In the fall of 2009, when I came up with the idea for a three-book series and named it The British Are Coming series, I didn’t know that it would be contracted by two different publishers over the next seven years but, for different reasons, wait another six years before I actually wrote the first book as an indie release. Nor did I know that it would grow from the three initial novels to a series of one novella and five novels.
Over the course of these books, I have loved writing about the American bison, about Yellowstone National Park, about the cattle on Eden’s Gate Ranch, about the Palouse horse (we now call them Appaloosa). And I’ve loved watching the town of Gibeon come to life.
It was a bittersweet moment when I wrote the ending to To Fall in Love at Christmas, the sixth and final book. I had half-hoped another character would raise his or her hand and say, “Excuse me, but you need to write my story.” That’s what happened with books five and six. I was willing to add a seventh. But no one demanded their own story, and I finally had to accept that the series was done.
I confess that I loved ending the series with a Christmas romance. And who better to experience a Christmas romance than a frontier pastor.
When I introduced Reverend Truman Blankenship in To Marry an English Lord (book #2), I expected him to be a minor character. But over the course of the next books (To Capture a Mountain Man, To Reveal a Reckless Love, and To Find Where She Belongs), he proved himself an important part of the community and a truly good friend to the heroes and heroines of the earlier books. Not to mention, his one obvious attempt to find a wife had failed because she was already in love with someone else. I felt I owed him a happy ending.
In keeping with the “British coming to America” theme of the series, I decided to bring a Scottish-Canadian nurse into Truman’s life (Canada was, after all, part of the British Empire in the 1890s). Alice MacPherson was raised on a religion of rules, so very different from the joyful faith of Truman Blankenship. And so began an unexpected courtship.
To Fall in Love at Christmas (set in eastern Idaho in 1897) released earlier this month, and I have delighted in the feedback from readers who are loving this final book as much as I do. And if it is as hot where you live as it is where I live, spending some time with the cold, snowy days in Gibeon, Idaho just might be the treat you need.
Giveaway
I’m offering a giveaway of To Fall in Love at Christmas to one lucky reader, so please, everyone, don’t forget to comment!
My question is, do you love to travel at Christmas, or are you a homebody during the holiday? If you travel, where do you like to go? And if you stay home, what’s your favorite tradition?
PS I am more than halfway through the writing of my next book, the first of a planned seven-book series. If you’d like to stay up-to-date on my releases, please take a moment to subscribe to my newsletter.