Author Interview with Evy Journey, Author of ARTSY RAMBLER #authorinterview

Today we are interviewing Evy Journey, author of the nonfiction, art and travel book, Artsy Rambler: Mindful Journeys to Paris and Beyond. 

Evy Journey writes. Stories. Blogs (three sites). Cross-genre novels. She’s also a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse (an ambler).

Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D. University of Illinois) initially to help her understand herself and Dostoevsky. Now, she spins tales about nuanced multicultural characters negotiating separate realities. She believes in love and its many faces.

Just as she has crossed genres in writing fiction, she has also crossed cultures, having lived and traveled in various cities in different countries. Find her thoughts on travel, art, and food at Artsy Rambler.

She has one ungranted wish: to live in Paris where art is everywhere and people have honed aimless roaming to an art form. She visits and stays a few months when she can.

Evy’s latest book is Artsy Rambler: Mindful Journeys to Paris and Beyond.

Visit her website at https://evyjourney.net.

Connect with her on social media at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evictoriajourney

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eveonalimb2

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/evy-journey 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14845365.Evy_Journey 

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

I’ll quote a few passages from the book that address this question:

At the beginning of high school, I knew I wanted to keep writing. Maybe, I thought it would give me the best chance to go places, see what I wanted to see, and write about it. So, when I was in my senior year, I asked my parents (who held a tight rein on the moolah) if I could major in journalism. 

But they said, “No way! The only real careers that would earn more than enough to live on are in science. Why not chemistry?”

I tried chemistry for a couple of years but it didn’t work for me. My parents agreed to a compromise and I switched to psychology. Presumably, to pursue a career in psychology, you needed to go to graduate school. Grad school required a lot of writing. Academic writing. For relief from my academic rut, I tried haiku and I wrote travel journals and short stories.

The leap from short stories to novels proved to be a short one. I focused on made-up happy stories tinged with emotional angst. I dealt daily with sad stories and saw too many depressing ones in my job. I couldn’t spend hours writing about them. 

Your latest book, Artsy Rambler: Mindful Journey's to Paris and Beyond, centers around unveiling the beauty and complexity of the world around you by unleashing the power of art as you satisfy your wanderlust. How did you come up with the idea to write this?

I believe the germ of an idea for this book began on my very first trip to Europe, decades ago. Once again, a quote, this time not from my book, but my first travel journal:

Today, after downtown Athens, we visit the Acropolis that the local guide Maria, a fascinating well-informed Greek lady full of warmth, brings back to life for us. I’m awed by the glory that lived here so many centuries before the British empire. The Acropolis is a well-thought-out piece of engineering and architectural wonder made to stand, it seems, for infinity. The Parthenon in particular had been built as a monument as well as a center of culture to be enjoyed by all Greeks.

Seeing artistic creations in my travels made me realize over and over that art has much to tell us, not only about the beauty of the world around us, but also about life, including its hazards. Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, for instance, deals with the ravages of war. Art movements show us man’s need to change, to innovate and create. When Edouard Manet defied the French Academie des Beaux-Arts rules to paint Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe, it energized a young group of artists to produce what may now be the most popular art style, Impressionism.

 

What's the first line of your book? 

From the Prologue: How It All Began:

I ran after my brothers and their friends—empty cans in their hands—as they rushed to a pond to catch tadpoles.

 

What's the main reason someone should really read your book? Out of all the places you have traveled, which have you fallen in love with more? 

As to the first question, I think one editorial review says it best: art and travel are not collectibles to be amassed and hoarded but tools for reflection, empathy, and self-discovery.

For me, art, particularly when combined with journeys into other cultures, is transformative. 

Because art means a lot to me, I fell in love with Paris. “Why” is dealt with in Paris, Je T’aime, the first chapter after the Prologue. Art, though, has not been the only draw. Cuisine, of course, and other cultural activities the city offers. 

Were there any places you wouldn't ever go to again even if your life depended on it? 

Not among the places my husband and I visited. You get some kind of an advisory on hazards when you apply for a visa to go to another country and we pretty much allowed that kind of info to guide us in our travels. 

