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Featured Interview With J.S. Marlo

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I spent my childhood in a small French Canadian town in Quebec. When I was a teenager, I met a dashing young officer and followed him back and forth across the country. We have three grown-up children who live in different corners of the world, which gives us an excuse to explore many different countries while visiting them. Fortunately, our only granddaughter is only 10 hours away, so we get to see this little one more often.
We currently live in northern Alberta, we survived a major forest fire and an harrowing evacuation, and some nights, we have the chance to admire the most beautiful northern lights.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started writing short stories during math class in high school for my friends to read, then at lunchtime my friends would comment on them. I was surprised when the last day of school, my math teacher asked me for my stories so she could read them too. I never thought I would become an author. I was fascinated by words, but I liked numbers more, so I got a degree in finance. Writing was a hobby, something I was doing on the side for my friends. I even wrote stories on request. It all changed about ten years ago when a routine surgery went wrong and I was forced to stay in bed for six months. Writing became an escape that helped me go through that painful chapter, but at the same time, it unleashed a passion that I had always kept below the surface. That’s when I started writing for “real”.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
As a teenager, I was fascinated by Barbara Cartland’s historical romance novels. Through my science-fiction phase, Star Wars, Star Trek, I also read every book by Mary Higgins Clark and Ken Follett. I can’t say I’m a fantasy reader, but I’ll admit reading every Harry Potter books twice, both in French and in English. I love romance, I love mysteries, I love suspense, and if a book contains those three elements, I won’t put it down until it’s finished. Maybe that’s why I’m writing romantic suspense, because I get to play with those three elements.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book “Salvaged” is actually the first book I wrote. It took me nine months. It was a labor of love that started with a long distance phone call.

One of my daughters is a skilled scuba diver who loves to explore sunken ships. One night she called after a memorable dive around a two-hundred-year old shipwreck. The eerie description she gave me was the spark that ignited my creative mind and birthed “Salvaged”. I had found my heroine: a young feisty scuba diver that I named Star Fisher.

While Star shares some attributes with my daughter, she quickly became her own person with her own career as an underwater investigator. Instead of giving Star a ship to explore, I gave her an old Model T that sank in the middle of a lake at the turn of the last century.

Captain Hauk Ludvikson, who conducts the salvage operation, believes the Model T belonged to a rich heiress whose disappearance has remained unsolved. After reluctantly hiring Star, he struggles with the attraction growing between them. As he and Star discover old secrets, childhood nightmares take earthly forms and new crimes are committed. With danger lurking under and above the water line, Star fights for her future — a future she may not salvage twice.

Writing this story has been an incredible adventure and I couldn’t resist giving my daughter a cameo appearance.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

J.S. Marlo’s Website

J.S. Marlo Facebook Page