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Overdue

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OVERDUE

by Lucy Monroe

1st Printing 2024 Lucy Monroe LLC

COPYRIGHT © 2024 LUCY MONROE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express, written permission from the author Lucy Monroe who can be contacted off her website http://lucymonroe.com.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Dedication

For my readers. You all are at the heart of the stories I tell. Thank you for being part of my adventure as an author.

Prologue

ZEPHYR

"I am not sitting on your lap during the meeting." Lucia laughs and smacks my cousin's arm.

Atlas grins at her. "But my lap is more comfortable than the chairs."

Before Atlas met Lucia, he never smiled.

Never. Not an exaggeration. A fact.

As our mafia's top assassin, he had no reason to.

Now, with a baby on the way and a wife that he adores, he doesn't just grin. He laughs. Not a lot, but it happens.

He is 100% whipped and does not give two fucks who knows it.

I like Lucia, but no woman is ever going to hold that kind of power over me.

"Sit wherever the hell you want. Just get your assess situated so we can get this done." Zeus glares at the rest of us.

My oldest cousin has always been grumpy, but he's only gotten more irascible since becoming the head of the Hades Brotherhood in Oregon.

Zeus sits down at the head of the table. Orion, his middle brother and our lawyer slides into the chair on his right. Instead of Atlas sitting to his left, like he used to do, he helps his wife into that seat before taking the one next to her.

And consequently between me and Lucia.

She won the argument of getting he own chair, but no way is she ever going to win the one about sitting next to me.

Yes, I am twenty-eight years old with a leadership position in the Hades Brotherhood, but that doesn't mean I've stopped enjoying getting a rise out of my older cousin.

Atlas is too easy to poke. One implication that you want to flirt with his wife and he's throwing you into a wall.

I grin and lean around Atlas to wink at Lucia. "You look beautiful today, cousin."

Atlas growls.

But Lucia grins and thanks me.

"Give it a rest," my older brother, Helios, says. "I have to get back to the club."

I make a motion for things to proceed. "By all means. Let's get this meeting going."

"Thanks for your approval," Zeus says sardonically before nodding to Lucia. "Tell us what you've found."

"I ran the numbers in several different scenarios and purchasing our own property on the Oregon coast for delivery access makes the most sense."

She taps something on her tablet and mine dings with a notification. So does everyone else's at the table.

"If you look at the report I just sent," she says, indicating our tablets. "You'll see that in terms of reward-risk ratios and net profits, it's the most feasible option long term."

I scan the parameters and numbers in her report documentation. It all supports her conclusion.

"Even as a short-term proposition, it makes the most sense," I say.

Helios frowns without look up from his device. "Especially after our current connection tried to increase their receiving fees after the last shipment arrived."

We convinced them to stick with the original terms of the agreement, but now we know they can't be trusted. Our choice was to find another receiving company, buy or own property, or put our own people in charge of the current business.

Small towns on the Oregon coast are like small towns everywhere. Too many people know too much about everybody's business. If we came in and took over, it would draw attention we don't need.

Finding a new company carries the same risk as sticking with the old one.

"But purchasing our own access is going to require some kind of front and a consistent presence."

"A completely legitimate enterprise run by a private billionaire with no known ties to organized crime," Zeus agrees, his gazed fixed squarely on me.

I look around the table and realize everyone else is looking at me too.

"Why do I get the feeling I’m the last to hear about this?"

My brother, Helios, shrugs. "We need another front man and I'm already busy with the club. Orion is our lawyer. He can't move to the Oregon Coast."

"I'm building Lucia a house here," Atlas says, like that's an iron clad excuse not to relocate.

"We need a front corporation in Oregon to do business on our behalf that cannot be traced back to the Hades Brotherhood," Zeus says to me.

"Your status as a billionaire in your own right makes you the ideal person for the role," Orion adds.

"I knew designing that app was going to come back to bite me in the ass." It already had once.

I spent the time I was supposed to be listening to lectures on business law designing a combined dating and social media app. It went viral and I became a millionaire pretty much overnight.

Our uncle, who is also the West Coast Godfather of the Night, was not happy that when the app went viral, so did my name. He had to pull in favors to get my name and picture out of the media while distancing me from the family business.

The best part, besides the money, was that his damage control included removing me from the pre-law program I'd never wanted to be in the first place.

My millionaire status jumped to billionaire status when I sold the app to a major software company. After that, I turned my attention to financial investments and have nearly doubled the billions I got for selling the app since.

