Ask the Author: Joyce DiPastena
Answered Questions (11)
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Jamie, Yes, I confess that Jaimey and I have sort of fallen off the Goodreads grid. I’ve been dealing with some health challenges the last few years that have kind of knocked me sideways and as a result I haven’t taken care of the Clean Romance group the way I should. I should probably see if someone else would like to take it over and see if they can revive it. I don’t know where to recommend as an option for you. I’m sorry. If I hear about a good group I’ll post another reply, okay?
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Elsie, I thought I'd answered this, then realized last night that I didn't. 🤦🏻♀️
The readers in our Clean Romance group do prefer "traditional" male/female romances. It sounds like the cousin subplot in your story might be something many in the group might not be comfortable with, and therefore might react negatively to. So your book might be more comfortable in another romance group.
The readers in our Clean Romance group do prefer "traditional" male/female romances. It sounds like the cousin subplot in your story might be something many in the group might not be comfortable with, and therefore might react negatively to. So your book might be more comfortable in another romance group.
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Leah,
Yes, you're allowed to add your book, as long as it's a clean/sweet secular romance! Here's how you do it:
Go to the Clean Romances Group
Go to the Bookshelf
Click on Add Book
Search for the book you want to add
Click "Add to Group"
Choose shelves for which genre/s your book fits into
Leave the Discussion Folder and Discussion Leader boxes empty
Save Group Book
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. :-)
Yes, you're allowed to add your book, as long as it's a clean/sweet secular romance! Here's how you do it:
Go to the Clean Romances Group
Go to the Bookshelf
Click on Add Book
Search for the book you want to add
Click "Add to Group"
Choose shelves for which genre/s your book fits into
Leave the Discussion Folder and Discussion Leader boxes empty
Save Group Book
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. :-)
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Ruth! Yes, you can answer here. I added your entry to the Rafflecopter form. Good luck! Thanks for entering! 😊
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Vera! I’ll be glad to add you to the list. I’ll need the link to your review blog. You can share it here or PM me or email it to me at jdipastena@yahoo.com. Any of these ways should reach me. Remember that this group is aimed at supporting clean secular romances. As long as you review these too, along with Christian and Inspirational, I can include all the categories in the description.
Joyce DiPastena
Thanks for reminding me that I posted this nearly 6 years ago. I enjoyed thinking about my mother as I read through it again. :-)
Joyce DiPastena
Hi John,
Thank you so much for sharing this with me! I wish my mother was alive to ask her about this song and some of the others. She talked often and fondly of her days as a Navy Wave all the years of my life. What great service these women gave to their country! May we always remember and honor them, and seek to be like them in our own love for our country and all she represents that so very many have sacrificed for.
Thank you so much for sharing this with me! I wish my mother was alive to ask her about this song and some of the others. She talked often and fondly of her days as a Navy Wave all the years of my life. What great service these women gave to their country! May we always remember and honor them, and seek to be like them in our own love for our country and all she represents that so very many have sacrificed for.
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Demelza! I don't write or read contemporary romance, so I'm probably not the best one to advise you. I think I've heard that contemporary cowboy stories are really popular. Also, I'm thinking that maybe some of the categories you've been writing "steamy" in, if those themes have done well for you, could you write a sweet/clean romance with the same basic theme? (For example, there are both "hot" and "sweet/clean" contemporary cowboy romances.) I know for me, there are a lot of historical romances I would read if they were sweet/clean instead of hot, so as I reader, I wish someone would write some sweet/clean versions of those stories so I could read them. Does that make sense? I could also recommend some sweet/clean romance groups on Facebook that you could join and maybe ask for suggestions from authors who do write contemporary sweet/clean romance. Let me know if you'd like me to share those links with you. Good luck! In my opinion, the romance world needs and wants more sweet/clean romance! :-)
Joyce DiPastena
Hi Chris! That's what our Clean Romances group is all about, supporting one another as readers and writers who love good romances without the sex, but without the inspirational bent, too. Is your daughter also on Facebook? There might be some groups she would find helpful there, too. We have a Clean Romances Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14353...
She might also check out:
Romantic Clean Reads: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60512...
Sweet Romance Readers and Writers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14600...
There are also a couple of FB support groups for people who write clean fiction. They discourage promos in these groups, but are there for marketing ideas and general support discussions. This one focuses on romance:
Sweet/Clean Romance Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/67087...
This one covers all indie author fiction (assuming your daughter is an indie author? If not, never mind this one. :-) )
Clean Indie Reads: https://www.facebook.com/groups/clean...
Hope you and your daughter find some of this helpful! :-)
She might also check out:
Romantic Clean Reads: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60512...
Sweet Romance Readers and Writers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14600...
There are also a couple of FB support groups for people who write clean fiction. They discourage promos in these groups, but are there for marketing ideas and general support discussions. This one focuses on romance:
Sweet/Clean Romance Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/67087...
This one covers all indie author fiction (assuming your daughter is an indie author? If not, never mind this one. :-) )
Clean Indie Reads: https://www.facebook.com/groups/clean...
