Meet Sandy Sinnett, author of Grace After the Storm. Sandy recently moved back to her hometown of Mt. Vernon, IL and lives there with her two youngest kids.  She currently works in Marketing for a local Children's Home and is busy working on another book.

What made you pick the genre you write?
Being a hopeless romantic since age 8

How many books do you have published?
2

Who is your favorite author?
Cassandra Clare

Where do you most like to vacation?
Any ocean front locations - Cannon Beach, OR is my favorite West Coast beach.

If you could have lunch with anyone (living or deceased) who would it be and why?
My grandpa. He died when I was a baby, so I never got to meet him, and because he was my grandmothers greatest love, and everyone tells me how generous and kind he was to everyone he met. He would help anyone who needed it, and I think thats where my desire to help others probably comes from...that and my hopeless romantic side. I think we would have been best buds.

Where can readers find out more about you?
sandysinnettbooks.com

Meet author Denise Moncrief. Denise is a Southern girl. She has lived in Louisiana all her life, and yes, she has a drawl. She has a wonderful husband and two incredible children, who not only endure her writing moods, but also encourage her to indulge her writing passion. Besides writing romantic suspense, she enjoys traveling, reading, and scrapbooking.

Accounting is a skill she learned to earn a little money to support her writing habit. She wrote he first story when she was a teen, seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read. She’s been writing off and on ever since, and with more than a few full-length manuscripts already completed, she has no desire to slow down.

What made you pick the genre you write?
I write romantic suspense. I love the build-up of tension in the plot until that moment when all the threads come together and the tension reaches a crescendo.

How many books do you have published?
seventeen

Who is your favorite author?
Heather Graham

Where do you most like to vacation?
Colorado. I love the mountains.

If you could have lunch with anyone (living or deceased) who would it be and why?
My father. I miss him so much. I never realized how much I depended on him for advice until after he died. I miss him every single day.
​
Where can readers find out more about you?
www.denisemoncrief.com or www.denisemoncrief.blogspot.com

Meet Joel Van Valin, author of The Grand Dissolute. Joel Van Valin is the author of the fantasy novel The Flower of Clear Burning and the publisher of Whistling Shade literary journal (www.whistlingshade.com). He lives with his wife Lisa, a real life veterinarian, in St. Paul.

What made you pick the genre you write?
I have written in sci-fi, fantasy and historical genres. In the case of The Grand Dissolute, an idea I had about a guy whose girlfriend is a time traveler really captivated me. I wrote a short story about it but it still wouldn't let me go. So I wound up blending sci-fi, historical and romance together in a novel.

How many books do you have published?
Two - The Grand Dissolute and an earlier fantasy, The Flower of Clear Burning.

Have you won any awards with your writing?
A short story I wrote won a local story contest.$500! That's the most I've ever earned for creative writing. I've also won a couple of newspaper poetry contest and had a winning sonnet in a sonnet contest sponsored by the Great River Shakespeare Festival.

Who is your favorite author?
Dead: Edna St. Vincent Millay. Living: David Mitchell.

Where do you most like to vacation?
England

If you could have lunch with anyone (living or deceased) who would it be and why?
Lord Byron. I would be curious about his opinions on our 21st century world. And also perhaps he could talk about his own personal life (his friends burned his memoirs shortly after his death, for fear of scandal).
​
Where can readers find out more about you?
My website is www.whistlingshade.com/joel.html

Meet Susan Lohrer, author of Rocky Road, a romantic comedy. Susan Lohrer grew up all over western Canada and lives in BC with her husband, their two children who are still at home, three dogs, and far too many aquariums. She believes life is always better with a healthy dose of humor.

What made you pick the genre you write?
It wasn't planned. That's just how the words came out.

How many books do you have published?
Three.

Have you won any awards with your writing?
The opening chapters of Rocky Road took second place in a minor RWA contest. So...not really.

Who is your favorite author?
Bernadette Marie. She's not just a great storyteller, she's also a wonderful person in general.

Where do you most like to vacation?
Anywhere peaceful and sunny. For instance, our family spending a week inside the RV with three dogs basically on top of my head because it rained the entire time we were there. One of the dogs was a half-grown Labrador. That remains the most memorable vacation ever.

If you could have lunch with anyone (living or deceased) who would it be and why?
My grandparents. They've always been a tremendous inspiration to me, especially because they deliberately remained married to each other for about a million years.
​
Where can readers find out more about you?
susanlohrer.com or facebook.com/Author.Susan.Lohrer

Sarah Galloway is an Army wife and a mother to four wonderful children. She began writing as a child and continued her love of writing throughout her life. Sarah wrote The Letter Drawer while her husband was deployed in Afghanistan in 2012. She and her husband are residents of Colorado Springs, CO, but are currently stationed in beautiful Monterey, CA.

Sarah and her husband are both avid readers and enjoy a library of books that they keep along the length of their wall in their home office. One of her favorite past times is curling up with a good book while her Great Dane snores at her feet.

Sarah is also a Registered Nurse and spent many sleepless nights working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Colorado Springs. She is very humbled by the tiny miracles that she saw during her years there and she loves all of the babies and families that she had the opportunity to care for. Sarah is continuing her education to become a Family Nurse Practitioner and plans to graduate at the end of 2014. Sarah’s passions include writing, healing people, and providing comfort to those who need it most. 

To keep up with Sarah check out her website at www.gallowaybooks.com

In 2012, Hannelore published a short story in Timeless, a young adult anthology from Cool Well Press. Since then, her work has appeared in The Rusty Nail literary magazine and on the Flash Fiction World website, among other places. In June 2013, she won The Iron Writer Challenge #17. Hannelore is a rabid Anglophile, as you'll discover when you read her work, and recently published her first novel, Tower Bridge. You can find more information about her on Hannelore's Happenings (http://hanneloreshappenings.blogspot.com/)