Angelina M. Lopez
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Contemporary Romance Author, Hyperromantic
It’s been a month!
With the release of Lush Money, I’ve been fortunate to show up in several podcasts and publications. Getting a positive review from Maya Rodale of NPR Books was definitely a highlight, as well as chatting with friend and Wicked Wallflowers Podcast host, Jenny Nordbak. Below is a round up of where I’ve been in October; click the images and it will take you to the full stories.
“Lady Billionaire meets Hot Prince meets marriage of convenience in Lush Money, a sexy, emotional and pitch-perfect romance by Angelina M. Lopez. ...As their lives inevitably become more entwined, their relationship just as inevitably becomes more than just sex, making for a novel that subverts classic romance tropes in an extremely satisfying way.” —Maya Rodale, NPR Books
We could not be more excited to be joined by Angelina M. Lopez to talk about her outstanding debut, Lush Money! Angelina was one of our earliest listeners when she was still prepublished and now her first book is out in the world! We also chat about Fated Mates, her twenty year path to publication, the upcoming books in her series, and the state of publishing. This is one of Jenny’s favorite books of the year–go read it immediately! Click here to go to the podcast…
My debut romance novel, Lush Money, is about a Mexican-American self-made billionaire businesswoman. I would love to say when I thought her up in 2015, that I was aiming for a trope-subverting heroine; that I anticipated the 2016 election, the #MeToo movement, and the resolve of women and people of color to no longer accept the status quo of being pushed to the background.
But I’m just not that wise. I owe much to luck for the gift of Roxanne Medina, the smart and sultry billionaire heroine of Lush Money.
What do you want people to take away from reading this book?
I guess, most importantly, I want to give people a chance to relax and breathe and get lost in a hot fairy tale. But after that, I want them to walk away believing that women are powerful and should never apologize for it. Society spends a lot of time telling women to dim their light. It would be so awesome if a woman read the story of Roxanne Medina and then decided to shine her light brighter!
What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:
· Someone who wants to read about women winning the war of the sexes
· Someone who believes that the battle is only sexy when the men are worthy--and ultimately honorable--opponents
· A reader who wants intense escapism
· A reader who enjoys hot, hot, hot sex scenes. And LOTS of them
I will be haunting bookstores, libraries, podcasts, radio shows, blogs, and Instagram accounts for the next two months. Here’s where you can find me throughout October and November.
Nov. 8 - LUSH MONEY Book Launch Party!! - Join me at One More Page Books Friday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. for Spanish wine, tapas, fun and the launch of Lush Money.
Nov. 14 - An Evening of Romance with Angelina M. Lopez and Andie J. Christopher - Come join me and USA Today bestselling romance author Andie J. Christopher at Loyalty Bookstores Petworth on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. as we drink wine and discuss the release of our new books, Lush Money and Not the Girl You Marry.
Nov. 20 - Romance 101 with Angelina M. Lopez at Aurora Hills Branch Library - Join me Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. for this author chat as I share with Aurora Hills Branch Library guests everything you didn’t know that you needed to know about romance.
Oct. 16 - Wicked Wallflowers Podcast - Listen as I join hostess-with-the-mostest Jenny Nordback to discuss my journey to publishing on this phenomenal romance podcast that Entertainment Weekly described as “taking "the guilt out of 'guilty pleasure' with author interviews and deep dives into new releases."
Oct. 16 - KT Literary Podcast - I was honored to be invited to be on my literary agency’s podcast. Host Renee Nyen and I chat about the book, alpha heroines, playing with tropes, and the awesomeness of my agent, Sara Megibow.
Oct. 31 and Nov. 6 - Story Hour with Wendy Mann - I’ll be chatting with WERA radio host Wendy Mann. The show will air live on WERA 96.7 Radio Arlington at 11 a.m. EST on Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, but then will be available on Mixcloud at the above link.
Oct. 14 - Harlequin Junkie - I’ll be featured in an author Q&A.
Oct. 15 - Fresh Fiction - Looking for that perfect author to read? Check out my author-reader match, where I woo readers dating app style.
Oct. 16 - Smexy Books - Read all about “Subverting the Billionaire Trope” in this Smexy Books article.
