Dani Collins | Series Versus Linked Books

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that my novellas with Montana Born turned into a series of linked books by accident. I agreed to write HOMETOWN HERO when Tule was still in its first year of operation and I was in my first year as a published author. I didn’t really have a plan beyond: Write Books, Fast As I Can. Then I was asked if I wanted to write a Christmas book and I decided on a bit of a whim to open it in the home of the HOMETOWN HERO characters. Partly I was being lazy. The Montana Born imprint sets all its stories in Marietta and, as authors, we try to overlap our characters to provide a community feel for the reader. You might bump into a character from another author’s book, which is an enriched experience for the fan, making the town seem more real. Using my own characters was the easy choice. But I was beginning to think that I liked writing for Montana Born. The books are fun to write! So I gave my hero, Blake, from BLAME THE MISTLETOE a sister, Meg. When the Bachelor Auction came up, I knew she’d be my heroine.

Had I realized back in the beginning that I was writing a series, I would have
approached the whole thing differently, but live and learn and I have no regrets.

But the whole process has got me thinking about series of linked books versus books that are basically a trilogy or a longer series featuring the same characters, like Twilight or Harry Potter.

I can remember getting my nose quite out of joint when I realized there was a
sequel to Outlander. To me, that first book was perfect, absolutely, utterly
perfect, ending on exactly the right note. To have poor Jamie and Clair not get
their happily ever after, well, nose severely out of joint. To this day.

But I have a friend who loves sequels. Outlander, Twilight, Fifty Shades… She loves going back to visit her friends and spend time with them. To her, closing the book is a sad thing and she wants the story to continue. If another book brings them back to life, she’s in her element.

I argue that it’s enough to catch a glimpse of a married couple, maybe meet
their children from afar. I love when a related character checks in from their
point of view and we’re seeing that other satisfying relationship from the
outside and things are going their way.

How do you feel about sequels and linked books? Do you have a preference? If you
have a favorite trilogy or series, what is it?

About THE BACHELOR'S BABY

Your date with Bachelor #3 includes champagne and chocolate in the limo that collects you, a helicopter tour of Marietta and the surrounding mountains and valleys, and dinner at a five star restaurant in Great Falls. While oil baron Linc Brady wines and dines you, a maid service will completely clean your home.

Who could resist this tempting offer? Meg Canon plans to do just that. She’s
only home to clean out her childhood bedroom for her brother’s new
step-daughter, then she’s outta her childhood small town and back to her life in
Chicago. Then she meets the sexy, renegade millionaire while she’s stuck in the
snow. Sparks fly and Meg is tempted to stay a little longer.

Linc Brady is new in town and happy to help a kid in need, but a bachelor
auction? Technically he doesn’t owe Meg a damned thing after she sets him up for
the auction, then bids on him, but her high-class city polish is his fatal
weakness and makes her impossible to forget. When she agrees to come home with
him, he makes it clear he’s a confirmed bachelor. This is a one-night thing.

One night that turns into nine months and maybe…a lifetime?

Excerpt from THE BACHELOR'S BABY

“Not funny,” a male voice growled behind her as Meg reached for a small box off
a shelf in the hardware store.

Linc’s voice really was a turn on, all heavy and faintly abrasive, yet warm and
rounded. Like good scotch, or an heirloom quilt.

He’d still been talking to Lily when Meg had left the grocery store, his neck
red, his scowl a firmly fixed mask.

Meg didn’t know Lily that well, but had met her through Andie Bennet, who was
made of awesome. She trusted Andie’s judgment, even though Lily was rumored to
have been a stripper in another life and had only been in town a few years. Meg
hadn’t lived here full-time since leaving for college and took all such gossip
with a grain of salt.

Besides, despite Lily’s sometimes acerbic sense of humor, she struck Meg as the
biggest heart of gold walking, especially given the fundraiser she was
spearheading for Molly Dekker. Molly was another sweetheart—a kindergarten
teacher and single mom whose only son had been injured last fall. Meg had
genuinely wanted to help once she heard what Lily was trying to do for Molly.

