Our Hometown Hopes

by Laurel Blount

Mindy here, and I am so pleased to have my friend and fellow Love Inspired author, Laurel Blount with us today. I am such a fan her books, so I hope you all will give her a warm Seekerville welcome.

My own hometown! Photo by King Davis

I’m what my grandma used to call a “homebody.” I still live ten minutes away from the hospital where I was born. In this age of convenient travel, that’s a little unusual--in the past, not so much. I’ve read that not too long ago most folks rarely traveled farther than thirty miles from their birthplace. And I’ve heard the Amish don’t embrace cars because they don’t want their communities becoming too mobile. They feel easy mobility tears the fabric of family and friendships.

Okay, so most of us aren’t too eager to surrender our car keys, but I do sense a growing hunger for old-fashioned hometowns. A common remark I hear about my Pine Valley, Georgia books for Love Inspired is “I wish I could move to that place!” I’ve heard readers say similar things about the towns in other series--such as Mindy Obenhaus’s books set in Ouray, Colorado. And recently the Love Inspired editors reminded their authors that they’d like to see even more small-town settings.


I’m wrapping up final edits for my last book to be set in Pine Valley, Georgia--so I’ll be looking for a new “hometown” for future stories. With that in mind, I’ve done some informal polls to discover what hometown really means to my readers. The folks I talked to came from all sorts of places, but I discovered some interesting common factors that I’ll be keeping in mind as I craft my next series.

A hometown feels like family. I heard over and over that home is wherever family is. Maybe that’s why Love Inspired is encouraging authors to connect series books through family relationships rather than only geographical settings. Sure, they can drive us a little batty sometimes, but strong family ties make us feel at home!

A hometown feels familiar. People spoke fondly of long-standing traditions in their hometowns, of special landmarks and beauty spots, and of historical events that had occurred nearby. Memories are wound about these beloved places, giving them a unique sparkle for the folks who call them home. Every person was convinced that their own hometown was the very best place to live! 

A hometown feels friendly. Readers praised towns that rally together to help each other during difficult times. They talked not only about personal friendships, but also about a wider sense of fellowship with their neighbors.  These relationships transform a town from a place you live to a place you belong. That sense of shared community is something people really yearn for!

Thanks to amazing technology, our mobile world seems--in some ways--more connected than ever. But people still long for those old-fashioned, hometown connections --and they’d enjoy spending a few hours visiting characters in a place that feels comfortable to them. Now that I know the kind of place they’re looking for, it’ll be that much easier to use my story settings to welcome them home! 

My third Love Inspired HOMETOWN HOPE releases today! My book baby and I share a birthday--how sweet is that?! And what’s a birthday without a gift? Today I’m giving away a copy of HOMETOWN HOPE. To be entered in a random drawing, just leave a comment!

Available now!

He’ll do anything for his daughter…
Even fight to regain an old classmate’s broken trust.

In the three years since her mother’s death, widower Hoyt Bradley’s daughter, Jess, hasn’t spoken—until she suddenly begs him to save her favorite bookstore from closing. Hoyt is desperate to hear his daughter’s voice again, but he and the bookstore’s pretty owner, Anna Delaney, share a less-than-friendly past. Working together is complicated enough…but can they avoid falling in love?

Laurel Blount lives on a small farm in middle Georgia with her husband, their four children, and an assortment of very spoiled animals. She divides her time between farm chores, homeschooling, and writing. She's busy, but at least she's never bored! Whenever she's not working, you can find Laurel with a cup of tea at her elbow, a cat in her lap, and a good book in her hand. Stay in touch by signing up for her monthly newsletter at www.laurelblountbooks.com.