Gordath Wood hits bookstores on June 24. To whet your appetite, I’d like to introduce you to some of the characters that have been a part of my life for many years and many rewrites.

First up is Lynn. Lynn has it made, with a respected job managing the posh equestrian center Hunters Chase and a sweet and sexy new boyfriend, Joe. Here’s what Joe says about Lynn:

When he first came to the farm he couldn’t help but take notice of Lynn. He dredged up a word he didn’t even think he knew: exotic. Dark hair, olive skin, dark eyes. Tall and slender in her blue jeans and t-shirt and scuffed boots. So serious that when she smiled it was like the sun come out.

That’s Lynn on the cover. The artist really captured her, I think. But wait! Captain Crae has a different opinion:

She had been lost, dirty, frightened, and hungry, and trying to keep her mind through all of it. His first impression of her had been tall, thin, plain. Her tangled braid, scandalously uncovered, looked as if a tree-imp had snatched it to shreds with long twiggy fingers. And her clothes!

Lynn’s not flashy, she doesn’t have superpowers, and she has boy trouble (boy howdy, does she). But she’s quietly competent and unpretentious and she gets the job done. She’s my kind of girl.

On deck: Kate.