The Price of Passion - Released

Today, The Price of Passion was released on Amazon.  Other venues will follow in the next few days as my distributor ships them to various retailers.  A print version will be released in about two months.

AMAZON LINK TO THE PRICE OF PASSION

So what was I thinking when writing this story?  Read below.

Let's face it, sometimes you read a book and have expectations.  As an author, I understand that many of my readers have held expectations as to the outcome of my characters in The Legacy Series.  A few have found fault about the paths I led them down while others have enjoyed them nevertheless.

Like people in real life, we expect certain things out of characters.  Their behavior can disappoint us or thrill us, depending on the choices they make in life.  In The Price of Passion both Robert and Jolene are faced with decisions regarding who they will marry.

As writers who study character development, that is really is what it is in a nutshell -- the development of personalities that our characters possess.  Each is slightly flawed or extremely flawed.  However, if you haven't picked up in the series by now, each main character is really faced with how they deal with innocence, deception, love, and passion.  Each carries a price in life.

Characters in books are supposed to grow.  You may discover in Book #4 you would like to slap Jolene up the side of her head or tape her mouth shut.  Yes, she is bullheaded, prideful, and fiercely independent.  Like others, she has a lesson to learn, so hopefully by the time you read "The End," you'll discover that she has grown into a mature young woman.

What about Robert?  Does the rogue finally settle down and pursue Grace?  Does mild-manner Alastair find love?  Does Geoffrey Chambers ever stop being a pain in the you-know-what?  And then there is Philippe, Suzette, and Robert, with a past that is enough to make your head spin.

The focus on this last chapter is, of course, on the younger generation.  However, in the end, I've tried to wrap it up neatly with a nice happy everafter bow, except for one part that may surprise you.

I hope you enjoy it.  As usual, I cried in a few spots and laughed in others while writing it.  Authors get engrossed in their characters' lives as much as readers.

And by the way, thank you for following me on this journey with The Legacy Series!  You are the best.

Fondly,

Vicki

Update on The Price of Passion

For those of you patiently or not patiently waiting for an update about book four of The Legacy Series, you will be happy to know that I’m almost in the home stretch of completing the book. However, let me clarify that throwing 70,000 plus words into an MS Word document doesn’t mean my task is finished. After that, I will have a painful process of self-editing before I send it out for professional editing.

During the initial stages of editing, I sometimes embellish with additional text, cut things, and rearrange things. Right now I have a “to-do” list as I near the end of the story. After that, I run it through Grammarly and Autocrit, my two favorite programs and make corrections. There are multiple re-reads and formatting checks to make. Finally, I hire an editor, who can take a month or more to edit and find things that I missed. When returned, it’s correction time. Then finalization of the eBook formatting and eventually off to distribution. Oh, and in between all of the above, I have the cover to think about.

Once the book is out, I’m usually exhausted, depressed, and telling myself this is the last one. Of course, as far as The Legacy Series is concerned, book four will be the last one. I just couldn’t bring myself to write another generation with characters dying off from old age and young men going off to fight in World War I, who never come home. Don’t make me go there, please.

The good news is that very soon I am lowering the price of The Legacy Series box set to $0.99 until January 1, 2016, in the hopes of gaining more readers before the release of The Price of Passion. Feel free to share the 99 cent deal to your friends on social media. I will also be purchasing advertising.

I’m happy that overall the reviews on the box set have been very strong. Readers in the United States and the United Kingdom have given it five-star ratings. Thank you!

Don’t forget, too, for other updates to follow my blog. You can subscribe here - SUBSCRIBE

If I don’t touch base with you in the next few months, have a wonderful upcoming Holiday Season.

All my best, Vicki Hopkins

 

The Price of Passion - It Begins

I have decided, after much prodding, to get serious about writing The Price of Passion.  Off to the right, you'll see a tracker on my word count and goal of 75,000.  This goal is a guess and could be longer or shorter, depending on how the story plays out.  The next few weeks, I'm going to sit down and focus solely on this work and put aside my other for the moment.

In anticipation, I always need visuals. After looking around for an appropriate cover theme, below is a temporary, but not final, cover for the story.  For updates, make sure to either sign up for my newsletter or follow this blog.  I'll let you know how it's coming along and share with you some fun research along the way.

Updated Version of The Price of Deception

Hopefully, this coming weekend, I will be able to finish upgrading The Price of Deception to take care of some glaring problems that have been reported to me by my readers in the United Kingdom via reviews on Amazon. It will correct the verbal address of duke and duchess to Your Grace and other references as needed. I apologize for those oversights on my part. (Yes, I'm American, but with my extensive English ancestry, I should have known better.) The Price of Love does contain the correct form of address. 

Amazon should automatically push the updated version to everyone's Kindle. I will contact them and make sure that happens. 

Next on my list will be The Price of Innocence. I'll go through the text and make any necessary updates. 

The Price of Love is currently at my editor and with three beta readers. Things are progressing, and I should be able to make the early October release. Thanks for your patience! 

After all is said and done, I probably will continue to Book #4, The Price of Passion. I'll make the final decision after Book #3's release. Frankly, even after 95,000 words continuing the family saga, it still isn't complete. I have too many unresolved love interests.

Have a great weekend dear friends and readers! As always, thank you for your support.

Fondly, 

Vicki