Have you met the four Summers and their best friends in The Summer Sisters series?
Enjoy some photos from my personal photo album as well as some Easter eggs hidden in the series! Let’s dive in.
TRIXIE HOLLOW
Mentioned throughout the five-book series.
The setting for The Summer Sisters series is based upon a real place here in Canada called Muskoka, which is an area I spent many summers with my family.
In fact, Trixie Hollow is very closely based on my grandmother’s cottage which was built in 1900 and is located in the area where The Summer Sisters is set. This area, Muskoka, is north of Toronto, Ontario and has many lakes, lots of woods, and–in some areas–has become a playground for Canada’s wealthy.
Rumor is that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have a place in Muskoka, as does Martin Short and Bill Murray. Not to mention so many of the folks from the Dragon’s Den–and a few Olympians, too!
Lady Eaton even used to vacation there in the summers and when my grandmother was a girl she’d watch Lady Eaton’s barge go by, on its way to provision her cottage since there were no roads to many of the cottages by then.
Inspiration for Trixie Hollow
(I’ve spent many summers painting those railings, window frames and veranda decking as well as trimming trees to ensure the view of the water remains. This cottage is over 120 years old now which is considered pretty ancient here in Canada. 😉 )
STEAMSHIPS
Mentioned in: Falling for the Movie Star
When I was a kid I got a chance to steer the Segwun (pictured to the left)–a ship built in 1887. This ship is the oldest operating steamship in North America.
One of the best about spending summers with my grandma in Muskoka was swimming every day and cookies! (That cookie jar was never empty!) But it was also the Segwun, an old ship that still sailed through the lakes and past my grandmother’s cottage, tooting its horn as it went around bends. My cousins and I used to race down to the dock when we heard it coming so we could wave to the passengers on board.
This old ship was so popular that they built a new ship, Wenonah, to share the duties.
Both boats go through the locks in Port Carling and there is a drawbridge that lifts up to allow it to pass. When my grandmother was a girl the lockmaster would let her and her sisters use the giant lock key to turn the gates to open them for ships. Last I was there, the key is still there on display.
Here’s one of the spots where the ship is mentioned in Falling for the Movie Star (in a conversation between Simone and Hailey):
“No, I mean how much money do you need?”
“Um, why?”
“Because it sounds a lot like you’re selling out. Something you promised you’d never do, and told me I should push you in front of the Segwun if you did.”
Yeah, that old steamship would definitely take a chunk out of her.
“I’m not selling out, I’m getting my name out there. They’ll still be artistic shots. They’ll just be ones with more commercial appeal.”
“Commercial appeal?” She heard papers shuffling on the other end of the line and she held her breath. “Just checking to see when the next time the Segwun will be coming through the locks. The Wenonah may have to do, though, as this sounds dire.”
The veranda–the hammock in the distance is where Connor naps in Falling for the Boss. Notice the wicker furniture.
Easter eggs from Falling for the Boss (Book 2)
Easter egg 1: The lift that Maya uses is a real thing my Grandma’s friend Squirt had at her cottage (just a few cottages away) to carry things up and down the steep hill to their cottage.
Easter egg 2: The Parry Sound quarry is where my grandmother got the flagstone for the patio in her Sudbury home. I believe that is the same quarry that provided the stones for the cottage’s fireplace.
Easter egg 3: It is way cooler on the veranda than in town. We’d often walk into Port and be wearing sweatshirts and be sweating by the time we made it to The Store. (The shop’s name.)
Easter egg 4: I had Chronic Fatigue in my 20s and some of Connor’s described symptoms were how I felt on some of my worst days.
Easter egg 5: The kitchen was an add-on with my grandmother’s cottage. The kitchens with their fire stoves were kept in an “outdoor” kitchen to keep the heat of the stove and oven from heating up the cottage.
Easter egg 6: The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse has a short story in it written by me about falling in love during an apocalypse. That story, Crumbs, was my first published fiction piece.
Here are those Easter eggs in action:
Maya nodded and chucked his bag in the ancient lift she’d tinkered into working again. It ran from the dock up the hill to the cottage, since there was no road to drive up heavy items. She swung its rusted door shut, latching it before sending the bag up with motorized grunts and groans.
“So, anytime you want a fire in the fireplace—you’ll notice it’s gorgeous flagstone from the Parry Sound quarry—we can set you up.”