Hope you and your daughter find some of this helpful! :-)
Joyce DiPastena
Hello Patricia! How wonderful to hear from you! I'm so thrilled that you're enjoying my books! :-) To answer your questions:
(1) Yes, Dangerous Favor will be re-released soon (by the end of August, hopefully sooner) with a new cover and a very light revision, but nothing that will affect the original story.
(2) My books are not listed in numerical order because originally I didn't intend to write a continuing series for the characters. I had no set plan for a series, I just found myself becoming intrigued with a particular secondary character as I wrote a new book and wanting to write that character's story next, and before I knew it, I had a loosely based series. Originally the "series" would have gone in this order:
1 - Loyalty's Web
2 - Illuminations of the Heart
3 - Dangerous Favor
However, I have since written an additional book that actually occurs before Dangerous Favor. So the new order is:
1 - Dangerous Favor
2 - Illuminations of the Heart
3 - Loving Lucianna (which is also my first Hearts in Autumn romance, however all my Hearts in Autumn romances will not revolve around characters in the loosely bound series above)
4 - Dangerous Favor
My romantic historical, The Lady and the Minstrel, takes place 38 years after Loyalty's Web. Gunthar and Heléne play important supporting roles in this book, but it is not "their story." The Lady and the Minstrel is more of a fiction novel with strong romantic themes than a straight romance, so readers might want to be prepared to approach it slightly differently than my other novels. (To be clear, The Lady and the Minstrel has a very strong romance, but there are a lot of other issues going on, as well.)
I am planning to write more stories based on the characters from the books listed above, as well as some books based on entirely new medieval characters unrelated to my previous books (especially in my Hearts in Autumn series).
You have brought up a very good point about the "series" aspect. I will try to add a page to my website that addresses the order of the books for the future. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. And I hope you continue to enjoy my stories! :-)
(1) Yes, Dangerous Favor will be re-released soon (by the end of August, hopefully sooner) with a new cover and a very light revision, but nothing that will affect the original story.
(2) My books are not listed in numerical order because originally I didn't intend to write a continuing series for the characters. I had no set plan for a series, I just found myself becoming intrigued with a particular secondary character as I wrote a new book and wanting to write that character's story next, and before I knew it, I had a loosely based series. Originally the "series" would have gone in this order:
1 - Loyalty's Web
2 - Illuminations of the Heart
3 - Dangerous Favor
However, I have since written an additional book that actually occurs before Dangerous Favor. So the new order is:
1 - Dangerous Favor
2 - Illuminations of the Heart
3 - Loving Lucianna (which is also my first Hearts in Autumn romance, however all my Hearts in Autumn romances will not revolve around characters in the loosely bound series above)
4 - Dangerous Favor
My romantic historical, The Lady and the Minstrel, takes place 38 years after Loyalty's Web. Gunthar and Heléne play important supporting roles in this book, but it is not "their story." The Lady and the Minstrel is more of a fiction novel with strong romantic themes than a straight romance, so readers might want to be prepared to approach it slightly differently than my other novels. (To be clear, The Lady and the Minstrel has a very strong romance, but there are a lot of other issues going on, as well.)
I am planning to write more stories based on the characters from the books listed above, as well as some books based on entirely new medieval characters unrelated to my previous books (especially in my Hearts in Autumn series).
You have brought up a very good point about the "series" aspect. I will try to add a page to my website that addresses the order of the books for the future. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. And I hope you continue to enjoy my stories! :-)
Joyce DiPastena
I was challenged to write an autumn story and the challenge got me thinking about a romance for a couple in the "autumn of their lives." The couple that immediately sprang to my mind was Lucianna and Sir Balduin from my medieval romance, ILLUMINATIONS OF THE HEART. Lucianna is in her forties, Sir Balduin in his fifties, but love is not restricted only to the young, and I wanted to explore how a romance between this couple might proceed. What followed was a novella I call LOVING LUCIANNA. Look for it to become available this fall, in fact hopefully on the first day of Autumn, September 22!
Here's the summary for LOVING LUCIANNA:
Sir Balduin de Soler gave up long ago on love. He never had the means to support a wife until an unexpected advancement in his fifties allows him to reassess his future just as the lovely Lucianna enters his life.
Lucianna harbors a secret, painful memory from her past that has kept her unwed, as well. Now in her forties, she thought herself too old to marry until she meets Sir Balduin. Now suddenly their lonely autumn lives feel very much like spring again . . . until Lucianna’s brother appears without warning and threatens to revive the secret that will destroy Lucianna’s second chance at love.
Here's the summary for LOVING LUCIANNA:
Sir Balduin de Soler gave up long ago on love. He never had the means to support a wife until an unexpected advancement in his fifties allows him to reassess his future just as the lovely Lucianna enters his life.
Lucianna harbors a secret, painful memory from her past that has kept her unwed, as well. Now in her forties, she thought herself too old to marry until she meets Sir Balduin. Now suddenly their lonely autumn lives feel very much like spring again . . . until Lucianna’s brother appears without warning and threatens to revive the secret that will destroy Lucianna’s second chance at love.
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