Now I am one of the least talked about billionaires in the United States, just like most of the other mafia related men on Forbes Fortune 500 list. Unlike the other billionaires connected to organized crime, my fortune is entirely my own.

I tithe to the Brotherhood, like every other person who has taken the oath, but that's it. On the surface, I am a squeaky-clean businessman who made it big in an industry inundated by entrepreneurs.

Which is exactly why they want me to buy the property on the coast. "Why do I have to move the coast? Why can't I just buy the property?"

"The move will further distance you from us. Once you are established there, you can do more business for us without drawing attention to our endeavors here."

"This is a long-term solution you've been thinking about for a while." Zeus inclines his head.

Of course, he has. He is our anax. He's always thinking ahead about what is best for our Brotherhood. How to keep our family not only safe, but thriving.

And apparently part of that plan includes me establishing my identity as a no doubt reclusive billionaire living on the Oregon Coast.

I glare at Helios. "Why didn't you warn me about this?"

"You are too busy picking up chicks when you come into the club to talk." My brother doesn't sound even a little repentant.

"I wonder what your app users would think knowing the developer has never once used the platform?" Lucia muses.

I shrug. "I don't care."

I have never been the public face of the app and now I don't even own it.

"I'm a city guy. What the hell am I supposed to do for dates in some Podunk town on the coast?"

"The female population of Portland will survive your absence," Zeus says.

I snap right back, "Just because you are happy to live like a monk, doesn't mean the rest of us are."

I have a healthy sex drive and no desire for commitment. That means I need a city size dating pool, not a small town where everyone knows my business.

"I don't want you participating in our import business. You know what to look for in the property, but once you buy it. We'll set up everything for receiving goods and transporting them without detection."

"If I buy a house on the beach and suddenly start limiting access to the property to cover your operations, that in itself will be suspicious."

Lucia leans around her ape of a husband to grin at me. "Not if the beach property is for a think tank dedicated to environmental conservation and climate change solutions."

We talked about that once while she was waiting for Atlas to get back from a trip to Russia. Lucia had been a little stressed with him out of the country, and we kept her entertained with a game of what would your perfect life look like?

I'd been a smartass and said mine would be participating in a think tank to find ways to reverse the damage we've done to our planet.

Apparently, she'd taken me at my word.

The only problem? I'd been using sarcasm to cover my very real desire to do something to make our world better.

Not the typical attitude of a made man.

"What the hell do I know about a think tank?" It's ridiculous to think I could become something so completely different than what I am.

I have never been ashamed of my family, or how we make our living. The man I killed to become made hurt children and he kept getting away with it.

But I like finding solutions. It's how my brain works. Turning that onto improving the future of our planet? Is one endeavor I don't think I could ever get bored of.

There's too much to do.

Zeus shrugs. "You're smart. You can figure it out."

"There's nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it," Helios agrees.

I stare at my cousin and brother, for once completely speechless.

"What did you know about dating apps when you designed yours?" Orion asks. "Nothing. But you designed the best app on the market."

I smile when Orion doesn't caveat the claim with one of the best. That's our Brotherhood. We always win.

And if we're going to fix some of the problems facing our planet and the population living on it, it will take the ruthlessness of our nature to do it right.

"We protect our family and our business," Atlas says. "Part of that is giving them both a future."

And suddenly, I’m not just a legitimate frontman for our mafia, but I am it's hope of the future too.

Chapter 1AMELIA

Ada Nelson slams a copy of Handmaid's Tale onto an already large stack of books on the library cart.

I move closer so I can see the other titles and my stomach cramps.

They are all books that have been banned in other places. There have been no petitions to ban books in the Deerbrush Point Community Library that I am aware of though.

"Are you reshelving those?" I ask hopefully.

Mrs. Nelson looks up, a maniacal glint in her weathered blue eyes. "No, dear. We will be disposing of them. We aren't going to have books like these on the shelves of my library. Not anymore."

"It's the town's library, isn't it?" I have to curl my fingers into a fist to stop myself reaching out and grabbing as many of the books as I can and running with them.

"Of course, dear. However, we must protect impressionable minds, don't you agree?" She smiles at me sweetly, but that smile is a lie.

There is nothing sweet about what she's doing.

I see a Judy Bloom book in the stack and can't hold back my gasp.

That book was a childhood friend.

Is that a children's dictionary? A dictionary?

I've bitten my tongue many times when Mrs. Nelson has one of her ideas.

