Shannon here: Aussie, Carolyn Miller shares her adventures in North America, and the fun inspiration she found for her latest Contemporary Romance, Checked Impressions. All comments or answers to the question in this post will go in Tuesday’s drawing. Deadline: March 5th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Carolyn:
Back in 2010 my husband and I were blessed with the opportunity to visit North America which saw this redheaded Aussie insist on a trip to every redhead’s spiritual home: Prince Edward Island, aka the home of Anne of Green Gables. Of course, this trip couldn’t just be about Anne, so we did what many Aussies do and decided to really get our sightsee on. This saw us drive from Boston to PEI to Montreal, Muskoka, Toronto and Niagara Falls before finally flying from Buffalo to Chicago.
Once in Chicago we had several days to explore, which meant seeing everything from the Art Institute, to seeing Chicago’s Stained Glass Museum on Navy Pier, taking a cruise along the river to check out the stunning architecture, visiting the top of the John Hancock building, eating deep dish pizza and visiting a church in a black neighborhood, and visiting a Chicago Blackhawks ice hockey game. I LOVED my time there with my husband exploring this famed city. In fact, I loved this city so much I used it as the setting for the very first book I wrote, Love on Ice.
In the original version of this book I incorporated visits to many of the places I’d visited, allowing my hero and heroine to have romantic meals in restaurants atop the John Hancock building (check!), to snuggle at a café on Navy Pier (check!), to watching a hockey game (I don’t know how romantic some people would find that, but hey, we did it, so check!).
When an editor told me my 155000 words might be a tad long, I then decided to take drastic measures and chopped off the final third of the book, and changed the setting of Love on Ice from Chicago to Detroit. Although Love on Ice is really more an internationally-focused novel, with scenes set everywhere from Sydney, Australia to Beijing; Sweden; Calgary and Vancouver, so it’s not really set in one location. You’ll have to grab a copy of this Winter Olympics story to check it out for yourself!
Taking out a third of the original story still left a good portion set in Chicago, which I then used as the setting for a new story called Checked Impressions, which could still incorporate many of the romantic places I’d visited with my husband, while also allowing for new experiences for my new Chicago-based couple. I focused this story primarily on the Art Institute, which is one of the most fabulous art museums I’ve visited, and made my heroine (Allie) someone who works there as part of the PR department. Because this is book 3 in a Christian hockey series I enjoyed playing with stereotypes, and gave shy and art-focused Allie another great yet secret love: ice hockey.
Honestly, if you get the chance, visit the Art Institute, especially if you enjoy Impressionist art. Its collection of Monet, Manet, Pissarro and Gaugin is so impressive (ha- see what I did there?), and I was so glad to have the chance to focus on one of my favourite pieces of art, the magnificent A Sunday Afternoon
on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. This huge painting takes up most of one wall, and was painted using tiny dots that seem to shimmer as the colors contrast, drawing the eye and making the observer want to know more about why this painting was created.
It draws the attention of hockey player Jai Mullins, who finds his appreciation for art increasing as he grows in his appreciation for a certain art museum guide J. It was fun to show how stereotypes and preconceptions can lead to misjudging people, and to explore how social media can paint a very different impression of a person, so much so that we often need to have our first impressions ‘checked.’ It was also good to explore the concept of romantic notions such as ‘you complete me’ or how we’ll only be okay once we find ‘the one.’ Delving into these notions and giving a God-focused alternative was another fun aspect of writing this novel.
Like so many of the other books I’ve written in the Original Six series I view Checked Impressions as my love letter to my North American adventures and the places I visited. I hope that as readers recognize some of the places and experiences mentioned that they’ll see my love for these settings too, and perhaps by reading Checked Impressions gain a new appreciation for the wonderful city that is Chicago.
Want to find out more? Visit Carolyn’s Website and see some of the photos from my travels that inspired this book and series, as well as fun Pinterest images, and Spotify playlists.
About Carolyn: Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked as a public high school English and Learning and Support teacher.
A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and LM Montgomery, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her contemporary romance series includes the Original Six hockey romance series, and the Independence Islands series, and her historical series include the Regency Brides and Regency Wallflowers series.
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About the book – Checked Impressions:
Sparks fly when a hometown hockey hero meets a classy art-loving museum guide hiding a secret…
Jai Mullins is used to being the fastest man on ice. Trouble is, his ability to find a genuine woman is tracking at glacial melt levels. He’s trusting God she’s out there, but he’s wary of getting trapped by a superfan, when all he wants is someone with whom he can be real.
Allie Davis has two great loves: impressionist art and hockey. More specifically, a certain hockey player. But between her shyness and her family, she’s convinced she’ll never meet him, let alone connect with him in a non-embarrassing way.
Until she does. And they connect. And romance sparks.
But she is hiding a big secret, and he’s about to find that first impressions sometimes need a reality check. Will they learn to trust and find a way forward, or will half-truths lead to further hurt on opposite sides of the country and lonely lives?
This Windy City romance has plenty of heart, humor, and swoon-worthy kisses in the third book of the Original Six, a sweet, slightly sporty contemporary romance series.
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Question for readers: Do you have a favourite artwork or style of art? What’s one of your most favourite museums you’ve visited? Have you been to Chicago? If so, what did you enjoy there?
Come back March 1st for Donna Schlachter!
I don’t have favorites with art.
I’ve visited Louvre and enjoyed it 🙂
Art Noveau is one of my favorite art styles. I was born and raised in NYC and I loved visiting the museums when I lived there.