“You’ll find we get a lovely breeze here on the veranda. It’s often seven degrees cooler here than in port.” Maya tried to keep smiling as she stepped off the stairs. There wasn’t enough breeze to whisper the feathers on a hummingbird.
Or maybe someone needed to bring back the real Connor MacKenzie, because this couldn’t possibly be him. She didn’t know who this guy was, but he was not the man she’d planned the next two weeks of her life around. Truth be told, it didn’t really matter if he didn’t talk to her for the next fourteen days, as working for him would be better than being the fill-in gopher girl at the local dealership, where there was absolutely no chance of advancement. And missing a few shifts at the Bar ’n’ Grill wouldn’t exactly kill her, either.
Connor blinked again and the glass was back in his grasp, the woman at the screen door. He blinked again and she was gone. He peered into his empty glass. Was it the vodka clogging his mind? He didn’t think so, seeing as his assistant with the swaying hips seemed to have downed over half of it, and he was a man who could hold a drink. He’d had plenty of training in business meetings and was known for being able to knock them back for hours on end and still retain his sharp business edge.
He moved into the kitchen, which had been added on at some point and didn’t quite match the rest of the cottage, other than for its slightly neglected feel.
* * *
His heart rate increased and he pushed out of the chair, grabbing the first book that came to hand. The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse. Perfect. Something dark and brooding that wouldn’t remind him about his failure to get a real life. A life with meaning, people, love and commitment. A life where someone would have his back even through the tough times. Someone who didn’t want anything other than his love and company.
The clothesline–often too small for everyone’s bathing suits and towels!
This is the back door Simone goes out to visit the outhouse in Falling for the Firefighter.
Did you know that the towns mentioned in The Summer Sisters are real? Bracebridge, Bala, Port Carling…
The Kee to Bala, where Hailey and Finian have their first date in Falling for the Movie Star, is a real place. I tried to describe it based on my memory of being there years ago with my dad and brother when we went to see David Wilcox.
As well, the museum that Melanie goes to in Falling for the Single Dad is on a small island in Port Carling is also real (Muskoka Lakes Museum)–but I did change it for my story needs! In fact, that museum is close to the locks mentioned above.
The antique boat show in Falling for the Single Dad? Also real! (If you’re into old wooden boats from the 1920s–gorgeous!–it’s a show to see.) So is Duke’s Marina.
Simone’s shop? Based on a store in Port Carling that was converted from a home–there is a row of them on Frank Miller Memorial Route.
The town of Windermere and Windermere House? Also real. You can see more about it and its history including its fire here: https://windermerehouse.com/ It’s gorgeous!
P.S. If you take a peek at the website, you’ll see Windermere House from the water. Look to the left. There’s a place at the docks with the red roof? You can get ice cream there. When I was a kid we had a whole signal to tell the driver to take us there for ice cream. I’ve dripped water on that shop’s floor many times!
Mini Sneak Peek mention in Falling for the Movie Star:
“It was one of the few original hotels from the late 1800s, but when The Long Kiss Goodnight was filmed here in the 1990s, the place accidentally burned down. It was rebuilt and restored to look the same, but there are subtle differences.”
A typical Ontario lake view. This one was taken on Lake Rosseau, I believe.
Funny story about Falling for the Single Dad. During release week for this story I had a reader ask me if Dot was going to have a story.
Well! I was so insulted!
There was no Dot in my book. They were asking me about someone else’s book!
Then, about an hour later, I realized that Dot was the hero’s daughter! LOL! Some memory I have for my characters, right?
I’d completely moved on from the story and forgotten all about Dot. (Sometimes I don’t name a secondary character until the final draft, and in those cases I completely blank on a character’s name after publication. But in Dot’s case? I honestly don’t know how her name escaped me as she was a lot of fun to write.)
Know another funny story about this book? Sometimes when I am flying to or from a conference I write on the plane. Which means that those sitting beside me can probably read my screen. UGH! But…writers gotta write. So this one time I was flying back from a conference in San Antonio, Texas and was writing about Tristen and Melanie. I happened to look over at the tray table for the young man in fatigues beside me and saw his name on his Customs form. Guess what his name was?
Tristen!
I almost died.
I started writing a different name for Tristen for the rest of the flight, and then went back and changed the name back to Tristen later.
