Excerpts from Recent Interviews:

Please tell us a little about yourself

I’m a Canadian mom of two and wife to a very supportive husband.  My first two books, which are memoirs, pretty much outline what my life is like.  But essentially I’m an animal lover, avid reader and writer, a clean freak and a health fanatic.

Talk about the books you’ve written

My first two books are memoirs.  ‘The Message in Dad’s Bottle’ is about what it was like living with my alcoholic father while he was alive.  ‘I’ll Never Wear a Backless Dress’ is an uplifting story about my struggles with Scoliosis.

‘Blessed and Betrayed’ is my debut romantic mystery.  It’s a heart warming story about a woman  who grew up believing a lie and in learning the truth, she had to decide if she would let it dictate or simply guide her future. 

‘The Wife of a Lesser Man’ is a romantic suspense about a married police chief who suffers a heart attack right before a serial killer strikes.  He is left impotent and just as he begins to track down the killer; he realizes his wife is having an affair.  This is a story that developed after I had an interesting conversation with a friend about adultery.  A day or two later I had enough notes to begin writing and the story basically took off from there.  This book was one of the most fulfilling to write since it has a little bit of everything and has a bittersweet ending.  

What do you keep in mind as you write?  An overarching question?  A theme?  The last line of the book?

Because I write novels that are mostly mysterious, I find it’s almost like writing a book backwards.  You know how you want it to end, but you have to tie all the clues in to the beginning and the middle.  So as I’m writing, I make sure all my facts are straight and in keeping with the resolution.  My stories all have happy endings; I make sure of that.  I also make sure I leave my readers with a tear in their eye and warmth in their heart.  As long as those things are achieved, my job is done. 

At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I wrote my first two books, which are memoirs, I initially thought they were all I would ever want to write.  There was nothing that remained that was interesting to write about myself.  Then one night I went to bed after reading Nicholas Sparks’s ‘A Walk to Remember’ and eating a whole bunch of cheese.  When I awoke, the idea for my first novel ‘Blessed and Betrayed’ literally popped into my head.  I recorded the idea in my phone and a few days later began writing.  After that, I knew there was more to my writing than memoirs.  Since then I’ve written three more books and started a fourth.

How do you react to a bad review?

I was lucky with receiving reviews up until about a month ago.  Normally I would have just let it slide, but since I only had two other reviews for my new release, I was afraid it would hurt sales and my reputation.  So I left a comment, correcting the reviewer.  I learned that comments don’t serve any purpose except to feed the reviewer’s negative energy.  From now on I will leave negative comments to be taken for what they are: negative.  Liking a book is as individual as liking a type of food or colour.  It’s personal.  I’ve learned to accept that and move on.

Tell us about your next release

The sequel to ‘The Wife of a Lesser Man’ is complete and in the editing/beta reading phase.  This story surrounds Mark and Shelley’s eldest daughter Jessica and her boyfriend Michael.  Michael is a stock broker who gets involved in a scam with a former co-worker.  Entwined in the story is Michael and Jessica’s romance, which seems to be almost one-sided.  There is a kidnapping and a murder or two which leads Mark to the kidnapper and tests Michael’s love for Jessica.  There are lots of twists in the plot, similar to the first in the series.  Readers will definitely walk away wanting to hug their spouse a little tighter, just like most felt after reading ‘The Wife of a Lesser Man’.

Why the tagline ‘You’ll hug them all a little tighter…’?

All my stories have elements of mystery and suspense mixed with romance, but ultimately readers will feel compassion for the main characters and walk away with an understanding that in the end they did the right thing.  My characters are imperfect and I believe readers will be able to relate to the challenges they’re faced with.  I think you’ll find a bit of someone you know interlaced within each of my characters.  Therefore, after reading my books, you’ll want to hug them all a little tighter.