Book Shop Chats:

In today's episode we are chatting with Michele Khalil and getting lost in the world of high stake trials, zodiac power and the best slow burn you could ever dream of.


About the book: Cursed By the Stars book 1 (The Starbound Trilogy)

In a world ruled by the Twelve Zodiac Signs, power isn't just inherited-it's written in the stars.

Every year, those who wish to prove themselves are summoned to Aphelion University for the Zodiac Trials, a deadly competition where only the strongest survive-and where failure can mean more than just defeat.

Talah has spent her life under her father's unyielding control, hidden away for reasons she's never understood. Determined to prove her worth, she enters the Trials in secret-only to find herself thrust into a world of merciless politics, brutal tests, and whispered truths the Imperium would kill to keep buried.

Firas should not be alive. Branded a traitor and presumed dead, he slips into Aphelion under a stolen name, playing the role of mentor while waging a far more dangerous game. In truth, he is a rebel of the fractured Ambigua-Zodiacs born with more than one power, hunted to extinction by the Council. His mission is clear: uncover the secrets hidden in Aphelion's heart and save his people from annihilation.

But when Talah's unraveling destiny collides with Firas' perilous mission, both are forced to confront the most dangerous choice of all. Because the closer they draw to each other, the harder it becomes to tell if their bond is the spark that will save them...or the fire that will consume them both.

Some destinies are written in starlight. Others are cursed to burn.

About the Author:

When Michele Khalil isn’t lost in fictional worlds of rebellion and slow-burn romance, they’re hoarding books like a dragon, cheering on fellow authors, and daydreaming about more stories than they could ever possibly write. Inspired by ancient cultures, sweeping romances, and the belief that stories can change us, Michele writes fantasy worlds where love and survival collide. 

Cursed by the Stars is her debut novel, and the first book in The Starbound Trilogy. 

Learn more at www.michelekhalil.com

Michele's Links

About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

The Synesthete’s Rainbow is a poetry novella that paints the story of a toxic “situationship” through the vibrant lense of synesthesia. It intertwines sensory crossover and emotional depth as the protagonist, the synesthete, names the colors of her love - all of which fall within a symbolic rainbow that defies nature. As the synesthete journeys across this messy, fragmented, chaotic, and heart wrenching rainbow, she confronts both the antagonist and herself in her plight of unrequited longing, and ultimately arrives at a burgeoning sense of self.

A Bay Area educator, author, and resident of several years. From a young age, Nisha has had a deep love of literature, stories, and storytelling. Within the world of literature, Nisha grew a unique fondness for poetry, and decided to start writing original poems in the 5th grade. When she was 11, her original (and unfortunately, extremely sad) poem entitled "Despair" was submitted to the Young Poet's anthology by her 6th grade teacher, and her submission was accepted. This experience let her unearth her love of writing as a means of telling stories. From then on, Nisha has authored research papers and honors theses, special education frameworks at the California Department of Education, and countless education related reports--but in the meantime, her creative writing, for the most part, stayed hidden within the confines of her journals. That is, until 2019, when nishawritesstories, her instagram writing blog, was born. 

She then started sharing her poetry and short stories on her blog, with various literary magazines, and online sites such as Substack and Medium. In 2021, Nisha was published by Brown Girl Magazine for her short form piece entitled "Curls, Curves, and Confidence". With each post, Nisha gained more confidence and motivation to keep writing.  Her experience with sharing her work publicly made her realize that if she put herself out there, she could make her dream of being an author come true. She started submitting her first fully complete poetry manuscript in late 2022. 

Fast forward to August 2024, the manuscript Nisha was submitting to different publishers got green-lit by She Writes Press, a local Bay Area publisher. That manuscript has since turned into Nisha's debut novella, The Synesthete's Rainbow, being officially released on April 28th, 2026.

LINKS: Nisha Writes Stories

ABOUT VICTORIA:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

In today's episode we are chatting with author Jenna Malin. Jenna shares tips and insight into what goes into writing, marketing and publishing a book. 

