Header Promotion
It's going to date me to tell you, but I'm a child of the '60's and I might as well admit it. Hill Country Christmas, my October release from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historicals, was inspired by the 1967 hit by the Tremeloes, "Silence is Golden," one of my all-time oldie favorites. In it, the singer anguishes over the fact that the girl he loves loves a cheater. He'd like to tell her, because he wants her for himself, and she needs to know that she is headed for heartbreak, but he knows that telling her would break her heart. So he watches in silence, but says "My eyes still see." Incurable romantic that I am, I'd like to think that when she did find out, she turned to this nice man who was waiting to give her his true love.
Hill Country Christmas is a historical, but some themes transcend time. In it, Jude Tucker is just such a man as the song portrays. Feeling unworthy of Delia Keller, the woman to whom he is instantly attracted, Jude watches as a man he knows is all wrong for her begins a whirlwind courtship with the lovely heiress who has always had a crush on him. Charles Ladley had never been seriously interested in the preacher's granddaughter until she'd come into wealth, but now he showers her with attention and gifts and rushes her toward marriage. Jude would like more than anything to convince Delia that marrying Charles would be a huge mistake, but will he learn to trust his heart—and convince her to trust him--before it's too late for Delia?
Another fact that readers might be interested in knowing about the book is that Hill Country Christmas, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical's first Christmas book, did not start out to be a Christmas story. I had already written most of it when my editor, Melissa Endlich, asked me if I could make it a Christmas story. This required changing when the book started, but I'm really glad I made the change. Adding details of a Christmas celebration in a small post-Civil War Texas town made it a richer, fuller story, I think, and I'm hoping my readers will agree!
Save the Date! You won't want to miss our annual open house event on December 11th!
