If anyone truly follows this blog, then you’ll probably realize that my latest novel, The Count of Carolina, was released on September 4, with pretty much no peeps from me.

There were a number of reasons for this non-peepitude, not the least of which was the fact that the first book in the series, the venerable Beauty of Bucharest, went out in a Book Bub promotion on the 10th, and I was waiting to see how that did before I started peeping.

Well, PEEP!

The promotion went very well, and for a good portion of the day, the chart looked like this:

Now you might think that getting this close to #1 might be a little disappointing. You’d be correct. Throughout the day as I watched the charts the way Sienna watches her iPhone for a text from Chad during prom-inviting season, my expectations grew. When the book cracked the top ten, I wanted top five. When it hit number four, I dared it to go a little higher. When it hit number two, I boldly believed for a moment that it could actually do it.

Alas.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining one bit. Hitting #2 in all of Amazon is not something I take lightly. It’s an excellent achievement, and it did what we were hoping it would do, which was to drive up the sales of Book #2, it rose to the rank of #1768, with no promotion besides being the second book in the series. That’s pretty good too.

What I am saying is that getting this close to number one and not making it is going to spur me on for the next one that much more. I’m going to sweat a little harder next time. I’m going to push myself to make the writing better still, to the point that it transcends promotions altogether.

I’m not guaranteeing that CUC #3 will make it to the top spot, but I can promise that if it doesn’t it won’t be because I didn’t give it all I have.

I suppose this would be a good time to mention that CUC #1, The Beauty of Bucharest, is currently as free as a peeping little birdie on Zon right now. Feel free to follow the linked title or the linked cover image to fly you away to the Amazon so that you can get your copy for zero dollars, American. (Zero Euros and Pounds and all that as well, depending on where you’re sitting at the moment.)

In fact, at the time of this writing, it has only dropped to #10, so why not drive it back up a little?

Free book. No strings. You don’t even have to tell me I’m your best friend, even though you’re definitely mine.

Now that we’re on the subject, I know quite a few of you have already read TBoB, and may want to read The Count of Carolina, which can be had for right around what a gallon of gas is going for, at least in my neck of the woods, (™ Al Roker), a measly $2.99.

You’ll meet new characters, old friends and more family than you can shake a stick at. (I’m sure we all have family that we’d like to shake a stick at).

Deep secrets are revealed, clouded things become clear and Nicole finds herself pushed to deal with things she’d hope were in the rearview. It’s a fun ride, though be warned: there are some very serious themes explored.

And look, I even know there are some folks who have stumbled onto this site saying, “What’s a Cleanup Crew?” I could explain here, but why not read them yourself? Because TBoB is currently free, you can get both books for the price of one. Want to? Click here.

Whew! We’ve talked about a lot. I’ll go sit quietly now, so that you can read.