Like deciding to take the chairs out of the children's books section, to discourage parents dropping their children off for free babysitting.

The head librarian felt the prominently placed signs telling parents all children twelve and under must be accompanied by a responsible adult weren't enough. That particular effort backfired on her though.

Most kids don't mind sitting on the floor and that's exactly what they started doing. Little legs sprawling into the aisles was one thing. But Mrs. Nelson about had a coronary when those same children started laying books out on the carpet in front of them to read.

The chairs reappeared pretty darn quickly.

Once these books are gone, they aren't coming back though. Whether she throws them away, or recycles them, by the time patrons start complaining, the volumes will be long gone.

And there isn't money in the library's budget to replace them all. Which is what she's counting on, I bet.

"No, I don't agree." I grab the children's dictionary and shake it at her. "Young minds need to be challenged and fed, not buried under a bunch of fertilizer and kept in the dark like mushrooms."

"With an attitude like that it's a good thing you aren't the head librarian." She pulls another book and adds it to the pile.

"You may be head librarian, but you cannot cull the library shelves like this without board approval."

"You are mistaken. Part of my job description is to maintain the collection, removing books that are no longer popular and purchasing others to keep our offerings current."

"Those books aren't unpopular." Several are so dogeared, they need replacing, not disposing of.

I don't say this though because she'll use that as another excuse to dispose of the books.

"You are exceeding your authority," I tell her, my heart racing and my palms wet from sweat.

I hate confrontation.

"I think not, Amelia."

How many times have I asked her to call me Mel? Too many to count.

"It is you who is out of line." She gives me a measuring look from beneath beetled brows. "I am sure you do not wish to lose the job you love so much for insubordination, but my patience is not limitless."

"What's the point of working in a library with no books?" I rashly demand.

"There are plenty of books left. Good books that do not perpetrate an unacceptable agenda." She uses air quotes when she says agenda.

"What agenda would that be?" I demand. "Education?"

"Do not be facetious, Amelia. It is unbecoming. Your youth and inexperience may blind you to the risk inherent in the ideas propagated by these books, buts I know what I need to do to protect our community."

"Ideas propagated by a dictionary?" I ask with disbelief.

"Please return that book to the cart, Amelia."

I hold it close to my chest. "No."

"Perhaps you need a moment to collect yourself. Please do so and return with an appropriate attitude, or do not return at all."

The children's dictionary tucked tightly under one arm, I pull my phone out and start recording my boss. "Please repeat why you are removing all of these books from the library shelves."

She glares at me. "Cell phone usage is prohibited in the library, as you know. Please put that away."

I don't listen, but instead angle my phone so I can record the titles being removed from the library.

"Are you planning to throw these books away?" Sweat trickles down my back and soaks my armpits.

"Of course not." Her indignant tone matches her expression. "They will be recycled. Deerbrush Point Community Library is green certified."

I cannot believe this woman. Does she think recycling the books somehow makes what she's doing better?

The righteous glint in her eyes says she does.

"I quit."

Her jaw drops, her eyes popping.

She's shocked? I'm shocked!

What am I doing?

I spent four years away from my ailing grandparents to get my degree in information science. When I landed my dream job in my hometown without having to complete a masters degree in library science, I was over the moon.

It felt like it was too good to be true, but here I am after four years, still working as a librarian in Deerbrush Point.

Here I was anyway.

Oh, man. Am I really doing this?

"Do not be melodramatic, Amelia. You are not quitting over something so insignificant as me pulling a few books from the shelves."

"First, it is just a few. You've got at least twenty books there already. Second, it is not insignificant. What you are doing goes against everything a public library stands for." I turn off my phone and tuck it away in sweater pocket.

Then, I pull my lanyard with my badge declaring me an Assistant Librarian over my head, and put it on top of the books.

Next, I remove the key to the library from my keyring and drop it beside the lanyard. Pulling in my next breath feels like I'm doing it under water.

I only got that key six months ago.

"There's no point in having a key to a library that isn't a library anymore." Dyani slurps her chocolate milkshake through the straw, her dark brown eyes snapping with annoyance.

I stir my pineapple milkshake before trying to suck some up through the straw. A fruit chunk gets caught and my cheeks hollow, trying to move it.

Giving up, I use my spoon. Pineapple, sugary goodness bursts across my tastebuds. "I can't believe the president of the library board agrees with Ada."

