I thought you might like to meet the characters from Declaration of Love today.
I knew I wanted Kate, the heroine, to look a little like her ancestor, Lucy Carlson Barton, from For Liberty and Love.
And the hero, Grady Guthry, I wanted him to be a handsome dark-haired leans-toward-rugged kind of guy.
I designed the cover before I wrote a word of the book, so then the search turned to matching the cover characters to my vision for Kate and Grady.
When I saw a photo of Drake Rodgers, he seemed so perfect for Grady.
Grady carries a lot of responsibility on his broad shoulders. Sometimes his life feels like a continuous circle of duty.
But Grady also knows how to have fun. I could envision him teasing Kate, or his nephew, in this photo.
When I looked at the cover of the book, I don’t know why, but Sarah Shahi came to mind. So I chose her to represent Kate.
It wasn’t hard to picture Grady falling head over boots for her.
The song I listened to while I was writing the book was 10,000 Hours by Dan + Shay. It just seemed to fit Grady and Kate so well.
You can find more visuals that inspired scenes and tidbits in the book on Pinterest.
If you haven’t yet read the book, I hope you’ll give it a look!
