Setting Inspiration

Today, I thought I’d take you on a tour of the real-life places that inspired the settings of my books!

I love to travel and I’ve been fortunate to visit the settings of all of my novels. However, those of you who’ve read my books may have realized that the towns I’ve created are fictional. I chose this approach for two reasons…. 1) So that I can make my town every bit as cute as my imagination desires. 2) So that no one who lives in the town can email me to tell me I got a detail wrong.

In all of my books, my characters interact with real places. I use an actual region as my backdrop. And I pinpoint my town in the location of an established town. That way, I can reference a real place if I need to check the sunset time in the middle of November, or the daily high temperature at the end of May, or the driving distance from my fictional town to a real town, etc.

The Misty River Romance Series

The Misty River series is set in the part of the Blue Ridge range situated in northern Georgia.
The town I used as Misty River’s location: Clayton, GA
Just for fun, you can take this quiz to find out which of my characters’ Blue Ridge mountain homes would suit you best!

The cabin where we stayed!



Though I positioned Misty River in Clayton because I wanted it nestled deep in the mountains, Dahlonega served as inspiration for the appearance of my fictional town.







The Bradford Sisters Romance Series

The Bradford Sisters series is set in Washington state, on the banks of the Hood Canal.
The town I used as Merryweather’s location: Union, WA

Photo Credit: All h2o Flickr via Compfight cc



Photo Credit: ra_hahn Flickr via Compfight cc
An “American castle” called Thornewood served as my inspiration for Bradfordwood, the house in which the three sisters were raised.







The Porter Family Series

The Porter Family series is set near where I live, in north central Texas.
The town I used as Holley’s location: Parker, TX

Real-life Southfork Ranch was my inspiration for Whispering Creek horse ranch, the home of Undeniably Yours‘ heroine and the workplace of its hero.











My Stubborn Heart

My Stubborn Heart is set in Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River.
The town I used as Redbud’s location: New Hope, PA

Photo Credit: PhotosToArtByMike Flickr via Compfight cc
I used New Hope as Redbud’s location, but the town of my imagination resembled the town right across the river from New Hope — Lambertville, NJ.







The house called Chapel Bluff in the novel was inspired by real-life Chimney Hill Inn, where my sisters and I once stayed.




Do the above photos resemble your vision of the settings of my novels? If you took the quiz, which house did you get as your result?

My publisher is currently offering a “summer reads” giveaway! One reader will receive the ten novels pictured. If you’d like to enter to win (which is very quick and easy), click here or on the image below.