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 History of the Legacy Series

I thought that I would take a moment to talk about The Legacy Series and how it came about. If you have not followed along at my Legacy Series Books Blog, you probably don't know the whole story.

The Price of Innocence was written in 2009. It is my debut novel.  I researched my fingers to the bone on that book, studying legalized prostitution in France, the infamous Chabanais brothel, and the challenges of the poor in 1870s Paris.  

Since its release, it has garnished a lot of criticism, most of which started when the book hit the #1 spot in historical romance on Amazon for three days in a row in May of 2012.  Great to be #1, but it's almost like having a target on your back.  It was edited in 2009 by Autumn J. Conley, a book editor, who has been in the business for 28 years. In addition, it has been subsequently proofed and updated a few times by additional editors afterward. 

Is it my best book?  No, but it was my first book -- the book that launched my career as a writer. Even though it may not be great, it did receive a favorable critique from organizations such as Writer's Digest and other good reviews from romance sites.  Like any other author out of the gate, you grow in your craft and learn.

The Price of Deception came about a few years later.  After release, I was hounded by readers to write the third installment. Many fell in love with the book, which frightened me that I would not be able to live up to the expectations for a third one.  Interestingly enough, I wrote it during a six-month period when I had huge challenges in my life.  I was caring for my eighteen-month-old granddaughter and working full time.  During those six months, I had pneumonia and then fell a few months later breaking my shoulder.  It made the best-selling paid list on Amazon a few times and the Movers & Shakers list, too, in 2012. It's times like these you take screenshots to keep the memories! 

As much as my fans wanted The Price of Love, I frankly felt stumped trying to figure out where to take the story. I made premature promises on its release and let people down, for which I'm very sorry.  However, if the inspiration isn't there for an author, writing a story is torture.  It took me longer than I anticipated to decide what to do with Jolene and Robert, plus the remainder of the dysfunctional family.

Now that is past, the emails continue from fans to keep the story going. The Price of Passion has begun, but I'm off right now working on a new release under a different pen name.  I will return to it shortly and am shooting for the end of the year.  However, I make no promises.

As the series continues to either enthrall or enrage readers, it has sold over 18,000 paid eBook copies, plus many print copies, since the first book was released. In addition, over 22,000 free copies of The Price of Innocence have been downloaded. What is even more amazing, is that my sales on Apple and Nook have skyrocketed in the last six months regarding the series since The Price of Innocence went perma free.  I have only 48 reviews on Amazon and 222 ratings on Apple. That is astounding.  I'm hopeful that the series will continue to do well in the years ahead. 

From the bottom of my heart, I thank those who have supported me as an author and sent some of the most moving and wonderful private emails letting me know your feelings about the series.  I've had a few comments that they'd love to see in a TV series.  Yes, in my dreams, too, but it takes getting noticed with substantial sales for that to happen. 

Remember, the best way to thank an author for a book you love is to write a review -- even if it's just a few words. 

Have a great weekend.  It's rainy and cool in Oregon, so I'm going to write to pass the time.

All my best,
Vicki

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.

We're Such Romantics

Historical romance is a fantasy world for most of us in the 21st century, but in the 19th and early 20th century, it was a world of hidden dangers.

Recently, I stumbled across two very fascinating documentaries done by BBC about the hidden dangers in the Victorian and Edwardian home.  Since my last book is set in the Edwardian era, I thought I would post the video here about this fascinating series.

If you're more into the Victorian era, CLICK HERE for the video regarding Victorian life.  Frankly, they are both worth the watch.

I'll keep writing the fantasy, but after reading about the reality, I am thankful that most of these dangers no longer lurk in our homes.

Enjoy, Vicki

"The House of Pleasures" - A Shocking Movie About a French Brothel

Written and Directed by Bertrand Bonello

Warning - Adult Content

A few months ago, I streamed this movie on Amazon Prime. I hesitated placing a review here, but have decided to relent. It is a graphically, shocking movie about prostitution in France in a mansion of tolerance, like the Chabanais where I set my book, The Price of Innocence. The movie is French ("L'Apollonide") with English sub-titles.

It has everything I researched for The Price of Innocence from registering as prostitutes with the Bureau of Morales, being indebted to mistresses and unable to leave their employ because of it, champagne baths with customers, selection parlors, global fashions worn by prostitutes, and opulent client bedrooms. It even had a scene where one prostitute in the movie said she had been a laundress beforehand, and prostitution was a better job compared to the horrible conditions in the wash house. (You would have thought they read my book!  It did confirm to me, though, that I got it right after months of reading about legalized prostitution in the late 19th and early 20th century France.)

The movie is filled with nakedness, sexually explicit scenes, etc., and not for the prudish or faint of heart.  In U.S. terms, think NC-17 rating.  There are scenes of abuse where one customer disfigures his purchase, which was difficult to watch.  Even though he gets his due in the end, it is disturbing.  However, it added to the reality of a life of prostitution, focusing on the sad and hopeless plight of women in brothels. The particular establishment depicted in this movie catered to aristocrats and rich businessmen, much like the Chabanais where I set my book. Even the mistress was as shrewd as my own character, Madame Laurent.

The movie is two hours, slow moving, and not the best flick you'll ever see. (Even though the critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 81% rating.) In fact, it's disturbing to see the sad lives of these poor women working night after night in the house of pleasure. It's a job, and most of the sexual scenes show the men enjoying their paid visits, while the women merely go through the motions void of emotion. As troubling as the scenes were, I found myself transported into the world I wrote about and came away shocked at seeing the reality portrayed on screen. (Perhaps that is how I would feel if The Price of Innocence ever went on film.)

The scenery inside the brothel fit closely to my book--the staircase to the rooms on the second floor, pictures of naked ladies on the walls going up the stairs, and the different quarters for the women who boarded and lived together at the brothel.

There is also a scene of the prostitutes waiting to be examined by the doctor and his report to the mistress of the house. It was the usual examination each had to endure to check for sexually transmitted disease. As far as their personal hygiene, it was pretty much as I described.  They kept cleaned, bathed, used creams, and perfumes.  The selection parlor was filled with beautifully clad women for the choosing, and also topless women who served the men.

Should you decide to watch it, you have been forewarned.  The sexual acts are openly displayed.  There are full naked scenes of women and men. The language is crude, but of course in English subtitles where the "F" word is often used.

Let's face it, being a prostitute wasn't glamorous.  It was a profession that many poor and unskilled women chose in order to survive.  It was a dangerous job where women died of syphilis, lived lives with no hope, and sold their bodies in order to eat and have housing.  It portrayed a society that found pleasure in sex, living a way of life where brothels were an acceptable form of male entertainment until they were abolished in the early 20th century.

How did the movie end? The director showed prostitutes in modern Paris, standing on the street soliciting customers driving by in cars. The job is the same, but the working conditions are now a far cry from the lavish houses of pleasure that once existed in Paris, France.

Vicki