Everything has an ending.

This is the opening quote to Valentine R Book Three, the last book in the Valentine R series and the very last Valentine book I will ever write. Between 2010 and 2025, I have published nineteen Valentine books across four series. I introduced readers to Valorie Entienne, aka Val Entienne, aka Valentine when she took a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles to find her missing father. From there readers met Val’s cousin Veronica, Melinda St. James, the orphan Val takes under her wing and Vincent Entienne, Val’s father. Val’s painful past was slowly introduced, along with a cast of hitmen and hitwomen, and members of a mob outfit that refers to itself as The Syndicate. Readers even had a chance to see how EVERYTHING began, before Val, before Veronica, even before the Syndicate. The original five book series gave birth to a spin-off series, a prequel series and a sequel series. This is much more than I had planned to write, but when you feel like you have a good idea, you have to go with it.

It’s funny to think this whole thing started with an accident. I was working on an illustration for another book, in which my character would have a pink stripe in her hair. I colored all of her hair pink by accident, and decided to keep the illustration. After looking at it, I came up with the character of Valentine, and then the first story. My two handwritten versions were later combined into the first book published by Xlibris, and republished via Amazon’s KDP.

I wanted to write a story about a girl everyone was afraid of. I wanted Val to be someone who struck fear into the hearts of grown men at the mere mention of her name. I wanted her to have a reputation that was strong and fierce, but also one that was misunderstood, even by Val herself. I wanted Val herself to be strong, but also vulnerable. She can pick up a gun and shoot, but every now and then she has a moment where she needs to break down. And, I wanted her to be surrounded by people who were the same way: incredibly strong on the outside but just a little bit broken on the inside.

“All my friends are killers! How did that happen?”

If you’re unfamiliar with the Valentine books, here they are by series.

Valentine: the original series

These are known as the “books in pink”. This series consists of five books and is the original series, where Val and her family are introduced, along with John Rafferty, the head of the Syndicate and the primary villain. Val’s father is asked by Rafferty to offer something that he simply refuses to hand over, and when he tries to quit, Rafferty won’t let him leave. It’s up to his daughter Val to drive out to L.A. to find him. She’s prepared to fight for him, and if he’s already dead, she’s also prepared to avenge his death. What she isn’t prepared for, is all the lives she ends up changing along the way.

Valentine Apart: the spin-off series

These are the stories of characters in the Valentine series, apart from Valentine herself. They are origin stories that lead into a Valentine book from the original series; there are even overlapping scenes and dialogue. This series came about when I wrote a scene between hitman Allan Avery and his sister, Mac. The scene was so good, I thought it deserved to have it’s own book. Then I thought, I want readers to know more about Lola Vencent, so I gave her a book as well. Along cam Jo Fuentes, who definitely needed a back story, and so did Kelly McCormick. The fifth and final book was the closer, which led to Valentine R.

Lucia and the Saints: the prequel series

In order to know where you’re going, you have to understand where you came from. This prequel series offers insight into Rafferty’s beginnings, along with a glance at Vincent Entienne and his brother Victor, Jacob Price, and the woman who started it all, Lucia Milazzo, aka Lucia Calderon. Lucia introduces Rafferty to Edwin Faulkner, the former head of the Syndicate, and helps him get started in his businesses. It’s later revealed, Lucia is link between all of the other characters in all the series.

Valentine R: the sequel series to the original

The ending of Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep leads into the opening of Valentine R Book One. The R stands for Return. Val and company have moved on with their lives, but things within the Syndicate are very unsettled and Val may be the only one who can make things right. This three book series brings together all of the characters across the other sixteen books.

With prequels and sequels and spin-offs, you may be wondering which order to read the books in. Here you go:

• Valentine (original series)
• Valentine Apart
• Lucia and the Saints
• Valentine R

Reading them in order will make the flow of the story make more sense to you.

The Theme In Valentine

You may have noticed a common theme in these books: playing cards. Each member of the Syndicate has a nickname and it’s playing card related. Valentine is known as the Queen of Hearts, and Rafferty is Ace of Spades. This wasn’t something I planned from the very beginning, but it seemed to have developed on its own.

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading these books as much as I enjoyed writing them. If Valentine is new to you, I hope you’ll read my books and follow Val’s adventures from beginning to end.