trueromance

Rainwater by Sandra Brown

Setting: 1930s Dustbowl Texas

Subgenre: Historical Fiction

Hero: David Rainwater

Heroine: Ella Barron

One sentence summary: A heartwarming historical novel about an independent woman who runs a boarding house in Dust Bowl Texas, who unexpectedly finds love amidst the chaos of her time.

Why this story is so personal to you: My dad told of an incident that happened when he was eight years old and which left a distinct impression on him. My paternal grandfather owned a dairy farm. Agents from the federal government arrived, demanding that he pour out his surplus milk. Grandpa had been giving it way to indigent families. He refused to comply with this government mandate, implemented to create a demand and thereby raise the price of milk. There ensued an armed standoff between the agents and my grandfather, who was backed by his friends and relatives. Eventually the agents retreated, and Grandpa continued to give away the milk he couldn’t sell. This story fired my imagination and provided the backdrop for RAINWATER.

Scene you like most and would never cut: The scene in the kitchen where Mr. Rainwater gives Ella the copy of “A Farewell to Arms.”

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: Ella would never stand by and let someone harm or verbally abuse her autistic son, Solly.

Thing your heroine learns about herself through the course of the novel: She learns how to live.

Your hero, is he a man of action or a strong silent type? Mr. Rainwater is definitely the strong, silent type, but there are taut action scenes where he’s the pivotal character. He’s resolute in his convictions. It’s that strength that intimidates his enemies.

Ancillary character you most admire: Brother Calvin, the preacher. But I also admire Lola for her optimism and for making no secret of the love she holds for her husband and children.

Your heroine’s greatest desire: If I reveal that here, I reveal the plot!

Your hero’s greatest fear: That his being in Ella and Solly’s lives would bring them harm.

What you think readers will like best about this book: I sincerely hope they like it all. I didn’t create it; the story was there. I just feel very fortunate to have been the writer who found it.

Is this a one hanky, two hanky or three hanky tale? Are we limited to three?

What’s next for Sandra Brown: In the next book, TOUGH CUSTOMER, I do carry over a character from SMASH CUT. It’s the first time in more than twenty years, since I’ve been writing suspense, that I’ve done this. But Dodge Hanley, the irascible investigator in SMASH CUT, was such an interesting character, that when I finished that book, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. I wanted to know what had made him such a cynic. Was it an innate trait, or had an event made him that way? TOUGH CUSTOMER weaves a present day conflict with Dodge’s back story

For Discussion:

Several scenes make me cry even though I’ve read them so many times I almost know them by heart. Which scenes put tears in your eyes?

Ladies, had you been in Ella’s situation, knowing what she did about Rainwater, would you have allowed yourself to fall in love with him? Would you have had a choice?

Rainwater is described as gaunt and pale. Conrad Ellis refers to him as a pantywaist. As you were reading the novel, did you think of him as weak or strong?

Giveaway – one FREE copy of Rainwater! Winner will be chosen randomly from comments below – good luck!

HOT ON HER HEELS by Susan Mallery, book 4 of the Lone Star Sisters series  

Setting: Titanville, Texas – present day

Subgenre: Contemporary

Hero: Garth Duncan

Heroine: Dana Birch

One sentence summary:

Policewoman Dana Birch will do anything to make sure that dangerously sexy Garth Duncan stops trying to sabotage her best friends, the Titan sisters… even if moving in with him is the only way to keep him under constant watch.

Scene you like most and would never cut:

Hmm…I’m not sure there’s one scene in particular that I love the most, but there are a lot of scenes that I loved. The first kiss ranks high, of course. The realization that the heart is in danger, that sort of combination of panic and giddiness.

The scenes that mean the most to me are those scenes that show internal growth. Love changes a person, and I like to see those changes. One of my favorite scenes in HOT ON HER HEELS comes about midway through the book. Dana has never been a girly-girl. She prides herself on her toughness and her ability to take care of herself no matter what happens. She doesn’t do dresses or high heels. But then Garth invites her to be his date for a fancy benefit.

