For next year’s Christmas novella, I wrote a pregnant heroine. I didn’t know if this would be allowed at first, so I asked my editor. Me: Can I have a pregnant heroine? Her: How did she get pregnant? Me: Yada, yada, yada… She clarified that she knew HOW my character got pregnant, but she needed […]
Modern Biblical Retellings
Do you have a favorite story in the Bible? How about a favorite fictional retelling of that Bible story? Retellings are a pretty popular trope, although you’ll usually see them as fairy tale retellings. However, within Christian fiction, we have some books that are Bible story retellings. More so in a historical setting (I’m sure […]
Runaway Brides or Jilted Brides?
Which do you prefer to read about, brides with cold feet? Or their grooms standing them up? As I was planning out my Cavanagh Cowboys Romance series, I knew the fifth novel would be either a runaway or jilted bride… but it took me a while to decide which! Noah Cavanagh had previously been cast […]
Baby Love
A couple of years ago I wrote a series of books (starting with six and ending with nine) set in fictional Serendipity, Texas called Cowboy Country. The series premise was all about cowboys and babies—lots of babies. So, when I went to plan out my next six-book series, I shied away from babies, at least […]
Leaving the Friendzone
My next book, The Billionaire’s Best Friend, will release on June 17th. Last time I blogged, I mentioned some of the more challenging (at least to me) parts of the friends-to-more or friends-to-love trope. This time, I thought it would be fun to visit some of my favorite CCR that has the friends-to-more trope. Because […]
Weddings, Weddings, Weddings
It’s the month of June and officially wedding season. Don’t believe me, just look and see how many of your Facebook friends start posting their wedding (or anniversary) photos, informing people how many years they’ve been married. In fact, my anniversary was on the 3rd (celebrated 17!). So I thought it would be fun to talk […]
What’s the Big Deal About Cowboys?
Anyone with even a passing interest in Christian romance must have noticed the stampede of cowboys sweeping their way into the bestseller charts. Seeing as I’ve never met a cowboy and can just about distinguish the hindquarters of a horse from its face, I’ll probably never write in this niche. But I like to keep […]
Tropes in Fiction and Real Life
If you’ve been around romance books long enough (and I’m fairly confident we all have!), then you’re familiar with the concept of tropes. This is the literary device authors use as the theme of their romance—the means of which they center their meet-cute all the way to their happily-ever-after around. And, if we’re being honest, […]
Best Friends in Love
(Did you ever watch the original Muppet Show? If you did, you really need to read the title for this post like they did the intro to “Pigs in Space.”) One of my favorite tropes is best friends to love. One of my least favorite tropes is also best friends to love. Why do I […]
Loving the Unlikable Character
A few years back, there was a certain novel people couldn’t stop talking about (I won’t name the book, but it was secular, not Christian and not romance). The reviews were fantastic and everyone seemed to love it—so I decided to give it a read. I have never been so disappointed in a book in […]