Being asked to participate in a continuity series by Harlequin is always an honor, delight and a challenge. The latter was especially true of my participation in the COLTONS continuity which included my novel, SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD.
It takes a lot of work to create a series of intertwined and yet stand alone stories. I think it’s a testament to the amazing editors at Harlequin who put these series together and then ask the authors to write a particular novel. I have to confess I was a little surprised by which one of the six books in the series I was asked to write.
First of all I was pleased that they didn’t ask me to write the book with the Latina heroine. It’s nice not to be typecast.
But a book about a woman who had a secret baby and hasn’t told the military hero father about him in seventeen years? Hmm. That part was a little harder for me to wrap my head around. In fact, it took me nearly a month to try and understand the motivation behind such a secret and why now, after so many years, it was time for the secret to be revealed.
Being a character-driven writer, that motivation was key for me so that I could craft a hero and heroine with whom readers could identify. At that end of that month of agony, I found the motivation: Love.
Love for Fisher Yates, the hero of the piece. Respect of his dreams and how they would be derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. I won’t say unwanted because that’s the farthest thing in Macy’s mind. Macy is a woman filled with love for her child, the man she marries and loses, and for Fisher.
The story challenged me to show that and to demonstrate how love survived, buried deep in the hearts of two people who had to place duty and honor before what they both wanted most – each other.
I hope you enjoy this free excerpt from SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD. If you can’t see the excerpt below, you can read or download the free excerpt of SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD by clicking here or cutting and pasting this link into your browser: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34003128/Soldiers-Secret-Child-Free-Excerpt
Awakening the Beast
I was searching for a friend’s website the other day when I ran across some nice comments about him at a blog site. I sent him the link and suggested that he set up some news alerts so that he would know about such comments.