Hello and welcome to Writer Wednesday! Our author today is Ann Heap, who is sharing the second novel in her Hidden Valley Fire & Rescue series. Let’s meet her!
Welcome, Ann, and thanks for joining us! Tell us about yourself.
I write closed door romances that are more than just happily-ever-after love stories. They are stories of real people struggling with real contemporary issues. Stories of friendship and family, compassion and community. My latest is book two in my Hidden Valley Fire and Rescue series, set in a remote mountain community with characters who are involved in their local volunteer fire and rescue organization. Starting Over: A Father by Choice tells the back story of Wanda and Randy, who were introduced in book one, and follows their teenage romance that was almost derailed by an unexpected event, but was eventually mended.
Description:
If you are looking for a story with unexpected plot twists, an intriguing mystery, moments of nail-biting danger, and a teenage love in need of mending, this is the book for you.
Wanda Marlow and Randy Sullivan fell in love when they were young teens, both involved in the volunteer fire and rescue company of their remote valley home in Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains. They are sure their relationship as a forever couple will survive being apart while Randy pursues a carpentry apprenticeship out of state and Wanda goes away to college. However, at the end of her freshman year, Wanda comes back to their Hidden Valley home pregnant and holding onto a big secret about the father of her child.
Wanda feels shame over the circumstances of her son’s conception and blames herself for betraying their love. She keeps trying to push Randy away, but they have never stopped loving each other. When her son Carter is only three months old, Wanda and Randy agree to start over as a couple, but the secret still lies between them.
Randy’s greatest fear is having Carter’s father show up one day to claim the child he has come to love as his own. As Carter grows, he begins to ask questions about his father. Once the secret begins to hurt Carter, Wanda and Randy know the truth must be revealed. But what is the truth? Is it what Wanda believes? Or is it something entirely different? Their search for the truth leads them on a path to solve an unexpected mystery about Carter’s biological father.
Carter becomes convinced that Paws, his pup since they were both babies, can help solve the mystery. In a drama-filled scene, Paws must help Randy rescue the nine-year-old from the danger he finds himself in as a result of that belief.
Told against the backdrop of the Hidden Valley Fire & Rescue company, this story is filled with a unique cast of characters you will come to love and want to visit again. This closed-door romance is more than just a happily-ever-after love story. It’s a story of compassion, friendship, community, and finding strength to overcome personal trauma.
You can read this book as a stand-alone, but you will enjoy a richer experience by reading the books in the Hidden Valley Fire & Rescue series in the order published.
Review by author E.A. Coe: “Author Heap’s prequel to her debut novel New Tomorrows delights readers with the story of two popular characters from that book. The mountain-community, high school, love affair between Wanda and Randy is unexpectedly derailed by a dramatic episode in life, and the couple must find the courage to reignite it. In the process, they learn the power of forgiveness and that family love is not always defined by DNA. Another page-turning and heartfelt story from a talented writer.”
That sounds wonderful! Where can readers find it?
They can find the Kindle and paperback versions on Amazon at this link.
How did you get started writing?
A very long time ago (1965 to be exact) I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English with a focus on Creative Writing. At the time, my father asked me what on earth I intended to do with such a degree. I told him that I would write, of course, and I’ve been writing in some form or another (poetry, non-fiction, professional articles) all my life, but I finally accomplished my lifelong goal of completing and publishing my first novel just months before I reached my 80th birthday.
Are you a plotter or do you write from the seat of your pants?
Absolutely seat of my pants. I always have a loose plot outline that lays out the big events, but sometimes my characters send me off in an unexpected directions and I just follow along.
What’s your favorite part of being a writer?
I love listening to my characters talk. When I’m writing dialogue (and there’s a lot of dialogue in all of my stories) I feel like I’m not really writing, but eavesdropping on people I know and love.
What are some of your other hobbies outside of writing?
In addition to being a writer, I am a fabric artist and a photographer. I actually have the recent pandemic to thank for transitioning my visual creative focus into making landscape and art quilts. The combination of the pandemic that kept us all closer to home, and my slightly decreased mobility as I got older, kept me from getting out to the places I love to take new photos. I had been sewing all my life, and accidentally fell upon the idea of creating landscapes out of layered fabric, so using my photos as inspiration, I started experimenting with this art form.
What’s next for you, as a writer?
There are four more novels, plus a Christmas novella, in the Hidden Valley Fire & Rescue series. Book three — No Turning Back: Marching Toward Freedom — will be coming out later in 2024. It is the story of Tillie, whom some folks in Hidden Valley call a Granny Witch. She is the proprietor of Tillie’s Treasures, a store that features the work of local artisans from her Appalachian Valley home and the surrounding area. You will meet her when she’s a young teen and follow her life from the 1950s to the early 20th century. It’s a story that explores racial relationships and healing, as a strong woman with a mountain heritage finds her personal freedom to define who and what she is. And perhaps finds an unexpected, late-in-life romance. The novella will be out in time for your 2024 holiday reading and the remaining books are scheduled for 2025.
More about the author:
Ann was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She currently lives on a mountain ridge in Fort Valley, Virginia, with her rescue pup Buddy. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Creative Writing. Her career path led her from social work, to the business world, and eventually to the classroom. She is now retired after teaching English, Journalism, and Photography to teens. She also spent twenty years as a volunteer EMT in her community.
You can find Ann on her website, mountainridgecreations.net, on her Amazon author page, and Goodreads. You can also email her at ann@mountainridgecreations.net.
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Thank you for joining Writer Wednesday featuring Ann Heap’s Hidden Valley Fire & Rescue series. Ann’s latest novel, Starting Over: A Father by Choice, offers a gripping tale of love, secrets, and unexpected twists. Stay tuned for more heartwarming narratives from Ann as she continues to explore the lives of the beloved characters of Hidden Valley.
Now, I’d love to hear from you: What is your favorite fictional small town? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you on the next Writer Wednesday!