"What's a kiss?" He asked in my right ear, sending a shiver up my spine. "What's a kiss?" He was suddenly on my left. "What's a kiss." I heard from above. "Tell me, Lucilia."
I placed my hand on the back of my neck, defeatedly shook my head and sigh...
I started plotting for this way back during the summer of 2020 while I was still working on Unbinding the Demon. Then I began actually writing it in February 2021 and it was finally completed in November 2022, coming to just under 300,000 words. Phew!
If I'm being honest, the last few chapters were a serious struggle for me. I had intense brain fog and chronic fatigue from having long covid, while still trying to maintain a full-time work schedule. That plus my mental health wasn't so great after having lost my 20-year-old cat back in August, who I'd gotten as a kitten when I was only 8 years old. There were days when I'd sit in front of the computer for hours and only get a few sentences written despite knowing exactly what needed to happen in the story. I even forgot to slip in a few things that I'd hinted at and set up earlier in the book, which is highly unusual for me. Like, just picture your brain, and then picture it turning into a moldy old lemon. That's the only accurate way to describe the feeling. It was bad. lol. So with all that considered, I'll be going back and rewriting the last chapters before publishing this.
But now that it's done, I'm so fucking grateful and overjoyed to see it completed! It literally makes me want to go out and salsa dance! Seriously, thank you so much to everyone who actually managed to read this to the end and for all your likes, comments, and reads!
I'd like to share some amazing authors who have been super supportive and I think you guys should all go check them out. So whip out a pen and paper and jot these down to add to your reading list:
LestatDesade I absolutely love her and adore her amazing art and the stories to go along with them. She has been unbelievably supportive of me on here and on Patreon and has also sent me hand-drawn art from ITDP and UTD which I absolutely love, including Gwendolyn's groovy elephant shrew picture which I may or may not have used as my background. XD I cannot express how much I truly appreciate her! Definitely go check out her profile!
His_Kira I absolutely loved reading her ongoing book "A Witch's Home!" She's a super-talented author and has many more wonderful books on her profile. Definitely go give her stuff a peek!
HorsesandDragons You can find her books on Lutionary and should go give them a read. (Especially "Crown of Blood.") She's been super supportive and is an all-around amazing author, seriously, go check her stuff out!
OctaviaHartz Go give her book "Witch Hunt" a read. It's so good and criminally under-viewed. She's awesome, and trust me, you'll love it!
hazza_harold You should all go peek at her profile and read her mafia love story! She has been super supportive of this book and I always love seeing her comments!
harleydiamondXO She is amazing and I am so super proud of her! She's recently published her Angels/Dusters/Scorpions mafia MC books on kindle unlimited, and you all should go and read them if you can because her talent is truly mind-blowing. I love her to death and can't wait for her "Fate" series to come back out.
CrystalW99 She's wonderful and always got a new story going and they're always great! I loved her book "A Place to Belong" which you can now find on Amazon. Go check her out and support her work!
And if you're an author who would like to promote your book, do so here. <3
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So now that Valarendrik and Lucilia's story has come to a conclusion, there's still one more couple who seriously deserves a book of their own...
Get ready for Reviving the Necromancer!
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This one's going to be the final book in what has now unintentionally become a trilogy. lol. (I'm thinking about calling it "The Shadowed Worlds Series" but I'm not too sure yet.) So I'm planning to make it the big shebang, the grand finale. A story about love beyond the grave! And I'm really flipping excited for it! I really love Lacey and Darrell and think they seriously deserve a happily ever after as well.
And if you're wondering if I started to grow Darrell's hair out at the end of UTD solely so he would meet the long hair requirement for a lead male protagonist in my books, the answer is yes. Yes, I did.
All of the characters will be brought back in this next book. We'll get more insight into Darrell's life and get to meet the little princess who Lucilia was pregnant with during the epilogue. And who knows, maybe Valarendrik will finally be able to meet an elf?
Unfortunately, due to the manner in which ITDP was plagiarized, I will be completing the third book and setting it up for publishing before posting the draft on here. So expect to see it in late 2023 or sometime in 2024. I have been planning this book for the past year and I simply can't let the same thing happen to it as well.
Before anyone complains, just know that I know it sucks. And believe me, I really fucking hate doing this. But it's heartbreaking seeing your hard work stolen and puts the real author in a very difficult position. I'm now going to have to defend this book as the original when I publish it because people have already questioned whether or not I stole from her because she slapped a lazy ending on hers as soon as I wrote my note about it! My main objective is to tell beautiful love stories that are worthy of being read more than once, and this other author wrote a watered-down speed-written version of something that I poured my heart into just to make a quick buck. It was such a slap in the face. So please understand that I'm just not willing to go through that again. (Sorry if I sound super dramatic.)
Anyway, I now only have about four more chapters to write in Tears of the Moon until it's complete. So for people who have been reading that one as well, you can expect regular updates starting next week. (And if you haven't read TOTM and like werewolf books that don't include brooding alphas and rejection tropes, then go check it out! There's a sinister curse, lots of smut, off-grid living, and a terrifying goose named Gootsy!)
You can expect to see Unbinding the Demon, Illuminating the Dark Prince, and Tears of the Moon all published at some point this year. My picky ass has finally found a worthy cover artist for the official book covers and I'll be seeing them all off to an editor very soon. (And said editor is also a good friend of mine who I've known since high school. We once threw a "Creepy Christmas in July" party together, so you know she's cool. lol)
Thank you so much once again! I truly appreciate all of you!
