~History buff, Francophile, and a hopeless romantic that demands an HEA—Breathing life into Romance!~
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I have fond childhood memories of reading on quiet afternoons, curling up with the happily ever after sweet teen romances and Hardy Boys mysteries that plagued the '70's and '80s. In high school, French history became my love, and I quickly plunged into the world of historical romance—convinced I was born in the wrong time period. Tired of reading the same tropes, I set out to write my own historical romance, incorporating sensitive themes often brushed over in historical novels.
After receiving my BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois and working as an executive assistant at a non-profit organization, my writing career emerged late at night after my children were tucked in bed. With so little time, my first novel took fifteen years to write--the second took two months. Twenty years later, I’m living my dream. My romance novels encompass a wide range of sub-genres, and with thirteen published novels and several more in my head, I have years of stories ahead of me.
My first love was historical romance, and all six of my period pieces--the Pure Escapades series--scan the globe, from France and England during the French Revolution to a newly formed America during the War of 1812. During my first novel, Pure of Heart, I fell in love with the secondary character, Talon Barberry. Deciding that he needed his own HEA, I continued this six-novel series in the same fashion. The extensive research I did for each of these novels aimed to create stories that were as historically accurate as I could make them while weaving romance in each strand of truth. Historical novels are time consuming and research heavy, therefore I'm not sure I'll write in this genre now that my series is finished.
Wanting to try something new, I released my first YA novel in 2016, Spirit of the Northwoods, set in the fictional town (based on my hometown) and set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A newer transplant to the UP, I fell in love with the area, and exploring the beauty of our new home became my inspiration to create a story set in this wild landscape. Centering it around the local legend of the Paulding Light, I wrote it in one month during the annual NaNoWriMo challenge and based one of the main characters on my autistic son, hoping to spread awareness about the daily struggles that a person with special needs endures.
That novel was so much fun I decided to expand on my Northwoods world, creating stories based on my own experiences of harsh winters and 200+ inches of snow and the rugged wilderness that one can only see firsthand to believe. The first story in the trilogy--Silence the Northwoods--is set at the local ski hill my youngest son attended for ski racing. Waiting long hours at the chalet while he finished practices, I relished the entertaining tales the locals relayed about the crazy things they encountered during their years of dealing with tourists. Wanting something beyond romance, I delved into the world of romantic suspense with my writing mentor and critic partner, Dixie Lee Brown's, guidance.
Two novels followed the first, cementing my love of writing mystery, FBI/CIA tropes, and suspense. Silence the Waters is set at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, based on a local case of a man killing his wife after he threw her off the cliffsides overlooking Lake Superior. My third novel in the series, Silence the Birchwoods (enemies-to-lovers, second chance trope), is set in Marquette, Michigan, the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula and home of Northern Michigan University and the famous ore docks. The MFC, Penny Ramsay--a forensic psychologist, and the MMC, Luke Donovan--an FBI agent from Detroit, butt heads while trying to solve a case of dead sorority girls targeted by a maniacal serial killer. It was the first time I wrote a story incorporating flashbacks to show the history my heroes shared. To this day, it's my favorite novel I've ever written. Fun fact: I wrote this novel while attending massage therapy school in Marquette. I spent my free nights and weekends researching and exploring the city to make it feel authentic.
As often happens with writers, I fell in love with Penny and Luke, and I couldn't let them go. Using their flashbacks as my guide, I wrote a prequel, Drowning in Silence, that explains in depth why they hated/loved each other so much. In this novel, each flashback from the original novel ie: The incident of Penny being bullied by one of her classmates in Silence the Birchwoods is told from Luke's POV in Drowning. I wanted to reiterate how people's perceptions aren't always what they seem while standing in the other person's shoes, and how misunderstandings often lead to the complex emotions of love and hate. This novel is deep, raw, and more personal than my other stories as I used my own experiences as a bullied and abused girl to build Penny's character. I still have a difficult time letting Luke and Penny go, and I've thought about writing a follow up novel just to keep their characters alive.
