Local author Anna Renne uses military romance to explore love, trauma and healing
Local romance author Anna Renne writes about more than just love stories. Through her military romance novels, she hopes to explore the realities of trauma, mental health, relationships and the many different ways people find healing.
After spending eight and a half years in elementary education, she stepped away from her career to stay home with her children. During that time, she rediscovered a childhood passion for writing. Inspired by her own love story with her husband, a former Marine, she decided military romance would be her first path into publishing. The couple met and married within six months. From there, her novel “A Mutual Destiny” was created.
Reene’s writing style is intentionally raw and realistic, drawing on experiences and topics she is passionate about. Her latest book, released on the Marine Corps birthday, follows Aria as she navigates PTSD and heals from domestic violence. Meanwhile, Antonio faces relationship trauma of his own. Loosely based on her husband, Antonio becomes an important part of Aria’s healing journey.
“I like to write pretty raw. I am going to include a lot of raw emotions and raw experiences,” shared Reene. “I try to be very mindful about how I write and be respectful about the topics that I write about. I try to make sure that I have done my research and only write about the parts that I know about. I don’t want to assume. I haven’t been in the military and I try to be authentic and write thoroughly.”
While military life plays a central role, she hopes readers from all backgrounds find something relatable in the stories, from family relationships and long-distance love to personal struggles and faith.
“I just hope that when people read it, they see all the different ways that people can heal from the trauma’s of life but get the swooning romance of life,” said Reene.
Mental health advocacy is also an important part of her work. Through her characters, she hopes to create space for conversations about experiences that are often misunderstood, particularly those involving military members and educators.
“It is important for me to shed light onto things that people may not understand and allowing a space for those conversations,” said Reene.
A stay-at-home mother and independent author, she says one of her biggest challenges has been funding the publishing process, including editing, cover art and book signings. Still, she values reader feedback and believes listening to audiences is essential to growing as a writer.
She is currently working on the third book in her series, a hockey romance spin-off featuring characters Scarlet and Chris.
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