#elisesthoughts – Page 3 – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Lost Orphans and The Lifeboat Orphans by Ellie Curzon

Book Description – The Lost Orphans

Amidst the chaos of bombs and falling ash, eight-year-old Elsie has nobody left but her big brother Jack and their friends, all orphaned, runaway evacuees. Their world has shattered, their parents gone. Until Lisette, a beautiful jazz singer with golden hair and a voice that lifts spirits, finds them.

Lisette takes the children under her wing and soon Elsie, who hasn’t spoken since her mother’s death, begins to find her smile again. But Lisette, too, is healing from her own grief. As she cares for the rag-tag band of orphans with the help of enigmatic war hero Mr Wyngate, can Lisette open her heart to love again? And as the bombs continue to fall over their city, can she keep the children safe?

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Book Description – The Lifeboat Orphans

Fifteen-year-old Connie is leaving war-torn England for the safer shores of America, looking after a nine-year old orphan boy with sad blue eyes. But the ocean is rife with Nazi vessels. And when their boat is torpedoed, in the fear and chaos Connie can’t stop thinking about handsome Jack, who stayed behind in London. Will the orphans survive, and will Connie ever be reunited with her first love?

Back in London, sixteen-year-old Jack desperately misses Connie, his brave, kind friend, after their tearful goodbye when her ship set sail. As bombs set the skies ablaze, he listens to an old radio for any news about the dangerous Atlantic crossing. When he intercepts a secret message that could change everything, he races to the war office. Will they listen to a young lad like him, and can he save Connie and countless other lives?

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Lost Orphans and The Lifeboat Orphans in “The Runaway Evacuees Series” by Ellie Curzon, the pen name for Catherine Curzon and Helen Barrell, are two books that have touching, heart-warming, and heartbreaking moments, with a tinge of humor. The setting of London during the Nazi blitz of WWII shows how Londoners faced fear, survival, loss, and horror, but also were courageous, kind, brave, and strong. Both books are historical fiction based on the true story of the Blitz kids.

The Lost Orphans, known as Connie, Jack, Elsie, Ned, Ben, and Susan, were sent to the countryside to be safe, but instead were beaten, starved and were used as slave laborers. They escaped and fled back to London’s East End, sleeping where they could. The children banded together to not only survive but to help others by putting out fires, helping those buried under debris, and warning of unexploded bombs.

Readers meet two adults, Lisette Souchon and Adam Wyngate who become surrogate parents to the orphans after they helped rescue eight-year-old Elsie. This make-shift family stays together to make sure each survive.

The story began with The Lost Orphans and ends for now with The Lifeboat Orphans. The story flows from one book to the other. In the first book the narrators are Elsie and Lissette, while the second book is narrated by Connie and Lissette.

After an argument between Connie and Ned, he runs away and while rescuing someone has a wall fall on him, causing injuries. If he can make it to America Ned’s injuries might be helped by a specialist doctor. Connie, Ned, and Mr. Wyngate travel by ship to get to America that must navigate away from the German U-boats’ torpedoes.

With both books readers will experience, along with the characters, the intensity of the situation, the devastations, and the loss of life. People will worry for the children, while also cheering for them. These stories are gripping, riveting, and hard to put down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: The idea for the series?

Ellie Curzon (alias for Helen Barrell and Catherine Curzon): Our previous series, The Codebreaker Girls, had Mr. Wyngate as a character. We loved him and wanted to get into his backstory. We wrote an entire novel about him, since he has been in each of our WWII novels as a returning character. He is essentially like a secret agent. We adapted the solo book about him, and it morphed into these stories with The Lost Orphans.

EC: Were these books based on anything real?

HB: My gram was an evacuee and did come home because she had an awful time. She was pinched and the family she was staying with in the countryside kept most of her rations. Her mom said, ‘come on home.’ She was a little girl traveling alone on the trains. We wanted to write about what war does to children.

CC: One of my interests is WWII history. The Lost Orphans were based on a real group of children who were called The Dead-End Kids. They were children who were evacuated and came back. They were befriended by a nineteen-year-old who led the group. They put out fires and rescued people from bomb blasts. Some were killed doing it. They became the spirit of the city. Their story had been forgotten. Their story is stranger than fiction. It seems far-fetched but is true.

EC: How would you describe Mr. Wyngate?

CC: He is based on the real stories of those in the SOE and intelligence services who did dangerous work. He is entirely fictional. He has very clipped language and never uses any spare words. Everything is snappy. I absolutely love writing him. Wyngate is direct, caring, brave, mysterious, proud, resilient, and has resolve. He is also the hero to one of the orphans, Elsie. He is her superhero. Based on Wyngate’s own past he knows what it is like to be a child that nobody wants. He wants to make a massive impact on these orphans’ lives.

HB: We have a joke that Ian Fleming knew him and based James Bond on him. Elsie has nobody except her brother Jack. He is like a hero to her who has walked out of the cinema screen. For him, Elsie represents his little sister. They have invincible links. Elsie feels that he understands her.

EC: How did you divide the stories of the orphans between the two books?

