FINALLY FOREVER

FINALLY FOREVER
Friday, March 1, 2024 by KARIN BEERY

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

PLEASE WELCOME

KARIN BEERY

FICTION FRIDAY

Finally Forever: A Family Affair

Where do you get your inspiration?

Readers love to know what inspires their favorite novelists. The list of inspirations is endless—everything from their lives, their friends’ lives, the news, and their imaginations. There’s really no limit to what might inspire a writer.

I’ve tapped into everything from local events and locations to bizarre snippets from my dreams. My favorite inspiration, though, is my family. As the middle of three daughters all born within 3.5 years, my sisters and I are close—we text daily, send too many reels to each other, and watch Michigan football together from three different states on a three-way phone call.

We don’t only talk to each other, though. One of our favorite people is Aunt Linda. Our special-needs aunt spent most of her life living in a wonderful facility with a nurturing caregiver until she moved in with my husband and me more than a decade ago. Life outside of assisted living literally opened a whole new world for Linda.

One thing Linda experienced—and loved!—was access to her own television. She’d had to share the television at her home with all the residents, so she had to watch what everyone else wanted to watch. At my house, however, she owned the remote control.

I don’t remember why we started watching Dancing with the Stars, but it became our Monday night routine. She’d get mad at the judges for criticizing the dancers, then tell me who she wanted to vote for that week. We watched every season for the three years that she lived with us.

Linda lives with her sister now (my mom), but we still get together several times a year. And despite the many states among us all, my sisters and I also manage to see each other at least once a year.

After writing Avoiding Marriage, I knew I wanted to write about a football player and a reluctant love interest. I’m not sure why, but my mind went to Dancing with the Stars. That led to a local fundraiser (Swingshift and the Stars Dance-Off for Charity). And that led to a story inspired by one of Linda’s favorite shows and an inspired-by-real-events fundraiser supporting a home for women like Linda.

In each of my other books, at least one of the main characters has siblings, but Finally Forever is the first time I’ve included my experience—life between three sisters. Caroline, Carmen, and Christine aren’t stand-ins for my sisters and me, but it was a lot easier to describe the bonds between them because of my first-hand experience.

I can’t wait to share Caroline’s story with you, and I hope someday soon you’ll get to read Carmen’s and Christine’s too!

ABOUT FINALLY FOREVER

Former competitive dancer Caroline Novak dreams of leaving the corporate world to work with special needs women at the Pathways non-profit, but the organization can’t afford a full-time director. All-American defensive end Ben Allen was on his way to the NFL when a knee injury sent him home and into the same office as Caroline, his best friend’s older sister. When Pathways participates in a Dancing with the Stars-inspired fundraiser, Caroline quickly volunteers, and Ben joins her as the local “star.”

It doesn’t take long for Ben to realize it’s more than a dance competition, and Caroline is more than his best friend’s sister, but after two failed engagements, she’s hesitant to trust her heart with another man. When the NFL calls Ben, it looks like his dream might finally come true—but it could cost them the championship and Caroline her heart.

ABOUT KARIN BEERY

Author of hopeful fiction with a healthy dose of romance, Karin Beery lives in northern Michigan with her husband and pets. They drink too much (decaf) coffee, put up their Christmas tree the first weekend in November, and do their best to live every day for the Lord.

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