The PushMe/PullYou Force

Love is a remarkable power. It can drive you toward a goal or away from danger. For instance, I write because I love it; yet when I was a kid, my love and respect for my mother kept me out of a whole lot of trouble. In a suspense book, love can be the compulsion that pulls the hero and heroine together or the motivating drive for the plot.

In my next book, The Taking of Carly Bradford, my heroine’s basic motivation is love. Three years ago, Dee lost both her husband and son. Her love for her son, and her craving to prevent another mother from feeling her loss, propels Dee into an almost obsessive search for a missing eight-year-old girl. In the meantime, her love for her husband at first blocks her growing affection for the book’s hero, Tyler. Yet it’s Tyler’s increasing love for Dee that finally tugs her into a place of healing.

When these elements are layered over the mystery of Carly’s kidnapping, they add to the level of suspense: Exactly how far will Dee go to save Carly and what will happen to her – and Tyler – if she pushes the villain to the edge?

And, yes, I do push Dee and the villain to that edge. I had to.

After all, I write romantic suspense because I love it.