My latest novel Hollywood Dreams began as a daydream, as most of my novels do. In my daydream a woman meets a lovely, regular guy. They date, fall in love, and but he is hiding a deep, dark secret. Turns out he’s not a lovely, regular guy. He is instead a movie star who is in character as a method actor. Now he has to get the woman he loves to fall in love with the real him, and so the fun begins.

Over the years the part of the male love interest has changed. After watching Gladiator, Russell Crowe played the part.

Then I went to see Blood Diamond and it was Leo, only Leo.

But who wouldn’t sigh over Ryan Gosling in Crazy Stupid Love. Yum.

And then I watched This Means War and it became all about Chris Pine. So ultimately Chris is the inspiration for my character Tom Calvert, a slashie model turned soap actor, who wants to move to the big time and so embarks on his method acting gambit as Beau Tennant, a war hero with a disabling injury.

Note: this post was previously published on Harlequin Junkie.

This book ticks all my boxes. A whiff of the supernatural, a whodunit, a teenage protagonist who has had to grow up before her time, and some eye candy.

The story is about Alyssa, who comes from a family of Wicca practitioners, but who doesn't believe because she thinks her mother's belief in the supernatural has made her an unbalanced alcoholic. After her ex-boyfriend suicides she moves in with her aunt to New York, determined to wipe the slate clean on her past, but starts getting creepy gifts. Either someone is trying to make her seem crazy or her she is being haunted by her ex-boyfriend.

Nicola Marsh has written a young adult thriller that is a page turner. There is a host of possible suspects, red herrings, romance, and family conflict. There had better be a sequel in the offing because I want more.

Lisa Jackson is a favourite and I really enjoyed this story about Ava Gardener, a woman driven to the brink of madness by the loss of her toddler. After a stint in a psychiatric facility she is home to recover, but when she sees visions of her son she begins to doubt her sanity. Is she recovering lost memories or is there something more sinister at play?

The cover sucked me into this book and it perfectly captured the spooky mood and suspense. It featured a cast of cooky family members who provided lots of red herrings and I was kept guessing until the end as to the mystery. My only quibble is that the book seemed a big long winded and could have been pared down, but I kept reading to the end and was glad that I did.