The author lives in Texas with her husband and children. She enjoys trying to stay in shape, sporadically cooking, reading (still), writing, and working on her blog. She is eternally grateful to the woman who donated a kidney to her over 5 years ago and continues to advocate for organ donation as much as she can.
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🏰As a book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess, I’m always curious to find out how authors got the ideas for their books. Can you tell us how you got the idea to write your book, Homecoming Chaos?
When I started writing the story, I decided to not focus on the change in career (at least not for this first book in the Model MD Series). I wanted to incorporate that into her backstory and have this debut novel look at a long absence and how that affected the family. Then of course, throw in a murder mystery and a romance, and Homecoming Chaos was born.
I came up with the idea for my main character over 10 years ago. The original idea came from my own personal history: I am an ophthalmologist with an MBA. At the end of my training and education, I planned to work in health care administration instead of going into medical practice long-term. That changed to medical education. The change in career goals caused concern among some of my family and friends. Most of it was confusion because "I had worked so hard to become a doctor and how could I leave it behind?" That train of thought led to my lead character: someone who had become a physician but decided not to practice medicine. I wanted to explore the reactions of both her and her family to that decision. Beyond the career choices, the lead character is very different from me—she has much more drama in her life!
When I started writing the story, I decided to not focus on the change in career (at least not for this first book in the Model MD Series). I wanted to incorporate that into her backstory and have this debut novel look at a long absence and how that affected the family. Then of course, throw in a murder mystery and a romance, and Homecoming Chaos was born.
I came up with the idea for my main character over 10 years ago. The original idea came from my own personal history: I am an ophthalmologist with an MBA. At the end of my training and education, I planned to work in health care administration instead of going into medical practice long-term. That changed to medical education. The change in career goals caused concern among some of my family and friends. Most of it was confusion because "I had worked so hard to become a doctor and how could I leave it behind?" That train of thought led to my lead character: someone who had become a physician but decided not to practice medicine. I wanted to explore the reactions of both her and her family to that decision. Beyond the career choices, the lead character is very different from me—she has much more drama in her life!When I started writing the story, I decided to not focus on the change in career (at least not for this first book in the Model MD Series). I wanted to incorporate that into her backstory and have this debut novel look at a long absence and how that affected the family. Then of course, throw in a murder mystery and a romance, and Homecoming Chaos was born.
🏰Can you give us an excerpt?
“Wait, wait. Hold on. Do you have a warrant? Do we need an attorney?” Jamison stood up, too. She was almost as tall as the detective and incredibly pretty up close, which caught him off guard. “Aren’t there proprietary issues at the lab?”
Nick paused and deferred to Ronald. Ronald chimed in. “We’re just trying to get information about this woman’s death. You can call a lawyer if you wish but retaining one may slow things down.”
“Hmmm.” Jamie stared at both detectives. She couldn’t read either of them, but the situation gave her pause. She recognized the importance of finding out what had happened to their employee. However, the family business needed to be shielded as much as possible. Jamie hadn’t been back long, and her brain was still cloudy and jet-lagged, but she recognized the potential perils in just letting the police roam free in the lab. “Dad, Mother, someone should call Richard,” she said, scrutinizing both parents.
Margaret said, “Good idea. I’ll call while I change. He can meet us there.” She gave the detective and the other officers a superior glance. “Richard Bradshaw, he’s a partner at Bradshaw, Taylor, and Kline, and he is our son-in-law.” She turned to walk into the master suite, with Gregory following.
Nick shook his head, and Ronald was less subtle with a steady scowl. Both had heard about Richard’s firm and peripherally knew Richard. This situation just got a lot more difficult. Nick didn’t suspect the family, but involving a lawyer usually complicated their police work. He turned back to Jamie, who was studying his reaction. He adjusted his face so she couldn’t sense his annoyance.
Jamie noted the subtle change and smiled to herself. She could tell she had annoyed him. Even annoyed, he’s pretty cute. “I need to get my coat. If you will excuse me,” she said, heading back to her bedroom.
Upstairs, Jamie changed clothes, retrieving a pair of skinny black jeans from her bag. As she slid into her jeans, her mind wandered to the detective. She typically dated guys that were taller than her—with her ex-fiancé being the lone exception—Eddie had been the same height. A strong jaw, wavy-ish hair, nice lips, and a commanding presence—which Jamie suspected the detective had in spades—didn’t hurt either. Just the type of guy she would typically go for if the circumstances were different. Rifling through the dresser, she found a white Henley shirt she’d left on a previous visit. She had gained almost fifteen pounds since then, and the shirt fit snugly. She now had boobs! Placing the hat back on her head, she was glad she had an appointment at the hair salon later in the day.
Yikes, she thought after catching herself primping in the mirror. Am I trying to impress the detective who’s investigating us? Girl, it has been a long time. Although he is hot. She shook her head exasperatedly. As she headed out, she remembered to grab her coat.
🏰Can you tell us briefly about the main characters in your book?
Jamison, my main female character, is a woman who appears to have a
perfect life from the outside. She was a teen model who went to medical
school and became a dermatologist, then took four years to work in
medical relief overseas. But her life has been consistently more
dramatic with a tremendous secret carried over from her modeling days, a
broken engagement, and an estrangement with her mother. Jamie has
plenty of self-confidence except when it comes to her mother, Margaret.
Their relationship is often fraught with tension. Jamison’s homecoming
is chaotic.
🏰If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would that be?
Keep writing. I started writing at around age 8 but I stopped and
switched to another career goal. And when I stopped, I left the writing
behind completely and threw myself into getting into medical school and
becoming a physician. If I had continued to work on my writing, I might
have been able to improve at my craft and get more products out into the
world much sooner.
🏰Do you hear from your readers? What do they say?
So far, the reception has been great. I intended for Homecoming Chaos
to be a lighter read and that goal seems to have paid off. Some of my
readers have asked me to write a story about the siblings, another story
about one of the background characters, and more about the romance. I
have a bunch of ideas for maybe 8 or 10 books featuring the lead
character Jamison in my Model MD Series.
🏰What has been your best accomplishment?
I am so excited that I finished and published a novel. It’s an enormous
accomplishment. But I have to be honest and say that graduating medical
school has been my greatest accomplishment. I know what I had to do and
experience to get through medical school and while writing and
publishing is incredibly difficult, there’s something about having
people’s lives in your hands that pushes that over the top.
🏰How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
All my childhood unfinished books have been disposed of! Do those count
as unpublished books? LOL. I currently have 2 unfinished novels and 2
unfinished novellas. I am working on them now as part of the Model MD
Series!
🏰Fun question – if you were princess or prince, what’s one thing you would do to make your kingdom a better place?
This is an interesting question. There are obviously many things that
all leaders should do to make their kingdoms better places. So, I would
like to steer clear of those in terms of answer this question. I would
like to find ways for kids to have more access to books. Maybe I would
institute a National Day of Reading that would also carry over to the
adults. I think a lack of reading limits your exposure to other things.
It makes a difference in this global world.
About Homecoming Chaos
Detective Nick Marshall is assigned to the murder case at the forensics lab owned by Jamie’s family. He meets the headstrong Jamie, but he has a job to do. And his attraction to her… well, he’s a professional.
Jamie knows the stakes are high. She has to face the past and save her parents’ business while dealing with her family drama and an uncertain future. She also has to deal with Nick, who wants her out of the way of his investigation. But fate keeps throwing them in one another’s paths… and into chaos that they both want to avoid, but neither can seem to escape.
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