
The Shadow Collector may not be my first novel, but it is certainly my oldest novel.
Sort of.
I began writing seriously, for publication, back when I was on maternity leave for my youngest daughter, who’s now 20. My first effort was a sweet romance I called Painted Memories.
It was utter shite.
Think the cliché 1980’s Harlequin Romance and you’re in the right neighborhood. Everything about that novel is a complete embarrassment…except for its Hero and Heroine, Rob Haslom & Jessalyn Chandler.
It was those two characters who acted as a springboard for my next Leading Man and Leading Lady to surface with a story—not a sweet romance, but romantic suspense instead. Natalya Nikoslav & Owen Brophy’s story—So Many Secrets—was the first of my novels to be requested, in full, by a literary agent. Ultimately, that agent declined offering representation (she didn’t think a novel set in Canada would sell). The sting of that rejection propelled me into brand-new energy: writing paranormal romantic suspense, the product of which was Divinity & The Python, which ended up being purchased by a traditional publisher in 2013.
Following that debut, I released the novella No Vacancy, then a second, full-length novel, the companion to Divinity & The Python called Within The Summit’s Shadow.
Yet throughout all those years of writing (and an incredible author’s journey), Natalya & Owen and Rob & Jessalyn have never left me—and as such, a few years ago, I began to play with the idea of re-awakening these characters with an entirely new adventure.
I had already written about a haunted morgue (Divinity & The Python). I’d written about a haunted man (Within The Summit’s Shadow). But the book I longed to write was about a haunted house—and so The Shadow Collector was borne, and with it a confession: this is, bar none, my favorite novel. This cast of characters has been with me for SUCH a long time; I love them as though they are real people.
To me they are real people.
I hope they become real to you, too.
Welcome to my new Shadow Valley series.
Say hello to The Shadow Collector.
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