Where is BLOOD TIES?

Good intentions. That’s what I had when it came to the release date of BLOOD TIES, the sequel to THREE STRAND CORD.

Originally I thought I’d have it finished, edited and published for Christmas. When that didn’t happen I was sure it would be ready at the end of January. Well, the end of January is here, and still no BLOOD TIES. To be fair, I did get it into the hands of beta readers and feedback is still coming in.

So, what is BLOOD TIES about? 

For those that read THREE STRAND CORD, you will know that that book is about three friends – Tempest, Stella, and Cherise – who inadvertently get involved in an international drug ring. The story is told from each woman’s point of view, and of course, there is a fair amount of romance and intrigue. (For more, click HERE.)

BLOOD TIES follows up on Cherise’s story and adds the point of view of two other characters that we met in the first book. Dirk Hillyer is Cherise’s less than savoury brother, and Blue Shepherd is a cowboy we met mostly through Stella’s story.  In BLOOD TIES, Cherise, Dirk, and Blue are woven together through some surprising twists of fate and all three go through a remarkable – and sometimes heart wrenching – transformation.

This last fact is especially important to the story since many readers have said they did not identify with Cherie’s character as much as the other two from the first book. She is definitely a spoiled, rich girl, but even ‘princesses’ deserve a happy ending, don’t you agree?

Her brother Dirk is even more disenchanting. As an entitled playboy, there isn’t much to like about him by the end of book one, but that was exactly the challenge I wanted to deal with: Can God can take the most unlikely person and use them for His glory? I’ve had several beta readers comment that they were skeptical about the character choices when they saw who the book was about, but after reading they found themselves rooting for this brother and sister team, despite their sullied characters.

The final cast member, Blue, is the brother of another character in book one and thus, the title BLOOD TIES seemed to fit since all three are tied by blood to someone else in the book. He was the most likeable and down to earth in the first book, so his initial transformation takes the opposite turn at first. He has to go through some deep, dark times before his final victory can take place.

BLOOD TIES takes place in some interesting and exotic locations: an orphanage in Mexico, the Texas ranch, and LA, to name the principle locales. For consistency, I wanted to keep with the three protagonist format that I started using in THREE STRAND CORD. (And will also use in book three: TEMPEST TOSSED.) of course, there is a fair bit of romance, and also the same type of intrigue and danger that was encountered in book one only this time, drugs are being smuggled out of Mexico.

I hope that you, dear readers, will afford me a bit more time to get everything in order so that BLOOD TIES can be released in the near future. Until then, keep reading other good books!