Amy Lillard: Summer Brides

With summer heating up, Amy Lillard has written The Wildflower Bride for The 12 Brides of Summer Collection.

As a sequel to last winter’s The Gingerbread Bride, The Wildflower Bride follows the fortunes of the second sister, Grace Sinclair

Older sister Maddie is married in the opening scene, set in the 1875 Ozarks, and we get to celebrate with the family.

Maddie makes a gorgeous bride and Grace rejoices with her, all the while wishing someone as handsome as Harlan would sweep her off her feet. But she knows everyone in Calico Falls and so has resigned herself to staying home and helping her widowed pastor father with his congregation.

Then she gets a look at the best man.

Oliver tartan kilt (: Wikipedia)

Wearing a kilt, no less.

And her heart sinks.

Just hired at his dream job as an assistant pastor, Ian McGruer is on top of the world standing up for his closest friend, even if he has had to travel all the way from upstate New York.

And then he sees the girl.

Could that really be the hand of God tugging at both Grace and Ian?

But hasn’t God already determined where they’ll live and minister?

Does God remember how far apart Arkansas and New York are?

And what do wildflowers have to do with it all?

Writing the story

Amy Lillard has had a busy 2015 with several new releases, but she relished writing of The Wildflower Bride and revisiting Calico Falls, “after all, her sister got a chance at happily ever after. Grace deserved one too.”

She enjoyed exploring a new angle on a love story.

“The Gingerbread Bride is all about trusting God, but The Wildflower Bride is about understanding what God’s plan really is.

I had a great time writing Grace and Ian’s story. It is a love at first sight-but you’re all wrong for me- story. Each one of them feels God has a different plan for their lives and it doesn’t include moving away from their home in order to be with each other.”

It took a little research to put the story together, mostly for the wedding scene and the question of whether Scottish men wore kilts to weddings in the 1800’s.

“It was great fun reading about all the kilt standards, plaids and tartans and all things Scottish.”

The original idea started with the title.

“I loved the idea of wildflowers in the mountains. From that came the field of wildflowers between the two houses (their home and the house that Harlan is building for Maddie). Just the thought of wildflowers makes me smile and that’s what I wanted from this story: I wanted to give my readers a smile.”

You can purchase an ebook copy of The Gingerbread Bride for 99 cents: here.

Who is Amy Lillard? Click to Tweet

Published author, expert corn bread maker, and Squirrel Princess. Amy is a native of Mississippi who currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband and son. She writes both historical romances and contemporary novels, including two Oklahoma Amish novels releasing in 2015: Courting Emily and Lorie’s Heart.