From Mayberry to Stars Hollow to Smallville: The Romance of a Small Town
By Sonya Weiss
I love writing about love that takes place in a small town setting. When I thought over the reasons why I like it, I came up with several of them.
I love the history of small towns. The homes and buildings with their beautiful architecture have often stood for hundreds of years. Many of these small towns also have family oriented festivals with one of a kind entertainment and food. Summerville, South Carolina has one called The Flowertown Festival, and it represent a slice of small town living.
I also like the scenery in small towns. You can find quaint town squares with various seasonal displays. Small towns bring to mind sitting on the front porch sipping sweet tea or catching fireflies on a warm summer evening.
After thinking about everything that I liked, I had an epiphany. While I like a lot of things about small towns, I love the sense of community, of belonging. I never had that growing up because my family moved a lot and I realized it’s something that I always longed for.
I created the small town of Sweet Creek, South Carolina because I wanted the heroines in my Stealing the Heart series to have that sense of belonging.
The series features the lives of Abby, Amelia, and Ann Snyder. Amelia is the youngest and lives her life on edge, flying by the seat of her pants. The hero is Chad, her childhood best friend, and he’s the exact opposite of Amelia. Their story is found in Stealing the Groom.
Abby’s the oldest of the three sisters, the one responsible for keeping the family together and her story is told in Resisting Her Rival. It’s the second in the Stealing the Heart series from Entangled Publishing.
What do you guys love about small town romances?
About the Author:
Sonya Weiss is a freelance writer and ghostwriter. Her published clips include feature newspaper articles, magazine articles, essays, children’s short stories and writing projects for business clients. She is also a columnist at Families Online Magazine.
You can Like Sonya Weiss on Facebook, Follow her on Twitter, and check out her website to find out more.
Make sure you check out Sonya’s latest release, Resisting Her Rival.
All’s fair in love and war…
Abby Snyder finally has the opportunity to expand her diner now that the building next door is available. Unfortunately, she must compete with Nick Coleman to get it. Abby—usually über-responsible—shared one night of intense passion with the playboy, and she’s been trying to forget it ever since. But then Nick bets her the building that he can make her fall in love with him in thirty days.
With his reputation ruining his chances at gaining some big clients, Nick needs a way to prove to everyone that he’s reformed. Dating Abby, the most respected girl in town—and the only one he wants—is the perfect solution. Nick’s confident he’ll get Abby to fall for him, so he’ll win the building and the girl he can’t get out of his mind.
But even though Abby can’t lose, resisting Nick is harder than she thought.
I grew up in a small town, so I love the idea of this book taking place in a small town. There’s definitely something special about a small town.
I’m hoping to someday live in a small town and experience how special it is.
I love the history of small towns too. It’s the perfect setting for a romance to blossom.
I agree. I loved the small town feel in the movie Safe Haven.
I love experiencing small towns in books and movies. I loved the small town feel in the movie Safe Haven.
I grew up in a major large city called Toronto Ontario Canada I moved to Michigan and lived in Grand Rapids which is much smaller then Toronto but now I live in a really small town and I love it, I enjoy the fact that there is a grocery store and a store near me to get the things we run out of daily you know milk bread ect. I also enjoy the small town I live in because I have two lager citys close by me, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Small towns have such charm to them that it over took this city girl and made her fall in love with a small town I can understand the charm now that I lived here for almost two years.
A friend attended a wedding in Toronto and sent back photos and it was stunning. I’ve been to Michigan before but it was St. Joseph. I’ve always lived in larger cities.
I was born in a small town, but raised in a large metro city and then moved to a college town. Now, I am back in a small town. I have a love hate relationship with the town I am in. Next door to me is a town that is just like Stars Hollow and I love it. Ever since I was a little girl. Sadly, its a bit of a tourist attraction so houses don’t really go up for sale and when they do they are so much more than the surrounding cities. I have been working on some new fiction for my pen name that are based on small towns. I binged watched the Gilmore Girls and felt really inspired again.
I actually didn’t see Gilmore Girls when it was on television. Then I saw the DVDs on sale so I got the seasons ,thinking that if I didn’t like the show, I could always just pass them on. I binge watched them all and loved it. Loved Stars Hollow and all the quirky people. I thought the way Kirk acted was so funny.
