GUEST POST by Author Keli Gwyn

Please welcome Author Keli Gwyn to my blog today! Keli's book HER MOTHERHOOD WISH came out today. Here's a little bit about Keli:

Award-winning author Keli Gwyn writes stories that transport readers to the 1800s, where she brings historic towns to life, peoples them with colorful characters and adds a hint of humor. A California native, she lives in the Gold Rush-era 

town of Placerville at the foot of the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains.

When Keli’s fingers aren’t hovering over the keyboard of her newfangled laptop, she enjoys strolling past stately Victorian houses in her historic town, burying her nose in reference books as she unearths interesting facts to include in her stories, and interacting with other romance readers. Her favorite places to visit are her fictional worlds, other Gold Rush-era towns and historical museums. 

Here are the details about the book:

Her Motherhood Wish

Building a Family

En route to the Double T Orphanage to work on its expansion, carpenter Chip Evans and Caroline Hunt discover two orphaned children—and become their caregivers. But Chip’s determined not to let himself get too attached to the children who just lost their widowed father…or to the lovely woman helping him care for them. Especially since Callie and the little ones just don’t fit into his detailed plans for the future.

Callie can’t help but fall in love with the orphans, and despite her better judgment, she’s falling for Chip, too. Her dreams of being a wife and mother were not quite like this. But Callie believes a plan bigger than Chip’s brought them all together…and now she just has to help him see it, too.

Copyright © 2017 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover art and cover copy text used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited
® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
or its affiliated companies, used under license.

You can check out my review of HER MOTHERHOOD WISH

Here's Keli to tell us about her experience with adoption:

The Joys of Adoption

by Keli Gwyn

Adoption plays an important role in my latest release, Her Motherhood Wish. The heroine, Callie, takes a job at an orphanage and hopes the children living there are adopted into loving homes, as she was after she lost her parents.

Two of the recently orphaned children, whom Callie and the hero of the story, Chip, rescued after their father was fatally wounded, come to mean a great deal to her. Her wish is to experience marriage and motherhood, with a husband like Chip and children like Jasper and Ruby, but the handsome carpenter has other plans, which don’t include adoption.

I was excited about writing this story because adoption has played an important role in my life.

When I was seven, my world was rocked when I learned that my dad wasn’t my “real dad.” I don’t remember much about that revelation, but I’ve been told Dad found me on my bed when he got home from work on that life-altering day, sobbing.

I was heartbroken. Dad had been in my life as far back as I could remember, having married my mom when I was one. Finding out that he wasn’t my “real” father left me feeling confused, curious and conflicted.

I consoled myself with the thought that Dad had to take what he got with my younger siblings, but he chose me. Such are the rationalizations of a young child desperate to be wanted and worthy of love.

As children, we long to know we belong. I yearned to be as much my dad’s daughter as my siblings were. Dad didn’t treat me any differently, and yet I knew something was different. Years passed before I was old enough to understand the biology.

For decades, I considered myself my dad’s heart-adopted daughter, but the little girl in me harbored the dream of becoming Dad’s daughter for real.

That dream came true on a sunny day in March 1996. I was thirty-six years old when my husband, our daughter, my dad

and I walked into the historic courthouse in my Gold Rush-era town. I sat at a table on one side of the aisle, facing the judge high up at his bench, with my dad seated at the table on the other side of the aisle.

The proceedings only took a few minutes. The judge concluded them by pronouncing us father and daughter, in the eyes of the law. Although I’d spent my life as Dad’s daughter, making our relationship legal meant a great deal to me. At long last, I had the real dad I’d dreamed of.

Dad gave me a special gift to commemorate that day, a plate bearing the words: “Loved you yesterday. Love you still.

Always have. Always will.” I hung it in a place where I see it every day, and it makes me smile.

We lost Dad a few years back, following his short battle with Alzheimers. I miss him, but I have many wonderful memories of the man who welcomed me into his heart from the start.

Questions for You

When you think of adoption, what comes to mind?

Have you read stories that include the joys of adoption?

Has adoption played a role in your life or in the life of someone you know?

I can answer the last question that Keli asks us. My middle sister has two biological daughters. When they were teenagers my oldest niece told her mom about a friend who needed a place to stay. My sister took him in. Then his brother arrived. And then my sister petitioned to be a foster parent to 4 other siblings. Eventually my sister adopted the 4 youngest siblings, and all 6 call her mom. Adoption is a beautiful thing no matter what age! 

How about you? Can you answer any of Keli's questions? Feel free to leave a comment and share your experiences.

BONUS:

Keli has graciously offered to give one copy of her book HER MOTHERHOOD WISH to one lucky winner. Leave a comment on this post and winner will be chosen by Random.org on Friday March 10th. 

Thanks so much to Keli Gwyn for sharing on my blog today! 

3/10/17

WINNER!!!! Jennifer Hibdon contact me at gravesok@gmail.com and give me your mailing address to pass on to Keli for your book! Congratulations!