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Patricia Johns

~ Bestselling author

Patricia Johns

Tag Archives: wholesome romance

A small change

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, cowboy romance, harlequin author, heartwarming author, love inspired author, mills and boon author, sweet romance, western romance author, wholesome romance

355px-Point.svgI’ve made a small change to my blog that I thought I’d point out: I’ve put all of my books on one page instead of splitting them up by Harlequin imprint. I have a good reason for this:

They’re all sweet romances (kisses only), family centered and written by the same “sweet” author. The Love Inspired books have obvious Christian themes in them, but the Western Romance and Heartwarming books don’t. However, they are still wholesome romances with family-centered stories that will tug at your heartstrings.

That means that my Christian readers can enjoy my books from any line that I publish through. I have secular readers who have thoroughly enjoyed my Love Inspired stories, too! So don’t feel afraid to try a new line–especially when you know you can trust the author.

You check that out above, or click here.

Awash in Books

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, clean romance, firefighter romance, inspirational romance, inspy romance, love inspired author, love inspired books, wholesome romance

I just submitted my manuscript for A SECOND TIME AT FOREVER… just in time to get a springtime cold. This is how it works for me–I work hard, and then my immune system craps out on me. I recover for a few days, and then I pour it on for a new project. I don’t think my body likes this arrangement, considering that it keeps throwing me under the bus with illness, but I carry on anyway. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Right now, I’m starting a proposal for what I hope will be my first series. This one will be about a police department, and it’s slowly starting to take shape in my mind. It’s fun to start with something brand new–a new town, a new group of people. I confess I’m geeking out a little bit! I’m going to make a nice big map so that I can keep track of where everything is in my fictional town. I’ll have to keep track of all my details: shopkeepers, townspeople, ministers, store names…

And today, I received my big ol’ box of A FIREFIGHTER’S PROMISE, which hits bookstores May, 2015. Yay! So I’m feeling productive… and awash in books. So stay tuned for a giveaway soon!

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The weight of a heart: writing bad guys

07 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

christian author, clean romance, heart and home, inspirational author, love inspired author, love inspired books, sweet romance, wholesome romance, writing a bad guy

Bad guys are definitely fun to write, and my current work in progress has a doozy of a bad guy. Now, romance novels don’t always need bad guys to keep them moving, the focus on the relationship being enough, and this guy developed almost by accident. I needed my cop hero and the journalist heroine to have something to work on together, and in he stepped.

Now, fictional bad guys are much like real life bad guys in that they have two vastly different sides to their characters. If you think about it, even Hitler, who is arguably the most evil man we know of, had a personable side. I’ve read articles where people who worked as bodyguards to Hitler said he was fun and laughed and joked with them. They honestly liked him. The other side to his personality was horrifically cruel–all bundled up into the same person.

In writing, maximizing that dichotomy of character is key in showing just how “bad” a bad guy is: the warm smile right after a vicious sneer, for example, or the extra-kindness before doing something particularly cruel. Abusive people, in real life, tend to show this same kind of flip-flopping behavior, keeping their victims off balance with volleying kindness and cruelty. It’s the inconsistency that makes us nervous. It’s that inconsistency that makes them dangerous.

 

imagesKathy-happy-and...

People are often described as having “a good heart.” Hearts seem to be weighed differently than actions by the people closest to them. Motives are taken into consideration. “He didn’t mean it. He was upset because…” or “She only lied because she was trying to protect him…” In these situations, bad behavior is mitigated by “the good heart,” or the motivation. When actions become intolerably cruel, however, actions weigh more than hearts, and flawed characters become villains. That’s the realm of “bad guys.”

But never fear–I’m a firm believer in that happy ending, and the bad guy meets a suitable end. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Also… someone gets married, but sssh… I don’t want to ruin it!

First Kisses

27 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, clean romance, first kiss, harlequin author, inspirational author, love inspired author, sweet romance, wholesome romance

Photo by: Michael L. Baird

Photo by: Michael L. Baird

First kisses are awkward affairs… except for mine! ๐Ÿ˜‰ It’s just bad form to have an awkward first kiss in a romance novel, unless that awkwardness is somehow endearing and melts away pronto.

My first kiss with my husband was at the streetcar stop in front of my home in downtown Toronto. Mr. Johns was dropping me off after a date, and he caught my hand as I was about to turn and leave and he said,

“Will you kiss me?”

So in the light of a streetlamp somewhere near midnight, I came back to where he was standing, rose up on my toes and kissed him. I think I did a rather good job of it, because he still mentions that kiss sometimes!

Some people choose to share their first kiss on their wedding day. Others catch it on the doorstep after a date. Some ask permission. Others simply see what will happen. Regardless, it’s a story ever couple tells!

