The Echo of Your Heart is the fourth book in the Welcome to Redemption, Alaska series. Keep reading to learn more about the story behind my new small-town romance book.
A Story I Didn’t See Coming
To be honest, this one surprised me from the opening scene. When Susie, my editor and publisher, talked me through developing this five-book series, we planned for each book to feature one of the five McGuire siblings. Each character would have their own story, their own romance, and their own moment in the spotlight. By the time I finished writing book three, The Last Mile Between Us, I’d gained some confidence, so I was riding a creative high. Diving into a new project seemed like the most fun.
Except real life has a way of impacting our creative endeavors. One of our kids graduated from high school, and while we were celebrating his incredible milestone, someone we love deeply had a major medical emergency. So writing routines, summer plans and meeting deadlines went a bit topsy turvy. Thankfully, we all made it through and the trauma is just an unpleasant memory. Once life got back on track, I had to jump straight into writing Tate’s book, but the themes and tropes still felt a bit murky to me. So I quickly reviewed several of the scenes where Tate McGuire kept showing up in his siblings’ stories.
Let’s just say he made me a little nervous and he gave me a lot of material to work with.
The Challenge of Writing Uptight Heroes in Small-Town Romance
In my experience as a writer, a secondary character shows up in one of two ways: either he or she swaggers onto the page with a strong personality, refusing to stay in the background for long…or they are an ever-present force moving through the heart of the scene, signaling that sooner or later, they’ll need to step into the spotlight.
Tate McGuire fits into the second category.
The challenge with Tate is that he wasn’t instantly easy to love. He’s responsible, cautious, rules-oriented and deeply committed to keeping people safe. In other words, he can come across as a little rigid at first. But those are often the characters who intrigue me most. When someone is a little prickly or difficult to fully understand, I want to know why.
Of course, that also meant I had to figure out how to make readers care deeply about him.
Since I manufactured him in my imagination, it’s up to me to find ways to make him loveable. First, I gave him a puppy, which never hurts. How can you dislike a character with an adorable goldendoodle? But beyond that, I had to understand what made Tate who he is. I wanted to preserve the traits that make him good at his job and true to himself while also revealing the tenderness underneath. Tate is protective. He is loyal, loves his hometown and wants to serve others well. And beneath all that steadiness is a man who has been quietly pining for his high school best friend for years.
That best friend is Scottie.
Why Scottie Equals the Perfect Match
Scottie became the perfect counterbalance to Tate because she unmoors him in all the best ways. She’s a camera operator, which is a profession I find quite fascinating. Also, I wanted to explore the unique perspective of a woman working in a space that can often feel male-dominated.
As the story began to take shape, my editor made a suggestion that changed everything: what if Scottie is an adrenaline junkie who already had one terrifying brush with death and is struggling to conceal her fear?
That idea unlocked the story for me.
Suddenly, I had two characters who are both wrestling with fear, but in very different ways. Tate tries to manage risk, control outcomes, and protect everyone around him. Scottie wants to prove she’s still brave, capable and worthy of the next big opportunity.
Bringing them together created a romance that felt tender, layered, and packed with potential for a big emotional payoff (which is something I know my readers crave).
How Alaska Shows Up in My New Small-Town Romance Book
Even though the town of Redemption is a fictional place, real-life experiences flow into every book in this series. My family owned a lodge during the first twelve years of my life. We relied on customers traveling the Richardson Highway to stop in and eat, buy gas, shop for souvenirs, camp or stay in our cabins. Later, we moved to Valdez, right about the same time the Exxon Valdez ran aground. That disaster changed all of our lives. The long-lasting impact on the people who live and work in southcentral Alaska is something I wanted to write about as well.
As a college student, I spent my summers working for a small business that ran day cruises from Valdez to see wildlife, glaciers and learn more about Prince William Sound. I didn’t go out on the boats often, but whenever I did, I had a great time seeing my home through the eyes of visitors. The emerald water, rocky coves, dense forests clinging to the cliffs, the shifting weather…reminded me that our surroundings have the capacity to be both breathtaking and brutal.
All of those experiences influenced my creative process while I was writing The Echo of Your Heart.
I also had fun weaving in the idea of a reality TV production filming in town. Sometimes Alaskans have mixed feelings about outside film crews disrupting everyday life. It gave Scottie a compelling reason to return home, and added another layer of tension because her dangerous workplace gave Tate even more reasons to worry about her.
Themes You’ll Find in The Echo of Your Heart
To me, this is a story about second chances, old wounds resurfacing, and the many ways fear can take control of our lives.
Since this is an inspirational romance, I wanted to explore what it means to stop living at the mercy of fear and start trusting God again with the tender places in our hearts. The prevailing message I hope readers take away is that people are loved even in their weakness, and there’s hope found in moving forward. Even when we’re worried we lack courage.
What to Expect From Tate and Scottie
It’s super important to me and the team at Sunrise Publishing that we deliver a small-town romance book readers love. So we worked hard to make this one a slow burn, featuring friends who could be so much more because of their deep history. And of course, much to my surprise, Tate is the kind of hero who has been pining for a very long time.
You can expect tenderness and danger. Scottie and Tate wrestle with long-held feelings, hard-earned vulnerability, and their worlds collide in a setting that raises the stakes at every turn. And if you love stories where coming home means facing both the people who know you best and the parts of yourself you’ve tried to outrun, I think you’ll find a lot to love here.
More than anything, I hope readers come away from this book feeling encouraged, inspired, and satisfied.
The Reminder I Needed
This book took a lot out of me to write, but it also gave me the reminder I needed: I am deeply loved, seen, and never beyond God’s care. He truly is an ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).
And in the end, I think that’s one of the deepest echoes at the heart of this book (see what I did there)??
Ready to Read The Echo of Your Heart?
The e-book is available now exclusively from Sunrise Publishing. Beginning July 7th, additional online retailers will offer the e-book as well. Then on July 21st, The Echo of Your Heart will be available from Amazon as well as enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.
If you haven’t started the series yet, you can begin with book one. The first three titles are available in audio (and The Echo of Your Heart will be an audiobook shortly).
However you choose to read, I hope this story entertains, encourages and reminds you that fear doesn’t get the final word.
Thank you, booklovers, for buying and reading my books. I couldn’t do this without you. Happy reading!
