Hi! Welcome to my website. I’ve been hooked on romantic stories ever since I was a little thing, lying in bed, making my aunt tell me (over and over again) about a prince and a scary forest and the princess he was rescuing.
Thankfully – for my aunt – I learned to read and discovered (well before I should have) the wonderful worlds of authors like Jilly Cooper, Virginia Andrews, Jackie Collins and Judy Blume to mention but a few, as well as the great lexicon of Harlequin Mills and Boon romances. Many a day in boarding school was spent devouring a torrid tale of betrayal and revenge penned by fabulous authors like Penny Jordan, Michelle Reid and Stacy Absalom.
But instead of pursuing English or writing, I got accepted to do a degree in social anthropology at Sussex University. I may have been heavily influenced by the film ‘Gorillas In The Mist’ and fancied myself as the next Dian Fossey. But, thankfully for the gorillas, that never came to pass because I deferred my course for a year and in the interim I found myself falling into the Irish film industry. By the time I was meant to start my course in Sussex, I was working as an assistant director on ‘Braveheart’.
I never did go to university. I spent 20 years in the film industry, but somewhere along the way I rediscovered my love of romances and storytelling. A serendipitous meeting with a friend who was working on a book to submit to Mills & Boon planted a seed in my head… Maybe I could try my hand at writing a romance?
After submitting to Harlequin Mills and Boon in London and receiving a rejection letter, albeit with notes, I stuck my foot firmly in the door so it wouldn’t close, and about a year later I’m delighted to say an author* was born. I now write full time – both traditionally published and self-publishing spicy contemporary novellas.
*Please note that I am vehemently against using AI to generate or help write my stories. In my books you will get genuine results borne out of euphoria (when the story idea hits), despair (when I start trying to execute it), insomnia, blood, sweat, tears, repetitive phrases and overuses of words like ‘realise’ and ‘just’ that have escaped both me and at least two sets of editors.
I live and work in Dublin and I credit my two dogs with giving me the motivation I need to shower and get out of the house on a regular basis. The rest of the time I get paid to live in stretchy clothes and write romances, which I sincerely believe has to be one of the best jobs in the world.
Slainte!