A bit about me ...
I've been jotting down my stories for as far back as I can remember... well that's not exactly true. I remember writing a story when I was about nine and I was in Mrs Hurran's class. The story was about a thief who stole the crown jewels but then didn't know what to do with them. It went on for pages and pages, in my spiders dance handwriting, so my teacher typed it up and pinned it to the classroom wall. It was a proud day!
Somehow life took over, I got a sensible job and the writing remained a hobby which other people puzzled over and which I adored.
Over the years there have been dalliances into poetry, short stories and five unfinished novels. But I decided that 2013 would be the year that was going to change. I joined the Romantic Novelists Association New Writer Scheme which gave me a deadline to chase - a full length novel had to be completed and submitted for review by 31st August. I beat the deadline by a month!
In 2014 I secured a two book contract with Harper Impulse, part of the HarperCollins Group, and my first novel 'It Started at Sunset Cottage' was published in ebook format on 12th February 2015 and paperback on 23rd April 2015. It went on to be shortlisted for the Joan Hessayon New Writers' Award and the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year 2016.
My second book 'A Family Holiday' and my fifth 'A Walk in Wildflower Park' were both shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year!
In 2016 I moved to Avon, which is also part of the wonderful HarperCollins family. My books are sometimes released in four digital instalments ahead of the whole story being published a few months later. In 2021 I secured an additional contract with Aria, Head of Zeus who published two uplifting bookclub reads - The Library and The Girls.
I was overjoyed to win the RNA Jane Wenham-Jones Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award 2022 with The Promise of Summer!
There will be two new books published in 2024.
In my spare time I love to read, cook with my daughter, plan holidays and rehabilitate rescue hedgehogs.
I am represented by Kate Nash of the Kate Nash Agency. Website: http://www.katenashlit.co.uk/