Author inspirations: Family, an English teacher and hacking

Today's featured authors: Angela Schroeder, author of Love Overcomes; Margaret Bingley, author of Betrayal; and Tina Donahue, author of Intimate Details. They're sharing things that inspired their latest releases.

Angela Schroeder, author of Love Overcomes

Three things that inspired me to write Love Overcomes:

• My sister: For years my sister and I would talk about how one day she would write a book for children. Then it would get turned into a cartoon series or even a movie. Then we'd talk about the actors that we would want to meet, usually the actor that we were crushing on at the time.

• Music: I had my playlist while I wrote. It ranged from Bing Crosby to Loreena McKennitt to K.T. Tunstall to music from some musicals like Lovestruck. These songs helped me to get into the mood I needed to be in to write. I tried writing without them and it was slow going. It was like building a soundtrack for what I could envision but still needed to put down on paper. I listened to these songs while editing also.

• Family: My family inspired me to write. I've always loved writing, I still have a copy of my first poem, I wrote it in second grade, I think. My Grandma June was an amazing writer, my dad could write wonderful songs, my older sister is an incredible storyteller. She comes up with these amazing stories for children. My parents didn't ever get upset when I ran out of paper and wrote my poems or story ideas on my bedroom wall when I was in high school. They have all inspired me to not give up on my writing and to try to get published.

Here's the blurb for Love Overcomes:

Single mother Arabella Mackenzie never imagined that going to California with her sister Clara would have such a huge impact on her life. Since the end of a disastrous relationship, Arabella has been wary of wanting or needing anyone other than her family. But when she meets hunky actor, Jeremy Fowlis, she begins to have feelings for a man for the first time since her three year old son was born. Now, she needs to try to overcome her past and learn to trust again.

Jeremy is not used to women who don't want to date him, or at least show him off to their friends — he is an in-demand actor, after all. He is tired of the shallow, avaricious attention that he gets from the public, but when he meets intelligent, cautious Arabella, she doesn't even know his name. Arabella's grounded beauty captivates him instantly, but, he is wary of getting involved with a single mother with a complicated past.

Can Arabella and Jeremy both overcome their doubts and fears in order to find love?

Find out more at angelaschroederauthor.blogspot.com.

Margaret Bingley, author of Betrayal

Three things that inspired my new release:

• I was inspired to begin my writing career by the words of my English teacher, Miss Carter, who after I'd won the school English prize told me, "Don't ever give up writing. You have a gift for it." Sadly she died relatively young, but her words have always stayed with me, and every time I begin a book I think of her.

• In Betrayal my heroine's autistic daughter was inspired by a little girl called Dawn whom I met on visits with my mother to a home for autistic children when I was a teenager. She was incredibly beautiful and looked like a Botticelli angel. Her caregiver suggested we take her to our home for tea one day. She'd never spoken or moved out of her chair before, but once we got her home she virtually destroyed two rooms in our house while screaming non-stop, in what was, I now realize, a sign of her absolute terror at new surroundings. In those days little was known about autism, but watching her blind panic instilled a lifelong interest and concern for sufferers and their families in me.

• Betrayal is based on a "what if" that was highly relevant during the 20th century, when having a child out of wedlock brought disgrace on the young mother and her family. Usually the girl was forced to give up the baby to adoptive parents within days and "put it all behind her." The heartbreak this caused was unimaginable, and ruined lives forever. I wondered what would happen if, in order to keep the baby and give it security, a scared and innocent young mother made a disastrous decision, albeit with the best of intentions, and so Betrayal was born.

Here's the blurb about Betrayal:

Set in the second half of the twentieth century, Lisa Green comes from a world of privilege, but only in the way of wealth, not in love. When a turn of events leaves her single, with an Autistic child to raise, without the means to support herself, Lisa gets stuck in an abusive new relationship that she is desperate to get out of. Betrayal catalogs one woman's search for love without conditions, sexual or otherwise, in a world that seems bent against her.

Find out more at www.margaretbingley.co.uk.

Tina Donahue, author of Intimate Details

Three things that helped inspire my new release:

I get inspiration from just about anything. Sometimes it feels as if HBO is playing movies in my head. : )

For Intimate Details, my newest erotic romance, these were the major factors:

• I've been fascinated by computer hacking since I read The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Lisbeth Salander was such a cool character. Shana Gallagher, my heroine, is smart as hell, can find her way around any computer program and refuses to let the elite hurt the little guy. Her hacking skills are legend. Wow, I wish I knew half of what she does.

• The banking industry meltdown in 2008 had a great influence on the backdrop of my plot. The corruption at so many levels made me think of what a woman like Shana, along with Mike and Cody (the guys in her life), could do to make things right for victims.

• My fascination with ménages. It took me a long time before I could wrap my head around two guys with one lady. For the lady, I could see the attraction. When it came to a guy sharing his woman, I wasn't so sure. However, once I took the plunge with SiNN, my first ménage, I couldn't look back.

Here's the blurb about Intimate Details:

As a computer hacker, she demands justice.

As a woman, she craves two powerful and commanding men.

Shana's been hacking one of Manhattan's most corrupt executives, making him pay for what he's done to his victims. Using her skills, she convinces Mike and Cody to hire her at their intelligence-gathering firm, where intimate details help their clients.

Never has Mike met a woman as delicious as Shana. Smart as hell, curvy and assured, she'd be a delightful challenge in bed. Cody's carnal hunger is equally intense. He and Mike want to know everything about her.

She won't divulge the secrets of her past. All she can offer is unquenchable desire and her heart.

During weeks of shameless lust and pleasure, Mike and Cody peel away the layers of Shana's life. The stunning truth changes everything. They'll do all that they can to keep her safe…and in their arms.

Find out more at www.tinadonahue.com.