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