Ivy Layne - Suspense, Betrayal, Angst, Love and Hate

Ivy Layne has had her nose stuck in a book since she first learned to decipher the English language. Sometime in her early teens, she stumbled across her first Romance, and the die was cast. Although she pretended to pay attention to her creative writing professors, she dreamed of writing steamy romance instead of literary fiction. These days, she's neck-deep into alpha heroes and the smart, sexy women who love them.  Married to her very own alpha hero (who rubs her back after a long day of typing, but also leaves his socks on the floor). Ivy lives in the mountains of North Carolina where she and her other half are having a blast raising two energetic boys. Aside from her family, Ivy's greatest loves are coffee and chocolate, preferably together. As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about her book, Stolen Heart.Stolen Heart opens with a powerful setup — a murder, a will, and a forced marriage between two people with a painful past. What first inspired this story, and how did you strike the balance between romance and suspense?I love the marriage of convenience trope, but it's so hard to pull off in contemporary romance. I got the idea to use a will, and the well-being of an entire town, to push my characters into marriage. In the very beginning, I spent a lot of time poking at the legalities with my dad, who had a degree in law, and we had so much fun playing with different ways to get Griffen and Hope together. We lost my dad a few years ago, and Stolen Heart will always be special to me for those memories of talking through the story with him. In the end, I love the way it worked out for Griffen and Hope. They very much did not want to get married, but secretly, I knew it was what they really wanted all along.Griffen Sawyer and Hope Daniels have such layered emotional history. How did you go about developing their chemistry while still keeping their mutual mistrust believable?I spent a lot of time thinking about the relationship they had as kids, the layers of time and memory that never go away, and then on top of that, what happened when Griffen was exiled to turn him against Hope. All those years of friendship drew them together, even when they weren't sure they could trust each other again.Many readers describe Stolen Heart as more than just a “second-chance romance” — it’s a redemption story, a family saga, and a mystery all in one. How do you juggle those threads without losing the heart of the love story?Not easily. Lol. I like a complicated story that's still fun to read, so I try to balance all the different threads in the story in a way that gives readers enough to dig into without being overwhelming. In the end, it really comes down to putting the characters first. When I follow their hearts, I usually end up in the right place.The Sawyer family is full of complicated dynamics and secrets. Which family relationship was the most challenging or rewarding for you to write?Probably the relationship between Griffen and Ford. Partly because I love Griffen so much and Ford wasn't exactly a wonderful brother to him. Griffen had more empathy for Ford than I did, especially once he fell in love with Hope. Griffen was ready to be a brother and I was still holding a grudge. But Ford won me over as the series developed and I had so much fun finally writing his book in Forbidden Heart.Your readers often praise your “alpha heroes with heart.” What makes Griffen stand out from the other men in your previous series, like the Sinclairs and Winters?Griffen has a different challenge than any of my Winters or Sinclair heroes. Unlike the others, who were close to their siblings and facing threats from the outside, Griffen needed more heart than the others. He didn't just need to protect his family from whoever killed their father; it became his job to bring them back together as a family despite their past.Hope’s transformation from the “careless girl” of Griffen’s past to a strong, grounded woman feels central to the story. What message were you hoping readers would take from her growth?I loved that Hope was able to hold on to the parts of herself she loved, and also grow beyond the limitations her uncle put on her. She made a mistake, all those years ago, when she played a part in Griffen's exile, and she was determined to make it right, though I don't think she could have guessed how that was going to play out. If there's a message in Hope, I think it's to believe in yourself and the things you value, but also don't be afraid of change. Sometimes life is about holding on, and sometimes it's about letting go. Hope learned how to do both.Small-town settings often become characters themselves in romance fiction. What makes Sawyers Bend unique, and how does its atmosphere shape the story’s tension and intimacy?I've loved writing about Sawyers Bend! While it's a fictional town, it borrows from places I know and love in Western North Carolina. Living in the mountains offers opportunities for suspense and adventure that I've really enjoyed playing with. Bad weather, mountain roads and trails, and wildlife have all been fun to use to create suspense and throw characters together.The murder mystery thread adds real danger and urgency. Did you always plan for Stolen Heart to include this level of suspense, or did it evolve as you wrote?It was planned all along! I knew we'd have a killer out there, and that Prentice had been up to all sorts of nefarious business, so it was a given that there would be a lot of suspense.Readers mention that the ending left them eager for more — how did you decide where to close Griffen and Hope’s arc while still keeping the overall Sawyer saga alive?That's always a challenge with long, connected series like The Hearts of Sawyers Bend. I try with each book to focus on the love story as the heart of the book, so once my main characters have their HEA, I know it's time to move to the next book to continue the overall story.One reviewer called Stolen Heart “a true coming home story.” Do you see the novel as a story about returning — to love, to family, to forgiveness?Definitely! Most of my series are about families, bonded together and facing outside threats. I loved the idea of a shattered family coming back together. They were just waiting for Griffen to return home and put in the work to make the Sawyers a family again. It wasn't easy, but he won them over.You’ve described yourself as “neck-deep in alpha heroes and the smart, sexy women who love them.” What continues to draw you to this dynamic as a storyteller?With the Hearts of Sawyers Bend series reaching its conclusion in November 2025, what emotional or thematic threads are you most excited to tie together?I'm so in love with this family. With each book I find new reasons to love them and new characters to fall for. Giving Ford his own book felt like the best way to bring the series to a close, and heal the Sawyer family once and for all. Finally showing them the answers they've been looking for was so satisfying. I can't wait for readers to finally know everything I've been keeping a secret!As both a wife and mother, how do your own experiences of love, partnership, and family life shape the authenticity of your romances?I use little bits of my own kids in all the kids I write. Usually, they don't mind. :) I've been married to my husband for over twenty years and I've learned so much about what I think makes our marriage work. I try to give my characters the kind of partnership I love for myself, and to recognize that the dance of two people being in love changes through time, but is always a journey.