When I had the idea for The Other Duke last summer, there was no way I could have imagined what would happen next. All I knew was that I had an idea that thrilled me and it easily lead to a family that intrigued me even more. Writing each book in the series was a wonderful experience.
I loved writing Rafe and Serafina in The Other Duke. So often the hero in my books is the one who is broken and needs to be healed by love but in their book it was Serafina who didn’t want that kind of connection and built a wall between them. Being able to gently awaken her through Rafe’s patient passion was really a pleasure.
In The Scoundrel’s Lover, I had a different challenge. Annabelle had watched her father and her brothers destroy (often completely blindly) her future with their wild behavior, but her own Flynn tendencies terrified her. Marcus’s longtime love (often obsession with her) awoke those needs she wanted to deny and walking the line between what she thinks she wants and what she really needs was a great balancing act to manage.
By the time I got to The Widow Wager, I felt like I knew Crispin Flynn pretty well. But it wasn’t until he got into a room with Gemma for the first time that I really understood the depth of his pain and his guilt. I wanted him to earn Gemma and I wanted Gemma to make him a man worth earning. Together they bring out the best in each other. Plus, that book helped me realized a dream, to hit the USA Today. So it will always hold a wonderful place in my heart.
Originally that was to be the end of the series. But there were secondary characters who spoke to me so plainly while I wrote those books. Which lead me first to No Gentleman for Georgina. Paul and Georgina were both introduced in Annabelle and Marcus’s book, but they never met. Still, I thought they would be perfect for each other. Kind Georgina who was obsessed with being perfect and tired Paul who always followed the rules and put up with Marcus. Who else could be so perfect. And the scene when Georgina reveals her love for Paul to Annabelle and Marcus is one of the favorite ones I’ve ever written.
Mary and Woodley were also somewhat of a perfect match, even though they might not look like it on paper. In A Marquis for Mary, the sister of Gemma and the sworn enemy of her brother-in-law, Woodley, seemed like they would cause fireworks. But as I wrote them, I realized that they were both looking for supreme loyalty. Their pasts have made them fear they’ll never find it. But there it is, right there between them. And I loved giving them a happy ever after and introducing my readers to the other Woodleys as we get ready for their series that starts in August.
And now we’re here at the end of this magnificent series that launched this year and launched more success than I ever imagined. So we have one more play for readers. The bundle for The Notorious Flynns is out now. So if you waited to buy every story or know a friend who might love them and hasn’t started them yet, you can buy the set together for $9.99 (which is priced $7 lower than buying the books all individually). If you pick them up, I hope you love this family as much as I have. And I hope it whets your appetite for the next series even more.
Thank you, as always, for your wonderful support. It means the world to me.
