DNA Test? Have You Done One?

Have you ever taken a DNA test, searching for family? In my latest series, “The Preacher’s Daughters,” the thread that ties the four books together is the mother’s search for her birth family. At first, she resists it feeling that it is ungrateful toward her late adoptive parents who gave her a wonderful life. But her daughters want her to find other blood relatives besides them in light of her recent bout with leukemia.  She is now in remission, but they all were tested to see if they could be bone marrow donors and none of them could. That worries them.

In the third book, LUCY’S UNLIKELY LOVE, they have progressed to where the DNA service is providing matches for their mom. A friend who was adopted and found her birth family through this process explained it to me. I have not clicked the button on 23andMe, asking to see matches. I just don’t have any pressing reason to search for more family. I might do it in the future, but not now. Anyway the search in the book will continue. Who knows what the search will reveal. (Well, I think I do, but sometimes characters surprise even me!) For more information, click here.

___________________________

HANNAH’S HOMETOWN HERO, Book 1

Can a leopard change its spots? Or a shy girl find her moxie and win her hometown hero?

Food blogger and columnist Hannah, recently “unengaged,” strikes out to help her parents and show a new forceful Hannah. Her parents have moved to pastor a new church in a small rural Wisconsin town, living temporarily at a local motel. From their reports, all seems to be going well with their new house build. But no — — say it isn’t so! When she arrives, what meets her eye— just a foundation! What’s wrong with their builder—Guthrie?

Nothing it turns out. The rainy spring and summer have dashed Hannah’s hopes of helping her parents get settled well before snow flies. Resigned but unwilling to remain passive, Hannah becomes involved with the build, the new town, Guthrie and his wounded family. Still she and Guthrie both battle any temptation to love. Love has betrayed them before. What will it take to bring these two stubborn hearts to a second chance at love.

ABBY’S SECOND CHANCE, Book 2

First love such a fragile blossom—now a second chance, can it bloom from attraction to true love?

Abby Kirkland, a successful publicist and fundraiser for a big city botanical garden, takes leave to help a beloved great aunt downsize in Florida. Unexpectedly she crosses paths with Dr. Marco De Palma. She knew him at university in Florida, a decade ago.

Marco never thought to meet Abby again. Even though now he is a MD, the chances of a lady like her falling in love with the son of immigrants from Santa Domingo is still slim.

Yet as they work together on a charity project, they can’t deny the re-igniting of their attraction. Though Abby excels in her public career, she’s painfully shy in her private life. Will old insecurities and mistaken perceptions keep them apart again? Or will truth set them free to love?

LUCY’S UNLIKELY LOVE, Book 3

What happens when a “thinker” and a “live wire” collide? Sparks? Or a 5-alarm fire?

Small town Pleasant Prairie has been slowly dying. Then an influx of Hispanic Americans gives the town much needed new life and possibilities. Pastor Tanner Bond hopes to connect the longtime families and the newcomers for the good of all. But he wants to make the right decisions and has prayed for help.

But he didn’t expect God to send him Lucy Kirkland. Bold, brash, and bilingual, Lucy swoops in to help Tanner take action among the new Hispanic residents. But she’s also Tanner’s complete opposite—she is impulsive and confident while he ponders and second-guesses himself.

Growing up as a PK, “preacher’s kid,” Lucy resented the restrictions put on her. So she doesn’t want to have feelings for Tanner. But she does. Will her rush to bring harmony to the small town do more harm than good? And will this preacher’s daughter realize that she would makethispreacher’s perfect wife?