About the Book

Book: Shilo: A Sweet, Quirky, Romantic Muddle (The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue: Book 7)

Author: Jennifer Lynn Cary

Genre: Sweet Romantic Comedy

Release Date: May 1, 2025

From Breck Girl to Hippie to Jesus People…

…It’s been a long journey back home

But can her heart truly find peace where it all began?

When free-spirit Shilo Anderson inherits two million dollars with an unexpected condition—marriage—she refuses to be bound by her grandfather’s will. Until her beloved aunt faces cancer with no insurance to cover chemotherapy.

She won’t marry for money for herself, but to save her aunt’s life? She’ll make that sacrifice in a heartbeat.

Maybe.

Jesse Franklin never forgot his first love. When her grandfather’s will brings Shilo back to their hometown, he discovers his love for her has only deepened with time. Offering to marry her to help save her aunt, no problem.

Keeping it a marriage of convenience, that might be a problem. More like impossible.

As their feelings grow stronger, Shilo faces her greatest fear: revealing the truth about her past decade. Can she make Jesse see she doesn’t belong on anyone’s pedestal?

Return to 1973 Kokomo, Indiana, where faith shapes the journey and the legend of the cardinal in the sycamore still proves true love endures all seasons.

You will enjoy this sweet, quirky tale of second chances, because sometimes the rough patches prepare us for the wildly wonderful.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Historical Christian Romance author and three-time Selah Award nominee, Jennifer Lynn Cary, likes to say you can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can’t take the Hoosier out of the girl. Now transplanted to the Arizona desert, this direct descendant of Davy Crockett and her husband of forty-plus years enjoy time with family where she shares tales of her small-town heritage and family legacies with their grandchildren. She is the author of The Crockett Chronicles series, The Relentless series, and The Weather Girls trilogy, as well as the stand-alone novel, Cheryl’s Going Home, her novella Tales of the Hob Nob Annex Café, and her split-time novels The Traveling Prayer Shawl and The Forgotten Gratitude Journal. Her current spin-off series, The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue, contains standalones with a common thread.

More from Jennifer

The story for Shilo has been fermenting in my brain for a long time. I had always loved Neil Diamond’s song of the same title and could see his characters playing out their parts and thought what would happen if the girl came back after ten years?

However, what I didn’t catch was that Shilo in the song was a boy, an imaginary boy who’d been a friend to a lonely boy.

In my brain, I missed the importance of him turning to his only friend in his mind.

Instead, I had a little girl moving in next door—she was Shilo—and they went from being friends to first loves, but something called her away and though he understood, he called her name like before hoping she’d return.

Okay, so not what Neil Diamond had in mind, but it became Jesse’s back story.

Then I had to ask, what was so important that she had to leave? That’s when I remembered Breck Girls. Do you remember them?

There was a time as a child that I thought one of the Breck Girls on the back of a magazine was so beautiful, I said, “She’s prettier than Mom.”

I was quickly (verbally) chastised by my dad who made sure to inform me that no one was prettier than my mom. I never thought of it as an insult. My mom was the high standard for beauty, and for someone to be even prettier, they were definitely a looker. However, I learned to keep those types of opinions to myself if my Dad was around. Mom understood and didn’t take offense—in fact, as I meant it, she thought it was a compliment that I found her so pretty.

All that to say that Breck Girls were a part of my growing up years, into the seventies. I wondered how Breck Girls were chosen, and if Shilo could/should be one. I learned there’s even an exhibit at the Smithsonian dedicated to Breck Girls and those lovely pastel portraits.

So, when (my) Shilo told Jesse she had to go before he could tell her that he loved her, it was because she’d been chosen to be a Breck Girl. Now I had a framework to start building the story.

I hope that when you read Shilo: A Sweet, Quirky, Romantic Muddle, you will be transported back to 1973 with many of your own memories.

Abundant blessings,

Jenny

Author Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about what readers can expect from your books?

I’m hoping they will find joy. Also, a bit of empathy which would mean they are bonding with the character over something. If that happens, then whatever seeds of the Gospel were planted in the book would have a good chance of also being planted in the reader.

What book made you fall in love with reading?

Oh, wow. I’ve been an avid reader since I first learned to read. The library was an adventure and treat. As a fifth grader I started volunteering at the library during the summer and had first dibs on all the new books that came in. So, to say what singular book made me fall in love with reading, I’m not sure I can. My earliest book memory is one my mom found at the library about a firehouse cat. I think it was named Pickles. But there was another cat in there named Jenny Linsky, and I loved it when my mom read that to me.

In Jr High, I came to love two sets of stories—Nancy Drew and the Janet Lambert series. What I loved best about Janet Lambert was that she always had a letter to her readers at the end and told behind the scenes stories or described where she was at in her home writing. I always include a letter to my readers because of her.

Can you share 5 random facts about this book?

Shilo is loosely based on what I thought the song “Shilo” by Neil Diamond was about. In my mind I saw these two children living next door to each other and the girl was named Shilo and just as he got brave enough when they were old enough to know, she left him. That was my catalyst.
That was not what Neil Diamond had in mind when he wrote the song. Instead, he wrote about his childhood invisible friend who he wanted to come back and comfort him after his first love left him.
The character of Eli was originally named something else (I can’t remember now) but then I was listening to the oldies station and “Eli’s Coming” but Three Dog Night came on, and I had to change his name.
I’d waited more than a year to incorporate a specific scene involving the cardinal into one of the Wedding Shoppe and Venue books and finally got a chance with this one. It has tickled readers, according to the feedback, and I’m glad.
One of the supporting characters in this book stayed with me and will get a chance at love in the next book I write after the one I’m working on now. It will be called Walk Away, Rene.
Here’s a bonus. The law firm where Jesse works is called Hamilton, Franklin, and Reynolds. I got that from the name of a 60s band. I heard a DJ introduce them as posing for a law firm and that stuck with me. The band is Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds. 😉

What was the most challenging part of bringing this book to life? 

There were two things, and you’ll probably think they’re not that big of a deal, but going through them was a challenge. First, this book wanted to be written. Very much. I was trying to write Tracy and kept getting scenes in my head for Shilo. She didn’t want to wait her turn, though that fact does not jive with her personality, so it was probably more me being excited to write her story. 😉

Second, when I finished, my editor was slammed with a million things, and I couldn’t get it edited. I finally had to hire a different editor for this book and though she’s a friend, changing the relationship to client/editor was a strange mindset. She’d never edited for me before and so she didn’t know what to expect, nor did I. But we worked well together, we’re still good friends, and I’m back with my regular editor who is also a good friend but we have a working relationship that we are comfortable with.

What was the most rewarding?

I had a blast slipping in fun stuff that are a little different from my other books. But I think the one thing that thing that stayed with me was when I got a chance to see my editor in person after she’d edited Shilo and she raved. That meant a lot because she writes in a similar genre and she is VERY good at what she does.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Before you go, where can readers keep up with what’s next?

Oh, there’s a lot still coming for this series so to stay in the know, you can find me at: jenniferlynncary.com