 Book Blurb: Deviant Vandals 
ONE DETECTIVE RUNNING FROM HER PAST,

ANOTHER RUNNING FROM HIMSELF. 

After faking her death and running for her life, Detective Evelyn Hale takes refuge in Defiance, Missouri, where a surge of violent crime has the town on edge. Suspicious of her circumstances and haunted by his own ghosts, her new partner, Conrad Kendry, wants her gone. But try as he might to convince everyone otherwise, he needs her help.

A string of vandalisms promise two things: chaos and destruction. Kendry fears they’ll soon grow violent, and he’s out of leads—and chances. Rumors swirl around the precinct that the higher ups are looking for any excuse to fire the angry son of their late Police Chief, despite his stellar conviction rates.

They both have one chance—one case—to put aside their differences and make this partnership work. Will they reconcile their differences and learn to trust each other before time runs out, and these crimes turn bloody?

AUTHOR BIO: 

Jenna Malin is an author and music-lover from St. Louis. She turns all her pain and suffering into heart-hitting poetry and fiction that concerns her loved ones but makes her therapist proud. She’s written six books of poetry and a dark mystery romance novel. You can find her at a record store or concert, and her books on Etsy, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

SOCIALS/LINKS: 

Facebook: facebook.com/jennas.dilemmas

Instagram, Threads, TikTok: @authorjennamalin 

Website/mailing list: jennasdilemmas.net

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

A. L. Sinclair is a debut adult dark fantasy author who enjoys weaving history, mythology, and complex, flawed characters into wonderfully subversive narratives. With a background in law, sustainability, and somatic healing, she loves exploring identity, trauma and power through a feminist lens. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal, and she wrote a couple of screenplays whilst mentoring under an award-winning Australian screenwriter. When she’s not writing vengeful women who smash the patriarchy, Amanda enjoys single malt scotch whisky and working her way through her ever-growing to-be-read pile. She lives on Whadjuk Noongar country (Perth, Western Australia) with two well-traveled cats who’ve accompanied her across continents.

Website: www.alsinclairauthor.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: www.instagram.com/a.l.sinclairauthor

Agent Rep: [email protected]

Download the first three chapters: www.alsinclairauthor.com/a-winter-solstice-gambit

ABOUT VICTORIA:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

About the author:

Tara Sexton writes adult contemporary romance and fantasy. She can often be found with her nose in a book and a coffee at hand.

Book Blurb: 

The hot new soccer romance for fans of Ted Lasso and She's the Man

She's met her match. But will the winner take all or lose everything?

Marcee Ackerman's dream job as head soccer coach at Pemberton Prep is turning into a nightmare. Her new boss has given her an ultimatum—win the state championship or she’s fired. To make matters worse, Pemberton's rival school hires hotshot ex-England player Remington Lockley as their new coach. How can she compete against a world-class pro?

To keep her job and her reputation safe, Marcee will do whatever it takes. But one steamy encounter with Remy has thrown her plans off-course. Falling for the enemy may be just what Marcee's boss needs to get rid of her for good, yet she is powerless to resist as she gets to know the real Remy behind the tabloid scandals.

Soccer is life, but love is the greatest game of all. Even Marcee’s competitiveness might not be enough for her to win…

This steamy sports romance is perfect for fans of Meryl Wilsner, Amy Lea and Elena Armas.

Connect with Tara HERE: LINKS

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

About Kim: 

Nothing makes me happier than when someone tells me a book I recommended expands their perspective, brings them joy, or makes them feel less alone.

Aside from being a self-proclaimed bibliotherapist, I’m a mom and wife, book reviewer for Good Things Utah, and one of those people who call their Holland Lop bunnies “part of the family.”

 I graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in English, but apparently that wasn’t enough school nerdery for me, so I’m headed back to get my master’s degree in creative writing.

I’ve practiced my writing skills as producer for the “Arts in Utah” segment on a local radio station, then as a book blurb writer, PR specialist, and audiobook narrator for publisher Covenant Communications, professional namer for Eat My Words, and associate editor for Utah Valley Magazine.

