Hi, I've been writing all my life...at school I used to write love stories for teenage magazines on a little old typewriter in my bedroom, then later in life I was a journalist, but it was writing love stories that appealed the most, so I kept that up even when I was a journalist.
I would be in court watching a serious case and thinking...imagine if the judge fell in love with the accused...?
I think that whatever you do in life, whatever life you envisage for yourself, love is always part of it. I think stories about people falling in love are part of who we are and what we are. I love writing them and I'm soooo lucky that people love reading them.
A big, huge, thank you to all my readers! x

I wanted to write a series of books about a family of sisters, featuring great love stories from a female perspective. The sisters in my COVE BAY series of books are all very different, and the inspiration is from Little Women - an attractive sister, a funny sister, a sweet and kind sister and a boisterous, sporty one. A great, lively bunch of women and their exasperated father! They are called the Lopez family and the books feature lovely interactions between the sisters, but each story portrays a different sister's story. There's also the story of a great friend called Charlie in book five and there's the mum's story as well, in book six. I have loved writing the books more than anything else on earth...they are gloriously romantic and colorful and based in their big, pink house in sleepy Cove Bay. You'd think that nothing happened there, but - my goodness you'd be wrong!!!

The first book - Can't Help Falling In Love came out in January 2016.

Synopsis: When Lisa Lopez discovers her fiancé has been cheating on her, her world is turn upside down. With her life in chaos and she flees Cove Bay for New York to live with her friend Charlie for a couple of months to recover.
When she returns to her beautiful home town, things have changed a little - a new baseball team have moved in and set up, and their rather handsome coach is paying her lots of attention. But when her handsome, rich ex-fiancé hears she's back, he reappears on the scene and declares he's always loved her and wants her back.
But what will Lisa do? Will she be able to reject the advances of Peter - the man she once loved and planned to spend the rest of her life with? Can Matt, the football coach with the warm heart, convince her that he's the one for her? And what about the secret that Matt is carrying around?
Set in beautiful Cove Bay in springtime, this story about a gorgeous, innocent woman who is struggling her way through heartbreak to love again. It will delight and warm your heart.
This is the first in the Cove Bay series about a family of four sisters - all different, but with one thing in common - like all of us - they are looking for true love and real happiness.

I wanted to write the books I liked reading. It was that simple!

I've written traditionally published books under other names, but felt I was always writing what the publisher believed to be the right thing, rather than what I genuinely think people want to read...which is simple, elegant and gorgeous love stories.

Smashwords is great because on one platform you can reach lots of retail outlets, therefore lots of readers.
Thank-you Smashwords!

The greatest joy of writing is that moment when you realise you really understand the characters and love them! I know that sounds a bit bonkers, but there's always a moment when you 'get' them and the story comes alive and bursts off the page and you just know that readers will love it. I get tingles all down my arms when that happens. It's great!!

Fans are everything, everything, everything... I want people to fall into the books and love the characters and go through their emotions with them, and when they do, and tell me they do it's the bets feeling.

I'm still knee-deep in the wonderful Cove Bay series of books, then next I'm writing another series...look out for more details. I'll post them on here as soon as the series is underway!

I love old-fashioned romances...I've mentioned Little Women, but I also love Jane Austin and Emily Bronte...Wuthering Heights is amazing!! Also Gone With The Wind...all great!

My characters...this sounds very sad, but when I wake up I lie in bed thinking about them and imagining the journeys I'm going to take them on. It genuinely does get me out of bed and force me to get on with my day. I'm very lucky!

I love doing things like yoga and pilates and I also make things. I have trained as a jeweller and make my own jewellery (take a look at www.akjewellerydesign.com). Anything creative appeals to me.

It's interesting, isn't it...sometimes it's the mood of the cover. I look at them and think that's a world I'm going to enjoy being in. Other times it's the 'blurb' - the short description of the book provided by the author, or it can be word of mouth

Yes! It was for Loving magazine about a beautiful girl who falls in love with a blind man, and for the first time in her life her looks count for nothing.. they published it and paid me. I was 14 and thought it was the most amazing thing.

I'm very lucky that I love writing, so I'm happy to just get up and write...I don't have any hang-ups or issues, or writers block.
I get up early and write first thing, then I get my son up and get him fed and off to school (not as easy as it sounds - he's 15 so takes a bit of moving!) Then it's back to the writing all day until my son comes home fro school

I remember the Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier making me fall in love with reading

It's quite hard, but I have a great cover designer who's good at interpreting the 'mood' of the books. I like my covers to look dreamy and feature a character and feel nice...feel comfortable, warm and happy.

1. Wuthering Heights
2. Gone with the wind
3. Little Women
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. Thorn Birds

I try to read as much modern fiction as possible, and I read the big sellers to see what sort of stories people are hungrily reading at the moment, so I can make sure I'm writing books that are relevant as well as warm and appealing

I read on my ipad

I've tried Book Bub and advertising through Facebook and Twitter.
They all seem to boost sales, but there's nothing like word of mouth for keeping sales going

A mess of books, papers, post it notes, plans and photographs. I've also got lots of drawings of my characters that I've done and maps of where they live, pictures of their house.