H & C: The first book was more Elsie’s story, while the second book was more Connie’s story. The first book was from Elsie’s and Lisette’s point of view, while the second book was from Connie’s and Lisette’s point of view. Connie is older and had a very hard life. In the first book, The Lost Orphans, they struggled to get out of dangerous situations and did not know what their life held, while in the second book, The Lifeboat Orphans, they are settled in a little home, have a profile, and have adults helping them. Connie daydreams that she and Ned were brother and sister.

EC: How would you describe Lissette?

HB: We each write different characters. Catherine wrote Mr. Wyngate and I wrote Lissette. She is French and a nightclub singer in Soho. We wanted to explore how Soho was a bit Bohemian. She makes Mr. Wyngate able to let his guard down with her. She and Mr. Wyngate became unofficial foster parents to the orphans. They stepped up to the plate.

CC: All these characters have no one. Lissette has her mom back in France, Wyngate is completely on his own, and the orphans lost everything. At first, they had no one and now they all have each other.

EC: What about the relationship between Jack/Connie and Lisette/Wyngate?

H & C: People think Wyngate is a bit of James Bond, with a girl in every port. But his lifestyle has it not happening. Both he and Lisette have emotional bruises along the way. Jack and Connie still have that youthful innocence with a belief in romance. This leads to a funny moment where Lisette and Wyngate realize they need to talk to the children about the birds and the bees. Connie and Jack had to grow up very fast. They acted as parents to the younger children. Both couples start as friends. We wanted to write the relationships with parallel lines.

EC: In the first book Elsie had become mute while in the second book Ned lost his hearing. Please explain.

HB: We like to explore different disabilities. I started going deaf when I was thirty and wanted to explore it with the orphan, Ned. Regarding Elsie, my brother who has different learning disabilities became mute.

EC: What do you want to say about the nuns and countryside farmer cruelty?

H & C: On a plotting level they were the springboard that pushed the story into action. My gram told us stories of being an evacuee. She was pinched and was left to go hungry. Some of the things did happen where the nuns did beat the orphan children with their rosaries. It was hard to write about it. I did not understand how they did not have compassion for the children left in their care. In this series the antagonist is the war. We wanted to show why the children were running away and from whom. At the same time there were good people as well like the Jewish Soup Kitchen that fed the orphans. We wanted to showcase the blitz spirit where most of the Londoners came together.

EC: What is the role of the blitz?

HB: We wanted to show readers a little of what the British went through by the Nazis. It brought Lisette, Wyngate, and the orphans together, and to show the abuses. Anyone writing about WWII cannot avoid writing about the blitz. When I wrote about sheltering in the station, a lot of it was remembering what my grandma used to tell me. Every morning, they would come out wondering if their house was still standing. That is why we wrote the scene where Elsie and Jack and the others came back to their house and found nothing there.

EC: Was the journalist Esther based on truth?

CC: She is not based on anyone real, but there were women who were war correspondent trailblazers. Like Esther’s reporting, the real orphans were reported on in the press. They became for a little while celebrities. They had their moment in the sun. They were constantly helping. A good story did help with wartime morale. It was quite an important weapon in the homefront arsenal, the morale of the British people. As reported, we wanted to show the bravery, tragedy, and selflessness. Here were these children who put themselves in danger to do something.

EC: Why the celebrities?

CC: The music was important. I love vintage music. Noel Coward and Vera Lynn are real. She is legendary and when someone brings up ‘wartime music’ in England people would say Vera Lynn. There are certain types of music that Englanders of any age would realize it came from WWII. For me, there are certain types of music that transport me. I vicariously lived Coward and Lynn coming to a benefit in England and Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in America.

EC: Is Pippa the dog based on any dog?

CC: Pippa is my dog. We started writing the series just after she died. Nothing has hit me as hard as her death. I felt like I lost a part of myself. Helen suggested to name the dog in the series after my Pippa. She is grey and peachy. I love having her in the book because that makes her immortal. She is Elsie’s dog and helps the children with their adventures.

EC: Next book?

H & C: It is a new book in the same genre with some returning characters, set in France. It is a story of remarkable women who pushed back against the Germans. Imagine a French village on the Normandy coast. The characters have bravery, friendship, and personal sacrifice. It will be out fall of 2026.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Blade by Wendy Walker

Book Description

Ana Robbins was an Olympic star in the making—until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly ended: The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime—Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

But Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained far from home as an “Orphan.” With a blizzard raging outside, and time running out for Grace, Ana is determined to uncover the truth—even if it means exposing her own secrets that she buried here long ago.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Blade by Wendy Walker takes readers into the world of figure skating intertwined with a murder mystery. Drawing on her own experience as a teenage figure skater, Wendy Walker vividly brings the rink to life showing readers how the figure skating competitions are toxic with the pursuit of perfection.

The plot has former Olympic figure skating hopeful Ana Robbins, now a successful defense attorney, returning to the Palace, an elite skater’s facility. She becomes the defense attorney for Grace Montgomery, who is accused of murdering the assistant coach, Emile Dresiér. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

The chapters alternate between the past, Ana’s time as a skater at The Palace, and the present as a defense attorney. Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained under coach Dawn Sumner. She and three others became known as “The Orphans,” because they didn’t have parental support to help with Dawn’s sometimes cruel fear training. Ana and the other “Orphans” were each driven to the breaking point in pursuit of being the best and earning the praise of their coach, Dawn. This is a relevant read since next month the winter Olympics begin. Readers who watch the Olympics will be able to understand what goes on behind the scenes. In this story, what evolves is a dark web of suspense, exploitation, abuse, and shock.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Wendy Walker: Years ago, I was a competitive figure skater. I tried to craft a thriller with this sport. The plot is completely fictional. There is a forward story and backward story of 14 years ago. The focus of the story is not skaters attacking other skating but the pressure of the competition and how coaches misused the girls.

