Linnea March - Sweet, Charming Winter Romance

Linnea March is a contemporary romance author who writes steamy stories about self-confident women and the rugged men who love them. She lives somewhere in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their two boys, and a plump dog. After fifteen years of teaching early childhood education, she put down the googly eyes and picked up a pen. When not writing, she can be found reading her way through her ever-growing TBR pile while drinking copious amounts of coffee. She proudly refuses to use umbrellas.  As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about her book, Wren's Winter.Please give us a short introduction to what Wren's Winter is about.Wren, newly single, wakes up one morning to find out that the vacation she planned with her ex was never cancelled. On impulse she takes the trip by herself, to find that her new neighbor is one she can’t seem to find herself staying away from.Wren's Winter blends humor, romance, and forced proximity in a cozy winter setting. What inspired the story, and how did you develop Wren and Adrian’s dynamic?The meet cute was the first idea for their story, that she would mistakenly end up on his doorstep trying in vain to get into his house and him catching her.I knew I wanted it to be a story about when you meet the right person you become a better version of yourself and being loved for exactly who are can be transformative.Wren starts her trip as a newly single woman expecting solitude, only to stumble into Adrian’s world. What was the most important aspect of her emotional journey for you to capture?In the first lines of the story Wren talks about she makes wrong turns. Of the mistakes that she’s made and not being able to see the right path when she’s on it and I wanted to explore that. For Wren who moved around a lot, who never felt like she had a homebase, I wanted to explore that yearning. Wren never needed to change who she was to be loved by another person. Her relationships before relied on making herself smaller to fit into their world when she deserved to be adored for exact the person she was.And in my mind, she has only makes the correct turns after meeting Adrian.Adrian is described as a former playboy who is now seeking something deeper. What made him the perfect match for Wren, and how did you balance his grumpy nature with his romantic side?For Adrian, he is a skeptic. While he has seen examples of love around him, most notably in his grandparents, he has never felt it, so he doesn’t think it’s possible for himself. Until meeting Wren. I wanted the moment when he meets her to reflect on the love he admired from his grandparents, of wrestling for a bit on the powerful pull it can have and they way the right person can change your entire world view in a moment.Icicle Creek is a charming small-town setting that plays a big role in the story. What inspired this location, and how does it shape Wren and Adrian’s relationship?This such a great question, because I’m really excited about the location. Icicle Creek is amalgamation of two areas in Washington State. One is the Bavarian inspired city of Leavenworth in the Cascade Mountains. Only about twenty minutes from Steven’s Pass, this place is one that my family visits often in the winter and summer. The other isn’t so much a city but a general area. In the Olympic Mountains there is a spot I visit often where on a clear day you can see across the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Canada. That view is one of my favorites in the world and I wanted to feature it in Wren and Adrian’s story. For anyone knowledgeable about the Olympic Peninsula, picture Leavenworth dropped just below Mount Zion.As for how it inspired their journey, Icicle Creek as a kitschy tourist town is one, I’m all too familiar with my own hometown of Poulsbo is very similar (and the inspiration for Ridgewood). I knew that having a place where tourists often would come but also small-town busy bodies who couldn’t mind their business would provide the perfect backdrop as Wren and Adrian fell for each other.This book explores themes of unexpected love, self-discovery, and second chances. Which theme resonated with you the most while writing?Creating flawed people who find perfect love in each other. I never want my characters to be without flaws, a messy character is a compelling one. They have insecurities and doubts but to be loved for those flaws and recognized is the greatest gift. And for Wren and Adrian’s story, they see that in one another pretty much from the beginning. It’s the classic, when you know you know.For Wren especially, I wanted to feature the way we can put ourselves into boxes without seeing the harm and it isn’t until we are free that we recognize how much we’ve missed out on. I think many of us are familiar with the sensation of what was I thinking allowing that for so long? And the surprise that everything you were told was too much for one person is the perfect amount for another.Forced proximity and grumpy-sunshine pairings are beloved tropes in romance. What do you love about these tropes, and how did you make them feel fresh in Wren's Winter?For this book, I wanted the proximity to be less about the environment forcing them together and more of fate drawing them closer. They feel an inexplicable pull to one another and while neither knows why, they can’t stay away from one another. It’s an instant attraction situation that luckily neither try too hard to resist.For me the key to the whole grumpy