J.C. Hannigan Shares Stories of Love, Struggle, and Resilience Through Powerful Romance Novels

PHOTO: Author J.C. Hannigan, known for her fearless storytelling and heartfelt portrayals of resilience and love.

Championing Authentic Voices, J.C. Hannigan Writes Romance That Embraces Mental Health, Disability, And The Complex Realities Of Life

J.C. Hannigan, a prolific indie romance author, crafts emotionally rich stories that tackle mental health, disability, and social adversity with heart, drawing deeply from personal experiences and hard-won wisdom.

J.C. Hannigan writes with a rare blend of honesty, heart, and courage. A master of contemporary romance, Hannigan infuses each of her stories with real-world struggles—chronic pain, mental health, poverty, and unexpected motherhood—creating characters who are raw, flawed, and wonderfully human. With over 15 novels published, including The Collide, The Damaged, and The Rebel series, she has built a loyal readership drawn to her unflinching portrayal of resilience, love, and transformation.

At Mosaic Digest, we are proud to spotlight J.C. Hannigan in this exclusive interview. Her insight into the complexities of life and love is as empowering as it is affecting. In our conversation, she discusses the inspiration behind her characters, the importance of writing stories that reflect underrepresented voices, and the emotional truth at the heart of her latest release, Last Resort: A Hartwood Creek Romance.

Hannigan’s novels are both deeply personal and universally resonant, offering a voice for the unseen while weaving unforgettable tales of hope and healing.

With powerful authenticity, J.C. Hannigan continues to remind readers everywhere that their stories matter—and that hope, in all its forms, is always worth writing about.

Your novels often delve into themes like mental health, rare diseases, and social challenges. What inspired you to weave these complex issues into your romance narratives, and how have readers responded to this approach? 

I have a rare chronic pain bone disorder called Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE), and I had a lot of surgeries growing up. To distract myself from pain and occupy my mind during long recoveries, I loved escaping into books, but I always found that the stories I read didn’t include voices like mine. I wanted to change that.  

Mental health has always been a huge part of my life, not just my own mental health, but the struggles of some of my loved ones. I felt that by including mental health in my stories, I could help destigmatize it.  

I’ve experienced my fair share of social challenges over the years, like poverty because of my struggles with mental health and my physical disability, so that’s another thing I wanted to destigmatize.  

So many people face these challenges. I wanted to erase the shame that comes with them and create narratives of hope that make people feel as if their struggles are seen, but that they are not defined by them.     

“Mental health has always been a huge part of my life… I felt that by including mental health in my stories, I could help destigmatize it.”- J.C. Hannigan

In your upcoming release, Last Resort: A Hartwood Creek Romance, you introduce characters facing unexpected pregnancy and personal transformations. What drew you to explore these particular themes, and how do they resonate with your own experiences or observations? 

I experienced an unexpected pregnancy 17 years ago that changed my life for the better. Like Nellie, I had to learn how to let someone in past the walls I’d built. Choosing to trust can be a scary thing, especially when you’ve been conditioned not to by the things you’ve experienced. I wanted to explore the beauty of vulnerability, of opening yourself up to change. 

With over 15 novels published, including series like The Collide, The Damaged, and The Rebel, how has your writing evolved over the years, and what have been some pivotal moments in your literary journey? 

My characters have grown with me, and so has my understanding of the world and of people.  

Your characters often grapple with real-life challenges, making them relatable to many readers. How do you balance creating compelling romantic plots while addressing serious issues like endometriosis or mental health?  

A lot of my characters were inspired by people I love or have met, or experiences and moments that have stayed with me. I am heavily inspired by life and all that comes with it: the good, the bad, the difficult.  

When I’m creating characters, I tend to dive deep into their personalities and backstories, and I base their reactions to things that happen on page off their personality and their life experiences. They feel real because you can understand how that particular character got to that particular place.  

To me, addressing serious issues like endometriosis, chronic pain, and mental health is just acknowledging things I already walk daily with. These things exist in my world, be it adjacently or otherwise, so they exist in my characters worlds too.  

You’ve been an independent author for nearly a decade, publishing through platforms like Amazon KDP and Kobo. What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of self-publishing, and what advice would you offer to aspiring indie authors? 

One of the most rewarding aspects of self-publishing is that I’ve been able to publish the stories that I so desperately wanted to see growing up. They exist now, and people like me can pick them up and see themselves in my characters. There’s nothing more rewarding than that.   

One of the more challenging aspects of self-publishing is fronting the costs of editing services, cover design, marketing, and promoting. It can take time to get everything lined up and paid for, which is why I don’t publish as frequently as I’d like to.  

Advice that I would offer to aspiring indie authors is to keep going, even if it feels hard or impossible. It might be hard, but it’s not impossible. There are resources and plenty of help out there for those authors just starting out who need a guiding hand, and your stories deserve to be told. 

Looking ahead, what stories or themes are you eager to explore in future projects, and how do you envision your work continuing to impact and connect with readers? 

I am excited to finish writing the third book in my Forgotten Flounders series! This is my rock star romance series set in Nova Scotia with themes of familial secrets, mental health, and other social challenges. Off Beat and Off Limit are already published.  

Off Balance will feature themes of found family, poverty, mental health, and raising a child with a disability. Nik, my main character Raina’s son, has Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE)—the same disability that I have, that my two sons have also inherited. Nik was inspired by both my boys. This book will also have Easter Eggs for a future Rebel series book, featuring Sam (who also has MHE). Sam will be getting her own story in Rebel Bones, and it’ll feature her finally getting her happily ever after—as well as connecting with several other people globally who have MHE.  

I envision my stories will help more readers feel seen.