EC: What is true in the story about figure skating?

WW: There are four girls who are orphans living in a dormitory. There is also the rink, the competitions, some aspects of the skater mother’s, the Bleacher Bees, the way it feels to do the jumps, the Triple Axel, the take offs and landings, and how much they train. I did do research and speak with those more current in the figure skating world because my experience was forty years ago.

EC: What about the Orphans?

WW: They have this shared experience, so they forged close friendships. There were also other relationships and other people who are not trustworthy and are super competitive a la the Tanya Harding story from years ago. They developed this family structure, similar to the story The Outsiders, because they were missing parents. Joleen is the advisor, the more nurturing maternal figure. Kayla is the tough one, the stronger parent. Indy is the older sibling to Ana and the one who can best succeed. Ana is the lonely one, the youngest, and the most naïve.

EC: The setting of The Palace?

WW: There are a lot of people coming and going that can be an isolating experience as it was for me. I trained for three years, when I was 13 to 16 years old. I lived in a dormitory and only went home for the holidays and a week for the summer. The weather became an issue for me since I rode my bike to school. I felt so helpless because I was too young to have a car and did not have the emotional maturity to navigate that world. It was a free for all for me.

EC: Are the Bleacher Bees stage moms?

WW: Yes. My parents were not like the Bleacher Bees but there were some that were definitely there. Some moms were moms who were helpful and kind to me and others who did not have a family there. I think Indy’s mom was a real stage mom obsessed with making nationals and the Olympics. Indy’s mom lived vicariously through Indy. She went to the Olympics but never won a medal. She put everything into their child’s skating. They start to have the dream of their child.

EC: How would you describe the coach, Dawn?

WW: She wanted the ice skaters to be fearful of her and to have them strive for her acceptance. Winning becomes the entire self-identity of the skater, although it was not my training. Dawn has the philosophy that the skaters need to worship the coach and to please the coach. The fear of displeasing her is the greatest fear they have, more than falling or getting hurt. She was like an abusive spouse who gives love and affection at times while other times abuse.

EC: The philosophy was fear turns into rage, rage turns into action, and they should fight instead of fleeing or freezing. Did you get this from Yoda’s philosophy of fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering?

WW: No. I wanted to have a psychological phrase for the book. I thought about how much fear is involved in competitive skating where someone’s performance on that day is all that matters. If their brain is seized by the fear the jumps are hard to complete. They have to hurl themselves high into the air, pulling their legs in to get as many rotations as possible, and usually they will fall the first time they try. The fall hurts and skaters have to overcome that when practicing. They had to conquer the fear. There were girls that had huge bruises as Indy had in the story.

EC: How would you describe Grace, the one accused of killing?

WW: She can be impulsive, disturbed, rageful, with anti-social behavior. She has a high IQ. She is an enigma throughout most of the story.

EC: The victim Emile, can be described as?

WW: He is damaged, manipulative, a betrayer, a tattle-teller, and enjoys making the girls feel worthless. There is something sociopathic about him. He operates in the shadows. He suffered a knee injury as a skater because of Dawn’s training and became bitter. He has no empathy for these girls and finds enjoyment by interfering in their lives.

EC: Next book?

WW: It is set in wealthy suburbia. There is a love triangle that goes between the present and the past that involves a murder. The girl is part of a wealthy community and the boy is from the other side of the tracks. A little of West Side Story like. No title yet, and it will probably come out in 2027.

I am also writing another audible first novel next year. It is stand alone. It has a unique format, similar to The Room Next Door. It is a full-length novel with sound effects, music, and seamless narration with a full cast of characters that has a performer saying the lines.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart

Book Description

On a brisk February morning while walking to the diner where she works, 24 year-old Ruth Foster is stopped by the local sheriff. He insists she accompany him to a health clinic, threatening to arrest her if she doesn’t undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.

Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some are there because they were reported for promiscuity by neighbors, husbands, strangers. Some were accused of prostitution. Others were just pretty and unmarried. Or poor and “suspicious.” One was eating dinner alone in a restaurant. Another spoke to a soldier.

Josephine’s sin was running a business as a single woman. Maude’s was trying to drown her sorrows. Frances had lost her mind. Opal married a man with a mean streak. Some, like 15-year-old Stella, are brought in because they’re victims of assault. She’s too naive and broken to understand how unjust this imprisonment is.

Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.

But some refuse to be cowed. Some find ways to fight back – at any cost…

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Elise’s Thoughts

Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart is a compelling and fascinating read. This historical fiction sheds light on a lesser-known subject of how women were wrongly imprisoned. There are vivid scenes and compelling characters who fought their injustice with determination.

The story was told from multiple points of view: two of the girls, Ruth Foster and Stella Temple, as well as the Superintendent Dorothy Baker. This allows readers to get an understanding of the situation of the girls.