Early November - Frolic - I will be discussing “Embracing Your Bonkers Ideas” in this exclusive Frolic piece.
Oct. 14 - Facebook Live Happy Hour to Celebrate LUSH MONEY release - Join me and my hot, funny, and banter-y husband, Peter, as we celebrate the release of Lush Money. Learn about what it's like for a couple when one of them has been pursuing a creative dream for 20 years! We'll be enjoying cocktails, talking about the journey, and probably cooing at the dog.
Oct. 15 - LUSH MONEY Book Release Party on Facebook - On Tuesday, October 15, from 6-9 pm EST, I will be joined by a group of incredible romance authors on the Facebook page, the Racy Reads Party Room, to celebrate the release of Lush Money.
Oct. 18 - KT Literary Instagram Takeover - I will be taking over the Instagram account of my literary agency, KT Literary.
Oct. 23 - Wine Down Wednesday with Eva - I’ll be visiting romance author Eva Moore’s private Facebook group, Friends for Eva, to celebrate Wine Down Wednesday.
Nov. 6 - Romanced by the Book Instagram Takeover - I’ll be taking over the Instagram account of virtual romance club Romanced by the Book.
*Author’s Note: I wrote this blog counting down to the release of my debut book Lush Money. While the book has now been in the world for a bit, I think these seven tips are still worthwhile for unpublished authors or authors on the eve of a debut. I hope you find them helpful.
Today marks ONE DAY until the release of Lush Money, my debut romance novel. I’ve wanted to publish a book my whole life and I’ve been writing romance for 19 years — this is a dream long in coming (you can head to my FB page to see my reaction when I finally get to hold my book).
Alongside all the dreaming, many practical skills have been learned as well. So as I count down one week until the launch of Lush Money, I will offer seven tips — a tip each day — for other authors in the space I’ve been in for the last year-and-a-half: between a finished manuscript and the launch of a book.
Writing is hard. Sitting down, every day, getting down the words that will eventually create coherent imagery in other people’s heads, is really hard.
Writing to publish is harder. When you’re writing stories to be publicly consumed, there are so many voices warning you about the wrong ways you’re doing it. They want to tell you how NOT to craft, what topics NOT to write about, what subgenres NOT to write in if you want to publish.
But the only voice that will truly say what is right for your writing is your own.
Look, I have a ton of caveats for the above statement: Learn the craft. Practice it. Write a ton of words before trying to publish. Be aware of your implicit biases. Educate yourself about the people and topics you’re writing about. Stay on top of what’s happening in your industry.
But, as you do all of that, listen to your gut. Absorb what feels useful and reasonable. Reject what doesn’t speak to you.
Because with a billion storytellers out there, the only thing that will make you stand out in the market and bring joy to the process when you sit at your desk is your voice.
No one has it but you. No one has had your life but you. No one has your unique perspective on a million topics, and no one but you can breathe that one-in-a-billion perspective into a story.
Value your voice. Treasure it. Protect it. Stand up for it.
And I hope, when you’re on eve of your book release, you’re ready to let your voice sing.
While many people want to write a book, few pursue it. So if you are writing or have written a book, you’re a rare bird and your local community wants to support you when you publish.
So go introduce at your local bookstore and library BEFORE you have a book to promote. Buy and check out the books. Attend the events. Follow them on social media. Make yourself a real-world supporter of these mighty voices that you hope support you.
I shopped at my local indie bookstore, One More Page Books, and – after some deep-breathing exercises – commented gently on the fact that they didn’t have a romance section. Well, lo and behold, I got into a fantastic conversation with the book buyer about how they were about to launch a romance section. A few months later, I moderated their first romance author panel and, in November, will host my book launch party there!
There’s nothing like seeing your book in the wild and that’s a lot more likely to happen if you have the support of your local book sellers!
You know how author’s social media posts are full of links for the various book retailers? Usually it looks something like:
Buy my lovely book!
Amazon: XXXXXX
My Indie Bookstore: XXXXXX
Barnes and Noble: XXXXXX
Apple Books: XXXXXX
Kobo: XXXXXX
Rather than junking up your posts and running into Twitter’s character limits, there’s a way to gather all the retailers under one link. Use Linktree.
