My two current contemporary romance series have tangled timelines: both Flatiron Five and Secret Heart Ink are set in the same fictional world, and their stories mingle in terms of timeline. The idea is that a tattoo shop opened at F5. Secret Heart Ink follows the stories of people who get tattoos there.
Snowbound (book #1 of Secret Heart Ink) happens after In the Midnight Hour (Flatiron Five #3): In Damon’s book, In the Midnight Hour, Chynna’s tattoo shop is under construction. Snowbound begins during the shop’s opening night. The chronology of the two series is entwined after that, and some characters appear in both series – if you want to read in the order of events, this would be your reading list for the two series:
You can read Secret Heart Ink without reading Flatiron Five, and vice versa. You can read the two series in order separately, one after the other – I’d read Flatiron Five first in that case.
The Secret Heart Ink books are shorter reads and so far, they’re set in a small town. Flatiron Five are longer reads and mostly set in Manhattan. If you want to give Secret Heart Ink a try, Snowbound, which is book #1 in that series, is currently on sale for 99 cents at all major portals.
Where do we go from here? Well, I have some more entwining to do. 🙂 After Theo’s book, all five of the partners at F5 will have had their stories told. There’s also a natural break in Secret Heart Ink after Chynna’s story is published. I want to continue in this world, because I love it, so there will be a new F5 series starting next year, probably next summer. I have MANY ideas about that, but one of the coolest ones came from a reader who commented right here on the blog. James and Maralys’ kids from Double Trouble (Jimmy, Johnny and Zoë) are all grown up now and living in New York. (Who knew?) They’ll be part of the new series – which means I’ll be opening the can of worms of all their cousins in Boston, too. I’m really looking forward to that. And yes, Double Trouble is a free read, so this is a good time to grab a copy and meet Maralys, whose attitude will have a big legacy. (Ha.)
I’ll tell you more about the new F5 series as the pieces fall into place.
Deborah Cooke & Her Books 