About Me

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My literary taste runs the gamut from Shakespeare, Poe, and Austen, to Elizabeth Lowell, Toni Morrison, and Jo Nesbo. Though I often read tales that plumb the inner demons of tortured souls, I prefer to write lighter books that my readers can have fun with.

Growing up, my sister and I lived next door to three French girls, who were like sisters to us. It was our friendship that gave me the idea of writing a book series about a group of five girls, plus the wonderful time I spent in Santa Barbara in my 20s.

Set in Santa Barbara, the Cota Club books tell the stories of each of the five friends and reflect the genres that fit each of the characters. That’s why Kristi’s story in Love and Money is a mystery, whereas Carla’s story in The Offering is romantic suspense. Tate’s story in Love and Hate is a thriller. I don’t know yet about Izzy’s, but Gwen’s will turn to the world of the supernatural.

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451

After reading Dave Eggers' The Circle, I found myself drawn to reading this book, which so many people have cited to me over the years. Bradbury may not be a "great" writer in the "literary" tradition (whatever pretentious thing that means), but as I read F451, I kept having to remind myself that it was published in 1951. The futuristic, dystopian world Bradbury imagined more than 50 years ago mirrors our own world in some ways, especially the constant screens (I write this self-consciously, too - looking at a screen that someone, out there somewhere, may look at their own screen and read these words, someday). Google is digitizing the world's libraries and hard copy books are disappearing as people turn to digital media. I hope the power stays on!

"'We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy...So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it.’”(55-6)