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Hello, reader friends! It’s my great pleasure to invite you to explore one a breathtaking setting that just so happens to be near the top of my travel bucket list and among my personal favorite places to visit by way of a good story!

Colorado

Cecelia is a live-in housekeeper for best-selling author Mark Andrews, who lives in the mountains outside a small town in the Colorado Rockies in the contemporary novel called Alone (Clean Reads, 2016).

The gravel driveway winds up the hillside between aspens and evergreens to the house.

The remote setting ensures that not just anyone could be the murderer in this inspirational romantic suspense novel.

 

Q&A

What inspired you to choose Colorado for Alone?

SM: My husband’s job took us to Colorado. I loved the Rockies with the combination of aspens and evergreens and snowy mountains. I was fascinated by moving east from the Seattle area and seeing “gateway to the west” signs in Denver.

It was the farthest east, I’d ever been. I liked Denver as a city. Here’s one of the buildings my husband worked in. The reflected church is the Holy Ghost Catholic Church. The high-rise was built around it.

When we visited a small town in the Rockies for their Christmas festival; Georgetown became the basis for my fictional town. Cecelia visits a festival modeled after theirs.

Beth: Especially on a clear day, approaching the Rockies from the east is a breathtaking sight to behold!

What kind of research did you do on Colorado?

SM: We did a lot of exploring of the state while we lived there for almost three years.

Beth: There are many things we’d love to do and explore in Colorado!

What is something most people don’t know about your setting?

SM: I based the small town feel, and the snowmobiling experiences, in and around Seeley Lake, Montana, where my sister lived for many years. Once while visiting I took my mom to the grocery store and by looking at me the clerk knew I was related to my sister.

I based the outside of the church in my fictional town on the many quaint churches seen throughout rural areas in Colorado, like this one on the left.

Beth: I adore small town settings!

What is the best time of year in Colorado?

SM: The fall is lovely, but I may be partial as that’s my favorite season overall. If you want skiing or other winter sports, definitely come in the winter.

Colorado mountain in the fall. Isn’t the mix of evergreen and aspens, lovely? I imagine a view like this for my characters driving up and down their mountain.

Beth: Autumn is my favorite season, too!

If readers want to visit Georgetown what advice would you give them?

SM: Go between Thanksgiving and Christmas—it’s so much fun. Check out their website: https://www.georgetown-colorado.org/ for more details of events then and at other times during the year.

Beth: Oh boy! What a wonderful place!

 

About the Book

Ready for adventure in the snowy Colorado mountains, Cecelia Gage is thrilled to be employed as the live-in housekeeper for her favorite bestselling author. The twenty-five-year-old doesn’t count on Mark Andrews being so prickly, nor becoming part of the small town gossip centering on the celebrity.

Neither does she expect to become involved in Andrews family drama and a relationship with Simon Lindley, Mark’s oh so good-looking best friend. And certainly, Cecelia has no idea she’ll be mixed up in a murder investigation because of this job.

Will Cecelia’s faith in God get her through all the trouble that lies ahead?

goodreads | amazon

 

About the Author

SM Ford writes inspirational fiction for adults, although teens may find the stories of interest, too.

When she was 13 she got hooked on Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense books, although she has been a reader as long as she can remember, and is an eclectic reader. Inspirational authors she enjoys include: Francine Rivers, Bodie Thoene, Dee Henderson, Jan Karon, and many more.

SM Ford is a Pacific Northwest gal, but has also lived in the midwest (Colorado and Kansas) and on the east coast (New Jersey). She and her husband have two daughters and two sons-in-law and three grandsons. She can’t figure out how she got to be old enough for all that, however.

She loves assisting other writers on their journeys and is a writing teacher, speaker, mentor, and blogger about writing.

website | blog | facebook | twitter

 

Share YOUR favorite Colorado experiences or stories, reader friends!