Linktree allows you to offer a bunch of “where to go next” options under one link. It was developed as an answer to Instagram, which only allows you to show one link in your bio.
I decided to use it to gather all the places a reader can go to purchase Lush Money. There is a free version. The $6/month paid version allows you to name the page, brand the page with image and colors, and a couple of other things that I can’t remember. I went with the paid version because — you know — DEBUT BOOK!! But I’ll probably go for the free version for the other books in the series.
This is a blog I wrote in January 2018, two months before the amazing Sara Megibow of KT Literary offered to represent me. I have been in her caring and capable hands ever since and have never felt anything but blessed.
I did have a good series of questions to ask her when she called. 😉
You know how you see those authors who have beautiful and informative graphics on their social media and website? And you wonder how many thousands of dollars they’re paying a graphic designer to create them?
Most likely, the author – without a drop of graphic design experience (me!!) – is creating them for free on Canva.
Canva is a website design tool that allows you to put together graphics as easily as putting together a Word document. It’s intuitive, relatively reliable, and dummy proof. Want to create a graphic for Facebook? Click “Facebook post,” choose one of their many templates, and fill it in with your own words and images. Download and post. Simple.
One thing I did early to bring continuity to my graphics was to pick two colors and three fonts that would define my “brand.” If nothing else, the colors and fonts give me a starting point whenever I design an image.
Author’s note: RWA has defied the trust the authors were trying to have in it. So I’m no longer recommending that anyone join this organization. The local chapters are struggling with what steps to take next. The foundation of this advice still remains true, however — find a networking group that you can share the highs and lows of the publishing journey with.
I’ve been a member of the Romance Writers of America since 1999 and a member of my local chapter, the Washington Romance Writers DC, since 2004. WRW DC has been INVALUABLE in teaching me the craft of writing, providing easy access to intimidating industry professionals like editors and agents, and helping me build a tribe of friend-authors.
As an aspiring writer, there was no better tool for keeping me writing. Now, on the verge of being a published author, I have this group to thank for my understanding of the publishing process and for cheering me on during this debut year. I’ve never felt alone.
Just sold your book? It’s not too early to set up your website, social media, and newsletter. And if you’ve just finished your manuscript or are writing a book or thinking about becoming a writer — it’s not too early.
Here’s the truth: Ninety to one hundred percent of your marketing will be your responsibility. You will not be the rarified writer who defies this reality of publishing. You will have to do the work to get your name out there and connect with your readers. And learning how to manage your website/social media/newsletter is a steep learning curve. SO START THAT LEARNING NOW.
I’ll say it again. START THAT LEARNING NOW. Learn how to effectively manage these marketing tools in the calm before the storm of a publishing contract.
Don’t bemoan what you don’t know — no one knows what they have not learned. Don’t cry about how uncomfortable it is — we are writers, not marketers. It’s uncomfortable for everyone. And don’t pine for the good ol’ days. Those days are gone. You’re doing the hard work of writing the words; make sure you also can do the work so as many people as possible can read them!
Hate Crush coming June 2020. Cover coming soon.
When I came up with the title for my first book, The Billionaire’s Prince, I loved it. But it became harder to love as a precedent for the other two books in the series. The second book is about a winemaking millionaire princess and a rock star. So, the Princess’s Rock Star? Ugh. The Millionaire’s Rock Star? It doesn’t really roll off the tongue.
The third book is about a CEO and an ex-Army Ranger. The CEO’s Bodyguard? The CEO’s Warrior? God awful!!
There’s a reason I’m not indie publishing.
The fine people at Carina Press actually know how to name book. After the brilliance of Lush Money (formally The Billionaire’s Prince), they’ve come up with another winner for the second book in the “Filthy Rich” series: Hate Crush. SO, so, so, so much better than my title.
Hate Crush is about Princesa Sofia de Esperanza y Santos, my Príncipe’s little sister, and the rock star who broke her heart ten years before. He’s sworn to get her back. She’s sworn to never fall in love again. Go here to learn more about Hate Crush.
The first draft of Hate Crush is with my editor and people who purchase Lush Money can read an excerpt at the back of the book. It’s the second in the “Filthy Rich” series, a three-part series about powerful, wealthy woman who get what they want because they’ve earned it.
Don’t you just love it!