Despite her best intentions, Dana is falling for Garth, which feels as scary to her as falling backward from the roof of a Dallas skyrise. She wants him to like her, wants almost desperately for him to look at her with that special fire in his eyes that a man gets when a woman dresses up for him. For the first time in her life, she wants to be feminine. So she calls the best fashion expert she knows, Lexi Titan. Pregnant Lexi takes great delight in playing fairy godmother to Dana’s Cinderella. That scene was a lot of fun to write… and the scene in which Garth sees Dana in her finery was probably even more fun!

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: Dana would never ask for help. She’s a “do for herself” woman, always.

Your hero, is he a boxer or brief kind of guy:  Briefs

Ancillary character you had the most fun with:

Jed Titan was a lot of fun to write, to explore the dark side of humankind. I came up with the idea for the Lone Star Sisters series with the question, “What would happen if you combined Dallas and Sex and the City?” SATC inspired the strong female friendship at the core of the series. Dallas inspired more than just the setting; it also inspired the drama of dangerous family dynamics. Jed Titan is Machiavellian in the way he has manipulated the people around him, including his daughters, Garth, and Garth’s mother, Kathy.

Your heroine’s favorite hobby:  Target practice at the shooting range.

Your hero’s favorite hobby:  Is sex considered a hobby?

What you think readers will like best about this book:

Garth was the villain of the first three books. Although he of course redeems himself in this book – only a man with a good heart deserves to be a hero and find love with one of my heroines – he still has the dangerous edge of a bad boy. I think readers love watching a bad boy settle down.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet:

The second book in last year’s Bakery Sisters series, SWEET SPOT, featured a troubled teenage boy named Raoul. I have gotten a lot of reader mail clamoring for Raoul’s story. Again, he’s a bad boy on the surface who has a huge, generous heart. It’s interesting to me how in sync my readers are with me. Even before I had finished writing SWEET SPOT, I knew that Raoul would get his own book someday. He deserves to find true love.

Next year, I’ll introduce a series set in a fabulously quaint town in the Sierra Mountain region of California, Fool’s Gold. (More on that series in a moment.) Raoul will be the hero of the third book of the Fool’s Gold series.

What’s next: I’m so glad you asked! In February, my second women’s fiction book, THE BEST OF FRIENDS, will be released. (The first was this year’s SUNSET BAY.)

And then, of course, comes the Fool’s Gold series I already mentioned. This series is something different for me, and I’m really excited about it. In the past, I’ve always written series that had a definite end, but the Fool’s Gold series is one that will keep on going as long as readers are enjoying the books. Each book will be a standalone book, so readers won’t have to worry about reading them in order. Because the stories are all set in the same town, readers will get to see some of the same characters popping up from book to book and will, I hope, come to feel like part of the community.

There will be three Fool’s Gold books out in 2010, titled CHASING PERFECT (May), ALMOST PERFECT (July), and FINDING PERFECT (September). I’ve got three planned so far for 2011, and who knows where we’ll go from there. Fool’s Gold is a fantastic mountain town, a great little tourist destination with both summer and winter activities (not to mention gorgeous fall foliage.) The town is known for its many festivals, wineries, world-class skiing, Native American folklore, and – much to the embarrassment of some of its citizens – for the mysterious shortage of men that was brought to light by the 2010 census.

I’m working on a website, www.FoolsGoldCA.com that should go live early next year. The website will give readers lots of fun, free extras to help them get to know Fool’s Gold. We’ll have a tourist map, a free e-postcard you can send to your friends, ads from local businesses, city news, and more.

We haven’t ironed out all the details yet. We’re still in the brainstorming stages with the website, and I’m not tech-savvy enough to know which of our ideas can actually be implemented. I’m feeling good about myself for being on Facebook and Twitter. Readers who want to be notified when the Fool’s Gold site becomes available should sign up for the free Members Only area on my website, www.SusanMallery.com.