Author Spotlight: Sinclair Jayne Brings a Touch of Autumn Magic
We have a winner! Germaine Brown-Corbitt, you are Sinclair’s giveaway winner. Sinclair will be in touch with you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!
I love it when my dear editor and fellow Tule author comes to visit. Sinclair Jayne is such a remarkable storyteller that any new book from her goes immediately onto my TBR. The Southern Love Spells series has kept me intrigued and delighted. I can’t wait to read A Kiss of Southern Magic, which releases today from Tule Publishing.
Sinclair Jayne has loved reading romance novels since she discovered Barbara Cartland historical romances when she was in sixth grade. By seventh grade, she was haunting the library shelves looking to fall in love over and over again with the heroes born from the imaginations of her favorite authors. After teaching writing classes and workshops to adults and teens for many years in Seattle and Portland, she returned to her first love of reading romances and became an editor for Tule Publishing. She has written and published over 25 novels. Married for over twenty-four years, she has two children, and when she isn’t writing or editing, she and her husband, Deepak, are hosting wine tastings of their pinot noir and pinot noir rose at their vineyard, Roshni, which is a Hindi word for light-filled, located in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Shaandaar!
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Thank you, Nan, for inviting me back to your Snippets Blog. I always have a fun time chatting about books and what inspires me to write a theme or character.
A Kiss of Southern Magic is book four in my Southern Love Spells series where I indulged myself writing a personal love letter to a place I have never lived but still feels somewhat like home. My series explores the relationship between the adult Maye sisters of Belmont, North Carolina. Belmont is a real town outside of Charlotte where my husband grew up after immigrating from India as a ten-year-old. During our marriage we traveled to Belmont at least a couple of times a year for visits and special events so I know the town well.
When I was brainstorming where to set my series, I could have chosen any southern state and made up a town, but I wanted to keep Belmont because for me it had such a strong sense of place, history and memories built from my twenty-eight years of regular visits to my in-laws. Many of the homes, neighborhoods, businesses, history and geographical features are real, and yet, I took a lot of license—especially with the Catawba and South Fork Rivers. And I probably moved Goat Island, and condensed the distance between Belmont, Cramerton, and McAdenville. Yes, I can read map, but I really wanted a river where the train tracks are, and since one of the fantastical parts of being an author is imagining myself with superpowers to world build and move things around, I had a blast.
Besides, (me trying to justify magicking geography), this series is my first exploration of magical realism (which is now trending as speculative fiction, but I prefer the former name—more romantic). I had so much fun creating the Maye history (based on an amalgamation of a few local families with deep roots), but I invented the family secrets and scandals—so all that’s on me because I love drama. I had a rather tame and sane childhood, but a melodramatic nature so I somehow want to traumatize my characters so that they can walk through fire and be gloriously strong, warm, and glowy as they chase their dreams and find their HEA.
What I loved so much about writing this series was exploring the dynamics between sisters who were close as kids, but drifted and now that they’ve come back together, they find a new way of being in their own skin and relating to each other. As I developed the series and wrote, I felt the closest to the youngest—Chloe, in A Taste of Christmas Magic, book one, and yet this last book—A Kiss of Southern Magic, which explores the eldest sister, pediatrician Sarah Maye’s new beginning and love story—was the easiest to write. I loved her calm elegance, her self owns, and her quiet strength. Hope you enjoy Sarah’s story!
GIVEAWAY! I always wanted a sister growing up so this series felt like a way to write a different past for myself. Do you have siblings—were you close growing up and/or are you close now? A print copy of A Kiss of Southern Magic and a $10 SB card and some southern themed reader swag for a randomly chosen responder.
I hope you are enjoying autumn in your hometown—I love burnt orange, cinnamon, sienna, and almost any shade of yellow–and are happily gearing up for the holidays. Here’s a gorgeous shot of our vineyard, Roshni, as autumn takes over.
Thanks and My Very Best to You,
Sinclair Jayne
A Kiss of Southern Magic
She’s given up on love, but her matchmaking sisters have a scheme. He’s a single dad needing a fresh start and a touch of magic to help his little girl…
Pediatrician Sarah Maye moved back home to Belmont, North Carolina years after being widowed, but everything’s changed. Her family’s hit by scandal, her sisters are loved up, and her beloved grandmother has passed. Feeling isolated, Sarah searches for a new purpose—a way to honor their grandmother’s legacy of giving. When the man her sisters tried to set her up with enters her clinic holding his sweet daughter’s hand, Sarah grieves for all she’s missed.
Single dad and history professor Luke Raimy is new to town with a short-term contract and a burning determination to create stability for his daughter as he builds a meaningful career. He’s mortified when he arrives at his daughter’s wellness check to see the elegant woman whom he thinks recently hit on him.
The timing and so much more is wrong, but can a little girl and a possibly enchanted cook book make it right?
