Award-winning author Miralee Ferrell presents a powerful novel that blends the warmth and heart of historical romance with a deep exploration of difficult family dynamics. Ferrell speaks to women's heartfelt struggles -- from family dysfunction to single parenthood -- while offering them the faith-filled hope they need, all wrapped in an uplifting, true-to-life romance.
My husband, Allen, and I live on eleven acres in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, where we love to garden, play with their dogs, take walks, and go sailing. I’m able to combine two other passions—horseback riding and spending time with my married daughter, since she lives nearby—we often
ride together on the wooded trails near our home.
My little 6 lb Chihuahua, Lacey, is often on my lap when I’m working--there's nothing like a warm ball of love on your lap to act as a stress reliever! I've been involved in women's ministries for years, and serve on staff at our small church. I'm married to a wonderful man, have two grown children, two cats, two dogs and an Arabian mare.
We live about 9 miles from the nearest town on 11 acres, in a peaceful setting surrounded by trees.
I started writing shortly after I turned 50, and discovered I loved it so much I don't want to stop.
I write both women's contemporary fiction and historical romance. There will be three books in my current Love Blossoms in Oregon series, and in 2014 my first book in a four-book series for middle grades will release—horse novels for girls. One of my Western romances, Love Finds You in Sundance, WY, was awarded the Will Rogers Medallion for Excellence in Western Fiction.
Katherine Galloway knew this moment of calm wouldn’t last, blown away like the dandelion seeds she scattered as a girl. In 1880, three years after her husband’s death, she struggles to run an Oregon
boardinghouse and raise two girls alone. Things don't get easier when her critical, domineering mother moves in. Katherine must make the situation work, but standing up for herself and her family while honoring her mother isn't easy. And with a daughter entering the teenage years, the pressure on Katherine becomes close to overwhelming. Then she crosses paths with Micah Jacobs, a widower who could reignite her heart, but she fears a relationship with him might send things over the edge. She must find the strength, wisdom, hope, and faith to remake her life, for everything is about to change.
SKC: Why did you write this story?
MF: It started several years ago, when I bumped into a friend, and she let slip little comments about her relationship with her mother. Let’s just say the comments were filled with pain and grief. Mama was alive, well, and still contributing to that pain and grief.
While giving her a hug, I asked if I could pray with her that God would grant her peace and healing.
Through barely contained tears, she refused. She couldn’t tolerate attaining some kind of peace, only to return home to the same situation and have it shattered—or worse, new shards embedded into her healed
heart. I went home heartsick and unable to shake the urgency to pray for my friend.
As I asked the Lord what my next writing project should be, He gently directed me back to those memories. I knew He was showing me that thousands of women ache with the same need—for approval, love, and acceptance, just as they are—from their mothers. He directed me to tell this story.
At the time, I started writing this story as contemporary women’s fiction, but after two chapters, I decided the book would be better received if set in the 1800s and changed to a historical romance with a women’s fiction thread. It was a bigger challenge showing the depth of the heroine’s emotions, as so much was demanded during that era in regards to respect and honor toward the older members of society, especially parents. However, although this is a work of fiction in a historical setting with a strong romance thread, it closely
parallels daily events in today’s world.
"Blowing on Dandelions is a fun read with a beautiful setting in 1880s Baker City, Oregon. Ferrell has created characters you’ll root for, and the attitudes feel appropriate for the time in this tender romance. The relationships of mothers and daughters in this story speak deeply of the need for acceptance, love, and respect from one’s parents.”
Susan Page Davis,
award-winning author
Prairie Dreams and Texas Trails series
“As soft and gentle as the wisps of snowy seeds for which it is named Blowing on Dandelions is an achingly
tender love story that will lift your spirits—and your heart—high on a gentle breeze over the Oregon prairie.”
Julie Lessman,
award-winning author
The Daughters of Boston and Winds of Change Series
“Miralee Ferrell’s Blowing on Dandelions is a deeply inspiring story about family conflict and the transforming power of rekindled love. A richly written story chock full of nuggets of divine wisdom
this book was, for me, a genuinely satisfying read.”
Walt Larimore,
best-selling author
Hazel Creek and Sugar Fork
“Miralee Ferrell’s writing style is always a delight, even as her stories are captivating. Blowing on Dandelions is no exception. From the opening scene the reader is drawn into Katherine Galloway’s life, and we care about her from that moment on. This is more than a heart-tugging romance—though it is that—but it is also a mind-challenging read that will leave us in a different place than when we began.”
Kathi Macias, multi-award-winning author of 40 books,
including the Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and Carol Award finalist
"Blowing on Dandelions is an amazing, deeply emotional story. Each of the characters is so sympathetic and
well drawn that it was impossible to put the book down. Ferrell is a wonderful writer who handles the pain of physical and emotional trauma beautifully. Her characters are appealing, with a touching and believable faith journey, and the romance is lovely. My only regret was reaching the final page! Miralee Ferrell’s future books will be an automatic purchase from now on!”
Roxanne Rustand,
author of Duty to Protect
Do Dandelion Wishes Actually Come True?
Katherine Galloway knew this moment of calm wouldn’t last, blown away like the dandelion seeds she scattered as a girl. In 1880, three years after her husband’s death, she struggles to run an Oregon
boardinghouse and raise two girls alone. Things don't get easier when her critical, domineering mother moves in. Katherine must make the situation work, but standing up for herself and her family while honoring her mother isn't easy. And with a daughter entering the teenage years, the pressure on Katherine becomes close to overwhelming. Then she crosses paths with Micah Jacobs, a widower who could reignite her heart, but she fears a relationship with him might send things over the edge. She must find the
strength, wisdom, hope, and faith to remake her life, for everything is about
to change.
Question for readers: I’ve written contemporary, Historical romance and Old West/western romance (more
action/adventure than your typical historical ‘gentle’ romance).
Do you have a preference between the three, and does it bother you if an author writes in more than one genre? Do you tend to purchase the genre or the author, or both?
Opening scene
Blowing on Dandelions:
Katherine Galloway’s soft exhale sent the dandelion fluff dancing on the warm current of air, but it didn’t bring the anticipated relief. Gripping the stem, she sat in the grassy field with her eyes closed and waited. Why didn’t it come? It had always appeared years ago when she needed it. How long had it been since her mind had drifted away to a place where nothing could hurt her? Fifteen years? Twenty? She shook her head, and an errant curl tickled her cheek. More. Many more. But always her memory returned to those times when the dandelion fluff had carried her away to a place where mothers were loving and kind, and little girls didn’t need to be afraid of cutting words or sharp voices.
Had she ever known a time like that, other than in her dreams? Katherine had thought she did, but now she knew: It was all an illusion, like the sunbeams glinting off the bits of white settling to the ground. Seeds—that’s all they were. Seeds that brought unwanted weeds when they matured. Just like her life.
Katherine pushed to her feet, letting the dandelion stem dangle from her fingers. There was no fantasy world where thirty-two-year-old women—or little girls for that matter—could ride the dandelion fluff and become someone they weren’t. No. It was time to put the past behind her. Mama was coming to stay at her house tomorrow, and somehow Katherine had to survive.
Tina Pinson resides in Mesa, Arizona with
her husband of thirty plus years, Danny. They are blessed to have three sons,
and seven grandchildren.
In the Manor of the Ghost, Touched By
Mercy, To Carry her Cross, and the first three
installments of the Shadow Series When
Shadows Fall, Shadowed Dreams and To Catch a Shadow are available through
Desert Breeze Publishing and major retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and
Christianbooks.
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