sunshine pairing is understanding why they are this way.Adrian who has few people who he wants to open up to, especially after losing his grandparents would come off as standoffish and would struggle with the new feelings he has for Wren when he thought for so long, he wasn’t capable of them.For Wren she desperately wants to see the good in others, sometimes to a fault, and that leads her to try and put herself out there, to be liked, to be happy even when she doesn’t quite know how to create that in herself.Readers have praised the humor and witty banter between Wren and Adrian. How do you approach writing dialogue to make it feel natural and engaging?I talk aloud a lot to make sure it works. Speech isn’t proper and it can be disjointed and funny. There are interruptions and people talking over one another. I could picture the low drawling way Adrian spoke and the bubbly speech Wren would have.The steamy moments in Wren’s Winter have been a highlight for many readers. How do you find the right balance between spice and emotional depth?I knew that this story would be a faster burn that most of my other stories. For a while they tell themselves that the physical attraction is all there is, deluding themselves into thinking that that aren’t a perfect match.For Adrian a single touch from her was better than any other one night stand he ever had, and for Wren a single night was better than years with another man. The dichotomy that their vastly different sexual experiences have on nurturing what they have together is eye opening for both.But I also wanted to feature all the little things that make them a good match. The ways they see attributes in each other that they can’t see in themselves. The way he made sure he caught the spray from passing cars and how she immediately loved his dog. It’s never big gestures that build up intimacy, it’s hundreds of little ones that create depth.The side characters, like Trudy the cleaning lady and Adrian’s parents, add a lot of charm. Did any of them surprise you as you wrote?My greatest surprise in what I created around Marta in wanted a grandparent like figure in his life that could see through Adrian’s harder façade to what he truly wanted. And he deserved a fierce defender. Side characters need to be multidimensional as much as the main characters to be real. Adrian’s parents being colder toward him isn’t because of not loving him, but wanting the best in him, even if they don’t understand what that is. My favorite though are Tam and Penny. Meddlesome, and fun, and opinionated in only the way happy couples can be with their single friends.After years of teaching early childhood education, what led you to transition into writing romance?I’ve always had two passions; books and children’s education. I spent almost twenty years in early childhood education, working for a tribal head start as a teacher and later as an educational administrator. What I accomplished there is one of my greatest achievements and I still believe heartily in the need for quality education from birth to five, particularly for our most vulnerable populations.Fund Head Start!!!But, education is a tough field. Not only is it a physically demanding job, but it takes an emotional toll. No teacher goes home and is able to leave their students behind entirely. It is a blessing and curse.For the first six months of the pandemic, I was overseeing five early head start classes, forty students, and fifteen teachers. My own children were struggling with their distance learning and I was burned out.So, I left the field and for the first time in my adult life I started writing something that was publish worthy. I had always been an avid reader, romance especially and written a handful of stories over the years. I’ve always felt to be a good writer you need to be a great reader. Home with my kids I was able to create books I knew could stand on their own in the world. I published my first novel, Faultless Notion in March 2022.What’s your writing process like? Are you a meticulous plotter, or do you let the story unfold as you go?I’m a plantser. I have a rough outline of the story and the beats I need to hit but I also allow for room in the middle for inspiration. The biggest planning I do before I start is the backstory on my characters, what do they look like, what is their family situation? Their likes and dislikes, their faults. I can’t write a word of narrative without having the characters fleshed out.Wren’s Winter is part of the Seasons of Us series. Can you give us a sneak peek at what’s coming next?Absolutely! The next book will be Second Chance Spring coming out in May. This story will focus on Devin as she returns to Ridgewood as a favor to a former neighbor to housesit, only to discover that Cedar Eden, the only boy who broke her heart is there as well. When a powerful wind storm knocks a tree into their only road out, they are forced to confront all the lingering feelings between them.Second Chance Spring was the first book I started after leaving my job. About halfway through writing it, I started what was the first lines of Faultless Notion which I ended up publishing. But Cedar and Devin’s story was one I knew had the bones of something great, so I held onto it until this series came to be.Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?I’m on most of the social media sites.My linktree https://linktr.ee/linnea.marchInstagram at @linnea_writesTiktok @linnea_writesBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/linneamarch.bsky.social