Love Inspired Online Read: Fireworks by Valerie Hansen

Great start, Valerie.  I hope you will come and play with us.  We love it when authors come and play with us!

Great start to the story...  seems like Bethany has got a good positive attitude going in and seems like Stan may be avoiding her because he can't figure out his feelings for her.  Going to be interesting to see how she breaks down the walls...

Insanemom: I don't think so.  This is Love Inspired, after all.  (Love Inspired is an imprint of Steeple Hill, which is  Christian romance.)

Great start to the story. I can't wait to see what Stan thinks when he shows up to help in the booth.

I wonder whether we'll get far enough to see how her sister reacts to their relationship or whether that's fodder for the book for which this is a prequel, if I read the top blurb properly.  Of course, the sister relinquished her claim on him and shouldn't be upset, but sometimes there's still that territorial thing going on.

That's a good point. Yes the blurb did say it was the prequel to the After the Storm miniseries. It would definatly make a good conflict if Amy (the sister) showed back up. Can't wait to see which route this takes.

Hello everyone!

I'm so glad to see that you've discovered the FIREWORKS in progress. It was fun writing this after already completing the contemporary series book and then doing one of the upcoming historicals about High Plains, as well. I felt as if I was really there for all the excitement! Coming up with characters to feature in this online read was difficult since we had used so many others in the 6 contemporary books as well as the 3 historicals. (in case you're curious, the contemps begin in July and run through Dec., then the historical launches in Jan 2010)

Readers are always asking me for a list so here goes:

HEALING THE BOSS'S HEART, Valerie Hansen, July 2009

MARRYING MINISTER RIGHT, Annie Jones, Aug. 2009

REKINDLED HEARTS, Brenda Minton, Sept. 2009

THE MATCHMAKING PACT, Carolyne Aarsen, Oct. 2009

A FAMILY FOR THANKSGIVING, Patricia Davids, Nov. 2009

JINGLE BELL BABIES, Kathryn Springer, Dec. 2009

(historicals)

HIGH PLAINS BRIDE, Valerie Hansen, Jan. 2009

HEARTLAND WEDDING, Renee Ryan, Feb. 2009

KANSAS COURTSHIP, Victoria Bylin, March 2009

Whew! I hope everyone enjoys the adventure with us. We had a wonderful time putting all this together.

Blessings,

Valerie Hansen 

enjoyed the first chapter of the new story. I already bought book 1 in the continuity too and plan to buy the rest. I'm surprised there are going to be historicals as well though. I didn't realize that. Obviously not the same storm as in the contemporaries but is it the same concept? A twister? Or will it be some other kind of storm? Ihaven't read many of teh historicals yet. but then I haven't read a whole lot of these contemporaries either. I usually read fromt eh LIS line when I am wanting inspirational. But I do love continuities and have a tendency to buy by continuity when picking books in these lines. :-) So I need to make sure I remember about the historicals when they come out.

Happily, I was asked to kick off the historical series that is set in High Plains, KS, just as the contemporary is. It features the founding of the town and the tornado that the modern characters refer to when they think of all the town went through to survive. And, since there are only 3 of those books we were able to do more in each one, although every series presents new challenges. I had dealt with Indians in both my earlier historicals, FRONTIER COURTSHIP and WILDERNESS COURTSHIP, so I was able to handle these pretty easily. It always amazes me how different the tribes were, though. It's little wonder they fought amongst themselves.

And the rigors of cooking and keeping house in the 1800s always boggle my mind. To me, defrosting a pizza is haute cuisine!

Blessings,

Val 

Thanks to all for the nice comments. Believe it or not, writing a series book is HARD. Think of it like coming into the theater in the middle of a movie and having to make sense of it all. We have a "bible", like TV shows do, so we can sort out all the characters but it's difficult to keep from encroaching on someone else's plot. Basically, we need to tell our own story, include the characters from the other books, yet not give away any of their secrets. Whew! Makes me tired just remembering how hard we all worked. But it's always worth it to see the wonderful responses to these series books.

I'll be back tomorrow - and so will a new chapter of FIREWORKS.

Blessings, 

Val

seems to be a bit more happy that she's there by the end of this chapter!  Let's hope things go along really well for a while for them before the BBM!

Hugs,
April

Hmmmm, glad he's taking this carefully since he feels his reactions to Bethany are because of Amy.  Wonder when he finds out that he's really reacting to Bethany.  I'm glad his mood got better by the end of the chapter.  And I'm just loving Bethany...

Bet Amy comes back into the picture and throws as spanner into the works just as Bethany and Stan start getting somewhere with this relationship!

I'm glad to hear that so many of you like this heroine because she's very much like me. I tend to find humor in almost everything and this is the way I usually behave.

Remember, having such a short space in which to tell Bethany's story has limited me some, but I'm sure you'll love the ending.

Talk to you later,

Val 

Nope. Remember, chocolate is really a vegetable so it must be good for us.

