THE STORY BEHIND

Keep Fighting

Sometimes a story starts long before you realize you're writing it.

It Started With a Song

Every book has an origin story, and this one didn’t arrive quietly. It hit me like a punch to the chest.

I was listening to the radio when I heard “We Don’t Fight Anymore” by Carly Pearce featuring Chris Stapleton. The ache in that song. The quiet resignation. The way two people can share a life but feel miles apart.

It made me think about how relationships don't always end because of one big moment. Sometimes it’s the slow unraveling—the exhaustion, the distance, the silence that settles in when you stop fighting for each other.

I’ve seen it happen, especially in the military community. As an Army veteran, I’ve watched people I care about struggle under the weight of service, trauma, distance, and the constant pressure to “be fine.”

And I remember thinking:

This is what it looks like when two people have fallen apart.
Most of the time, there’s no coming back from that.

But then another thought hit me.

What if they could come back?

What If They Could Come Back?

What if the same “ride or die” bond built in the military—loyalty, survival, found family—followed people into civilian life?

What if a couple had people in their corner who refused to let them give up on each other?

What would healing look like?
What would it cost?
What would it take to rebuild something that once felt impossible to save?

That was the spark.

Vic and Gabbi began to take shape—not as twenty-somethings falling in love for the first time, but as two people who had already built a life together. A marriage. Kids. Years of deployments, sacrifice, friendship, resentment, and love.

I didn’t want to know whether they could fall in love.

I wanted to know whether they could find their way back to a love that was already there.

More Than Just Spice

There was another part of their story that mattered to me.

I wanted to write a book that showed there is no shame in what consenting adults choose to do behind closed doors.

For Vic and Gabbi, rediscovering each other physically is part of learning to be vulnerable again. It’s about trust. Communication. Asking for what you need—and listening when the person you love tells you what they need.

And yes, it’s spicy.

Very spicy.

But I never wanted that to be something the characters—or the reader—needed to apologize for. I wanted intimacy built around trust, consent, and being comfortable enough in your own skin to say, This is what I want.

And trusting someone enough to say it out loud.

What Keep Fighting Became

Somewhere along the way, Keep Fighting became about more than saving a marriage.

It became a story about what happens after the uniform comes off. About people who become family because they’ve been through hell together. About trauma, grief, purpose, desire, and learning how to live—and love—after everything changes.

I wrote it for couples who’ve lost their spark. For veterans carrying weight no one else can see. For people learning that asking for help is not weakness. And for readers who want to feel seen—in their struggles, their healing, and their desire.

Because love can be messy, painful, complicated…and still worth fighting for.

This story started with a song.

But it became Keep Fighting.