Celebrating the Return of Banner Atwood!

Who's Banner? Does she play guitar? Great question, much obliged that you asked! Banner is my heroine from my 2016 debut novel, A Woman's Choice. I thought Banner was muted after she and Scott Rourke went into the merry happily ever after (and don't bother me again) in Dundee, Georgia. Well, the gal decided to come back and bother me! Enter Lifelines, the sequel.

Now, I did toy with a sequel off and on for years - and even did an outline for other characters. John William "Jack" Jennings' character was going to grow up and become a leader in the prolife community. But, ah, well, ah, he just turned out to be a disappointment! And he even became a PRIEST and then left the order to run off with some gal he met! WHAT?! Yep: don't look at me, it's rattling in my brain! He has BROKEN his dear mother's heart - and poor Banner is now one of the many thousands of victims of the NO CONTACT movement sweeping across the United States! I had that theme in mind from the moment I decided to write a sequel, since there's no fiction book on the subject.

When Alexandra Ripley got the contract from the heirs of Margaret Mitchell and her book, Gone with the Wind, Alexandra learned the hard way what to do with characters. She had to kill off.... wait for it.... MAMMY to be able to "drive" Scarlett to her future. Yep: I have had a decade where Banner Atwood was doing "all done and settled" in my mind, but with a sequel and such changes, I've had to start killing some people.... I mean CHARACTERS! Oops!

Goodbye, Scott! Goodbye, Reverand Atwood (Banner's father). Goodbye, Carolyn. OH NO - WHAT ABOUT DUTCHIE and CAROLYN? SERIOUSLY? What about the twins? What about....

Well, the good news is there was a pandemic. The bad news is....

That's enough for now! The storyline of Banner becoming a psychologist to help women with Post Abortion Syndrome is still there, but it's getting a makeover. Banner has lost her faith - YES, BANNER HAS LOST HER FAITH! Don't yell at me - she's the one who LOST HER FAITH! I had a friend who commented that she hated Banner Atwood because she was a goody-goody; she's not anymore.

I'm having FUN - and I might let her become a bad girl. At fifty?! Why not? And I've taken her out of Dundee, Georgia, and now, she's got a new home: Liddon, Mississippi! She might not become a bad girl, but she's definitely going to be lost in her new wilderness years... The reason for Banner to settle in Mississippi is simple: she has to be present for the reversal of Roe v. Wade - that storyline really did happen; and Banner will be there WHEN it happens!

Please don't get too upset, we got a new fella. Meet Rhys! Lifelines, coming in the spring of 2026: I can't wait! P.S. Yes, Banner is learning to play the guitar....