Augustina Van Hoven: The End of a Series
Coming to the end of a series is both exciting and sad. It’s a lot like graduating from school. I’m excited to move on to new adventures but sad to be leaving old friends behind
The Rose series started when I heard the song KISSED BY A ROSE, sung by Seal. The words from the chores inspired me. “I might compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave.” I heard those words and had a flash of a grave in winter with its headstone half buried and a blood red rose resting on the snow. This vision and my background in politics combined to form the foundation for the series.
I have been a staffer for two different congressmen, a campaign consultant for numerous campaigns, and I have substituted for my Representative in the Idaho legislature. I pulled a lot from my experience to write the political parts of the three books. The three political issues my characters have to deal with are real and have either been reviewed by interim committees or actually debated in the legislature. The supernatural parts of the story were the most fun to write. How would a legislator explain that he was being haunted? It’s not something you want to advertise to your constituents or let your opponents catch wind of.
The hardest part of finishing this series is saying goodbye to characters who have been in my head for years. I had the idea for these stories for quite some time before I ever sat down to type the first line. Like many writers I know a lot more about my characters than the parts that made it onto the page. Not all of a character’s back story fits into the series but it is still information that I as an author need to know in order to create a well-rounded and believable character. They are like real people to me. Many Sundays when I sang hymns in church I would check the date of the song, and if it was before 1882, I often wondered if Rose would have sung this one. At least I have the satisfaction of tying up the loose ends and giving my characters the happy ever after that they all deserved.
Do you every miss characters when you finish reading a book and know there will be no new adventures?
Augustina Van Hoven
Proving Love is Strange
THE KISS OF A ROSE
THE THORN OF A ROSE
THE BLOOM OF A ROSE – Available March 14th
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The Bloom of a Rose
Rachel Bartlett doesn’t expect to meet the man of her dreams at a funeral. But a chance conversation with Paul Miller inserts her in a political game between good and evil. Unfortunately, her political strategist mother has other plans for her, and they don’t include romance. Paul is the exact wrong guy for her, but sometimes it takes someone from the opposition to show you the way out of the maze.
Paul Miller is fighting battles on multiple fronts, and he doesn’t have time for an infatuation with a liberal graphic artist, no matter how blue her eyes or how sharp her wit. If his trust is misplaced, then a wrong move loses the game.
What the couple doesn’t know is that they are not alone. Supernatural beings battle behind the scenes—and humans are all pawns on a chessboard. The outcome of the game will determine not only what the future might be…but whether or not there even is one.
Available March 14th
