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Saoirse’s Story

Details

Author name: A.M. Jaxon

Book title: Saoirse’s Story

Genre: Romantic suspense

Launch date: 15.05.2025

Website: A.M. Jaxon

Buy links

Summary

As the gunshots ring out, Saoirse Mahoney resolves to flee the only life she’s ever known. Leaving Donegal, Ireland, she sets out to discover the woman she’s meant to be—and the love she longs for.

Landing in Brisbane, Australia, she throws herself into her new life, but her path is no less challenging or turbulent. Workplace harassment, broken trust and her inexperience threaten to derail her.

Love in all its beauty weaves throughout her journey—but the echoes of toxic love and the weight of a past Saoirse can’t escape lead to a shameful love haunting her every move.

Daring to believe she may have finally found her place in the world, she’s suddenly confronted with love’s darkest insanity—and it threatens to destroy everything.

With nowhere left to run, Saoirse must turn and face this evil that has pursued her across oceans. Will she break, or will she rise stronger than ever, becoming the woman she’s truly meant to be?

The gripping first novel in the Love Connection series by A.M. Jaxon, Saoirse’s Story blends the complex, heartfelt connections of Love Actually with the intensity and secrets of Big Little Lies. A powerful exploration of the courage needed to overcome controlling and at times violent love, it asks – what does it take to rise above your past and begin anew?

Let's talk about it

Tell us something about yourself that not many people know

I appeared as a guest, a background character, on the ABC comedy series, ‘Utopia’. My only line was, ‘Sydney office here, Mr Chairman.’ Or something like that.

Why did you choose the themes in your book and were you aware of them from the start?

I had two themes in mind from initial concepts:

The first theme revolved around a challenge I had set myself the year before, that of exploring all the different types of love that can be experienced, even the toxic types. I had written twelve short stories to practice stretching and strengthening my writing in the romantic suspense genre. The stories all showcased the varied types of love experienced through different character voices and settings, with interesting twists and plots to their stories.

The second theme centred around a coming-of-age story. However, I didn’t want it to be the typical awakening of a young, not-so-naïve girl’s journey from leaving her small-town home to experience the world to discover the woman she wants to be. My planning evolved, leading me to write Saoirse’s character and story. She was the last written and became the central character, the common thread pulling the other main characters of the short stories together. Then through the other stories and Saoirse’s interactions with the other characters, the reader sees her develop. Her own plotline also adds to how she bends, swerves, gets knocked down, learns to piece herself back together and grows strong.

How difficult was it for you to write this book? Did you face any obstacles?

Blending all the different stories by using the character of Saoirse to be the common thread was the main challenge. The stories and characters needed to dovetail together to seamlessly connect with Saoirse’s overall story and make sense to the reader without it feeling forced.

Do you always write in this genre or do you like to break out of the box?

I love the romantic suspense genre and have always written in it as I love reading books in this genre. There is so much scope within the genre that I haven’t found a need to break out of the romantic suspense box. I keep myself challenged through finding different ways to twist the varies plots I can construct and to surprise the reader with the suspense and romance.

What are your writing habits or idiosyncrasies?

I like planning my plot and characters using a skeleton that has three acts, based on around 30 chapters. I take this to an A3 blank page and, in pencil, begin forming a mind map of the novel. This often gets too small as the plot and details grow. I then transfer the mind map to a three-door mirror-fronted wardrobe. I use whiteboard markers of different colours on the mirrors to represent the varied characters and sub-plots. It allows me to spread out all the emerging ideas of the novel in my head to ‘see’ where they fit and intersect. Most importantly, it allows me to see if the ideas work and flow. The in-house graffiti is known as my ‘plot-mirror’. It’s like having a big whiteboard at my disposal to plan and focus my thinking. Invariably, once I start writing, I go off the plot plan, and if it’s a stronger path, I keep following it.

What would you do differently next time?

I’d believe in myself and start writing full-time much earlier in my life.

With hindsight, what would you say to yourself as a fledgling writer?

Learn from those who have succeeded and see any setbacks as learning opportunities to improve your writing.

If you worked with a professional editor, what was the experience like?

It took me a while to realise what a good professional editor does. It’s one you enjoy the experience with because you can see the value they add to your writing. To do that, you must find an editor who makes suggestions, doesn’t give directives, and whose guidance you respect, as well as having a similar sense of humour to you!

What’s next for your writing?

I’ll be planning the third book in an as-yet-unpublished rural romantic suspense trilogy, whiteboard markers at the ready. I’m also working on the changes my editor has suggested for the second book in the trilogy. The novels are set in Tropical Far North Queensland, where I grew up.

Author Bio

A.M. Jaxon grew up in an idyllic, sometimes dodgy small town in Far North Queensland of the 1970s-80s Australia. Leaving small-town Queensland, she headed out into the world to study pharmacy before using this medical background to explore and work around the world. These different paths have seen her experience many adventures and misadventures first-hand, which delivers a unique edge to her novels.

A.M. writes about resilient women of all backgrounds and temperaments who endure what life throws at them. A newcomer to the romantic suspense genre, she loves highlighting human nature’s complex, uplifting, and dangerous aspects in all its glorious frailties.

After working for several years in pharmacy, she went slightly insane to study and receive a PhD in Business. If anyone can go only slightly insane! Either way, when each year became too much like a cookie-cutter impression of the last, she decided to follow her passion and write romantic suspense from her home in Perth, Western Australia. She lives with her very organised but messy husband and wily Westy, while her daughters have flown the coop to have their own adventures.

When not writing, she coaches hockey and is a mad fan of any sport except maybe synchronised swimming. A. M’s never met a rum she didn’t like, dislikes coffee, and has an eclectic taste in music, preferably played loud. Most of all, she enjoys a good laugh with friends over a decent meal while watching the sunset over the ocean.