What inspired you to write The Boys’ Club? I started writing as a way to sort my thoughts and ease my anxieties about the world around me, not necessarily to publish a book. I felt that I was living through an inflection point in American history: Donald Trump had been elected president, Brett Kavanaugh had weathered his hearings and had been confirmed to the Supreme Court, and the #metoo movement had heated to a boiling point. I felt myself hoping that we came out on the right side of history, but I was dissatisfied with only hoping, I needed to get my thoughts out somehow. I’ve always loved to write and find my thoughts make more sense somehow when I write them down. The most fascinating thing to me was that for the first time in my life, my words came out in the form of fiction. I suppose, in retrospect, that makes sense as I was trying to understand thoughts and perspectives different from my own and in writing fiction, the writer really needs to understand all perspectives. My hope is that the book is fun enough for many people to read and, therefore provide fodder for very important…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  The Royal Governess 2–What is it about?  The childhood of Queen Elizabeth II. In particular Marion Crawford, the unknown young Scottish teacher who helped make her the monarch she is today. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Contradictory! Marion Crawford never intended to work for royalty. She wanted to work with children right at the other end of the social scale; in the slums of Edinburgh. She wanted to make a difference and help close the gap between the haves and have nots. Then a chance meeting with the Duchess of York, mother of Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) changed her life forever. She was a royal governess for nearly twenty years, but her story ended very sadly. After a perceived betrayal, the royal family cut her off forever. 4–What makes your story relatable?  It shows the Queen as a vulnerable human being. She can come across as controlled and formal, but The Royal Governess reveals her as a loving and sensitive child. The warm and close relationship between her and Marion is the heart of the book. The two of them show a familiar period of British history from the entirely…

“I’m not asking you to forgive me, only to trust me that this was necessary. For both of our safety.” Her vision blurred with instant, furious tears. Helpless anguish. “I can never trust you. Do you realize that? How could you even suggest it?” “Have I ever hurt you?” he demanded tightly, then swore and looked away, seeming to realize as he said it that he was inviting the vitriol that climbed like bile into her throat. “I meant physically. Look, I’ve been waiting for the right time to resurface. I need to know you’re safe when word gets out that I’m alive. As of today’s debacle, it’s out. Please come with me and let me explain.” She realized the ache in her other hand was from gripping her phone this whole time. All those people inside this tiny rectangle, all those “friends” who’d been so sympathetic, eating up her grief like bitter chocolate bonbons. Where were they now, when she was in real trouble? Not here. She fingered her pendant, thinking of Nels. He was a reliable friend, but they weren’t exactly soul mates. She didn’t have anyone. That’s what she’d come to terms with since Giovanni’s disappearance. For…

A WINNING SEASON is the 10th and final title in the Wickham Falls Weddings series. I wanted to end the series with a heart-warming, emotional story about a recent high school graduate who puts her life on hold to raise her six and eight-year-old brothers after the death of their parents.  The knowledge that as a toddler her mother gave up full custody of Zoey to her ex-husband makes it even more distressing for her not to abandon her younger siblings to the foster care system. Ten years later her eldest brother has enlisted in the military.  However, it is sixteen-year-old Harper who is acting out and challenging the limits of Zoey’s rules, making it difficult for her because she can’t work and monitor his whereabouts.  She is ready to give up on him when her new next-door neighbor offers to mentor him. Sutton Reed left Wickham Falls to enter college on athletic and academic scholarships and returns two decades later as a retired major league baseball hometown hero.  Sutton has quit the game and looks forward to reuniting with friends and family away from the spotlights and the roar of crowds.  He rents the house next to Zoey Allen…