Welcome, August: A Season for Stories

There is something about writing in the summer that feels different.

Perhaps it is the way the early morning light reaches across the porch, or how a cup of coffee tastes better when the day is still quiet, and the rest of the world has not quite begun moving. Summer invites us to slow down, even when life refuses to cooperate, and for a writer, those peaceful moments can become the beginning of an entirely new world.

Some stories arrive gently, growing from a single character, a beautiful setting, or a question that refuses to leave me alone. Others come charging through the door with danger, secrets and characters who already seem to know exactly where they are going. My job is simply to follow them and try to keep up.

This summer has held a little of both.

I have spent many hours with a cup of coffee beside me, working through difficult scenes, getting to know new characters and occasionally arguing with characters who refused to follow the plans I had carefully made for them. That is part of the joy of writing. A story may begin with an outline, but somewhere along the way, it becomes something alive and often carries me in directions I never expected to go.

One of those journeys led to my newest book, The Last Layer, the first book in The Last Line series.

The Last Layer is a suspenseful story filled with danger, hidden truths, loyalty, and the kind of people who refuse to walk away when someone needs protecting. At its heart are characters forced to decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth—and for one another.

Julia Serrano knows something is terribly wrong, but uncovering the truth places her directly in the path of people determined to keep their secrets buried. When the system she trusted fails her, her survival depends upon an extraordinary group of men with secrets of their own.

Gideon and his team have spent years remaining out of sight, stepping forward only when they are needed. Protecting Julia, Samuel, and Marisol draws them into a dangerous conspiracy that reaches farther than any of them expected, forcing old allies to reunite and long-hidden abilities to be revealed.

The deeper they search, the more dangerous the truth becomes.

This book has action, mystery, friendship, unexpected family, and a touch of the extraordinary woven into a modern suspense story. It is also the beginning of a larger journey, because some secrets cannot be contained within a single book.

You can find The Last Layer and my other original fiction published under my pen name, Devae Hickman.

I am also spending part of my summer back in Forks, at least in my imagination, as I work on a new Jasper and Bella fanfiction story.

I always enjoy returning to these characters and discovering another path their lives might have taken if only a few choices had been different. Jasper and Bella have a wonderful way of turning even a carefully planned story into something unexpected, romantic, and usually a little troublesome, and I am having a great time writing their newest adventure.

I will share more about that story as it develops, but for now, Jasper and Bella are keeping me company between my other writing projects and giving me another reason to look forward to those quiet summer mornings at my keyboard.

As August begins, I am grateful for every peaceful morning, every idea that appeared when I least expected it, and every reader who continues to take these journeys with me. Writers may create the characters and put the words on the page, but readers are the ones who give those stories a place to live.

I hope The Last Layer will keep you turning pages, wondering who can be trusted and cheering for the people willing to stand between danger and those who cannot protect themselves. I also hope you will join me for Jasper and Bella’s newest adventure when it is ready to share.

Welcome, August. May it bring us peaceful mornings, warm evenings, plenty of coffee, and wonderful new stories waiting to be discovered.

Happy reading,

Tonya