Teresa Tysinger has just released her second Laurel Cove Romance, Suddenly Forever, so I’m delighted she’s come to visit and share about her latest couple, Cora and Luke, what inspired her story, and a favourite excerpt.

Teresa loves coffee, traveling, and prides herself in knowing and loving almost every genre of music. Born in Hawaii, raised in Florida, and educated in North Carolina, she now resides in Texas with her husband, daughter, and dog.

We hope you enjoy our bookchat and encourage you to get your hands on this new contemporary romance, along with the first book in the series, Someplace Familiar!

On the outskirts of Laurel Cove, North Carolina sits a quiet lake tucked into gentle mountains carpeted with the brilliant colors of autumn. Grief binds the lake’s only residents into an unlikely family, where old and new love build a bridge between loss and hope.

For years, best-selling author Cora Bradford has worked tirelessly to tread the unrelenting waves of grief in solitude. That is until a new neighbor moves in down the road and threatens to disrupt what she’s carefully preserved of the life she once knew. Will God ever answer her prayer for peace and calmer waters?

Following a scandal, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Luke Bassett escapes to the one place in the world he’s ever experienced peace—his mother’s cabin on the lake where he spent childhood summers. But the memory of her and the mistakes he made are hardly peaceful. To make matters worse, he gets off to a rocky start with his bitter, but breathtakingly beautiful, neighbor. Was running away from the life he’s always known the biggest mistake of all, or the beginning of something he never knew he wanted?

Spunky, opinionated, and recently widowed Ina McLean is alone for the first time in over ninety years. When Cora and Luke come together to care for their only other neighbor, Ina’s belief in God’s goodness through life’s ups and downs works to restore their hope in learning to live—and love—again.  

Bookchat with Teresa

Share a little about your characters, Cora and Luke.

Cora Braford is a famous New York Times best-selling author of mystery novels, but she’s not written a single word since a tragic accident changed her whole world three years ago. She’s isolated herself at her cabin on a small mountain lake outside Laurel Cove, NC to grieve the way she wants—alone. But haunted by nightmares and flashbacks, she’s grown desperate for peace. She’s stubborn but tender-hearted for those she cares about.

Luke Bassett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist ready for a major change of pace after his last assignment turned into a media firestorm. Luke is kind and helpful and introspective. Relocated to his recently deceased mother’s old lake cabin—the one place he’s ever felt peace—he’s not expecting to find an unlikely family in his two neighbors.

And neither Cora or Luke expect to find hope of new love.

What is Cora most passionate about?

At the start of our story, Cora is most passionate about preserving as much of her solitude as possible. It’s her safety net and only link to the “before.”

What’s Luke’s greatest fear?

Luke’s greatest fear is regret, which he struggles with following mistakes made before his mother’s passing. 

Describe your book in 5 adjectives.

Poignant, Hopeful, Cozy, Autumnal, Tender

Tell us how Laurel Cove came to be.

The fictional town of Laurel Cove, North Carolina is directly inspired by the real towns of Burnsville and Spruce Pine, North Carolina. These two towns are tucked into the charming, quiet hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I fell in love with the area visiting my best friend’s childhood home there during college. I’ve attended fall festivals around Burnsville’s town square, strolled down Main Streets, and enjoyed the region’s gorgeous landscape. It’s one of my favorite places on Earth, so how could it not inspire the setting for this series?

Share a favourite line or passage from the book that made you smile

This is a short passage between Ina and Cora, chatting after Cora and Luke spent some time together. I just love it and giggle every time. It’s a perfect example of Ina’s spunky personality.

When their eyes met, Ina’s eyes were narrowed behind her glasses.

“What happened?”

Cora resumed packing the clothes. Why was everyone around here so nosy lately? “I don’t know what you mean?”

“I mean, what occurred…what took place…what transpired between you and our tall, handsome neighbor?” Ina’s voice oozed with sarcasm. “Did you have words? Did he kiss you?”

Cora gasped and eyed the old woman, mouth gaping. “No! He did not kiss me. Where in the world do you come up with these wild ideas, Ina?”

Ina rested her elbows on the low handlebars of the walker and intertwined her bony fingers in front of her. Her white eyebrows rose, deep wrinkles folding along her forehead. “My, my. It is a wonder how one could possibly fathom the notion of two attractive single persons like yourself and Mr. Bassett finding one another inclined to canoodle.”

Which character’s name was the hardest to choose? Why?

I struggle with settling on Cora’s name. Since she needed both a pen name and a real name, I wanted to chose a set of names that represented her two lives, before and after. I settled on the more peppy name of Paige Price for her pseudonym fairly quickly. But I had a hard time thinking of a real name for her that felt sadder, more melancholy. There were several options on the table. But to me, the old-fashioned nature of Cora brings with it a sense of seriousness and graceful beauty. When I thought of it, it was perfect!

Which character did you enjoy writing most?

Without a doubt, Ina was my favorite character to write. She’s the spunky and sassy elderly neighbour of Cora and Luke’s who always says what’s on her mind. It made writing her dialogue super fun. I will say, I grew to have the greatest fondness for Ina by the end of the book. Maybe because she reminds me a bit of a grandmother who’s no longer with me.

Which character gave you the most grief?

I’d say Cora was the most difficult to write. Having not experienced such traumatic grief like she has, I often found her story very heavy to write. I’d sometimes have to pause after a hard scene. Even though Luke and Ina also had deep desires and hopes to work toward, Cora’s growth throughout the book felt more painstaking. In the end, I think I’m most proud of how her character develops through the book.

What’s something that didn’t make it into the final copy?

Luke comes to Laurel Cove following a major fallout from a media firestorm over photos he took and published (innocently) from a politician’s campaign. He’s avoided interviews and news coverage and hopes to just move on. Well, in the first draft I wrote a few scenes that foreshadowed the politician’s team coming to find Luke and strongarm him into helping clear the politician’s name. Ultimately, that felt too suspenseful and complicated for where the story was headed so I cut that out.

Share some books you have loved reading this year.

I recently finished reading The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright and absolutely loved it. As a contemporary romance author, Jaime’s darker time-split suspense novels are so intriguing. Right now I’m part way through Just Like Home by Courtney Walsh and can already tell it’s going to be a favorite!

What’s in your writing pipeline?

Somehow, This Christmas (A Laurel Cove Novella) releases in the Something Borrowed: Christmas Weddings Collection on October 20! Then in 2021 I plan to release the third and fourth books in the Laurel Cove Romance Series (spring and late fall) as well as a few novellas coming out in some fun collections.

Thanks Teresa – wonderful to have you visit!

Teresa Tysinger is a proud member of ACFW, the Association for Women in Communications, and Religion Communicators Council. She writes Southern Contemporary Romance inspired by grace. Her acclaimed debut novel, Someplace Familiar, released in 2017. She is a communications professional, wife, and mother transplanted from North Carolina to North Texas.

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