Confession: I struggle to be normal. Which means I sometimes struggle to do the “normal” thing. Case in point:

Her Rebel Heart makes a great first book in the Officers’ Ex-Wives Club series.

But… it’s the third book being released.

WHY CAN’T YOU BE NORMAL, JAMIE?!?! (I ask myself this with love, I promise.)

So, here’s my little secret:

I never intended the Officers’ Ex-Wives Club series to actually be a series. Southern Fried Blues, the first book released, was written as a complete standalone book at a time when I needed to write something purely for the love of writing. I self-published it in 2013 because all of my rejections from agents and editors in traditional publishing for the previous year had said, “Oh, this is really good, but it’s nothing like Fifty Shades, so we’re going to pass.” (I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist of it.)

I called Southern Fried Blues the first book in the Officers’ Ex-Wives Club series anyway, because… well, because I could.