Over the years, I dabbled with a few other genres as well. Beneath a Northern Sky was a New Adult novel, building on Shannon and Cody's tumultuous (and forbidden) relationship. I plan on writing a follow-up novel to this one, based around Cody's best friend Brent. And Lantern at the Gate, my only paranormal novel, stems from a Young Adult contest I won when I was ten years old. Even at that age I loved history. I wrote a simple story about a family that inherits a plantation and discovers it used to be part of the Underground Railroad. I built the Beaumont House based around this, threw in a restless ghost girl and an intense romance between two scholars desperate to prove that something evil lurks in the plantation they both inherited. This was a labor of love and is my second-favorite novel I've written.
I'm currently working on a contemporary series set in a fictional coastal town in the Upper Peninsula, inspired by my husband's thirty years of work as a rural ER Physician. The series will follow three brothers finding the loves of their lives. The first is a second-chance romance following a fresh-out-of-residency attending taking a job in a local ER and the girl that got away. The second will follow a washed-up hockey player and a physical therapist that test the boundaries of professionalism. The third will follow a set a rival twin brothers seeking to start their own outfitting company, with only one brother winning the girl. All brothers will be mentioned throughout the series, and I'll even bring in some characters from my Northwoods series, just for fun.
Likewise, I'm not through with romantic suspense--I have a novel firmly rooted in my head and centered around a photographer who volunteers to help a biologist with her research only to find herself pulled into an undercover FBI sting set along the Colorado River. Stay tuned for updates!
A little about me: I grew up a city girl in central Illinois, transferring to colleges all over the state as my husband pursued his medical degree. I finally earned my BA, and we settled in rural Illinois for fifteen years until my husband's job brought us to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After raising four kids and nursing my autistic son through cancer, I went to massage therapy school and spent six years in practice until a severe shoulder injury grounded me.
Now, I write full time, inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds me. With my children grown, I spend the long northern winters plotting my next book, and in the mild summers, my husband and I spend every free moment hiking and exploring our beautiful lake home settled in the middle of the Ottawa National Forest. The shores of Lake Superior and the hemlock forests are my muses. I live where I play. I’ve found a gentle peace in the Northwoods, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I have fond childhood memories of reading on quiet afternoons, curling up with the happily ever after sweet teen romances and Hardy Boys mysteries that plagued the '70's and '80s. In high school, French history became my love, and I quickly plunged into the world of historical romance—convinced I was born in the wrong time period. Tired of reading the same tropes, I set out to write my own historical romance, incorporating sensitive themes often brushed over in historical novels.
After receiving my BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois and working as an executive assistant at a non-profit organization, my writing career emerged late at night after my children were tucked in bed. With so little time, my first novel took fifteen years to write--the second took two months. Twenty years later, I’m living my dream. My romance novels encompass a wide range of sub-genres, and with thirteen published novels and several more in my head, I have years of stories ahead of me.
My first love was historical romance, and all six of my period pieces--the Pure Escapades series--scan the globe, from France and England during the French Revolution to a newly formed America during the War of 1812. During my first novel, Pure of Heart, I fell in love with the secondary character, Talon Barberry. Deciding that he needed his own HEA, I continued this six-novel series in the same fashion. The extensive research I did for each of these novels aimed to create stories that were as historically accurate as I could make them while weaving romance in each strand of truth. Historical novels are time consuming and research heavy, therefore I'm not sure I'll write in this genre now that my series is finished.
Wanting to try something new, I released my first YA novel in 2016, Spirit of the Northwoods, set in the fictional town (based on my hometown) and set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A newer transplant to the UP, I fell in love with the area, and exploring the beauty of our new home became my inspiration to create a story set in this wild landscape. Centering it around the local legend of the Paulding Light, I wrote it in one month during the annual NaNoWriMo challenge and based one of the main characters on my autistic son, hoping to spread awareness about the daily struggles that a person with special needs endures.
That novel was so much fun I decided to expand on my Northwoods world, creating stories based on my own experiences of harsh winters and 200+ inches of snow and the rugged wilderness that one can only see firsthand to believe. The first story in the trilogy--Silence the Northwoods--is set at the local ski hill my youngest son attended for ski racing. Waiting long hours at the chalet while he finished practices, I relished the entertaining tales the locals relayed about the crazy things they encountered during their years of dealing with tourists. Wanting something beyond romance, I delved into the world of romantic suspense with my writing mentor and critic partner, Dixie Lee Brown's, guidance.
