ECHOES OF SUNRISE

ECHOES OF SUNRISE
Friday, March 14, 2025 by AMANDA CABOT

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS / Reviews and Interviews

PLEASE WELCOME

AMANDA CABOT

FICTION FRIDAY

Finding Inspiration

Where does a writer find inspiration? You'll probably get ten different answers if you ask ten writers that question. When I’m asked, I typically say, “anywhere.” After all, I found the inspiration for a book when I heard the old song “Stranger in Paradise” playing in a Phoenix restaurant while traveling for my day job.

For my current release, Echoes of Sunrise, four different things provided the inspiration I needed.

A Snippet of a Conversation – Have you ever heard something that intrigued you enough that you wanted to know more? For me, that something was, “The threat is real.” I started asking myself what the threat was, who was responsible for it, and how my characters would deal with it. Eventually that became the first line of the book.

A Favorite Place – Readers know that the Texas Hill Country is one of my favorite parts of the Lone Star State, which is why so many of my books are set there. Echoes of Sunrise is no exception. The majority of it takes place in my fictional town of Carr Valley.

What readers may not know is that I majored in French in college and was fortunate to be able to spend a semester studying in France. If you’re envisioning me in Paris, think again. Yes, I made several trips there during my stay, but the program was located in Poitiers, a smaller city southwest of Paris. The months I spent there were the most influential of my college career, a truly unforgettable experience.

I knew that having a book set in Poitiers wouldn’t appeal to a lot of readers, so I made it part of my hero and heroine’s backstory. That’s where they met and began to fall in love. It was so much fun weaving in little details of their time in the ancient city!

Personal Experiences – Have you ever had dreams about people you haven’t thought of in months only to have them call you the next day or about places you’ve never seen only to find out that they’re real places? I have. That’s why I decided that my heroine would have dreams about a woman who looks exactly like her, a woman who announces that she’s her twin sister. One of the questions the book answers is why my heroine, who knows she’s an only child, has these dreams.

Tropes – Writers sometimes rely on popular story lines like a love triangle or a secret baby for the foundation of their books. One of the tropes that I enjoy reading and writing is the marriage of convenience. When I was brainstorming Echoes of Sunrise, I decided to write a marriage of convenience story with a twist. I’d already written one marriage of convenience book, Scattered Petals. Since that was published – can you believe it? – fifteen years ago, it was time for another one. Unlike Scattered Petals and most marriage of convenience stories, my hero and heroine aren’t strangers who are brought together by external events. Instead, they’ve already developed a relationship, and the marriage they both need tests their commitment to each other.

And there you have it: four things that helped inspire Echoes of Sunrise. Now it’s time for me to ask you a question.

Fellow authors, have you used any of these things for inspiration for your books? And readers, which one do you think had the greatest influence on me?

MORE ABOUT ECHOES OF SUNRISE

A baby to protect. A town to save. Is a marriage of convenience the only answer?

Sophia Carr knows her recurring dreams of an identical twin sister are just that - dreams. She also knows that eventually she will inherit the hotel her grandfather built. When a fire at the hotel kills her mother, Sophia returns to Carr Valley to rebuild and ensure that a planned railroad line chooses a route that will keep the town alive. But her grandfather’s will states that she must be married to inherit, and the only man she can imagine marrying seems to have forgotten her.

Up-and-coming architect Gideon Spencer couldn’t say no when his dying friend begged him to marry his widow and raise their baby as his own rather than let a cruel grandfather gain custody. But when the young mother dies, leaving Gideon a single parent, the grandfather poses a new threat unless Gideon manages to marry again. Sadly, the only woman he’s interested in is the one he’s ignored for six months: Sophia.

Knowing he needs to protect the baby, Gideon heads to Carr Valley. When he discovers that Sophia needs a husband as much as he needs a wife, he proposes a six-month marriage of convenience. Sophia agrees but adds a stipulation of her own, one that will test his resolve, even as their wedding day reveals that Sophia’s dreams of a twin sister might be more than dreams.

As Sophia and Gideon join forces, the stakes couldn’t be higher: a baby’s life, a town’s future, and love.

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ABOUT AMANDA CABOT

From the age of seven, Amanda Cabot dreamed of becoming a published author, but it was only when she set herself the goal of selling a book by her thirtieth birthday that the dream came true. A former director of Information Technology, Amanda has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages. She is now the bestselling author of more than forty novels and a variety of novellas. Her books have been honored with starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and have been finalists for the ACFW Carol Award, the HOLT Medallion, and the Booksellers’ Best. For her, a day is incomplete unless it includes books and at least one pot of tea

To connect with Amanda Cabot

Social Media Links

www.amandacabot.com

https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot

http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

MY REVIEW *****

I enjoyed this book immensely. Often, even though the book is interesting, my mind wanders, especially for historical fiction because I want to imagine myself inside the events. When that doesn’t happen, it’s hard for me to stay on the page. Not so with Echoes of Sunrise. The story was well crafted and the characters engaging. I particularly liked the triple major plot development. This is not easily achieved and keep the plots interwoven. I also liked the ethereal twist of haunting dream that permeated the story. Well done, Amanda Cabot.

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