Women were picked up, sent to the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women, and subjected to involuntary medical treatment for venereal disease. One of those women was twenty-four-year-old Ruth Foster who was on her way to work and seized by the sheriff for looking suspicious. She was forced to remain in the custody of a reform colony where she underwent horrendous isolation and shots that made her sick. She witnessed group punishment that she refused to take part in and was then put in solitary confinement for disobedience.

Another girl, fifteen-year-old Stella Temple found herself at the colony after her parents realized she was pregnant. While there she was involuntarily sterilized. Even with all that she still sees the colony as a refuge and something better than she had while living with her parents since she has a bed, clothing, and food.

Dorothy Baker is the superintendent of the colony. Although she thinks she is doing the right thing in helping the girls, readers see how she never tolerates anyone who protests. If the girls break the rules, they face sadistic and cruel punishment. If they try to run away, they are sent to the meditation room where they are given only scraps of food, a bucket to dispose of their humanly waste, and are isolated.

This book is riveting and will keep readers turning the pages. People will take the journey with the characters, cheering for Ruth as she exhibits courageous behavior and weeping for Stella as she is forced to confront what happened to herself. They will despise Mrs. Baker for her corporal punishment techniques. The twists and turns as well as the surprise ending add to the intensity of the story where readers will be on the edge of their seats.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Donna Everhart: I write southern historical fiction. This is about some sterilization but more importantly the mass incarceration of women. I have not thought of my books as historical fiction, but they do fall into that category. At first, I thought about writing on reform schools for girls in the state of North Carolina. When I landed on farm colonies and the mass incarceration of women the story unfolded. Even though the story is fictional most of what took place happened.

EC: Were Samarcand and the Colony true?

DE: They were each an hour from me in opposite directions. I read this book, Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in A Southern Juvenile Reformatory by Karin L. Zipf, which was a resource for me. The goal was to combat the spread of venereal disease. Any woman could by arrested within a five-mile radius of a military base. If the woman was found infected, they could be sentenced to a farm colony to be cured. After learning about the Chamberlain-Kahn Act, the American Plan, I discovered that some girls sent to these reform schools operated as very young prostitutes. Another resource was a non-fiction book by Scott W. Stern, The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Plan to Imprison Promiscuous Women.

EC: What was true?

DE: The meditation room where Ruth was placed was true: dingy, not enough food, had to pee in a bucket. They were able to run the colony through slave labor. I have four books that were actual biennial reports of that time that went to the North Carolina Governor. There was a board of directors, a superintendent, on site psychologists, a medical director, as in my book. The fires in the farm colonies dormitories are true.

EC: Was Ruth Foster based on Nina McCall?

DE: Yes, loosely based. Nina was walking to the post office and picked up, while in my book Ruth was walking to work and picked up. ‘Walking while beautiful’ was the thinking of the time to pick up a woman. Ruth Foster was beautiful. She was put in the Colony because she supposedly had a positive test for VD. But like Covid, there were a lot of false positives. She represented those women who had to have treatment for no reason and this treatment was debilitating. She also represented how the women were deprogrammed, structuring the way they thought and lived. They wanted to break Ruth down and then build her up in the name of reform. Nina McCall, as with Ruth, were shamed into subjecting themselves to get the physical exam and found to have VD and sent off. Ruth represents the innocent women who were surveilled, picked up, forced to undergo an evasive exam, and put into a facility, locked up, without due process.

EC: How would you describe Ruth?

DE: Ruth had a high IQ, independent, confident, stubborn, and a non-conformist. They tried to break her and make her docile. She was smart and savvy.

EC: How would you describe Stella?

DE: Stella had a very high IQ, with a photogenic mind. She was obedient, innocent, invincible-like, goes along to get along, and a tattletale. Stella had an abusive father and became submissive. She wanted to fit in but became elusive and stayed to herself. She contrasts with Ruth because Stella felt at the Colony she was saved. I hope readers ask given her circumstances was Stella better off at the Colony, was it a haven for her?

EC: What about Mrs. Baker?

DE: She was a strict disciplinarian, abrupt, calculating, manipulating, rigid, aloof, and abusive. She believed in what she was doing, helping these women. She wanted to teach them to learn to read and write, cook, can, and clean. Baker thought she was a savior to these women. I consider her a fascinating character. I think she is a product of her time. All the real superintendents of the farm colonies were like Baker. They wanted to break the girls’ spirits.

EC: You had this quote in the author’s notes: “This is the story of women held against their will without due process. But it is also the story of women who believed what they were doing was for the greater good.” Did you want readers to understand Mrs. Baker?

DE: Yes, I did. Some do and some don’t. Some thought she had no redeeming qualities and some readers sympathized with her. I wanted readers to be conflicted about her. I thought Baker had some redeeming qualities.

EC: What about Baker’s assistant Mrs. Maynard?

DE: She was a sadist, mean, and hateful. I fashioned her after the nun in the ‘Yellowstone series.’ There was a nun who was perverse. Mrs. Maynard got off in whipping these girls.

EC: What about the letters the girls like Ruth were forced to write?

DE: In Mrs. Baker’s mind she wanted to coerce the board into giving more money to expand the colony. The letters showed what a successful program she was running. She wants to control Ruth, but Ruth was not going to lie, to write something to help Baker. This infuriated her. This is where Ruth’s strength, non-conformity, and independence come in. Baker saw Ruth as a troublemaker and was intimidated by Ruth who saw things were not right. Ruth and Baker butt heads. Ruth could not be persuaded to fold as a lawn chair.

