About this item
Why did their differences matter so much?Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he's stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters' efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother's white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn't repeat in polite--well, in any company. Her father's family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry's incarceration, life has left Shayla's father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all.
About the Author
I went from full-time stay-at-home mom for 20 years to pretty much full-time author. My passion is my family - my husband and I have four kids and seven darling grandkids! But since, if a mom does her job right, she eventually puts herself OUT of a job, I'm delighted to have discovered my next career. I could not enjoy the writing life more.
I've had a couple of non-fiction books published and have contributed to several anthologies, as well as writing magazine articles. But my first love is fiction. I am working on my thirty-first novel. My newest project is the Chicory Inn Novels series for Abingdon Press. Home to Chicory Lane, Two Roads Home, Another Way Home, and the fourth book in the series, Close to Home, which will release in June 2016.
A typical writing day for me begins early - often before 6 a.m. - with the business side of things: answering e-mail and reader mail, updating my website, writing blog posts, reading for research. Our routine is much quieter now than it was when we had four kids at home. When my writing time begins mid-morning, I have a routine that sets the stage, starting with lighting scented candles, choosing music to write by, and brewing a perfect cup of coffee. I have a cozy office that looks out over our front yard, but I often take my laptop out to the back deck where the birds, squirrels, ducks, geese, bunnies, and an occasional egret (or even a coywolf or deer on occasion!) provide entertainment.
Believe it or not, my first choice of activities for the evening is READING - a great novel, of course! As much as I enjoy the actual process of writing, I am an extrovert by nature, and doubt I'd last long in this business were it not for the company of several wonderful online writers' groups, connecting with other authors at retreats and conventions, and meeting aspiring writers when I teach at conferences around the country.
Probably the most exciting event in my writing life so far was when my first novel was made into a movie by World Wide Pictures. Certainly a dream come true and I feel blessed beyond words to still get to be doing what I love as my day job.
