by JA Huss
END OF BOOK SHIT
Welcome to the End of Book Shit. This is the part of the book where I get to write anything I want about the story. In this case, this is a brand new EOBS for the Box Set version of the two-part Turning Point Club Series. The single books each have their own EOBS and if you want to read them you can download them on Amazon.
There is one theme running through all seven of these books and I didn’t really plan it that way, that’s just how it shook out. The theme is “reinvention” and in each of these stories one or more of the main characters is looking for a change. This change has nothing to do with appearance. It’s easy to change your appearance. You can wear make-up, you can diet and exercise, you can buy new clothes, or get a new haircut. But changing what’s inside your head is a whole other animal and it’s not nearly as easy as getting your nails done. It’s definitely up there with quitting smoking, drugs, or losing weight.
And this reinvention has nothing to do with happiness, either. Because look at Issy. I think Issy is pretty much the model modern woman. She’s successful in her chosen career and in charge of her life. And while she might be single, she’s not on the hunt for love. She’s very satisfied with her journey and she thinks she has “arrived”.
But what does one do after “arrival”?
If you’ve arrived somewhere then it means that journey is over.
But how can it be over? You’re still living.
There is no ending. Which is the most ironic thing about romance books in my opinion. Every romance reader insists on this happily ever after ending. But it’s completely unrealistic.
HEA is a moment in time. Perhaps it’s the wedding, perhaps it’s the birth of a child, perhaps it’s buying that first house. It’s still just a moment. You don’t stop living once you get married, or have a child, or buy a new house.
The romantic HEA is really just another beginning. And beginnings signify struggle. All beginnings involve struggle. When you’re born you are helpless. You have to learn to walk, and talk, and move, and read, and write, and math. Everything.
And then perhaps, as a young person, you think to yourself, Well, when I’m 18 I’ll be grown. That is my destination.
But 18 isn’t a destination, it’s just a stop along the way. It’s just another new beginning where you realize you’re helpless and you have to learn everything again. Only this time it’s cooking, and laundry, and budgets, and work ethic, and you even have to learn how to relax.
It doesn’t stop there, either. Eventually you start something else that’s new. A job, a relationship, a move. Whatever. And you learn, and adjust, and eventually you transform.
This is life.
Beginnings lead to journeys, and journeys lead to transformations, and transformations lead to destinations, and destinations lead to endings, and endings lead to beginnings.
I have written somewhere in the neighborhood of eighty-five books. It might be eighty-six, it might be eighty-four, but it’s definitely somewhere in the eighties. And by now I get it.
Romance books are about transformation that leads to a reinvention of one’s self.
Even authors who don’t write complicated stories like I do have this transformation if they are any good. If there is no transformation there really isn’t a story. They might not even know they’re doing it and that’s fine. Like I said above, I didn’t know that these books would all end up being about reinvention. I didn’t figure it out until I sat down to write this EOBS. It happened this way because pretty much all of my stories are about transformation and reinvention. I can’t think of a single one where there wasn’t a difference in the two main characters from beginning to end. Some characters grow more than others, so it’s not always an equal balance. But every single book ends with our characters being changed in some way.
This box set collection is about a whole bunch of characters who understand that yes, they have arrived somewhere. They “made it” to a destination. And they are all ready to start again.
And wherever you are on your own journey, I hope you are inspired by them. I try my best to write characters that inspire me. Chella is my favorite of this group. In a lot of ways, she’s everything I am not. But that’s great. Because in her I find inspiration. Her life is one I might’ve dreamed about when I was younger. And I love Oaklee too. I’m way more Oaklee than Chella. But all the main characters in this series needed to grow to find their next journey and to do that they needed inspiration. Some of them weren’t really unhappy with themselves, but they craved change. And the conflicts put in front of them were the springboard to that change.
That’s why I write romantic suspense. Some of these books have lighter moments—The Pleasure of Panic and The Boyfriend Experience are mostly just fun. But some of these characters had a tough time letting go of things. Hello Bric and Jordan. Took Bric three books and it took Jordan four books, but they got there. The found their end, and in doing so, their new beginning.
So I hope you enjoyed this series and these people. I hope you connected with them, at a few of them, and I hope they inspired you to look forward to your next beginning.
I might write more in this world, but for now, let’s just let them all enjoy their arrival.
Thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, and I’ll see you in the next book.
OH! And if you’re looking for more books to read like this you should try The Misters.
Julie
JA Huss
September 9, 2021
Want to start another series? Try THE MISTERS!
Ellie is the “celebrity concierge” at Stonewall Entertainment. She’s good at it. On most days. Just not the day her new boss, McAllister Stonewall, shows up and catches her secretly sexting in his debut executive meeting.
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About the Author
JA Huss is a New York Times Bestselling author and has been on the USA Today Bestseller's list 21 times. She writes characters with heart, plots with twists, and perfect endings. Her books have sold millions of copies all over the world. Her book, Eighteen, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award and an Audie Award in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Her audiobook, Mr. Perfect, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award in 2017. Her audiobook, Taking Turns, was nominated for an Audie Award in 2018, and her book, Total Exposure, was nominated for a RITA Award in 2019.
She lives on a ranch in Central Colorado.
