I thought it might be fun to introduce you to the images that inspired the characters in the Gifts of Christmas series.
For Gift of Grace, I already knew who these characters would like like before I wrote a single word of the story because J.B. and Nora Nash were first introduced in Aundy, book one in the Pendleton Petticoats series.
But it was fun to think of them in their youth.
For J.B., I chose Bruce Boxleitner, in his younger days, of course.
It was so easy to picture him as J.B.
Sally Field is my choice for spunky Nora.
Can’t you just see her setting J.B. on his ear?
And the song I think of as Nora and J.B.’s is John Berry’s Your Love Amazes Me.
Gift of Hope features two main characters that I hadn’t visualized before. Graydon Gaffney was mentioned in a few of the previous books in the Baker City Brides series, but not in any detail or depth. Gia DeVille is a new character.
I decided Sam Worthington made an awesome Grady. He’s got that rugged appeal our lovable miner would have.
And it’s easy to see how he’d turn Gia’s head.
For Gia, the gorgeous Juliana Harkavy seemed like a perfect fit for the character.
She’s strong, and beautiful, and I could just imagine how she’d leave poor ol’ Grady off-kilter.
The song I chose as “theirs” is You Won’t Ever Be Lonely by Andy Griggs because I feel like that was so much of what Grady promised Gia.
The two main characters in Gift of Faith, made appearances in Home of Her Heart, the second book in my Hearts of the War series.
Marc Rawlings and Amy Madsen are deeply and truly in love, but the war threatens to pull them apart.
Because of the Rawlings family trait of green eyes (which is mentioned in the Pendleton Petticoats series), I knew Marc had to have green eyes. I started searching for someone who fit how I pictured Marc.
Then I saw this picture and knew I’d found the perfect Marc. The fact he was wearing a helmet and dog tags didn’t hurt anything. Yes, these eyes inspired the whole “ice glazing soft moss” description in the story.
Can you blame me?
So this hunky hero is, in reality, Jorge Del Rio Romero. But to me, he’ll always be Marc Rawlings, World War II Marine.
Anna Sophia Robb was my choice for Amy. I felt she had the sweetness, yet spunk that our heroine possessed.
And I think she’s just lovely!
Because of the trinket Amy gives to Marc and the whole idea of them thinking of each other when they look at the night sky, the song I chose for them is Somewhere Out There.
You can see more of the visuals that inspired each story on Pinterest:
Find out more about the books here: Gifts of Christmas
9 Responses
wonderful stories – enjoyed them!!
Thank you, Teresa!
This was a lot of fun to see the characters and their song. Now I will go look at Pinterest. This series was a perfect to close out the year.
This was a lot of fun to see the characters and their song. Now I will go look at Pinterest. This series was a perfect way to close out the year.
So happy you enjoyed it, Barbara! It was a fun way for me to end the year, too! <3
I devoured these books! So wonderfully written!
Aw! Thank you so much, Jess. So happy you enjoyed them!
You always choose the perfect characters. I still have gift of Hope and Gift Of Faith to read, so now I have them perfectly pictured in my head.
Oh all these Choices really do fit the characters so perfect! Omg on Marc’s eyes that guy is blessed with some beautiful eyes. Love Love these books!! My favorite out of these 3 was Gift of Faith!!