Last September, I attended the Dreamspinner Author Workshop in Orlando. It’s my haven conference—friends, authors, family coming together to talk about books and ideas, it’s seriously amazing. But the one thing that conference can’t do for me, is cure my social anxiety. That anxiety had been amplified by working from home the last four years since I went to the last conference. So, of course, I had a few issues. 

But out of the rain, came sunshine.

My last episode happened just before a talk by Karen Rose a NYT Bestselling Romantic Suspense author. I sat down in that chat wiping my eyes from a weird, random panic attack and got some wonderful ideas for the new genre I was planning to enter. Of course, I’d read romance novels, and I’d read suspense novels, so how much different could romantic suspense be? Turns out – a lot different. So, to get my beats down, I started reading Karen Rose’s books, and now I’m hooked.

I love the way she integrates character story lines throughout a series. Each book is about a different pair, but you see their arcs developing story after story. By the fourth book, they are like family—not just to each other, but to the reader. I read because I want to know what happens to them. It’s a romance novel at its heart, so you know what’s going to happen – but the journey is amazing.

My favorite series to date is the Cincinnati stories with strong heroines (like a badass sharpshooter, a police detective, and psychiatrists that treat abused children). Of course, the story I want to see most is Diesel and Danni, so I hope she adds that to the list.

You can find Karen Rose at: http://karenrosebooks.com/, and trust me, you’ll be glad you did. Yes, this is an M/M review site, and while Karen writes het romance, #LoveIsLove. 🙂

XOXOXO,

JP Barnaby