Welcome back to THE SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE! If you’re reading the series and following our Prism book tours, I’ll bet you weren’t expecting something as fantastical as a Faerie Tale, especially after dealing with cops, drug dealers and PTSD like we did with Cate Sullivan and Trent Davis in PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, now did you?
Isabelle’s ultimate dream is to see her paintings hang in a famous Chicago or New York City gallery. She is convinced that no art critic or buyer will ever want her silly faeries. She believes she needs to move on. To what, she is unsure.
Her insecurity about her art and her future stymies her, to some extent, just as any fear does to all of us. She wants so much, but is conflicted about which direction to take.
"This is not a book where you can easily predict the ending. I honestly didn’t know how it was going to turn out. Lanigan wove a story with complicated players and some unexpected twists, while once again infusing the novel with warmth and family. While I never really warmed up to Isabelle, Scott (and Bella and Michael) makes up for this in spades. And of course the setting of Indian Lake is one I’m always happy to visit"
It was nearly six years ago when I started creating and building many of my characters for Indian Lake. Granted, there are some new ones, such as Isabelle’s entire family. They’re all new and I’m getting to know them now and you will, too, as we move into the future. Isabelle was quite vivid to me. Right from the beginning, I knew I wanted her to paint faeries. Not the little baby looking cutie pies inside flowers and laundry baskets, but real, honest to goodness faeries. I know…you are asking…are they real? Or you are asking, “Come on.”
She had to force herself to focus. “Yes, the glasses. Uh, for the midnight toast.”
He brushed his lips against her cheek. “And I’ll find you for my kiss to ring in the New Year.”
Isabelle hadn’t realized she’d shut her eyes, immersing herself in the moment with Scott.
She felt a whoosh of air, the temperature dropped and she blinked, returning to the present. Scott had left her.
Scott Abbott is one of those truly decent guys that come along one in your lifetime, if you’re lucky. He, like Isabelle, the heroine, was introduced in the first novel in the series, LOVE SHADOWS. Scott owns The Book Shop and Java Stop as well as being a reporter for the local newspaper. He grew up in Indian Lake and in high school, he had a crush on Isabelle, but after he went off to college to earn his journalism degree, Isabelle was left behind, working hard to help her mother pay for college tuitions for her brothers and sisters.
"FAMILY OF HIS OWN, is a sweet love story about two friends finding their forever together. Filled with wonderful characters, and heart wrenching emotion, this story was impossible to put down until the end. I had to know what happened to Scott and Isabelle. Loved, loved, loved this book."
"I love spending time in Indian Lake! It's fun to catch up with some of the other couples we've met in previous books and learn what's happening in their lives. This book does stand well on its own, so if it's your first visit to Indian Lake, you won't feel lost, and will most likely want to get to know the other characters as well. I hope to meet more Indian Lake residents in the future!"
"With characters from previous books appearing, these books always provide a sense of community and feelings of coming home. I love that. Indian Shores is a place I would want to live."
"A trip back to Indian Lake brings us the story of two friends … and possibly soul mates? I had conflicted feelings about this heroine. On one side, I understood how she felt about her past and the unfairness of it all, but on the other side, I found it really hard to like her when she was acting so selfish & one dimensional. There is turmoil, growth and happily ever afters … but a long road of self-discovery to get there!"
In the scene in which Scott first sees Bella in a dank, musty crack house bedroom, she’s watching a cheap television that is playing “The Bishop’s Wife”, the old black and white movie with Cary Grant. It’s New Year’s Eve and Scott has just left Isabelle on the dance floor at midnight at the Lodge. Scott is wearing his tuxedo while the rest of the police wear Kevlar vests and gun holsters. Bella asks Scott if he is an angel. Surprised, he asks her why. She picks up the video tape box and points to Cary Grant in a dress suit. “You look just like him.” Convinced that Scott is the angel sent to save her and her brother Bella, she trusts Scott immediately, and melts his heart.
Children have no problem with magic. They expect it. And many times, they get it.
Isabelle steeled herself as she approached Scott. Before he had a chance to berate or accuse her, she whispered, “I was in Chicago and Wes graciously offered to drive me home through this terrible storm.”
Scott, ever the gentleman, offered his arm, which she took.
“Then I should thank him.
I’d always wanted to write a story that involved faeries. Though there is nothing supernatural in the story telling in this Heartwarming story, I was piqued by the prodigious world of information about fairies. Folklore and mythology from ancient Celtics to Shakespeare, to Sir Walter Scott and William Blake in the 1790’s illustrate that fairies have been a source of delight and fascination to many generations.
The room was small and smelled musty, with only the light from an old television illuminating the faces of a little girl, about five or six years old, and the toddler in her arms.
The girl stared at them fearfully. Her lips quivered, but she remained silent. She took a step backward and hoisted the baby closer to the crook of her neck. The baby grabbed a handful of her cotton shirt and started fussing.
She made a cooing sound into the baby’s ear and whispered something Scott couldn’t make out, but it was clear she knew exactly how to react to the baby and the baby to her.
As FAMILY OF HIS OWN is your eighth book in your Shores of Indian Lake series, are you still discovering new things about the setting and/or the characters?
Discovering new characters has been the delight of doing a series like this. This is the first time I’ve created an entire town and the people in it. Just like moving to a new city and going through all the necessary introductions, finding new doctors, a new church, new schools, everything and everyone is new. I have the joy of discovering each new person and all of their extended family as well. Each time a main character goes out to buy something or interview for a job, there are all those “other” people who have backgrounds and stories. I love asking, “And who are you?” And the list of curious questions I ask when I meet someone new.
In a word, this has been a “blast!”
Scott leaned toward her, gazing at her with a force of longing and desire she couldn’t remember seeing before. “Isabelle, I came here tonight...” He placed his hand on hers. “To ask you something.”
A sense of foreboding settled over her. “Scott, I don’t think...”
"This book has made me fall in love with Indian Lake and I think I am gonna have to go back and read the rest of the series. I think this may be a first of Lanigan's books for me but will not be my last!"
“Scott,” Malcolm said, “I’d like you to meet my nephew—Wes Adams.”
“Great to meet you, Wes,” Scott said, offering his hand.
Wes nodded vaguely in Scott’s direction before locking eyes with Isabelle once more.
“Isabelle and Wes have already met,” Malcolm explained.
Scott dropped his hand to his side. “I can see that.”
