About the Book

Book: Mayhem and Moonlight

Author: Jennifer Sienes

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction, and Southern Fiction

Release date: April 16, 2024

Left at the altar holding the bill, a boatload of college debt, and piddly librarian salary has her praying for a miracle.

Lillian Murphy takes her life verse from a book title—A Series of Unfortunate Events. Could be it was on account of her jumping into things without first dipping a toe in to test the waters that landed her in such a position. A cozy, cardboard box would suit her just fine if she could find a way to heat it, but she’s hoping the good Lord will do some better. She’s done dreaming of happily-ever-after – She’d settle for just debt- and drama-free.

Luca Giordano knows the minute he lands in Shelbyville, Tennessee with his three young boys that he’s in over his head. Leaving the pain of his past behind, he’d also left his parents—and they’d done the heavy lifting. All his charts, graphs, and scheduling expertise isn’t enough. What kind of a productivity expert is he if he can’t be…productive? What he needs is a part-time Mary Poppins to swoop in and fill in for his gargantuan gaps—and Librarian Lillian seems the perfect solution.

But when Luca’s past converges with the present—and Lillian’s the catalyst—everything he loves most is at risk. How will a free spirit and fusspot find a way to happy ending?

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About the Author

Award-winning author Jennifer Sienes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in education but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, romance, and writing—and puts it altogether in inspirational women’s fiction. Two of the three novels in her Apple Hill Series (set in Northern California) were inspired by actual events. Her Southern fiction Bedford County Series is set in Tennessee where she now resides with her real-life hero (and husband).

More from Jennifer

I’m often asked where I draw inspiration for my stories. It was easy when I was writing the Apple Hill Series, because the Lord took me through a long season of loss ripe with emotional angst and faith building. So, two of the three novels in that series were inspired by actual events I lived through—my daughter’s traumatic brain injury and my brother’s suicide. Not exactly the stuff of happily-ever-afters. But being a romantic, I’m a sucker for a happy ending. It took quite a bit of spiritual growth and creative ingenuity (she says tongue-in-cheek) to be able to move past the pain and find the blessings for my characters. Proof that God uses every tear for our good and His glory.

The story behind Mayhem and Moonlight came from a friend of mine. Annie. Not long after I met her (at my release party for Night Songs) she told me about how she and her husband Peter came to be together. Annie was a school psychologist who had been left at the alter years before. Peter was a single father of three boys whose wife passed away from cancer. Annie loved children but was past her child-bearing years, so she was as enamored with Peter’s three boys as she was by the man himself. Inept in the kitchen, she shared many hysterical culinary malfunctions with me, including how she almost burned the house down on more than one occasion.

Main character Lillian was also inspired by an actual person—my daughter Nikki. Yes, this is the same daughter who suffered a near fatal car accident and went through months of rehab for traumatic brain injury. What a sweet thing to be inspired by her when she was dealing with a disability and again years later with master’s degree for library and information science—just like main character Lillian. That’s how our good God works, though, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

But of course, a romance needs a protagonist, and Lillian’s is Luca Giordano—single father to three young boys (just like Annie’s Peter) and a productivity expert in serious need of help. It wasn’t until after I started fleshing out ideas for this book that I’d even heard of a productivity expert. It was through one phone conversation with old friends who told me their son had written a book titled Winning the Week: How to Plan a Successful Week, Every Week. I could’ve never imagined purchasing this book to show support to my friends would lead to the inspiration I needed for Luca’s career.

And guess what? Using the techniques laid out by authors Demir and Carey Bentley helped me become a more productive writer, too! It was a win-win.

Once I got to know the characters, I let them loose in my imagination and had to race to keep up with them. That’s when I know my writing is in conjunction with the Lord. I literally cannot make this stuff up. I pray you will enjoy reading Mayhem and Moonlight as much as I did writing it.

Author Interview with Jennifer

Q: What was the inspiration behind this novel?

Jennifer: I met a woman named Annie at one of my release parties, and we became fast friends. When she was young, she’d been left at the altar (just like Lillian). But unlike Lillian, she didn’t meet the love of her life for several years. Peter, who had lost his wife to cancer, had three young boys, and Annie fell in love with them before she did Peter. Annie, a career woman, never learned to cook, so she had many kitchen fiasco stories. To this day, Peter does the bulk of the cooking—for his own good.

Annie shared that she felt like an utter failure, and because of this, decided to leave Peter. She thought he and the boys would be better off without her. As she was loading up her car, the youngest boy (who was five at the time) asked her where she was going. When she told him she was leaving, he started crying and reminded her that she promised to be his new mom. If she was going to run away, so was he. That little boy is now a grown man and recently got married. Needless to say, Annie and Peter have been happily married for over twenty years.

You will find shades of Annie and Peter’s story in Lillian and Luca.

Q: What was the most surprising thing you discovered while researching and writing this novel?

Jennifer: While I was wracking my brain to come up with a unique career for Luca Giordano, I had a phone conversation with friends who told me one of their sons had written a non-fiction book titled Winning the Week. To show support, I decided to purchase the ebook version, which was only .99 (and worth so much more!) It turned out their son is a productivity expert. I didn’t even know such a thing existed, and I decided it would be Luca’s career as well.

As I started reading the book to gain some insights into what such person does, my eyes were opened to how much more productive I could be if I actually took to heart the suggestions in Winning the Week. It made such an impact on how I approach achieving all the different aspects of a writing career—the writing (of course), marketing, creating blog posts and newsletters, etc. I still have a lot to learn, but never before have I been personally affected by my research.

Q: Do any of the novel’s characters hold a special place in your heart?

Jennifer: Lillian holds a special place in my heart. She is a librarian with a master’s in library and information science (just like my own daughter Nikki). And like my daughter, her particular job required nothing more than a high school diploma—so she was wasting her degree. But both Lillian and Nikki share the same heart for what their work. Nikki was a mobile librarian who spent a lot of time connecting with children. Ironically, after I turned in this novel to my publisher, Nikki was hired as an assistant research librarian at Tennessee State University, a position that Lillian herself coveted.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote from this novel?

Jennifer: My favorite quote from Mayhem and Moonlight is, “Curiosity and suspicion were kissing cousins—one might could kill the cat, but the other was a sure-fire way to kill a relationship.”

Q: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Jennifer: I had another interviewer ask this question, too. Let me start by saying I exemplify the saying Jack of all trades, master of none. My favorite store is Hobby Lobby. I recently told one of the cashiers there that if I worked in that store, I’d never take home a paycheck. I enjoy crafts, home décor, furniture refinishing, and I’m in the long process of making a doll house. These are all winter projects, of course. When the weather is nice, I would rather be outside. My husband and I just had a new house built, and I’m itching to start landscaping. Hobby Lobby might be my favorite store, but walking through a well-stocked nursery is my happy place. I am also learning to play the piano. My grandfather was a professional who never learned how to read music. He could hear something once and be able to play his own arrangement of it. However, I did not inherit his talent. And then there is reading, of course. It is not only a joy, it is a requirement if one wants to be a decent writer.