With the holidays very rapidly approaching, many of us are starting to think about spending time with family and friends. This can, on occasion, be a mixed blessing, but in general Christmas especially is about being with family, which perfectly suits the theme of not only my upcoming reissue, Amazing Gracie, but many of my books.

I absolutely love telling multi-generational stories! Maybe it comes from being an only child. Maybe it comes from an early introduction to Little House on the Prairie books. All I know is that I love creating big families, often the more dysfuctional the better.

I think my first foray into writing about older heroes came when I wrote the Vows trilogy -- Love, Honor and Cherish -- for Silhouette Special Edition. Cherish focused on the family patriarch. And then came my "And Baby Makes Three" series, originally intended to be about three brothers in a Texas family. I liked the father, Grandpa Harlan, so much, I gave him his own book . . . and then kept writing, over a dozen books in all with Grandpa Harlan as a key character.

I haven't stopped writing these multi-generational stories since and Amazing Gracie is one of my favorites. I'm so happy it's about to be available to a wider audience.

In this story Gracie MacDougal, a high-powered executive for a string of elegant boutique hotels in Europe, quits her job in France. With no family and no place in the States to call home, she runs to a small town where she'd once spent a happy family vacation. Her plan is to sort out her future and move on, but she spots a glorious old Victorian house on the river and is intrigued by the idea of opening a bed and breakfast.

Sadly for her -- or perhaps quite happily in the long run -- Kevin Patrick Daniels stands squarely between her and her dream. As I told someone recently, if I'd met Kevin first I'd have snapped him up long before Gracie got to town. Oh, my!

Kevin appears to be a sexy, laid-back, do-nothing kind of a guy, but the reality is something quite different and he's about to turn Gracie's life upside down. That is, if he can find time given all the family members relying on him. My favorite is his charmingly eccentric aunt, who's a bit of a gambler, at the track and in love.

I hope you'll fall in love with Gracie, Kevin and his whole family as I did when I first wrote about them. This was a Romantic Times Top Pick when it was first released more than 10 years ago, so I'm not the only one who loved the characters.

Amazing Gracie will be in stores Dec. 29, so be sure to grab a copy when you're out taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales, and let me know what you think. And if you like to plan your reading ahead, don't forget there will be three new stories in my Sweet Magnolias series beginning with Home in Carolina in April, followed by Sweet Tea at Sunrise in May and Honeysuckle Summer in June and the next installment in my Chesapeake Shores series will be released in November. 2010 is going to be quite the year for books about lasting friendships and strong families, my favorite kind of stories.

Meantime I wish each of you the most joyous of holiday seasons and a healthy, happy new year!

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Sherryl Woods