Serendipity thoughts on #SecretsoftheHeart
If you've read my back of book junk for my second book, you'll know that Secrets of the Heart has been a huge question mark in my head. Will people like it? Will it be received well? To whom should I market it? I went around and around with my team of beta readers and my editor because there is so much that happens in Secrets of the Heart that it isn't really a true "Romance" and I'm discovering that it isn't being received by the New Adult crowd all that well since my characters are past college and out in the real world. But Ivy does a lot of growing throughout Secrets of the Heart so it's a coming of age story that fits into the New Adult category.
Anyhow- I guess that one will play itself out and I just have to have faith that Secrets of the Heart will makes its way into the hands of the right people eventually. With that being said though, it is being well received by those who are reviewing it and for that I am eternally grateful.
There is so much that I want to say about Secrets of the Heart- things that I have noticed as I've reread it over and again as I wrote and edited and fixed and tweaked. Things that I want to comment on as they pertain to Dirty Little Secret and how I'm finding crazy bits and pieces of the story that weaved together without my even being aware they would. But I don't want to comment on them because I think doing so would reveal so much of the story that I would rather a reader experience as the book progresses than have me spoil it by saying something.
However - since we know that book two is about Ivy I did want to share one thing that I noticed.
In book one, we get a glimpse into Ivy's relationship with her father, when Hillary tells the reader about an instance when Ivy and her Dad get into an argument after he spent her birthday in Paris and didn't call her to wish her a happy birthday. As you read Secrets of the Heart- remember this little tidbit of information because Paris- and France in general play a big part in Secrets of the Heart- and as I reflected back on Dirty Little Secret- that one gave me goosebumps with the realization of why he might have been in Paris on Ivy's birthday.
There is also a part near the end of the book- when we find out the name of Ivy's grandparents... and yesterday as I read Secrets of the Heart for the ten thousandth time (and still found a couple of typos that I need to fix - I swear it never ends ;-) ) I realized that Ivy's grandparents names: Jean- Luc and Sophie reflect in a way the name of her parents: Josephine and Lucas. It hadn't been intentional. I named Ivy's grandfather Jean Luc because it sounded french- and Les Mis is my absolute favorite musical ever- the main character is Jean ValJean and so that's where Jean Luc came from. Sophie has always been one of my favorite female names - and having been educated by the Religious of the Sacred Heart ( a french society of nuns - one of the founder's names was Madeleine Sophie) - Sophie seemed like a natural choice for a French grandmother.
Josephine- the daughter of Jean-Luc and Sophie - is a combination of these two names. Which was just one of those seredipitous things that look back gives me goosebumps. :) I love stuff like that!
There are so many other things that I have discovered, but I don't want to share them as I don't want to ruin the story by discussing too much!
I just want to say how thankful I am to those reviewers who gave my book a chance even if it didn't fit with what their expectations had been and have expressed as much love for Ivy as I have for her. :) My heart is full of gratitude to all of you.
