Being a self-published writer is a never-ending education. Or is it evolution? I’ve certainly changed the way I deal with the backlist, during the same period in which my writing style has evolved.
I wrote several novellas before going back to full-length novels. There are still more novellas than novels! I like writing them, because the shorter length means I can focus on only one thing (typically the romance), where a longer book calls for multiple plot threads. I like reading novellas, too; at the end of a long day of work, it’s nice to pick up something that I know I can finish before bedtime.
However, as a writer, loving novellas means that they’ve … accumulated. And thus I’ve packaged up several collections, of which TRUST is the latest. Click image below for product link!
Cover image by Farrinni @farrinni unsplash.com
Three key things about TRUST:
All three novellas in this collection are F/M stories featuring professional dancers.
All the characters are involved with my fictional semi-pro dance company, the Underground Cabaret. They do not, however, intersect in a significant way during the course of their individual stories. Each novella was written to stand alone.
The choice of ‘Trust’ for this collection’s title reflects the governing concern in each of these relationships.
Oh wait, one more thing: this collection contains an all-new bonus short story!
SHAKEN & STIRRED features dancer Anya Ivanova and a bartender, Terry Jefferson, who works at the club where the Underground Cabaret does its shows. This is an interracial relationship that begins as friends-with-benefits. Terry is the older brother of my character Tasha, the heroine of A FEW KISSES AGO.
TORCH features a trope I honestly thought I’d never write: a secret baby! Tomas Calderon and Rosa Ramirez have a long-term summers-only affair going; he’s off on tour most of the year, but comes back to her every year in Las Vegas, until one summer when he arrives and she’s gone. Tomas is one of the six stars of my fictional movie at the center of THE GHOST OF CARLOS GARDEL; Rosa is the sister of Luis, one of the heroes of OVERBOARD.
LIFT is a friends-(and dance partners)-to-lovers story featuring yoga teacher Karen Scott and dance instructor Zach Tyler. Karen was one of my all-time-favorite female characters to write. These two people trust each other in a profound way almost before they have reason to, and their growing awareness of possibilities is something I think a lot of people in their thirties can relate to. In my story-universe, Zach’s chief intersection is with Andy Martin, one of my foundational characters (see the CO-STARS). Karen is a friend of Willem van der Meer, one of the heroes of TAKE EVERYTHING.
In case all of the above doesn’t make it clear, there is a lot of dancing in these three stories. All my dancer characters are inspired, at least in part, by my own experiences as a dancer and by the people I know in the dance world. These particular dancers are people I hadn’t seen in other romances; thus, I wrote my own. Hope they find a home in readers’ hearts, too!