Earlier this year, I got to announce my first three-book deal from Gantz Family Vineyards, my parents’ vineyard in the Russian River Valley and the place that inspired the first two books in the “Filthy Rich” series, Lush Money and Hate Crush.
So taking part in my first harvest there last week, on my birthday, on the eve the release of my debut book after a lifetime of writing, was enormously special. I might have cried.
It was tough but awesome work, repetitive but exhausting: untying twist-ties off 1.5 acres of bird netting, lifting said netting, pulling leaves from that many acres to expose the fruit, getting up at the break of dawn to get ready for the vineyard crew, helping with a multitude of tasks while the majority-woman crew performed the delicate, skilled labor of snipping grape clusters from the vine.
I got to share this moment with my parents, Clay and Celeste Gantz, and my brother, Michael Lopez. Without partners or kids joining, it’s the first time it was just the four of us in…ever. So, yes, there were tears.
Learn more about harvest 2019 at Gantz Family Vineyards in this blog we wrote for their website. Get to the end; I made a video!!
Harvest this year happened three times.
On Tuesday, September 17, a nine-person, majority-woman crew from Cornerstone Certified Vineyards showed up at 6:30 a.m. to harvest blocks 4 and 5 of our 4.5-acre vineyard. We were fortunate to be joined by our kids, Angelina M. Lopez and Michael Lopez, who got to take part in their first harvest at the vineyard. (Click to keep reading…)
I’ve been surprised – and delighted -- how some people have described my debut romance novel, Lush Money:
“Absolutely wild”
”A bit crazy”
“Old skool”
“High drama”
“Telenovela”
“Over the top – in the very best way”
Why surprised? Because I wasn’t TRYING to write an “absolutely wild,” “old skool,” OTT, bonkers book. I literally just sat down at the computer each day and thought, “What happens next?”
As you do when you’re a pantser.
As some of you read in an earlier blog, I began my writing years as a plotter, deliberately planning a book with outlines and story arcs. After several years, I “plotted” my way into hating writing and I set down my pen. When I picked it up again four years later, I did it with a determination to be free, to type stories on my phone if the spirit moved me, to post first drafts serially to Wattpad, and to let the story unfold in my head at the same time it did on a page.
So how did I pants my way to a bonkers book that still – miraculously – comes together?
Over Christmas vacation of 2015, I was skimming through ebooks and thought I saw the title, “The Billionaire’s Prince.” I assumed it was a male/male book. In a flash, I realized what I had done: even as a lifelong feminist, I presumed the billionaire had to be a man. But what if the strong and self-determining master of the universe was a woman?
That title and concept gave me focus and set the (bonkers) tone for the book. When you start with a gender-bias-smashing, trope-flipping, grandiose title like “The Billionaire’s Prince,” – later to be renamed Lush Money -- you’ve got to presume the story is going to be a little larger than life. (BTW, the actual name of the book was “The Billionaire’s PRICE.”)
A strong title gave this pantser a lot of plotting direction.
As an unpublished author, I was posting fanfiction and original stories to Wattpad, an app/website where writers can post their stories and readers can like and comment.
Wattpad writers are encouraged to post serially to build readership. Writing and posting serially, without a clear sense of where the story is going, definitely works the pantsing muscles! I discovered while writing a popular fanfiction story for the site that the key for pantsing a serial story is to put time barriers around it. My couple in my story Desperately Seeking was going to go on five dates before they had sex. These “dates” – the only time we saw the characters -- put time constraints around what could have otherwise been a meandering story.
When I began putting together Lush Money, I wanted to use a similar time-barrier device. So I decided that my billionaire and prince would agree to meet each other three times a month for a year for sex. Readers would only see them during these three-times-a-month interactions.
These time barriers kept the story immediate and moving forward, when one of the issues of pantsing is letting the story wander.
Wattpad is a great way to vet ideas to see if they have any traction. So I designed a cover and wrote a summary for Lush Money to see if the concept was appealing to readers.
I was pantsing my way into this story one step at a time, so when I wrote the summary, the only steps I had were my characters -- a billionaire and a prince – and the time barrier. But what was the story about? What was the conflict? Why would people be interested in this story?