While I always defer to her preference for formality, she never respects mine for being called Mel. Now that I don't work for the woman anymore, I'm not extending her the courtesy of calling her Mrs. Nelson any longer.

Anyway, Ada is an improvement over the word I'd rather call her.

Dyani tilts her head and purses her lips. "Uh, I'm not sure Blakely taking the old bat's side has anything to do with her beliefs about what books should, or should not be, in the library."

"She's married to my cousin, for goodness' sake. She should take my side."

"You mean the same cousin who tells everybody who will listen how wrong it was that your grandparents left their house to you?"

"We've gotten past that."

"Yeah, no." Dyani shakes her head. "He is not over it."

"The house passed down through the oldest sons. His dad wouldn't have inherited regardless." And Percy was never even in the running.

"Grandpa only bypassed my dad in my favor because he trusted me not to sell to developers."

The homestead overlooking Ipset Cove has been in the Pierson family for over a hundred and fifty years. Since before Deerbrush Point was designated a township. Property developers have been trying to buy it off the family for the past four generations.

"I know that. You know that. But your cousin can't seem to get that through his head."

"He would sell to developers in a heartbeat."

"There are lots of people in town who wouldn't be sad to see that happen." Dyani pushes away her now empty milkshake glass and sits back in the red vinyl covered booth to stare at me. "What are you going to do?"

"About the house? Keep it like grandpa wanted."

Dyani shakes her head. "Not about the house, doofus. About the library."

"What can I do?"

"Fight it."

"I'm not much of a fighter." I'm more of a hide in a quiet nook and read kind of girl.

"So, you're just going to let the Adas of this world win?"

My best friend does not shy from confrontation. If there's a protest, she's always standing on the front line.

I'm the one who makes the signs.

"How? Am I supposed to start a competing library?"

Grandpa may have left me a house and property worth a couple of million, but the only actual money he left me is in a trust for the house's upkeep and property taxes. The rest went to my dad.

I live off the wages I earn.

Which is going to be exactly zero dollars, with no unemployment benefits since I quit my job.

"Come on. You're a Pierson. If you won't do anything, who will?"

Three of the founding families have descendants still living in Deerbrush Point: the Piersons, the Washingtons and the Richards.

"Grandpa was a Pierson with a capital P. I'm just me." Amelia Pierson, average height, medium brown hair, eyes the same color as almost half the U.S. population, brown and a body just on the fluffy side of average.

"Last time I checked your last name was capitalized too."

"It's not the same."

"It's exactly the same. You have a responsibility to the community."

I can't argue with a woman who takes her own responsibility to the land and people of this region as seriously as Dyani Acothley. She comes from a long line of Chinook conservationists that are the driving force behind the green footprint of our small coastal town.

"Are you going to let her throw those books away?"

"She plans to recycle them." In the bins in the back of the library.

That won't be picked up for two more days.

"Dumpster diving is legal, right?"

"For the most part. Why?"

"Are you busy tonight?"

"No. Again, why?"

"Want to do some dumpster diving with me?"

"Sounds smelly."

"I don't mean actual dumpsters."

"What do you mean?"

The people of Deerbrush Point and surrounding communities deserve access to the books Ada is throwing out via the recycle bins.

I’m not sure how to make that happen, but it starts with rescuing the books from the garbage service.

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Not Just on Amazon: Paperback Options for My Syndicate Rules Books

✨ Where to Buy My Syndicate Rules Paperbacks (Beyond Amazon!)

Keeping it easy—because we love options! 💛

While you can always find my indie-published books (including the Syndicate Rules series) on Amazon in all formats, I also make the paperbacks available through IngramSpark so you can order them from a variety of retailers around the world.

📚 Here are some great online options:

USA:

Books-A-Million

Barnes & Noble

Powell’s

Half Price Books

Canada:

Indigo Books

UK:

Waterstones

Australia:

Rosemary’s Romance Books (just contact the store to place an order!)

📖 Many independent bookstores can order my paperbacks if you ask—just provide the title and author name! And don’t forget, you can also request your local library to stock the paperback or hardcover editions for their shelves. (Libraries love reader requests!)

For info on all of my books, visit my website.

Find me on social media:
BookBub: Lucy Monroe
goodreads: Lucy Monroe
Facebook: LucyMonroe.Romance
Instagram: lucymonroeromancePinterest: lucymonroebooks
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Reader Beware – How to Spot a Book Piracy Site

Several readers have asked me how to spot an ebook piracy site. I’m not an expert by any means, but the following is my take on this issue. This is my opinion only and not to be taken as legal advice or either a positive or negative statement of fact about any particular online entity.

