Rediscovering Vanilla: The Revised Edition You Didn’t Know You Needed

I decided to give Vanilla a little polish before I republished it.

That did not go as planned.

I’ve thought about this book a lot since it was first published. I was never completely happy with it. It didn’t get the attention it deserved. I don’t mean reviews or sales, or numbers. I mean it didn’t get the editorial attention it needed and deserved. I wasn’t able to dig into the places I fumbled. I couldn’t get the book to the place I wanted it to be.

So instead of just a polish, I revised the whole dang book.

The first time I wrote this, I really wanted to craft a submissive hero. I can’t be the only person who likes reading about men on their knees, can I? The problem was, at the time, I didn’t think I could sell a love interest who was fully invested in taking the submissive role.

When I wrote it originally, I discovered that Niall was not a sub. At least, he didn’t think he was. In fact, he was sure he wasn’t. Except that maybe he might like it. But he didn’t. Because feelings are complicated, and he didn’t know how to be honest and open up to explore. 

The question was, why would my confident domme Elise fall for a man who didn’t like being on his knees?

So, I gave her another love interest who did like it. I got to write the fun stuff I really wanted to write. And I also got to write a complicated, messy romance about flawed people who make bad choices and mistakes. On brand for me!

The rewrite got to explore even more about the characters. I was able to rearrange some things, like the timeline, so everything made more sense. I gave both Niall and Elise more insights. I added some stuff and cut away some other stuff. 

If you read this book before, well…you didn’t read this version. Did I make it better? Who knows? I think so.

If you’ve read Vanilla before, thanks for taking the time to pick up this revised and expanded copy. If you haven’t, I hope you liked it enough to give my other books a try. I could keep on writing books because I want to, but without readers, there’s not much point. I write the books I want to write, and I’m always so happy when someone else likes them, too.

Go ahead. Give it a lick.