoulders. Because of this, sometimes he makes poor choices, and I won’t be surprised if I get a review or two telling me they don’t like him. That’s okay. He’s flawed and makes mistakes, but I think, as you read his and Stella’s stories, you’ll find his heart was always in the right place. He just doesn’t know what to do with his feelings most of the time.

Stella fell in love at first sight, and she put up with a lot. There were times when she didn’t think she could do it, and in books two and three, their relationship is shaky at best. Through it all, though, she never gave up, and in the end, Zane turned into the man she needed him to be. Maybe readers will think she put up with too much and she should have walked away. Zane certainly thought that. But Stella stands up for what she believes in, and despite his mistakes and her doubts, she believed in him. He’ll always love her for that.

Can a character be too flawed? I guess I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Here’s the cover and the blurb:

Zane

I thought everything would end the day Ash and his father, Clayton, were arrested for my parents’ deaths, heading a prostitution ring, and selling weapons on the black market.

But I was wrong.

The true reason why Ash hated Stella comes out, and it does more than ruin what little trust I’ve managed to repair between us.

It tears us apart.

There’s nothing that will redeem me in Stella’s eyes. All I can do is wait her out and hope that love, just this one time, wins.

Stella

Growing up in foster care, the only thing I’ve ever wanted was to find a family. I thought I had when Zane asked me to marry him. I would have a husband who loved me, and Zarah would be my sister.

But as the FBI sorts through the Blacks’ illegal activities, they find more than what we bargained for.

Now I have to choose between Zane and the family I thought I never had.

I don’t know if I can keep both, or if, after everything I’ve been through to destroy the Blacks, I have the strength to try.

As always, for reading and subscribing to the blog, you can download My Biggest Mistake, a free, full-length ugly duckling billionaire novel. You can find it here: https://BookHip.com/CMSVSNK

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to King’s Crossing: A Sneak Peek at Book One

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I’ve been working extremely hard to get these books up and running, and with every day I’m coming closer. But that also means I need to start talking about these books or no one is going to know what they’re about or want to read the ARCs when I finally post them.

I’m not used to talking about my books much, just throwing the links out there and hoping for the best, something you probably have come to realize about me if you’ve followed my author journey for any length of time. I’m rather introverted and tend to lurk, but lurking isn’t so great if you have news to share, which I do, and I’ll have a lot of it in the coming weeks.

I started writing this series back in December of 2019. A plot, no, an idea, kind of fell into my lap, and as things do, my story turned into a 500,000 word monster. I’m not sad about it, but it took me a lot longer to get them written and ready to publish than I thought. Four and a half years later, I’m getting close. These were the first books I wrote when I decided to change from 3rd person past POV to 1st person present POV, kicking off my the books I would write under my initials.

As most of my books are, these take place in a huge made-up city in Minnesota called King’s Crossing. In my mind, it’s a mixture of Minneapolis (a city I have been many times), New York City (a city I have never been to in my life), and Savannah, Georgia (a city I have been a handful of times). I wanted the big city feel, especially since Zane Maddox, my main male character for the first half of the series, is a billionaire, but I also wanted the river in Savannah to feature because when we stayed at the Westin, I would love to watch the huge cargo ships go by, and they play a part in book three.

photo taken from https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/savwi-the-westin-savannah-harbor-golf-resort-and-spa/overview/

This is the hotel I stayed at, right on the river. It was beautiful, and watching the cargo ships float by was amazing. I hope I bring that feeling into my books.

Anyway, so the story spans a few years and I was able to include the hot stickiness we can experience in the summer, even in Minnesota, and the harsh winter temperatures as well. It’s probably why I like setting my books in Minnesota… I love using all the seasons.

Here’s the cover and the blurb for the first book:

Zane

Six months ago, my parents were killed in a plane crash. They left behind me, my sister, and a billion-dollar company that’s my responsibility now.

The only things that have gotten me through are Zarah and my best friend, Ashton Black.

Until I meet Stella.

Ash hates Stella as much as I love her, and as I try to uncover the reason why my parents’ plane crashed, I struggle to keep both of them in my life.

When she disappears, Ash says, “I told you so,” and all I have left is our friendship built on years of family loyalty, tears, and blood.

Stella

Meeting Zarah Maddox while she tours her parents’ company is a dream come true. She introduces me to her brother, Zane, and a world I want to desperately be a part of as much as I fear.

Ashton Black is Zane’s best friend, and he hates me from the second he hears my name.

He’s not the man Zane thinks he is, but when I discover evidence he’s hurting Zarah, there’s nothing I can do but sacrifice myself to keep them safe.

