If you didn't like the potted plant last week, maybe these cut flowers are more to your liking... Will you be relieved or disappointed when the shrubbery images run their course?!

Hello, !

You've heard of Colleen Hoover, right? Queen of emotionally-charged romance and a name on every romance bestseller list for the last year. But did you know, her journey to becoming a bestseller wasn't a simple stroll down the writer's lane?

For years, she published her stories, gaining a dedicated following but never quite hitting the big time. She was no overnight success but a hardworking author putting her heart and soul into every page.

One thing that keeps every author going when it feels like we're nearly invisible on Amazon, is knowing we're not alone. CoHo had her community - other authors, readers, and fans who kept encouraging her, pushing her forward.

And then, her breakout novel, It Ends with Us, came into being. It propelled her into the spotlight, the result of years of perseverance and community support. It perfectly exemplifies how success, in writing or in life, is often a community effort.

I haven't had my It Ends with Us breakout novel yet, but because I have my author friends and you, when I sit down to write, I know it's not just me, my laptop, and a never-ending supply of tea.

And at 2AM, when I'm lying awake in that negative spiral state-of-mind that my darling husband calls The Ghostly Vigil, I can sometimes conjure a message I've gotten from a reader to help lighten the dark thoughts that tell me I should quit writing and get a real job. Such mean voices!

You are my support shrubbery! Like it or not!

One month from today, on July 10, The Billionaire's Shrubbery, will be magically transported to e-readers around the world. And, it's available for pre-order at a special price of just $2.99 (in the US) since I want to thank you for being one of my readers and a member of the community that keeps me showing up to the page every day.

Early reviews are coming in and they're making my heart bloom. It appears folks think it's my best book yet ...

Have a look on Goodreads.

And while you're there ... even if you don't pre-order, it would bring me great joy if you added it to your "want to read" shelf. 🤩

If you're not on Goodreads, here are two of my fave reviews, to give you a taste of what readers are saying—

The true story behind the shrubbery

Will Power is the fourth of his name and the man who isn't given a chance to decide his future, by virtue of being the first born.

My dad was also the heir to a position in a family business with the family name that was started by his grandfather. My great grandfather had two sons who became the president (my Dad's dad) and vice president (his uncle). But Dad's uncle had a son before Grandpa George, so Dad's cousin became president and my dad the VP. (Does this make sense? 🤔)

Anyway, were it not for my mom, that VP job would have killed him, she says. Dad hated it. He sold his right to any connection with the family business when he was in his late twenties, but not before his own father died of a stress-induced heart attack in his early fifties.

So, like Will Power, I never got to meet my grandfather. 😟

🤩 What's your story?

Have you, or has anyone in your family, been forced into a job you/they weren't interested in or well-suited to? What did you do? Were you lucky enough to have a support shrubbery in your life?

Books to read while you wait for Will & Virginia

Grumpy the Bear by Marika Ray

Grumpy the Bear is a steamy romantic comedy between the world’s grumpiest single dad and his new next door neighbor, complete with a five-year-old princess, a glamp-ground in the making, a gaggle of friends who hold no prisoners, and all the sizzling banter to keep you up all night. This romance ends with a spicy hot and perfectly sweet happily ever after (and zero breakups…according to the hero.)

Fangirling Mr. Tilney by Ava Munroe

This ain’t yo mama’s Northanger Abbey. Fangirling Mr. Tilney is intended to be enjoyed by BOTH Austen lovers and newbies alike—no SparkNotes needed. It is a STANDALONE romance that includes open door romantic scenes coming in at about 3-4 chilies of heat. Happily ever after is guaranteed, cheating is banished, and swoons are promised. If this sounds like your cup of tea, enjoy!

Circle Jerk by KB Cinder

Circle Jerk is a rom-com with heat, hahas, and a guaranteed HEA, featuring a porky Labrador, a mustached cat, and one gorgeous, grumpy neighbor.

And now for something completely different

I'm busy pulling together a special collection that has two novellas I wrote for charity anthologies in 2022. One has been published independent of the anthology, but the other one has not. The collection is called The Billionaire's Bagpipes—since the two stories have appearances with Will Power who is as subtle a man as bagpipes in a library when he starts to demand attention!

Hopefully Amazon's bots will have waved their life-giving botness on the book by next weekend. Cross your fingers, burn some candles and toss salt over your shoulder for me—friends are saying the bots have gone a bit mad this past month, rejecting books for no apparent reason. Bot rebellion ... 😬

Love&ittakesacommunitystuff,

Danika

xo

PS - I'd love to know if, like Will Power, by virtue of your name or birth order or some other thing out of your own control, you've ever been forced into a job. (My mom would probably say she was forced into being a mother since she had a very nice career as an art teacher before I came along! Ahh ... the 60s ... 🤪)