Behind the Scenes with Raine Miller

Blackstone Dynasty was inspired by a trip I made to Boston back in early 2013. While sightseeing in the city, I stumbled upon a monument statue in Boston Common honoring a man named William Blackstone. Mr. Blackstone happened to be the very first European to settle in Boston, living alone on what would later become Boston Common and Beacon Hill. He arrived in America in 1623, coming from Lincolnshire, England. In that single moment, a spark of an idea ignited for me that this bit of historical information could be the basis of a whole new story world. I was just finishing up my very successful Blackstone Affair series set in London about security expert, Ethan Blackstone, and his love for his American girl, Brynne Bennett. I decided right then and there that Ethan Blackstone should have some relatives living their lives in America (descended from the honored Mr. William Blackstone from the statue I found in Boston Common) who were worthy of their own stories and books. I even posted a picture on Facebook and made a comment at the time, I was so excited. My “Boston Blackstone” universe continued to develop slowly in my head over the next three years until I decided the time was finally right to bring it out to my readers in a new series.

I wanted a large family dynamic so I could expand this new series into several
standalone books each about a different couple. I had not done a series like
that before Blackstone Dynasty. My Blackstone Affair series was a serial and
required the reading of each book in succession. I felt ready to try my hand at
writing standalones that take place in a unified world. The faster pace and the
gratification which comes at the end of a book was creatively appealing, and I
had a blast building the world in which my American Blackstones live out their
lives. I even went a step further and decided to switch around the British
Hero/American Heroine I had going with Ethan and Brynne, to make my American
Caleb meet a British Brooke. The purpose of that was intentional and plays into
the plot of the story in a fulfilling way for me as a writer. I can’t tell you
why Caleb needed a British girl or I would spoil the surprise. ;)

FILTHY RICH opens the doors into the ultra-wealthy world of Caleb Blackstone, the newly crowned head of his family as well as a billion-dollar conglomerate called Blackstone Global Enterprises. Still reeling from the death of his father, Caleb is questioning everything he’s ever known, as well as the purpose of his life when he meets Brooke Casterley, a girl who not only captivates him, but teaches him there’s so much more to life than being…filthy rich.