Some of you have probably received notices that your pre-order of Some Like it Hot has been cancelled, or you may have noticed that the book has vanished from my website. The reason is simple: I’ve decided not to finish and publish Aidan and McKenna’s story.

There are a bunch of reasons here. The first is that I need to take a break. I can’t do that and publish this book on time. I keep thinking I can push on for one more book, but I’ve been doing that for a while. My body is starting to insist otherwise. It’s time to listen.

The second, smaller, reason is that I want to get ahead of the publishing curve this year. I really need to manage this, to help with my time management. I can accomplish that pretty quickly if I step back from Some Like it Hot and write Dragon’s Heart now. There’s a lot of time to spare, so I can get it all locked and loaded in advance. Phew! Just typing that makes me feel good.

The third reason is that I think I’ve explored F5 pretty thoroughly. Simply Irresistible was published in November 2016, more than three years ago. It’s time for a fresh series and a new cast of characters. The pre-orders on Some Like it Hot aren’t awesome, which probably indicates that all of you agree that it’s time for a new series. I learned a lot last fall about structuring series and continuing on after the original characters have had their stories told isn’t considered to be a good strategy. It looks like we all agree.

Fourth, I was excited about writing this book, but I also recognize that adding to the F5 series keeps me from making choices about going forward. The hardest thing in my experience is choosing which series or book idea to develop – having partners on that process is one of the things I miss most from traditional publishing. I hate choosing between my ideas, since I know that the ones I don’t choose now will be left behind. I love them all! But that doesn’t solve anything. Without Aidan and McKenna’s story on my desk, I’m going to make the choice, then dive into another world.

The idea is that I’ll publish books more closely together, so I’ll let you know when the series is ready to launch.

I feel good about this decision, which is a sign that it’s the right one for me. Thanks for your undertanding!