My Story
Best Selling Author
BonSue Brandvik
Born in St. Louis, MO, BonSue Brandvik moved to Florida four decades ago. After she and her husband, John, built their home in Belleair, she became intrigued with local history, and in particular, the cause to save the historic Belleview Biltmore Hotel from demolition. Although the fight to save the hotel was lost in 2015, she is determined to maintain a record of the hotel’s grandeur and its impacts on local development, by including historic details within the story lines of a four-book series, titled “Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore.” The first three novels in the series, “Pearls,” “Ripples,” and “Redemption” are currently available in print, e-book and audio formats, and she is hard at work on the fourth installment, “Nails.”
BonSue Brandvik and her husband currently live next to the site where the Belleview Biltmore Resort stood for 120 years. It brings her comfort to be close to the tiny section of the mammoth resort that was preserved, moved to the edge of the property, and incorporated into a small inn. Even though the Belleview Biltmore no longer exists, the iconic structure remains her muse.
BonSue also wrote and illustrated an educational, interactive children’s book, titled “Where Do You Live, Exactly?” which uses the principle of the Russian nesting doll, to reduce the size of the universe one page at a time, until at the end of the book, the child reaches his/her own home. And she wrote “Coal for Christmas,” which is a story about two little boys whose names are on Santa’s Naughty List. When one boy turns all the toys in Santa’s sack into lumps of coal, it’s up to the other boy to help save Christmas for his little brother and all the other Nice Children.
She hopes her books and novels will spark the imagination of her readers, encouraging them to look beyond this world into the unknown, while at the same time, encourage them to embrace four simple truths she tries to live by:
1. No matter what trials and tribulations this world brings to your doorstep, you are never truly alone unless you choose to be.
2. Most of the wisdom our elders gained by overcoming hardships, dealing with injustice, and handling matters of the heart, is still relevant today.
3. True and everlasting love really does exist, and seeking it is always worth the risk of having your heart broken.
4. Memories are the only thing you get to take with you when you leave this life, so you should do all you can to amass as many good ones as possible.
When she’s not writing or promoting her books, BonSue loves traveling and spending time with her husband, daughter and granddaughter. She takes pleasure in helping other writers improve their skills and, when time allows, has fun dabbling in hobbies that include urban gardening, baking, photography and computer graphics.
