Dani Collins: All About Siblings

I swear it's no reflection on my parents, but my sisters and I ran pretty far afield the moment we were old enough. I left to live in a ski resort for a year, then my middle sister married and emigrated to New Zealand for several years.

She and her husband came back to Canada and she's now remarried, living in Winnipeg. My youngest  left for Vancouver Island until she married an Aussie and now she lives in Brisbane.

Despite all that, we're very close. Here we are together with my kids last summer. I'm on the far left. Do you see any family resemblance at all? It looks like we can barely stand each other, doesn't it?

My kids also fled the nest soon as they could. It's called 'school,' but it feels like payback. My daughter, however, will cop to being homesick. Thus, when her brother was leaving for school, she and her boyfriend made a point of moving to be closer to where my son is taking his classes. I have to admit, it's really nice to call one of them and discover they're hanging out.

This closeness between siblings is something I love to reflect in my writing. I don't know if I could write about siblings who loathed each other. The closest I've ever come is in my February release, Only In His Sweetest Dreams.

It's Book Two in a duet about siblings who grew up on the wrong side of town and find love in the most unlikely places.

In Only In His Sweetest Dreams, Mercedes doesn't hate her sister, Porsha, but she is awfully frustrated with her. She even has to take steps against her, after Porsha abandons her children in favour of partying.

Mercedes can't get pregnant, so it's a doubly big decision to take custody of her sister's children. She doesn't even know how to be a mom, and taking them jeopardizes her job at a senior's complex.

Fortunately (I say that ironically) she has L.C. He's the new handyman. He took this job to fix the damage done by his son, who pulled a B&E on the place. Yes, stellar parenting on his part, but he and Mercedes are drawn to one another despite that. Too bad L.C. has a painful secret that she may not be able to forgive.

In keeping with my theme of siblings, I have just completed a quartet for Harlequin Presents called The Sauveterre Siblings. They're two sets of identical twins. The youngest, Trella, was kidnapped when she was nine.

All four siblings are extremely close, with unique relationships and personalities. In Book One, Pursued By The Desert Prince, (March 1st) Angelique is torn between protecting her sister and her feelings for Kasim while Kasim has sibling troubles of his own!

You can read more about Pursued By The Desert Prince on my website here, or it's available on Mills & Boon now.

Do you have brothers and sisters? Are you close? Geographically? Emotionally? Why do you think some siblings don't get along?

Dani Collins is a USA Today Bestselling author writing for Harlequin Presents, Tule's Montana Born, and herself. 

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