I was born in Rome, Italy. I was born in Rome, Italy but my family moved to Chicago when I was a toddler. Sadly I’ve only been back to Italy twice. Once when I was 13 years old and I was able to meet my mother’s side of the family which was amazing. The other time was in 2003 on my honeymoon, which is a trip I won’t ever forget.
Off the Hook
I’m a huge fan of 80’s hair bands. From Bon Jovi to Poison and Mötley Crüe – I love them all! I’ve seen quite a few in concert too.
I’m a geek at heart. I have a BS in Computer Science and work an evil day job in IT. I’ve made sure several characters in my Windy City Nights series are IT geeks as well. Go nerds!
It’s always been about romance. I’ve been a voracious romance reader since my teens when Fabio was on all the covers. And now years later, I have my own Italian model, Luca Pantini on the cover of my novel Hannah’s Bliss. I met him as the result of an Instagram author challenge.
I adore everything pink! What can I say? I never outgrew my love for the color pink. Just for fun, I gave the heroine Hannah Hailey from my novel Hannah’s Bliss the same affinity for the color.
I can’t walk in heels so I collect them. I think I may be missing the woman’s gene that allows her to walk gracefully in high heels, so I collect Willitts Just the Right Shoe instead. I have an extensive collection from funky to sophisticated.
My characters have children, but I don’t. The characters in my stories end up having children. I don’t have any myself, so I have no personal frame of reference to draw upon. For research, I observe babies and children, as well as parents while out and about. Most recently for my current work in progress, I asked my author friends about how ten year olds behave. Specifically, ten year old boys. The responses I received were rather entertaining. I can’t wait to weave some of what I learned into the story.
I hate saying goodbye. I find it difficult to end a story and say goodbye to the hero and heroine, so I normally include an epilogue. As a reader I love epilogues. As a writer I like to include an epilogue to give readers a glimpse of the happy couple in the future after the main story ends.
I should have been a wedding planner. I just love weddings. Especially wedding dresses. As a part of the story line in my Windy City Nights series, Hannah and Rocco from Hannah’s Bliss open a couture bridal salon and Hannah designs couture bridal gowns. As a part of my research for each story, I select a bridal gown and engagement ring for each heroine based on her personality.
The future looks bright. I have many more wonderful stories planned for my Windy City Nights series as well stand-alone titles and other series. So many plans and not enough time! Long term, it would be a dream come true to bring the Windy City Nights series to the screen. To film a romance series about Chicago in Chicago would be wonderful.