LOL, 

Val

I just read the first 2 chapters and started to read all your comments. I have to agree, I was dragged into the story at the "get go" and can't wait to see what transpires. I already love this heroine. I hope Stan doesn't wait too long to figure out that his reactions to Bethany are not related to his failed courtship of her sister Amy. This is just soooo good. Thanks Valerie, first for agreeing to write this "prequel" and secondly for joining in on the "chats". I'll definitely have to add those books to my wish list!!

Have a great day one and all!

I just had three--count them!--pieces of Dove dark chocolate. The candy dish on my desk keeps me from rummaging in the cupboards while procrastinating on my next book! Last summer, while Val and I and the rest of the "After the Storm" authors worked on the continuity, there were times we took "cyber chocolate breaks" together. What a SWEET memory  Sorry, couldn't resist!

I, too, love the heroine's upbeat personality. Already her faith shines through and I'm sure it will touch our hero's heart. It is fun to revisit High Plains again. I hope everyone is excited about the upcoming series!

 Kathryn Springer

So far, so good!

 I like the interaction between Bethany and Stan and am curious to see how their relationship develops.

Normally I keep away from books where siblings have "shared" partners.   It some way it seems too incestual to me -- just Yucky.  So far, this story hasn't bothered me -- maybe because the sister hasn't been in the picture.

Lidia

fes chocolate is always good

as you noticed neither one wanted to comment

 on what each other was thinking

Well, here I am again. In case you're wondering why I chose July 4th for the opening of this story, it was because the full series started after that and Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays.

Here in the rural community where I live, we have our biggest shindig of the year then. There's amateur music and free hotdogs and home-grown watermelon and lots of visiting first, in the city park, then the fireworks over the lake. It's awesome. Better than some shows I've paid to see in other places.

We don't have a gazebo in the park but we do have a covered pavillion and lots of nice grass to lounge on. If the geese don't get us. Some years it sprinkles a little rain but nobody seems to care. We're having too much fun. My church also rents the swimming pool and has a potluck dinner at the same time. With so much going on it's hard to decide what to do first.

Blessings,

Val 

I'm really enjoying this story.  Bethany has a great sense of humor (religious and otherwise).  I also really like poor Stan, the fire man.  From what I have read so far, the books sound like they would be very good additions to my very big library.  My poor loving hubby will have to build me some more book cases, I guess...  Unfortunately, I am also limited to what I can spend right now.  I hear you, Dorthy...

I think these chapters are way, way, too short!  It seems like you just get the first sentence read and then it's the end.  I know you are limited in writing each chapter, but these seem shorter than usual.  Sigh...  Guess it's just a sign that you are a good author and have a great story going!

I can barely remember celebrations like these in KC back in the good ole olden days, but they were so much fun!!!!!  Brings back lots of happy memories.

Looking forward to reading the rest of this story.

sounds marvellous and the July 4th celbration sounds spectacular. Our town does different celebrations for Memorial Day and July 4th. July 4th is usually celebrated the weekend before with live music, bands, dancing, fireworks and there are food vendors and such too. Last year the Boy Scouts ran a booth that sold waters and snacks. It was a good fund raiser for the troop.

I am really loving this story. Great 3rd chapter. You are really keeping us on the edge of our seats. I love the visuals that pop in my head as I am reading the story. I can just imagine Stan's expression after watching Bethany eat that brownie. Somehow it should kick-start his brain that this has absolutely nothing to do with Amy and that it's all Bethany. Thanks Val.

Stan remembers it's Amy NOT Bethany he's angry with, he'll be golden!  Wonder what's going to happen when they go get food....

Hugs,
April

Dear Stan remembers that Amy didnt just hurt him

but a lot more people, A burger is a good place to start

and since theres all kinds of activities going on they wont be a lone.

Cant wait to see what they talk about.

of foot in mouth disease?  Good for him!  As April said, he does need to remember that he's with Bethany and not Amy, though.

Wondering what kind of cliff hanger you will leave us with tomorrow...

Thanks to all who have commented! Many of you sound just like I used to before I became an author. If I read a book or saw a movie that had an ending I didn't care for, I made up a new one in my head. It was a long time before I realized that EVERYBODY didn't do the same thing.

And I miss these characters when I finish a project. It's like saying goodbye to friends.

As far as Stan goes, my husband and son are career firemen so I know how they think - sort of. No woman really understands a man, IMHO. Years ago, our whole family volunteered for the fire department in a little town in CA. I was the only one who didn't fight fires but I did run the dispatch radio and also became an EMT. My daughter went from that into nursing, and son stayed with the fire department. As you can probably tell, there's a real soft spot in my heart for firefighters.

See you tomorrow!

Val 

Oh my gosh...  I keep expecting her to blurt her thoughts out too FF.  Can you imagine how far Stan might run if she blurted her thoughts instead of the request for a hamburger

blurt out her thoughts.  The way she is going, it could be very possible.  It would be fun to see what Stan's reaction would be.  I'm sure that both of them would be mortified.

Have a great weekend, everyone!