Where was your first kiss?

Waking Mr. Johns

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, clean romance, Granchester, harlequin author, inspirational romance, love inspired author, married romance, sweet romance, wholesome romance

The other evening, my husband went to bed before me. He was wiped after a long day at work, and I was still buzzed from my day of writing. So he went to bed, and I watched a murder mystery on TV.

In the show, the sleuth was in love with Woman A. Woman A was marrying someone else. Woman B is a wonderful woman who loves the sleuth dearly, but she’s not Woman A. So the sleuth tries to love Woman B, while all the while loving Woman A in spite of himself. It made me feel really badly for Woman B! (If you recognize this, then we’re both PBS fans!)

GRANTCHESTER_EP1_0_394

So I turned off the lights, checked the locks and puttered off toward bed. I crawled into bed next to my husband who was snoring deeply. But I got to thinking… Wouldn’t it terrible to be the Plan B? I knew I wasn’t… but what if things had turned out differently, and I was?

This is how a novelist’s mind works when she really should be sleeping and is staying awake in bed instead. She works herself into knots, replotting her own story. What if?? I decided that the only way to untie this unrealistic knot was to get some reassurance. So I snuggled up to my husband’s back. He didn’t wake up.

I kissed him. Nada.

I patted him. No luck.

I rolled over and put my back against his. Nothing. I reached back and smacked him harder.

Mr. Johns sputtered and moaned.

Me: Oh, are you awake?

Him: Uhh…. Yeah….

Me: So, I was just wondering, honey… Am I the love of your life?

Him: (garbled) Yup.

Me: The one you’d measure everyone else against if I were to die an untimely death?

Him: Of course, baby. Soul mates.

Me: *smile*

Him: *snore*

Because men have a very hard time saying the right thing when they are half asleep, unless the right thing happens to be the true thing.

Being married to me must be interesting. Mr. Johns finds me intriguing, but that’s because I was created for him. (He was born first.) Or you could say that God created him for me before I was even born. Regardless, we were made for each other, so when I wake him out of dead sleeps to ask him What If questions, he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, the next morning, he doesn’t seem to remember.

That might be lucky. ๐Ÿ˜‰

 

He doesn’t think I’m funny

29 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

christian author, clean, harlequin author, inspirational author, love inspired author, married romance, wholesome romance

My husband doesn’t get my humor. Like, at all! I’m a pretty happy, jokey kind of person. When I talk to friends on the phone, there is lots of laughing. I crack jokes and find myself absolutely hilarious. It might come as surprising to you that I married someone who doesn’t find me funny at all!

But he doesn’t. He adores me. He treasures me. But he doesn’t find me funny. He says, “I know other people find you funny.” And he’ll watch me with a bewildered look of happiness on his face while I crack jokes and laugh at them, and he does laugh with me at times, it’s never laughing at the joke.

CandlestickTelephones

My husband has two sides to his personality–goofy and dead solemn. The dead solemn part of his personality is the one I enjoy the most. It’s just so determined and unflappable that I love trying to poke a hole in it.

For example, we’ll be sitting on the couch together and my husband will be reading a book. He sits there, book in front of him, solemn expression on his face. I find him heart-stoppingly handsome, especially when he’s in one of his solemn moods.

Me: Hey, honey?

He lifts his eyes and turns them toward me. No change in expression.

Me: What are you reading?

He says the title, waits for me to have a reaction, then his eyes slowly turn back to his book.

Me: Hey, honey?

His eyes turn slowly toward me again.

Me: Tell me I’m pretty.

Him: You’re gorgeous. And I love you. (Pause.) Okay?

Me: Okay.

His eyes slowly turn back to his book. Still no change in his deadpan expression.

Me: I think you’re gorgeous, too.

Him (still looking at his book): I know.

Me: You know that you’re gorgeous or that I think it?

Him: Both.

Me: Isn’t that vain?

Him: I’m a man. All men think they’re gorgeous. Doesn’t matter how old or unshowered we are, we think we’re gorgeous.

Me: Lucky I agree.

He turns his eyes toward me again.

Him: Am I going to read?

Me: You could. If you really wanted to.

His eyes turn slowly toward his book again, but his hand slides over and takes mine. He tugs me closer.

Me: I mean, if you really, really wanted to read, I wouldn’t stop you or anything.

Him: Let me finish this chapter, and then we can turn in. (Glances at watch.) It’s late.

Me: Kiss me first.

Him: (kisses me, and a glitter of humor comes into his eye) Now, I’m going to read to you aloud until I’m done this chapter.

Me: Heavens, no! You and your depressing books!

He starts to read aloud anyway, because he knows that I hate it and he enjoys teasing me. He follows me around the house while I try to escape his loud reading of some dismal biography. Eventually the book is abandoned, about a paragraph before the end of the chapter.

