One Woman Only, a Contemporary Romance from Dee S. Knight

Please help us welcome Dee S. Knight to the blog this week. Dee is here to share One Woman Only, her upcoming contemporary romance. One Woman Only is the second book in The Good Man Series. Welcome, Dee! We are all really excited to read hear more about One Woman Only.

One Woman Only by Dee S. Knight

Maddy, thank you so much for hosting me on your site! I appreciate the opportunity to let your readers know about my new book (out this month), One Woman Only, Book 2 of the Good Man series. The genesis of this book is interesting, and so are some of the lessons learned about writing a series.

Years ago, a friend and I thought it would be fun to try writing a duo book. That is, we each had characters that interacted with each other. My friend Venessa Hart, a phenomenal writer, would write one chapter featuring her character and I would write the next. The chapters would focus mainly on one of our characters but there would be some interaction between them, too, with phone calls, or visits or something like that. We decided to use twins and the background story of their parents’ marriage. Yes, these two grew up in a loving household but with two people who had never married. Worse, their parents had met each other when their mother was a renowned stripper in New York City, and their dad later went to prison for a stint because he embezzled. They did not have dull childhoods!

We got quite a bit of the book done when other work and life in general caught up with us. Last year I asked Nessie if she would mind my using the stories for a series I had in mind, and she agreed. Using what we had created as a starting point, I added a third brother to make the boys triplets and started the Good Man series.

One triplet, Daniel, my guy, was a real prig. He escaped the taunts about his parents while growing up by retreating into his books. He left home and never looked back, earning his PhD and taking up teaching. In Book 1, he’s the lead candidate for the position of headmaster at a very prestigious private school in New England. His brother Jonah (Nessie’s character) arrives to tell Daniel that (surprise!) their parents are not only getting married over the Thanksgiving holiday, but, because their story is so unusual, the wedding will be broadcast on national TV. So much for Daniel’s keeping his background secret! Daniel is the hero in Only a Good Man Will Do.

In One Woman Only, Jonah gets a second chance at a relationship with his high school sweetheart eighteen years after he broke her heart. Jonah let the taunts about his parents run off his back when he was growing up. When things got beyond what he wanted to take, he used his fists. Mostly though, Jonah is the most easy-going man you could ever hope to meet. He takes life as he wants and lets the rest go by. As a world-class mechanic, he’s worked with some of the best NASCAR teams, taking work when he feels like it and filling in, in his uncle’s garage, when he doesn’t feel like it. The woman who’s always owned a piece of his heart is not like him. And she doesn’t want to form a relationship with him, either—he’s too carefree and responsibility averse for her. A few months of bed sport? That she can get behind! Jonah won’t pass up the physical offer Kelly makes, but he wants more, and he aims to get it.

The third triplet, Mark, is a bona fide genius who can solve the most complicated algorithm but isn’t aware when his sweater is misbuttoned. He doesn’t stand a chance when he comes up against an industrial thief who is after Mark’s work. This book will hopefully be out before the end of the year.

Writing a series was very new to me, and I made some rookie mistakes from the beginning. It’s hard to know how much to reveal in the second book about events that took place in the first book, and I under explained. I added the first chapter from Book 2 at the end of Book 1 and everything made sense to me. Later, when critique partners read that first chapter, they asked who is getting married? Why is one brother talking about his bride? What is the school they’re talking about? I had forgotten that readers wouldn’t be going directly from the first book to the second and had left out quite a few details! Each book is stand-alone, but the characters and events need to be explained as if readers had not read the other book. Quite a lesson to learn!

Another problem I had was over explaining. I introduced several characters from the first book into the beginning of the second when they were not going to feature prominently in the second. Critique partners (bless their hearts!) asked who are these people and why do I need to know them? And too many names!! I’ve had to pare back on some of the extraneous material I included in Book 2.

Add in/take out. It’s hard to know what to do and when to do it. Plus, the other things to remember when writing a series—descriptions! I’m used to writing single, stand-alone novels, where it doesn’t matter what the hair color was of the previous heroine. I usually have trouble keeping up with things like hair/eye color, height, etc. in a regular book. In this series, I’ve had to remember physical descriptions, names, and attitudes for everyone in two books thus far. Lord knows how I’ll handle this without a spreadsheet when I write the third book!

So. Lessons learned in writing a series. I do love the books, and they demonstrate why I love writing romance—I believe in love. I believe in true love and soul mates and all the sappy stories about how and why people get together. I write romance, I read romance and I hope I live my life in a way that honors the ideals of romance. My hubby of 40+ years agrees with me!

Now here is the first-ever public reveal of an excerpt from One Woman Only, Book 2 of the Good Man series.

About One Woman Only:

As one of a set of triplets, Jonah always felt the need to make his individuality known. So where his brother Daniel was serious and completely focused, Jonah shunned commitment. Where his genius brother Mark was hailed in the scientific world, Jonah hid beneath a car tinkering. Thing is, being different wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It took a woman—the woman—to make him see that focused and recognized in his field could turn a “good man” into a better man.

One Woman Only should be available later this month.

 Buy links for Only a Good Man Will Do:

Excerpt from One Woman Only:

The bartender set three bottles in front of the brothers and swept away the empties. Jonah took a swig and looked around. “Mostly guys in here tonight. What’s up?”

“Most of the women are home fulfilling their biological imperatives.” Inexplicably, Mark laughed again.

“What the hell, man,” Jonah said, chuckling. “You can’t go around talking about a woman’s biological imperatives without being dragged off to political correctness jail. Try to be a little sensitive.”

“Well, all of our women are at home cooking for tomorrow.” Daniel smiled as he lifted the bottle to his mouth. “And later I’m going to join my bride in a different bit of biological imperativeness.”

“I shudder to think what she sees in you. You’re a male chauvinist pig,” Jonah said.

“Yup. Happy as a pig in slop, brother. My Eve is a beauty.”

Mark hiccoughed again. “And she’s smart.”

“Can’t be too smart if she married Daniel, huh?” Jonah nudged Mark’s shoulder, and nearly knocked him off the stool. “Hey, little brother. When did you eat last?”

“I’m only your little brother by six minutes, and Mom fed us well before we came.”

Daniel held up his left arm and squinted at his watch. “Damn, Mark. That was four hours ago.”

“And you two have been sitting here drinking ever since?”

“In fairness, Mark’s been drinking. I drove, so I’ve nursed a couple of beers. But hey, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. We had a lot to discuss.”

Mark nudged Jonah back, and again, nearly fell off his stool. “Mostly Daniel’s been talking about Eve. And Timmy, his new son. And how he screwed up his life by not landing the headmaster job up in New England.”

“I did not screw up my life. And I did get the headmaster job. I turned it down.”

“Like King Edward, he could not accept the position without the woman he loved by his side.”

“King Edward who?” asked Jonah.

Mark wrinkled his brow. “You know. Edward and Wallis Simpson? He gave up the throne of…of…”

“England?” Daniel offered.

“Yes! The throne of England.”

Jonah shook his head and took another swig of beer. “I seem to remember something about that from history class.”

“Surprising,” said Daniel, “considering that’s the year you and Kelly started dating and she was in your history class. I didn’t think you would remember anything from that year.”

Great. He’d just about managed to forget that Kelly was in town and now Daniel had to bring her into the conversation.

“Did they cover World War Two and that era in your GED review? I always wondered what that test was like.” Mark picked up his bottle, frowned at it, and set it down again.

“The test was easy. Of course, it helps if you take it after almost finishing high school. Hey, we’re the three-letter brothers.”

“What do you mean?” Mark repeated the process with his beer bottle and then pushed it away. It didn’t take a genius to know he’d had too much, but evidently it didn’t hurt, either.

Jonah pointed first to Mark, then to himself and finally to Daniel. “PhD, GED, PhD.”

Mark’s mouth fell open and then he guffawed. “That’s really good, Jonah.” He slapped the bar top.

“I think you need to get brother home, brother.” Jonah nodded his head toward Mark.

Daniel leaned over the bar and gazed at his triplet. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t think Mark drinks much.”

“Kills brain cells,” Mark said.

“You’re right,” Daniel added.

Jonah smiled. “And neither of you two have many brain cells left to lose. You’ve already used up too many with your heavy, deep thinking.”

“Oh ha ha.” Still, Daniel stood up and tossed fifty dollars onto the bar. “That should take care of our tab and tip. You coming?”

“Nah, not yet. Mom’s probably busy in the kitchen and I don’t want to interrupt. You know she’d flutter around and insist on making me dinner right in the middle of everything. I’ll catch something to eat here and be home soon.”

“Great. Then you can meet Eve and Tim.”

“Eve’s smart,” said Mark. His eyes were open just a tad too far like he had to do that to focus on seeing Jonah.

“Do you need help walking to the car, Mark?”

“Oh, heck no. I can do it.” He looked down. “Getting off this stool might require assistance, though.”

Jonah laughed, and then stood to help Daniel steady Mark. The two tottered to the door. Jonah hoped Mark would make it home without vomiting in Daniel’s car. He shook his head and lifted the bottle to his mouth. Mark was going to feel like hell tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner. He lifted his finger to signal the barkeep, who slung a towel over his shoulder and came right down.

“A burger and fries, please.” Daniel had said the words, but in synch with someone else. Someone whose voice was slightly higher and a lot more feminine. He turned his head to the left and met the green gaze of the last person he wanted to see tonight. For an instant, the spit dried in his mouth and his eyes widened as his past slammed headfirst into his present. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and his body responded with an immediate and aching erection.

Then she opened her mouth.

“Oh hell,” Kelly said. “It’s you.”

About the Author:

A few years ago, Dee S. Knight began writing, making getting up in the morning fun. During the day, her characters killed people, fell in love, became drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. And they had sex, lots of sex. Writing was so much fun Dee decided to keep at it. That’s how she spends her days. Her nights? Well, she’s lucky that her dream man, childhood sweetheart, and long-time hubby are all the same guy, and nights are their secret. For romance ranging from sweet to historical, contemporary to paranormal and more join Dee on Nomad Authors. Contact Dee at dsknight@deesknight.com.

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12 Comments

  2. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Only A Good Man Will Do, but from page one I was with Daniel Goodman (yes he’s a real prig) when life outside his academy catches up with him. I was privileged to be given a sneak peak of One Woman Only and again I was hooked. Dee, I’m waiting impatiently to meet Mark in book three.

  4. I thought Jonah sounded yummy when I met him in the first book. I too like series – I love seeing how a secondary character steps into the limelight and gets his own book!

  5. Sounds like a great book Dee. I will put it on my tbr list. I loved Only A Good Man Will Do and have no doubt I will like One Woman Only too.

  7. Hi Dee and Madison:
    Great blog.
    Dee how brave are you trying to do a book with another author. From the stories I’ve heard from several authors that almost never works out. Ha ha now that I think about it, this one didn’t work out either. Jonah sounds yummy. Can’t wait to read it.
    Callie

  11. Hey, Callie. I know, right? At least we didn’t not finish the book due to a conflict. We’re still friends. It’s hard to coordinate with another writer as closely as we had to. I do know one pair where it worked out and they went on to become best sellers as partners and individually.

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