The first book in Maggie Gates’ ‘Griffith Brothers’ series, ‘Dust Storm,’ is coming to a bookstore near you.

PHOENIX — If you’re a millennial, chances are you’ve seen the iconic Lindsay Lohan film “The Parent Trap” a few dozen times. Lohan plays twins who meet at summer camp and discover not only that they are twins, but that if they swap places, their estranged parents will have to meet up to swap them back: cue the romantic reunion.

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Except these mischievous gals didn’t know their dad had a new girlfriend. Enter: Meredith Blake. 

Blake is often described as icy, a gold digger, cold, evil step-mother-like—and true, she does try to ship the girls off to Switzerland—but author Maggie Gates wondered if maybe the world got Meredith Blake all wrong.

What if she wasn’t the villain after all?

Gates says Blake was the inspiration for the main female character in her book Dust Storm, which is being released through Berkley on Oct. 7. 

“This one is ‘what if Meredith Blake wasn’t the villain?'” Gates told 12News in an interview. “I think for us millennials, having grown up with the parent trap, at first she was the villain, and then you grew up, and you’re like, oh, she was not the villain… she’s a bit of the villain, but I love her character, and I always found myself wondering what if she had been the endgame.”

Dust Storm follows Cassandra Parker, who, after a PR nightmare, agrees to rough it out on a ranch in Texas Hill Country with the hot, single dad boss and his two daughters, only to save her own career. But said hot, single, rancher dad Christian Griffith isn’t having it. If Cassandra is going to stay with him and his girls, she has to learn not just how to survive ranch life, but to thrive in it, and then get the heck out of his life.

But nothing goes according to plan when the cowboy and the city girl bump heads. 


Dust Storm is one of three in the series, and each book follows a Griffith brother. Gates also wrote a standalone romance that follows the oldest Griffith brother, Nate, for readers who want to make sure they’re up-to-date on all the Griffith family stories.

“You see them walk through life, and they walk through some really scary, hard, difficult, overwhelming things, but they manage to fall in love with, in the process, and find these incredible, strong women to partner with them and walk through all of those trials with them,” Gates said. “I try to tug on everyone’s heartstrings here and there.”

The book’s setting was inspired by a road trip Gates took through the Hill Country, where she was inspired by the landscape.

“The landscape just captured my heart from the get-go, but I really love the environment that cowboys and ranchers and all of that brings…it is such a communal lifestyle,” Gates said.

From a technical writing perspective, the rancher lifestyle also helped with creating structure in the story, Gates said: her characters never ran out of something to do. 

It also gives the perfect backdrop for Cassandra, a true “fish out of water” character, getting used to life on a cattle ranch. 

“Cassandra is one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever written,” Gates said. “She’s probably also one of the most controversial characters I’ve ever written because she bucks against the system of what a typical leading lady in a single-dad romance is going to be.”

Gates said often, romance books with the single dad as the leading man have a maternal match: warm, fuzzy and soft. And Gates didn’t write Cassandra to be any of those traits.

“Having somebody come in that was abrasive and argumentative and very sure of herself and confident ended up being the best thing for not only Christian, but for his two daughters, Bree and Gracie,” Gates said. “I loved exploring that. I really loved the idea that you can be a mother figure even if you’re not maternal.”

Cassandra also passes along her confidence and self-assurance to Christian’s girls, Gracie and Bree, Gates said.

“You see such a change in them, but in turn, you start to see a change in her, and you start to see her not just grow in who she is, but become at peace with who she is,” Gates said. “I think that’s what she was lacking at the very beginning of the story.”

The humor throughout the book was one of Gates’ favorite parts of writing Dust Storm, she said. The banter between Cassandra and Christian, the comedic relief of Mickey the cow (if you know, you know), and the relationship between the girls and Cassandra—all of it made Gates, and hopefully readers, laugh.

The most difficult part? Not rushing the love story between the two main characters, Gates said.

“Slowly walking through all of those things and just taking my time to really explore what their romance and what their relationship looks like,” Gates said.

Without spoiling the end, Gates said another challenge was knowing what happens in book two and writing in detail throughout Dust Storm to set up Downpour, which comes out in December.

“Downpour is the ultimate grumpy sunshine romance. It’s an age gap, it’s workplace, and I love them so much,” Gates said. “It’s one of my favorite books that I’ve ever written.”

Dust Storm will be wherever books are sold starting Oct. 7, and Gates has a few tour stops where readers can meet the author herself and get their books signed. To learn more, check out the events page on her website.

To keep up with all of Gates’ future projects, head to her website or check out her social media pages.

For more book and literacy stories, check out “Reading Arizona” on YouTube and 12News.com. If you have a story pitch for Reading Arizona, email koconnor@12news.com or reach out via Instagram, @thatjournalistwhoreads. 


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