A closer look at Perilous Trust: Ashes and Wine and Poison and Wine

At this moment, I don’t recall what put me on the road to writing Ashes and Wine, but part 2 is very vivid in memory. So this blog will be focusing on book 2, Poison and Wine of the Perilous Trust Duet.

I felt very accomplished completing Ashes and Wine of A Perilous Trust duet. Although, I had published 2 books prior to completing this one. This was the first book that never gave me a panic attack. I walked away from it feeling like I had done my best work. Too often in this business, even the most successful author can walk away from a writing project feeling like an utter failure. Ashes and Wine told me that you are indeed an AUTHOR.

So, one would think that writing a part 2 or even 3 was a foregone conclusion. But no. As a reader, I’m not inclined to read series (I’m aware that’s just a quirk of mine), and as a writer, I have no inclination to write series or duets. But I had joined a writers group on Facebook, who quickly pointed out the error in my thinking. It was made clear to me that from a marketing standpoint, series just do better. I still doubted my ability to extend this book into a series, however, I didn’t want to publish and sink. Extending it into a Perilous Trust duet was my attempt at giving the book a better chance, but not necessarily a great one.

Poison and Wine was a standalone (with a different title) that was also romantic suspense. It was always meant to be interracial. Although, as you get to know me you will realize that trope is not always a foregone conclusion. So, how do I turn Ashes and Wine into a duet? During the time I was trying to figure this all out, I watched a movie on mistaken identity. Plausible? Probably not. However, I enjoyed it immensely. That sent me on my journey to connect Poison and Wine through mistaken identity and ultimately send Lilah on a completely different journey than the one she started on.

Spoiler alert: Poison and Wine was always meant to end with the death of Lilah’s biological father. However, as I was writing I improvised how she came to that foregone conclusion. I wanted her to fully embrace her strength. In that, I lost a bit of the shock value of the poisoning ending. But I gained a few more scenes of her not only embracing her true self but Matthias’s business as well. In the end, she’s a mobster queen and I couldn’t be prouder of that turn.

I certainly don’t regret linking the two stories.

By the end, I had an idea for part 3 and then lost it. I can’t say a part 3 is forthcoming at the posting date of this blog. Only extreme pressure from fans would push me to write a part 3. As I said, series are not my fav. This is primarily why you will see me publish more duets. But never say never.

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