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One determined lockmage and his happy bear

Although it’s been a week since Lockmage Legacy came out, I finished it last summer so it was incredible to get to focus on Josh and Donnell again. When I was writing Triple Affinity, I initially didn’t plan on writing back-to-back bear books. In fact, Owen had a mate until I started crafting that outline but it fell apart and now, I’m back to square one with him and Donnell has been through a few himself that didn’t pan out. His first story was a triple matebond like Artair’s, but it didn’t mesh. Much like Damian and Marcus in Imperial Twist, there was never a sense of balance.

Some months later, a version of Josh came to light, but the initial version of him was somewhat different. While he was a mage, he had no title, and he wasn’t a hybrid, either. But as I journeyed through Triple Affinity, this brash version of Donnell’s mate who demanded a new name for himself materialized and Josh was fully formed. Normally when I finish a project, I want to journey as far from the couple I finished as possible, but neither Josh nor Donnell were listening!

It took far longer than the impatient lockmage wanted, but eventually their story was completed and I had an incredible time with them. It was the only book to date that several months after I finished I had to scrap the book title because Josh didn't like it. And Josh has crept cameos into quite a few of the D’Vaire books that have followed so hopefully you enjoyed him and Donnell as much as I do.

What about the next release? Well, it’s in mid-September. It features someone you’ve met and there is only one book in the series that focuses on his race. His other half is new to the D’Vaire universe and I’ll give you the title and blurb next week. Any guesses who it might be? Their story is one of those that was crafted long before I finished Brogan and Dra’Kaedan’s story and so are the books that will follow it this year. By completing those projects, I could fully satisfy the last of the fully fledged story designs I toyed with for years.

It was such a relief to finally give those couples their voices and since then, I’ve been able to open the flood gates and let whoever wanted to surge into my mind have their moment in the spotlight. At the same time, I’ve compiled a spreadsheet for myself with the list of every available bachelor that I wanted prioritized. You can imagine my surprise when I wound up with a hundred and forty names! Unfortunately for those guys, I was already set on an idea for the next novel by the time I completed it.

After over a month away from writing, last week I started a new book with two characters completely new to the D’Vaire universe. The last one was also fresh faces, but I’ve promised these guys waiting around that I’ll focus on them next. I don’t mind bringing in new races or guys, but they need to correspond to someone existing or this universe will expand forever. So, new book in progress. I don’t want to gloss over that. One half of the couple is a hybrid, and I've mentioned both of his races in the series before (with one of them being a future feature). The other guy is a new species in the world which is always super exciting.

The book gets off to an emotional start, and it’s hard for me to tell how long this one will be, but however long it takes to get their story told is the only formula I ever use for writing. I am pretty sure the book that follows is will be part of their family and I think it'll be fun project but since that is still weeks away, we'll see. Thanks so much for your continued support of D’Vaire. As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep publishing them for you! Goodness knows they’re never going to let me stop writing. (And I love that about them!)

As promised, Becoming D’Vaire will shortly be in print which means the entire series will be in paperback. I’m looking forward to adding Delaney and Grigori to my shelves, and it gives me a great excuse to read their story again! I'll have contests in my reader's group, Jessamyn's Ruffians, to give away a couple copies of it and Lockmage Legacy soon!


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