EC: What do you want readers to get out of this book?

DE: Good entertainment. But also, an awareness that this really happened. I hope it creates discussions. This is such an important story.

EC: Next book?

DE: I am working on another book, no title yet. The plot has an elderly woman who gets displaced with eminent domain. This will probably come out in January 2028.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: National Forest K-9 Series and Colorado K-9 Rescue by Kathleen Donnelly

Elise’s Thoughts and Descriptions

Chasing Justice, Hunting the Truth, and Killer Secrets are the first books by Kathleen Donnelly of the National Forest K-9 Series. She is an author that should be put on everybody’s radar. Having been a handler for a private narcotics K-9 detection company, she is able to use her experiences to craft realistic stories in these novels.

Each of the three books explains more of former Marine Maya Thompson’s and Deputy Sheriff Josh Colte’s pasts, shedding light on the emotional and physical scars of the hero and heroine. They delve into topics involving law enforcement, military reentry after serving overseas, and PTSD within a suspenseful storyline.

After losing her military K-9, former marine Maya Thompson swears she’ll never work with dogs again. But when she returns home to Colorado and accepts a job with US Forest Service law enforcement, fate brings K-9 Juniper into her life just as another tragedy unfolds. The mountain setting in all the plots adds to the suspense. The mystery/action stories are riveting, plus there are added bonuses that have good descriptions and details of how K9s train and work.

Maya and Josh are both recovering addicts who self-medicated their PTSD. She is a K-9 handler with the Forestry Service, and he is with the Sheriff’s office. Throughout the books their mutual attraction grows into a relationship of love.

The plot of book 1, Chasing Justice, involves a deepening drug war and the disappearance of her grandfather, Sheriff Wayne. Book 2, Hunting the Truth, has Maya investigating her past when her mother and grandmother were killed. Killer Secrets, book 3, has an avalanche exposing a serial killer’s dumping grounds in Antler Valley, Colorado. Now Forest Service officer Maya Thompson and her K-9, Juniper, must catch the murderer before they become the next targets.

Donnelly has also written another series involving canines. The first book, Colorado K-9 Rescue has FBI victim specialist, Mckenna Parker, and her crisis canine, Mocha, assigned to a case with FBI agent Evan Knox. McKenna and Mocha help people who have been through major trauma. In this book it is someone rescued from being kidnapped. Now Evan, McKenna, and Mocha must find other local girls who disappeared.

The link to Donnelly’s newsletter is https://kathleendonnelly.com/contact/#newsletter, and if someone signs up, they will receive a non-fiction compilation of short stories about her time as a K-9 handler, titled Working Tails.

Donnelly writes gripping stories that are very realistic. They take readers on a thrilling ride of action-packed non-stop adventure that have twists and turns. The characters will touch people’s hearts as they try to make a life for themselves and lean on each other as well as their furry companions.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the Forest Service K-9 series?

Kathleen Donnelly: I had the setting in Colorado because I grew up there and loved the mountains. My dad was a researcher in the forest service. It is so beautiful, but the mountains can be very dangerous. It is the perfect Jekyll and Hyde setting. I am a retired canine handler, where I did it for nineteen years.

EC: Were you a canine handler for law enforcement?

KD: No. I worked for a private company and owned one, Sherlock Holmes Detection Canine. We went to schools, private business, and some rehabs. Our dogs were trained to find drugs, alcohol, and gun powder. We did go through the same training and certification as law enforcement officers. I try to keep it realistic as far as police procedure and all the drugs in the stories are fact based.

EC: Did you speak with any law enforcement or military people?

KD: One of our handlers was a retired handler officer who reads my books and gives me feedback. I have another friend, a retired chief of police. I have a lot of sources I can reach out to in law enforcement. I was also able to connect with a forest service law enforcement canine handler. He is very helpful because some of my friends would say we would do it this way in city PD, but that is not how forest service will do it.

EC: What about Maya’s PTSD?

KD: I also had a fellow writing friend, Tara Darlene Smith, who was an army veteran who suffered from PTSD. I believe she drove convoys in Iraq. She told me what it was like. She has published a book, Sunflowers in Iraq about what she went through. She helped develop Maya’s battle with PTSD. She told me you do not get over PTSD, just learn how to manage it.

EC: Was the scene where Maya overruled her dog realistic?

KD: The storyline for the first book in the series, Chasing Justicewas based on my own experience. I thought as a handler I wanted to add this realistic aspect, where sometimes things do not go as planned. I had Maya, the handler, not wanting to do the work anymore because of an experience she had, but realizes she is just meant to do it.

EC: Did you base Juniper’s personality on real life dogs?

KD: My dog, Boomer, although not a Malinois, but a black lab, is high energy and does check our house for drugs when we come home. I do have to watch him and keep him away from the tree ornaments. The K-9s are very driven and high energy even when they retire.

EC: How do multi-purpose dogs alert and know what to do?

