Somehow, with every new story, Melissa Tagg manages to tap into her vein of talent to entertain, amuse, and encourage. Plus, she regularly works in pop culture references and words like wee, romantical, nom de plume. AND, she relates to my caffeine obsession. TODAY SHE IS JOINING ME FOR AN INTERVIEW! I’m terribly excited — read on for my thoughts on her 4th and final (indie-released) book in the “Walker Family” series, All This Time, plus her delightful answers to my bubbly questions!
Bear McKinley’s past refuses to let go.
Ten years ago, Bear gave up everything—his freedom and his reputation—for his mess of a family. 
But after years of distance and too many attempts at starting over, he finally has a new life doing noble work in Brazil . . . until his past catches up to him once again. Suddenly he finds himself back in Maple Valley, charged with the care of his missing brother’s children, convinced he’s out of second chances to make his life count. And yet, with every day that passes, these kids, this quirky town and the woman he never stopped missing help patch the holes in his heart. Maybe this is the fresh start he’s been longing for all along. But as his newfound hope grows, so does the mystery surrounding his brother’s activities—and when the threat reaches into the lives of those he loves, it’s clear he can’t run away this time.
Fear holds Raegan’s future captive.
Raegan Walker is fine. She’s happy working a slew of part-time jobs, still living in her childhood bedroom and rarely venturing from her hometown. At least, that’s what she tells everyone . . . and herself. But she can’t help wondering what might’ve happened if she hadn’t abandoned her art so many years ago—and if Bear McKinley had never left. When Bear returns and she’s commissioned for a painting that just might revive her artistic ambition all in one week, it’s time to finally reach for more than fine. But doing so means facing the fears that have held her back all this time, including admitting the secret she’s kept from Bear and her family. With her dream and her heart on the line, how much will Raegan have to risk to finally chase her happy ending?
If I had to choose one word to describe All This Time, it would be: Perfect. It’s an absolutely perfect story of small town quirkiness, family dynamics, laugh out loud antics, a nail-biting tiny thread of suspense, and the sweetest friendship-turned-love relationship, with GRACE binding it all.
Raegan and Bear’s story has been a long time stewing… and delightfully so. With All This Time, we readers finally see the depths of their characters — both their histories, struggles, and respective adorable and swoony personalities. Their romance is framed with the quirkiness of a small town and Melissa’s signature humor and general wit — and even a bit of suspense that heightens the mysterious past of Bear. It’s not all fireflys and sunflowers, though. The gravity of some of its subject matter — anxiety, estranged relatives, forgiveness, and HOPE — is wonderfully woven with a lightheartedness that makes the characters accessible and the message an arrow to the heart of the reader.
More than a story of the relationship between Bear and Raegan, this story is a picture of FAMILY. Of the crazy dreams and distinct personalities, of the support system and encouragement, and, even of the dysfunction and pain caused by someone’s decisions. It shows the contrasts and possibilities and how choices rooted in Love will endure.
The Walker family is a favorite fictional family of mine….the type one can almost believe is real. Or wants and hopes is real, if only for a dynamic to exist in the world that mirrors the shared ups and downs of life with a group of people that LOVES and CARES and finds JOY amidst all the heartaches and challenges.
Reader friends, you will not want to miss out on the perfection that is All This Time. From the caffeine obsessed characters to the endearing kids that show up on the page to the resonating message of hope and family, this story is one that works its way into your heart and memory like an honest friend.
AND, because Melissa and I are obsessed with NEEDTOBREATHE (ok, Melissa probably more so), here’s a song that matches Bear’s character arc wonderfully. Melissa manages to work in a “tiny” reference to this song somewhere in All This Time. If you’ve read the book, did you spot it?
My reviews of the rest of the series:
#1 From the Start | #2 Like Never Before | #3 Keep Holding On
Melissa, thank you for graciously agreeing to this interview!
What was the inspiration behind the town of Maple Valley?
Great question! When I first started the Walker series, I knew I wanted to come up with a fictional town…because when you set a book in a real town, anyone who lives there loves to get picky about how accurately you portray it. LOL! And I knew I wanted it to be a quirky, small town.
Maple Valley was most inspired by Boone, Iowa. It’s funny—I’ve only been to Boone a few times, but every time, I just think it’s a cute little town. There’s a heritage railroad just like the one in Maple Valley. But I also drew inspiration from my hometown of Webster City, Iowa‑—the library in Maple Valley, especially, was inspired by my hometown library—and Little Falls, Minnesota, which is steeped in Charles Lindbergh history!