Before I get into the red flags to look for, let’s acknowledge that yes, sometimes traditional publishers and indie authors put ebooks for sale, or free, on legitimate bookstore sites like these:

Amazon/Kindle
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble/Nook
Bookshop.org
eBooks.com
Google Play
Harlequin
Kobo
Smashwords
Walmart eBooks

(In the UK, you can add Blackwell’s, Hive & W.H. Smith to that list. If you are aware of other bookstores that sell ebooks and want me to include them here, let me know and I’ll add them.)

Non-bookstore sites that I’m aware of that either provide distribution for or information about legitimate free ebooks are:

BookFunnel
StoryOrigin
Bookbub.

(Again, if you know of others, I’m happy to add them to this list.) And obviously, if the link is on an author’s own website, no one is pirating anything there.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with downloading free ebooks from legitimate booksellers. This helps author visibility in those stores and is a good thing. Borrowing ebooks through the Libby app for municipal libraries or a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus is awesome. Reading books in the public domain (to be in the public domain, the first printing had to happen at least 90 years ago, or the copyright released by the original holder or their representatives) that are stored on sites like Project Gutenberg is wonderful.

Downloading free ebooks from pirate sites is the not wonderful, but sometimes it’s hard to identify those sites as predatory.

Because some claim to be a legit free repository. Others say they are helping authors. Others even claim that all books should be free, so they blatantly steal the work of authors like me and offer them for free to unsuspecting (I hope) readers.

So let’s talk red flags that are pretty good indicators a site has pirated the books available there:

All of the books on the site are free. Bookstores make money selling books. If the site is a legitimate bookstore, then the majority of their inventory is NOT free.

The free books are published by traditional publishers. While most of my traditional publishers have discounted my books from time to time, or put them in Kindle Unlimited, they don’t make them free.

All the books are available as PDFs only. Many pirate sites offer multiple formats, so doing so is not a definitive sign the site is not a pirate site, but only offering their books in PDF? That is a big red flag.

NOTE: Bookstores like Smashwords might offer some titles in only one format because that’s the author or publisher’s choice, but there are thousands of books on Smashwords that are offered for sale in multiple formats.

The ebook is available free or in non-English translation before publication date. The only copies of the books available before publication are ARCs (advanced reading copies) for review purposes and access to them is limited by the publisher, indie author, PR company or review service.

You found the free book using a search term like “free copy of BOOK TITLE by AUTHOR” and that search didn’t send you to a site like the author’s website, Amazon or BookFunnel. If you know the ebook is not free on the legitimate bookstore sites but you don’t want to pay for it, there’s your giant, inescapable, red flag right there.

Many pirate sites use a bait and switch hook. They claim to be trying to help college students/researches with free access to textbooks or research papers, when in actuality most of the books available on the site are popular genre fiction. 

Describe themselves as online libraries, but they don’t actually have a lending system. You can simply download the book without checking it out.

Not all piracy sites were intended to service book pirates, but their willingness to let users upload whatever they want without the capacity to moderate content often results in the legitimate site being used to distribute stolen ebooks. So beware of sites that allow all users to upload documents unmoderated for download. These sites often respond better and more quickly to DMCA takedown notices though.

Readers can freely read in the entire (often poorly formatted) ebook online browser but to download the books they require a subscription fee. Authors and publishers don’t make their books free to read online but charge to download. That’s not how it works in publishing.

Piracy sites come in many packages, but the ultimate test is if you’re getting a book for free that the legitimate bookstores are charging for, it’s most likely a piracy site.

General things to be wary of:

Sites that use symbols in their name.

Sites that charge a subscription fee for books that are for sale on legitimate bookstore sites.

Sites that have FREE or NOVEL (especially together) in their name.

A quick list of red flags for subscriptions services that are either predatory or probable pirate sites:

The site does not list author names and/or titles for the serialized book.

You are given a very short piece of the story to read before having to watch an ad or pay that site for the next installment.*

Authors complain about the subscription service stealing their books. (Listen to them.

These are the nonpredatory, legitimate serialized books sites I’m aware of: Wattpad, Radish, & Kindle Vella (now closed). Authors may offer their books in serialized form through their own subscription service via places like Patreon & OnlyFans, etc. Trust me, if the author is the one getting paid, there will be links to the service on their website and/or social media platforms.

