The book-ish meet cute

Once upon a time, I was the quintessential (get it, quint-essential?) PTA mom and—for some reason I can’t begin to recall anymore—our volunteer hours hadn’t begun a few weeks into the new school year. My husband asked what I'd been doing to stay busy all day.

I finally confessed, "When no one is around, I write."

 



Okay, it was more like hemming and hawing, while turning bright red and trying to get out of saying a thing. I’m a writer. You want a pretty story. Let's compromise.

He didn’t quite believe me until I pulled out this enormous binder of printed off scenes from not-quite books I’d been writing.



 

"Just finish one," he said, challenging me to complete a story and share it.

It actually took the better part of the next 2 years to complete and publish Canvas. While Canvas was intended as women’s fiction, I found my author footing while writing Imprint and haven’t looked back.

The thing is, once the person whose opinion matters most starts telling your friends that you write coming-of-age style books with romantic elements, making the jump to new adult and contemporary romance isn’t quite as *blush* as you’d thought.

Side note: You are fully excused from reading the Canvas series if you did not go to college in the 90s or in New York State. But the number of times I’ve heard Rollinsford reminded a reader of the SUNY school they attended is one of the best compliments I’ve gotten at setting a backdrop.

Little did my husband know, however, that those words of encouragement also meant we'd return from a family vacation with the idea for an interconnected series featuring a wild and defiant set of quintuplets stumbling their way into adulthood and finding love along the way.

Wasn't raising our three sons enough?

And then came Gracyn, ringing in the next generation at Kingsbrier. I’m not sure I’ll ever run out of stories to tell about the ranch and the family that lives there.

As a reader, I devour great romance series where the secondary characters play a huge a role in the story. So that’s what I write.

I’m a native of nowhere who settled in New England before agreeing to uproot my brood of boys and move to North Carolina. (I have to “tuck my yankee back in” when it “snows” in Raleigh.) It took me a bit to recognize that I could incorporate the real places our family visits into the fictional lives of the Mill Girls and the Brighton landscape.

Shattered Hearts of Carolina explores characters with darker backstories than what fit in the small town Texas narrative of Kingsbrier. Although, I strive for the books themselves to have the same unique feel with relatable struggles, friendships, and lighthearted moments.

Nowadays, when I’m not writing, I spend most of my time reading, taking long walks, and still hoping the ravenous children who live in my home haven't eaten all the ingredients before I cook dinner. Then again, there’s always takeout!

Thanks so much for reading romance!