When I published my first book in spring 2014, I had very little idea of what to expect. The Lucky Charm was an unexpected--and amazing!--success. I followed up Jack and Izzy's story with Getting Lucky, which followed Jack's best friend Noah and also introduced us to Maggie May King, the sister of the villain in The Lucky Charm.
From the moment Tabitha stepped onto the page in Getting Lucky, I wanted to write her story. I tried all through 2015, with no luck. I rewrote at least three different beginnings of Tabitha's story, but none of them ultimately worked.
In 2016, I published Summer Attractions, and out of that book emerged Nick and Colin. I wrote about them in The Rainbow Clause, and the journey of that book--from writing it to promoting it to publishing it, convinced me that I wanted to write gay romance full-time.
It killed me that I was leaving the Pioneers series unfinished. I still have readers who enjoy the first two books in the series, but without a good hook and a storyline that was worthy of Tabitha, I just couldn't. I wasn't going to write something that didn't do her justice.
Of course, as soon as I had decided that I was done with the series, I had a breakthrough.
In The Lucky Charm, Tabitha is framed as the villain, with zero wiggle room. Noah has been hurt by her, Jack is angry with her, and Izzy is continually having to live up to her memory in her new job.
In Getting Lucky, we meet her sister, Maggie May, and then unexpectedly, Tabitha appears front and center. We finally meet her as a character, and while I think she does live up to some of her reputation, it becomes very clear that she's different than everyone else's interpretations.
Shockingly, this year's horrific political climate, and the continual condemnation of strong, independent women is what finally gave me the motivation to write Tabitha's story. I realized that I had been approaching her all wrong. She didn't need to be rehabilitated. She didn't need to spend a whole book being humiliated and embarrassed, downtrodden and shunned, so she could get her "comeuppance." She wasn't going to apologize and she shouldn't apologize for being ambitious.
Tabitha's used some unscrupulous methods to get shit done. She's used men's superficial opinion of her to control them and get them to do what she wants. If they're going to discount her brain and stare at her boobs, she's going to take advantage of that.
In Luck isn't a Lady, Tabitha doesn't apologize (mostly!). It's not a book about a character rehabilitation. It's about re-discovering who she is and what she wants out of her life.
While I was writing Luck isn't a Lady, I decided to re-brand the entire Portland Pioneers series. It started out as primarily a sports romance, and then took a sharp left turn. Because of that, I decided to take a more purely contemporary romance approach with the new covers. While the old covers will always have a special part in my heart, I'm so excited about the new ones that all fit together. Covers for a series where the books all look like they belong together! Amazing!
The first two books are available now on Amazon and are FREE on Kindle Unlimited, so there's lots of time to catch up before the last book releases on October 17--yes, that's very soon!
THE LUCKY CHARM <---- catch up on Amazon now!
GETTING LUCKY <---- catch up on Amazon now!
LUCK ISN'T A LADY <---- preorder on Amazon now!
"You know who I am. Most of what you’ve heard is true. But I'm not offering any apologies, and I'm definitely not looking for redemption."
Content enough with her life, Tabitha King never let herself realize that running from your problems doesn’t actually solve them.
She never planned on going back to Sand Point.
Or giving into Calvin Keller.
All that changes with one phone call, and it turns all her carefully constructed excuses upside down. She realizes it’s time to take control of her life, and part of that means accepting the love she's fought against for years.
Will a second chance be what Tabitha needs or will it drag her back to a place she never meant to go?