I slowly typed out: Three nights a month. That’s all the billionaire wants from the prince. Just three nights a month for a year, and at the end, she will give him enough money to save his struggling winegrowing kingdom that means everything to him. Just three long, hot nights a month in her bed. And his heir.
The conflict in these billionaire stories is almost always the power dynamic – that the powerful individual wants to buy something that the less-powerful individual struggles with giving. So what would a prince need? Sitting on a bench at my parents’ vineyard in Sonoma County, I looked up and decided he had a nearly-destitute kingdom whose fortunes were based on wine grapes. And what would a billionaire want that she couldn’t buy? A perfect, fairy-tale princess baby.
Having a clean sense of the conflict gave me bumper lanes – crazy, weaving, mountain-road bumper lanes, but still – that kept my story from going over a cliff.
The conceit of the book is that the billionaire and the prince are going to meet three times a month for sex with a goal of impregnating the billionaire. Which was great and all. Until the point when I’d written two detailed sex scenes within three chapters and realized that I couldn’t have a book with 36 sex scenes (sex 3x/month x 12 months = 36 sex scenes.) While I like to consider hot, sexy times a part of my writer trademark, that was pushing it even for me!
The plot of this book, and what made the book bonkers, derived from the fact that I needed to throw impediments in the way of my increasingly hot-for-each-other couple. As they are drawn to each other -- which HAS to happen for two smart, accomplished, hard-working, caring and BEAUTIFUL human beings – I had to raise the stakes to keep them apart.
When the prince demands that they build a “conversation-only” night into their three dates – check! When paparazzi throws open the car door and interrupts coitus – yep! When a little sister bursts into the room that I didn’t know he had five minutes earlier – that too!
The increasingly tense and wild plot turns in the book surprised me as much as they surprised my couple. And they kept my writing satisfyingly loose and free.
Over the years of writing, I’ve come to understand what my essential story is: No matter the setting, I generally tell a small-town story about a community of real-and-found family. Lush Money takes place in three settings: glamorous San Francisco, the romantic mountain kingdom of the Monte del Vino Real, and the small hometown of Freedom, Kansas. In each place, our protagonists have “families” of employees, villagers, and townies that depend on them.
Traveling to these locations contributed to the sense of it being an over-the-top book. But it also helped bring the book home. This is a divisive, self-protective couple who see the other’s heart most clearly when they’re in the other’s place of birth.
Understanding your essential story helps pantsers tell a big story that doesn’t lose its heart.
I’m thrilled to announce that Lush Money — as well as the other two books in the “Filthy Rich” series — will be available in audiobook! Dreamscape Media, who produced audiobook versions of Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test, Veronica Roth’s Divergent, and Candace Bushnell’s Is There Still Sex in the City?, will be producing all three books in the series.
Scarlette Hayes will be reading Lush Money. Scarlette Hayes has over six years of voiceover experience and specializes in stories that are sassy, sophisticated, and sexy. Passionate about bringing characters to life, she has narrated titles in both English and Spanish as well as some in Greek.
You can order the book on Audible or CD now! And listen to an excerpt below.
Note: I’m now offering a workshop on Writing Alpha Heroines: How to Write Strong Heroines Readers will Root For. See the bottom of this article to discover where it’s available to watch now. Interested in this virtual workshop for your romance writing chapter or group? Contact me.
The heroine of my debut book, Lush Money, came from a lightning strike of an idea: What if the romance billionaire we’ve spent so many years reading and writing about was a woman?
Great idea, right? But Roxanne Medina, self-made Mexican-American billionaire and CEO of Medina Now Enterprises, was a struggle to write.
I’m a writer and ex-journalist who works from my suburban home and, while now an empty nester, I spent the last 21 years taking care of children. I’m ruler of my fiefdom – my husband concedes that the dog recognizes me as alpha – but that doesn’t make me knowledgeable in Roxanne’s skin.
In the beginning of the book, I had to stop a lot to ponder what Roxanne’s thoughts, impulses, and reactions would be. How would a woman with a billionaire’s level of power and self-determination move in the world? What would her desires be? How would she interact with others? What could she still want for herself when she could buy everything?
All the things I figured out writing Roxanne Medina allowed me to develop some guidelines to make writing alpha heroines in the future easier.
