Alumna finds her voice as a romance novelist

Author: Marisa Adams '19

Published Date: 2/2/2018

Categories: Alumni English and Writing Theatre Arts


Brittiany Cherry
Brittainy C. Cherry '09 is a romance novelist. One of her books, "The Air He Breathes," reached number one on Amazon after its release.

Alumna Brittainy C. Cherry, a 2009 theatre arts major, describes herself as a romance nerd. Now her love of love fills the pages of books with titles such as "The Gravity of Us" in her work as a romance novelist.


Broken characters with dark pasts heal through her storylines, with the first book, "The Space in Between," coming four years after her 2009 graduation from Carroll.

She describes self-publishing as scary, but fun. “It comes with a lot of excitement and nerves,” she said.

Life as an author is a lot of work, but it’s all worth it, she added. Each day is different because every story is different. “It’s very freeing to live my dream,” she said. “Every single day you get a reminder that you’re living your dream and working hard to live that dream.”

Shy but observant

For Brittainy, writing started as young as 14 years old. She was shy but observant, and used writing as an outlet to express her voice. Once she started college at Carroll, she found a way to shed that shyness as she pursued a degree in theater arts. When Carroll started a creative writing program, she added that minor and fell in love with writing, she said.

Upon graduating, Brittainy began writing screenplays. Now with nine novels selling on Amazon, she gains her inspiration from many places, such as people watching. She enjoys thinking of different scenarios for people that she sees, and what their lives and love stories might be like. Brittainy also finds inspiration from fellow author Colleen Hoover.

“She is my idol,” Brittainy said. “She is an outstanding author and just a really good person.”

A legion of fans

Brittainy herself, seems to have her own legion of fans, with numerous positive book reviews from readers such as this April 2017 Amazon review of "The Gravity of Us", “Opening a Brittiany C. Cherry novel is like opening a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get but you know you are in for a delicious reading experience.”


Since her first novel, she has published eight more novels, all receiving great feedback and high ratings online. She noted that fellow Carroll alumnus Kevin Kimmons ‘09, even designed the cover for her first book. One of her books, "The Air He Breathes," reached number one on Amazon after its release. She is currently working on her 10th book, "Between the Notes."

Brittainy has traveled all over the U.S., as well as Europe. Outside of the U.S., Brittainy has 20 different publishers in different countries. “It’s always fun when they invite me out for book signings. That was a part I never even imagined.”

To young or aspiring authors, Brittainy would like to send the message that while there will be good days and bad days, just keep going. “Don’t listen to the negative people,” she encourages. “All you need is to believe in yourself. And then you cannot fail.”

 

Stay Connected With CARROLL Alumni

Panoramic View of campus