Kimberly Van Meter Talks About The Book That Almost Wasn’t

John Murphy gets the shock of his life when he finds three abandoned girls on his doorstep. Once he takes them in, it isn’t long before the little tykes bring out his fiercest protective instincts. So when their mother shows up at his Emmett’s Mill ranch, he’s ready to do battle.

Except Renee Dolling isn’t what he expects. She clearly loves her girls and wants to make up for past mistakes. John wants to trust her, but he’s got the girls to think about. Unless Renee can prove she’s the mother her daughters deserve…and the woman this solitary rancher needs.

I’m a firm believer in the saying “Everything happens for a reason” but I’m equally fond of fighting for what I need or what I feel is right.

July marks the release of my sixth book published through Harlequin Superromance and I have to say, I’m quite proud of this particular story.

Why? Well, writers often consider their books like children so if I were to use that analogy, I guess you could say this book is the kid that almost didn’t make it.

When my editor called to discuss the proposal she admitted her concern that readers might find the heroine, Renee Dolling, a bit unsympathetic.

In other words, she was fairly unlikeable.

I mean, what kind of heroine abandons her three young children to a drug-addicted ex-husband? And then loses them? Literally.

On the surface, Renee is the kind of character that makes you want to give her a slap for dragging three little girls into the muck of her life and then having the audacity to demand their return when they’ve been taken away from her. But that’s just surface stuff. Digging deeper, past the defensive posturing, the tough exterior, was a woman who was deeply affected by the choices she’d made in her life that had ended up hurting her children. Deep down…she’d do anything to sooth that pain she created, even if it means taking a good, hard look at herself to make amends.

That takes guts. Not everyone has the emotional fortitude to take that kind of chance. Some people go their entire lives needing therapy yet never go; they continue to make the same mistakes until their lives — and everyone who has the misfortune to be attached to them —  end up a miserable mess.

But even as I knew redeeming Renee wouldn’t be a cakewalk, I knew in my heart that there was an amazing woman underneath that mask.

My editor was wary but in the end, she chose to have faith.

That faith, she later told me, was not misplaced. The first draft made her cry; I became dubbed, “Queen of the Redeeming Unredeemable Characters.”

And so, KIDS ON THE DOORSTEP, became the book on shelves this month.

Thus far, the reviews have been positive but the most rewarding experience was more personal. A reader — a local woman who is admittedly not a romance reader — came up to me, wanting to share that the story had hit an emotional chord with her as she’d lost custody of her son when she was young and knew the pain and guilt associated with having a child taken by the law and the subsequent steps that must be taken to have the child returned. I’ve never experienced this myself, but I can only imagine. I was flattered and my belief in this story was further validated that Renee’s story needed to be told.

I’m offering a free copy of my July book to one lucky poster who shares a comment about something they feel passionate about. It can be serious or silly — there are no rules.

If you’d like to know more about me or my books, please check out my website at www.kimberlyvanmeter.com