Featured Interview With Julie Arduini
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a contemporary romance author that has a passion to encourage readers to find freedom through surrender. I believe that has to start with me, so I invite everyone to join me as we “surrender the good, the bad, and—maybe one day—the chocolate.” I use Upstate NY settings in my work as I spent most of my life there. I now live in Poland, Ohio, outside of Youngstown.
I’m married with two children. I’m also a step-mom to two adult children and a son-in-law who live in Wisconsin.
I’m also “mom” to furry babies Pepper (senior Lhasa,) Bonita (senior Lhasa,) Gary (senior cat,) and Tucker (one year old Chow Lab.)
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I wasn’t even school age. My mom recalls that I’d hang on every word during stories and memorize them so I could pretend I was reading. Before I started school I took sheets of paper and scribbled on them, telling people they were my stories.
The first time I felt like there was something to my writing was in middle school. I was asked to write a poem for Martin Luther King, Jr. day and I wrote one in twenty minutes. The teachers were shocked at not only how fast I wrote it, but the emotions it evoked.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m a huge fan of Susan May Warren, Rachel Hauck, Kristin Billerbeck, Karen Kingsbury. They definitely inspire me. I enjoy contemporary romance and suspense the best. Outside those genres I love reading Bob Sorge and Steven James.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Love Boat Bachelor is a collaborative effort from some of the authors at Write Integrity Press. Brent Teague was a character in 2014’s bestseller, A Dozen Apologies, who was not chosen by readers as the hero. Jerusha Agen wondered what a book would look like if we took brokenhearted Brent and placed him on a two week Caribbean Cruise. The result is The Love Boat Bachelor. Brent is a pastor questioning everything, including his vocation, after Mara Adkins breaks his heart twice. His sister and best friend encourage him to serve as chaplain on a cruise. What they don’t tell him is the cruise is love themed. Everyone is either in love or desperate to find it. Each author wrote a chapter featuring a port of call and a heroine. Readers voted on the heroine to give Brent his happy ending. The book is available through Kindle starting on February 14th.
I also have my own first contemporary romance available, Entrusted. This is an Adirondack romance where Youngstown born Jenna Anderson leaves everything and everyone she knows for a job in the Adirondack Mountains. She produces a lot of change for grocer Ben Regan, a man broken by loss and change. He’s bent on keeping the senior center closed, the very place Jenna’s risked everything to make things work.
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