Aphrodite 3 has a name! As many of you know, I was struggling with this one for a long time. And I love all your suggestions! I feel terrible not using them, it’s not your fault. They were all great titles, but I gave the wrong parameters.

Originally, my naming pattern for the Aphrodite series was going to be based on which person she’s with the most for that book, because Aphrodite (my character, I can’t speak for the goddess) tends to define herself by who she’s with. So I was going to do Venus and Adonis, Love and War, and end with Aphrodite.

But, my publisher felt that broke the naming pattern I’d established with the Persephone series where all the names were titles that also fit the context of the book. Not just for the sake of the pattern, but because naming the first book of the trilogy Venus and Adonis sets up an expectation for 1. her name to be Venus, so instant confusion on page one paragraph one when she’s called something else (not because no one would instantly recognize that Aphrodite equals Venus, but because it makes it look like I’m going more into Roman territory for the series, like Rick Riordan did. It sets up a false expectation for the reader), and 2. that she and Adonis are end game. Those were all super valid points, so book one was renamed Aphrodite, Love and War was unaffected, and I’ve been struggling to name book 3 for years.

See, I was convinced I needed to have the word beauty in the title to fit the naming pattern I’d established. But nothing sounded right because the names have to do more than fit the pattern. They have to fit the book, and there’s nothing about the third book that relates to beauty. The fact that Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty matters less and less as her series goes on. And I thought anything to do with Venus was out the window because of the whole name confusion thing. But when I casually mentioned I wish it wasn’t because this name had been knocking around in my head (for years) they jumped on it. It’s enough into the series and not after a break in direction that it won’t establish any false promises, and it fits the book.

So super long story short, Aphrodite 3– Untitled  is now named Venus Rising!