GetToKnowTheBook: 'Texas Blue' by Celia Yeary

The Story behind Texas Blue

Celia Yeary

Texas Blue is the first novel I wrote. In fact, I'd never written fiction of any kind before this novel. All my experiences came from writing dry, boring science research papers in college on a manual typewriter.

Most writers say they began to write at an early age. I did not. Like all children, though, I had a vivid imagination, and that entire creativeness went into playing dolls, both paper and real, cowboys and Indians, and cars.

In essence, I became The Accidental Author. In 2004, I sat down with a Toshiba laptop my husband bought for one dollar at a garage sale. At that time, I could not even write and send an e-mail. If one of my friends or sisters sent a message, they sent it to my husband's mailbox and he called me into his office to read it. He always encouraged me to learn the computer, but I feared it so much. Finally, one day he brought it out and pushed me to "play" with it. Since it only cost one dollar, my fear went away—even if I broke it by hitting a wrong key, well, it was only a dollar.

I turned to Word 2002 on the computer—about the only thing that worked—and began to create a document. To learn all the facets of the program by trial and error, I began to write. A couple of months later after constant writing, I titled the finished story Texas Blue. To this day, I don't know where the story came from nor why.

The first scene takes place in the Piney Woods of East Texas—a vast tall pine forest slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. I placed a young woman there, barefoot, walking through the soft red soil with her little daughter. At that point, I stopped. Even though I'm a native Texan, East Texas is the least familiar part of the state to me. Thus, my innate urge to research kicked in, and I studied books in the library until I knew the kinds of trees and flowers, the birds, the animals, the location, the towns, and the history in 1880. Then, I began to write again.

Western historical romance is my first love. After Texas Blue, I wrote the little daughter's story when she was grown, titled Texas Promise. Next, I wrote Texas True, the younger daughter's story; then All My Hopes and Dreams, a spin-off story from Texas Blue. I'm so pleased that all four have been or will be published.

Texas Blue is a simple story with a complicated plot. Yes, I know it sounds incongruous, but at the heart of the story is a young woman who, by no fault of her own, is trapped deep in the forest with her four-year-old daughter. They live with very little, but Marilee dreams of walking out of the woods one day with little Josie, finding a town, and learning how to take care of herself and her child. She has a courageous spirit, the heart of a lion, but fear is also her constant companion.

Blurb:

She wasn’t a fit mother…So said the county judge who hired Buck Cameron to retrieve his little daughter. But when Buck finally locates the pretty mother and child, he finds the claim very hard to believe. Now, he faces a dilemma. Should he obey the order? Or should he defy the judge and rescue Marilee and her child from isolation?
She’d been banished…

Rejected and abandoned by her father, Marilee Weston used the pain of betrayal to survive. Now, she needs a way out of the forest, where she and her daughter had lived for five years. But the towering pines and fear of the unknown imprisoned her. How could she begin a new life for herself and five-year-old daughter? Will the alluring stranger free her, or prove to be even more dangerous?

http://www.celiayeary.com
http://celiayeary.blogspot.com

Texas Blue and All My Hopes and Dreams-Western Historical novels-available in both print and eBook.

Texas Blue-available on Kindle at Amazon.
Showdown in Southfork-short series Contemporary novel.
Find all novels at: http://www.thewildrosepress.com
(Find Celia Yeary under Authors)

Thank you,
Celia Yeary

GetToKnowTheBook: 'Clandestine Eyes' by Mary Corrales

Ever have an erotic dream that became reality? I have sensual dreams from time to time…lucky me. One particular dream became my inspiration for my contemporary erotica, Clandestine Eyes..

The heated caresses and passion was so stunning in its intensity that I knew I had to write everything I could down before I lost the details. Besides, let’s face it that when you wake up hot and bothered you have to do something about it. In the morning, the characters themselves spoke so clear to me when I asked the basic questions of who are you and why are you together that I completed their story within two days.

Now not every dream is worth getting up for and scribbling down on a piece of paper in the middle of the night with barely one eye opened. But then, a covert agent like Rob Larsen doesn’t always enter your dreams for an intense interlude in his truck. Do I have you curious? Well then allow me to share a scene with you that gives you a taste of the connection between Rob and his protégé, Coreen Evans.

She sagged in his arms as the last of the tremors worked their way through her. He rolled the window down a few inches as droplets of condensation dripped from the windows. She doubted that anyone who drove by might think the phenomena to be natural.

They stayed cuddled together for several minutes, at ease, waiting for their heartbeats to settle. A niggling of embarrassment tinged her enjoyment, as she relived her aggressive behavior. She still couldn’t explain the hunger that had consumed her.

“Are you okay?” Rob asked.

Coreen gazed up at him, realizing that he hadn’t expected their interlude to have been so intense. She smiled, glad that her actions hadn’t shocked him. She wasn’t accustomed to such behavior from herself with a man she hardly knew. They might have worked closely together on several assignments for the last ten months as she trained, but that didn’t mean they knew each other personally.

“I’m fine.” Thank goodness they’d agreed on rules to this part of their relationship before they’d done anything. Yeah, rules kept operatives safe, especially when neither of them could afford to lose their hearts much less their status.

The prequel to Clandestine Eyes is also now available through Breathless Press and is titled Dangerous Moves. Both stories can be found at the Breathless Press or on my website.

Thank you for letting me share a bit of my night experiences with you. I love reader questions and comments.

