The author shares about her 3-in-1 historical romance collection
Jersey Brides (Romancing America):
Travel back to the glory days of New Jersey where three women have conflicts with wealth and status when attractive men enter their lives. Will God lead these women to loves even greater in value than money?
Q: Your ‘Romancing America’ book started out as separate
titles for the Heartsong Presents readers. Tell us how the individual novels
are linked together into a larger picture.
Giving one’s life into God’s will and humility are themes
that run throughout the series. In each story, the main characters want
something that may not be what God wants for them, and they learn through their
trials and triumphs, romance and relationships how to change and be what the
Lord wants and not necessarily what they thought they wanted.
Q: When you were originally writing the series, how much
were you focused on each individual title — and how much were your eyes on how
each piece fit into the larger story?
Although I wanted readers to be able to pick up one book and
be able to enjoy it without being confused if they hadn’t yet read the other
books, the whole concept came to me as one tale told from different
perspectives in different places and times to show the setting throughout the
entire century.
Q: What was your inspiration for the original series? (And
how much did your original plan change over the course of the arc?)
My first job was as a home missionary in New Jersey, and
various other reasons have taken me back to the state over the years since, so
the state itself inspired me to show it as more than what I think is an unfair
reputation nowadays, to demonstrate its beauty and creativity. So I got a book
on the state’s history and when I learned about the glassmaking that began
there, I knew I had a series concept worth writing.
Q: How does your faith influence your writing?
If my faith were removed from my life, I would not be a
whole person; therefore, I carry this into my writing—without faith, my writing
would not exist as a whole concept. The stories would exhibit gaps.
Q: What do you most hope readers get out of your fiction?
Romantic fiction, as I write it, is certainly for
entertainment, and my deepest wish for every reader is that each one puts the
book down with a better understanding of faith and trust in the Lord