The inspiration behind Harmony Springs

I guess this week is all about inspiration. My #GratitudeCorner post was about what led me to design my gratitude journals. Today’s #WednesdayWords post is about the inspiration behind my Harmony Springs series of romance books.

There isn’t one single thing that inspired these books. Rather, it started with the character of Molly Sanders and her Great Dane, Atlas, who showed up in my head one day and have never left. You’ll meet Molly in the first book, although her HEA won’t happen until book 2. She’s a computer genius, but is living life in Harmony Springs running the animal shelter that her mom started (Happy Tails Rescue). And she has two nemesises (nemesi? nemesisi?): Candice Shoowater, who is the mayor of Harmony Springs and will be in every book in the series, and Larry the Goat, who has a crush on Atlas (yep, you read that correctly) and also will be in every book in the series.

Maybe that’s where the inspiration came from. I wanted to write a series of romance books that featured animal rescue. That’s such an important part of who I am as a person. It felt right to include that in my books. I have several other series planned, and each of them, in one way or another, will feature animal rescue. They may not have a character like Molly running an animal shelter, but the theme will be there.

The other inspiration, at least for Harmony Springs, is small towns. I knew when Molly showed up that she was a small-town girl, just like me. I grew up in a tiny town in Wyoming. As much as I love living in a more urban area, there’s something very special about small towns that you just don’t get anywhere else. The quirks, the people, the feeling of community, the rivalries between neighboring towns. I planned my first two series to take place in fictional neighboring small towns in southwest Colorado: Harmony Springs and Haven Falls. (And yes, they are rivals!)

I’m super excited to share these books with you, and to have you meet these characters and rescue animals who have been bouncing around inside my head for so many years I can barely hear myself think most days!

You can read a little more about Molly by signing up to my newsletter. I give you access to an “insiders only” page that features a scene I wrote about Molly, Atlas, and Candice. You can sign up for that here:

Speaking of, I’d best get to writing!

Tata for now!