I lived in Dublin, I entered a short story (that I had originally written when I was 14) into a competition run by National Irish TV Channel RTE via the Seoige and O’Shea show (think the Irish equivalent of Richard and Judy but not married to each other!). They ran a competition called ‘Do the Write Thing’ which was mentored by Irish author Patricia Scanlon. My story, ‘Defying Gravity’ was selected and published in an anthology of the same name which became a top 20 Irish Bestseller. After the success of my short story, I then entered an extract of my novel ‘Red Roses’ (which will be my second published novel) into a competition run by Metro Eireann Newspaper and mentored by MAN Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle. I was delighted to have my entry shortlisted and to have the chance to meet Roddy in person.​

In April 2019, my debut novel was awarded the coveted BRAG Medallion award by Indie BRAG which aims to highlight the very best in self-published fiction. As well as being a way to recognise fiction of exceptional quality, the BRAG Medallion also created a database of award-winning books all who proudly display the golden medallion label which signals to the reader that this book is not only worth their time but also their money. It provides quality assurance for readers wanting to find the best self-published titles. The volume of entries to the BRAG Medallion programme is so high that they have been forced to have dedicated windows for submissions to enable them to deal with all the books they receive. Of all the books they review, only 20-25% will be awarded the BRAG Medallion. BRAG stands for the Book Readers Appreciation Group and is if you like a global book club where avid readers sign up to read and review books against the strict criteria. Only those books who receive an extremely high score from 10 worldwide readers are eligible to receive a reward. The marking criteria is rigorous with no part of the book being overlooked, the quality of each of the following is considered: ContentTitlePlotCharactersDialogueWriting styleCopy-EditingFormattingCover The Pretender scored extremely highly in all of the above categories with the judges commenting that “this was a delightful, light read.” By achieving this award and having read the amazing reviews left by my readers, it is clear that this is a book that has managed to really capture the hearts of my audience which I love!