KD: Dual purposes dogs have more than one job. They have different types of collars or harnesses to show them what job they were going to do. Anytime a dog latches on to a scent for finding evidence, a body, or tracking, their body language changes. Their body language is completely different: the tail can go up, body tenses, they can lie down, or their breathing changes. One of the handlers I spoke with told me, which I added in the story, his dog did a sit for narcotics and laid down to indicate evidence. The dog work I keep as accurate as possible and try to work the storyline around that accuracy even when I was working and my dog was telling me that there was something there, but I missed it.

EC: How would you describe Maya over the course of the three books?

KD: She was a Marine who fought in Afghanistan. She is broken, closed off, loves dogs, she feels grief and anger which shows in her PTSD, and feels guilty over losing her working dog, Zinger, in Afghanistan, blaming herself. She tries to shut off her emotions, and at other times spirals out of control. She can be stubborn, jumps to conclusions, resilient, and a fighter. Maya also wants to be more like her grandfather Wayne, which is why she joined the military and law enforcement, always wanting justice. Because she knows loss, she works hard to help someone find closure.

EC: Is she a recovering alcoholic?

KD: Yes, she now realizes as evidenced in the book quote, she “drinks to quit feeling.” As a character she shows why she got PTSD, dealing with PTSD, and trying to recover from PTSD. I wanted to portray this accurately. A lot of veterans come home, and they do not have a “normal” anymore. She tries to shut down the memories, flashbacks, and nightmares through alcohol. She had a friend, grandfather, and cabin to pull her out of it.

EC: How would you describe Juniper?

KD: She helped Maya with her anxiety, to feel calmness, and gave her purpose. She made her realize her past fear and to trust herself with another dog. Juniper is Maya’s ears, eyes, and smells. She needs structure, is high energy, and high drive. She can be intimidating and loves to destroy objects. She is a typical Malinois, wound tighter than any working dog. When I would look for dogs at rescues, I wanted them to be friendly but are so high energy with extra drive that they could not be just a pet, but a great working dog. They need to be entertained even when retired. The Malinois like Juniper are similar, but only on steroids. One of the best portrayals of a Malinois was the movie “Dog” with Channing Tatum. They did not exaggerate.

EC: The role of Grandfather Wayne?

KD: Protective, stubborn, gruff, a fighter, strong, and indestructible. He did not want her to follow in his footsteps. He raised Maya with her grandmother. He is very proud of her, but it is hard for him to tell her. It was easier for Maya to speak with her grandmother because she understood her so well. Losing her grandmother adds to the grief and loss for Maya. Throughout the books Maya and Wayne try to find if she was murdered.

EC: How would you describe Josh?

KD: A good listener, charming, can be arrogant, kind, and not judgmental. His backstory has affected him and caused PTSD. He wants to help people.

EC: How about the relationship?

KD: He really understood Maya on a level no one has. They are attracted to each other but also found each other annoying. They were good friends first. She thinks she is not good enough for him and does not think she is in a spot to have a relationship. The relationship seems to progress with each book.

EC: How would you describe one of the supposed bad guy characters, Eric Torres?

KD: Cunning, ruthless, smart, charismatic, manipulative, a bad cop who took bribes, and he is not who he appears to be at first sight.

EC: How would you describe the murderer of the third book of the series, Killer Secrets?

KD: Manipulative, a hunter, uses drugs to get his victim incapacitated, feels powerful, obsessed with Maya. He is also methodical, controlling, meticulous, knows investigative techniques and likes to play games with the victims. I developed him off some of the FBI’s research on serial killers and then used my own characteristics.

EC: What about the other series, Colorado Canine Rescue?

KD: It is different than the Forest Service K-9 Series. It is much more of a romance series. Each character has their own story.

EC: How would you describe the female lead, McKenna?

KD: Vulnerable, strong, determined, resilient, and anxious. She is a survivor and wants to help others who had traumatic experiences. She faced her trauma more than Maya had faced hers. There is a statistic where those in law enforcement or the military like Maya have faced over 800 traumatic events where someone like McKenna had that one trauma.

EC: What about the male lead, Evan?

KD: Sometimes rude. Untrusting. A workaholic, driven, and outgoing.

EC: What about the relationship?

KD: At first McKenna thinks of him as a jerk. He likes to tease. Both are sensitive. He makes her feel safe.

EC: How would you describe the dog, Mocha?

KD: He is a canine victim specialist dog. I heard the FBI started this crisis program. They comfort victims. The dogs are deployed to horrific events. Mocha brings joy, provides comfort, and helped McKenna with her trauma.

EC: What about your non-fiction book, Working Tails?

KD: It is free for anyone who signs up to my newsletter. https://kathleendonnelly.com/contact/#newsletter . I started writing short stories that I put into a collection of the working dogs.

EC: Next books?

KD: In book 4 of the Forest Service novels, Buried Lies, Josh’s past comes back to haunt him and he is framed for murder. This ties up a lot of his past. It comes out January 2026. Book 5’s plot has one of the bad guys coming back for revenge against Maya. It is titled, Deadly Revenge and comes out July 2026.

The next story in the Colorado Canine Rescue series will feature Cassidy, McKenna’s sister. Probably comes out in 2027.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Murder Your Darlings by Jenna Blum

Book Description

Simone “Sam” Vetiver is a mid-career novelist finishing a lukewarm publicity tour while facing a deadline for a new book on which she’s totally blocked. Recently divorced, Sam is worrying where her life is going when she receives glowing fan mail from stratospherically successful author William Corwyn, renowned for his female-centric novels. When William and Sam meet and his literary sympathy is as intense as their chemistry, both writers think they’ve found The One.

