If you’ve been following my Kingsmill Courtships series for a while, you may notice something changing. Except for the novellas that will be in anthologies this year, the rest of the stories have been take down from retailers. Why? Because these stories are being rewritten, expanded, and re-released as full-length novels. I wanted to take a moment to talk about why I’m doing this, what it means for you as a reader, and—because many of you are writers yourselves—how difficult and emotional this decision actually is. This wasn’t a choice I made lightly, and I don’t yet have a firm timeframe for the re-releases because I wanted to share the why before the when.
These Stories Outgrew the Space I Gave Them
When I first wrote the Kingsmill Courtships books, they were novellas by design. I wanted intimate, focused love stories with tight emotional arcs, cozy settings, and fast immersion. And I’m still proud of those books. They did exactly what they were meant to do at the time. But as the series grew, something else happened: The world depeened.
Kingsmill became more than a backdrop. Side characters started asking for space. Emotional conflicts wanted room to breathe instead of being resolved in a single beat. Relationships that worked on the page began to feel like they could be richer, messier, and more satisfying if I let them unfold more slowly. As a reader myself, I know that feeling when you finish a book and wish you’d been allowed to stay just a little longer. That’s what these stories started whispering to me.
What Rewriting Really Means (and Why It’s Not “Just Adding Scenes”)
From the outside, rewriting a novella into a novel can look simple. Add a subplot. Expand a few scenes. Flesh things out. In reality, it’s closer to rebuilding a house while preserving its soul. The emotional arcs have to be reconsidered. Pacing changes ripple through the entire story. Characters you thought you understood reveal new fears, new wounds, new wants. Some scenes stay exactly the same. Others are transformed. A few disappear entirely because the story has grown past them.
This isn’t about “fixing” the original books. It’s about honoring what they wanted to become. When I first began writing the Kingsmill Courtships series, it wasn’t part of a long-term career plan. Like so many creative projects born during the pandemic, it started as a way to write my way through lockdown. As a way to make sense of a strange, isolating time by creating comfort, connection, and romance on the page. I wasn’t thinking about longevity or where the series might eventually go. I was simply telling the stories that helped me get through those months, one novella at a time.
The Hardest Part: Taking Books Down
I also want to be honest about something writers don’t talk about enough. Taking books down from sale is hard. Emotionally hard. Practically hard. And financially terrifying. Those books represent time, hope, vulnerability, and the bravery it takes to put your work into the world. Clicking the button that removes them isn’t just a business decision. It feels like erasing proof that you were once proud of something.
But growth sometimes asks for grief. For writers reading this: if you’ve ever considered rewriting earlier work, please know that hesitation doesn’t mean you’re failing. It usually means you care deeply.
What This Means for My Readers
If you’ve already read the Kingsmill Courtships novellas, the new novels won’t erase that experience. The heart of each story remains the same including the couples, the emotional promise, the sense of home. What changes is depth. You’ll see more of the moments in between. More of the why behind choices. More space for longing, healing, and joy. If you’re new to the series, you’ll be meeting Kingsmill as it always wanted to be experienced: fully alive, layered, and ready to hold you for a while. And as with my other novels, the level of on-page intimacy will be guided by the characters and the story itself. Some romances will burn hotter than others, but every book centers love, connection, and a satisfying emotional arc.
Why I’m Doing This Now
Ultimately, this decision comes down to trust. Trust in my instincts as a storyteller, trust in readers who want immersive, emotionally grounded romance, and trust that it’s okay for stories to evolve as we do. Kingsmill deserves room to breathe.
These characters deserve time. And I’m ready to give it to them.
New Kingsmill Courtships Contemporary Romance Novel Series
Kingsmill, Virginia sits in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains, wrapped in forests and folklore, held together by church bells, old rivalries, and a stubborn belief that love can fix what time has broken. People fall in love here, often more than once. They marry, leave, return, and try again. On the surface, Kingsmill is a town built on second chances. But every town has a deeper story.
Kingsmill was shaped by a powerful family, marked by a vanished woman, and sustained by silences no one wants to examine too closely. Its history is layered with unfinished grief, half-told legends, and truths that surface only when love forces them into the light.
This series is a collection of interconnected contemporary romances, each one a complete love story, woven together by shared history, recurring characters, and a quiet mythic spine inspired by Camelot. These are stories about devotion tested by loyalty, belonging forged through choice, and the courage it takes to love honestly in a place that prefers its myths tidy and unchallenged.
Thank you for reading, for caring, and for walking this road with me, whether you’re here as a reader, a writer, or both. 💛
