Moroccan Sunset: Dawn of a New Beginning follows a Moroccan businessman with traditional views who falls for a woman from Western culture and lets her go, only to regret his decision. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

​In the Annie’s Journey series, I write about intriguing young women who struggle to find their way in life. Annie and Sarah stand out in the series in that way, but Meghan and Sabine offer a more stable strength that Annie and Sarah draw from. Therefore, in El Amir’s story, I needed an intriguing young woman to grow and expand her horizons. With Elena Al-Farooq, I got my young woman in spades! As a spoiled and sheltered Arab heiress, she feels over-protected and rather petulant about it. Meeting Sarah, and then Annie, she begins to see the power of the women that still allow the love of a man as an equal partner become something she aspires to.

On the other hand, El Amir remained an enigma throughout books one and two. Clearly, he and Annie had an intense attraction for each other, but it was his honor to his Arab tradition that he could not be with a Western woman. I do not think he regretted his decision, just questioned whether he could find that same passion with what he thought would be a dull, obedient, dutiful wife.

El Amir’s back story unfolds revealing his innate sense of honor, love of art, and passionate support of conservation in East Africa. He refers to pealing back layer by layer of Elena’s character, but that is exactly what I tried to do with him. One of the major impacts he has is with the reaction and growth of Elena’s father, resulting in how he sees his daughter.

To fully understand Moroccan Sunset, the “new beginning” for Elena could not happen without the influence of Sarah and Annie. She will become another woman of inspiration for our next girls who follow in subsequent books.

What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?

Unfortunately, we see people of different cultures and traditions clash into bigotry, competition, and even hatred. I have a cast of characters covering many cultures and traditions. What I tend to do is soften the edges somewhat to enable them to get along. One of my favorite scenes describing this was in Crossing Paths, when Annie and her family went to the church of the minister who was going to marry her and Ramone. This is what he said:

“Brethren, you have all joined us on this beautiful summer day. I want to say welcome. I also want you to take a minute and look around you. Every person in this church made a choice to come here today. For this moment in time, they are your neighbors. Look around, say hello, shake a hand.” There was a warmth inside this old traditional church. Greetings flowed in every direction. They saw Paulo in the front pew and waved. Marguerite’s eyes caught his, and he smiled.

“Here you all are on your own individual life journey. Many of you might be strangers, but your paths brought you here together. Paths cross. You just took a moment to say hello to a perfect stranger. Once you connected in some way, you were no longer strangers. Pay attention. There is a person’s path that might be running parallel to yours. When those paths intersect, there is a reason. Don’t miss it. Be aware of those around you and be amazed at new connections.”

Meghan and Annie are fascinated by communities that embrace their culture and tradition. My mantra is to encourage getting along with others who might not believe things as we do. Here we are in the USA deeply divided and refusing to work together for the common good. I am trying to drop a cool drop of water on a boiling plate…

I also touch on the subject of wealth. Different cultures sometimes have a different way of expressing their rise to success and/or wealth. I grew up in Georgia where the spending habits were referred to as “Old Money” and “New Money.” In Moroccan Sunset, there is a strong dichotomy between Don Marco from Spain and Bajir Al-Farooq in how they express their wealth. What I wanted to convey is that neither are right or wrong, just different.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

• Cultural Identity
• Slow Burn Love
• Honor
• Tradition
• Opulence
• Political Intrigue

What next book are you working on and when will it be available?

My next two females to dig into are Mara from Bali in book 5 and Amari, the East African school teacher from Finding Sarah. I can’t wait to explore these women and the men they encounter, but mostly the women they grow into.

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