He was so darn cute standing there in the produce aisle making sure the lettuce was fresh, as I checked out groceries.

My husband and I met when we were in high school, while working at the same grocery store. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for love? In your story, your hero moves to a different country to win his girlfriend back. Her family and her friends are her heart, and I’d really love to spend the day with her.

She doesn’t give up, and she works hard for the people who matter to her. I understand how it feels to be at the mercy of other people’s expectations, to suffer with self-doubt and anxiety, and question every single choice. I mean, spending the day with a charming, handsome man sounds quite appealing, but I’d want to spend the day with Natalie. That’s like asking me which one of my kids is my favorite. If you could spend the day with Natalie or James, who would you choose and what would you do? The most important aspect of developing Compass Cove was populating it with people who could bring it to life…people who make Long Island special. It’s not perfect-there are certainly ups and downs that come with living here-but the people are what make it wonderful. There’s a lot of comfort writing these stories because this is my community. It’s been a wonderful journey getting to reacquaint myself with the place where I grew up. “Tell their stories.” That was the moment I knew I had to bring Compass Cove to Long Island. “These people are New Yorkers,” she said. However, my friend and mentor, JoAnn Ross, read the first book and told me my characters were looking at the wrong ocean. Initially, when I started writing the first book (which became Then Came You )-before it was contracted-I had the town located in the Pacific Northwest. They are polar opposites, and that’s what makes it work.īeing from Long Island yourself, what was the process like writing about the town of Compass Cove? It was a lot of fun to write this couple. He was one of those characters that jumped off the page, fully formed and talking to me.

The idea to have her matched with a British aristocrat didn’t come until later, when I started to explore her reasons for coming home. She was in just a few scenes in that book, and she stole every one of them. I had a lot of readers ask me if I was going to tell her story, and to be honest I didn’t know how I could avoid it. She made light of it, but you could feel the pain behind her words. In All of Me Natalie blew into town telling the story of why she was fired from the art gallery. Over the past three books, the Miller family has really evolved. Where do you get the inspiration for My Christmas Wish ? Jeannie Moon stopped by the Tule blog to discuss the fourth book in the Compass Cove series, My Christmas Wish!

This Christmas by Jeannie Moon