A Closer Look at The Somewhere Aching Series

Recently, I released A Lover to Live For - book 2. I have been busy trying to figure out how to market/gain reviews, and advertise, which is a lot. Especially when having a full-time job!

I have received some great reviews on Amazon so far for A Daughter to Die For - book 1 and have decided to hire someone to help with the marketing/advertising side of things, which is exciting. I have been writing blog posts over the past month, but I haven't had a chance to post any of them. My bad!

I also finally titled my series after months of having no idea what to call this saga, which started as a single novel but quickly developed into something far more. The Somewhere Aching Series is named after a song I wrote years ago and is available for download here:

Somewhere AchingLady in White

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I love this series. To start with, A Daughter to Die For was based on a dream I had years ago, about sisters who wake up in the back seat of a car after leaving their dad's wedding to his new wife, only to find that their mom, who got out to check on a flat tire, has gone missing. The story of the young man who abducts her, his father, with whom the mom ends up falling in love, and the dreamy cop who aids the oldest daughter in her pursuit to find her mom, is exactly like the plot in my dream. But after finishing this book, I hated the ending. It was depressing, and I didn't want to kill my villainous Casanova. I desperately wanted to redeem him! At that point, I realized I had a series to write. I'm on book five, where I hope I can wrap things up!

This series is about redemption. It follows these characters on their long road to recovery from childhood trauma. I know there are a ton of stories about people who have gone through trauma, but this one is different. Many plots focus on the terrible event itself, but what about the aftermath —the years spent trying to unravel the damage? That is where broken people get lost. It is unbelievably difficult to change, to heal, and to turn your life around. And it is my experience that finding love makes the journey ten times easier!

I prefer dark stories. My favorite authors of all time are the Brontë sisters, and in my opinion, Jane Eyre is one of the best dark romances ever written. Several Scandinavian Crime Fiction Writers influence me with their sparse prose and complex plots, as well as old-school romance authors like Victoria Holt, of whom I have nearly all the books she ever published.

I don't write fluffy fairy tales, and I can't identify with them. I love the hard-earned happily-ever-after. I enjoy writing the POV of the self-righteous villain who believes they can do no wrong. I enjoy saving women from toxic relationships and writing about them finding love with someone worthy of their heart. I write for those with broken hearts and those who love someone with a broken heart.

It's so easy to simplify the stories of survivors—they went through a bad thing, but fast-forward a few years, and now they're super successful and happy—it's ridiculous. For most people, it takes just one awful experience to keep them in a cycle of self-imposed suffering for life. We hold onto our pain and even make it part of our identity. My stories are all about our human failings, but the overarching theme throughout is The Power of Love—how it gives us the strength to hold on and saves us from our own self-destruction.

I hope you enjoy the story of Judith, Nicolas, Justin, Lizzy, Martha, and Erik. I have poured a lot of myself, my experiences, and my catharsis into their adventure, which puts me in a vulnerable space. But it's worth it for me as the author to create something emotionally satisfying in the language of survivors. We can overcome anything if we do it together!