Well, since Love Remains has released a month early, I guess it’s time to formally introduce to you my new series, The Matchmakers, from Barbour Publishing.

Six independent, professional young adults don’t stand a chance when it comes to romance . . . not when their grandmothers decide it’s high time for them to get married. Together, these meddling grannies will help their progeny overcome difficulties ranging from troubled pasts, hidden identities, and initial incompatibilities as they become . . .
The Matchmakers.

When the time drew close for me to turn in the manuscript for A Case for Love, my editor requested a proposal for another three-book contemporary series. Not wanting to immediately jump right back into another three books set in Bonneterre, I pulled up two story ideas that I’ve had floating around in my head (and written up on my computer) for a few years and tried to figure out a way to pull them together and come up with a third book to complete the series. And it came to me . . .

What if the guys and gals in the books have grandmothers who are trying to get them matched up with each other?

Yay—not only did I have a thread that tied all the stories together, but I also had a series name!

Working with a rough draft that I’d already written many years ago (the manuscript I completed before I started Stand-In Groom back in 2003) and a story idea I’d had a few years after that, I brainstormed a third book idea and then had the daunting task of coming up with these good-intentioned, meddling grannies. And you know exactly where that led me.

CHARACTER CASTING!

My favorite part of the writing process.

As a lover of old movies, I’ve always had tons of older actors/actresses listed in my casting book. I’ve occasionally used one as they appeared in their younger years, but typically I do use them as the parents/grandparents/older characters in my stories (and, yes, in case you’re wondering, even Forbes/Meredith/Anne’s grandparents were cast this way . . . as Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck). Because the grandmothers were going to be the important characters, I cast them first. I had to know something about my heroes/heroines (especially their looks/ethnic backgrounds). I also needed to know some of their background/backstory. This is the first time, though, that I’ve ever had viewpoint characters for whom I haven’t done a complete backstory workup. Of course, they don’t have that many scenes, either. (And from the center pictures in each grouping, you’ll see how I came up with the template for the grandfather characters.)

So, without further ado, may I introduce to you The Matchmakers:

Katrina (Kiki) and Victor (Pops) Breitinger (Love Remains)

Both Victor and Trina are Nashville natives, with Victor’s roots in Middle Tennessee going back to just before the Civil War (leading to Zarah’s interest in the Civil War battles fought in the area). I can’t remember if I ever said in the book what Victor had done for his career, but Trina is a retired pediatric nurse.

Melinda (Mamm) and Greeley (Greedad) Patterson (Love Remains)

Once again, I’m sorely lacking on background information on Bobby Patterson’s grandparents. What I do know is that Trina and Melinda have been best friends since high school and roomed together in the dorms when they were in college at James Robertson University (a fictional liberal arts school in Nashville). On Sunday afternoons, while Greedad snoozes in his recliner in the living room, Mamm sits in the den knitting and listening to audio books.

Celeste (Sassy) and Frank (Papa) Evans (The Art of Romance)

Five years ago, when Papa passed away, Caylor Evans moved in with Sassy, since Sassy had lost her driver’s license due to her poor eyesight. I’m still in the beginning stages of this book, so I’m not sure of much of Sassy’s backstory, but I’m looking forward to getting to know her MUCH better.

Helen (Perty) and Gerald (Gramps) Bradley (The Art of Romance)

In Dylan Bradley’s first scene in The Art of Romance it came to me that his grandparents, with whom he’s living for the time being, needed to have had careers juxtaposed to his career/life as an artist. So these two I know pretty well already: Gerald is a retired civil court judge, and Helen, also retired, after twenty years as an English professor was the first female and longest tenured president of James Robertson University. Helen, Celeste, and Maureen (see below) shared a suite along with one other coed (three rooms connected to a bathroom) with Trina and Melinda, which is how they became such close friends (the other roommate having moved away shortly after graduation and lost touch). Celeste and Helen earned the nicknames Sassy and Perty in college, and because that’s what their friends called them, that’s what their grandchildren began calling them.

Maureen (Cookie) O’Connor and Kirby (Big Daddy) McNeill (Turnabout’s Fair Play)

In the third book in the series, not only are the young people going to find romance, but the grandparents are, too. Kirby McNeill, who, in addition to maintaining a small farm south of Nashville, has finally convinced the church where he’s been pastor for thirty years he really is retiring this year. Maureen O’Connor has been on her own for almost forty years, as well, but she’s gotten used to it. After seeing how close Kirby is with his beautiful, single granddaughter, she enlists his help with her grandson, Jamie. Unbeknownst to her, her friends have another idea—when Kirby McNeill starts attending their church and they see the sparks flying between the two. Flannery and Jamie get in on the action, too, turning their grandparents’ attempts to set them up into situations to bring Kirby and Maureen together.

So, there they are. The Matchmakers.

Love Remains is currently making its way to bookstore shelves and can be ordered online (and on a couple of them, The Art of Romance is already available for preorder) from:

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