Zane’s loyalty to the Blacks is stronger than our love, but I won’t be the only one to pay the price.

These books are new for me–they are one long story from start to finish. There’s only one entry point–book one, and books 1 2, 4, and 5 end on mild to hard cliffhangers. The first three books are about Zane and Stella, and the second three books are about Zane’s sister, Zarah, and her love interest, Gage.

As an author, you hear a lot about people hating cliffhangers and maybe readers really do, so I will be very vocal about this point going forward–most of these books end on cliffhangers. It’s another reason why I waited to publish until all the books were ready. There will be a few weeks waiting between books, but not months or even years that are between the releases of some books (no shade to those authors, this was just my preferred way). When the ARCs are ready, they’ll be available all at once, though the releases will be about six weeks apart, if all goes smoothly.

For now, I’ll give you a sneak peek at each book from now until the ARCs are ready, one about every 9 days or so. I’m hoping I don’t need much longer to publish these. I’m so excited, and I hope you are too.

Stick with me through the summer–you won’t regret it!

As always, if you haven’t grabbed your free copy of My Biggest Mistake, you can do that here. It would be great if you could subscribe to my blog for updates and news, especially if you plan to be in on the ARCs and releases of my series. This will be where I’ll post the newest information, so don’t miss out!

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/a4ldiapzmg

Have a great week and a wonderful 4th of July, also, Happy Canada Day to all my friends across the border. Stay safe, and I will touch base with you soon!

April Showers Bring May Flowers (Supposedly)

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This is my first blog post in lieu of my newsletter. Shutting it down was difficult, but putting up with the glitches that made me look (and feel) bad was worse, so this is how I’ll be updating my readers from now on, maybe forever. I’ve been blogging in a different capacity for close to eight years so I know how this website works and I’m hoping that this will stop any more unfortunate incidents from happening again.

I’m going through my King’s Crossing series, but it’s going smoothly and I hope to have the ARCs (advanced review copies) ready by the end June. That might be asking for a lot considering how much can go wrong between now and then, but life hasn’t beaten me down completely, and the sunny days we’ve been having and the new wine I found at the liquor store has kept my spirits (and optimism) up.

I would love to share covers and I have the basic concept down, but they aren’t ready quite yet. I really want to show you something though, so here’s the basic idea of the first cover and the blurb. There are six books in this series (three about Zane and Stella and three about Gage and Zarah) they’ll be all ready to go and on preorder (I didn’t want you to have to wait long between books), and I’ll have the ARCs up for all the books on this site ASAP. There is so much work I have to do between now and then, but I’m having so much fun, and I know once you can read them, you will too!

Zane

Six months ago, my parents were killed in a plane crash. They left behind me, my sister, and a billion-dollar company that’s my responsibility now. 
The only things that have gotten me through are Zarah and my best friend, Ashton Black.
Until I meet Stella.
Ash hates Stella as much as I love her, and as I try to uncover the reason why my parents’ plane crashed, I struggle to keep both of them in my life.
When she disappears, Ash says, “I told you so,” and all I have left is our friendship built on years of family loyalty, tears, and blood.

Stella

Meeting Zarah Maddox while she tours her parents’ company is a dream come true. She introduces me to her brother, Zane, and a world I want to desperately be a part of as much as I fear.
Ashton Black is Zane’s best friend, and he hates me from the second he hears my name.
He’s not the man Zane thinks he is, but when I discover evidence he’s hurting Zarah, there’s nothing I can do but sacrifice myself to keep them safe.
Zane’s loyalty to the Blacks is stronger than our love, and I won’t be the only one to pay the price.

I did share some other information with you in the newsletter that I hope no one opened and if you did, didn’t click on the links. As an author writing to her readers, I never thought I would say that, but it would make me feel a lot better if you didn’t (just lie to me, thanks!). Last month Give & Take, the first book in my Lost & Found Trilogy, was featured in a bi-monthly newsletter called Happily Ever Alpha. I shared the signup link that didn’t go anywhere, but if you were interested in signing up for a newsletter that features deals and freebie books, you can do it here: https://happilyeveralpha.com/

Give & Take is still .99 for a few more days, and if you wanted to pick it up, you can do it here: https://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Billionaire-Contemporary-Romance-ebook/dp/B0BRHL9WN2

That’s all I have for now, but now that I’ve made the transition to blogging from a newsletter aggregator, I should post more consistently. I have a lot going on this year, so please subscribe if you haven’t, and don’t forget to download My Biggest Mistake! I love Allie and Brady and don’t want you to miss out! You can do that here: https://BookHip.com/CMSVSNK

Have a great weekend!