Entries Tagged 'Cowboy' ↓
March 15th, 2010 — Author Interviews, Contemporary, Cowboy, J-L, Mystery, Western
Keira: What made you decide to write about cowboys?
Joanne: I’ve always loved Western history, and when I first moved to Wyoming, I was amazed to see how much of the Wild West is still alive and kickin’ out here. Libby makes a comment early in the book that moving to Wyoming and seeing a guy wearing chaps is like moving to Austria and finding your neighbors decked out in Lederhosen, and that’s how I felt. Cowboys are the norm here in Cheyenne, especially during our annual Frontier Days rodeo, but at first, they seemed like another, very exotic species to me. I was like a googly-eyed tourist for the first two years I lived here, just taking in all the frontier flavor.
Keira: What does it take to win a cowboy’s heart?
Joanne: Well, it turns out they’re humans like the rest of us, so I think they’re looking for what all men look for—though a tight pair of Wranglers doesn’t hurt when it comes to getting things started! Seriously, though, I think what cowboys want in a wife is different from what they want in a girlfriend. When things get serious, all of a sudden honesty and smarts matter a lot more than looks!
Keira: What makes a hero perfect? What makes Luke Rawlins a hero readers will fall in love with?
Joanne: To some extent, what makes a hero perfect is imperfection—or at least, his own awareness that he has a few flaws, as well as a sense of humor that lets him laugh at them.
What makes Luke special is that the qualities that draw him to Libby are the ones that might drive other men away—her independence and spirit. He also understands that she’s been hurt and he’s willing to wait until she’s ready for a relationship. At one point in the story, Libby tells him to give up, that she’s damaged goods. His reply is simply, “You’ll heal. I’ll help.” I think that’s the heart of the book, and the essence of Luke’s appeal.
Keira: You’ve worked in bookstores all your life; what’s your favorite job in one? What would you say is the biggest perk?
Joanne: It’s hard to say what my favorite job is. I loved management because I could make a difference; I love being a bookseller because I get to sell my favorite books; and I loved being a buyer because it was a lot like shopping!
But the biggest perk? I met my significant other at the store; he was my best customer! And my favorite:)
Keira: Cowboy Trouble takes place in Lackaduck, Wyoming. Is the town fictional and are they lacking ducks there? Does Lackaduck resemble small town life in Wyoming?
Joanne: Lackaduck is a combination of many small towns in Wyoming, with elements taken from each. To some extent, it’s also my hometown of Cheyenne, distilled and condensed.
As for the lack of ducks, I don’t know. I just love weird town names, like Bug Tussle, Kentucky and Burnt Corn, Alabama. I wanted a name that had that kind of quirkiness to it, and Lackaduck just popped into my head and declared itself. A writer’s mind often makes about as much sense as calling a town Bug Tussle!
Keira: This next question is tough. Ready? How do you define romantic love?
Joanne: Oh, that is tough, because to some extent, it’s indefinable. I think the core of it is that the two people in love know, deep down, that they belong together, and that being together makes them complete. Being with that person gives you a feeling of deep satisfaction that makes the stress of everyday life trivial in comparison.
Keira: If you were in a romance novel, what subgenre would you be in and why?
Joanne: I’d be in one of those zany contemporary romances where the heroine always has her head in the clouds and screws up a lot!
Keira: In your opinion, is it tougher to write mystery or romance? Do you do anything in particular to keep track of key points and facts?
Joanne: I think they both have their challenges, and it really depends who you are. I originally started “Cowboy Trouble” as a mystery, but Luke and Libby couldn’t keep their hands off each other and their love story totally took over. Romance just comes naturally to me.
To keep track of the story, I use multicolored sticky notes. I write in the attic, and I stick the notes to the slanted ceiling above my desk. The different colors represent different elements of the story, and I move them around to make changes as the story takes shape.
Keira: What is your secret guilty plot or character type that you love beyond reason?
Joanne: I love gutsy screwball heroines! Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum is probably the best example. My favorite books have a mixture of humor and kick-a** adventure.
Keira: Shameless self promotion time: What’s next?
Joanne: Next is “One Fine Cowboy” which will be released this fall. It’s another cowboy contemporary about a psychology grad student/animal rights activist from New Jersey who goes to a horse-training clinic in Wyoming to learn about inter-species communication. The cowboy who’s teaching the clinic isn’t much for talking, but it turns out he’s an expert in non-verbal communication.
Keira: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Joanne: Just a big thank you for inviting me for an interview. I love your site – your reviews are fun to read and I think you do a great job of helping readers make informed choices.
And for readers – I hope you enjoy reading “Cowboy Trouble” as much as I enjoyed writing it!