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could  start a movement that would bring the most amount  of good to the most amount of people, what would  that be? 

What bothers me the most right now is something that might be considered esoteric, but could lead to man-made catastrophes. It’s the notion of “Other-ness.” It’s not just about racial or social class differences and discrimination, although those might be the most obvious and the most likely to be fatal. They have led to genocides by the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge—much less well-known than the massacre of Jews—and a few others. 

Most countries have this problem—from insidious to blatant. I’d start a foundation that studies this problem and develops ways to significantly reduce it. Meantime, I’d find ways to help people in countries where this problem is a serious threat to its people. 

Art and literature could be one of the initial means to bring awareness to this problem. One that stands out for me is Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, a Pulitzer-prize-winning novel I’ve reviewed. It does an excellent job of showing the dystopian-like reality of life in North Korea. 

Experience the transformative power of art when you see the rich and vibrant city of Paris through the eyes of a mindful artsy traveler. From the light-inspired grandeur of Gothic cathedrals and the fresh beauty of Impressionism, sinuous forms that speak to our innate sense of beauty, and the rare library that helps one define oneself; to the role of French cuisine and cultural events in shaping the city’s uniqueness, this collection of essays will take you on a journey of discovery and self-reflection.

Amidst the charm and allure of Paris and its art, questions arise and conflicts are explored. Can art truly enrich our understanding of life? Can it help extricate us from constantly waging wars? And how does a urinal become a symbol of controversy that challenges our conception of art?

If you enjoyed “A Moveable Feast” by Ernest Hemingway, this thought-provoking and sometimes meditative collection of essays will unveil the beauty and complexity of the world around you by unleashing the power of art as you satisfy your wanderlust.

Read sample here.

Artsy Rambler: Mindful Journeys to Paris and Beyond is available at Amazon.

Author Interview with S.D. Lettie, Author of THE ARRANGEMENT #authorinterview

Today we are interviewing S.D. Lettie, author of the new adult romantic suspense, The Arrangement. 

Before she ever had “author” next to her name, S.D. Lettie was—and still is—an avid reader first; the kind who would finish a book in a day and beg her parents to take her back to the bookstore. Reading started as a hobby and, as she got older, became her source of entertainment, escape, and comfort. Over the years, she found herself wanting to write the kind of worlds readers could get excited about—a world that could grow into a fandom of its own. 

Today, Lettie writes slow-burn romances—stories about characters who are imperfectly perfect, the hard moments that shape them, and the plot twists that leave readers reeling. Outside her writing life, she’s a wife and mom of two, roles that influence both her time and perspective. She’s also a dedicated soccer fan, the kind who will plan her day around a match and openly admit she’ll yell at the TV when things get heated.

Through all of it, her goal as an author is simple: she wants her characters to stay with readers long after the book ends. 

Her latest book is the new adult romantic suspense, The Arrangement (Bancroft University Chronicles Book 1).

Visit her website at www.sdlettieauthor.com. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, BookBub and Goodreads.

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. In elementary school, the longest book I tackled was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, and after that I devoured the Harry Potter series and never really looked back. Every summer, my grandma would take me to Barnes & Noble and let me pick out a few books for the week I spent with her. What she didn’t realize was that I was a fast reader and could easily finish one or two books in a single day.

My love for writing started in middle school, thanks to my seventh-grade Language Arts teacher who had us write short stories in our composition notebooks as a warm-up every day. From there, I was constantly writing - on Word documents, in spiral notebooks, anywhere I could. Most of those early stories were Harry Potter fan fiction, so they never saw the light of day.

Then life happened. Kids, a career in B2B marketing, responsibilities. I actually stopped reading altogether until 2020, when the world was forced to slow down. Over the next few years, I fell back into reading hard - sometimes 300 to 400 books a year on my Kindle. I started with lighter romance authors like Tessa Bailey and Meghan Quinn, before eventually drifting into darker romance with writers like Rina Kent, J. Bree, and Eva Ashwood.