Two novels followed the first, cementing my love of writing mystery, FBI/CIA tropes, and suspense. Silence the Waters is set at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, based on a local case of a man killing his wife after he threw her off the cliffsides overlooking Lake Superior. My third novel in the series, Silence the Birchwoods (enemies-to-lovers, second chance trope), is set in Marquette, Michigan, the biggest city in the Upper Peninsula and home of Northern Michigan University and the famous ore docks. The MFC, Penny Ramsay--a forensic psychologist, and the MMC, Luke Donovan--an FBI agent from Detroit, butt heads while trying to solve a case of dead sorority girls targeted by a maniacal serial killer. It was the first time I wrote a story incorporating flashbacks to show the history my heroes shared. To this day, it's my favorite novel I've ever written. Fun fact: I wrote this novel while attending massage therapy school in Marquette. I spent my free nights and weekends researching and exploring the city to make it feel authentic.
As often happens with writers, I fell in love with Penny and Luke, and I couldn't let them go. Using their flashbacks as my guide, I wrote a prequel, Drowning in Silence, that explains in depth why they hated/loved each other so much. In this novel, each flashback from the original novel ie: The incident of Penny being bullied by one of her classmates in Silence the Birchwoods is told from Luke's POV in Drowning. I wanted to reiterate how people's perceptions aren't always what they seem while standing in the other person's shoes, and how misunderstandings often lead to the complex emotions of love and hate. This novel is deep, raw, and more personal than my other stories as I used my own experiences as a bullied and abused girl to build Penny's character. I still have a difficult time letting Luke and Penny go, and I've thought about writing a follow up novel just to keep their characters alive.
Over the years, I dabbled with a few other genres as well. Beneath a Northern Sky was a New Adult novel, building on Shannon and Cody's tumultuous (and forbidden) relationship. I plan on writing a follow-up novel to this one, based around Cody's best friend Brent. And Lantern at the Gate, my only paranormal novel, stems from a Young Adult contest I won when I was ten years old. Even at that age I loved history. I wrote a simple story about a family that inherits a plantation and discovers it used to be part of the Underground Railroad. I built the Beaumont House based around this, threw in a restless ghost girl and an intense romance between two scholars desperate to prove that something evil lurks in the plantation they both inherited. This was a labor of love and is my second-favorite novel I've written.
I'm currently working on a contemporary series set in a fictional coastal town in the Upper Peninsula, inspired by my husband's thirty years of work as a rural ER Physician. The series will follow three brothers finding the loves of their lives. The first is a second-chance romance following a fresh-out-of-residency attending taking a job in a local ER and the girl that got away. The second will follow a washed-up hockey player and a physical therapist that test the boundaries of professionalism. The third will follow a set a rival twin brothers seeking to start their own outfitting company, with only one brother winning the girl. All brothers will be mentioned throughout the series, and I'll even bring in some characters from my Northwoods series, just for fun.
Likewise, I'm not through with romantic suspense--I have a novel firmly rooted in my head and centered around a photographer who volunteers to help a biologist with her research only to find herself pulled into an undercover FBI sting set along the Colorado River. Stay tuned for updates!
A little about me: I grew up a city girl in central Illinois, transferring to colleges all over the state as my husband pursued his medical degree. I finally earned my BA, and we settled in rural Illinois for fifteen years until my husband's job brought us to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After raising four kids and nursing my autistic son through cancer, I went to massage therapy school and spent six years in practice until a severe shoulder injury grounded me.
Now, I write full time, inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds me. With my children grown, I spend the long northern winters plotting my next book, and in the mild summers, my husband and I spend every free moment hiking and exploring our beautiful lake home settled in the middle of the Ottawa National Forest. The shores of Lake Superior and the hemlock forests are my muses. I live where I play. I’ve found a gentle peace in the Northwoods, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
