Writer, Dreamer, and Mistress of Procrastination
Linda Verji is the pseudonym for the author of more than half a dozen romance novels. A passionate world traveler, Linda currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya where she spends her days exploring the thriving culture there and her nights finding new ways to torture her characters.
Brother who keeps getting into trouble and dragging her in with him? Check
Nephew to protect? Check
Melanie has more problems than she needs. She certainly doesn’t need her ex barging into her life and making promises they both know he can’t keep. But he’s here – and her heart won’t listen to her head.
Melanie Daniels has her hands full trying to protect her family from the neighborhood gangster. The last thing she needs is her old flame and first love, Nicolás ‘Nic’ Gavilan, barging into her life and offering help she hasn’t asked for. But as difficult as it is to admit it, she needs him. She can’t afford to say no.
Nine years is a long time to love someone from afar. Nic stepped away from Melanie to protect her, but now that trouble is at her doorstep, he can no longer watch from a distance. He is determined to keep their relationship strictly platonic, help her and be on his way. But the heart wants what it wants, and even the best laid plans can go wrong.
More Than Friends is finally published. Finally! I know you all were wondering if that book would ever be completed, but I did it. If you haven’t read the book yet, please get it before you read this article because we’re about to have some major spoilers out here. You can GET IT HERE.
Okay, here’s a few things you didn’t know about More Than Friends.
WHY IT TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE
I got a lot of private messages if I was okay while writing this book. First, thanks for being worried about me. It’s great to know that they’re great people out there who care about me. Second, no there was nothing wrong with me. It’s just that my real life was a bit hectic; COVID scares, a wedding (not mine), a funeral (definitely not mine) and a break up (mine). Add that to the personal finance & investment classes that I decided to take this year and the writer’s block caused by long periods of not writing. Things have calmed down a lot this month, so let’s hope they stay that way as I start to write something new.
PIPER IS JUST AS SELFISH AS YOU THOUGHT
Those of you who read More Than Friends on Wattpad had a grand old time cussing out Piper, and I was right there with you. The lady was a real piece of work. Someone wrote to me saying that she was such a ridiculous person that she almost seemed unreal. No one can be so selfish. And to that… I laughed. Because she is based on someone real. Yes people, I know someone who acts exactly like this.
Anyone who knows a true narcissist will tell you that this is exactly how they act. They hurt people then expect forgiveness. If they don’t get it immediately, they gaslight you into believing that you’re the bad person for not understanding them. Piper is in that club. If you know someone like her in real life, then receive my condolences. Let’s start a support group lol.
KIT’S ADOPTION STORY IS A BIT MORE COMPLICATED
Though Kit’s adoption was mentioned, I kind of glossed over it. That was mostly because I didn’t want to bog down the book with lots of backstory when y’all just came for a good love story. But if you’re interested in how it happened, here’s the scoop.
Kit was the child of teenagers. Two high school kids who played adult games and unfortunately experienced the harsh consequences. His biological mother was the daughter of strict parents, and his biological father was the son of absentee parents. As you can imagine, they would have had a hard, hard time raising a baby so they did what they thought was the best thing for Kit. They gave him up for adoption.
At eighteen, Kit was able to access his adoption records. He didn’t ask his adoptive parents to find them for him because he was afraid that they’d be hurt and think that he didn’t love them. But frankly, it was just curiosity to find out who he came from. By the time, he and Amarie found his adoptive parents they were both adults with their own families. Kit saw no need to rock their present boats when he already had loving parents. So yeah, his biological parents are out there!
AMARIE & HER FATHER HAVE A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP
I think I touched on Amarie and Louie’s relationship a bit but let me explain lest you think that she hates her father. Louie is a workaholic which means his family is his second priority, work is his first. Winter, a stay at home, raised the girls (Tammy and Amarie) practically on her own. She disciplined them, gave them the love they needed, went to their parent-teacher meetings etc
Because Louie is an introvert and also rarely spent time with the girls, they had no time to connect with him. To them, he’s just their father, the guy who locks himself in his office, the guy who pays their college fees yet doesn’t even know what college they attend. I think there are a lot of parents like these out there. They’re just providers but are really disconnected from their kids. Don’t be them.
AMARIE HAS AN OLDER SISTER. HER NAME IS TAMMY
Yes, even though she was mentioned just a couple of times, Tamara is really a member of the family. She is four years older than Amarie, and lives in Canada with her Somali husband and three kids (two boys, one girl). Unfortunately, she quit her music career and is now working a nine-to-five in a PR company. But she’s okay with that. Sometimes you have to trade in your dreams for true happiness. Maybe I’ll write her story one day. Maybe.
