The Right Time is a time-slip romance where a woman escaping an abusive marriage wakes up in the 1980s, finding a second chance at freedom, love, and self-discovery amid the ache of what she’s lost. What inspired you to blend time-slip elements with a story of domestic survival and healing?

I was continuing my Time Slip series that started in The Wish: A Time Slip Novel, the first of a series of stand-alone women’s fiction stories that will take place in various times. The therapist from The Wish, Dr. Maeve Fossey, is the only recurring character, as she hears the wishes and mysteriously causes them to come true. 

A couple of years ago, Taylor Jenkins-Reid’s Malibu Rising won a Reader’s Choice award for best Historical Fiction. It was set in the 80s, and this blew my mind! I grew up in the 80s. I love reading historical fiction, but I hadn’t written any. If the 80s are historical fiction, I can finally write a “historical” story set in a time I remember and provide details that feel authentic without a ton of research. I loved 80s music, movies, and TV, so this was my chance to use some of that knowledge. 

How did you approach writing the 1980s setting in a way that felt nostalgic but not overly romanticized?

In 1985, I was thirteen years old, so I was old enough to remember a lot about the time. I think because I was there, I didn’t over romanticize it. There are advantages and disadvantages to every time.

Andie’s journey feels deeply personal. Was any part of her story drawn from real experiences or people you’ve known?

There are several pieces of this story that are based on real events, and writing about them was a type of therapy. The late-night fights between my mom and her boyfriend from when I was ten were real. On at least two memorable occasions, I heard them fighting, mostly his loud voice. Once, he tried to hit her and missed, punching a hole through the drywall of their bedroom wall. The second time, he broke a sturdy homemade stool in the kitchen, smashing it to pieces for emphasis as he berated her. For the next several months, until we moved, I had trouble sleeping. The cat and dog were also real. My cat would climb up to my loft bedroom to sleep, and the boyfriend’s dog would guard the base of the ladder. 

My mom’s excuse about hitting a doorknob when trying to explain a black eye is something I also remember. The black eye was a turning point because she was unable to hide the abuse at work after that. Usually, he hit her where it didn’t show. Her co-workers all drove trucks and helped us move that Friday.  

Also, real was being stood up by my co-workers for a Starbucks gathering in 2018 or 2019 that many said they would attend. In the story, nobody shows up. In real life, after waiting 75 minutes alone, I left and was walking home when someone else texted to ask if we were still there. I didn’t tell her I’d given up. I went back and met her for twenty minutes before heading home again. On the way, I ran into 5 others from work who’d gone out for drinks instead. I was hurt because they’d been no-shows for me and had gone out in the neighborhood anyway. They hadn’t bothered to tell me they’d changed their mind or invited me to go to Browns instead. I’ve never tried to have an after-school get-together again. If invited to a book launch, my co-workers don’t even RSVP, so I stopped including them. Like Andie, I struggle with personal connection daily. 

And, who hasn’t been stuck in a Customer Service loop somewhere, trying to use authenticator apps and personal verification questions? Most of the time, all I want is to get through to a person who can help, not AI Customer service or endless menu loops that don’t answer your question or let you choose a team member to speak to. The frustration is real. 

The other piece that was more fun to use was my experience working at video stores. I worked in one from April 1989 to July 1990 in high school. I worked at another through my third to fifth years of university from 1992 onward, keeping one shift a week through my substitute teaching years, only giving it up when I was hired for a full-time teaching position in September 1996. 

What can readers expect in book three in your A Time Slip series?

I am toying with a few different ideas, but the one calling to me the most is related to The Right Time. One of the tertiary characters may suffer a heartbreak and find herself somewhere new. She is in her early thirties in 1985, and I think she will wish herself into the future, but I’m not sure where yet, but I hear Canada is lovely. 

With two more Racing books planned, a dystopian heist clamouring for attention, and romantic suspense in progress, my next time slip story is still swirling through my thoughts without feeling concrete. Not yet. 

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