I had the opportunity to turn my passion for writing and journaling into a business, Loom Journals, with my friends. We were acquired by Promptly Journals, where I now create prompted journals and educate people on the power and science behind writing for wellbeing.

I’m working on two novels: A dual timeline women’s fiction based on a tiny village I fell in love with in the English countryside, and a contemporary romance set in a quaint New England bookstore.

Some obsessions: Hiking, BBC dramas, and putting on my pajamas.

I started Talk Wordy to Me in 2016 as a place to build community around reading and writing. So glad you’re here!

Follow Kim HERE:  LINKS

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

About the Author:

Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. Ryan graduated from John Curtin College of the Arts before later taking on a career as a drag queen. Through drag, Ryan found a love for cabaret, burlesque and circus. Relocating to the United Kingdom (March 2017) to further pursue the arts, Ryan hit the cabaret scene with a bang, hosting sell-out shows at Edinburgh Fringe and producing his own weekly resident show in London’s Kings Cross, as his alter ego Vicious Von Vixen. 

He worked his way into programming on the West End for the world’s largest theatre company ATG and gave away hosting entirely, wrapped up and all-consumed in the glittering world of A-Lister star casts, both confronting classics and new world-class come five-star reviewed plays, alongside debuting global musical hits transferring from / to Broadway! After a couple of years Ryan found his way to the UK’s leading entertainment and production company Underbelly, where he still works today, representing its first and only permanent venue in central London — Underbelly Boulevard Soho! 

All Ryan’s written work is inspired and motivated by lived experience in the theatre and cabaret industries, as well as diversity… from his own situations as a pansexual, genderqueer deemed “man”, seven-years polyamorous but now happily married and monogamous — devoted to his non-binary wife — Ryan hopes to bring whatever little change he can to the world, by writing exciting, thrilling, magical and engaging yet horrific stories, to intrigue a wider range of readers before enlighten them with characters that expose and provide awareness to ways of life outside the patriarchal created world that has set society norms and showcase the possibilities to readers of the different paths they can take.

Book Blurb:

A lost soul.

A vaudeville that comes with an extra price for entry.

Grief. Love. Sex. Blood.

All under the filament lights of the Big Top.

When Thomas discovers the lights of the funfair at his lowest point, his life takes a different direction and continues on, in a liberating yet macabre way.

He finds acceptance with a troupe that he meets, all from different walks of life, but now all on the same path and with the same curse. A curse that isn’t holding any of them back. In fact, it’s what brings each of them together.

What if a curse could save, could mean finding family, and could give lost souls a new purpose and enjoyment of life?

Follow Ryan:  LINKS

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

Story Synopsis:   

The Devil & The Details is a dark, emotionally charged slow-burn romance that blurs the line between love and danger. After escaping a past built on control and silence, Bethany Martin is a woman learning to trust again when she meets Kevin Sinclair, whose calm warmth feels like redemption. Their connection is instant—magnetic, consuming, impossible to ignore. But the more she lets him in, the more the truth beneath his tenderness begins to surface.

What begins as healing turns into something far more complicated. Boundaries blur, and the intensity that once felt safe begins to smother. Bethany, torn between desire and dread, realizes that some love stories aren’t meant to save you—they’re meant to destroy you.

Told with haunting intimacy and cinematic tension, The Devil & The Details explores how easily passion can become possession and how survival sometimes means walking away from the person who swore to protect you. Because sometimes the devil doesn’t come to destroy you; he comes disguised as everything you ever wanted.

About the Author — Kelly R. Nelson

Kelly R. Nelson is an independent author who writes emotionally charged romantic suspense layered with realism, raw vulnerability, and characters that linger long after the final page.

Drawing inspiration from music and human complexity, her stories explore the thin line between love and destruction, healing and heartbreak. When she’s not writing, Kelly works full-time and balances life as a mother, dreamer, and storyteller.

She currently resides in California and is the author of The Devil & The Details, the first book in her riveting duology exploring the darker edges of love, trauma, and redemption.