Okay, we’ve all read her: She’s a “tough” heroine, doesn’t like “girly” stuff, is sexually adventurous, into technology, and spares the man in her life (who women can’t get enough of) all her messy emotional stuff. She’s generally written by a man. And, if you squint, she IS a prototypical man with the addition of the fun lady parts.
Creators can do better than this. We women deserve better than this. To dismiss all of our womanliness as something that makes us weak or lesser is just a phenomenal bunch of crap.
Roxanne Medina wants a baby and uses her Wall Street Journal to bookmark her Vogue and enjoys her phenomenal good looks as a tool and cries easier than she likes. And all of these attributes are an extension of what make her a great leader and a great boss: she’s a nurturer, she stays in-the-know, she uses all the tools at her disposal, and she’s empathetic.
Our womanliness makes us mighty.
As we embrace the fact that gender is fluid – and that personalities, preferences, upbringings, and cultures vary widely – it’s counter-productive and dangerous to define specific traits as “womanly” or “feminine.” Being a woman can be all things and everything. But whoever our female character is – whatever female traits we’re bringing to the table as the story builders and our character is bringing as she develops in our heads – we should value her female-ness as part of her alpha strength. Not shy away from it as something that makes her weak.
I realized early writing Roxanne that she was a mama bear, a protective nurturer. How did she take care of those in her den? By supporting and engaging the female business owners whose companies she invested in or acquired, running a morally responsible company that took care of her employees, and funding her small Kansas hometown that she claimed to disdain.
Roxanne’s feminine instinct to nurture was the engine that made her powerful.
“The elephant in the room with strong, alpha heroines is that many times they’re called “unlikeable.” We’ve coded “make her likeable” with “make her relatable.””
What defines an alpha heroine? I don’t believe it’s her job – soldier, spy, billionaire – or the fact that she can kick ass. An alpha heroine is defined by the way she occupies her space and understands her importance in that space.
Imagine a woman standing in the middle of an empty room. As people come into this room, we are preprogrammed to expect this woman to shuffle to the side. Usually as she’s asking everyone who enters if they need anything. She might even press herself into a corner to make sure others have more space.
We’ve been taught to appreciate women who accommodate other’s needs. Women as caretakers used to be an evolutionary imperative.
But an alpha heroine stays in the center of the room. Why? Because she knows how important her place there is. Only from the center can she get a full picture, assess what other’s need, and balance those needs against her own. She doesn’t diminish herself because she knows she is necessary. Others will not receive the best she can give if she’s tucked into a corner.
Roxanne makes mistakes when she first meets Príncipe Mateo de Esperanza y Santos, a Spanish prince with a struggling kingdom, who she contracts for a year-long marriage of convenience and sex three-days-a-month so she can have her royal baby. But it’s her own judgement – that Mateo is a good man, that she behaved poorly and against her own standards and morals -- that inspires her to change and triggers this enemies-to-lovers couple to work together instead of against each other. Roxanne doesn’t let Mateo take over as her mea culpa; instead she apologizes, sincerely makes amends, and welcomes him to stand as an equal by her side.
Her vulnerabilities – the balance to her strengths -- are what make our alpha heroine fascinating and real. Not weak. If we deny her those vulnerabilities, all we have is a caricature of a strong woman. So it’s important we know those tender spots going in.
Roxanne’s strength is that she’s a nurturer. Therefore her vulnerability had to be that she was lonely. She worried, because of her upbringing, that she would never be valued and loved. That she would never have anyone to truly nurture. So why wouldn’t she try to buy herself a baby? Her exterior strength is her vast resources and wealth. Her vulnerability: That no one – not her employees, her hometown, or her prince – could love her unless she paid them.
I don’t want to get to spoilery so I’ll just say that vulnerabilities create issues for the hero to discover and comfort and provide fun, wrenching, awesome, heart-rending moments for the author to explore.
The elephant in the room with strong, alpha heroines is that many times they’re called “unlikeable.” We’ve coded “make her likeable” with “make her relatable.” I hate both words. Instead, we should just make sure to create a living, breathing human with all of the corresponding foibles.
Give her a favorite junk food. Or an irritating habit. Or a favorite reality show. Whatever. We just make sure she isn’t perfect because perfect is sterile and boring.