What theme or spiritual message do you want to communicate to readers with this story?
I hope this story leaves readers thinking about what it means to truly be vulnerable…to be in real relationships. There’s a spot in All This Time where Raegan and her dad are finally getting honest with each other about some things and Raegan makes the remark, “Why do we keep anything from the people we love?” Raegan’s whole journey is about learning to live authentically with the people she loves, to stop letting fear hold her back from true relationships. Personally, that’s a hard thing for me. Even with the people I love most, I’m not always willing to bare my heart. I heard someone say once that most people are willing to go 90% of the way in relationships, but that even with the people we’re closest to, we leave 10% unsaid. That’s stuck with me ever since he said it. Raegan’s journey is about being brave enough to go that last 10%…and I hope that’s something that impacts readers as much as it impacted me.
I think that’s one of the deeper points of this story —- it definitely impacted me!
What was most challenging about writing the final Walker novel?
Probably the thing that was hardest was simply knowing it was the final book in the series! I know I joke a lot about how much I love my fake people, but I’m really not exaggerating when I say that writing these books changed me. Every one was a personal, vulnerable journey. I kept putting off writing “The End” on this last one simply because I wasn’t ready to be done.
The other challenging thing was simply finding space for each Walker to sort of have their moment in this last story! I really wanted it to be a satisfying ending for readers, but giving each character a proper send-off without the book turning out to be a thousand pages long was quite the challenge.
I believe you achieved that balance! Reading this last book was bittersweet but wonderful… it was so good to see everyone in a “happy” place of their lives.
Which character was your favorite to write?
Logan! Oh wait, we’re talking about All This Time. But still…Logan! I don’t know if it’s obvious, but I looked for every excuse to bring him back into this book even though it wasn’t his story.
*jumping in* ❤ ❤ Logan!!!! ❤ ❤
But when it comes to the main characters of All This Time, I’d probably have to say Bear for two reasons: 1) I loooooved writing scenes in which he’s basically the cutest and greatest uncle ever and 2) In all the previous Walker books, Bear was like this elusive little mystery. He’d randomly show up, but we never knew much about him. So I loved getting to finally dive into his backstory and discovery who he really is.
And what a history he had! 🙂
For fun: Do you have any hobbies (besides coffee and being a Needtobreathe roadie)?
Haha! You listed two of my very favorite hobbies!
Other hobbies include reading (of course—I’m a bookworm to the core), traveling, spoiling my nieces and nephew and, as of late, racquetball. Not that I’m any good at it. But man, I love it!
If you could live in any other time period in history, which would it be and why?
Either the Gilded Age because, honestly, it just looks fun…or right in the late 1930s…before we dove into WWII and right when some of my verrrry favorite Golden Era Hollywood movies were making their way into the world.
What interesting choices!! Yay for the Golden Era, too!
What are you currently reading (or reading next)?
I’m a huge Sarah M. Eden fan and she just released the latest book in her Jonquil series and it was fantastic. And it made me want to reread her other books, so I went back and reread The Sheriffs of Savage Wells and died laughing/swooning all over again. Up next is Lady Jayne Disappears, which I’ve heard is an a-ma-zing debut!
Finally, you have another Christmas novella set to release this year. Tell us about it!
I do indeed and oh my, I haven’t laughed this much while writing a story in a long time. One Enchanted Noel is the story of Leigh Renwycke and Seb Pierce…or Sebastian Parker Pierce III if you want the full spiel. Seb comes to Maple Valley to renovate an old theater and he is not excited to be there. Leigh is a restless single mom struggling to leave her past in the past. And I had a crazy amount of fun writing their meet-cute!
Oh, that sounds amazing! Yay for another Tagg story in 2017! 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me about your books. I know my readers will love getting this peek into your brain, too!
Melissa Tagg is a former reporter, current nonprofit grant writer, and total Iowa girl. She’s the author of the Walker Family series, the Where Love Begins series, and the Enchanted Christmas novella collection. Her books have made both the Publisher’s Weekly Top Ten and Amazon.com bestselling lists. When she’s not writing, she can be found hanging out with the coolest family ever, watching old movies, and daydreaming about her next book. Melissa loves connecting with readers on her website.
The Green Mockingbird 