Battles on the Field and in the Heart...Wounded Warrior Series

Hello, J.M. Northup and Simone Beaudelaire, welcome to SASSE Sheets. I appreciate you spending the day with us here. So, excited to talk to the two of you and find out more about your books and the writing duo.

 

JM Northup: Please, call me Julie and thank you for inviting us today.  We are excited to be here!

 

SASSE: Tell the readers a little about yourselves. How did this writing team come about?

 

Simone Beaudelaire: We met through our publisher, Creativia, but I quickly discovered Julie and I had a lot in common. We became friends. Then, because writer friends complain about writing, I mentioned a partially completed book I couldn’t finish because I didn’t know where to take it. After some discussion, we decided to work together to complete it, and Saving Sam finally came to light. But as we discussed the story, it quickly became obvious a trilogy, not a stand-alone, was being born

 

SASSE: What was the first romance book you read that made you think ‘I want to do this.’?

 

Simone Beaudelaire: I honestly can’t remember. I started reading romance really young. Like 12 years old (without permission) and I was hooked. I had always been a bit of a make believe/storyteller kid, and somehow the two merged together into a desire to write romance of my own.

 

JM Northup: I honestly didn’t know much about the romance genre.  I considered romance to be an emotion or motivator within a story; a natural human response.  I can say the first book I read with actual love scenes was Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel.  It wasn’t until I met Simone (and some of our mutual romance writing friends) that I was really introduced to the genre.  The creative, poetic way they depicted romance and the artistic way they described sex drew me to the genre and I hooked!

 

SASSE:  Can you explain to the readers about the Wounded Warrior series? How did you come up with the idea for it? Is this just another ‘military hero story’?

 

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Simone Beaudelaire: I started writing Saving Sam long ago, before I even knew I was capable of writing anything. I didn’t finish it because I got stuck, but even then I was just hoping to write a sexy story about a hot soldier. It required Julie’s experience with the military and PTSD to turn my half-baked idea for a hot romance into a deep, powerful story of life after battle.

 

JM Northup: Being a veteran myself, I am very connected to our stories and I wanted them to have a deep meaning.  Discussing the stories with Simone, it was obvious she wanted to write something of substance to honor our veterans and their families as much as I did.  Ultimately, I think we achieved our goal and in doing so, I don’t believe our books are just another “military hero story”.  I think they touch on some very profound topics and are filled with a lot of heart. 

 

SASSE: As most of my readers know I’m a Wounded Warrior. I was in the military for fourteen years. So, your series jumped out at me. Before deciding to write this series where you both familiar with Wounded Warriors? In what way?

 

Simone Beaudelaire: I’ve been aware of them, of course, but not on a personal level. Julie opened my eyes to a whole world I didn’t know. Oh, and thank you for your service.

 

JM Northup: Yes, thank you for your service and sacrifices!  I first heard about the Wounded Warrior Project while I was stations at McChord AFB in Washington State.  My cousin, who was in the Army at the time, stationed at Fort Lewis, was very active with the organization.  I was really moved by the work they did and when I had the chance to do something to give back to them and, more importantly, to my fellow veterans, I felt honored to be included.

 

SASSE: What was the most emotional challenging book to write out of the three of them?

 

Simone Beaudelaire: I think of the three books, Saving Sam was the most challenging. It sat half-



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finished for years before Julie showed me how to finish it. But Justifying Jack is by far the most emotional. I cried buckets writing it. I like to write emotional works, so that isn’t the biggest challenge to me. I lacked deep information about the military needed to make the stories come alive.

 

JM Northup: Each book had challenges and each spoke to me on a different level.  Still, I would have to say that Justifying Jack was the most emotionally challenging story for me.  It is the book that focuses the most on the family and what happens when a military family loses their loved one to war.  That was very moving to me and having seen my own daughters’ reactions to my service, it was the most personal for me.

 

SASSE: When readers read your stories, what is a common theme that you want them to walk away with?

 

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J.M. Northup and Simone Beaudelaire: That love doesn’t heal physical or emotional wounds, but it can provide the support survivors need to allow themselves to heal. No one can love you so much you get better, but having love makes the work more bearable.

 

SASSE: Thank you both for sitting down with me and talking about such a wonderful series that I am excited to dive into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about J.M. Northup and Simone Beaudelaire!

SIMONE BEAUDELAIRE

Simone Beaudelaire is the pseudonym for a single mom and graduate student from Texas.
In her spare time, Mme Beaudelaire reads romances as fast as she can get her hands on them, and when she isn't reading them, she's writing them!

 

J.M. NORTHUP

J.M. Northup is an American author whose work tends to cross genres.  She’s a native Minnesotan living in Texas, a wicked cat lady, and proudly served in the U.S. Air Force. Julie’s happily married to her best friend, Dusty and together, they have 2 beautiful daughters!           

Website:
Simone Beaudelaire - http://simonebeaudelaireauthor.weebly.com
J.M. Northup - http://www.creativia.org/jm-northup.html

            Twitter:
Simone Beaudelaire - https://twitter.com/SimoneBeaudelai
J.M. Northup – www.twitter.com/JM_Northup

            FB Author Page (if you have one):
Simone Beaudelaire - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Simone-Beaudelaire-and-Edwin-Stark/703991259648857?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
J.M. Northup - www.facebook.com/authorjmnorthup

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