Photo taken from the dock of my grandmother’s cottage. Are those scorch marks in the wood on the corner? If so…oops. Sometimes our fireworks show got a little heated in the ’80s…
Easter Eggs from Falling for the Movie Star:
Easter egg 1: The flower painted on the hood? I did that to my first car. I also wrapped flowers around the wipers. It was such a fun car!
He turned to face the breeze coming off the lake, eyeing Daphne out of the corner of his eye. She was a modern-day hippie, wearing lots of beads and an embroidered smock. Add in the fact that her silver Dodge Caravan had a bright red flower painted on the hood and plastic flowers wrapped around the antenna, and it was pretty obvious she took nature as seriously as her big sister did–more so, seeing as Hailey was looking for turtles for her.
Easter egg 2: My little cousin used to squeeze me like a python, but so quick! Suddenly you couldn’t breathe! She was like a little ninja!
The van door was flung open and he found himself being hugged by what resembled a python. Every time he tried to exhale Hailey’s sister squeezed tighter, until he couldn’t breathe at all. A smaller creature that he could only imagine was her offspring hugged his legs with all her might. Just when he thought he might actually pass out from a lack of oxygen, they released him, as if by unspoken agreement.
Easter egg 3: Scanning the prices? That was me on dates in my teens and 20s! I still do that, actually.
Finn hid his smile as the waitress hurried off. He closed his heavy menu, watching Hailey frown at her own. Her eyes skimmed the right column, then the items. Next page. Skim the prices, then the items.
Easter egg 4: This waitress! Ugh! My husband and I were out on date night while I was writing Falling for the Movie Star and she was so awful trying to get him to say yes to buying ALL the food. She ignored me and flirted with him, trying to sexy her way into his wallet. Yeah? Well, guess who deals with the financial stuff in our family? ME! I think hubby even had me pay to make a point to this waitress. I was still so miffed by her behaviour I wrote her into this book:
The server arrived with plates racked up her arms. “Here we are.” She began sliding appetizers onto the table.
“Wow.” He gazed at all the food. “This is a lot.”
“I’ll get you more serviettes. Would you like fresh pepper? A glass of wine, perhaps? We have a lovely Bordeaux that would go nicely with the dip.”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“Would you like another finger of scotch?”
He shook his head.
“I’ve put in an order for our surf and turf, as well.”
“Oh, I think this will be plenty for me,” Hailey said, her eyes round.
“Yeah, we’re good. Thanks.”
“Oh. Okay.” The server’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“This is lovely, though. Thank you.”
“You don’t want to miss our desserts. Save room for that. In fact, I’ll bring you a dessert menu, as well as the wine list, so you can see what you need to save room for.”
“Thank you.”
Easter egg 5: You really did used to get your boating license by taking a written test given out at the chain store, Canadian Tire. Passing the test does not mean you are a good boater or even truly understand boating.
Hailey. She was basking in the late afternoon sun, drink in hand, along with her three sisters, Tigger, and Simone. They all had their mouths bent in various expressions of distaste due to his arrival. But it was Daphne who flew to her feet, fist raised, as she shouted to the driver. “You harbinger of death! Where did you get your boating license? Canadian Tire?”
Easter egg 6: The chipmunks! I used to tame them at the cottage and get them eating out of my hand as a kid. I loved it so much.
“That would be fine, too.” Her mother smiled, and Daphne clapped her hands together.
Tigger, who was just off the veranda, trying to tame chipmunks by bribing them with sunflower seeds, said, “I got one! Ohhh, he ran away.”
And just for fun…and because I’m Canadian I had to poke at us a few times in the series. You may have noticed little snippets like this one between Hailey and Finian in Falling for the Movie Star:
“Canada’s getting to you. That’s twice in the past two hours that you’ve said you’re sorry. A new record, I presume.”
He laughed and fell back in the chair, his legs splayed. He liked this woman. Liked her wit and willingness to poke at him. None of that skittering about to appease him as some women did.
“So, um, how bad were those shots in the tabloids?” she asked.
“Of us?”
I hope you’ve enjoyed these sneak peeks, photos and behind the scenes Easter eggs and memories from my childhood. If you’re missing any stories from The Summer Sisters series, you can grab the complete series by following these links:
The Summer Sisters stories are available in ebook, paperback, large print and audio:
Falling for the Movie Star (Hailey & Finian)
Falling for the Boss (Maya & Connor)
Falling for the Single Dad (Melanie & Tristen)
Falling for the Bodyguard (Daphne & Evander)
Falling for the Firefighter (Simone & JC)