When I lost my job at the beginning of 2025, I knew it was my chance to finally write the story that had been living rent-free in my head for years. I had so many unfinished drafts and half-formed ideas, and this time, I committed to finishing one. And the rest is history.

Your latest book, The Arrangement, centers around a forced engagement and is a dark, slow-burn story of buried truths, political corruption, and a connection that pulls two damaged people toward a collision neither may survive unscathed. How did you come up with this very unique idea?

I really credit the inspiration for The Arrangement to two things:

First, mafia romance. As much as I love a golden-retriever MMC, there’s something about a morally gray man that just hits differently. The kind who’s dangerous, loyal to a fault, and would burn the world down for the woman he chooses. I knew from the start that my male character needed to live in that gray space.

Second, my love for espionage movies and TV shows. I’m fascinated by secrets, especially the ones buried inside politics and government. There’s something thrilling about uncovering what’s hidden beneath polished speeches and public images, and honestly, it feels closer to reality than people like to admit.

Blending those two worlds - organized crime and political power - felt natural. Once I put them together, the story pretty much took on a life of its own.

 

Can you tell us about the main characters in the book? 

The book really centers around two characters: Emilia Langford and Nikolai Volkov.

Emilia is polished, overly analytical, sarcastic, and charming - the perfect political daughter on the surface. She’s spent her entire life playing a role, and in that way, she’s incredibly relatable. Not everything is as perfect as it looks, and Emilia represents that disconnect between appearance and reality better than anyone.

Nikolai, on the other hand, is our main male character and very much the morally gray counterpart. He’s intense, dangerous, and undeniably attractive - the kind of man who looks like he could kill you and probably has. While readers don’t get much of his POV in book one, the moments they do get are powerful. He’s calculated, loyal, and shaped by the world of organized crime in a way that makes him impossible to ignore.

 

Can you tell us about the other characters in the book? 

Thalia is hands down my favorite character in this world. She’s the backbone of the story and wears way too many hats - Emilia’s ride-or-die, her unofficial therapist, the little voice on her shoulder, and the one person who will always say what everyone else is thinking. She’s blunt, unfiltered, and completely unapologetic about it.

Honestly, she became so fun to write that it only made sense to give her her own book. Some characters refuse to stay in the background, and Thalia is very much one of them.

What is the very first line of your book?

It opens with: “The ballroom is unbearably warm. It always is.”

What is the main reason people should read your book?

There are a few reasons someone should pick up The Arrangement. 

First, it’s part of an ongoing world. While this duet focuses on Emilia and Nikolai, their story isn’t the end - other characters step forward, and the world keeps expanding. Second, it’s a true slow burn. If you like stories that take their time building tension before everything finally collides, this book is for you. And finally, it’s grounded. It’s still fiction, but it feels real. Readers can get lost in the story while still recognizing the emotions, dynamics, and pressure the characters are under.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could  start a movement that would bring the most amount  of good to the most amount of people, what would  that be? 

I’d want to start a movement focused on making books easier to access for everyone. Reading is one of the few ways people can escape, learn, and decompress without putting themselves at risk, but it’s still treated like a luxury. Libraries are important, but they don’t always have what people want or need.

I’d love to see more community-based book sharing, things like local swaps, little free libraries, school programs, and other low-barrier ways to get books into people’s hands. The goal would be to make reading feel accessible and normal, not expensive or exclusive.

You know that guy you fell for at sixteen—the one who vanished without explanation, leaving behind enough damage to last years? Now imagine being forced into an engagement with him because your parents decided you’re more useful as leverage than as a daughter. 

And the part he forgot to mention? He’s heir to a Bratva empire with blood on its hands. 

That’s Emilia’s life. Her future is not her own, and her fiancé, Nikolai Volkov, is a man whose silence is more dangerous than his words. Their past is a wound. Their engagement is a threat. And what grows between them is something neither of them should let happen. 

The Arrangement is a dark, slow-burn story of buried truths, political corruption, and a connection that pulls two damaged people toward a collision neither may survive unscathed.

Read sample.

The Arrangement is available at Amazon.