About
Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.
Description
<p>When Jessica Bryant pesters her wealthy parents to allow her to have a dog as a pet, the answer is a resounding "No"; but they soon come to regret their decision when thier home is broken into one evening whilst they are out and their daughter kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers, in the form of four seedy and incompetent characters wearing Disneyland-type masks, take her hostage and keep her incarcerated in a place from which there appears to be no escape. However, they reckon without the resourcefulness of our heroine, and the courage of a wonderful stray dog who comes to her aid and whom she names 'Murdo'. And so begins an exciting and humurous accounting of the couples' adventures together as they consistently foil and outwit the abductors whilst on the run together.<br /> This is a lovely story of the friendship between a girl and a dog, bringing out themes of responsibility, camaraderie, redemption, salvation and self-sacrifice. It includes some wonderful dialogue sequences as Jessica teaches her new four-legged friend how to communicate with her, with additional delightful conversations between the animals when a rabbit and a sparrow join forces with them in an effort to outwit the kidnappers and restore Jessica safely back to her parents' home. </p>
Story Behind The Book
In Branded, there is a scene where Ali runs through a field of canolas to draw the attention of the enemy soldiers. This scene, although about two thirds of the way through the book, was the very first scene for the book.
Back in eleventh grade English, our teacher hung several pictures up on the board and asked us to write a short story based on one of them. I remember the image clearly; a field of yellow flowers, blue sky. So, I through carnage into it. Dead bodies, a girl being hunted while only wanting to find her husband from whom she’s been separated because of the war. Add some guns, explosives and grenades, some graphic description and I’d finished.
I remember my teacher reading it and being concerned about my mental state.
Over the years, other scenes formed; her first capture and branding, the “gang chain”, the four horsemen and the bushfire.
Then for NaNoWriMo of 2012 I put it all together. Several years in the making and here you have it.
Reviews
<p><span style="font-family:Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14.44444465637207px;line-height:20px;">This was an exhilarating read, full of suspense, action, romance, and heartbreak on so many different levels. A very powerful and emotional read for people of any religion. ~ Amazon Review</span></p>
