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Victoria Helen Stone

bestselling author of emotional suspense

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Victoria Helen Stone’s Blog

False Step is out now!

July 1, 2019 by Victoria

The new Amazon Charts bestselling novel, False Step, is available now! Publishers Weekly calls False Step a “cleverly plotted thriller” and adds “Danger and savage emotions surface as [Veronica] discovers that she’s not the only one whose life is built on secrets and lies. Stone keeps the reader guessing to the end.”

Already a Kindle #1 bestseller!

Get False Step in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Audible, MP3 or CD.
Read it now:   Kindle | Hardcover  | Paperback | Audio 

False Step Cover

Filed Under: False Step Tagged With: books

Jane Doe Featured on Buzzfeed!

March 6, 2019 by Victoria

Jane Doe was included on Buzzfeed’s 18 Underrated Books to Squeeze in As Soon As You Possibly Can!

“If you’re a woman, you need to read this book. It’s a story about a sociopath who loses the only person she’s ever loved, and the story of how she gets her revenge. This book has suspense, comedy, and a sweet romance element. It’s been a week since I read it and I still go back to rereading sections because this story sticks with you in a strange way.” 

I’m also thrilled to report that Jane Doe was reviewed in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel! “A woman makes herself into the perfect girlfriend for a man — so she can destroy him in “Jane Doe” by Victoria Helen Stone… A deliciously dark story with a chilling heroine, readers will enjoy seeing how far Jane will go for her revenge.”

Try Jane for yourself today!

Filed Under: Jane Doe Tagged With: Jane Doe

My Own Half Past

October 20, 2017 by Victoria

When I started thinking of my second Victoria Helen Stone book, I knew I wanted to write a family mystery, a story of secrets. I just didn’t know what the secret should be. I puzzled it over for a couple of weeks, and then I had a strange dream: I dreamed that my mother wasn’t my mother.

HALF PAST-smallThe dream felt so odd because my mom is the only parent I’ve ever known. My father left before I was born and I only met him once in my whole childhood. Lots of people don’t know their fathers. Lots of people don’t even know who their fathers are, because men can leave before fertilization even completes. But giving birth isn’t exactly a blink of an eye, so birth mother is generally a fairly secure title. I knew I had a great starting point.

That dream was the start of Half Past, but it wasn’t the inspiration. The inspiration comes from my own life. You see, my childhood was a seemingly endless series of halves. Half-siblings, half-families, half-pasts, and strange half-secrets, known by many and forgotten by more.

Me and my mom
Me and my mom

I grew up in a family of four daughters. I’m the youngest. A whole houseful of women! But I’m also an only child, in terms of psychology. My sisters were five to ten years older, so I grew up differently than they did. I also had a different father as I was the only child of my mom’s second marriage.

I had a half-brother too, but he lived on his father’s farm. I did not know him at all. I had other half-siblings as well, my father’s children with his next wife. I heard about them but did not know them. They did not know about me. Another half family and another and another.

My first halloween with my sisters!
My first halloween with my sisters!

During the school year I lived in a crowded house with sisters I loved who helped raise me, but during the summer they went to live with their father, and I lived with my grandparents. We were sent to the same small town three hours from home, but we did not see each other there, not even on my birthday. We had separate families in homes about ten country miles apart. There were no other children nearby. It was just me on acres of land until the summer ended and I went back to my crowded half-family in the city. It only recently occurred to me how odd this all was.

I didn’t know my father, but I knew my paternal grandparents. I’d visit them and my grandpa would take me around town and introduce me to his friends, but when he died, I went to his funeral and no one knew who I was. I’d somehow become a secret baby despite that both my parents were from this small town of 2000 people. You could never write that in a book. It makes no sense. Who would believe it?

Me with half teeth
Me with half teeth

So the feeling of absolutely loving your family but never quite fitting in…that part of Half Past is all me. My sisters are nothing like the sisters in the book. And my mom and I get along fabulously. There’s not one goody-two-shoes in this whole damn bunch of women! We all have a ton of fun when we get together, I promise.

But I was always different from everyone I loved, if only due to outside forces. I was the only sister with no father and no brother, the only sister with a different last name, the only sister somehow born a secret bastard even though her parents were married. My siblings had uncles and aunts and cousins I’d never met. They visited them at Christmas. But my father was an only child. Half of my Christmas was quiet.

My childhood felt like half of everything except love, but the good news is that meant I could fill in the other parts myself. Perhaps that’s the wellspring of my storytelling. I know it’s why I’m interested in others’ lives. I see secrets everywhere. I want to know the complexity beneath the surface. For me, an unassuming stranger is just someone whose story I haven’t heard yet. If I never get to hear it, I can definitely make one up. But I’ve learned that whatever story I tell probably won’t be as interesting as the truth.

As always, thanks for reading!
Victoria

Try Half Past now!

Filed Under: Half Past Tagged With: Half Past, personal, writing

Solitude in Big Sur: Research for Half Past

October 19, 2017 by Victoria

Half Past takes place in two main locations: a small town in rural Iowa and the coast of Big Sur.

