Featured Interview With Katie Mettner
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Katie Mettner and I live in Northern Wisconsin. I was raised about an hour south of here in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and my daughter now attends university there. I write romance and romantic suspense and have over 40 titles to my list. I married my soulmate almost 20 years ago and we share our lives with three teenagers. I became a left below knee amputee almost ten years ago after a 25-year-old injury from the ski hill.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I've always loved books for as long as I can remember, but I'm 44 so you'll have to excuse my lack of an exact date. Kidding, of course. I loved books as a little kid, and was hooked on all of the old Disney books from back then like Magic Grinder. My father loved to read and always took us to the library to spend hours reading on the bean bag chairs in the children's room. My mother loved to read too, and she always took us to the used bookstore downtown to fill up a brown paper sack with used books, once we were old enough. I loved the Nancy Drew Mysteries, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children (The original!), and Beverly Cleary. Once I was old enough I moved into Harlequin Intrigue series and loved Mary Higgins Clark novels as a teenager. I have always enjoyed writing, whether it was in a journal or short stories. I didn't write my first novel until 2011 after my amputation, though..
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark, Lisa Regan, Jill Shalvis, anything from the Harlequin Desire and Intrigue lines, Janie Crouch, Janet Evanovich, Dana Mason, and the list goes on. My favorite genre is contemporary romance or romantic suspense, but I lean more toward the romantic suspense side. I like there to be a little side plot besides the romance. Who inspires me in my writings? Boy, this is a tough one for me to answer but I will say the people whose stories I'm telling. That sounds weird, but I write romance novels about disabled people finding true love, so I'm always researching and talking to people with whatever condition I'm writing about at the time. I always try to tell the story like they were the ones experiencing the highs and lows on the journey of love.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called Jam & Jingle Bells (11/1/2019) It is the third in the Bells Pass Series, which takes place in the fictional town of Bells Pass, Michigan. Bells Pass is built on small-town pride, the love for the people in it, and the desire to help a lonely couple find love at Christmastime. They always work together to show the couple how true love can be exactly what they need, even when they aren't looking for it. In Jam & Jingle Bells you get to know Addie Collop, owner of the salon Addie & Me, better. All of her friends are finding love and getting married, leaving her to ponder how alone she really is this year. Even her mother is getting married! Along comes Ellis David, a new-to-town yoga instructor who is in desperate need of Addie's services. His shock white hair is, well, shocking, but Addie takes him and gives him a new respectable business owner look that turns them into fast friends. While everything about Ellis is soft white, Addie has the most unusual heritage. The color of her skin is hot chocolate but the color of her hair is ginger red. Her father, someone she has never known, was Irish by way of the UK and she longs to know who he was. When the Christmas season hits, she's determined to find out, and what happens in her search to learn who she is sends her on an unexpected journey of hate, misunderstandings, and ultimately forgiveness, acceptance, and love.
Ellis, owner of Rudolph Yoga Express, is just the guy Bells Pass has been looking for. In need of a new Santa for the town, Ellis is perfect for the gig. What they don't know is that Santa's heart doesn't beat the way it should. A trip to the hospital reveals the secrets about his past that has kept Ellis from trusting in anyone or anything for years. He trusts Addie and reveals the truth to her in hopes he will finally find freedom in his life again. As Santa, Ellis finds a way to help a local child who has had a hard time the past year. When he's hidden behind the beard, he can be honest with her about sadness and pain, but that it does get better. Holly breaks his heart with her pain, a pain he knows too well, but he finds pure joy in the season when he is the one to show her the magic of Santa can last year-round.
Jam & Jingle Bells is a like a warm cup of hot cocoa with a little spice sprinkled throughout, and I don't just mean in the bedroom. There is a lot of real-life in this story but also a lot of heart, love, and a sense of community many of us remember from our childhood and would love to find again.
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