Lena Nelson Dooley's "Christmas Love in Lake Tahoe"

Title: Maggie’s Journey
Publisher: Realms, a fiction imprint from Charisma House

Cover blurb:
A girl who’s been lied to her whole life…
Near her eighteenth birthday, Margaret Lenora Caine finds a chest hidden in the attic containing proof that she was adopted. The daughter of wealthy merchants in Seattle, she feels betrayed both by her real parents and by the ones who raised her.

Maggie desires a place where she belongs. But her mother’s constant criticism and reminders that she doesn't fit the mold of a young woman of their social standing have already created tension in their home. With the discovery of the family secret, all sense of her identity is lost.

When Maggie asks to visit her grandmother in Arkansas, her father agrees on the condition that she take her Aunt Georgia as a chaperone and his young partner, Charles Stanton, as protection on the journey. Will she discover who she really is and, more importantly, what truly matters most in life?

1) How did this story come to you?
This story had been percolating in my brain and heart for several years. It’s book one in my McKenna’s Daughters series about identical triplets separated at birth.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Several years ago, when Tracie Peterson was the acquisitions editor for Heartsong, she was interested in the series, but she left the company to concentrate on her own writing before it was contracted.

In the intervening time, my agent Joyce Hart has sent it to several editors. At least three of them were very interested, but the series didn’t make it through committee. Then in 2010, she sent it to Strang/Realms, which later became Charisma House, and they bought the series very quickly.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
For the first 20 years of my life, I was painfully shy.
I wear a brace on my left leg.
I wasn’t a redhead, but I became one as soon as I could.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Book 2 of McKenna’s Daughters, Mary’s Blessing, has been written and will release May 2012. I’m writing book 3, Catherine’s Pursuit, right now, and it will release January 2013. I’m also contracted for another series with Realms—Restored Hearts—so l’ll plunge right into writing them.

5) Parting comments?
I love my readers. They’re the reason I write. I love to connect with them, and I love to hear from them.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/lenandooley
http://www.shoutlife.com/lenanelsondooley
www.facebook.com/pages/Lena-Nelson-Dooley/42960748768?ref=ts – my official fan page
http://www.facebook.com/lena.nelson.dooley - my profile
http://www.bustlesandspurs.com/ – Bustles and Spurs
http://justthewritecharisma.blogspot.com/  – Just the Write Charisma

I will give away a copy of Christmas Love in Lake Tahoe.

Winnie Griggs' "Home for Thanksgiving"

Title: Home For Thanksgiving (a novella in the Once Upon A Thanksgiving anthology)
Publisher: Harlequin Love Inspired Historical

Cover blurb: All that stands between Ruby Anne Tuggle and a fresh start is an escort to Tyler, Texas. Rancher Griff Lassiter is too kind to refuse, but too wary of being hurt again to offer anything but protection on the journey.

Then a fever forces an unexpected detour and a chance to find the place they both belong...

1) How did this story come to you?
I’d previously written two books that featured Griff Lassiter’s siblings in lead roles. When my editor asked me to pen a novella with a Thanksgiving theme I immediately thought about Griff and how I’d like to write his story. After that it was a matter of figuring out his backstory and finding a heroine to complete him.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
As I mentioned above, my editor invited me to write a novella, so the journey to getting a contract was pretty simple. Writing the book was another story. While Griff had appeared as a secondary character in three other books, he was still a bit of a mystery to me. He was such a guarded character that it took a while for me to ‘figure him out’. But it was totally worth the effort - I absolutely fell in love with him as I wrote the book.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I have a BS degree in Mathematics, I’m a total brain teaser nerd, and I’m a recovering hoarder.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I just turned in a book that will be the third in a three book continuity for Love Inspired Historicals called the Irish Brides trilogy. The series features three sisters who immigrate to America in 1850 and settle in the Boston area. The series kicks off in April 2012 and my book, A Baby Between Them, will release in June 2012. I’m currently working on the proposal for a brand new three book series set in the East Texas area in the 1870s. The connecting thread in these books will be that all three women are survivors of a single accident and will show how the accident impacted their lives.

5) Parting comments?
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes: “Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties.”~ Bonnie Friedman

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
I love to hear from readers! My website is http://www.winniegriggs.com/ .
You can also find me on Facebook.

Susan Page Davis' "The Lady's Maid"

Title: The Lady’s Maid
Publisher: Barbour Publishing

Cover blurb: The Lady’s Maid features Elise Finster, who accompanies her young mistress, Lady Anne Stone, on a voyage to America in 1855. Lady Anne’s father has died, and her Uncle David is the new Earl of Stoneford—if he steps forward and claims the title. But David disappeared into the American West when Anne was a baby. Now it’s up to her and Elise to find him. Obstacles abound. Mules to tend, a lazy hired man, rugged mountains, unexpected romance, and a sinister stranger stand in their way. The Lady’s Maid is the first book in the Prairie Dreams series, and released October 1, 2011.

1) How did this story come to you?
My editor asked for a prairie story, and I was working at the time on a different book that involved royalty (Love Finds You in Prince Edward Island). I read a lot about the customs and protocol of the day. The idea of aristocrats on a wagon train struck me as a fun way to bring the Victorian period to the West.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Although this book was requested by the editor, I did have a false start. At first I had suggested another idea. She liked it “all right” but wasn’t crazy about it. I certainly wanted to give her a story she was crazy about, so I did some brainstorming and came up with my elegant ladies crossing the plains.

Once that was settled, it was a matter of fleshing out the plot, writing the book, rewriting, doing edits and revisions, and so on—the usual journey of about eighteen months from idea to publication.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
It’s really hard to surprise people these days, but I’ll try. I am a Mayflower descendant and a stroke survivor, and I have no sense of fashion whatsoever. Oops, for anyone who knows me, that is no surprise.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am working on the third book in this series, A Lady in the Making. (Lady Anne’s Quest comes in between). After that, I’ll be writing a contemporary mystery.

5) Parting comments?
Thanks for having me over, Dawn. This series is a lot of fun to write, and I hope the readers love the characters and their adventures as much as I do.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My website is at http://www.susanpagedavis.com/.

Purchase links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/161626439X/suspagdav-20
Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ladys-Maid/Susan-Page-Davis/e/9781616264390?itm=1&usri=the%20lady%20s%20maid
CBD:
http://www.christianbook.com/ladys-maid-prairie-dreams/susan-davis/9781616264390/pd/264390?item_code=WW&netp_id=881498&event=ESRCN&view=details