Happy Birthday No Promises No Lies!

02.24.2026 February II Newsletter

This week…

🎂 Happy Birthday No Promises No Lies!!!
📊 No Promises No Lies Year 1 Stats
🎨 New character art: “I didn’t know where else to go”
✨ Throwback: NPNL on Kindle Vella
🎥 Behind the Book: Rejected No Promises No Lies cover designs
📖 Tandem Reading Guide: No Promises No Lies/Dare Me to Stay
♠️ Special Edition Update
🤪 In the trenches update

🎉 One Year of No Promises No Lies 🎉

Today my debut book baby turns ONE.

I can’t even fully process that it’s been a whole year since No Promises No Lies went out into the world. One. Year.

This book changed everything for me.

THIS BOOK made me a full time author as a self-published debut! INSANE! Especially considering that 90% of self-published titles sell less than 100 copies in their entire lifetime…

WOAH.

And the fact that you’re still here? That you guys are STILL talking about these characters? This story??? Still recommending No Promises No Lies to anyone who will listen. Still loving Aidan, Rory, Niko and all the O’Rourkes the way I do? And now Koen, Briar and Remi Rose 🌹

It means more than I can ever say.

Thank you for reading it.
Thank you for reviewing it.
Thank you for screaming about it on the internet.
Thank you for taking a chance on this no-name author and helping me bring this crazy Irish mafia world to more readers.

And if you’ve been meaning to leave a review but haven’t yet, consider this your gentle nudge 💙 Reviews are truly the biggest birthday gift you could give this book.

The newsletter this week is a little EXTRA long… (apologies in advance) but in honor of No Promises No Lies’ birthday, I wanted to share some fun behind-the-scenes stuff for those of you who might be into that kinda thing!

xoxo,

21K copies of No Promises No Lies sold WORLDWIDE!

Total KU Page Reads: 9,188,116 (sales equivalent 16,092 copies)

Total E-books sold: 4,121

Total Print books: 434

Total Audiobooks (only includes data thru 10/31/25): 269

Total copies sold (including KU sales equivalent) = 20,916

Wild. Absolutely WILD.

“I didn’t know where else to go…”

I’ve been busy trying to finish up the remaining character art pieces I’m working on for the special edition! This particular piece (when finished) will be featured on the No Promises No Lies special edition’s end papers.

🎨 Character art is by me.

THROWBACK:

Did you know?

No Promises was originally posted online in 2024 as serial fiction.

Back in 2024, I started posting the first draft of No Promises No Lies to Kindle Vella as I was writing it. (Some readers still have the KV version of NP in their Kindle Library which is low-key terrifying)

I posted to Kindle Vella for just under a year before it ultimately folded as a platform in February 2025, but between No Promises No Lies, and my other stories I’d posted on there, I was able to earn enough in royalties to finance self-publishing No Promises No Lies all on my own!

Kindle Vella was also the first place I received actual real live feedback from readers which led me to think… oh hey, this story might actually be… good??? And really is what gave me the confidence to publish it.

No Promises even won “top crowned” once on Kindle Vella which at the time, is 100% where thought I’d PEAKED cause that was so awesome.

Kindle Vella cover for “No Promises”

DISCLAIMER: Yes, this image of Aidan is AI generated.

(I DIDN’T KNOW BETTER THEN, BUT I DO NOW!)

None of my covers/marketing have been AI since my Kindle Vella days, and they never will be! We’re learning and we’re growing on this journey.

Now firmly 🚫 AI in creative spaces

Behind the Scenes:

Rejected Cover options for No Promises No Lies

All cover designs by me.

This actually was the cover for NPNL until I sent out for proof copies… (some of you may remember when this cover was actually on my marketing in the very early days) but when the actual physical proof copy came in… I just didn’t like the cover on it and I also really wanted to save the butterflies for someone else… 😉

And so even though I’d already started marketing… I said “Fuck it” and changed it.