The fact it had allowed her to lob another snowball in Linc’s direction was
icing on the cake.

“What do you mean?” Meg asked with an innocent glance at him that actually made
her heart skip as she took in his folded arms and planted feet. He was genuinely
mad.

She cleared her throat and made herself face him, even though her blood stung a
warning through her veins. At the same time, the worst of her girlish hormones
fluttered, filling her with nervous excitement and giddy warmth.

“Why did you set that woman on me?” he asked.

“Lily? She asked me about Blake. She was disappointed to hear he’s engaged. She
asked if I could think of any other eligible bachelors in town. I said I had
just met a perfect one-date wonder.” Blink. Blink. Blink.

These baby blues had pulled Meg from basement cable interviews of small time
activists to a relief position with a syndicated station. She wasn’t afraid to
use them.

Linc was really tall. And had perfected his glower of intimidation. She
privately admitted he worked that like a hot damn, but she’d made a career for
herself in what was still a world heavily seeded to men. Outwardly, she didn’t
falter.

“Can you tell me if these are self-screwing?” She held up the box in her hand.

His scruffed beard seemed to bristle as his jaw hardened. “Oh, you’ve got a
handful of screw yourself,” he assured her.

She swallowed back a laugh, pretty sure that would get her into more trouble
than she already stood in. Instead, she turned the box over in her hands. She
hadn’t had this much fun in ages. “Maybe one nail would be simpler?”

“Why are you so angry?” he demanded.

“I’m not, I’m really not,” she insisted. “I think it’s funny.”

“You think tricking me into standing on a stage and have women bid on me like a
stud bull is funny?”

“I didn’t think you’d agree,” she defended. “It was an impulse to mention you,
since you walked right by us and you’re, I assume, single?”

He narrowed his eyes.

Seriously? He didn’t see the humor in this?

“Look, I just...” She couldn’t explain it. Not without getting into how she’d
let go of something today. Found herself again. She felt cheerful and sassy. She
wanted to flirt. He drew her.

But she’d made him mad.

“Come on,” she cajoled. “It’s not my fault you didn’t say no. It’s a good
cause,” she tried.

“You don’t even know me.”

She had to look away. Her cheeks began to sting. She suddenly felt very gauche
and juvenile. Rejection was always a tough one for her and all she’d wanted was
to keep playing with him. Now he hated her.

“I’m out of practice,” she allowed quietly, genuinely sorry. “Honestly, I didn’t
mean anything by it.”

“Practice?” he repeated. “Doing what?”

Seriously? She lifted a gaze that let him see how uncomfortable she was, while
scolding him for being obtuse.

He let out a choke of disbelieving laughter. “This is you trying to get a man’s
attention? Are you twelve?”

She looked away, frowning, trying to hide that her eyes began to burn along with
the back of her throat. Pointing Lily at him had been meant in fun, but it was
becoming personal and hurtful. She felt twelve. Hell, she felt seven, realizing
for the first time what it really meant to be adopted: that your ‘real’ mom and
dad hadn’t wanted you.

“Look—” she started to say, ready to apologize, but only saw his back. He was
walking away.

About Dani Collins

Award winning author Dani Collins wrote for 25 years before selling to Harlequin Mills & Boon in London in May of 2012. Since then, she’s turned in more than a dozen titles to Harlequin Presents and HarlequinE and four small town contemporary novellas to Montana Born. She has even found homes for some of her previously rejected manuscripts, including indie-publishing her single title romantic comedy, HUSTLED TO THE ALTAR and signing with a small press for her medieval fantasy, THE HEALER. Dani doesn’t have any hobbies. She’s too busy writing. Her latest books are THE SHEIKH'S SINFUL SEDUCTION, a March release from Harlequin Presents and THE BACHELOR'S BABY from Montana Born, available on all digital platforms. Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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