Life is full of adventure and surprises – if you will step out to enjoy them!

I have a new Mountain Home Book coming out March 16^th titled SHOP ON THE CORNER. I enjoy writing all my books, set around the mountains and at the coast … but this book was especially fun for me to write. I got really attached to all the characters in the story and had so much fun creating their adventures. I also loved revisiting, on several trips, the Waynesville, North Carolina, area to work on this book, walking the downtown streets, stopping in all the charming stores, eating in the cute local restaurants. Each visit reminded me again how much I like this picturesque and engaging North Carolina town.

I first visited Waynesville to attend a book signing at a small bookstore downtown called Osondu Books. It had charming green awnings and was very appealing inside and out. It belonged to Margaret Osondu. We became friends at my visit and I returned every time I had a new book to do signings with Margaret. …Later, when Osondu closed I began to sign at a new store in Waynesville called Blue Ridge Books. I soon came to know the owners of that store well, too, Jo Gilley and Allison Lee… and now Blue Ridge is the store I go to for my Waynesville book signings. I will be there March 22^nd to sign again from 2:00-4:00 pm … and the next day at the Cotton Tail Market at the Smoky Mountain Event Center for a lighthearted Easter show with a great cast of vendors from around the area. … It’s always a pleasure any time to go to Waynesville.

You’ll get to visit Waynesville, North Carolina, in this story, too. The book begins, at first, in another small town, Amory, Mississippi. One of my close cousins lived there when I was a girl and I made many summer visits to Amory, walking and biking the downtown streets with her. It was fun to revisit Amory in my mind, and the town was a perfect beginning point for my main character, Laura O’Dell, who owns and runs her father’s upholstery store called Shop On the Corner. Unfortunately, a highway is being widened beside Laura’s shop and her store and others are scheduled to be taken by imminent domain. Additionally, to bring more problems Laura’s way, her sister Georgina and boyfriend Chase came to visit at Christmas and have stayed on and on freeloading on her hospitality, contributing nothing to expenses, and continually borrowing money they never pay back. Nothing seems to be going right and Laura soon gets a little push to consider a move and a big life change.

As you may guess, that change takes her to Waynesville, North Carolina, to an empty shop for sale right on a corner near Waynesville’s main street. It’s a big move for Laura, who has never been to Waynesville before, but she soon finds the change to be a good one. This is due in part to meeting Mitchell Quinlan who owns Quinlan Staffing Services across the street from Laura’s shop. There is definitely a little sizzle of attraction when they first meet. However, both have a host of life problems and responsibilities going on … and they soon get drawn into other problems and issues around the town of Waynesville … as you will, too!

A special pleasure in working on this book was creating two very unique businesses, Laura’s upholstery shop and Mitchell’s family staffing business. I did a lot of research for both businesses to make them as accurate as possible. Years ago, I actually did a short-term temp job in a staffing services office here in Knoxville, TN, and in a past sales job, I often visited with a favorite sales client, Bob Cable, at his upholstery store, Ledford’s Upholstery, in downtown Elizabethton, TN. I so enjoy creating businesses like these. One of the pleasures of being an author to me is “trying” out a host of occupations and careers through my book characters!

You’ll see the pictures here of how I imagined that my four main story characters might look…. Laura O’Dell and her sister Georgina, Mitchell Quinlan and his mother Evelyn, an area artist and art instructor. Each of these individuals had distinct personalities and you’ll come to know each well in the book, along with a wide host of enjoyable side characters I truly loved spending time with in my mind. These include friends and work associates, Mitchell’s niece and nephew, Mackenzie and Charlie, and Mitchell’s other relatives—especially his grandmothers, Nannie V and Mimi—and all the wonderful Barlow family. You’re in for a treat with this rich southern story, along with the extra addition of a running local mystery to follow.

Those of you who read my books know that I set all my stories in “real” places and try to use as many real streets, shops, restaurants, and tourist sites around the area as I can so readers will feel like they have actually visited in the settings of my books. Besides getting to know Waynesville … you’ll also enjoy sitting on Main Street with my main characters to watch the annual Folkmoot International Festival Parade wind its colorful way down the street. I’ve been in Waynesville to enjoy this parade in July … and it is stunning to see.

A short distance from Waynesville, too, is the beautiful Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, a lovely place set around a picturesque lake with a walking trail all around it. You’ll get to take a nice walk on that trail with Mitchell, Laura, the kids, and the family dog Zoey at one point. I’ve stayed at Junaluska in past and also signed books at the retreat center’s bookstore. Junaluska is especially beautiful when the 200 roses bloom on the lakeside Rose Walk.

Waynesville is also near many well-known tourist attractions. One is the Biltmore House, Gardens, and Estate. Biltmore is the historic home and property built by George Vanderbilt, still owned by his descendants and covering over 8,000 acres. It is a major tourist attraction and draws over a million visitors a year to tour the historic home and the beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens. At one point in the book, you’ll get to visit Biltmore with Mitchell and Laura … and learn more about it.

Additionally, you’ll get to take a hike in the Cataloochee area of the Smoky Mountains with Mitchell and Laura. … A fan once told me that one of her favorite things about my books was that I always put a hike in every book. I went back to check and it’s basically true. I like to show readers what a pleasure a “walk” or hike in the mountains can be. In this book you’ll get to hike and learn more about the Little Cataloochee Trail and the Cataloochee Valley, once the home of many settlers. Cataloochee is as beautiful as Cades Cove—but less crowded.

Through books, readers get the joy of living many lives and visiting a multitude of new places. I hope you’ll enjoy meeting the rich array of characters I’ve created for SHOP ON THE CORNER and that you’ll love visiting this colorful small town. As the back of the book reads: “Sometimes life’s unexpected hardships force you to consider drastic changes you’d never have dreamed of but lead in time to some sweet and unexpected joys.”

To read about my other new book LIGHT IN THE DARK, also publishing in March, read on below to find my February blog about it …And click “FOLLOW” to always get a little email reminder when a new blog goes up each month. … See my March newsletter, too, with our Book Tour Agenda for the coming months at: https://linstepp.com/media-2/.

Happy Spring. I hope your year will be a blessed one.

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.