I love the idea of small towns although I have only lived in big cities!
Me too and while big cities do have a lot to offer, the closeness and sense of community is often missing.
We live in a semi-sized town and we do love it. It is a great place to raise a family.
Every time yahoo or a similar site has one of those “great small towns to move to” I always read them and wish I was headed there. The movie Dante’s Peak featured a really nice looking small town. Wallace, Idaho.
I would love to read this series. I can relate to anyone that flies by the seat of your pants. I will have to check these out at the book store tomorrow – gotta stock up for snow days.
Thank you, Jennifer. I grew up with sisters and they sure do make life a lot of fun. Though Amelia was definitely not based on me, I am the fly-by-the-seat of the pants one of the bunch. LOL.
I grew up in a large village and it was wonderful, everyone was so friendly and most people knew your business but it was ok – because it made you feel safer, I miss that atmosphere.
I visited a village in Illinois. Wish I could remember the name of it. It had a small replica of the leaning tower-so beautiful. I want to say it was in Niles, but I’m not sure.
I agree there’s a certain charm about small towns. I grew up in the city so small towns are very appealing to me.
I’m the same way. What sparked the interest in me was visiting small towns and just seeing the difference. I would love to buy a cute little cottage and settle down.
I have always thought I would love a small town! But, then I realized, that I would need concerts or things to do!
I think that I would miss the city, but I would acclimate. I can remember once walking down the streets in Chicago when they had the Christmas decorations up and the store window displays were so beautiful. The movie (and I know I sound like a serious movie addict LOL) The Christmas Card had a beautifully decorated small town and all the festivities for the season. It was all so compelling.
I’m a big history person! Small towns are quite charming!
I grew up in large cities, but when I was a small child, my family did live in smaller towns. So maybe I just remember that and that’s why I feel the pull to move to a small town. By the time I was in first grade, though, we’d moved on to bigger cities and I do remember even as a kid that it wasn’t the same.
This sounds like a fantastic book, I can’t wait to read it!
Thank you, Chrissy. I’m hoping to finish up this series and then start another series that features a small town.
I grew up in a huge city (Brooklyn, NY) and have always wanted to live in a small town, one where we knew our neighbors and the kids felt safe.
I have friends in NY and it’s one of the states I’ve always wanted to visit. But that’s what I would like about small town living. Knowing your neighbors and the feeling that it was a safer place to raise kids.
I like the closeness of small towns. But I suppose that could be a bad thing too. Scenery isn’t always so great in some towns though.
I have a friend who lives in a small town and she always says that they roll up the sidewalks at 9 PM and all the stores close. But I think that depends on how rural the small town is.
I wish I grew up in a small town like that. Everyone knows you and it’s like a big family. After reading the epilogue for this book I really want to know if Nick will be able to get Abby to fall in love with him in 30 days!
I grew up watching all the shows that featured small towns and always wanted to be a part of them. I had a lot of fun writing the banter in Resisting Her Rival and exploring the will she/won’t she : – )
I didn’t even noticed but I am attracted with stories and book relating to having small towns – I wonder why – no idea lol.
I didn’t even realize that about myself until I started writing and most of my contemporary romance stories featured small town settings.
My dream is to one day live in Tobago. It’s a small country and I love the laid back, peaceful feeling to it. Riding bikes, evenings at the local fair, everyone knows everyone and no traffic sounds like the perfect place to me. 🙂
That sounds amazing. Especially the no traffic sounds!
I lived in a small town my whole childhood, and wanted to leave as soon as I could. Now I wish I had it back!
Hi Judy! I certainly can understand that feeling of wanting to go back. Maybe someday you’ll get that chance.
i was born and raised in a semi small town. the only downfall is everyone knows everything about each other and there is no avoiding people you don’t like.
Your comment made me think of Taylor from The Gilmore Girls. LOL. There’s a song by Cross Canadian Ragweed…I think it’s called 17. And it talks about always being 17 in your hometown and I think it would be that way in some small towns. A person would always be who they were as a kid/teen and some folks might never see them as an adult.