Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other
pen names you use.
Thank you so much for having me today, Wenona. I’m very happy
to be here. I’m a mother of seven not-so-little-anymore beasties and the
grandmother to the cutest two boy angels to fall to Earth. I have an amazing
husband, and we live in paradise. I don’t always feel this way, but today I do
When I’m not writing, I love to read, bake (especially
anything chocolate), garden (although I didn’t get to plant one this year), and
I’m a total foodie (as evidenced by my no-so-svelte body). I also love the
mountains—hiking, camping, fishing, boating, nature walks, I’m game.
A crazy little factoid, I spent summers in my youth not far
from where you live in Michigan. I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember
this, but there was a place called Boblo Island? It closed down several years
ago. Some of my favorite memories are from that island.
I write fantasy romance and paranormal romance. My fantasy
romance, Love Chosen, is available now. My paranormal romance, Goddess on the
Run, will be available September 17th. Things are moving fast, but
it’s an exciting ride.
Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.
Love Chosen is a fantasy romance about a fae barkeep with
attitude, a Queen’s guard with no time for disobedience, and a killer
threatening what they both hold dear. Here’s the book blurb:
For millennia, dragon and fae have peacefully co-existed,
but the fae themselves have lived segregated and very different lives.
Now a malevolence threatens to separate them all
permanently. Can a Queen's guard and a rebellious outlaw join forces to defeat
this common enemy?
Tyler's touch sparks fierce desire, drawing Issie to him,
but she despises his way of life and all that palace society represents. If he
learns she wields majic to help the less fortunate escape the kingdom, he'll
charge her with treason. Her punishment - death.
Issie is a sassy rebel who is constantly looking for ways to
circumvent the conventions of their society. Tyler's head warns that she's a
non-majical lower, beneath him. His heart sees by her inner strength and outer
beauty. Only a binding love will lend them strength to save her life - their
world.
Can either of them bend enough to trust that love?
***
I have to warn you, though, it is a bit on the sensual side
and I do like the details…
Are you a mom (or parent)?
Um…they would argue they parent me, but yes. I am a parent
and, more importantly, a grand-parent. I do that much, much better.
If yes do you find it hard to juggle writing and parenting?
Oh yes. Lately, I feel like it was easier to write when all
of my seven children were young and living at home than it is now. But my
youngest son has spent the ENTIRE SUMMER laid up with a serious wound and
several surgeries, so that might have dampened my outlook on juggling the
two…just a titch…
And before that happened? Well, before that happened, my second
oldest daughter has some serious health conditions which consume a good deal of
our time. Before we found out about that, it was…
Well, my point is there is always something going on in
life. That’s just the way life is, and I have to force time for writing if I
want to make it happen. So, I have writers’ night every Tuesday night—five
hours away from the house, to write. I have my office (we removed the table
from the dining room, and threw a few desks, a bookshelf or two, and some
computers in there. It works for me), where I have become quite proficient at
blocking out people and conversations. And at least twice a year I go on
writing retreats, where I hang out with other writers and JUST WRITE. Those are
pure heaven. Pure. Heaven. (I need one of those soon…)
Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events
or people from your own life?
No. But I do, on occasion take sayings or bits of
personalities from my children and their friends or acquaintances. For
instance, one of my daughters worked in a gentleman’s club for a while--she was
a waitress, a champagne hostess, a dancer--and some of the people she’d tell me
about, some of the stories she’d come home with…well, sometimes the truth
really is stranger than fiction. So, every once in a while, the flavor of one
of those people will find its way into my story.
Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like
readers to connect to?
Oh heavens, what a fantastic question! And yes! Love Chosen
is a fantasy romance, but it’s also a story about universal love, about
acceptance in an intolerant world.
What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?
Well, I look like your average, sweet, biddable housewife.
And I am pretty traditional. But I’m also what some friends and I have
affectionately termed “bubble-gum goth.” I love tattoos (even though I have
none…phobia of needles), I can spend entirely too much time looking at
steampunk clothes and accessories on-line (though I don’t buy many, because I
have this weight-goal thing), I absolutely adore hockey and UFC, and Lily Allen
and Kill Hannah are as wonderful to me as Katy Perry, Enya and Trans-Sylvanian
Orchestra or Epica. Oh, and I have a sieve for a memory. Seriously, I think I
hit my head one too many times (I pretty clutzy).
Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that you
haven’t tackled yet?
Oh, yes. Someday I will add mystery and character-driven
horror to my list of published novels. Just, not yet.
If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any
details you can share?
Yes, it is. Love
Dared is book two of the Fae Dragon Chronicles. It will be available in 2013.
You meet Dare in Love Chosen (he’s Queen Morgana’s errand runner and just a
youngling). In Love Dared, he is all grown up and oh, so yummy.
The fae have scattered, the dragons are gone, hope is but a
distant and forgotten memory…
Just as Willow’s people fall to a crazed king, Dare, a
warrior more compelling than any before him, comes whispering of magical people
and promising to save Willow’s kingdom for the small price of her cooperation.
All she must do? Go with him to meet these fae.
So why doesn’t she trust him?
Dare will do anything for the fae and his Queen, even
sacrifice the Chosen One, if that’s what it takes to save their race. What’s
one life compared to the lives of many?
But Love has a way of mocking even the best laid plans…
What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming
releases or works in progress?
My next book to release is a paranormal romance. Goddess on
the Run is available September 17th. I’m very excited about it. And
I’m working on book two in that series now.
What is in your to read pile?
There are so many…
Demon Hunt, by Christine Ashworth; Of a Darker Nature, by Michelle Clay;
Shadow’s Claim, by Kresley Cole; Haunted, by Jeanne Stein are a few.
Gosh. This was amazing fun. Thanks again, for having me hang
with you! I hope there are questions …
August 24 review