Q&A With Susan Renee

Victoria Cardoso, who is the marketing manager at Page & Vine Books, was kind enough to connect me with several authors to do Q&As with. One of these amazing authors is Susan Renee. Susan is the international bestselling author of several romance books that are in a series. Some of her series include Anaheim Stars Hockey Series, The Camel Club Series & The Chicago Red Tails Series! 

Q: Susan, would you like to give a brief description of each of your series? 

A: I have several different series! A little something for everyone! 

The Camel Club series is a series of 3 rom-coms that follow three best friends who work in Seattle’s only Gay-necologist’s office. They are Arya, Hannah, and Kim, and they go through some hilarious adventures on their way to finding true love and becoming members of the exclusive “Camel Club”. But you’ll have to read them to find out what that means!

The Bardstown series is my beloved small-town series following the four Fox brothers in their pursuit of happiness and love following the death of their father. The series prequel, I Loved You Then, takes place in the same town and features the owner of the town pub where everyone goes throughout the Bardstown series. (You see more of them in book 4 of the series). Then there is a spinoff of the series called No One Needs to Know that features the two best friends of the characters you’ll find in book 1. This book also serves as a bridge to my next series, the Chicago Red Tails Hockey team!

The Chicago Red Tails is a 6-book series following the starting lineup of the Chicago Red Tails pro hockey team! Each player gets his own book and interconnected story. This series is also available in Audiobooks!

The Anaheim Stars series is my current pro hockey series and will feature six full length books and one novella. There will be six of the starting lineup players featured in their own story, plus one new player who is traded onto the team. This series will be coming to audiobooks sometime this year!

Q: Where do your ideas for settings and characters come from for your books? Do you use bits of real people and places? 

A: HA! All different places! Sometimes I pull from places I know or that I’ve been to. Others, I’ve literally opened Google Maps and found a good spot. And some are suggested to me either by friends, family, or readers! And yes, in one way or another I’m often pulling bits of people I know or have met into my characters. But there are also times I’ll see something while scrolling social media or I’ll read something in the news and think, “Yes! That would make an awesome story or a fun character trait!” 

Q: How long does it take you to write a book? What lessons and emotions do you want readers to learn and feel after reading your books?

A: The first book I ever wrote took about a year. Now I like to give myself two months because some days life happens, and some days I’m so busy doing the other parts of the job that making time for writing just doesn’t happen. I suppose if I were more regimented in my daily routine this wouldn’t be a problem, but I am who I am.  I can’t tell anyone what to feel or learn when they read my books because we all read books for different reasons and when we’re in different moods. But it’s my hope that when a reader opens one of my books, they know they’re getting a story that will make them laugh, might make them cry, and no matter what the conflict of the story is, I won’t ever leave them without their happily ever after.  

Q: If Hollywood were to get the rights to your work, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created?

A: Oh man, there are so many possibilities here and I very rarely think about it because, of course, I tell myself that a movie deal is never going to happen. (Yeah, I know, there’s my killer self-esteem talking) But if I were to have free reign to handpick my Chicago Red Tails hockey team, it might look something like this:

Colby Nelson: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Milo Landric: Jonathan Bailey
Dex Foster: Chris Hemsworth
Hawken Malone: Ian Somerhalder
Quinton Shay: Shemar Moore
Zeke Miller: Tom Ellis

Q: What wisdom have you learned in your time as an author that you would love aspiring authors to learn?

A: I think above all else, I’ve learned that I’m a capable, resourceful, hardworking person who refuses to accept failure as an option. My personal story of how I’ve gotten to where I am today is a long one, and there are certainly (still) times when I’m plagued with Imposter Syndrome or feel remarkably undeserving of my success. I spent many years of my life feeling like I didn’t deserve anything good to come my way, so accepting a win every now and then is very hard for me. But if my time as an author has taught me anything, it’s taught me that I am stronger and more tenacious than I think I am. My skin is thicker than I think it is, and gosh darn it, there are people out there who like me because of who I am as a human being and that matters to me. Also, kindness matters!

Q: Can you reveal any details about future projects you are working on now? 

A: Well, apparently, I’m in my sports-romance era for a bit as I’ll be finishing up my second hockey series later this year. Following that, I do have a holiday book in its planning stages and then for the next series I may end up spreading my wings and dipping into a few different types of sports. I don’t know, we’ll see. I also have a romcom series I’ve been planning for longer than I care to admit (psst, I hinted at this series in one of my Anaheim Stars books!) and just need to find the time to write it because it will be so much fun to write! So, stay tuned!