Today I’m happy to welcome my friend Jacquie Biggar, the last of my small town romance guest authors.
Hi Jacquie. Tell us about your latest published book.
Summer Lovin’ will be the fifth in my Wounded Hearts series. It releases May 24th in the multi-author box set Summer Heat: Love on Fire, and then separately the end of June.
I see that’s the ebook we’ll be giving away to one reader who comments this week. Here’s the cover blurb, as we writers call it.
Summer Lovin’
Mitch Taylor and Rebecca Sorenson share a secret.
Rebecca’s job as secretary of Cascade Elementary, the same school she attended as a child, is rewarding. She has a great group of friends, many of whom are married now. And if sometimes she wished it were her up there in that sparkling white dress…
Except, wait—she did get to wear bridal white. Granted, it was a slinky party dress and the justice of the peace was Elvis in a gold lame jacket, but still, the deed was done.
She’d tied the knot.
Mitch Taylor doesn’t do regrets. It would be a waste of energy bemoaning the mistakes he’d made in his life. The end of his promising football career taught him nothing in life was a guarantee.
Like love.
What were the chances two people from the same po-dunk town in Washington would end up together in a nightclub in Las Vegas? A few too many drinks later, a hasty ceremony performed by the king of rock ‘n’ roll, and they’d been hitched. The night that followed lived on in his dreams, but when he’d woken the next morning she was gone.
Can these two mismatched lovers find a way past their mistakes, or will they keep their lonely hearts forever guarded?
Fun set-up. We’ll put an excerpt at the end of this post. Where is the rest of the series set?
My first series, Wounded Hearts, is set in the fictional town of Tidal Falls, Washington, and my second series, Mended Souls, is a paranormal set in Chicago.
Love it. What sets “your” town apart?
The amount of sexy ex-SEALs who live there? 🙂
What attracted you to the small-town romance genre?
I like the closeness of a small town. Everyone knows you, cares about you, and wants what’s best for you, whether you agree or not! This mentality can make for some interesting storylines.
How much has your writing been influences your own life?
A lot. I was born and raised in a small town, and I owned and operated a restaurant like Grace and Grits, featured in my books.
How would you describe your writing process?
Hap-hazard 🙂 Seriously, I usually spend the day on emails and social media, then approx. two-three hours a night writing.
What do you feel are the pluses and minuses of writing a series?
All pluses for me. As a reader I like the connection I gain from a set of characters, they become almost real over a series of books. As a writer I think it’s easier to build one world and then expand on it, than to create a new one for every story.
Where do you get your story ideas? Mostly news stories I hear on TV
Why did you decide to self-publish?
A good friend once told me I could take the months, possibly years, polishing my work and submitting to agents and publishers and then give them a large percentage of my profits, or I could self-publish and be my own boss. She’s a smart lady 🙂
Do you listen to music when you write? No, I need silence to write. Too easily distracted, I guess, lol
What do you find easier to write, male or female characters?
Male, I’ve been told more than once my male voice is strong. I’ll take that as a compliment.
What themes does your most recent book explore?
The theme for Summer Lovin’ came to me when I heard some friends were going to Las Vegas for a convention. It made me wonder how many hook up with someone and then regret it later. Or do they? Maybe instead they wish for a second chance. I like to think we all deserve a second chance, don’t you?
Do you have a new book coming up?
I’m just finishing a Christmas novella for a multi-author box set releasing in October 2016. It’s near and dear to my heart. The heroine is a single mom with a type 1 diabetic daughter who meets a surly mystery writer and sparks ensue.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
Gardening and spending time at the beach with DH (Darling husband :))
Can we expect more books in your current series?
Yes, I have ideas for two-three more books in the Wounded Hearts series, and the Mended Souls series will have at least two more stories.
What makes you laugh? My husband. He has a knack for lightening any bad situation we’ve ever been in, and I love him for it.
What is your favourite TV show and why?
Toss up between Blacklist and Lucifer, both for the same reason. The bad guy isn’t all bad. I like how the writers draw us into their lives with flashes of kindness and caring from these characters. One is a known killer and the other is, well, Lucifer, what’s not to like?
Do you prefer coffee or tea? Coffee in the morning, tea at night, preferably herbal.
Wine , whisky or beer? Beer, I’m a Corona girl.
Thanks for taking part Jacquie. And how can readers get in touch with you?
You can contact me on you favourite social media platform.
http://Facebook.com/jacqbiggar
http://Facebook.com/jacquiebiggar
Facebook Street Team:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1051448161572521/
http://amazon.com/author/jacquiebiggar
https://www.goodreads.com/JacquieBiggar
http://Pinterest.com/jacqbiggar
https://plus.google.com/+JacquieBiggar
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jacquie-biggar
Or follow my website below. Check out the giveaways page – you’ll find tons of great prizes every month!
And readers, don’t forget to comment for a chance to win the ebook Summer Lovin. Now, here’s the excerpt.
Excerpt from Summer Lovin:
Rebecca was in Hell.
What other explanation could there be for the reappearance of Mitch in her life when she’d worked so diligently to avoid him for the best part of eighteen hundred and eighteen days—not that she was counting.
The divorce papers sitting on the desk at home were burning a hole through her brain, making her ache with things she dared not admit.
He looked amazing, by far the handsomest man in a room full of fine-looking men. His white dress shirt emphasized the breadth of those impossibly wide shoulders, honed to steel by years of honest manual labor. But then she’d always admired that about him. When his football career had come to an abrupt end he could have turned to a bottle and no one would have faulted him for it. Instead he picked himself up, went to a community college, got his welding ticket, and opened a business. Now his work was often sought after from all over the state and his shop had grown from a backyard garage to a fully equipped warehouse on a prime piece of Tidal Falls land. Mitch Taylor was a local success story.
He grasped her hand and she reluctantly followed his lead across a floor now packed with swaying bodies. He didn’t stop until they reached a shadowed alcove off to one side of the stage. When he turned and held out his arms she stepped forward like a lamb, letting his jacket drop onto a nearby chair. The moment his arms wrapped around her and his calloused fingers found the bare skin of her lower back, Becky knew she was in trouble.
Her startled gaze rushed upward and tangled in the molten heat of his amber eyes. The light and shadows created by their surroundings turned his face lean and mysterious and oh-so-hypnotic. Someone bumped into them but she barely noticed, she was so caught up in his aura. It had been like this before—in Las Vegas.
Rebecca tried to pull away, her heart beating double time, an out-of-sync counterpoint to the drums playing on stage. Mitch simply tugged so that she had to grasp the front of his shirt to keep from falling—not that he would have let her. There were many things about Mitch Taylor that bothered her, but she never doubted his kindness.
He bowed his head and rested his cheek against her temple and his voice rumbled through her soul. “It’s just a dance, sweetheart. What are you afraid of?”
Everything.
Him.
Herself.
Check back next week to see who the contest winner is.
Thanks for reading.