New Romance Novel Features the Eastern Sierras
Harlequin Books will release my debut novel, A Ranch to Keep, on February 4th, just in time for Valentines Day! And besides being a romance novel, perfect for the holiday, it’s also a sort of a valentine to the east side of the Sierras.
The book is set in two places, San Francisco and a fictional town called Benson, which I placed somewhere between Highway 395 and the peaks of the Sierras, at the edge of the Owens Valley. I played with geography a bit. There are more pine forests and creeks than you might actually find in that area. My characters camp at a hot spring a lot like Buckeye Hot Springs up by Bridgeport. Because I love to visit the east side, it was such a pleasure to write about the places I enjoy!
RT Book Reviews gave my book four stars in an advance review saying, “A Ranch to Keep is a well-constructed and nicely paced novel with an interesting storyline and characters.”
The book itself is a classic romance, with a bit of humor and real life dilemma thrown in. It’s the story of a San Francisco woman, very successful with her career in advertising, who inherits her grandmother’s ranch in the fictional town of Benson. Visiting the ranch to clean it up enough to sell, she falls in love with the area and with her handsome neighbor. She’s faced with some huge life decisions, but change for her feels especially scary. She grew up with way too much of it and she’s sought nothing but stability ever since.
Harlequin recently offered me a contract for two more books set in Benson so I now have the opportunity to take my characters on more adventures. I recently wrote a scene where my hero and heroine visit the ghost town of Bodie, and writing it was like taking a mini-vacation there myself!
- 395
- Advertising
- Arts and Entertainment
- Books
- Bridgeport
- camp
- Career
- Clean
- day
- Eastern Sierras
- features
- February
- ghost
- highway
- Highway 395
- holiday
- Hot Springs
- Humor
- life
- love
- new
- Novel
- Opportunity
- Pine
- Romance Novel
- sell
- Spring
- stability
- stars
- valentine
- Valentines
- Valentines Day
- writing
- san francisco