When Candice’s in-laws were killed eight months ago buying a huge faux polar bear rug for her Christmas present, she lost more than just two of her favorite people: she lost her husband Ian as well. After only two years of marriage, their guilt and pain have left them living together but apart, unable to really talk for fear of what they’ll say to each other.

Ian leaves for a month-long contract overseas, and Candice plans to use the time apart to decide whether her marriage can be saved. When her ex walks back into her life as the new client at work, ten years more attractive yet saddened by his own recent loss, she’s left wondering what she really wants from life and love.

What genre is this?
Women’s fiction.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
People who like Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy and Nicholas Sparks, and anyone who’s wondered whether the grass is greener on the other side.

You say Candice feels guilty for her in-laws’ deaths. But she wasn’t directly responsible, was she?
Candice feels a lot of guilt over the death of her in-laws, since they were buying a gift for her at the time.

She’s lonely, and it’s the worst possible time for her ex Kegan to return to her life.

Are you a first-time author or have you written any other books that we can read next?
“Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo” starts my Toronto Series of books. There are now twelve books in the series. The next one after this is “Go Small or Go Home“, which tells the story of an injured hockey player and his massage therapist but also features the reappearance of at least one character from “Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo”.

Thirteen books! Looks like we’ve got a lot of reading to do!
“Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo” was my first novel. To date it’s had more than 370,000 downloads!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’ve been writing full-time since 2005, after careers as a software developer and elementary school teacher. In my spare time, I read, run, crochet, and play drums and clarinet. Not all at once.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://www.heatherwardell.com/

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
http://www.facebook.com/heather.wardell.author
@heatherwardell

What’s next?
I will be releasing a new book, “Fifty Million Reasons”, in December, which features a woman who wins fifty million dollars in a lottery and how she deals with the changes in others and herself as a result.

I’ve got two books in the works after that, with more on the way, and I hope to release three or four new books next year.

One last, possibly indelicate, question: do you have a polar bear tattoo?
I have three.