The fact that I’ve been writing since I was a kid and writing seriously for the last four years does not change the fact that I am still a brand-new, pre-published indie author. This “just starting out” phase is a humbling place! Building up my platform is slow going and there are moments when I feel goofy as hell posting something when I know that there are probably only five people who will even see it and maybe one who will interact with it in any way.
But it’s cool, it’s fine! I’ve got books to write and publish and I’m confident that there are people out there who are going to love them. At some point I will no longer feel goofy as hell.
In the meantime, here’s a look at what I’m working on.
Coming Soon: Wild Hearts of Wiley Creek
Wild Hearts of Wiley Creek is a small-town contemporary romance series set in picturesque Wiley Creek, Illinois, featuring down-to-earth people solving problems and falling in love in a community on the come up.
I’m psyched about this series. Wiley Creek is a dream. They’ve got a retro roadside motel (The Starlight Motor Lodge), a donut shop (Delicious Dee’s), a creek (Wiley), a forest (Wiley Creek Forest Park), and more! There are sexy conservation officers, hot mechanics, and itinerant musicians looking for a place to call home (the musicians are also attractive, not just itinerant.)
Wiley Creek is also dealing with the kinds of problems that many small towns in the U.S. are facing in the 21st century. It’s a community in need of revitalizing, a place that’s losing its young people to cities that can offer better jobs, a town with a big shitty highway running right through the middle of it. Bored teens without places to go and things to do get into trouble, people gossip and hold grudges, and everybody knows everyone else’s business (and remembers the dirty details forever and ever, amen). It’s not a perfect place!
But while the people who live in Wiley Creek are at the center of some pretty sexy love stories, they’re also trying hard to make their community a better place for everybody. Their stories are mostly hopeful and uplifting, without papering over the parts of small town living that aren’t always great.
The First Book
The first book in Wild Hearts of Wiley Creek (title TBD) is a second chance story about good girl Virginia Woodson and local bad boy Kyle Warren. Ginny is back in Wiley Creek for the week leading up to her little sister’s wedding, just two weeks after getting dumped by the latest man she convinced herself was “the one.” After a family get together where her well-meaning but pushy grandmother tells her to live a little, and after listening to her cousin brag about her own hook-up escapades, Ginny decides that maybe it is time for her to get a life. That’s when she runs into Kyle, her wild child high school crush who kissed her once more than a decade ago – and then got arrested for his part in a string of car thefts moments later.
Kyle’s life has changed dramatically since his brush with the law back in high school. No longer a wild child, Kyle works as a conservation officer at Wiley Creek Forest Park where he’s especially focused on getting kids and teenagers engaged in activities that won’t get them arrested. But in small towns like Wiley Creek, some things never change and a bad reputation can be hard to shake. Kyle is ready to find a woman he can put down roots with, but even though he’s a different person, he can’t escape the feeling that people in Wiley Creek still see him as a troublemaker. When he runs into Virginia Woodson for the first time in ten years and she invites him back to her room at the Starlight for a hook-up, he assumes she sees him the same way and is just chasing the thrill of a night with a bad boy – not that he objects. He’s always wanted to finish what he and Ginny started over ten years ago.
But when their smoldering one-night stand isn’t enough for either of them, they agree to keep seeing each other throughout the week. It seems like a perfect arrangement for two people who have no intention of sticking around. Ginny learns that Kyle is more boy scout than bad boy, Kyle discovers that the ultra-composed Virginia Woodson is both sweet and sultry, and together they strategize about how to keep the town’s teenage drag-racers out of trouble. Just when they’re starting to wonder if settling down in Wiley Creek isn’t such a bad idea after all, their new love is put to the test when Ginny’s uncle, Wiley Creek Chief of Police, drudges up the past.
I hope this story sounds like something you want to read! I can’t wait to share a title and a release date with you soon. Until then, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can be the first to know when book number one in my new series Wild Hearts of Wiley Creek is available for pre-order.
Joby Haywood, Author 