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18 Comments
Joannie Sico
I have one older brother by a couple years. We gg ng for the most part,,but we had our moments, I guess sibling riverly. We hung out a lot once he started driving. I hung out with him and his friends, also mine. Also when he was dating this one girl, I went a lot with them because she would invite me. We don’t live near each other now and he had a bad car accident some years back. It has affected his memory really bad, worse than my bad memory. He can’t remember his childhood, school days or friends, I don’t think he remember that girlfriend and she was the one that got away. He doesn’t even remember my daughters. He knows he has nieces, just doesn’t remember spending time with them i think less than a year before his accident. He isn’t even aware of time now. He has gone many months without talking to us and only thinks it has been a few weeks at most. He really doesn’t even like to talk much anymore because of forgetting so much and he gets frustrated.
Latesha B.
I am the oldest of five with three brothers and a sister. I’m probably closest to my oldest brother and my sister.
Debra Pruss
I am an only child. I have always wanted siblings. My Mom was not able to have anymore children. Happy Thanksgiving. God bless you.
Sinclair Sawhney
Debra, I too really wanted siblings. I have an older half-brother, but he was fourteen years older and out of the house by eighteen joining the navy so he was only home for short visits so we aren’t super close. I think that’s why I love to write stories about either big families, or giving a character a huge, fun, accepting, found family.
Cherie J
I have a twin sister and she is my best friend and has always been the one that understands me best and accepts me best. I also have a 9 years younger brother. We weren’t close when we were children but we are now.
Sinclair Sawhney
Cherie, I love that you have a twin and that you are close. What a life bonus. I’ve only had twins in a couple of my books–I had twin heroines in my Wilder series, and also twin heroes in that same series, although they didn’t know they were twins until mid-way through the series. It was sort of funny as I had written one book as part of a multi-author series, and after I turned it in, Jane Porter at Tule Publishing said that ‘you should never close a door,’ so she said to give my hero (an orphan and alone) siblings. So I had to have an elaborate backstory for him that he doesnt discover until later. It was a ton of fun, but the story had already been through copy edits, so I had to be so surgical with the new information–just to give a little hint–a crack in the door.
Do you and your twin have favorite things to do together? Do you live close?
Germaine Brown-Corbitt
I have two sisters and a sister of my heart,five brothers (two deceased). We’re close
Sinclair Sawhney
Germaine, you. must have had so much fun growing up. What a large family, although I’m sure it was also hard to get any privacy or personal attention or space, but still, also hard to be lonely. I often spent a lot of time alone, which was sad and hard, but I think it’s why I tell so many stories in my head–so grateful, but also a bit of sorrow. I was so happy when my now husband and I were dating because he had a brother and they were very close so I thought that would be lovely.
Denise
Happy Book Release Day!
I have two younger brothers.
Sinclair Sawhney
Hey Denise–so good to hear from you. I still owe you two books from September–so sorry. I will get them to you soon. I hope your brothers were kind to you. My kids–boy and girl–played great together for a while but in high school my son thought he was all that (and he was not). I think they are getting closer again. He will actually send her pictures from Helsinki, and he and his girlfriend (I think she’s civilizing him) will sometimes call her and chat. Yup. Women are awesome
Liz Flaherty
This IS a gorgeous shot of the vineyard, and gorgeous book cover, too. I had four siblings (plus one who died before I was born) and we were close sometimes but not always. However, three of the four are gone now, and I can’t adequately describe the kind of longing I feel. Good luck with your release, Sinclair!
sinclair sawhney
Thank you, Liz. I love this picture too. My husband has a better one on our website, but I felt that wasn’t fair as in my FB posts I asked readers to post some of their fall pictures. I am so sorry that so many of your siblings have passed. So you do something special to remember them on a special day or just hold them in your heart. I always love hearing how you and Nan have writing retreats and adventures together. Friends can often be as close as siblings.
bn100
close to siblings
Doris Lankford
I am the youngest of 4 girls. My oldest sister is 12 years older than me so we weren’t close when I was growing up. I was closest to my sister, Mary. She was 3 years older than me. We did everything together and continued to do so until her death in 2012. Now my oldest sister and I are very close. We talk all the time and share books. I can’t imagine not having my sisters in my life.
sinclair sawhney
Your explanation of how you and your sisters had different relationships at different times really resonnates. with me. Twelve years is huge when you are a child, but as an adult, it can feel miniscule. I am so happy that you and your oldest sister share so much and spend time together.
Janine
I wa close to a couple of my sisters when we were growing up. One, I was not close to. I have lost one and lost contact with anotehr for a few years. now we are talking again. The youngest one doesn’t talk to anyone in our family anymore, not even our mom.
sinclair sawhney
Your explanation of how you and your sisters had different relationships at different times really resonnates. with me. Twelve years is huge when you are a child, but as an adult, it can feel miniscule. I am so happy that you and your oldest sister share so much and spend time together.
sinclair sawhney
Sorry Janine, my reply to Doris was doubled. Ugh. I too have lost contact with some of my more extended family for a variety of reasons. I regret that, often, and yet it can be so complicated, and I don’t have the heart or head space. We always lived so far from everyone. I hope that your youngest sister can find her way back to your family in a healthy way for everyone.