Authors To Watch: Sharon Struth, author of 'The To-Do List'

Bestselling author Sharon Struth believes you’re never too old to pursue a dream. When she’s not writing, she and her husband happily sip their way through the scenic towns of the Connecticut Wine Trail.

The Hourglass (Etopia Press), her debut novel, is a finalist in the National Readers' Choice Awards for Best First Book and winner of the Chatelaine Award For Romantic Fiction. Her follow-up release, Share the Moon (Kensington Publishing) is a Barnes & Noble Romance Bestseller and first in the Blue Moon Lake Novel series.

She writes from Bethel, Connecticut, the friendliest place she’s ever lived along with her husband and dogs.

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Title: The To-Do List
Author: Sharon Struth
Publisher: Solsbury Hill Press
Pages: 240
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Suspense

Relax, she’s got this…

Maggie Harris has her ultra-organized life well in hand, until she finds her neighbor and husband together, in her bed, and the tight hold she keeps on her world unravels, leaving her grasping for an escape. So how can she refuse when she’s handed the dream job of running her aunt’s bookstore and a chance for a fresh start? Even though the bookstore is in Brockport, Connecticut, her former hometown, and a place she’d vowed to leave behind forever.

When someone breaks into Maggie’s new business and leaves a threat on the wall, Detective Cooper Stanton is assigned the case. It’s been twenty years, but Coop hasn’t forgotten the way Maggie once charmed him at every turn—even with her controlling ways. This time, though, Coop refuses to let her seize the reins. What he doesn’t know is she plans to grab them anyway…and she’s got a secret she never shared.

Watch the book trailer at YouTube!

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Can you tell us about your most recent release?

The To-Do List has a little bit of everything. Hometown comfort, an old flame rekindled, secrets that seemingly have nothing to do with the mystery of who's trying to run Maggie out of town, and yet maybe they do…

The story centers around Maggie Harris, a life-long control freak whose world begins to unravel when she catches her husband in bed with another woman and files for divorce. Just as she believes she’s starting to regain control in her life by moving back to her hometown and renovating her aunt’s old bookstore, she gets slammed with two more problems; the return of an old flame and a threat for her to leave town. Only the officer in charge of her case is Cooper Stanton, the old flame and a man from whom Maggie has kept a secret. When Coop isn’t solving the case fast enough, Maggie reaches for the reigns.

How did you get the idea for the book?

A friend of mine told that she’d been having trouble filing her divorce papers, so she added the task to her to-do list, certain once written down she’d get it done. It struck me as funny and I said, “That’d be a great opening for a book.” And now it is…

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?

My favorite character comes from my Blue Moon Lake Novels. Meg is a secondary character who appears in all four books. She’s sweet to everyone, the most positive person in any room, rarely gets an idiom right, and will make you smile whenever she’s around. Lately I’ve felt like she needs her own book and a story is brewing in the back of my mind.

What projects are you currently working on?

At the moment, I’m finishing edits on a book called THE SWEET LIFE, set in Tuscany Italy. It’s for a three book series with Kensington and each book will be set overseas. Book one is due out mid-2017. Spending the past six months writing about Tuscany has been so delightful I’d hardly call it work. The research has me itching to return to this special are of Italy. Book two will take place in the Cotswolds, a rural area in southern England and is called WILLOW’S WAY.

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring authors?

Never give up, work hard at learning the craft of writing, and go to professionals for feedback on your work. Sometimes learning to write well hurts, but writing professionals (like an editor) WILL give you honest feedback. In the end, it’ll make you a better writer.