I’ve always been intrigued by the concept in books and films of the first love coming back and complicating life all over again! This happens to Faith in If You Only Knew – she risks getting involved with new-in-town Zane who has taken over the extreme sports centre in the village. Faith is nervous about relationships anyway thanks to having her heart broken, add to this the fact Zane is strangely reluctant to talk about his past and naturally she’s a little unsure if she’s doing the right thing by getting involved or not. Zane and Faith are both just getting to know each other when Zane’s business partner Matt arrives from Austria and complicates everything. Matt just happens to be Faith’s first love.

Ah, the classic three-way love story. So is this a straight romance novel?
You could call it chicklit, contemporary romance or a romantic drama with a hint of comedy – it fits all three categories!

I would say it could appeal to women who enjoy an escapist romantic read mixed with realism. In the reviews for the book many people commented on how they thought the characters and their relationships come across in a very realistic way and I’m delighted people thought that about the book!

Tell us a little more about those characters.
If You Only Knew has three main characters – Faith, Zane and Matt. The dynamics of these three is: Faith and Zane are dating. Zane and Matt are business partners. Matt is Faith’s first love and she hasn’t seen him for about ten years.

Faith owns and runs The Coffee Pot in a village set in an area known for its extreme sports – from climbing and mountain biking to abseiling and white water rafting. She isn’t looking to get involved but then Zane arrives in town… Zane has just returned to the UK after working as an extreme sports instructor in Austria for several years. He’s one half of a partnership which has purchased the local extreme sports centre. He’s got a lot of secrets and is a bit of a man of mystery.

Matt is Zane’s business partner and another extreme sports instructor. They worked together in Austria for years. Matt has his reasons for needing to leave Austria and he insists Zane keeps quiet about what those reasons are as he doesn’t want anybody in the UK to find out. Matt broke Faith’s heart about ten years ago when they were both at university. He’s stunned and not at all pleased to arrive in the UK and discover his friend and business partner is dating Faith.

What kind of person is Faith? What’s she like?
There are some similarities between myself and Faith. I like the fact Faith is determined, kind and honest and I think (hope!) I share those qualities with her. Faith is self employed and so am I – so we understand that desire to try to succeed. I would say Faith probably has more patience than me though! She’s quite patient and understanding with Zane and his various issues.

Hah, we knew it. All fiction is autobiography.
Have you written any other autobiographies… erm, novels?
I have written three novels in total, the other two books are:

The Love Programme – What do you do when your childhood sweetheart and now ex-boyfriend won’t accept it’s over? Lucy’s life is a mess. With her ex pursuing her across the country, she flees to Scotland and finds herself part of a reality TV show about love… will she find some answers or end up even more confused in matters of the heart?

How Do You Spell Love? – Best friends Summer and Kat are both keeping secrets. Kat is trying to forget the past, forget Nathan and move on with her life. Summer is fighting to keep things in her life just the way they are with partner Rob. Then Kat meets Alex, one of the most hated men in town… & Summer meets Tom who has relationship issues of his own. Is everything falling apart or does life just work in mysterious ways?

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I live in the UK on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border with my husband, 4 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an ever expanding library of books waiting to be read. Being a freelance writer and editor of business publications is my ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, I can be found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel I’m working on. I love it when the characters in my novels take on minds of their own and start deviating from the original plot!

Do you have a website?
www.zannamackenzie.blogspot.co.uk.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
Twitter via @ZannaMacKenzie or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/zanna.mackenzie

What’s next?
I have two full length romantic mysteries which are written but I’m editing them at the moment before trying them with publishers. I’ve almost finished writing a humorous romantic mystery novella too.