J.L. Drake is a bestselling author with multiple series published in several different countries. The Broken Trilogy is her best seller, and her next series, Havco Sins, is a dark romance and aligns closely with her Devil’s Reach Trilogy which was released back in 2015.

She was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, later moving to southern California. Though she loves the weather in Cali, she would sell her left kidney for a good rainstorm. Jodi’s love of the seasons back home in Canada definitely put in an appearance in her books.

When she’s not writing, you can often find her sitting somewhere along the coast of Huntington Beach, reading, or at home curled up on a couch with her two children and husband, binge watching Marvel movies.  

“My name is J.L. Drake, and this is my story…” (Like how I did that there? You’re welcome, Broken fans).

I never set out to be an author. I hated English class and couldn’t write a paper to save my life. Being dyslexic was a hurdle, but I was always interested in storytelling. When I was younger, I did a lot of acting in theater, TV, and movies. Nothing major, but Nova Scotia was just starting to get into the movie business at that point. It brought me out of my shell and taught me to look at scenes from many different angles, which has proven to be a major asset with my writing. 

When I was twenty-two, I moved to California from Nova Scotia after meeting my husband back home while he was there visiting his own family in Prince Edward Island. It was a big leap, leaving everything I knew to move to a different country. Even though I came to love California, leaving family behind was a struggle. Two years later, we had our daughter, and two years after that, our son. We now had our own family. As much as being a stay-at-home mom was wonderful (many moms would hopefully agree with me here), there’s a part of you that feels like it’s slipping away. That’s when I heard ten words from a friend that changed my life. “I wrote a book and put it up on Amazon.” I think I blinked a few times as something clicked inside, and I knew that was my calling. 

The very next day, I opened a Word document, having zero idea how to even format such a thing, gave my kids a treat, turned on Little Einsteins, and let my mind wander into a wonderful fantasy world of my own making. 

I was home.

A year later, I sold 24 copies. The writing bug had bitten me, and I relished its venom.

It’s funny. I wasn’t a child who grew up with my nose stuck in a book. I picked up my first book in my late teens and fell in love with the twisted, brilliant mind of James Patterson. It was years later that I would discover the wonderful world of romance. Yes, Fifty Shades was the first real romance/BDSM book I read, and it became the gateway to a new world. Then I discovered Crossfire by Sylvia Day, and I totally connected to that one. Two messed up people finding love—now, that’s some real life writing right there. 

All right, where was I? Oh, yes, so now let’s jump to a beloved book signing called LoveNVegas where I met one of the kindest souls ever, author Monica James. She had come all the way from Australia to attend the event. I hugged my paperback and stepped up to her table and said something like, “I just wrote a book, released it online, and was wondering if you had any advice for me as a newbie author.” She smiled behind her adorable glasses and spent the next fifteen minutes giving me some wonderful tips. She even offered to put in a good word for me with her, at that time, small press publisher. 

Three months later, I submitted to that small press publisher, and they picked up some of my unfinished manuscripts, and we took off running. 

Working with their team, we decided to push Broken out the door first, and in 2016 we released six books and one short story. Wow, what a ride that was! They got a BookBub deal for Broken, and my beloved trilogy took off before I could even sit down. 

The outpour of love for Savannah and Cole’s story still makes me tear up today. The messages from readers about how people could relate to them or how my story got someone through a tough time meant more than I could ever express. I write to feel better and to heal myself, and to know I could do it for others too, well, that’s an amazing gift I was given. 

While I was writing the Broken series, my family experienced a loss like no other, and it’s why what happened to Savannah happened. I call it “freezing the memory in print.” It was my way to let my family know we will never forget. 

Just to let my readers know, I’m not finished with Savannah or the Blackstone boys. They are like family. I just needed a little palate cleanser to make sure I will still give you the best of my writing. 

2019. I wrote/released my very first standalone called Behind My Words. I want to say here that I am only recently realizing my strengths and weaknesses as an author. My weakness is in the writing of standalones. I’m just kind of a jerk at the end. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I wonder why that is? (Um, maybe let’s not pull at that thread.) 

Let’s jump to 2021. (No one enjoyed 2020, am I right? Pfff) So, here I am with eighteen books written, plus two short stories. I’m living in an amazing world of readers, authors, narrators, etc. Though you may not be blood, I consider all of you my family, and I thank you for that. 

I’m very excited about my new series that will be released in 2024. If you like my darker side of writing then you should love this one! It will have some fun links to familiar characters as always. In fact, all my books are linked in some way. It’s just how my brain sees them, all living in one world. 

So, what’s next for me? I have a whiteboard full of storylines that I’m thrilled to write. I’m working with my agent to get my books into more countries, and I’m waiting on that “wishful” call that Netflix or HBO wants to bring one of my stories alive on the screen. When I dream, I dream big!”

If you’d like to learn more about my suggested reading order, head here!