Him: Honey?

Me: Hmm?

Him: You’re awfully pretty.

It’s the utterly solemn side to his personality that has no ability to understand my humor, and I don’t think I’d trade it for the world.

A Firefighter’s Promise

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, clean romance, harlequin author, harlequin books, inspirational romance, love inspired author, love inspired books, Love Inspired romance, wholesome romance

I’m so excited to show you my next book coming out May 2015! I just love this cover…

firefighter's promise cover

When the baby he rescued seven years ago returns–with his widowed adoptive mom–Deputy Fire Chief Matt Bailey can’t turn them away. Desperate to escape the reminders of his failure in the line of duty, Matt is close to leaving town. But one look at Rachel Carter and her son, Christopher, has him second-guessing his plans. Rachel is a mom in need of a hero for her son. But as much as she wants the two to bond, she’s determined to keep her distance from Matt. After losing her husband on the job, she’s promised never to love another fireman. Yet somehow she finds herself drawn to the one man she should avoid.

Look for A FIREFIGHTER’S PROMISE in a bookstore near you in May 2015!

The CIA, a Russian peasant community and minivans

26 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

checkers, Christian romance, christmas 2014, clean romance, crock pot, inspirational romance, love inspired author, sweet romance, wholesome romance

 

20141224_193503I got a Crock Pot for Christmas! Very exciting, and as soon as we’ve eaten up all these leftovers, I’m going to see what I can cook very, very slowly. I’m looking forward to it. (Any favorite slow cooker recipes out there??)

Since we got our son a checkers board as one of his gifts, we played a lot of family games of checkers this holiday. My husband constantly beats me in games like that. It makes playing with him very tiring–until I found something to make it a LOT more fun…

Back stories!

Photo from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

Photo from The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

If you give every single checker piece a back story (and don’t be lazy about it! I mean EVERY piece!), let him give a little speech when he gets kinged, have him show the checker piece next to him snapshots of his family and then give him existential crises when he’s faced with jumping another piece… Give them sweethearts back home, weight them down with personal memories and hopes for the future. When that gets boring, you can turn your entire little army into pacifists who give lengthy monologues about the value of every game piece and sacrifice themselves for each other at every opportunity… it gets to be fun again! For me, less so my husband… he made me change themes. The checker pieces were too sympathetic at that point.

Our favorite story arc involved the CIA, a Russian peasant community, brainwashing, and an inordinate love of minivans. No checker pieces were harmed in the making of that story.

So that was my Christmas! Be thankful that you aren’t married to a novelist, or you might have to endure long, guilt-inducing monologues during board games, too. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and that 2015 brings you happiness and prosperity!

From my home to yours… โค

 

This Christmas is NOT a democracy. ;)

21 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, Christmas, clean romance, harlequin author, inspirational romance, love inspired author, love inspired books, wholesome romance

This year is going to be a very quiet Christmas in the Johns home. In the last five Christmases past, we’ve been busy, busy, busy. Busy is great! Family is great, and I love them all dearly. Don’t get me wrong, but…

Between you and I? I’m really looking forward to a quiet little Christmas with just my husband and son.

Quiet little Christmases don’t make for good book plotting. Big family mayhem is just more interesting to read about, but there are perks to having a quiet holiday in real life.

Here are a few:

1. You get to do what you want to do!

fh0xK4rNo, I’m joking! LOL

But when you have lots of people around, you have to be democratic. In past years, I’ve been consistently outvoted. But with just the three of us, I get to do the one thing I’ve been yearning for for the last several years–go to the Christmas Eve candlelight carol service! Because with just the three of us, there is the “But Mommy really wants this. Get dressed.”

2. Flu recovery!

This has been a vicious flu season for my family. It just lingers, and then revisits us in different forms. I blame the petri dish of the elementary school for introducing us to these germs of mass destruction, but what can you do? A quiet holiday will give us all a chance to rest up.

3. It’s just like we used to do when I was a kid.

I’m a semi-introverted person born to two introverts. That should explain that. ๐Ÿ˜‰

So this year, we’re doing Christmas a little differently.

How about you? Big Christmas? Small Christmas? Unique Christmas? Whatever kind of Christmas you’re about to enjoy, I hope it’s a happy one!

From my home to yours, I wish you a very merry Christmas, and the happiest of New Years!

Christmas_Tree_1867

This is to improve your Wednesday

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Patricia Johns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian romance, clean romance, harlequin author, inspirational romance, love inspired author, love inspired books, screaming goat, the note everyone tried to hit, wholesome romance

I laughed and laughed!

Happy ONE WEEK before Christmas!

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Patricia Johns, Author

Patricia Johns, Author

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