Today the spotlight shines on……………………………………..Bree & Kade Matthews

Colleen Coble has written four books featuring Bree and her search and rescue dog, Samson and no doubt readers will be clamouring for more! They combine great character development, a beautiful setting and intriguing suspense. Enjoy this closer look at Bree & Kade.

Over to you, Colleen:~

Bree Matthews (nee Nichols)

Brief physical description

Five-two with auburn curls and green eyes. Small but strong.

Actor/famous person who might resemble her/him

That took some looking! Not many redheads in the movies. But Alyson Hannigan fit surprisingly well.

Strengths and weaknesses

Bree has an uncanny ability to read her search dog, Samson. She and Samson are an amazing search team. She is also empathetic and quick to help as she sees the needs around her. One weakness she has is that she can be too quick to trust. She’s also a little overprotective of her son–but no wonder. She thought he was dead. . .

Quirk (if any)

Loves pistachios and eats them all the time, leaving a trail of shells in the woods when she’s out on a search

Your inspiration for the character

I attended a couple of training sessions for search dogs when I was beginning to think about the series and met the amazing people who work with them. There was one woman there who particularly caught my attention with the way her dog seemed so tuned to her. And I have to admit Bree is a character who is very much like me in temperament.

Kade Matthews

Description

Six foot with brown hair and blue eyes. Stocky build and muscular. A younger Mel Gibson

Strengths and Weaknesses

Kade is dependable. He’s not afraid of responsibility and is the one others come to for advice. He has a strong ethical streak which was severely tested in Cry in the NIght because he had to put his ethics up against his responsibilities. He can tend to take charge without asking for advice.

Quirk

Hobby is rehabilitating orphaned baby animals

Inspiration

My brother Rick was the inspiration for Kade. Rick has that same streak of strength and ethics.

Background to the story

I was researching newspapers for plot ideas when I stumbled across an article about a Native American woman who had just been reunited with her birth parents. She’d been stolen from the reservation and adopted out. Others had been too. As soon as I read it, I knew it had to be part of the plot. The Upper Peninsula is like another place in time. I just love it. One of the things I love is that the area where I set Rock Harbor was settled by Finns. I love the Finnish people. My best friend in high school was Finnish (her name is Anu. Sound familiar? :-)) We hosted her daughter as a foreign exchange student and we’ve been to Finland. So it was fun for me to weave the Finnish culture through the book.

Thanks so much Colleen for shedding some light on your much loved characters 🙂

Do comment and let us know what you think of this behind the scenes look.

On Thursday, I will be spotlighting Rachel Hauck’s Aubrey Jones and Scott Vaughn from Diva Nashvegas, one of my favourite books. It’ll be fun!

Relz Reviewz Extras

Review of Cry in the Night

Visit Colleen’s website and blog

Buy Colleen’s books at Amazon or Koorong