These are the legit subscription services for borrowing ebooks I’m aware of: Kindle Unlimited, Kobo Plus & municipal libraries.

Like the bookstores above, I’m happy to add sites to these lists from readers so long as my initial inquire confirms them to be legitimate.

*Many of the authors who write for sites/apps like this have been trapped in predatory contracts that do not pay them even a tiny portion of what the publisher or that site is getting for the story they are writing. These authors are also unable to write for any other publisher or even themselves because of the predatory language in their contract. I don’t know about you, but I’m not OK with that.

Please note: the only people who can issue takedown notices are publishers, authors or their legal representatives. Don’t feed their traffic by visiting these sites in the hopes of doing your favorite authors a favor.

What you can do to help your favorite authors:

Talk about books you love and help your favorite authors gain visibility. Honestly, this is the biggest and best thing you can do. (My DCMA specialist says the best way to fight the impact of ebook piracy on authors is to help them get in front of more readers.)

Report posts in reader groups made by members that advocate downloading from a piracy site to the moderators.

Share this article with your bookworm buddies.

Oh, and PLEASE do not argue that piracy doesn’t hurt authors.

Myths used to argue that ebook piracy isn’t all that bad:

The books downloaded for free would not be bought anyway. Read this article if you doubt that to be the lie that it is.

Piracy gets the word out about an author’s books. This is such a self-serving argument. If you want to get the word out about an author’s book, join their ARC team and post a legitimate review. Telling your friends how to download a stolen book does not help the author you’re stealing from. At all.

The point is getting the book into as many reader’s hands as possible. Again, totally self-serving. That is literally what municipal libraries are for and they do it without illegal and unethical behavior.

I can’t afford books, but I want to read. If you have a device to download pirated books, you have access to the internet and places like Project Gutenberg and libraries that serve out of municipality patrons.

Piracy sites are just like used book stores and authors say they love those. Really? There is a HUGE difference between a book being resold to patrons at maximum a few dozen times and a site that encourages thousands of downloads of a stolen book.

Books should be free to everyone. (Again refer to #3.) But also, most piracy sites start charging a subscription fee once they reach enough traffic, including those who say they are ideologically opposed to charging for the written word. Also, accepting donations to help them steal authors intellectual property is just another way to get paid for criminality

Authors like me give away a lot of books every year, but something else I do is donate books to local libraries when they request them. So, if you want to read my books and your library doesn’t carry them, get the librarian to make an official request to me via the municipal library’s official email. The book must be shipped directly to an address verifiably attached to the library in question.

I donate my author copies of non English translations as well. If you are in a verifiable group dedicated to a certain culture with a language other than English in the United States, you can also have one of the group’s representatives contact me for a book (or books) in that language. You cannot request certain titles. I will send whatever translated copy I have on hand.

Hugs and happy reading!

Lucy

For info on all of my books, visit my website.

Find me on social media:
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goodreads: Lucy Monroe
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When Writing Becomes a Job: How I Found the Spark Again

✨ From Unfettered Joy to Creative Grit: Finding My Way Back to the Spark ✨

Do you remember those first heady weeks—or even years—of writing before you were published?
The determination to carve out time, the thrill of chasing the story that burned to be told?

Publishing is supposed to increase that joy. Right?
To lift you higher as you pursue your dream?

The truth is… not so much.

When you're writing that first book (or even the first in a new series), your creativity is free.
There are no reader expectations. No editorial feedback. No sales goals looming over your shoulder.
It’s just you and the story—pure, magical, unfiltered. Until publication, those characters and that world are yours and yours alone.

But everything shifts once your book is out in the world.

Whether you’re indie or traditionally published, that joyful manuscript becomes… a product. A piece of a growing career. A line on a royalty report.

You’re no longer aspiring. You’re published.
Now, there are voices. Lots of them.
Readers (the kind ones and the ones who really shouldn’t have left a review).
Editors. Publishers. Marketers. Fellow authors.
And of course, your own inner critic who’s suddenly gotten way louder.

Even indie authors—who are technically their own publishers—carry heavy loads:
📚 Editorial deadlines (self-set, but no less real)
📅 Release schedules
📢 Marketing goals
💸 Budget concerns
💬 Reader expectations

After years of publishing, I found my perfect editor (shoutout to Andie at Beyond the Proof! 🙌), but that means planning ahead and turning in books on a timeline. That’s not nothing. That’s pressure.

