Guest Post from Author Ashley A. Quinn

Chaos Reigns: The Motto of an Author Mom

Hi! I’m Ashley A Quinn, and I write romantic suspense. As the title of this post suggests, my life is chaotic. But more on that later. First, here’s a little introduction to me and my family.

I grew up in a mix of the country and the city. My family moved several times in and out of town before I left for college, and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house. They lived on an acre surrounded by fields, and I spent many a summer afternoon there playing ball, getting dirty in the “crick,” and just being outside. It was awesome. Anyway, as a result, I am a country girl at heart. Not too country, mind you, but the “I hate people and don’t like having to talk to others unless necessary, but I want to be close to the grocery store,” kind of country. We currently live in a small city, but we have an ENORMOUS yard, so when I look out my back windows, I feel like I’m in the country. Ultimately, we want to have a house outside of town, but that’s in the column “Someday.” I also have plans to buy an island, but my husband just looks at me like I’ve grown two heads when I mention it.

I love to read. Romance, mysteries, thrillers, fantasy—all of it. Laura Griffin, James Rollins, Dan Brown, and Heather Graham are some of my favorites. I’m also a crime drama junkie. I’ve seen all the episodes of most of the major police procedurals on television. The only saving grace to the summer months when the shows are on hiatus—besides the lovely weather, of course—is baseball. I grew up on it, played it (well, softball), and will love it until the day I die. Go Reds!

Now, back to the chaos part…

I have two children. They are a handful, but I can’t imagine life without them. My son is eleven and likes to think he knows everything—the preteen years have begun! He will also talk circles around you, trying to convince you he’s right. It doesn’t matter the subject; he has to be right. He hates school, but loves to read. Mostly about soldiers and war. He is a history freak (just like his parents) and devours anything about World War II. Lately, he’s branched out into World War I. 

He also has a heart of gold. When he was three, he was diagnosed with leukemia. It came back when he was six. Through that fight, he learned what it meant to be truly blessed. So many people wished him well and gave him things. When he finished treatment, he decided he wanted to help other kids who maybe didn’t have as much as he had and donated his birthday money to the local “Shop with a Cop” event held by our local police department instead of buying more stuff for himself. He might argue with me till we’re both blue in the face, but he would do anything to help someone who needed it.

My daughter is nine and is a wild child. She’s loud. Like, really, really loud. She’s also wicked smart. She likes space and superheroes and video games. At the age of three, her favorite show was Dexter’s Laboratory. Now, it’s Teen Titans Go! Her room is light purple, but there arestars and video game posters all over, and she has a nebula light. She demands I buy her books about the moon. And Jupiter. I am happy to indulge her. She can also play her brother into the dirt on just about any video game. She’s even expressed an interest in learning to code so she can make her own. I can see it now… Set in space—or at least on some very colorful planet full of rainbows and cats—where the good guys wield shiny bejeweled swords, collect stars for points, and eat candy to keep up their health.

She’s also very witty. My husband once told her to get a hobby because she kept pestering him. She looked him straight in the eye and said, “You are my hobby.” She keeps us on our toes, and I both look forward to and dread her teenage years. This girl has the personality and the smarts to rule the world if she so chooses.

My husband is as much of a history freak as our son. We both majored in history in college, which is how we met. Neither of us has really used our degrees for their intended purposes. Hisdegree got him into the Air Force as an officer, and mine got me a job as a substitute teacher, though, now, I just write books. I also have a master’s degree in museum studies. However, itjust sits on a shelf gathering dust.

Life is nutty at the moment, but whose isn’t, especially right now. I’m a full-time writer in addition to being a mom. We also moved to homeschooling at the beginning of the school year.There was just too much uncertainty with our district’s in-person policy, and the remote school they offered was terrible. Finding curriculum we all like has been a challenge. Some days they despise their assignments, and we throw the plan out the window and find something new. It’s been eye-opening how little my son actually learned at school. Now, though, he’s caught up, and they’re both actually learning, so I’m not sure they’ll ever go back. While chaos most definitelyreigns in my world, it’s worth it.

BUT, I have had great success this past year in the writing world despite my crazy life. I launched a new book series in June called The Broken Bow. It’s romantic suspense set in eastern Colorado and revolves around the Archer siblings, Sebastian, Brady, Tara, Thomas, and Maggie. Y’all, I love this series. These characters feel like family. They’re amazing! The whole thing was inspired by a picture taken on a cloudy day of the ruins of St. Dominic’s Church in D’Hanis, Texas. It’s haunting and beautiful, and I immediately thought what a great place that would be to hide a body. My brain is not normal, I know. But, once I got past the beauty of the picture and that thought hit, an entire scene popped into my head, and A Beautiful End was born. There is now a second book out, Wildfire, and a third, called In Plain Sight, is on the way. There will be two more after that, and at least one novella coming out this year as well. 

Thanks for listening to me ramble. You can check out all my books on my website https://ashleyaquinn.com, but the blurbs for my Broken Bow series are below. Happy reading!

-Ashley

A Beautiful End – Available Now!

Will a threat to London’s life lead her to love?

London Scott’s routine, boring life gets a jolt when her niece discovers a woman’s body while out hiking with her boyfriend. It’s just her luck, though, that it’s Sebastian Archer who investigates the murder. Having known the man since childhood, she’s always been the annoying tagalong. Even though she finds him drop-dead sexy, that’s a ship that can never sail now that she’s guardian to her niece and his goddaughter.

Two years ago, Seb moved home to take the position as local sheriff, ready for a slower pace and to be closer to his family. That included his best friend’s sister, London. The beautiful innkeeper had held his heart since they were young, but the timing never felt right to start something. When a serial killer murders a woman in his jurisdiction who bears a striking resemblance to London, Seb realizes he could lose her before they ever get a chance.

Will London’s reluctance to date the handsome sheriff deliver her into the hands of a psychopath?

Wildfire – Available Now!

Someone is stalking Tara Miller…

All Tara wants is to forget. Home again after years traveling the world, she’s determined to put her painful past behind her. Surrounded by her big, loving, loud family, and with the distraction of her new restaurant, she feels like she’s finally beginning to heal. Then in walks Jace Travers. With one quirk of his beautiful, full lips, he shoots her carefully constructed life to smithereens. She does her best to avoid him, but that quickly proves hard to do when mysterious things begin to happen.

Jace needs a change. Memories of his wife and daughter surround him at every turn in his tiny Nebraskan town, keeping him from fully moving on. When the Boone County Sheriff offers him the position of Chief Deputy in Silver Gap, Colorado, he jumps on it, hoping it will help shake him out of his funk. It comes with the added bonus of living next door to the sheriff's beautiful and fiery sister, Tara. From the moment he sees her, she sparks his blood. Her skittishness only makes him want to know more about her. But unraveling the beautiful woman could prove deadly. Tara's past has come back to haunt her.

In Plain Sight – Available for Pre-order!

There’s something sinister happening in Boone County…

Since the debacle involving her friends and her ex, Rayna Nydert has kept to herself. Duped by the rotten bastard, she still feels guilty for her part in it all. With harvest season in full swing, her self-isolation has been easy to keep. But when she finds a beaten and terrified young man in one of her fields, to help him hide from his pursuers, she must turn to the one man who has the power to shatter her heart into a million tiny pieces, Thomas Archer.

It’s been years since Thomas and Rayna dated. Life led them in different directions, but for Thomas, the torch never died. Rayna’s always been his one and only. When she calls on him to help her care for the scared young man, he can’t say no. They soon discover, though, that they’ve stumbled over a dark secret. One that someone would kill to keep.