The Sales Pitch

This is the sales pitch you won't find on Amazon, or at Barnes & Noble, or at the Kindle store. My books - all books, really - are shiny covers and thick bundles of pages and a bit of a leap of faith on the reader's part. Some readers are adventurous about trying new authors; some stick to the Times bestseller list. Some need little encouragement and some need lots. And the only way any writer makes it to that list is thanks to adventurous readers, and the more reluctant readers encouraged by their adventurous friends. So, while I'm still watching the NY Times through binoculars from all the way back here, I wanted to take a moment and share what you won't find on the back cover of my books, but what I think you should know.

The wind up...and the delivery...

As a writer I have two goals: to entertain, and to entertain well. Some books feel like a story a co-worker told you over the water cooler. But some books feel like movies - whatever the subject, whatever the plot, some books feel like experiences, the characters feel like your friends, and the world in which they live feels like a place you could close your eyes and fall into. Those books - the movie books - are the ones I strive to write.

All my stories start with the characters. I figure out who they are, what they care about, where they live, and then I decide what kind of story they're going to bring to life. Sometimes it's a romance, sometimes a thriller or mystery or horror story. And for me, it's their story, and not a cookie-cutter genre novel full of cliches. My Walker Family Series is a romance series - but I don't believe in sticking to convention or following current trends. My men and women are real; their relationships are messy and at times awkward; their personalities leap off the page. I strive to bring a contemporary, realistic world view together with lyrical prose to create a book that is full of sensory details, humor, and the smallest touch of literary elegance sorely missing in today's romance market. I want to make you cry, make you laugh, and most of all, make you care what happens to the characters.

Dream of You is centered around my favorite Walker. Jordan is skinny, sarcastic, and not impressed by anything. He's a runner and he eats too many carbs and he can't ever get his hair to cooperate. He's a closet Game of Thrones fan and everyone thinks he and his little sister are twins fathered by the mailman. He isn't a growling, dominating, swaggering sex god with smoldering eyes and no personality, and that's a good thing. Dream of You is not a hundred page romp; its not genre fiction. It's the story of Jordan Walker evaluating his life, his choices, and the big-dreaming girl sitting three rows back in his HPS class.