Smoky Mountain Romance is the new book I have coming out before Christmas and I am love with the characters and the story. It is about a young woman who moves to Kenton, Tennessee to work at a hospital, as their marketing manager and fundraising director. She bumps into a tall, dark hair, paramedic who has a reputation for dating all the new women at the hospital, and maybe has a little bit of a playboy reputation. The connection is instant, but she still fears getting hurt after hearing all the stories about him from the other female employees. What does she do?
Now the inside story to this book…. I was lucky enough to attend a banquet that Randolph Mantooth was the guest speaker. The banquet was to honor paramedics, EMTs, and Emergency Room employees for their work in the medical field that year. They also gave awards to police officers who had gone above and beyond their line of duty to help someone. The banquet was inspirational to me and to many others there. It was because of that banquet I started to think about my next book.
I was working on a book, but I put that one away and started the new book. Randolph Mantooth talked about his experiences playing the part of John Gage on the television show "Emergency" and I sat there listening, wondering what would have happened to Johnny Gage if he had ever met the girl of his dreams. How would his job and past play into a relationship with a young woman who literally bumped into him at the hospital, as he was bringing in a patient?
Listening to Mr. Mantooth and talking to him after the banquet inspired me to write Smoky Mountain Romance. I had to change the last name of the main character, but I used the name John for the young man Alexa meets. Anyone who was a fan of "Emergency" knew the paramedics went on many hair-raising rescues and I wanted to continue that in the Smoky Mountains. I love the area around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and I could not think of anywhere else I would want the book to take place. I also knew I could write about rescues and forest fires the firefighters would be handling. There was a big fire in the Smoky Mountains that burnt down many of the cabins, resorts and businesses and I wanted to include that into the story as well.
I changed some of the names of the characters, but I wanted to add in some of the personalities of the friends of John and give the story more depth at the fire station. I wanted to dedicate the book to the fire fighters, paramedics and emergency room personnel so I created stories around the characters. I also added in some benefit events, fundraisers and clinics to create more interaction of the characters, as well as what they would be doing in their line of work.
I love this book and the way it turned out. I appreciate everything Archway Publishing did to bring it to press and I am anxiously waiting on it to be printed and ready to share with all of you.
