Character Spotlight ~ Anita Higman's Holly Goodnight, Owen Quigley & Van Keaton

Holly, Owen & Van

You get two Christmas stories for the price of one in Irene Brand and Anita Higman's Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe :) Anita shares her characters here in her novella Once Upon a Christmas Eve.

Enjoy:~

Holly Goodnight

My heroine, Holly Goodnight, is a little roundish, but in an irresistible way. She has dark luminous eyes, sports a mischievous air, and looks a little like the actress, Anne Hathaway.

Holly has a great compassion for people, but her human frailty becomes apparent when her underlying fear of abandonment surfaces. Holly falls into the fairy archetype. I think this kind of character is so fascinating to create and watch. Other examples of this kind of character are the heroines from the movies, Chocolat and Cold Comfort Farm.

Owen Quigly

Owen Quigly, my hero, is tall and lanky and lumbers like Jimmy Stewart. Owen looks like the actor, Paul Bettany from the movie, The Young Victoria, only Owen’s hair is red and electric.

Owen is funny and caring, but sometimes he’s too phlegmatic when it comes to expressing his feelings. He has a talent for reading the stock market and making a lot of money, but he’s never cared too much for spending it. He’d rather give it away. Decades ago I dated a guy who was a little like Owen. But I didn’t marry him.

Van Keaton

Van Keaton is another male character in my novella. He looks a lot like a young Hugh Grant.

He is creative and passionate about life and love, but he’s a bit arrogant around the edges. Van is afflicted with a miserable yet humorous case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Van Keaton is also a novelist and terrified of failure. In fact, the fear of it keeps him awake at night.

It was fun and fairly easy to write about Van, since I too know the wonderful and slightly neurotic life of a writer.

Background to the story

As far as the story’s background I love all things Christmas, and I’ve always been curious about orphans and their plight. So, I put both of these ideas together, and Once Upon a Christmas Eve started to form in my mind.

Thanks for sharing, Anita :) They sound like great characters!



On Monday, the spotlight shines on Mark Hitchcock and Alton Gansky's Andrew Morgan & Lisa Campbell from The Mayan Apocolypse

Relz Reviewz Extras

Visit Anita's website & Irene's website

Buy the book at Amazon or Koorong

Coming soon in Summerside's Love Finds You Series

Summerside Press is having continued success with their contemporary and historical Love Finds You series with different novelists writing standalone stories which take place in often uniquely named places in the United States. Here's the latest in this popular series.

Enjoy!

Love Finds You in Deadwood, South Dakota by Tracey Cross

Jane Albright’s life is shattered.

The Nebraska homesteader is newly widowed, with one child to care for and another on the way. When she learns that she is at risk of losing the family home and freighting business to a greedy moneylender named Franklin Lloyd, she has no choice but to brandish a bullwhip and haul freight all the way to Deadwood, South Dakota. Franklin agrees to give Jane three months to pay the note, and she is determined to secure her children’s future. But Deadwood is a rough place for a woman, and Jane is soon over her head. Franklin longs to help her—but will she let him?

August, 2010





Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio by Serena Miller

A mysterious outsider casts a long shadow on Ohio’s Amish country.

Policewoman Rachel Troyer has always looked after her three elderly Amish aunts, proprietors of a farmhouse inn near Sugarcreek, Ohio. The idyllic town is popular with tourists, who come to sample its famous Amish goods. But one thing is clear to Rachel—Joe Matthews is no tourist. When the bearded stranger lands on her aunts’ doorstep, begging shelter for himself and his young son, Rachel is suspicious. Will she be able to uncover Joe’s secrets despite her aunts’—and her own—growing affection for him?

August, 2010





Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe by Irene Brand & Anita Higman

An Appalachian Christmas

A promise to her dying sister compels Julia Mayfield to take her young nephew to Mistletoe, Kentucky, a tiny town tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains. Sparks fly when she meets David Armstrong, a World War II veteran like herself. Even as shadows from the past weave a dangerous web around Julia and David, will their love flourish like the mistletoe that blankets the nearby hills?

Once Upon a Christmas Eve

Hollie Goodnight’s store has just been voted best Christmas shop in America. All the new publicity draws flamboyant novelist Van Keaton to the cozy town of Noel, Missouri, demanding to write Hollie’s story—a dramatic tale of misfortune and triumph. She is swept up in his world of beautiful words and fanciful interludes…until Owen Quigly, her lifelong best friend, launches a plan to win her back.

September, 2010

Love Finds You in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California by Sandra D Bricker

Annie Gray has an epiphany: she is not living the life she’s always dreamed of.

She decides to start fresh, drawing inspiration from her favorite classic Hollywood films. First, Annie moves into the picturesque Carmel bungalow belonging to her grandmother—a retired film star. Next up: landing an exciting job as a private investigator’s assistant. But Annie’s new boss is no Humphrey Bogart, and the work isn’t quite what she pictured. Just when everything in Annie’s screen-worthy plan teeters on the brink of disaster, she has another epiphany. Will this one land her in the arms of her own leading man?

October, 2010







Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho by Janelle Mowery

It’s 1869, and chaos rules Silver City.

As Rebekah Weaver recovers from an accident that has left her badly burned, she worries that her father’s handsome new assistant won’t see past her scarred exterior. Deputy Marshal Nathaniel Kirkland is working undercover to investigate a series of explosions in the mines and businesses of Silver City. When ominous notes begin appearing on townspeople’s doors, Nate needs Rebekah’s help to uncover the identity of the perpetrator. As they work together, Nate begins to speculate that Rebekah’s “accident” was really a case of intentional sabotage—and that she might still be in danger.

October, 2010






Love Finds You in Hope, Kansas by Pamela Griffin

Fashionable Easterner Alison Stripling is shocked to receive a letter from her deceased sister’s husband in Hope, Kansas, pleading for help with his six children.

The letter gives Alison a chance to escape her troubles in Boston, and the name of the town seems like a sign from God. But when she arrives at a rustic cabin on the prairie, she’s in for a bigger shock: Rafe Munroe didn’t write the letter at all! Realizing the children are determined to pair them off, Rafe and Alison join forces to prove the idea would never work. Can Hope’s cupids—all six of them—strike love’s arrows into the hearts of their pa and Miss Alison?

December, 2010