Jill Shalvis on the Making of "Merry Christmas, Baby"
Wild child Chloe Thompson can't believe how much things have changed. She still can't get enough of her sexy husband Sawyer, but he seems to prefer working to impending fatherhood. So tonight, a very pregnant Chloe is escaping her troubles at the town Christmas party.
Sheriff Sawyer Thompson hopes surprising Chloe at the party will give him a chance to set things right. But as the snow begins to fall and the wind rages, he wonders whether he can make it back in time. While mother nature conspires to keep Sawyer and Chloe apart, an unexpected arrival will require them to kiss and make up...and ring in the happiest holiday Lucky Harbor has ever seen. Here, Jill Shalvis talks about the inspiration behind writing Merry Christmas, Baby.
I love the holidays. All the kids are home, and it’s usually snowing outside and warm inside from the baking of cookies – or in my case, the burning of the cookies…
Last year when this happened, our new fire alarm went off and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. We have really high ceilings and there was no way to reach the smoke detector. A neighbor called the police, and a sheriff came to the door. He looked a little rumpled and a lot overworked, but he smiled when he saw the burnt cookies.
“My wife does that a lot,” he said with obvious warmth and love.
It reminded me that one of my favorite couples--sexy sheriff Sawyer Thompson and wildcard Chloe Traeger from my book Head Over Heels--would be celebrating this holiday too, and chances were that Chloe was doing something to both irritate Sawyer and yet turn him on at the same time.
The thought wouldn’t leave me alone. But how I could I do justice in a novella to a couple who had an undeniably explosive chemistry and whirlwind romance the first time around? I also didn’t want to give them some silly misunderstanding or lightweight conflict and take away from their intense and fierce relationship, the one I’d painstakingly built in Head Over Heels. I mean, to be honest, those two nearly drove me to drink the first time around.
Then it hit me, the idea for the story I could tell that would at once both heighten their relationship and yet change it forever. Picture me cackling and rubbing my hands together in glee over my laptop as I spun the new web. I’m not going to tell you what I did, or what Chloe and Sawyer have to go through, but suffice it to say I loved every minute of the writing of this story, Merry Christmas, Baby.
Though I was so happy to revisit these characters, it was also a little bittersweet since this would be the last Lucky Harbor – for now. I never say never, especially since readers tend to get upset when they realize this might be goodbye to Lucky Harbor. So let’s just call it a goodbye for now, okay? Can we all live with that? And I promise to come back and visit it when the time is right.
Happy Reading,
Jill Shalvis