But as in their own novels, things between Sam and William are not what they seem. William has multiple stalkers, including a scarily persistent one named The Rabbit. He lives on a remote Maine island, where his writer life resembles The Shining. And when writers turn up dead, including from The Darlings support group William runs, Sam has to ask: Is it The Rabbit—William’s #1 Stalker? Another woman scorned? Can William be everything he seems?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Murder Your Darlings by Jenna Blum has the author venturing into the thriller genre. Formerly known for her historical novels, she still maintains some semblance by making her female lead, Simone “Sam” Vetiver, a historical novelist. This suspenseful novel had love, grief, and revenge.

Readers meet Sam who is finishing up a book tour while searching for some ideas for her next plot. She then receives a fan letter from best-selling author William Corwyn who shares the same publisher. She is appreciative of his offer to help her write the next novel but refuses. Instead, she decides to give up everything for the right man. And it appears William is that man. They start out as friends, but it moves quickly to a steamy relationship. Yet, something does not appear as it seems. Although William at first seems like a dream come true, as time goes by the relationship becomes less promising and sentimental.

To add to their woes William has an obsessive stalker who he dubbed the Rabbit. She appears to have Sam in her cross hairs. Through some investigation Sam is wondering if her loneliness led to trusting the wrong people.

Readers take the journey with Sam as she tries to navigate her different emotions and wonders who really has a dangerous obsession. Told in the perspective of the three characters: Sam, William, and the Rabbit, people begin to realize things are not as they seem, wondering who the good guys are and who are the bad guys.

The plot is riveting and will have readers not wanting to put the book down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Is it true you interviewed Holocaust survivors?

Jenna Blum: Yes, for many years for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, I interviewed about sixty survivors starting at the age of 23. Because I was so young they asked I interview couples, survivors who met each other in the concentration camps, displacement camps, overseas, or when they got to this country. What really struck me is that they did not talk about it much with each other, keeping that part of their life under wraps. I am grateful to be a part of the project. The skills that I got from this would lend itself well to interview survivors of any trauma. I learned how to extract dramatic stories with the least amount of damage possible. In fact, I would be honored to interview Israeli survivors of October 7^th.

EC: Turning to your current book why a thriller?

JB: This is my first thriller. I am known for historical fiction. I had this story about murderous writers in my head, pushing the ideas for the historical novel away.

EC: Was there a difference between writing thrillers and historical novels?

JB: It was a such a joy to write a thriller because I did not have to do any historical research. In writing thrillers, I felt like I was putting together a puzzle. All I had to do is unpack my life since I have been a career writer since I was sixteen. I married my own experience with the publishing world and a mid-life women writer at the crossroads. It was so much fun to write.

EC: Being a writer did you worry about writing about writers?

JB: Yes, I thought am a cheating and cannibalizing my life. Then I read this plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz and called her. I asked her if she got any pushback when she started writing thrillers. She told me to write it, and this is the result. Sam’s life is exactly mine. She is so me in terms of her writing experience and existence, including putting my apartment in the novel.

EC: How would you describe Sam?

JB: She is sweet and hopeful. In the beginning of the book, she is despondent because her career has not gone as she hoped. She is trying hard to be optimistic. Sam is a survivor of a traumatic background, so she does not trust her own instincts, which makes her wildly co-dependent. She is vulnerable, desperate, and is looking to do something different. I think Sam is also charming, reserved, paranoid, funny, and tenacious. She is nuts in the way a lot of writers are nuts, spending most of her time with imaginary characters.

EC: How would you describe William?

JB: I think he is hilarious. He is a malignant narcissist. The only research I did for the book is looking up what is a malignant narcissist. I find narcissist characters have a view of themselves that is ironclad and is not the way the rest of the world sees them. It makes William amusing and frightening to watch. He is a terrible cad. He is chauvinistic, charming, unreasonable, egotistical, moody, arrogant, ambitious, lonely, and a bully.

EC: What is the role of the “Darlings?”

JB: William sees himself as the “giver.” It is a support group for other writers. He helps people by bringing them together in the community. People can see through them what writer’s obstacles are like. This shows him as having an altruistic and philanthropic side. I am hoping this helps to build a nuance portrait of him.

EC: What about the relationship between Sam and William?

JB: He manipulates her so much and she allows that to happen. Readers might want to say to her, ‘snap out of it.’ She is totally co-dependent. I am also in recovery for co-dependency. I am hoping through Sam’s actions readers who are co-dependent do not feel alone and see there are ways around it. Other readers might want to shake her and to say to her, ‘can you not see this guy is terrible for you.’ Through Sam I wanted to shine a light on this issue. The relationship is 100% dysfunctional, following a traditional narcissism cycle of love bonding, disappointment, the person being dumped, and then that person being pulled back in. Narcissistic and co-dependent people often complement each other.

EC: Why name the stalker Rabbit?

JB: William uses that name because the person has a terrible over-bite and does not have very many lovers. This is a moment when his misogyny is completely on display, being so judgmental. My favorite line is when the Rabbit reveals her real name.

EC: What do you want to say about the Rabbit?