And slowly—quietly, almost unnoticeably—the fizz of inspiration that used to feel like champagne in my veins… started to flatten.
Writing turned into a job. A serious one.
One I couldn’t just set aside when I “wasn’t feeling it.”

Now, don’t get me wrong—I don’t believe in forcing the words or writing every day no matter what. (You know me better than that.)
But I do believe in honoring the shift: that writing after publication is a very different beast than writing before it.

Some days are harder.
Some stories feel heavier.
The joy? It’s still there—it’s just not unfettered anymore.
The inspiration? It still comes—but now it rides shotgun with expectations.

We can’t go back to that old joy. The past is past.
But we can go forward into something just as beautiful.

For me, reclaiming the spark meant reclaiming my creative control:
Over the content.
Over the tone.
Over the length.
Over everything.

I won’t sacrifice that for reader expectations, editorial advice, or even the ambitious goals I set for myself.

I’m still learning to silence some of the voices in my head.
But I’m also learning to listen more closely to the ones that matter—the ones that sound like me.

If your spark feels like it’s gone completely, maybe it’s time to pause and ask:
Why do I write?
What do I want to say?
What am I afraid of letting go of—and what might I gain if I do?

I did that soul searching.
It wasn’t easy.
But it led me somewhere new. Somewhere freer. And, yes, somewhere joyful.

Wherever you are on your journey—early days or decades in—I hope you find your way back to what lights you up inside.

✨ Happy writing, friend. ✨

P.S. If you want to read my recipe for active ways to find joy in your writing, check out

When Writing Feels Heavy: A Gentle Path Back to Joy.

For info on all of my books, visit my website.

Find me on social media:
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goodreads: Lucy Monroe
Facebook: LucyMonroe.Romance
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When Writing Feels Heavy: A Gentle Path Back to Joy

✨ My Recipe for Finding Joy in Your Writing ✨

(As with all advice, take what works and leave the rest. This isn’t about hitting bestseller lists or quitting your day job—it’s about rediscovering the happiness that writing once brought you… and still can.)

📚 Write the book you want to read.

It sounds simple, but it’s the most powerful piece of advice I can give. When you want to read the story you're writing, you'll look forward to sitting down with it. It becomes a joy, not a chore. Forget chasing trends or writing for someone else’s wishlist. Let your passion lead the way.

🔇 Turn down the volume on the critical voices.

After a few rounds of critique or reviews, those voices can camp out in your head like they pay rent. But they don’t. So turn them down. Decide who gets a say in your creative process. Choose wisely. Trust deeply. But always keep your story’s voice—the one whispering magic and meaning—turned up loudest.

💔 A tough writing season doesn’t mean you’ve lost your mojo.

We all hit those dry spells. A hard day, week, or even month doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re human. Refill your creative well. Rest. Play. Dream. Just like a broken bone needs a cast, your writer’s soul sometimes needs space and stillness to heal.

🛡️ Protect your creative energy.

Know what drains you and gently step away from it. Know what fills your cup and seek more of that. Whether it’s less social media or more time walking in nature, protect your spark like the precious thing it is.

🧭 Revisit your goals—and make sure they still serve you.

Goals should inspire, not intimidate. If your current targets feel like burdens instead of beacons, it’s okay to reset. This is your writing journey. Let it evolve with kindness.

🚫 Don’t get lost in other people’s “shoulds.”

There are so many voices telling us what writing should look like. Tune them out. Trust your gut. Your creative path is yours alone—and it's beautiful just as it is.

💛 Start with gratitude.

Before you write, take a moment to breathe in gratitude. Be thankful that you get to do this—that you are a writer. Gratitude is like fairy dust for the soul—it adds sparkle to everything that follows.

Writing should be a joyful act. A celebration of your voice, your imagination, your heart. If you’ve lost that joy, I hope this brings you a few steps closer to finding it again. 💫

For info on all of my books, visit my website.

Find me on social media:
BookBub: Lucy Monroe
goodreads: Lucy Monroe
Facebook: LucyMonroe.Romance
Instagram: lucymonroeromancePinterest: lucymonroebooks
YouTube: @LucyMonroeBooks
Threads: lucymonroeromance

Subscribe now

Demanding Mob Boss Now in Audiobook

Buy on Amazon or Audible

I think you are going to love the dual narration for Demanding Mob Boss. Denver Adams and Faith Clark embody Cian and Anna beautifully!

An exciting introduction to the Irish mob in USA Today bestselling author Lucy Monroe’s Syndicate Rules series.

