Jane Porter on how THE GOOD WIFE came about!

We have multi-published author Jane Porter sharing with us how the THE GOOD WIFE and the Brennan sisters came about.

Bestselling author Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award four times, has over 12 million copies in print .  Jane's novel, Flirting With Forty, picked by Redbook as its Red Hot Summer Read, went back for seven printings in six weeks before being made into a Lifetime movie starring Heather Locklear.  September 2012 brought the release of The Good Woman, the first of her Brennan Sisters trilogy, followed in February 2013 by The Good Daughter, and book three in the series, The Good Wife, is slotted for release in September.  A mother of three sons, Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband.

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My fictional Brennans were inspired by my younger brother’s wife and her family. My brother Rob married a stunning San Francisco girl named Andrea Callen. Andrea’s father is a fourth generation San Franciscan, as well as third generation firefighter, serving the city with his grandfather, his uncles, and his brothers.

 

Over the years I’ve gotten to know Tom Callen, and I respect his commitment to his family, the San Francisco Fire Department, and his community. Tom’s dedication and passion, coupled with the heroism of the NYC fire fighters on 9/11, made me want to tell a story about good people--people with integrity, strength, and courage. Before I knew it, the fiercely loyal, loving, Brennan family with the four Brennan sisters, sprang to life, and once those sisters started talking, they wouldn’t be quiet.

 

I always find it interesting how characters are born. Some need a little work—prodding and poking and shaping—while others literally leap onto the page, full formed, with edges, quirks and fierce passions. My Brennan sisters were like that. Once I knew who Tom and Marilyn Brennan were, the ‘children’ tumbled to life: the oldest, first born, Mary Margaret, the ultimate good girl, responsible for everything and everyone; my fraternal twin sisters, Brianna and Kit, who are as different as can be but get along quite well; younger brother Tommy, who also becomes a fire fighter, but over in the East Bay due to hiring

quotas; and then the baby sister, Sarah, who is the family beauty and an accomplished athlete. This fictional family has become a real family to me and I find myself thinking about them even when a story ends.

 

My third book in the Brennan Sisters series, The Good Wife, focuses on Sarah Brennan, the youngest of the Brennan siblings and my favorite of all.  If you’ve read the first two books in the series, you’ve met Sarah already and you know she’s the youngest Brennan, beautiful, smart, and strong. But even though she acts like a tough cookie on the outside, on the inside, she’s vulnerable girl and still madly in love with her husband Boone.

 

Sarah is the sister who has it all – two beautiful kids and a gorgeous, sexy husband, Boone Walker, a professional baseball player.  They have a comfy, well-off lifestyle thanks to Boone’s success but living apart for most of the year, due to Boone’s schedule puts a huge strain on their marriage.   Sarah loves her husband fiercely but he made a mistake three years ago that she’s still finding it hard to forgive him for.  Now Boone is facing yet another career change and it makes things even more tense for their marriage until Boone gives Sarah an ultimatum.  Either get over the past to forgive and forget, or they go their separate ways.  Sarah has to decide if her marriage is worth keeping or if it’s time to walk away.

 

I struggled quite a bit while writing this book.   I’ve lost count of the number of times I threw whole chapters out or tore them apart again and again so I could get each scene, each conversation right.  It was really important to me that I do Sarah’s character justice and all that hard work, all those long hours at the computer were worth it.  I fell in love with Sarah and Boone and their determination to make their marriage work.  I’ve also introduced another pair of sisters in book and I have to say I love them just as much as I love the Brennan girls.   If you pick up a copy of The Good Wife, do let me know what you think of Sarah and Boone!

  The Good Wife

Is it possible to love someone too much?

Always considered the beauty of the family, the youngest Brennan sister, Sarah, remains deeply

in love with her husband of ten years. Boone Walker, a professional baseball player, travels almost year-round while Sarah stays home and cares for their two children. Her love for her husband is bottomless—so much so that her sisters say it will end up hurting her.

Living apart most of the time makes life difficult, especially since Sarah often wonders whether Boone is sharing his bed with other women on the road, even though he swears he’s been true to her since his infidelity three years ago. While she wants to be happy and move forward in her life, Sarah constantly fears that Boone will break his promise. Now with Boone facing yet another career change, tension rises between the two, adding more stress to an already turbulent marriage. Emotionally exhausted, Sarah can’t cope with yet another storm. Now, she must either break free from the past and forgive Boone completely, or leave him behind and start anew . . .

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