The Story

The Banovic family is on the brink of financial ruin. Robin, the patriarch of the Banovic family, makes the heart-wrenching decision to sell the business he’d spent most of his life building.

Just when things couldn’t get worse for the Banovics, Robin’s father dies, leaving Robin nursing a world of guilt over years of things left unsaid. Just like in real life, sometimes a curse can become a blessing.

Turns out Viktor Banovic left his winery and prime estate for his children, but there is a catch. Viktor’s will stipulates that Robin, the eldest, cannot sell any of the properties without the signatures of his siblings. Sounds simple since all of the first generation Banovic siblings have gone on to build lives of their own, but nothing is simple in the Family Portrait Series. Robin’s brother, Adrian has been missing since after the death of their mother. So Robin hires a detective to find his him.

In the meantime he steps to run the winery with absolutely no experience under his belt and hits resistance from people who are loyal to his father. Robin goes from one extreme to the next in a nano second. Luckily he has his wife Jayne by his side.

Leighann is confined to bed rest after she collapses during a hectic tour schedule. She sees her failing health as a way out of the spotlight and decides to commit career suicide, much to the chagrin of her momager. But walking away from her commitments has consequences that Leighann isn’t aware of. She leaves her mother and the only life she’s ever known to live with her sister in Los Angeles. There she enrolls in the prestigious Westwood Academy.

For the first time Leighann gets a taste of traditional education and kids her own age.

“High school is a lot like what I imagine prison is like. If you don’t have the right friends, you could be killed or raped in the shower.” ~ Leighann

But her problems haven’t even started yet, because unknown to Leighann, Savi has followed her to Los Angeles and where there is Savi, there is trouble. Bored and looking for a little action in her old stomping ground Savi hooks up with college boy Kevin Banovic. Can a hook up just be a hook up? Not in the Family Portrait series.

The Cast

Jayne & Robin Banovic, Adriana Banovic, Kevin Banovic, Zax Banovic, Leighann DaCosta, L’Wren DaCosta, Savi DaCosta, Haze C. Lyndon

Supporting Cast

Roxanne Banovic, Carys Wilson, Astrid Wilson, Kristin Newman, Frankie Malone, Joel O’Leary, Warren Voss, Principal Johansson.

The stoners: Chellon, Kai, Jason

The changing faces of Changes

As you can see Changes has undergone lots of changes over the year it has been published. The first cover I felt was too dark. I wanted something with an actual picture on the cover. When Jovon Tucker did the trailer she used a Polaroid photo of Haze, which was Adriana’s mystery man and one of the major story lines that carried through all the books. So I got the idea to use a Polaroid.

The 2nd cover was never used, it was a mock up for the 3rd. I changed from the 3rd cover because I wanted to start branding the books. Then came the birth of cover #4. Cover 4 was actually a mock up to the final cover.

This cover is the template for all the books in the series.

Changes Milestone

My greatest accomplishment and what I will always remember will be when Changes hit #1 on the Amazon bestseller chart in it’s category. Prior to that, the highest it had ever been was #25, then it rose to #11, which I was thrilled with. Until it popped up to #1. I was losing my mind with excitement. I checked later in the day and it was still there.

Changes on the rise again.

Two days later I began to wonder if Amazon had made a mistake. After about a week I was over the moon. The feeling you get when your book hits #1 on Amazon never gets old. That was on April 25, 2014. I still celebrate that every year, that’s how much it means to me.

Changes is free on Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Smashwords | iBooks

Good to Know

The FASHION and Location play a very big part in the series.

Click to rummage through Adriana’s closet, Leighann’s closet and Astrid’s locker.

Westwood Academy is actually modeled (location wise) after Albuquerque Academy.

Check out the locations that inspire some of the scenes.

My favorite scene from Changes has to be when Haze goes to meet Chellon, his childhood best friend for the first time. They are going to room together, but Chellon is not the same guy Haze knew growing up. Here’s the scene:

Haze pulled up to the curb of a two-story, four-apartment complex.

The exterior looked nice enough; his mother would be happy. He was an only child, and his mother wasn’t exactly thrilled about him moving out to Los Angeles even though she grew up there. She felt a little better knowing that he would at least know Chellon, his high-school buddy. She comforted herself knowing that Chellon was a good, wholesome boy. Chellon called his mother every week. Chellon went to church, and Chellon studied hard.

Haze rang the door bell and waited. Chellon came to the door; he immediately bear- hugged Haze.

“You made it! It’s about freaking time!” Chellon beamed at his friend. “Come on in, meet the guys.”

The guys were Jason and Kai. They sat on a beat-up couch, rolling a joint on the coffee table. The inside of the apartment was messy … After all, they were college boys.

“They don’t live here; they’re just hanging out.” Chellon pointed out. “We party’n tonight!”

The one called Kai nodded at Haze. He seemed already high.

“You wanna hit?” Jason asked Haze.

“No,” Haze replied.

The boys lit up, and a cloud of smoke engulfed them.

“Lemme show you your room.” Chellon beamed. “I think you’re going to love LA. The girls out here are a different breed, man. Every one is better looking than the next. It’s like a feeding frenzy!”