This one was SO CLOSE to being the actual cover. I just had an unhinged obsession with this swan until ultimately I realized… it just didn’t fit with the story. I think I really liked the swan stock image and just wanted to make it work somehow.

Maybe someday…

The Devils & Darlings series was also originally going to be called “Ruthless Rivals” with

Book 1: Aidan O’Rourke

Book 2: Nikolai Kostalov

Book 3: Cole DeLuca

But things changed… bahaha

My favorite thing about this potential cover is the little bit of blood on the skate.

Teeheehee (no, but that took forever in photoshop)

I was trying out something here… and admittedly, I don’t think this one ever had a real shot.

I did consider it for a special edition cover one day but then I leaned hard into the snake imagery for Dare Me to Stay…

This was the very first cover iteration of No Promises No Lies I came up with that I thought would make it to the final cover, which is funny because we went through all the other options above and cycled back to something very similar for the final model cover design.

Ask and you shall receive… I’ve had several requests from readers for a chapter guide, so in honor of No Promises, No Lies; birthday; I’m sharing a tandem reading guide for books 1 + 2!

NPNL: No Promises No Lies

DMTS: Dare Me to Stay

The first half of Book 2 overlaps with the second half of book 1… so yes, you can read them together tandem style. Although be advised: I did not intend for the books to be read this way, so keep that in mind for review purposes.

The tandem read may be best attempted for re-reads as a fun way to see how these two books actually align with each other. In the guide, I’ve aligned the timeline chapter by chapter chronologically for your convenience.

Let me know if you try it!

No Promises No Lies Special Edition Update

If you follow me on socials it’s no secret I’ve had a rough February. At the end of January, I got hit with a mystery fever virus and just 36 hours after recovering from that… FLU B entered the chat.

Unfortunately, this set me behind. BUT I do still plan on listing the pre-order by the end of February! I might not have the proofs back, but I’m very confident on the final design.

Updates: The special edition will now include hand illustrated end papers and a new sprayed edge design. (The old “Ace” shamrock edge design… while I’m in love… is just too risky for the printer to get right 100% of the time.) ((There is a high risk of copies arriving with the edges off-center.))

So… sadly, I had to update it.

But I’m not mad about it… the new edge design is REALLY cool and I can’t wait to show you!

In the Trenches Update

Not much to report here since I’VE BEEN DEEP IN THE FLU TRENCHES… and the kids have been on break from school this past week plus the unexpected extended blizzard days… GAH

But my focus right now is still on re-writing my upcoming romantasy from 3rd person to 1st person and formally outlining DD3.

Andddddd I think we’re just about at the post-it-note-door section of the creative process for DD3. IYKYK.

Last night I couldn’t sleep… so I just stayed up all night and wrote crazy ass scribblings on my white board for my romantasy series plot plans. OH I WAS COOKING!

And I’ve also had a LOT of fun and unhinged ideas for Devils & Darlings 3 and for that book, I’m mainly working on compiling and organizing all of these stray thoughts and ideas that I’ve essentially just dumped without rhyme or reason all over my Reagan folder in my iphone notes app, pinterest board and actual white board into a somewhat structured outline so we can START WRITING SCENES!!!

Hopefully next time I can tell you we have a few scenes actually written!

Fingers crossed!

xoxo,

Order Links

I’ve made it easier than ever to get your hands on my books 🖤

Dare Me to Stay pre-order links

No Promises No Lies order links

Thank you so much for being here! Whether you found me through social media, a friend’s recommendation, or pure internet chaos — welcome to my little corner of the world.

My newsletter will go out on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. (Maybe 🤪)

In it, you’ll find updates on my upcoming books, published books, ARC list, signing events, life updates, bonus content, etc.

Confirmed Book Signing Events

2026

August 14-16th - Sinners & Stardust - Boston, MA

2027

March 19-21st - Shadows & Seduction - New Orleans, LA

AJ WILDING