After far too long, my seventh novel is finally done and available for perusal! Some people have been asking me what this one is about (as I’ve been working on it) and my quick response has been, ‘A sort of Emma meets Darcy’, or, ‘What if Elizabeth said yes instead of no to Darcy so she could control him to get Jane married to Bingley’. Let me share further explanation though, for those who may be interested…

The inspiration for ‘Miss Houston’ happened because of a thought that kept occurring to me while watching a favorite movie. Every time I watched ‘Pride and Prejudice’, during Darcy’s proposal and Elizabeth’s rejection scene, I would think to myself, ‘What if Elizabeth was perhaps more like Emma, a little bit spoiled, slightly conniving and shrewd enough to realize that if she said yes and became engaged, she could manipulate her fiancé and help to ensure that her sister married his friend. Of course, she would plan to break up with Darcy once she got what she wanted and Jane was safely and happily married to Bingley, but, of course, we all know that Elizabeth would fall in love with Darcy by then. The conundrum at that point would be what to do in THAT situation. Any Elizabeth or Emma would feel the guilt of having connived in such a way once she was in love with the Darcy. What should she do? Break up with him as planned and break his heart as well as her own? Go through with the wedding and start a marriage based on a lie? Tell him the whole truth and risk losing him in the bargain?

And so, ideas for ‘Miss Houston’ began to percolate. I also liked to imagine a young lady being spoiled by my own personal fantasy of a wonderful ‘Texas Daddy’ who sees his daughter as a perfect angel and gives her most anything she wants. That seems a perfect recipe for a spoiled daughter who thinks she knows best about everything, does it not? A little bit like an Emma Woodhouse, yes? But, even still, with goodly parents, a little spoiling can’t do lasting harm, no? And so, our privileged confident Fontana Houston, though a little misdirected at first (though with the best of worthy intentions), finds herself in a fix once her planned scheme seems to have worked out for others, and must search her heart and soul to know the right thing to do for herself and the man she now loves.

To see ‘Miss Houston’, the cover and description, check:

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1439204586

And now, I begin work on novel the eighth…