Fruit Juice Barrels

I didn’t have to do any research on the first location. My family is from a tiny farming community in southern Minnesota. I only had to look up a couple of details to get that part right. My biggest disappointment was discovering that Red Owl grocery stores had gone out of business. Our local Red Owl played a big part in my childhood summers. I can still smell the maple doughnuts, and my grandma used to buy me these (now horrifying) drinks. Does this picture trigger nostalgia for anyone else?

But California was a whole other story. I’ve been to developed parts of California (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco) and even a few secluded beaches (Half Moon Bay), but I’d never been anywhere wild. I knew the wild coasts of California were a whole other world, so I decided to do something I’ve always dreamed of. I decided to rent a cabin and explore someplace new all by myself. After all, this is my decade of trying new things.

The secluded beach Hannah finds in Half Past.
The secluded beach Hannah finds in Half Past.

Big Sur was everything I wanted. As described in the book, it really was a sudden shift from expensive seaside communities to a completely untamed land. It was peaceful and beautiful and picture-perfect, but I had a deep sense of my own frailty while there. Humans haven’t conquered this place. We’ve barely managed to develop small strips of it.

Redwood trees and a stream.
A walk through the redwoods

The bed and breakfast I described in the book doesn’t exist (nor do the people who lived there in the 70’s) but the cabin is as real as I could make it. I stayed at a beautiful roadside resort called Glen Oaks. I can’t recommend it enough. Despite the other nearby cabins and rooms, I felt utterly alone in the best way as I sat next to my fire for hours, writing and drinking wine.

Fire pit, wine, and writing.
Fire pit, wine, and writing.

I spent five days in Big Sur, exploring redwood forests and rocky coasts. I waded into the cold water on a deserted beach and hiked up a hillside stream to see abandoned lime kilns. I slipped through a long tunnel through the cliffs to emerge directly above the surf where ships used to load freight. I stared into that deep water for nearly an hour.

IMG_0646

Everything you’ve heard about the highway is true. Gorgeous and absolutely terrifying. And when I was alone in the trees, I felt truly alone, strong and centered and vulnerable.

I loved every minute of my research in Big Sur. I hope you enjoy the results in Half Past!

p.s. Since my visit, Big Sur has suffered flooding and mudslides that cut off huge parts of the coast. Though most areas are now reachable, the people who live and work there have suffered tremendously. To find out how to help, please visit Big Sur Relief Fund.

Filed Under: Half Past Tagged With: books, Half Past, research, writing

The Rarest of Birds: a domestic post!

October 9, 2017 by Victoria

I’m not the most domestically inclined person, but I can cook a few things, and sometimes I actually do. Every five to ten years, I mention this on Twitter and someone asks for the recipe of the thing I cooked. The thing is always in a crockpot. I’m ambitious around 1 PM. I am rarely ambitious after 5.

Tonight it is snowing here in the mountains, so I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for the very first time by taking the best bits from two recipes I found online.

So here is a recipe! Behold its wonder!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup 
(low carb depending on the toppings)
6 servings, I think

  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless chicken (I used thighs)
  • 32 ounces chicken broth
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 orange or yellow bell pepper diced
  • 4-ounce can of chopped green chile peppers
  • 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes (I used only half)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup frozen corn (I substituted 1 small zucchini, cubed)
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp salt (I added way more than this. Probably 2 tsp.)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp cumin

Throw everything in the slow cooker! Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours. 15 minutes before it’s done, shred the chicken and adjust salt and spices. MOAR SPICE. Maybe squeeze in a little lime.

Serve with any or all of these toppings:

  • tortilla strips (I wish)
  • shredded cheese
  • avocado slices
  • hot sauce
  • chopped cilantro
  • fresh lime slice
  • sour cream

Hope you like it! This will be soooooo good the next time I have a cold.

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: food

HALF PAST is out now!

September 21, 2017 by Victoria

Half Past is now available in Kindle, print, or audiobook!

“A captivating, suspenseful tale of love and lies, mystery and self-discovery, Half Past kept me flipping the pages through the final, startling twist.” —A. J. Banner, #1 Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of The Good Neighbor and The Twilight Wife

HALF PAST-smallHannah has always felt like a stranger in her own home. She’s about to find out why.
At forty-five, Hannah Smith is at a crossroads. That’s her spin on it. The reality is she’s divorced, jobless, and moving back to her family home in Iowa to keep an eye on her mother, who’s slipping into dementia.

Her return stirs up the same unnerving sense of disconnect Hannah has felt since childhood—always the odd girl out, the loner outshone by her two older sisters. Hannah knew the feelings of hurt would come back. But she never expected fear. Because when her mother looks into her eyes and whispers, “You’re not my daughter,” Hannah is beginning to believe it’s not just the rambling of a confused woman.

It’s the truth.

Now Hannah’s following the trail of a family mystery to the dark coast of Big Sur, where years ago a lie was born—and buried. As frightened as she is to unearth it, Hannah knows this is the last chance she has before her past—and all its terrible secrets—are lost forever.

Order today!
Kindle | Print | Audio

Filed Under: Half Past Tagged With: Half Past

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