Several years ago I fell in love with a tall, good-hearted guy and he introduced me to the northwoods of Wisconsin. I found out that southern Wisconsin with its grain farms and dairy barns and pastures and large cities was nothing like the northwoods. And so I fell in love a second time.
My backyard
I had always lived on the prairie where one could usually see what was coming from a good distance. But in the northwoods, trees grow thick and tall (I have pines around my house that are as tall as a three-story building—that’s tall.) My husband’s explanation of why trees here grow taller than south of here is that in a forest, trees have to grow taller to get sunlight and have no room to spread out. Interesting.
Can you find my house in the trees?
Anyway besides the woods, within a fifty-mile radius of my lakeside home, there are over 2000 lakes. And that’s just in a fifty-mile radius. Just one little part of the area called the “Lakeland Area.” (Figures, right?) My husband has flown over it several times in small planes. From the air, he says you see more water than land.
My lake view
Also I love the wildlife—not just deer but eagles, loons, osprey, large turtles, beavers, muskrats, otters, raccoons, bear, and even wolves. (I’m glad I don’t see the last two too often.)
We do have long snowy winters, but they don’t bother me as long as there’s no ice and they end before Memorial Day (which they do!)
So I set A Heart of Stone in my town, I re-named it Eagle Lake. So if you’d like to “visit” me and experience where I live, this book will take you through a summer.
Also I’ve known people who had a heart of stone or actually, a heart encased in stone. And so I wrote a story of how love can soften a heart but sometimes it takes more than that. Sometimes a terrible shock is the only thing that “wakes” a person up. And that is the second reason I wrote A Heart of Stone. To give hope to those who know someone with a heart of stone. Where do you live? And do you love it? Leave a comment and enter a random drawing for an e-copy of this book.
A Heart of Stone by Lyn Cote
A baby’s future hangs in the balance, sparking a heart-rending mystery. Why didn’t Cash’s sister leave him guardianship of her daughter?
Instead, she leaves her infant in her friend Jane’s care. Though a lifelong friend, Jane isn’t family. And the baby is the only family Cash has left. He insists on being involved in raising his young niece. In the midst of this, strange things start happening at Jane’s dress shop. Can the two overcome their differences–and perhaps build a new family together? Only if his heart of stone can be softened. From a Carol Award-winning author: a faith-filled, second chance romance with a touch of mystery.
Beautiful pics! 🙂