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Waving away the protests of Dr. Will Hamilton, legendary singer Anita Jane Wells fakes an illness to con her young protégé, singing star Lyndsay
Rose, into flying to Missouri to take over her Christmas show in Branson. Anita Jane claims she’s a Christmas angel, doing this for Lyndsay’s own
good so she won’t spend another Christmas alone. Once he sees her distress for Anita Jane, Will tells Lyndsay the truth, and the duo plot to make
Anita Jane’s recuperative time absolutely miserable. But you can’t hinder a Christmas angel’s scheme, as Lyndsay and Will discover in this romantic comedy.
Q & A with Veda Boyd Jones regarding An Ozark Christmas Angel:
Q: This book is set in Branson, Missouri. Why?
A: I speak in Branson each May at the 6th grade Lit Fest, and each year the school provides special tickets to the authors, so I’ve been to several of the shows on the strip. Branson is a fascinating place with a combination small town and the glitz and lights of the strip. When I thought of giving a cameo role to characters (Callie and Morgan) from a previous romance, I needed a musical setting. Branson came to mind, and I built the story around a country music star. Callie and Morgan are only on a handful of pages, but it was fun to include them for anyone who has read the earlier e-book, Mountain Love Song.
Q: Have you ever stayed at Big Cedar Lodge that you used in the book?
A: Yes, I’ve stayed in one of the cabins, so I could use that experience and put the wood-burning fireplace and the hunting cabin atmosphere in the story.
Q: In the story, Lyndsay forgets the ‘deathday’ of her husband. Do you feel this is something people should forget?
A: Birthday and deathday are the bookends of a life. I like celebrating the beginning of life, but not the end. Human nature tends to make us remember the hard times, and I’ll admit, I remember the death days of loved ones, but I try to focus on the life lived instead of the ending. I stuck that in there as a message that we should enjoy each day, and not let one be tainted by what happened years earlier.
Q: There’s quite a bit of deception in An Ozark Christmas Angel, and yet a surprise ending. How did you think of this?
A: I wanted the reader to think she/he had figured out why Anita Jane manipulated Lyndsay into going to Branson to do her show, but I had a little fun with it. I really didn’t know I’d twist it up a bit until I wrote the ending.
