He tossed out his careful plan for her

Have you ever found yourself thinking about the characters in a book you've finished, wondering what happens to them after The End?

Yeah, authors do that, too.

Sometimes we can't help but write that addendum.

My Into the Bargain romantasy, a twist on Rumpelstiltskin, is told only from the perspective of the main female character, Pen. There's a reason for that: The appealing but mysterious wizard's assistant she falls for has secrets, and I want you to discover them as she does.

Perfectly reasonable.

But I also wanted to write Elliott's POV, darn it.

What does he think as he realizes he's in love with the woman he's agreed to help win an offer of marriage from their town's awful wizard? What does he do after The End, which is very happy but just the start of their life together?

Yeah, yeah, I should be writing my next novel. But I did this instead, SO THERE.

A taste of "Hard Bargain":

The mostly indistinguishable rumble of Porten’s pompous voice gave way to the creak of his office door opening. Elliott stopped mid-pace, head cocked, heart thudding.

“You must save me a dance tomorrow,” the man said. “Two, in fact. The first and the last, shall we say?”

The room tilted on Elliott. He leaned on the brewing table, blinking away the vertigo, the sharp dismay not so easy to dismiss. His plan had worked. Porten would offer for Miss Novak. And when he did, there was no mystery what her answer would be.

“Why—yes, of course,” she said now in the hallway, hardly sounding like herself.

Ten minutes and one convenient excuse later, Elliott was out the door. He had to do something. Had to find out why she needed to marry Porten.

If he knew that, there might be a chance to help her concoct a different plan.

The story's with lovely beta readers now. I'll share as soon as it's done.

And if you're curious when this and the rest of the Clandestine Magic books are set, I made a timeline for you. (What's that, you say? I should have been working on my next novel instead of this timeline? Oh hush.)

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More cool & bookish things

Did you know that the Kobo book platform has a subscription service for ebooks and audiobooks with unlimited downloads? Romance authors have put together a one-day YOLO with Kobo event so it's even easier to find good reads there.

Grab these books

One of the cool things about Kobo Plus, besides unlimited reads and listens: It doesn't require exclusivity. You'll find books here that you can't get through Kindle Unlimited. (Any author who wants to sell elsewhere or make their ebooks available to libraries can't go into KU, but they can enroll in Kobo Plus.)

My Clandestine Magic audiobooks are in Kobo Plus, and so is the Into the Bargain ebook.

Don't have a Kobo subscription? Look for the free first month on offer. 🎉 You can read right on your phone, no new device required.

It's been really interesting to see new reading options develop over the years, from subscription services to library apps to Kickstarter.

How do you like to read? (Hit reply to tell me, because I'm nosy.)

You made it to the end! You're awesome. (Of course.) And oh hey, here are my latest books.

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