You’re about to see just how honest I can be as I talk about this first book in the Spencer Family series. This one started out rocky- no sells, no reviews other than the ones my advance readers gave and they were good. It took some digging to figure out why.
Let’s start with the cover. I have thick skin so I asked for honest opinions and got them. The couple is too close. I like close-cropped pictures, but I’m not the target. They didn’t like his t-shirt. I didn’t either but still don’t know what to do about it. Her teeth are too big. I don’t even know what to say about that one.
Sooner or later, I’ll probably redo the cover, but today is not the day. I’m not looking forward to it either so I’ll probably procrastinate for as long as I can. Honestly, I hate looking at stock photos. I’ll tell you what, I use Deposit Photos; if you want find a Wade and Dani look-alike on there, shoot it to me and I’ll take it under consideration.
Then there was the prologue. I’ll think twice before doing another of those. It was (I thought) a cute look at how Dani missed her chance with Wade as a teenager. If you read the book early on, this was in there, but not anymore. It stung a little, but I eliminated it.
I don’t take this next complaint lightly. Dani is divorced. More people than I thought possible refuse to touch a book if one of the characters are divorced. Dani’s husband gave all the reasons for divorce that the Bible allows. (from my understanding there are only two) He was a cheating, abusive piece of work that never gave God a thought, yet Dani would have stayed with him. He left her and he filed for the divorce. She returns to Shiloh broken and with a child to raise on her own. And you know what else, even if it had been her fault, God would have forgiven her. Just saying.
Now on to Wade Spencer. I have not gotten one bad remark. He’s the perfect hero. I wrote this book three years ago and I’m still in love with him. Ah man, the way he takes care of his family, and his momma… His momma has cancer and there is a scene where he shaves her head even though it was killing him on the inside. It makes me tear up just thinking about it.
Just the chance to get to know Wade Spencer is reason enough to read this book. (I probably shouldn’t have said that about my own character, but it’s true!) But don’t take my word for it. Read the reviews and then read the book!
Andrea Boyd 