Interview with KM Daughters

Welcome Coffee Time readers! Today, I have the pleasure of talking to KM Daughters, the sister duo of Pat Casiello and Kathy Clare. My name is Kimberly and in early 2009, I was given the book, Past, Present and Forever, to review.  I was stunned at how the characters and their personal struggles really hit home with me. In fact, Past, Present and Forever received a 5 cup review and it won the CTRR award for the month of March 2009. Pull up a comfy seat and let’s chat. Welcome ladies! I feel a little starstruck sitting here with you since I am such a fan of yours.

Oh, Kimberly, thank you so much for the lovely introduction.  We’re thrilled you enjoyed Past, Present and Forever and cherish our CTRR Award.  This is a special book for us because it’s the first book we wrote together.  Although it wasn’t the first book we published as K.M. Daughters, it will always represent a dream come true. 

Please, tell our readers, how did the idea of KM Daughters come about?

KATHIE:  The natural tendency to weave stories is in our blood.  Our dad wrote children’s stories for us.  We love to walk together and on one of our walks we talked about how neat it would be to write a book together.  K.M. Daughters was born on a sister walk.

PAT:  Every K.M. Daughters’ storyline since then starts on a sister walk, also.  The idea to write as a team came spontaneously from batting a plot line back and forth off a title Kathie created – Reunion For The First Time.  At that time each of us had written a romance novel independently, had joined Romance Writers of America to pursue individual writing careers together and had attended a summer writer’s festival at The University of Iowa.  Kathie’s title for her next book really captured our collective imaginations and the collaborative discussion triggered that “aha” team moment.  Coincidentally, Reunion For The First Time IS Past, Present and Forever.

What a neat way to connect and brainstorm. Here’s something I always wonder when there are two authors working on a book together: with one of you in Chicago and the other in New Jersey, how hard is it to work on book ideas?

PAT:  I’ll speak for both of us – we are so blessed that we’re business associates in our day jobs, too – running subsidiaries of a small business headquartered in Chicago.  Kathie’s job is predominantly virtual, so she’s able to manage her responsibilities entirely from her home office, but she has an office in Chicago, also.  We coordinate her business trips to Chicago around those essential parts of story development and polishing that we feel can only be accomplished while in the same room or on the same path, walking and brainstorming.

How very convenient that must be! You are both married,right? When you first met your husbands, was it love at first sight? Or more like a struggle as with Jack and Lizzie from Past, Present and Forever?

KATHIE:   No way!!!  I worked for my husband’s father in their family grocery store.  My husband tried to be the boss of me.  I thought he was a jerk.

PAT:  LOL!  Same for ME, except my husband literally was the boss of the entire regional office of a corporation that employed me.   I was pretty far down the pecking order, but my management was always spouting do’s and don’ts reputedly per my, now, husband.  I thought most of the rules were stupid. J  Our poor Dear Husbands.

I guess that like Jack and Lizzie, we’ve experienced plenty of internal and external conflicts in our real life love stories. 

Isn’t it funny how things work out in the end? Let’s get a little more dirt on your husbands. Do any of your heroes take on your husbands’ characteristics?

KATHIE:  I wish….

PAT:  Um, no.  Although, like our heroes, they’re especially fond of the sex scenes part of our stories.

Why does that not surprise me? Let’s talk books for a few minutes. Past, Present and Forever is still stuck in my heart. How was it to bring Jack and Lizzie, two people who are afraid of commitment, together?

KATHIE:  We had such a good time playing with Lizzie and Jack.  Two great people who deserved their happy ever after.

PAT:  So true.  As with every story we write it’s so rewarding to witness the healing power of love after loss, abandonment and disillusionment.  Lizzie and Jack are such sweet hearts.  We’re so happy they found each other.

 

What touched me the most was how these two people had been so hurt in the past, yet opened themselves up to the love in front of them. You also have two different series you are working on. Can you tell us a little bit more about the Sullivan Brothers?

KATHIE:  Every lady wants a Sullivan Brother.  He’s handsome, strong but tender.  Who could ask for anything more?

PAT:  Sullivan boys are alpha male, Irish charmers who love their Mom and sister and respect women.   In keeping with their family legacy of protect and serve as law enforcers, they’re ambitious, brave, and ruthless professionals who generously surrender their hearts when they meet their soul mates.  And they’re sexy, too.  Our new slogan for the series is Spend Sleepless Nights With The Sullivan Boys.

They sound like my kind of hero. I can see why every woman would like one of her own. Now, Rose of the Adriatic and Jewel of the Adriatic are more of a faith based romantic series. What inspired you to write these books?

KATHIE:  Our deep faith in God led us to visit Marian sites.  We were in the middle of writing the second Sullivan Boys book when we took a trip to Medjugorje.  We were given the story of Jewel of the Adriatic in an adoration chapel there.  We stopped what we were working on and finished Jewel of the Adriatic from concept to finished manuscript in less than three months.  It was the book we sold first.

 

Wow! It sounds like an amazing experience! Now, let’s look ahead. What can we expect from KM Daughters in the future? Any new works in progress we can discuss?

PAT:  Our WIP is book 4 in the Sullivan Boys series and we have a rough concept for a fifth book to conclude the series.

KATHIE:  When we finish the Sullivan Boys we will be able to let our imaginations run wild and create a whole new world.  We have quite a few ideas. We are looking forward to playing with our new friends.

I would imagine the boys are all clammering to have their stories told. We certainly look forward to more from you. Our readers always like to know, besides your website, do you have blogs or social networking sites (twitter, myspace or facebook) where they can find you?

PAT:  Yes we do.  We cordially invite you to follow us on twitter.com/kmdaughters or befriend us on facebook.com/kmdaughters and myspace.com/kmdaughters.  We love chatting here at Coffee Time Romance and More in the forums, also.

 

The forums are a lot of fun here at Coffee Time. Now, a just for fun question: If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and could take books from one author with you, which author would you choose and why?

KATHIE:  It would have to be Nora Roberts.  She has written so many. If we could take all her books we would have our own library on the island.

PAT:  I second that.  So Kathie can bring Nora and I’ll bring J.D. Robb.

You are women after my own heart! Well, it looks like it is time to let you go. I want to thank you for taking time to chat with us here at Coffee Time Romance & More. Pat and Kathy, I have had a lovely visit with you. I must say I am sad to see this end, but I am looking forward to more from KM Daughters. Thank you again for such a wonderful interview. Please come back and see us again sometime.

Thank you, Kimberly.  It would be our pleasure.