Vicki Barrett-nelson asked Jennifer Ashley:

What was your inspiration to start writing your first book? And why the genre that you do write in?

Jennifer Ashley I started writing books when I was a wee small child. I loved horse books, so I wrote any stories that involved horses. Then I discovered fantasy (esp.Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) so I started writing my own fantasy sagas. As I got older, I grew more interested in romance (but not romance novels). I wanted to write fantasies with romance (fantasy/adventure that focused on a romantic couple), but at the time, it was a no-no to put romance in fantasy (this, happily has changed). Then I discovered historical romance, which was close to what I wanted to do. I read some fabulous books in the genre, and started writing my own. I grew addicted to writing historical romance, and here I am. At the same time, because I read mysteries almost exclusively from the age of 14 onward (except for more forays into fantasy), I grew addicted to writing historical mysteries. I'm pleased to say that's also now going well (under my pen name Ashley Gardner).

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