The world feels extra heavy right now. Anyone else relate? School shootings, a young father and advocate for civil discourse assassinated, women murdered. Need I go on? I’d rather not.

When I began my writing journey, I couldn’t imagine writing anything but romantic suspense. I grew up on Linda Chaikin, Susan May Warren, Dani Pettrey, and my all time favorite, Dee Henderson. These women write epic romantic suspense and are masters are weaving in their faith in the process. Even as a young reader and teenager, my favorite books were Nancy Drew and Mandie books, both about girls who tried to solve mysteries.

And to be honest, I thought straight romance was…boring.

Clearly, my opinions have changed. 

Since Heart’s Cry was published a few years ago, I have gotten married (to a police officer) and had three babies. We weathered covid, shutdowns, riots, hate and aggression toward police, and with all that, I’ve lost my ability to read (and write) romantic suspense.

Which has made writing my current cozy romance a little more challenging. At first, I struggled to figure out problems to keep building throughout the novel when I couldn’t include a terrorist or arms dealer or stalker. I realized that the problems in romantic suspense novels are often more numerous or complicated than those you can add to romance. Unless you write a really hilarious rom-com where the characters are just a hot mess and keep causing their own problems. Gonna be honest, I love reading those!

As I’ve continued to write and now work on edits, I’ve figured out my rhythm, how to keep the story building, and how to create the vibe and characters I like and love to read. It’s also inspired and idea for a whole town and series I want to create on my own, and I can’t wait. I’ve already started the Pinterest board, but for now, I’ll keep it a secret.

So will I ever write a romantic suspense again? 

Most likely. My writing brain tends to think in twists, adventures, dark deeds, and mysteries. But right now, the world feels heavy, my hubby’s job often has heavy realities that we wrestle with, and my kids are little. Protecting their peace and mine right now means keeping my head clear of heavier content for this season.

So what does that mean?

I have a hockey romance in the works set for a February 2027 release as part of a series with several other authors. And I have some fun books plotted. All of them will be fun, cozy romance. Some might have a dash of rom-com and some might be slightly more on the romance with a side of mystery. But for now, that’s the lane I’m going to run in. I’ll jump back on the romantic suspense train at another time, and I look forward to that season.

If you found me through the Heart of a Warrior series and Heart’s Cry, thanks for jumping on board during my first romantic suspense writing era. I hope you will stick around for the romance era that comes next. I think and hope it will be everything you loved about the characters, story, and writing of my previous books…just without anyone getting shot. You are the reason I love releasing books that inspire people to dream, treat life as an adventure, and ultimately find hope in the God who writes better stories than I ever could.

For now,  ’tis the season to kiss my babies and my hubby and write fun/sweet kissing scenes and stories.