In February 2010 my first book Going Home Again was released by Romance Divine, an ebook publisher. As any writer will tell you it’s a big accomplishment, all your hard work has paid off and your dream has come true. I’m continuing on with my dream, this year I’ve self-published two books in a series line Westmore and Westmore: The Aftermath, which I’ll be discussing today.
The inspiration behind the series came from a love of soap operas, like many women I was a huge soap fanatic and still am. During my teen years I had a notebook where I wrote my own soap opera, I’d jot down characters and storyline ideas. But with college I didn’t have much time to do anything with my ideas, so I tucked the notebook away. Then after Going Home Again was published, I was looking for inspiration for my second book, so one day I came across my old notebook and decided to turn the ideas into a book series.
The Green family consists of widowed matriarch Charlotte who vowed never to date again after the death of her husband; however she changes her tune when handsome detective Jim Bryant enters the picture. Meanwhile, her oldest son Jack longs to do more with his life, than just bartending, and holds out hope an important business opportunity comes his way. Youngest son Peter returns home from college with his new girlfriend Zoey, whose ten years older than him and a major concern for Charlotte. Scott and Alicia are members of a rock band looking to make it to the big time, but fate has other plans.
The Reynolds are an upper class family, consisting of real estate tycoon Stan. His life is thrown for a loop when his son Jacob begins dating rocker chick Alicia Green, who he disapproves of. Then his daughter Laura and granddaughter Megan return home after Laura’s divorce. Laura doesn’t tell her father the real reason she split with her husband was due to her infidelity. However once Laura gets her life back to normal her ex shows up threatening to reveal her secret.
The Braxtons are a rich family that consists of brothers Andrew and Jeff who face personal issues. Jeff and his wife Marie face trouble in paradise after their only daughter Vanessa leaves home. This event causes Marie to think of all the pain her father-in-law Clayton imposed on the family, including costing Marie a chance at a second child. Her repressed resentment threatens to destroy her marriage.
Meanwhile Andrew whose a controlling man has drove away his two daughters, now wife Elizabeth who’s tired of his behavior decides to break free as well. As if that wasn’t enough, Andrew is furious when son Wayne decides to leave the publishing company and branch out on his own. Andrew sets a plan in motion to destroy his son’s dream; however his actions will spell consequences for others.
Currently I’m working on volume 3 of the Westmore series, which I hope to release by spring of next year. There’ll be lots of drama and romance in store for the characters in the many volumes I have planned. If you’re a soap opera fanatic like me, I hope you’ll enjoy Westmore as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
To learn more about my books visit:
http://www.carolcassada.net/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Carol-Cassada/233360543344573
http://twitter.com/#!/dramacjc
The Giveaway: Carol is generously offering up 1 ebook copy of Westmore to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment on this post along with your email address (so we know how to notify you if you win) by 7:00pm (pacific) on 11/26/11 to enter to win. Winner will be announced on 11/27.
6 comments:
I used to love Soap Opera's when I was in college. Just fun entertainment to get my mind off of things. :)
Thanks so much for joining us on DIK, Carol.
Hello Ms. Cassada, I'm a huge Soap Opera fan! This series sounds fascinating.
Thank you so much for the post and the giveaway. :)
Did you have any interesting experiences with the self-publishing? The last soap opera I watched was Another World...when Rachel, Steve and Alice were the "thing"...so, it's been a l-o-n-g time. Your series sounds interesting.
I'm really surprised that more authors haven't lammed on to the soap opera idea or format. After all, it is massively successful and we all really like series of stories so that's sort of the same thing, I think. I remember being an avid fan of As The World Turns in my early adult years. Spent three years overseas with my military hubby, and when we returned to the States caught up with the story in three days. Do they repeat or what? Thanks for being a guest in DIK and sharing one of your books. Can we ever have too many books?
I think a story that plays out like a soap opera can be very interesting because there's a lot drama and layers. I've watched soap operas before and they can be addicting!
Cambonified[at]yahoo[dot]com
Thanks everybody for participating, I loved all your comments, and it's a shame it can't be more winners.
A huge congratulations goes to Hilcia who won the giveaway.
Again thank you to everyone.
Happy Reading.
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