Author Spotlight: Stacey Agdern Has a New Book and a Fun Giveaway!

We have a winner! Linda Calderone, you are Stacey’s giveaway recipient. Stacey will be in touch. Thanks to you and everyone for stopping by! We love talking to our readers!

One of the very best things about being a part of Tule Publishing has been meeting all the other Tule authors. So many gifted writers! One of them is Stacey Agdern, whose novels are fun and flirty and just delightful! Stacey is an award-winning former bookseller who has reviewed romance novels in multiple formats and given talks about various aspects of the romance genre. She incorporates Jewish characters and traditions into her stories so that people who grew up like she did can see themselves take center stage on the page. She’s also a member of both LIRW and RWA NYC. She lives in New York, not far from her favorite hockey team’s practice facility.

Be sure to check out Stacey’s great giveaway below!

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The Evolution of a Romance Series:

Last Girls Standing and The Dating Contract

 by Stacey Agdern

As a longtime romance reader, I love to listen to authors talk about their series and how they work together. How the worlds of stories work together.  Every time an author will talk about these series, it seems like they knew exactly what they were doing and how a series will work from the moment the idea comes alive in their mind.

But as for me, I can tell you that’s not the case.

Why ? Series ideas evolve with time.

What do I mean?

The story you begin with, your very first idea, may not be the story you end up writing first. There have been a few times when an idea I thought was the first story in a series ended up being the second. Case in point The Dating Contract, my newest release, is actually the book I’d initially thought was the first in what would become the Last Girls Standing Series.

The most important thing to think about is that the first book in a series needs to do something specific- open the door to the world of the series itself and the extended story you’re telling.

The story now known as The Dating Contract was always about characters involved in a wedding that would serve as a secondary story through the series. But the more I tried to add extra elements to beef up the story and make it ‘important’ on its own, I realized that something was wrong.

The problem I discovered, was that for the family series I was working with, the first story not only had to introduce the family, but the couple getting married. And the more I added, the less space I had to tell those important aspects of the story.

Once I realized that, we were off to the races. B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake, the story of the couple getting married,  got written first, and then The Dating Contract slid in afterward.

Which meant that I could stop making characters who were supporting the wedding into larger than life characters in order to make their stories worth telling. Instead, I had to find the core of these characters and make sure I was telling the right story for them.

Once I figured that out, I had a series that made sense.

I hope you think so!

Happy reading,

Stacey

Giveaway! Stacey has a Dating Contract electronic starter pack of 4 e-books for one lucky commenter. You will receive Miracles and Menorahs, B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake, the Roughing It anthology, AND The Dating Contract for your e-reader. Just tell her in a comment below you favorite place to read. 

The Dating Contract

Sports Agent Leah Nachman is knee deep in her sister’s wedding drama and inches away from her biggest career goal when she runs into the high school boyfriend who broke her heart. The last thing she needs is another confrontation with the man too many people are convinced is her bashert.  But perhaps he can be of use. After all, she’s totally over him. Right?

Sofer and Comic Letterer Samuel Levine is at a professional crossroads when he runs into what he believes is a fated second chance. He hasn’t seen Leah in ages, but the guilt over how they broke up still eats at him. When Leah proposes a fake ‘dating contract’ to help her make partner at her agency, and thwart her sister’s matchmaking,  Samuel agrees. His goal is forgiveness, after all.

But the more time they spend together as ‘plus ones,’ the more like fate the dates feel. Leah is convinced love and ambition can’t co-exist and Samuel’s convinced he’s losing her. Will they let their dating contract expire or give love another chance?

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