WHEW, WHAT A ride! I’ve had Samantha Vine knocking around inside my head since I wrote Cal and Logan’s book, Vibration, well over a year ago. Never in a million years did I think it would take me this long to bring Fireball to market, but here we are. Pandemic has impacted me in unexpected waves, and the disruption of early 2022 really made it hard for me to write rom-com.
But I was always planning to give Samantha her own book. As soon as I figured out the woman for Cal, I knew she’d need a group of women to support her when she moved to Pittsburgh, and the idea for the Bridges and Bitters series really fell into place as I thought about how important found family is for people who (for many reasons) can’t access their family-family.
I didn’t know who her hero would be, though, until I saw a meme about how Alan Alda met his wife. They were at a dinner party, where the host dropped dessert on the ground. Most of the guests agreed that the dessert was trashed, but Alan and his wife shared the floor cake and the rest was history. And then I knew—Samantha Vine needed a man who would eat floor cake with her. The rest of the story fell into place pretty easily from there.
Thank you all so much for your patience as I worked on this story, canceled its release, worked on it some more, and finally brought it to your hands. Your support throughout this process has meant the world to me. I’m deep into my research for Chloe’s book now. Stay tuned!
~Lainey