Back to Eden Behind the Story
Back to Eden: ideas & inspiration behind the story
This was the fourth in my Hot Shot series of books about wildland fire fighters. The one huge thing I learned from writing this book is: Don't have one of your future heroes come across as just a bit dense in the first three books!
This was Cole's story. Cole had been a little slow on the uptake in the first three books - more of a straightman than a dull tool tho and a sweetheart with the ladies. But that foundation in those first three books made his story a bit more challenging to write.
This time instead of fighting fires on the ground or rescuing lost aunties in the mountains, I had the heroine flying a plane that dumped water and fire retardant on the fire. Have you ever seen the movie Always? Holly Hunter is flying a plane trying to dump fire retardant on Hot Shots trapped on a ridge. She manages to pull her plane out of the deep dive needed to save them. You'll have to read about my heroine's challenges.
Cover buzz: Harlequin always asks for inspiration in designing the cover and I sent in lots of horse pictures. I really liked the cover except the little boy's sweater (what an eye-catching stripe!). This was the first time I wrote a horse character in one of my books. Writers aren't supposed to base characters on living people, but the horse in this book was very closely based on my horse, who was gentle as a kitten unless the wrong rider got on her (and to be fair, sometimes she felt the wrong rider was me!).
