Did you notice that I haven’t been posting book introductions for the past year or more? I will probably try to catch up! But first, Book 2 of the Farm Fresh Market Romance. When I wrote Book 1, A Wide and Pleasant Place, my friend Paula Dye (the namesake for Paula Dye, the market manager in this series) was quite ill. She helped develop her character and read the chapters as I wrote them, a process I haven’t done before… at least not since my first 2-3 practice manuscripts 20+ years ago. Paula passed away about three months after the first book released and before I’d started this one.
To say it was hard to get my brain back in the game with Paula’s character is a massive understatement. It was brutal. Add to that the fact that, despite readers asking for more Green Acres Farm/ Galena Landing, sales on the first book were not spectacular. Also, writing this much-longer type of story took more time than just adding on a few more weeks for the extra word count. It had been a while since I’d written this 80,000+ length (since the original Farm Fresh Romances), and the pacing is quite different.
In short, writing A Green and Vibrant Hope felt very difficult! And while I was in process, I made the decision to cut the series at three books rather than the originally envisioned six. I know there are plenty of disappointed readers as a result of that decision, but sadly, not quite enough of them to change my mind.
All that doom-and-gloom aside, I love many things about this story! Writing Mitchell’s two young hoodlum sons was a ton of fun. Watching Mitchell and Arleigh dance around each other and then dance around their growing feelings was also very fun. And then there was the farmers market itself, with manager Paula. Fleshing out more of the vendors and booths made it all come even more alive in my mind.
If you’re looking for longer (heftier!) contemporary romance novels with some deeper themes, you might enjoy giving this series!
About A Green and Vibrant Hope
She thinks he’s arrogant.
He thinks she’s frivolous.
Too bad they need each other.
Arleigh O’Neill gambles on starting her own flower farm with a tight budget on leased land… and loses when the river overflows its banks, demolishing the rented greenhouse, drowning her fields, and destroying her mobile home. She needs both a home and a job, but no one in Galena Landing seems to be hiring.
Widowed farmer Mitchell Ackerman is at wit’s end with his two rambunctious sons, but his brother’s suggestion he hire Arleigh to nanny the boys is a nonstarter. He can’t afford to pay anyone, and besides, she annoys him with her hippie-flower-painted van and independent attitude. When, after a particularly bad parenting day. Arleigh drives a bargain to care for them in exchange for greenhouse space, Mitchell is in no position to argue.
Arleigh thinks he’s arrogant. Mitchell thinks she’s frivolous. What will it take to get them to see into each other’s hearts and grasp a green and vibrant hope?
A Green and Vibrant Hope is for sale as an ebook on Amazon and available to borrow on Kindle Unlimited. The paperback is available on Amazon and many other retailers. There are currently no plans for an audiobook.
Enjoy the Pinterest board for this series here.
Psst: If you want to see what’s next in the pipeline and how far along I am on the next project, keep an eye on the Coming Soon page!
