Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She and her husband make their home outside of Boise, sharing it with Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon and Pinky the feline terror.
The following is a November 2014 interview with Robin.
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THE INTERVIEW
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A Promise Kept and
Love Without End
by Robin Lee Hatcher
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I’m a native Idahoan who loves the beauty of the Idaho outdoors (we have more wilderness area than any state except Alaska). Which is why I set most of my books there. I’m a wife, the mother of two grown daughters, and a grandmother. I’m an animal lover whose home is ruled by a dog and a cat (the cat weighs more but the dog still tries to kill her on occasion). I’m the author of over 70 novels and novellas.
How did you become a novelist, and did you always want to write?
I have been in love with storytelling since I was a little girl, and I always loved to write long letters to friends and family and to keep journals. But I never thought about writing a novel until I was in my twenties. I was a voracious reader of fiction, especially big historical sagas, and finally the idea for a story of my own just wouldn’t let me go. I had to see if I could tell it from beginning to end. I wrote the book in 1981. It was published in 1984, along with its sequel. I’ve been writing ever since.
What do you think is significant about Christian fiction?
The best of Christian fiction entertains, encourages, lifts a burden, answers a question, challenges beliefs, and stirs hearts. Above all, it offers a real and lasting hope. As a writer, Christian fiction has allowed me to write stories that explore people’s faith and how it impacts their lives.
My job as a novelist is, first and foremost, to entertain my readers. Naturally, I want a reader to close one of my books feeling both satisfied and sorry to see the story end. And I always hope my books will draw my readers one step closer to God.
What responses to your novels have affected you the most and why?
Many of my books have caused readers to share their lives with me. When they trust me with their private pain and how God is working in their hearts, it blesses me. I feel so privileged to have played a small part in that.
How has being a novelist impacted your relationship with Christ?
When I sold my first book in the general market, I was a Christian but I wasn’t walking closely with the Lord. As He healed my heart and drew me back into right relationship with Him, He slowly brought me to the place of knowing I wanted to write stories for Him. He put that call upon my heart, and all He wanted from me was everything—everything that makes me, me. Which I have tried to give to Him, one day at a time.
Other than writing great novels, what other goals do you have for your life?
At this stage of my life, my main goal is to finish well the race that has been set before me (Heb 12:1).
I love watching movies, particularly classics from the ’30s, ’40s, and ‘50s. I love to knit, although a problem with my neck has made that difficult. And, of course, I love to read.
What can you tell us about your latest novels?
While writing A Promise Kept, my January 2014 release, I fell in love with the setting of that novel, Kings Meadow, Idaho. While Kings Meadow itself is a fictional town, it is fashioned after a very real place. I knew that I wasn’t ready to let go of the town and the characters I’d created, and early reviews told me readers weren’t ready to let go either. And since I had given one of the characters, Chet Leonard, a lot of grief in A Promise Kept, I felt I owed him a chance at a happily ever after of his own. So I wrote Love Without End. Publishers Weekly calls it “a feel-good novel well worth reading.”
Here’s the blurb:
Chet Leonard’s life was forever changed when his seventeen year old son died and then, soon after, his wife walked out on their family. Over two years later, all he wants to do is hold onto his horse ranch and raise his remaining sons to be honorable men.
Kimberly Welch, widowed mother of Tara, a rebellious fifteen-year-old, has reached the end of her finances and nearly the end of her rope. She and Tara come to Kings Meadow to try to piece their lives back together again. Kimberly has no intention of become involved with the residents of this remote mountain community and certainly not with any man.
When 84-year-old Anna McKenna returns to Kings Meadow and to the Leonard ranch, she becomes an agent of change and healing for the two hurting families. With her help, Kimberly and Chet’s families at last discover a love without end.
The second book in the Kings Meadow Romance series, Whenever You Come Around, will release in May 2015. My novella in the Year of Weddings series, I Hope You Dance (July 2015), is also set in Kings Meadow with lots of familiar characters appearing in its pages. And soon I’ll be working on the third novel in the series.
What would you like to say to your fans in New Zealand, and others worldwide?
I appreciate the fans of my books so very much. They make all of the time and work that it takes to write a novel worth it. I’m an extravert, so spending hours and hours alone in my office gets to feeling lonely. Connecting with readers—through emails and Facebook and other social media—is a delight that makes those hours less lonely.
Do you have any parting words?
Thanks to Soul Inspirationz for having me for a visit and telling your readers about my books. You are greatly appreciated.
by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Zondervan Publishing
- Historical
- May 2014
- ISBN: 9780310259275
[Kindle | Amazon | The Book Depository]
A Colorado beauty abandoned at the altar. A rugged bounty hunter haunted by his past. In this dramatic historical novel by best-selling author Robin Lee Hatcher, two wounded hearts join forces in a pursuit across the Old West.
Silver Matlock is a Colorado beauty in search of revenge against the man who stranded her at the altar and fled with the remnant of her family's fortune. She is determined to find the man who betrayed her trust.
Jared Newman, rugged as the West itself, is relentless in his pursuit of lawless men---but unable to escape his own tragic past. Hardened by his life as a bounty hunter, he must learn to forgive before he loses his soul.
