Author Q&A: Lorhainne Eckhart

Today we're interviewing author Lorhainne Eckhart, who writes raw relatable real romance.

Eckhart, a New York Times & USA Today bestseller, is best known for writing big family romances series, where “morals and family are running themes. Danger, romance, and a drive to do what is right will see you glued to the page.”

As one fan calls her, she is the “queen of the family saga.” With over 120 books, audiobooks, and multiple series published and available at all retailers now translated into multiple languages.

Eckhart is a multiple recipient of the Readers’ Favorite Award for Suspense and Romance and lives in the Pacific Northwest on an island.

She is the mother of three; her oldest has autism, and she is an advocate for never giving up on your dreams.

SADYE: How did you come to see yourself as a writer, and what inspired you to seek publication?

LORHAINNE: I didn’t start writing until after my youngest was born. My oldest was in the middle of a challenging time of being diagnosed with autism.

My marriage was over, and here I was suddenly a single mother and I asked this one question, “Is this it.”

And then I had a dream, and from that dream came this story—my very first book—and I would get up at three in the morning every day and write when my little ones were sleeping until they woke up.

Now it took four years to get published, but I never once gave up through all the closed doors, all the no’s, all the rejections.

I just kept trying another avenue at the same time I started writing my next book. It was a long process, but now as I look back on that long journey, this truly is my dream job.

SADYE: Which of your characters would you least like to trade places with?

LORHAINNE: In the very first book I wrote, which is now titled Saved, Abby Carlton—who met and married the Navy captain—survived a brutal horrifying experience, and her resulting PTSD and trauma is just one character I would never want to trade places with.

She is a strong woman to overcome, but her story is heartbreaking.

SADYE: What have been the most surprising, rewarding, and challenging parts of your writing career?

LORHAINNE: Publishing is likely the hardest industry to get into. I was rejected four or five hundred times by agents and publishers.

You might ask, are there even four hundred agents out there? No! I went back to some of them two or three times, and I never gave up.

When the door was slammed, I just found another way in. I never saw this as a failure. Nor did I share what I was doing with friends and people I knew, because I expected a lack of support.

After laughter at hearing what I was trying to do, to accomplish, I expected to be told to just give up already and move on and do something realistic.

SADYE: What has been the most touching or memorable piece of reader feedback you’ve received?

LORHAINNE: One of the best was a review from one of my fans of how much her husband disliked me as he was forced to eat sandwiches for two nights for dinner. All because she couldn’t put my books down.  

Now I read a lot of professional reviews out there, but by far that very personal review from one of my fans meant so much more, and is why I do what I do.

SADYE: What message or theme would you like readers to take away from your work?

LORHAINNE: Morals and family are running themes in all my books and series.

Danger, romance, and a drive to do what is right add to that my books at times run between crime fiction and a romance, and always center around a family.

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Learn more about Lorhainne Eckhart on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her on Facebook; and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. 

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