Her most recent publication is Angel Valley, a new title from Palisades. Set in the Smoky Mountains, it is the story of seventh-grade teacher Laurel Hollingsworth who accepts a summer position tutoring the sullen daughter of a wealthy family. Romance enters the picture when older brother Matt comes to Angel Valley. Simple enough, but the complications arise when Laurel discovers that Matt is a developer who plans to turn her peaceful hometown Angel Valley into a slick vacationer's paradise.
Darty, a native of Tennessee now living in Alabama, spent much of her childhood confined to bed with severe asthma. Unable to play like other children, she developed an active imagination and created her own world of playmates and tea parties. She also found escape in reading.
At age 12, after praying for healing, Darty's asthma disappeared and she hasn't had an asthma attack since. She has always believed God allowed her to go through those sick years in order to shape her mind for writing. She began writing in high school and actively pursued it after her marriage to her college sweetheart Landon when she had small children.
A CLOSER LOOK talked with Darty at a recent book convention and discovered she has another romance Seascape due out this April and a third, Sundance, set in Canada, is coming in August. Not technically a series, each book builds on the life of a character from the previous title.
"When I typed the last page of Angel Valley, I was unable to walk away from the characters. One in particular, Jessica, bothered me. She and Blake had rushed into a marriage without getting to know one another. And there was more to tell about their life at the bed and breakfast in Florida. How was that going to turn out?
"As it happened, my husband and I were at a condo in Florida as I thought about this. (I do my best thinking near the ocean or the mountains.) At the far end of our condo, near St. Andrews State Park, I could imagine a quaint B&B looking across the bay. The plot began to thicken as I considered other characters. Jessica was strong enough to take on a task that might seem impossible to some. Having settled that, I had to come up with the kind of man who was right for her, and that was when Mark Castleman 'jogged by'.
"But Mark can't get on with his life until he locates his biological parents. And when he does, he discovers that his father is the one man Jessica hates the most! Jessica and Mark's only way out of the mess is to remember to 'love one another'. Fortunately, they do, and they are led beyond anger and resentment to be the soulmates God planned them to be. And I could think of no better spot than a magical little strip of sugar sand and emerald water in Florida for this to take place."
Darty's creative imagination insists that she write about characters caught up in contemporary situations as they are falling in love. In Angel Valley, it was the excessive land development and building in the mountains. In Seascape it is the search for biological parents. Writing with a mature perspective, Darty gives readers much to think about and to enjoy. She believes shared love as part of a union planned by God brings ultimate joy in this life. Her good writing makes that clear.
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