 Social Media & Author Links  

Instagram, TikTok & Threads: @kellyrnelsonstoryteller

Website: www.kellyrnelsonstoryteller.com

Universal Book Links

https://books2read.com/kellyrnelson

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

Blurb

After her father vanishes, Dani Fetter begins high school already carrying the weight of abandonment. She expects her best friends to support her, but they prioritize parties, hookups, and popularity instead.

Left behind, Dani meets Kevin Martin, an outsider who seems to give her everything her world is missing. Until betrayal cuts deep, leaving her reeling once more. Dani's circle keeps reshaping again and again: new friends like Ryan O’Leary offer comfort, while old wounds resurface.

Through each season of high school, Dani is tested through heartbreak, mistakes, and hilarious missteps, as she wrestles with who she is and who she wants to be.

Told in a unique blend of letters and chapters,  HIGH SCHOOL EPIC captures the chaos of teenage life in the early 1990s with raw honesty, humor, and heart. 

BIO 

Psychotherapist by day and writer by night, award-winning author Hannah R. Goodman prefers tea over coffee, cats over dogs, and staying in over going out. Her newest YA novel, High School Epic, captures the chaos of teenage life in the early 1990s with raw honesty, humor, and heart. Her other recent book, New Adult romance I Love That Girl, has been praised as "simultaneously joyous, sexy, and uncertain."  

Her contemporary YA romance novel Till It Stops Beating, published in 2018, was praised by Literary Titan for "tackling a difficult issue like anxiety and making a story that was funny and sweet without making light of the issue." Though released as a stand-alone book, Till It Stops Beating is the fourth book in The Maddie Chronicles series. The Maddie Chronicles began with her first book, My Sister's Wedding, which won first place in the 2004 Writer's Digest Self-Published Books Awards Children's/Teen Division. She published the follow-up, My Summer Vacation, in May 2006, which went on to win a bronze IPPY in 2007. The third Maddie book, Fear of Falling, was released in the fall of 2009 and was praised by teachers and readers for tackling subjects like homophobia and coming out. 

She currently writes about writing, publishing, and mental health on her Substack called Writing My Way Through It.   

Follow Hannah here: https://linktr.ee/hannahrgoodman

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial

About the author: 

Author of swoony romances full of real characters you can’t help but
root for.  When I’m not writing you’ll find me with my nose stuck in a book... Or
more realistically, you’ll find me chasing my two kids, spending time
with my husband, and helping our household to thrive.  I am an avid reader though and adore the way I can get lost in a world
outside my own every time I flip those pages. I never thought I’d write a book. Never thought I’d have a story to tell.
But lo and behold, here I am, and I have never loved an adventure more! 

Book Blurb: 

Eight summers. Two broken hearts.
One shocking truth.

It took eight summers for Avonlea Stewart to give her heart to her best friend but only moments for him to shatter it. In the wake of her heartbreak, she found herself facing a life-altering decision—one that drove her away from the Isle of Skye and the memories of her first love.

More than a decade later, the opportunity of a lifetime pulls her back to the place forever stitched into her soul. But returning means confronting the past—especially when the man she’s hidden it from is the first person she sees: her childhood best friend, her first love… the father of her child.

Jamie Murray loved Avonlea Stewart, but he realized it too late—after he’d already broken her heart. That mistake cost him more than their friendship; it cost him Scotland—the home he left behind, believing she’d moved on with someone else.

Years later, a devastating family situation calls him back, but the past he’s fought to forget is still there, waiting for him, because Avonlea’s back too. And facing her, and the life she built without him, is more than he can bear.

Stuck together under the same roof, Avonlea and Jamie are forced to face everything they lost—and the truth they once promised each other.

Connect and follow J.A Forde here: LINKS

About Victoria:

Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping sensitive writers bring their stories to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together. 

Here’s how I can help:
FREE Editing checklist: Grab it HERE
Character Workshop: I NEED THIS


Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.

Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!

📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial