Changing It Up

February 16, 2021

If you subscribe to my newsletter, then you know that this month I stepped out the box and offered my latest Cerasino release as a chapter by chapter serial prior to release.

If you’ve been with me for a while, then you also know I did the same thing with the first two books in the series (Just For Me & Just For Him).

But do you know why?

Me, neither. I think it was some kind of author challenge or something. Like a “sit down and write a book on the fly, one chapter a day” type of thing. (You know me, I like challenges)

I’d started with an idea that had been rolling around in my head. As romance readers, we often connect with the books we love, right? Sometimes we identify with a character so much, it almost seems as if the book was written specifically for us.

Well, my thought was, what if it was? What if, unbeknownst to us, the author actually crafted a book based on us, knowing we would read it and see ourselves in the pages? 

So I went with it. I wrote the heroine’s chapter first and sent it out to anyone who wanted to read it. And, just like my readers, I had no idea what would happen next. Then the next day, I wrote the hero’s chapter and sent that out. Then the next, and the next, until the story was complete.

The coolest part was, we took the journey together, and I decided I was going to do that with all the Cerasino Family Novellas. 

A year later, I tried to recreate the magic with book two… and couldn’t. 

Vinnie and Haven’s story didn’t flow effortlessly like Nick and Kat’s had. It took some finagling and a lot of reworking to get them to fully reveal themselves. Despite that, I was still committed to sharing their story one chapter at a time. And, just like the first time, it was a lot of fun. 

The chapter by chapter serials aren’t for everyone. Some people don’t want to wait until the next day to find out what happens and prefer to read the whole thing in one shot. Others really like having a short bite they could read with their coffee every morning.

Hey, you do you. No matter how you choose to read Paulie and Allison’s story, I think you’re going to enjoy it.