The Dalton Circle Series

Why I’m Creating Closed-Door Editions of the Dalton Circle Series

I have always loved writing emotionally intense romance, including stories with open-door intimacy. But I also know that many readers prefer their romance without explicit scenes—my best friend included.

She is one of my most enthusiastic supporters, and I wanted her to be able to enjoy my novels from beginning to end without needing to skim past parts that were not right for her. That inspired me to begin creating two editions of selected books: the original open-door version and a carefully edited closed-door edition.

The closed-door editions keep the romance, emotional tension, character development, conflict, and happily ever after while moving intimate moments off the page and softening explicit language. My hope is to give readers more freedom to choose the version that best suits their comfort level without losing the heart of the story.

It also means that two friends with very different reading preferences can still fall in love with the same characters—and I think there is something wonderful about that.

Why I Love Writing a Series

Whenever possible, I love writing interconnected books.

By the time one couple reaches their happily ever after, an entire world has already begun to form around them. Friendships have developed. Families have become complicated. Side characters have made mistakes, hidden secrets, offered terrible advice, or quietly stolen scenes of their own.

Sometimes, I simply need to know what happens to those characters next.

Writing a series allows me to return to familiar settings while exploring new relationships and conflicts. Readers can watch earlier couples continue building their lives, while characters who once stood at the edge of someone else’s story finally step into the center of their own.

That is exactly what happens in The Dalton Circle series.

Connected through Dalton Biomedical Technologies, long-standing friendships, complicated family loyalties, and closely guarded secrets, these stories follow three couples who must learn that love cannot thrive when it is hidden, controlled, or built on half-truths.

Each book tells a complete romantic story and can be enjoyed on its own, but reading the series in order offers a deeper look at the friendships, families, and decisions connecting them all.

Book One: Barely Behaving

One reckless decision brings Alora into the life of Tucker Dalton, the grieving new head of Dalton Biomedical Technologies.

Their connection is immediate, but when the truth about their first meeting comes to light, trust shatters and the distance between their worlds becomes painfully clear. Determined to prove she is more than her worst mistake, Alora agrees to repay her debt by working inside Dalton Biomedical, where every hallway reminds her of what she lost.

As Tucker witnesses her resilience, compassion, and quiet strength, his certainty about her begins to change. But corporate secrets are surfacing, powerful people are watching, and loving Alora may cost him everything he has spent his life protecting.

Together, they must decide whether forgiveness is enough—or whether redemption requires the courage to choose each other openly.

Barely Behaving is a slow-burn contemporary romance about trust, class differences, second chances, and discovering that one terrible mistake does not have to define the rest of your life.

Book Two: Proudly Pretending

Botanical artist Laurel Finch is tired of feeling like the inconvenient part of Drew Smith’s carefully ordered life.

Drew is precise, successful, and skilled at managing every detail of Dalton Biomedical’s public image. Laurel, with her vintage dresses, creative ambitions, unpredictable schedule, and generous heart, has never fit neatly into the polished world he understands.

Their private connection is intense and undeniable. In public, however, Drew keeps hesitating.

When the Dalton Foundation gala places Laurel’s artwork, Drew’s career, and their relationship under scrutiny, Laurel refuses to make herself smaller to protect his comfort. Losing her forces Drew to confront a painful truth: loving someone in private is not the same as standing proudly beside them.

To win her back, he must do more than apologize. He must respect her work, defend her openly, and prove that he wants all of her—not only the parts that fit easily into his life.

Proudly Pretending is an emotional contemporary romance about creative ambition, vulnerability, pride, personal growth, and the need to be loved where everyone can see.

Book Three: Defiantly Devoted

Tessa Calder has spent four years blaming Shane Smith for the night her brother went to prison and her family fell apart.

Now her brother’s parole hearing is approaching, and someone is rewriting the past in real time. Records have been altered. Credentials have been cloned. Files are disappearing. Every clue points back to the case that destroyed her life—and every step toward the truth places Tessa in greater danger.

Shane no longer wears a badge. He has built a private investigation practice in the gray spaces where official rules and easy answers no longer apply. He knows Tessa has every reason to distrust him, but he also knows that someone is positioning her to take the fall.

Protecting her should be straightforward.

Wanting her again is not.

Forced into an uneasy partnership, Shane and Tessa must navigate buried resentment, unresolved feelings, family secrets, and a powerful enemy determined to keep the truth hidden. Trust may be the only weapon they have left, but rebuilding it could require both of them to risk more than they ever intended.

Defiantly Devoted is a closed-door romantic suspense novel featuring a protective former police officer turned private investigator, a fiercely guarded heroine, second-chance tension, forced proximity, corruption, danger, and a love strong enough to challenge the past.

Welcome to the Dalton Circle

The Dalton Circle series is about flawed people making difficult choices, facing the consequences, and learning how to love with honesty and courage.

These stories explore redemption, loyalty, vulnerability, ambition, family, forgiveness, and the complicated journey toward becoming worthy of the love you have been offered.

Whether you prefer the emotional intensity of the original editions or the gentler intimacy of the closed-door versions, I hope you find characters to root for, relationships that feel real, and a fictional circle you will want to return to long after the final page.