Author Interview-Janice Godin

Winner of the 2017 Contemporary Romance Award from Books & Benches!

"This story is so beautifully written that you can't help but become obsessed with it, especially the parts of the old journal. A story within a story, two fabulous endings, and characters that you will fall in love with." ~ The Artful Reader

"This book is about love and growth, tears and happiness and healing. I was so deeply affected and moved by this story, I had my own laughter and tears." ~ Amazon reviewer  Everyone in Kathleen's life thinks she's crazy when she decides to spend her well-earned summer working in a tiny, dusty attic sorting through old church papers, but the peace and quiet of working alone is exactly what she wants. 

She's back home again and happy, or as happy as anyone who's left behind a troubled past can be. She has amazing coworkers, a wonderful best friend, a supportive family, and not one single person in her life who knows what she's been through. So, when Kathleen stumbles across an old French diary written by a battered wife, she connects with the story and Emilie. 

Kathleen's life changes when she meets Grant, a gorgeous local man with a past of his own. Their connection is undeniable, even for her, and proves that second chances are possible, if she can just leave her past behind.

What inspired you to become a writer?

I’ve always been a writer. Cliched, I know, but true. As a child I wrote short stories and as a teenager I wrote very angsty poetry. I started writing an actual novel in my late teens but I never finished it because I outgrew the premise and because I just never saw myself finishing it.

Then, in my early twenties I started writing a novel, a wolf shifter story featuring a strong, alpha female character. I’d come across a novel, written by a fellow Canadian, that was unlike any other shifter novel I’d read before. The lead was female, brave and strong, but flawed, and the men were strong enough to not find her strength intimidating. The book was Bitten, the author Kelley Armstrong. What came out of that was The Guardians trilogy and my heroine, Katherine LaFlamme. I chose to publish this novel, Blood of Eden, under my pen name JJ King, because I wanted to publish something different under my real name, but it will always be my baby, my first.

What is one of your favorite romantic locales?

I come from Newfoundland, which is basically the Ireland of Canada. We have gorgeous coasts and mountains, fiords, and caves, just ask Jason Momoa. He spends a lot of time here shooting his show Frontier and loves the island and its people.

Locally, though, the winner has to be Sandy Point. It’s a long, thin isthmus that juts out of Bay St. George. It’s so romantic and beautiful that I chose it for portions of my series The Islanders. It plays into the secondary storyline in book one, Then She Danced, and has a bigger role in book two, Then She Sang, which is being released July 23^rd!

Tell me what inspired this story.

A lot of Then She Danced came from me, I think. The main character, Kathleen King, is part Mi’kmaq, part Irish, with flaming red hair. She never feels quite right in her heritage and in her life, so she’s searching for her place. She’s home in Newfoundland, after the end of her marriage and is spending the summer working at a local museum, sorting through old documents when she comes across an old journal from Sandy Point during the 1940’s when it was a major fishing settlement. While translating the journal, Kathleen sees her own sad story in the life of Emilie, an abused woman who gets an unconventional second chance at love.

Growing up near Sandy Point, I always heard the stories of life on the isthmus before the settlement was relocated in the 1950’s, and I always romanticized it. I made up stories in my mind about the people who lived there, who lost there, and I guess it always stuck with me. When my own marriage ended in my early twenties, I went through a lot of confusion and pain that I never really dealt with, until I sat down to write a novel and Then She Danced practically leapt from my fingers. It’s a fiction that came from a very real place inside me, which is why I love it so much.

Who are your favorite romance characters (besides your own?)

I’m a sucker for anything written by Nora Roberts. In fact, I’ve been re-listening to her complete audiobook collection for months now. It’s fabulous. Of all her characters, I’d say my favorite is Ripley Todd from Heaven and Hearth from The Three Sisters Trilogy. She’s bold, brazen, and hides her vulnerability behind bravado. Nora Roberts writes amazing female characters and men who are worthy of them.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? 

Then She Danced is being re-released to a wider audience on June 18^th and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m throwing a party and I’d love for you all to come. There’s a few amazing giveaways already happening on the event page, so RSVP for your chance to win! https://www.facebook.com/events/2081000148890010/

Then She Danced is available for pre-order on Amazon for just .99¢.