I started writing because I had stories in my head that refused to leave me alone.
Grown women. Complicated men. Bad decisions that sometimes turn out to be very good ones. Love stories with danger, heat, humor, and women who have absolutely no intention of making themselves smaller to keep somebody comfortable.
What I didn't anticipate was just how far those stories would travel.
Every time I publish an English-language book, I submit it for translation into the six languages Amazon offers. It's become part of my publishing routine. Write the story, publish it, and give readers in other languages the opportunity to discover it.
Recently, I was looking through my October Kindle Unlimited numbers, minding my business, when I noticed something that made me stop scrolling.
Brazil was reading The Apology Wife.
And I mean READING.
The Portuguese edition, A esposa da desculpa, had climbed into my catalog's top ten for the month.
Now, I know better than to declare an international takeover because of one month's numbers. But seeing readers in another country spend that much time with a story I wrote? That felt pretty damn good.
Especially because the heart of my books doesn't change when the language does.
I write Black women who have lived. Women with careers, families, scars, appetites, opinions, and enough experience to recognize nonsense when it walks through the door wearing an expensive suit.
Sometimes the man is dangerous. Sometimes he's stubborn. Sometimes he's a walking HR complaint with excellent shoulders.
Whatever the situation, she still gets to be herself.
That's the part I care about.
I want women to open one of my books and find a heroine who doesn't have to become twenty-two, thin, helpless, or agreeable to deserve an extraordinary love story.
And apparently, that message translates.
So to the readers finding my books in Brazil and everywhere else, thank you for giving these characters a place on your shelves and in your reading time.
To the readers who've been with me since the beginning, thank you for coming along while this catalog keeps growing.
And if you're new here, welcome.
Fair warning: my fictional men are a lot. My women are more than capable of handling them.
Usually.
With love and a little trouble,
Raven DeNoir