When Roxanne first sees her prince in a suit, she’s so knocked out by how gorgeous he is that she slips on her four-inch-high Louboutins. It’s a tiny moment – she just passes it off like there was something on the floor – but after a couple of chapters of her imperviously ramming her agenda down his throat, I loved seeing her this way. Human. Jaw-dropped.
Because of the close perspective that romance novels are written in, it can be difficult sometimes to show an alpha heroine’s love-strewn and foible-filled humanity. An alpha heroine is not going to acknowledge them in her POV and the hero – either filled with lust or enemies-to-lovers irritation -- might not see them in his.
So, I found it useful to let my secondary characters do that work. I showed my secondary characters loving her, respecting her, teasing her, valuing her for her strengths AND vulnerabilities AND foibles, and—hopefully—set the tone for the hero and the reader.
Sign up for the Toronto Romance Writers conference and you can take the How to Write Alpha Heroines workshop with me Saturday, September 17 at 9:00 am CT.
The first reviews are coming in for Lush Money and I’m completely knocked out by them.
Publishers Weekly said: “Fans of fake-relationship romances will delight in this fresh spin on the trope.”
And Aarya of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books said: “This book is a shining jewel.... The initial animosity is delicious, the authorial voice is magnetic, and I just want to slap these two idiots and make them swear their undying love for each other (this is a compliment!).”
The blurbs from published authors I deeply admire are phenomenal gifts.
I discovered Sierra Simone last year and her book Priest is one of the most incredible romance stories I’ve ever read. It’s incredibly hot, loving, dirty, and sacred all at the same time. I don’t think I’ll ever write with Sierra’s bravery, but I do hope to one day to write with her depth. So when it came to be “blurb” time, she’s one of the first authors I asked.
Her blurb was so fantastic that I’ve put it at the top of all of my book pages: “Sweeping, sensual, and rawly emotional, Angelina M. Lopez crafts a debut that matches a strong, complicated heroine to a beautiful, tortured prince, and spins a swoon-worthy fairy tale for the 2019 reader. Lush Money is a gorgeous story full of heat and feels—and tons of sexy, royal fun!”
Naima Simone is also an author I deeply admire. Naima is able to maintain a tremendous output while writing books that have deep-felt heart, humor and heat. As a book-every-nine-months writer, I have no idea how she does it!
Naima gave me THREE blurbs to choose from (because that’s the kind of awesome person she is!!) and we chose this one: “Lush Money was nothing I expected and everything I needed. It took the billionaire and marriage of convenience tropes and flipped them on their heads. A bold, millionaire heroine, a sexy prince of a hero, an exhilarating power struggle and off-the-charts chemistry and passion that had my Kindle smoking. It's the perfect dirty fairy tale."
She also wrote the most hilarious post in our shared reader group, the Racy Reads Party Room on Facebook. You should join Racy Reads just for Naima’s hilarious posts. She’s the most joyous person!
The Goodreads reviews have also been fantastic. Right now, 120 people have marked it to-read, which blows my mind! It’s hard to imagine all this stuff when you’re writing a book, alone, in yoga pants, at the quiet of your desk. What was created in private has become VERY public.
These reviews — on Goodreads and Amazon — make a huge difference in how Amazon promotes the book and how people discover it. This is my first of many requests that if you read the book and enjoy it, please review it.
Fellow Carina Press author Felicia Grossman (who writes gorgeous historical romances!!) said: “I just adored Roxanne and Mateo. Watching two people who started partially as enemies fall in love through friendship and understanding despite the fact that each fought it so hard was just wonderful to read. Both were complex and stubborn and proud and self-protective (They had wounds that matched each other really well as well as strengths), but also loyal and kind and caring, and just electrifying together (like so very hot and passionate and sexy but yet still very poignant somehow).”
Elizabeth said: “Old skool romance for the twenty-first century! I cried three times. The sexy times are fire. The writing is beautiful. I don't have anything else coherent to say because I'm still basking in book afterglow.”
And b.andherbooks said: “What follows is an absolutely delicious, soapy, and over the top clash of the titans romance for the ages, and the start of what will sure be a stunning career for debut novelist Angelina M. Lopez.”