INGRID ANDRESS’S ‘WE’RE NOT FRIENDS’ WAS THE INSPIRATION
Tell me you’ve heard this song. Tell me you’ve heard it! If you haven’t, then let me lead you out from under that rock because this jam will blow your mind.
I’ll be honest; last year things were a little meh for me in terms of well… everything. My motivation was at an all time low mostly because of personal stuff capped with this Corona ish. There were a lot of great kdramas this year but I just wasn’t that into them. Unlike 2019 where I watched EVERY SINGLE DRAMA that was released, in 2020 I only finished a handful of dramas and even then it’s because I was skipping a lot (sometimes whole episode). Why am I telling all this? It’s to show you just how great Missing was. I did not skip even one of its episodes. It’s that great.
Missing (The Other Side) is a fantasy-thriller based in a mysterious village where the missing dead gather. The village is called Duon. While being chased by gangsters, our hero, Kim Wook (played by Go Soo), almost dies. That near-death experience gives him psychic abilities which he is unaware of until he stumbles into Duon.
At first, he doesn’t realize that the people he is talking to are spirits. Understandably, he is scared at first. But a lucky meeting with a fellow psychic Jang Pan-Seok (by Heo Jun-ho) helps Wook get accept his new abilities. Soon, Wook begins to use his new abilities to help these spirits finally rest. What he doesn’t know is that his ability to see Duon may not just be because of his near-death experience. He might actually be connected to many of the souls who wander within is.
Trust me, you need to see this one. It’s been a while since I liked anything that Go Soo was cast in but I’m glad I took a chance on this one. All the characters are well-developed as is the ties within them. The mysteries they solve are also quite interesting as are the twists and turns. It was a tense, heartwarming series but still had the excitement of a crime show and the wonder of a fantasy drama. I actually think there’s a potential for season 1. Hopefully, OCN sees it too.
THE VERDICT: 9/10 because it held my attention when other dramas couldn’t. I don’t even know why I took off the one point. I’m just stingy like that lol
It started with a crush. The best stories always do.
Now Amarie has started a fire that even her hot-as-hell, firefighter best-friend, Kit, can’t put out.
More Than Friends is now available for your reading pleasure.
Being in the friend-zone sucks!
No one knows that better than Amarie Parker. She’s had a crush on her sexy-as-sin best-friend, Kit Iseman, since forever. But he is blind to her feelings… or pretends to be blind. Still, she stays his friend. Watching him date women who are too idiotic to realize how special he is. Desperately hoping that one day he will see her as more than just his sidekick.
However, the return of an old flame makes it clear that living as just his best-friend forever will break her. Now she has to make a hard choice… fight for him or cut him off completely.
To get your copy today, just click on the link to your favorite store/site:
NOTE: More Than Friends is currently discounted at $2.99. Prices will rise to $3.99 on Monday the 12th so grab your copy before then. It is also available for borrowing through Kindle Unlimited.
Enjoy and let me know what you think by leaving a review after you’re done.
Theodora’s books are immediate purchases for me. I don’t even need to read the description because she never disappoints me. This book was no different. I loved it right from the first word to the last.
Dr. Prince and Cynda were legendary. They scorched these pages with their emotions and the fire in their relationship. I was so invested in their happy ending that I felt like these were people I knew. Let me not spoil the book for you. You can read it for yourself. Here’s the description though.
You’re fired.
When my father died and my stepmother cut out, leaving me with two stepsiblings to raise, I figured that would be the biggest surprise of my life. But then the pandemic hit, and my big city ex showed up in my small Missouri town to take over my father’s practice.
What’s the first thing he says to me after three years?
“You’re fired.”
Sooooo…it looks like he totally didn’t appreciate the way things ended between us, and now he won’t settle for anything less than cold, hard revenge.
But as it turns out, I’m the only person in our small town with a rental unit available. And without a job, I’m desperate for a renter.
So now the extremely bitter ex who fired me is living in my backhouse. Way, way closer than I want him to be.
But everything will be fine. I hate him, and he hates me. So nothing’s going to happen between us, right?
Theodora’s books are immediate purchases for me. I don’t even need to read the description because she never disappoints me. This book was no different. I loved it right from the first word to the last.