Unbreak Me is her 16th book and was penned 18 months ago in just 11days during National Novel Writing month. The international phenomenon every November sees people from all over the world enrolling to write a 50,000-word novel.

A former pupil of St Comhghall’s College in Lisnaskea and the South West College, Julieanne  (38) studied Literature with Creative Writing with the Open University. From there her passion for writing became a huge part of her life and she published her first young adult novel ‘Within the Shadows’ in 2009. 

The novel following the war between vampires and shadow creatures, was optioned for film in 2014 and has been in pre-production for about two years. 

An author of urban fantasy and contemporary fiction for both adults and teens, before embarking on writing, Julieanne considered a few different career paths, among them journalism and becoming a rock star. However, she decided writing was the way for her and is thankful for each day she lives her dream. 

With husband Sean (42), an electrical engineer, she has five children – Kristopher (19), Kelly (15), Matthew (10), Rory (seven) and Poppy (four). She admits that juggling being a full-time writer with family life can be hectic. 

“Luckily the kids are all very self-sufficient and independent in their own little ways,” she said, adding that writing Unbreak Me in such a short time involved many late nights and very early mornings for 12 hours each day.

“Like any author, when the characters are talking to you, it’s hard to stop that good clarity and flow that comes from this. It’s hard to sleep when you become so invested in the story. I’d start writing when I got home from the school run and keep going until I had to pick up the children again. I’d break in the evening for a while to help with homework, make dinner and get the kids bathed and in bed and then I’d write until 1am or 2am.”

The novel focuses on Connor Ellison and Molly Rice, both broken hearted characters who are ready to live their lives. Julieanne was influened by listening to music, in particular the American pop rock band Maroon 5. 

“The story went in a completely different direction from what I had planned,” she explains. “It was originally called Crazy, Sexy, Love but because I created two lead characters in Molly and Connor that are very flawed and emotionally challenged it moved on to become something else completely”.    

Despite being compared to Fifty Shades author E L James, Julieanne says her novel is completely different to the erotic trilogy.  

“I’ve written quite a lot of adult fiction and even though my debut novels were geared at young adults, the content was quite bold and edgy. Having teenage children myself I know that they aren’t as innocent as people think they are. For my first venture into romance fiction, I’m very happy and surprised with Unbreak Me”.