Contact me anytime through my website: http://www.authormaryc.com

Mary Corrales

GetToKnowTheBook: 'Hitting The High Notes' by Nan D. Arnold

Mini-Interview with character: Maggie, the protagonist.

Maggie, tell us a little about you and what you did to surprise Nan.

Answer: Me? I’m hanging on to the tail end of my fourth decade, resisting the big five-oh, dealing with weight gain everywhere but where it’s wanted, and hot flashes, as happens during “the change of life”, while looking for love in the wrong places. I’m the gal who made wrong choices along the way.

As to the surprise angle, Nan wanted to write something quirky. Given her sense of humor, that was easy, but I decided to add dark undercurrents, like my having a history of homicide. Justifiable homicide. The guilt bugs me; so, I hook up with wrong guys to punish myself, like Lorenzo--aka Stavros. He’s the opera star nursing a bruised ego who gets us both in dutch with a wacky environmental group and a special color-blind cop. There’s allusion to other secrets as well, fully fleshed out in PESTO PACKIN’ MAMA.

Maggie, how much of Nan is incorporated into your personality?

Answer: Um, I’d say we’re split fifty/fifty. The fast on the feet quips are all mine, of course. Ditto the flirty part. And the part that gets me out of trouble and between peach and white 450 thread count sheets with…. Read the book. Other things like cooking is all Nan. She loves to cook so she hangs that trait on me. That right there tells you Nan’s leaving quirkyville, heading straight to crazyville. Who cooks when there’s take out, right? But characters can only push an author so much. Pity.

EXCERPT

Maggie Duncan’s fourth decade on earth sped along at warp speed as she clung to its coattails, widowed, childless, and unattached.

Currently seated in the eat-in kitchen of an attractive townhouse, she considered the wine glass her host, a man called Stavros, set before her. The balloon-shaped bowl on a long fragile stem looked half as wide and nearly as deep as that big zero in Florida’s abdomen known as Lake Okeechobee.

“So, your name is Stavros.” Maggie’s blunt tipped finger rimmed the glass.

She’d met him by chance at a convenience store only an hour before. “Just Stavros?”

He nodded.

“Mysterious.” She took a tentative sip. The wine coated her tongue and slid down her throat. The merlot’s warmth wrapped second thoughts about her reckless acceptance of his invitation into a snug blanket and Maggie surrendered to the moment’s spell.

For more excerpts check out http://www.champagnebooks.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_12&products_id=360

HITTING THE HIGH NOTES Reviewd by Romance Alley.
Reviewer Betty Ann Harris: Hitting The High Notes is a witty and clever book that was a total delight to read. The author, Nan Arnold, has a wonderful sense of humor that breezes through each page and carries through the entire story...read the full review at www.romancealley.suzannahsafi.com/reviews2.html

GetToKnowTheBook: 'Single Status' by Author Linda Swift

Single Status is a book that had a difficult "birth." It remained in my head for almost ten years. I had discussed the idea with my agent and he discouraged it as not believable. But with an inside knowledge of how big companies worked, I felt the story could have happened so I never gave it up. I worked on other manuscripts in the years that followed but wasn't able to place them. So while living in Northern England one winter, I began to write this book. My study overlooked the muddy, turbulent River Humber, the days were short and the weather was bleak. What better time to write of a tropical island with balmy days, a calm blue-green sea, and warm sunshine?

The story flowed quickly except for the technical details of power plant operation but my husband was home every evening to talk me through that. He also gave me pointers on a golf match since I'm not a golfer myself. When we came back to the States, I submitted the book a few places but it was rejected and I began to think my agent who had vetoed it was probably right. Then I began to research ebook markets and this book was one of the first that I submitted. Almost immediately, I received a letter of acceptance from an editor who said she was snowbound in her office. I think the setting of this book surely held great appeal for her.

This publisher requested that we select our own cover artists. When I contacted one whose work I liked, she was able to create a perfect cover almost overnight. And in the process, we discovered that we had met in the Dallas airport years earlier when we both were en route from an RWA conference and were stranded by engine trouble. Before the book could be released, another publisher bought the one I'd contracted with and this required a new book cover. Then through a mix-up, the original cover was used with the first books released. So to explain the confusion for readers who try to order the book, I have used both covers on my web site Books Page.

Single Status was my first ebook to be accepted but two others with another publisher were released before it became available in December. And I'm expecting release of the print book at any time. Meanwhile, I have a video of the book which you can see at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu1T2jQt31U

I hope you'll enjoy reading B.J's and Dana's story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here is a brief glimpse of what their story is about.

B.J. is a woman with a mission--to show that she can handle a start-up engineer's job as well as any man. Then maybe she can prove to her ex that she is not the helpless wife he left for another woman. Dana is a man grieving the deaths of his wife and young son in a terrorist plane crash. Through a mix-up at stateside headquarters, they are forced to share a villa in the single status job in St. Croix. B.J. is the scapegoat when things go wrong at work and Dana becomes her reluctant defender when he is not defending himself against her unjust conclusions about him. Despite their attempts to prove otherwise, the powerful attraction between them grows. B.J. is blamed for a bad accident at

the plant and her job is on the line. When Dana is almost killed trying to find the real culprit, will B.J. finally admit that the love they have found together is the most important thing of all?

www.lindaswift.net
Author, Women's Fiction & Romance