Writing Heart’s Peak

It’s been a busy summer! As we near the end of July, it feels like a good time for an update.

The biggest and most exciting thing I have to talk about is our progress on Heart’s Peak 2, the sequel to Redemption. We’ve had a general idea for the plot in mind ever since we were writing Redemption. It’s about Aria and Luka, who were introduced in the first book. They have a strong attraction to each other, yet personalities that just keep clashing. She’s a high maintenance, neat freak, city girl. He’s a messy, reckless, country boy. Their one time fling was meant to be nothing more, but what happens when she realizes she’s pregnant? Aria returns to Heart’s Peak, to see if there’s any chance of her and Luka having something real together.

This book continues threads from Redemption, sets up things for the third book, and has a full arc for Aria and Luka too. The more we work on this one, the more excited I am to share it with people! We did hit some snags with the outline. The flow was all wrong. But after some hefty brainstorming discussions, we have a new and improved outline. It should be smooth sailing until the end!

We have 18 chapters written (almost 19 since D is working on one as I write this), and the overall length will be 32-35 chapters. Yay for being past halfway! We also have a title selected, which we’ll be announcing soon.

As for more Heart’s Peak news, Redemption has been dropped to 99 cents on Amazon. We’re hoping to get it into more hands, in preparation for the sequel’s release. We’re also super thrilled at the response Redemption has received lately! It has four glowing reviews on Amazon and eight ratings on Goodreads! As self-published authors who are starting out all on our own, it really feels good to see people liking our books and leaving good ratings and reviews.

Redemption and My Unexpected Valentine will both be free to download on July 31st, if there’s one (or both) of them you’d like to read! I know it’s not the season for My Unexpected Valentine, but it honestly is a book that could be enjoyed at any time of year. At the very least, add it to your library for this next Valentine’s Day. Why not?

I also want to let everyone know that on July 31st, we’re going to be participating in a Facebook release party for Barbara Lally’s The Trichster Diaries! I’m equal parts excited and intimidated about this, haha. We’ve never been part of a release party before. It should be fun, though, if you’d like to drop by. It’ll be taking place all evening, from 4-10pm.

What else is going on? We’re finally getting a newsletter set up and that should be live soon. And! I can’t believe I almost forgot. We’ve been working on something I’ve jokingly called the #SuperSecretSideProject on Instagram. I don’t want to reveal much about it right now, but I will say it’s a paranormal romance that we’ll probably work on releasing after Heart’s Peak 2. So, paranormal fans, stay tuned for that!

And now, I’ll leave you with a snippet from the unedited draft of Heart’s Peak 2.

-A

Excerpt from Heart’s Peak 2

          He was nothing like what she usually went for, but maybe that was what she needed. All her relationships ended in disaster. Or would this one be the same? Would he break her heart, the way her ex-boyfriends had? He told her he’d never hurt her. But he didn’t know the whole situation…
          “Luka…”
          Her hand gently cupped his jaw as she met his eyes. She wanted to tell him and get it over with. She wanted to kiss him and avoid telling him forever. She didn’t know what she wanted.
          “Yeah?” His hand shifted from her shoulder, and she felt his fingers in her hair. In his eyes, she saw a mix of care and desire. Her heart was in her throat. She felt like… like she could love this man. Like maybe she had already fallen for him.
          She should probably tell him the truth before she let things get any more serious. If he reacted badly, it was going to be hard, and even harder if she had to deal with heartbreak on top of being a single mother. She wanted to believe he wouldn’t… That he’d be the good father she assumed he could be. But that little doubt kept nagging at her.
          She couldn’t bring herself to say it. They were having such a fun time together. She didn’t want to ruin that with stressful conversation. She wanted to have this day with him. This one perfect day where nothing had gone wrong between them.
          Instead of answering him with words, she leaned in to kiss him.