
I consider myself another kind of virgin as well. No, not that kind! With my September medieval romance from Harlequin Historical, "In the Master's Bed," I’ve written my first “series.” The heroine of this book is the sister of "The Harlot's Daughter." The harlot’s other daughter, so to speak. (And yes, you can enjoy it even if you haven’t read the first one).
I’ve always resisted the idea of writing books with connected characters. It seemed like such a commitment somehow. The next bright and shiny book idea looks really appealing after months of drafts, rewrites, revisions, and copy edits. I love my characters, but by the end, I’m ready to move on.
A related book was not part of the original plan, but when Jane popped up, I was intrigued.

Well, she began her story by running away from home, disguised as a lad! Heading for Cambridge University, she met a man on the road. Now Duncan did not have an easy life and he had very little sympathy for “John,” yet something about the boy touched him and so, he decided to help…
Well, it IS a romance!
Funny thing, though. After I finished the book, I realized that this is not my first connected story, but only my latest. You see, my three books to date, and the one coming up next year, all feature fourteenth century royal bastards. That means all my characters are connected to King Edward III, one of the most admired monarchs in English history. He is the father of both the harlot’s daughters, who were inspired by real people, the illegitimate daughters of Edward and his notorious mistress, Alice Perrers.
Edward reigned a good long time, fifty years, and he had uncles, aunts, siblings, and children. This has allowed me lots of leeway to invent royal bastards spanning the entire 14th century. Renard, the hero of "Innocence Unveiled" was Edward’s cousin, and the hero of next year’s book, is Edward’s nephew.
So it seems that despite my resistance, I’ve been writing related books all along!
How about you, Bellas? How do you feel about related books? Love ‘em? Loath ‘em? Do you keep early volumes and reread to catch up? Or do you find you forget the story between releases? And what are your favorites?