Novelist Celebrates 20th Author Year With Release of Sequel To First Book

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Sept. 30, 2016 - PRLog -- Raynetta Manees is an unconventional author.  Manees was one of the first authors of Kensington Publishing's Arabesque romance imprint, the first line of African American romances.

Manees' first novel, "All For Love (The SuperStar's Lady) was published in 1996.  She has just released  "All For Love: The SuperStar," exactly 20 years later to the date.

With the Arabesque imprint, Manees published six novels, all still rated 4/5 stars on Amazon.com.  In 2004 Manees became extremely ill and had to stop writing.  None of her book contracts covered digital book rights because  at that time they didn't exist.  When Manees recovered, she decided to resume her writing career by self-publishing her backlist before returning to traditional publishing

From 2012 to 2016 Manees self-published her backlist as well as writing and publishing her first nonfiction book,  "My Alzheimer's Diary," an homage to her grandmother, mother, and brother all of whom died of Alzheimer's.  This book is also rated 5 stars by readers.

Her first book was "All For Love," subtitled "The Superstar's Lady,"  is uncommon in that it is written in first person from the point of view of the heroine, Angela.  The book was universally acclaimed upon its release and was one of five finalists for the Best Ethnic Romance of 1996.  It has sold continuously  over the last twenty years, with sales increasing  with the release of the  2013 digital update.

When she realized her twentieth author anniversary was approaching Manees decided to write what she calls a "syncquel" to her first book.   The Sept 23, 2016  book was, "All For Love: The Superstar."

"I call this book a 'syncquel,' " said Manees, "because it is 'in sync' with the prior book.  The action in this book does not occur before or after the action in " SuperStar's Lady," but indeed at the very same time.  The original book is in first person from the heroine's point of view.  " 'All For Love: The Superstar' covers the same romance but this time from the first person point of view of the hero."

Manees had considered the concept for years.  After discussing it with other authors and with readers, she decided to go ahead with the project since there was great interest in such an unusual pair of books.  She states she has not been able to identify another set of books that cover the same time period, but from two different points of view.

Another almost unheard of aspect the books is that they include lyrics to a song that is critical to the plots.  Manees actually wrote music for this song.  Manees states, "All my books have primary characters that are entertainers or in the media.  That is my second love.  I have a degree in Mass Communications, and am a singer, actress, and even former disc jockey!"

The song in the SuperStar books is "Whenever We're Apart."  Manees recently produced a YouTube video of the song so readers may actually hear how the song sounds as well as reading the lyrics in the book.  The video is on her Youtube channel, Raynetta Manees, Author.  She plans to create YouTube videos for the other four songs that she has written whose lyrics appear in her other books.

Manees is currently working on the third book of the series which will be called "All For Love: The SuperStar's Daughter."

Raynetta Manees welcomes reader questions and comments at  RManees@aol.com.