This is Ink & Intrigue—the blog where romance ignites, secrets simmer, and every love story hides a twist. I’m your blog host, Sheila Kell, romance author and lover of plot twists, slow burns, and morally questionable book boyfriends.
Today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to an author whose stories delve into the lives of everyday people facing life’s challenges— Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy! If you love sweet to heat contemporary romance focused on often flawed heroes who may be cowboys or military men or singers or blue collar workers, you’re in for a treat. A reviewer once called her style “blue jeans prose,” and she loves that. She’s writing blue jeans prose about men and women with real-life issues who fall in love, often when love is the last thing they’re seeking.
In this spotlight, she’ll focus on her most recent holiday title, Homeward Bound Hearts, a family saga and love story that centers on Christmas and the theme of homecoming.
Whether you write love stories, devour them, or dream of doing both, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it and give a warm welcome to Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy! 💖
Three things are the reasons I became an author.
During the fifth grade, already dreaming of writing, I penned my first effort at a novel in the back of my blue binder in my spare moments. For each page of text, I drew an illustration. Gone With The Wind, which I had recently read, served as inspiration for my tale of a young woman facing the Civil War on a Southern plantation. When I took the finished work home, my mother rolled her eyes but my dad encouraged me. I’m well aware how childish the effort was but he praised me and told me someday I would write another.
When I was fourteen, a teen who scribbled stories and poems, my Granny took me upstairs and opened her cedar chest. From the depths, tucked away between items from her three sons’ childhood, old photos, and other keepsakes, she removed a yellow sheaf of paper bound by a now faded ribbon. It was something she’d written when she was close to my age, a Class Prophecy for her eighth grade class in 1912. Her education ended with that graduation but she had saved her work and as I read it, I was impressed. Written in the style of another era, the work was both imaginative and well done. “
“You should have been a writer!” I cried.
Granny spoke words I will never forget. “I couldn’t,” she said. The reasons were many and large. Two marriages, three sons, the Great Depression, two world wars, twice widowed, and much more had stood in the way. She was a working mom, a telephone operator, when most women stayed home. “I couldn’t,” she told me. “But you should.”
I kept writing. I wrote through high school and college with a few modest publications in various places. After college, I found a job working at a local radio station writing advertising copy. In my spare time at home, I continued to write essays, articles, and a few stories. Some were published in places ranging from regional magazines to a few national publications.
Along the way, I married and had twins. At time when my days and nights brimmed full with bottles and diapers, I had an epiphany. My dream had long been to write a novel and I realized if I didn’t try, I never would. Most of my family and friends thought I’d lost my mind. Caring for two infants who fast became toddlers took most of my time and all of my energy. When I delivered a third child at the age of 39, I knew the time had come.
My husband cheered me on as I wrote a novel, then another. Those didn’t sell.
Then one did. Kinfolk was my first acceptance, from Champagne Books.
I sold another, Wolfe’s Lady, to what was then a new publisher, Evernight Publishing. Wolfe’s Lady was published in late 2010. Kinfolk debuted the following summer.
I celebrated but worried I would be a “one-hit wonder”. My husband’s uncle, Wayne Rigdon, disagreed. He told me I would continue to write books and I did.
Over the past fifteen years, I have increased my number of published titles to more than sixty. I currently write for three publishers, The Wild Rose Press, World Castle Publishing, and Evernight Publishing.
This year, I didn’t write a holiday novel but I’d like to share a little about last year’s, Homeward Bound Hearts. Here’s the blurb:
Take one saddle bronc ridin’ cowboy, Jeb Hill, the Hillbilly Hotshot, who suffers the worst injury of his career. Send him home to be cared for by a widowed nurse, Shelby Thacker, who struggles to pay her bills and support her two children. Add some friendship, then stir in a little attraction. Complicate things with the return of Jeb’s long absent father and throw in the Christmas season. Jeb wants an old-fashioned, heartwarming Christmas, but Shelby’s poverty destroyed her holiday spirit long ago. Toss in some faith, a country church, and a rodeo rider ready to play Santa Claus. Shelby’s and Jeb’s friendship deepens, but can they fulfill each other’s hopes and dreams?
The story unfolds in northwest Missouri, near my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri. Jeb Hill has returned home, against his will, after a career ending injury. Shelby is the home health care nurse assigned to his case as he recovers. The young widow and her two children tug at Jeb’s heartstrings. He’s looking forward to Christmas and learns Shelby isn’t. As the two become closer, he wants to make the holiday merry for her and her kids. His long absent father shows up and complicates life. Weather, romance, family issues, and more are thrown into the mix but Jeb will have his Christmas and so will Shelby.
I have several confirmed upcoming titles, more novels in submission and more than one works-in-progress.
Writing is a big part of my identity and I’ll continue to spin stories!
Bio:
Raised in the old river town of St. Joseph, Missouri, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy began writing at an early age. Her first publication, a poem on a children’s page in the local newspaper, came at the age of nine. She spent almost a decade working in broadcast radio, married and had three children, has written for area and regional publications, been a substitute teacher, and editor of two local newspapers for Gatehouse Media/Gannett. Her first novel was accepted for publication in 2010 and she has published more than fifty novels with publishers including The Wild Rose Press, World Castle Publishing, and Evernight Publishing. Widowed in 2019, her three children are grown and Lee Ann is focused on her writing career. She has taught junior high level students at her parish, English as a second language, and occasionally professionally edits.
I hope you loved getting to know Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy and hearing about her journey, inspirations, and latest swoon-worthy release, Homeward Bound Hearts. If you haven’t added this to your TBR yet, now’s the time—trust me, you won’t want to miss it. 💖
You can connect with Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy here:
📚 Website: https://leeannsontheimer.blogspot.com/
📱 Socials: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4543214.Lee_Ann_Sontheimer_Murphy
https://www.worldcastlepublishing.com/lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy
https://www.facebook.com/leeann.sontheimermurphy
🛒 Grab her books: Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Wild Rose Press, and many online outlets in both eBook and paperback. https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B004JPBM6I/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Lee%20Ann%20Sontheimer%20Murphy%22;jsessionid=5E243BB6609F75989C2B8CE57CDE45F9
Thank you for joining me in spotlighting a fellow romance lover who’s giving us all the feels. Stay tuned for more author features, book talk, and behind-the-scenes romance goodness.
Until next time—keep reading, keep swooning! 💖