Thursday special with Cheryl Wyatt and The Doctor's Devotion

 Please join me in welcoming back to my blog Cheryl Wyatt to celebrate the release of her latest book The Doctor's Devotion. (I fell for the hero of this book and considering before this weekend I had a massive fear of doctors that says something).

1.    Thanks for coming back to my blog for the release of The Doctor’s Devotion, can you tell the readers a bit about yourself?

I am fun-loving and enjoy humor and happy endings. I think I write romance because life doesn't always provide a happy ending this side of Heaven, so I read and write happily-ever-afters to provide not only a sweet escape, but a glimpse of Eternity where happily will be for ever after. I was born on a Navy base in San Diego on Valentine's Day, so it's fitting that I write military romance. I love featuring rescuers in my books since I have a strong sense of being rescued by God. Some things that might surprise people about me: I'm REALLY shy. I've been snakebitten twice. I've been dogbitten twice. I am a recipient of donor bone and spent almost three years in a wheelchair and on a walker. I'm a tomboy who loves guns and motorcycles. I love worshipping Jesus and I consider it a great privilege to be able to write and do so as worship. I love encouraging aspiring authors. I travel a lot with my a/v technician hubby who does a ton of sound gigs for all sorts of bands you've heard of. I am thinking of chronicling our adventures in a husband/wife blog titled Verbs and Reverbs. I've been a media, humanitarian and medical missionary overseas following global disaster. I love pecan spinwheels far more than any human should. LOL!

2.    How did you come up with the concept for the Eagle Point Emergency series?

My lovely and brilliantly talented editor, Melissa Endlich, asked me to try my hand at a medical miniseries for them since I'm a Registered Nurse and because she felt I write caregivers well. She said that she'd like the series to be set in a small town and to feature some type of medical facility or clinic and for most of the scenes of the first book to take place there. She said she'd like for most of the heroes and heroines to be doctors and nurses or otherwise medical and of course for the series to be romantic. She said otherwise, the palette was mine. I followed her suggestions and advice and incorporated the military background in keeping with my brand then viola! Eagle Point Emergency was born. I loved the idea of former war veterans planning a trauma center while overseas, then getting to come home and see their dream come to fruition in a way that helped a struggling community pull together. 

3.    I have to say I love books with doctors (which may sound strange when I have a real phobia of doctors) how did Mitch Wellington come about?

I LOVE honoring the elderly generation and also military veterans with my books. So the idea came to me to have a veteran be close to the heroine's grandfather, Lem. I started thinking about how they could have met and instantly a scene flashed in my mind of a young pre-teen Mitch being led across a corn field by Lem by his ear, because Lem caught Mitch stealing corn. Lem discovered Mitch's dad died from a motorcycle crash that happened too far away from the nearest hospital which birthed Mitch's desire to be a doctor and to one day build a trauma center in the rural area. Mitch's character came to life from there. 

4.    I love Lem, Lauren’s grandfather, did you have fun writing for him?

I absolutely had fun writing Lem. He is a conglomerate mixture in personality of my grandmother Nellie and her brothers and sisters, particularly her brother Lemon. The book is nostalgic for me in many ways because I rarely base fictional characters off of real people I know. But in this case, I couldn't resist and Lem is probably one of my most favorite characters because of it.  

5.    Is there a message you would like readers to take out of this book?

To never let go of your God-given dreams, no matter how long it takes. God keeps his promises and is devoted to seeing our purpose through. Also that He cares about the things that are important to us and He is intimately acquainted with our pain. 

6.    When you researched this book did you find any facts you didn’t expect or you found interesting or surprising?

I discovered that God will bring just the right research helpers at just the right time for whatever technical aspect I'm struggling with or that is causing me to doubt the plausibility of my plot. He is SO faithful. I was surprised to discover that most hospitals in Illinois are phasing out LPNs which I think is not a good idea as they are such a help to RNs. 

7.    Can you tell us what will be coming up next in this series (you know I can’t wait for the next book in the series)?

Absolutely excited to tell you about Ian's story! Book 2 is called Doctor to the Rescue and features Bri as heroine. I just turned in line and copyedits for it and am really pleased with how it turned out. It was fun to write a brooding hero and see him come around to his natural personality again after the trauma he suffered when his wife divorced him while he was deployed overseas. His daughter was a special aspect to the story and I enjoyed writing her character. I think I'm a better re-writer than a writer and some poignant moments really came out during revisions that I can't wait for readers to experience. It will release around Christmastime of this year, or for sure by January 1. I often name my characters after faithful readers to show my appreciation, so Ian's mom is named Jenny Shupe (Jenny...after you, my friend Jenny Blake who I AM going to go to an Aussie Cricket game with once before I die! LOL! And surnamed Shupe after Sally Shupe, who is also a dear reader who means a lot to me and who is going to be a wonderful editor in the future.)

(Jenny here, I am so honoured to be in one of your books. And yes we will go to the cricket.)

8.    Where can readers find you one the net? (Here is where I have to say you have one of the best facebook fan pages)

Thank you sooo much! I LOVE hanging out with readers and have a page dedicated to them on Facebook where I interact on an almost-daily basis:   https://www.facebook.com/CherylWyattAuthor I hope you will join (aka "Like") the page because we have a lot of fun and would love to have more readers to participate. I also have a website which lists my books and will have excerpts of all my books soon. I have a quarterly newsletter people can sign up for there too. www.cherylwyatt.com I love encouraging aspiring authors too and post frequent writing prompts on my blog, which can be found on my website.

A Doctor’s Vow.


When he fled Eagle Point years ago, former air force trauma surgeon Mitch Wellington left only broken dreams behind. Now he’s back with a new dream—opening a trauma center in the rural area and saving lives. He hopes to hire the quick-thinking nurse who impressed him during an emergency. But Lauren Bates lost her faith and doesn’t believe she deserves to help anyone. Mitch knows firsthand what loss feels like. And it’ll take all his devotion to show Lauren that sometimes the best medicine is a combination of faith, community—and love.


Eagle Point Emergency: Saving lives—and losing their hearts—in a small Illinois town.