Joining forces, the two set out in search of Silver's betrayer. The handsome but embittered Jared finds himself powerfully drawn to the beautiful woman whose drive for justice equals his own. But lack of honesty keeps Silver and Jared from fully trusting each other, even as a shocking revelation intensifies their pursuit of the cunning---and deadly---quarry.
(A Kings Meadow Novel)
by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Thomas Nelson
- Historical/Romance
- January 2014
- ISBN: 9781401687656
Purchase:
[Amazon.com | Amazon Kindle | The Book Depository]
God was going to save her marriage, Allison was sure of it. But neither her husband nor her marriage had been saved.
What had become of His promise?
Tony Kavanagh had been Allison’s dream-come-true. They were in love within days, engaged within weeks, married and pregnant within a year. Her cup bubbled over with joy . . . but years later, that joy had been extinguished by unexpected trials.
The day Allison issued her husband an ultimatum, she thought it might save him. She never expected he would actually leave. She was certain God had promised to heal; it was clear that she'd misunderstood.
Now, living in the quiet mountain cabin she inherited from her single, self-reliant Great Aunt Emma, Allison must come to terms with her grief and figure out how to adapt to small town life. But when she finds a wedding dress and a collection of journals in Emma’s attic, a portrait of her aunt emerges that takes Allison completely by surprise: a portrait of a heartbroken woman surprisingly like herself.
As Allison reads the incredible story of Emma’s life in the 1920s and 1930s, she is forced to ask a difficult question: Does she really surrender every piece of her life to the Lord?
Drawing from her own heart-wrenching story of redemption, A Promise Kept is Robin Lee Hatcher’s emotionally charged thanksgiving to a God who answers prayers—in His own time and His own ways.
(Kings Meadow #1)
by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Thomas Nelson Publishers
- Contemporary
- November 2014
- ISBN: 9781401687670
Purchase:
[Kindle | Amazon | The Book Depository]
For two single parents with bruised hearts, it’ll take more than a little courage to get back on the horse when it comes to love.
Kimberly Welch lost her husband to a heart attack in the blink of an eye. But she’s losing her daughter slowly, in the day-to-day tension. In three difficult years, Kimberly has gone from Seattle socialite to Kings Meadow charity case, and her daughter is not responding well to the changes. She’s becoming a sullen, cantankerous teen.
Chet Leonard lost his teenage son in a car accident. Then his wife abandoned him and their two remaining boys. He tries to keep his mind on the family ranch, but if the last two years have taught him anything, it’s that sometimes you just have to let the memories hurt. Let the memories hurt, and leave well enough alone.
But when Chet volunteers to help tame Kimberly’s daughter’s horse, everyone gets more than they bargained for . . . especially when eighty-four-year-old Anna McKenna shows up.
Nana Anna has reappeared in Kings Meadow after decades away, bringing with her the magnetism and transformative joy that come from a life well lived . . . just the kind of magic that a couple of unlucky-in-love single parents need to conjure up a little courage and raise a new family from the ashes of tragedy.
(Kings Meadow #2)
by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Thomas Nelson Publishers
- Contemporary
- May 2015
- ISBN: 9781401687694
Purchase:
[Kindle | Amazon | The Book Depository]
Just when Charity’s wild imagination failed her, a flesh-and-blood hero walked into her life.
Best-selling author Charity Anderson returns to her hometown of Kings Meadow to defeat a bad case of writer's block. She imagines she’ll spend a lonely summer writing and then return to her home in Boise. She soon finds herself caring for Buck Malone, a wilderness guide—and the object of her unrequited teenage crush. But what else can she do? Her dog Cocoa caused the accident that left Buck with a broken ankle and wrist, taking him off the trail for weeks of prime tourist-season work.
Buck and Charity have gone different ways since high school, and at first it seems they have little in common. Buck loves the simple, low-key life he's made for himself in the mountains of Idaho, and she’s a woman accustomed to the faster, bustling pace of the city. But spending so much time together has Buck hoping to change her mind about staying in the small town she thought she'd left behind for good.
It’s a summer for discovering that young love is a spark not soon extinguished.
(A Year of Weddings Novella)
by Robin Lee Hatcher
- Thomas Nelson Publishers
- Contemporary
- July 2015
- ASIN: B00OFMBF4E
Purchase:
[Kindle]
Can two left feet lead to one perfect romance?
Grant Nichols is a genius in the kitchen and a klutz on the dance floor. But his friend’s wedding is shaping up to be a shindig the likes of which Kings Meadow has never seen—including dancing. Lots of dancing. Then he learns that a local dance teacher, Skye Foster, is offering dance lessons for the wedding party. The first lesson is free, so what does he have to lose?
A former rodeo queen, Skye Foster teaches children ballet and tap during the day, but with the popularity of ballroom dancing and her own love of Country Swing, she’s been teaching adults in the evenings.
Grant comes from a family of ten siblings. He was the second oldest and believes he's had his fill of little rug rats. He’s happy with his bachelor state, despite the fact that he’s given up his ladies’ man lifestyle. Even he admits to his wilder nature and has been trying to clean up his act, with God's help.
Skye, on the other hand, loves being around kids. She would love to find the right guy and settle down to have half a dozen children of her own.
Grant and Skye are no match on paper. But when they step onto the dance floor, they create a melody all their own.
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