Susan Lohrer’s romance writing career is fairly new, with two novels — Rocky Road and Over the Edge — published in paperback and as ebooks this year, and as with many artists, her profession grew directly out of a lifelong passion.
“I’ve always been a reader,” said the Creston Valley author. “I read from the copyright page right through to the very end.”
She’s also a big fan of the romance genre, with characters created by Katie Fforde, Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding lending inspiration.
“I don’t know if I write like they do, but I’m inspired by their funny heroines who do outrageous things,” she said. “My dog is actually named Bridget Jones.”
Lohrer’s novels are deeper than many expect from the genre, with family issues and relationships central to the plot.
“It’s more than just boy meets girl,” she said. “It’s a bigger story than just romance.”
Her first book, Rocky Road, which was published in June, deals with Nancy Anne “Ancy” Robertson, who has her heart set on a dream promotion — but she could lose her job altogether if her career-annihilating secret comes out: her fiancé is also her physical therapy patient.
“She needs to get him off her patient list, but he sets off a series of one credulity-challenging disaster after the next, and she’s the only one on staff who’s qualified to treat his injuries,” says the publisher’s description. “Maybe some people would walk away, but he volunteers building houses for people who can’t afford them, and that fact melts Ancy’s heart.”
Over the Edge, published in late July, focuses on Kat Cherish, a high school principal and activist — “a combination that hasn’t been great for her career” — who returns to her hometown to mend discover her estranged sister is going through a tough times — and that their childhood home is for sale.
“Getting the house back just might be the only thing that can put Kat’s complicated family back together,” says the description, “if she can cope with her mixed feelings for her ex-boyfriend, who’s been hired to completely remodel her house for another potential buyer … and if she doesn’t lose her new job because of the outrageous antics she’s pulling to keep her sister out of trouble.”
Obviously, there’s also a healthy dose of humour thrown in for good measure, turning the stories into from straight romance into romantic comedies.
“I blame it on too many years of watching The Simpsons,” she said. “I can’t get rid of slapstick.”
Readers expecting graphic descriptions of other physical activity, though, will find those conspicuously absent.
“The shenanigans happen behind closed doors,” Lohrer said.
Lohrer got started in writing in 2004, when she received a card in the mail for a writing course. At the time, she was already in a group for parents of children with Down syndrome, and became the resource person for writers in the group.
The course led to Lohrer becoming an editor, which made sense, since she used to “rip apart books” — and when friends would send her letters, she’d make corrections in red and return them.
She had her books written before she mentioned them to her current publisher, from whom she was editing. In an unrelated email, Lohrer decided to include the line, “By the way, I’ve got these two novels I wrote.” Her publisher was immediately intrigued.
The author has lived all over Western Canada and moved to Creston when she was 12. She later went to the Okanagan for a few years before returning to the Creston Valley. Her deep roots in the region with one book set in a fictional Idaho town, and another in a fictional Kootenay town. She said that more books are in the works, with a setting that might seem more familiar.
Lohrer said she’s enjoyed the experience of writing the novels, as well as following the path the characters led her on.
“They sort of become alive,” she said. “You can plot it scene by scene, but then the characters want to do something better. You write what they need.”