Anna
The world is too loud, too bright, too everything. Until I meet him. His touch sends me to a place I’ve never been. I want more of him, bloodstained hands and all. What happens when the one person I need is the utterly ruthless boss of the Irish mob?

Cian
Some call me a psychopath. I don’t feel. Until I meet her. I need to know she is safe. Every minute of every day. I hire her to work for my legitimate business. I watch her. I crave her. I will never let her go. But I am a monster. What happens when the one person who makes me feel is pure, sweet innocence?

This is a stand alone steamy mafia romance with a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers. No cheating for either of the main characters.

CW: explicit intimacy, graphic violence, implied assault of secondary character, death of parents, foul language, stalking behavior.

Swoony Tycoons New Billionaires & Royals Box Set

Swoony Tycoons: Billionaires & Royals Box Set #1

Three swoony tycoons. Three full length steamy romances.

Do you love snappy dialogue? Enemies to lovers? Friends to lovers? Workplace romance? All with billionaire alpha heroes? You need this new boxset with three complete novels by USA Today Bestselling author Lucy Monroe.

HER GREEK BILLIONAIRE

It started as a revenge pact and became so much more, but can two people intent on no strings find their HEA?

CINDERELLA’S JILTED BILLIONAIRE

Brought back together by a crisis in their families, can the billionaire and the woman who left him standing at the altar find their own HEA?

THE REAL DEAL

When intimacy leads to an explosive passion between two people on opposite sides of a business, it might be time to think of a different, more permanent kind of merger…one that’s less about business and all about pleasure…

Available in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited & Paperback

Ruthless Enforcer Out Today

Ruthless Enforcer: An Accidental Pregnancy Mafia Romance
USA Today bestselling author Lucy Monroe introduces a new Greek syndicate in her spicy mafia romance series, Syndicate Rules.

LUCIA
I ran from the Cosa Nostra after a rival syndicate killed my husband. I live like a normal person now. Atlas shows up in my club when everything in my life is finally coming together and I think it’s fate. I’ve never trusted anyone with my darkest desires…until him.

Then I learn the man I love is everything I am running from and now he’s my enemy.

ATLAS
I never wanted any woman this bad, this fast. From her luscious curves to her eagerness for bedroom games, Lucia is perfect for me. But when she finds out what I’m there for, she hates me. I’m head enforcer for a reason though. I don’t let anything stop me from getting what I want. That includes her.

Because she needs my protection as much as I need her light and if I have to get her pregnant to keep her, we’ll both enjoy every minute of it.

This is a stand alone mafia romance with a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers. No Cheating.

CW: explicit intimacy, graphic violence, foul language, domestic violence (in the past), miscarriage (backstory), complicated family relationships.

Demanding Mob Boss Out Now

Demanding Mob Boss is out in paperback, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

Anna
The world is too loud, too bright, too everything. Until I meet him. His touch sends me to a place I’ve never been. I want more of him, bloodstained hands and all. What happens when the one person I need is the utterly ruthless boss of the Irish mob?

Cian
Some call me a psychopath. I don’t feel. Until I meet her. I need to know she is safe. Every minute of every day. I hire her to work for my legitimate business. I watch her. I crave her. I will never let her go. But I am a monster. What happens when the one person who makes me feel is pure, sweet innocence?

This is a stand alone steamy mafia romance with a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers. No cheating for either of the main characters.

CW: explicit intimacy, graphic violence, implied assault of secondary character, death of parents, foul language, stalking behavior.

Her Greek Billionaire OUT NOW

Her Greek Billionaire

From USA Today Bestselling author Lucy Monroe another passionate Greek billionaire hero.

Rowan has come up with the perfect plan to get her family and her ex off her back. One night of steamy passion with his enemy, Greek billionaire, Lysander. When she shows up at his mansion in Athens, things do not go as planned…but a few minor pitfalls like overactive security and tripping on her come-and-get-me-baby heels do not stop these two from burning up the sheets.

The next morning, Lysander offers his own revenge scenario. If one night together will get under her ex’s skin, how about a full blown affair? He doesn’t do commitment. She’s not looking to get trapped in another stifling relationship. It’s a delicious arrangement for both of them. Until they catch feelings. Neither wants to admit their steamy intimacy could lead to something more.

When a woman from both their pasts tries to convince Rowan that Lysander broke the one rule they set – exclusivity as long as they’re together – both the billionaire and the free spirit have to decide what they really want.