Author Spotlight: Lena Hendrix, Hot-As-Sin Small Town Romance
Sometimes those social media platforms can be pretty effective. I know I use them to spread the joy and love I have for authors, narrators, photographers, models, even other hype girls. And last year, one I avoided for a long time (TikTok) came through for me in a big way! Not because of something I shared, but because of the things someone else did.
When I first started visiting TikTok, I had no idea what I was doing or what I was looking for. I would follow links from other friends’ posts and two authors kept showing up over and over. One was Jami Albright, who I spotlighted a few weeks ago, the other was Lena Hendrix. And while Jami’s focused on the funny, Lena’s focused on the fire! Specifically the hot and spicy element of her small town romance novels. I followed them both super fast!
But because of my reading schedule, it took me a while to read one of Lena’s books. That did not, however, stop me from jumping into her TTs to see what she was writing and sharing. And she was sharing a lot. When I asked Lena how she thinks that platform factored into her finding new readers, she said, “I think TT has helped me find readers that may not have normally given small town romance a shot. My favorite TT accounts are readers sharing a variety of books they've loved. I've gotten lucky that a few videos of theirs and my own have hit the right notes and readers have found my little corner of small town romance!”
I think when I started following her, she had around 25k. Lena currently has 37,000 followers on TikTok!
Now, think about that. 37k followers. That is a HUGE audience. And that following inevitably turns into readers. Lena’s first book, Finding You (Chikalu Falls book 1) released June of 2021 and has nearly 3,400 reviews on Amazon with a 4.4/5 average rating. That’s a debut novel! And to-date, she has published 7 books, with her 8th releasing before the end of the year.
I joined the Lena reading experience late, with an ARC for The Rebel. And, dammit! I am kicking myself for not starting earlier. The Rebel is wonderful! It pulled me in and didn’t let go. Just like her TTs promise, Lena brings the steam! But she also brought some incredible heart to her characters. And I love the tie-ins to the other books in the Redemption Ranch series without feeling like I missed something because I haven’t read them yet. Make no mistake, I will read them all. Because I got that little glimpse into those characters and now I need their stories!
Since I’ve only read the one book so far, I asked Lena what readers should expect from her books. Her response exemplifies exactly what I got from The Rebel, too. “Readers should know that my heroes tend to be gruff or grumpy or slightly overprotective, but deep down, they're all teddy bears. True cinnamon roll heroes. Also, the female main characters (FMCs) in my books tend to be strong, assertive, & not afraid to get her man. When you read a Lena Hendrix book, my hope is that you feel good, cozy, & maybe a little bit turned on.”
And that, Bookwyrms, is how yet another amazing author ropes me into their world. Bring on the feisty fierce heroines, the swoony protective heroes, the found family feels, and the common ground storylines and I AM THERE!
I’m always curious about who the people I fangirl, fangirl. And since I was asking Lena question anyway, I asked her about her favorite things to read, where her inspiration comes from from, and how she got started writing romance as well. I’m going to guess a lot of my writer and reader friends have a lot in common with her:
“I have always loved romance books. From as early as I can remember, books were a huge part of my life. From American Girl books to teenage historical fiction I was hooked. Then, I found Nora Roberts (and romance in general) and never looked back! Eventually as an adult, I graduated to spicier romance. Small town romance will always be my favorite--I just love the communities and quirky side characters! I love craft books (learning about the craft of writing) so I often nerd out on those between writing projects. As for fellow authors, I will always love Nora Roberts for her endless backlist. Also, Melanie Harlow was instrumental in helping me get started by being open to providing encouragement & advice. Plus I LOVE her books!”
I recently signed up for an ARC copy of Lena’s next release, The Target, and when I got that email saying my ARC copy was approved, I may have fangirl squeed loud enough to wake the dog. Who was sleeping upstairs. Ooops! Totally worth it. That’s how excited I am about reading Lena’s next book.
And I get to fangirl her in person in March, because Lena is a signing author at Charm City Romanticon. Yep, I am pretty excited about that, not even gonna hide it.
Get all the info about Lena
On her website: https://www.lenahendrix.com/
You can get her books on Amazon
You can find Hannah on social media here: Facebook Instagram TikTok
Facebook reader group: Lena Hendrix Reader Group