JB: I love the Rabbit. I had the most fun writing her and William. She is gritty, determined, loves books (her saving grace), she has determination, and speaks truth to power.

EC: Next book?

JB: I want to stay in the thriller lane with three ideas rolling around in my head. I realized that when I wrote historical novels I always wrote about sex, death, and catastrophic events.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview #2 with Elise Cooper: Yumi: Keepers of the Garden of Peace by Tess Cacciatore

Book Description

When Yumi travels the world with her wise Grandmother “Obachan” she discovers how many cultures celebrate peace, one tea ceremony at a time.

From India to China, Africa to Australia, Yumi and her new animal friends learn that kindness and respect can unite us all.

A beautifully illustrated story of compassion, friendship & peace.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Yumi’s Universe was born from the imagination of Tess Cacciatore, an award-winning writer, director and global peace advocate. After decades of empowering youth across continents, Tess envisioned a world where children could learn values of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. The emphasis is to inspire children everywhere to grow with kindness, imagination, and peace through magical stories, music, and art from around the world. People can go to her website and explore Yumi’s Universe. (www.YumisUniverse.com)

There are currently two books out with the story written by Tess Cacciatore and illustrated by the former Disney animator Joel Christopher Payne. Keepers of the Garden of Peace is for younger peacekeepers (ages 4-8). It has Yumi traveling the world with her wise Grandmother “Obachan” as she discovers how many cultures celebrate peace, one tea ceremony at a time.

The other book, for young adults (ages 9-13), is Yumi: An Enchanted Tale of Compassion, Friendship & Peace. This travel adventure storybook takes the readers on a global exploration to meet the friends of Yumi and to explore other cultures for compassion, friendship, and peace.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What was it like working with the Disney artist Joel Christopher Payne?

Tess Cacciatore: It started with the story and the creation of the characters. I gave Joel, the illustrator, a description of who the characters were, what their outfits were like, and where they were from. He, as a brilliant illustrator, brought them to life. It was a collaboration where I am the author of the book, and he is the talent behind the actual art creation.

EC: How did you get the idea for the story?

TC: Jay, a friend of mine was diagnosed in 2024 with stage 4 cancer. In the middle of August, he posted that his friend came to his hospital room to serve a Japanese formal tea ceremony. It instantly reminded me of what a lot of little children do, putting together a tea party with their stuffed animals. In the process of writing the book Jay passed, however, his character is alive and well as Jay is the inventor of the mystical-magical orbship that the characters use to travel the world. The way that the orb-ship is fueled is by pure intention of compassion. I keep my friend alive in memory, full of respect and love.

EC: Is this a series of books?

TC: There is the book Yumi Keepers of the Garden of Peace for younger peacekeepers (ages 4-8) and the Yumi: An Enchanted Tale of Compassion, Friendship & Peace (ages 9-13). The second book has at least two more parts coming. A trilogy released over the next year or so. In the second book they travel to North and South America, while in the third book they travel to Europe.

EC: What are the various locations the characters travel to?

TC: They travel from Japan to South Africa, India, China, and Australia. The characters plant “peace poles” from the GOI Peace Foundation everywhere they go, spreading the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

EC: What is the role of the animal characters?

TC: Respect, harmony, purity, and tranquility represent the formal Japanese tea ceremony and the four characters of the book. Ravi, the elephant from India, represents respect; Zuri, the Giraffe from South Africa represents purity; Seren, the Panda Bear from China represents tranquility; and Holly, from Australia represents harmony. We hope through the animal characters we teach children to respect one another.

EC: What about the specific places they travel?

TC: Just as military families have traveled a lot including going to different countries so do the characters in the story. Ravi is the character that comes from India at the Konark Sun Temple. Ravi means the sun. Zuri comes from South Africa. Long ago, there was an animal conservation project where elephants and giraffes were sent from Kenya to South Africa. Her grandmother was born in Kenya. Through her storyline readers learn about purity. Holly finally finds the courage to sing, as she stands up to sing “Mother Nature.” Davy Nathan (award-winning composer) and I co-wrote most of the songs. The theme is that Holly finds the courage to have her voice be heard. Seren is quite shy. He carries around this little stuffed brown bear like a security blanket. Through his storyline I wanted to express that no one should be made fun of for having certain quirks.

EC: Do you think these quotes can apply to what happened in Australia with the massacre at the Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration?

TC: You are referring to this quote from Holly who is from Australia and believes in harmony, “Everything in nature and in life can change in a moment.” We want to do something with Australia as well as Brown University. Everything we do and everything I have done in my career is about giving back and promoting social impact. There is another quote in the book, “Your quiet light makes the world brighter.” Hanukkah is known as the “Festival of Lights.”

EC: What is the role of the teas?

TC: We are launching in January our Garden of Peace teas that have seven different flavors, 100% organic. Each character has their own flavor of tea. Wa, Kei, Sei, Jaku are the four names of the formal tea ceremony that represent harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. The Garden of Peace teas are a way for schools, organizations, synagogues, and churches to sell the teas as a fundraiser, while also giving back.

EC: What do you want readers to get out of the books?

TC: People need to be accepted for who they are. They need to agree to disagree at times and to be understanding of each other’s cultures. We are in the process of creating Yumi’s University K-12 curriculum. This app can be delivered to even the most remote places to bring education to children all over the world.

THANK YOU!!

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