COWBOY TROUBLE by JOANNE KENNEDY—IN STORES MARCH 2010
Fleeing her latest love life disaster, big city journalist Libby Brown's transition to rural living isn't going exactly as planned. Her childhood dream has always been to own a chicken farm—but without the constant help of her charming, sexy, cowboy neighbor; she'd never have made it through her first Wyoming season.
Handsome rancher Luke Rawlins is impressed by this sassy, independent city girl. But he yearns to do more than help Libby out with her ranch…he's ready for love, and he wants to go the distance. When the two get embroiled in their tiny town's one and only crime story, Libby discovers that their sizzling hot attraction is going to complicate her life in every way possible…
Buy: Cowboy Trouble
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne Kennedy has worked in bookstores all her life in positions ranging from bookseller to buyer. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and won first place in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest and second place in the Heart of the Rockies contest in 2007. Joanne lives and writes in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For more information please visit http://kennedysmyth.com/ and http://www.cowboytrouble.com/.
Giveaway: 2 copies of Cowboy Trouble are up for grabs. Perfect for anyone in the mood for a lighthearted mystery! Open to US and Canadian readers only. Sorry international readers! To enter ask Joanne a question. One entry per relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Ends: March 22, 2010. Best of luck!
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March 9th, 2010 — 3.5 Stars, ARC, Contemporary, Cowboy, Crime and Protection, Farming, J-L, Journalism, Mystery, Ranching, United States of America, Western
Joanne Kennedy’s debut novel will put the honky tonk back into your life. Pull up a stool in the Roundup and have Crystal Hayes pour you a beer as I’ve got the latest gossip.
Libby Brown is a city girl with a dream of owning her own chicken farm. When her boyfriend ran off with her boss at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Libby packed up and headed to Wyoming. In addition to getting her chicken farm started, she works as a reporter for Lackaduck Holler.
Lackaduck is very small town. Neighbors are few and far between as ranches sprawl in all directions. Luke Rawlins is Libby’s sexy new neighbor. He is so typical stereotype cowboy in his whitewashed jeans, chaps, and Stetson hat, Libby can hardly believe he’s real. Aren’t traditional cowboys a myth? Not in Lackaduck!
Hearing about an unsolved local mystery perks Libby’s interest. With her background in crime stories, Libby dives headfirst into solving the case of Della McCarthy. Is she merely a runaway and missing or was she murdered? As clues stack up it begins to look more like the latter and not the former. The top suspects? A taxidermist, a chef, and a veterinarian... the real killer is close and he has his eyes set on Libby.
It's a little predictable as far as the mystery goes as I solved it pretty quick, but I had a lot of fun reading it anyway because of the relationship between the hero and heroine. Luke is a wonderful hero who knows how to handle a nervous filly.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy: Cowboy Trouble
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March 1st, 2010 — About, Cowboy
We discussed sandalwood in The Smell of a Hero, now we’re going to talk about two other scents associated with romance heroes: leather and horse. If a hero doesn’t smell of sandalwood or another woodsy scent, he smells of rich leather and hot horse.
I guess that means… At base, all men are cowboys! Yum...
Oh and can we say ew on smelling like a horse? Nothing like the smell of hot sweaty horse flesh for your hero. Grimace. So why is it used as an indicator of manliness in romance? Because those who are horse lovers associate that scent with something else. They say a horse smells warm and earthy. Both words are indicators of comfort, trustworthiness, and wholesomeness.
Leather is a family of fragrance. You will find leather as a middle or base note in many fragrances. It’s a soft, deep, buttery sort of scent. In masculine fragrances it is often stronger--sharper.
Now, if you pull out the adjectives from both horse and leather you have a wealth of implied base descriptors for a hero. Rich. Hot. Comfort. Warm. Earthy. Trustworthy. Wholesome. Strong. Sharp. Soft. Deep. Buttery.
Are authors as guilty of attributing personality traits through the smells associated with their heroes? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Smell is a hard thing to describe because our olfactory sense is not very developed in comparison to other species. I can only think of two other descriptors for sexy men off the top of my head: patchouli and spicy. That doesn’t give authors a lot of leg room.
And real men like to smell masculine too. Their cologne must evoke a unique, cultured and classic feel. They must exude sexuality, power, strength, and confidence. Can we say yuminess? This means men gravitate toward woodsy, spicy, leathery, warm and earthy scents for themselves. Authors got it right.
One more cowboy for the road...
What other sexy manly scents can you think of? Let's start a list!
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January 17th, 2010 — 1.5 Stars, Bastard, Convict, Cowboy, Foster/Orphan, Historic America, Marriage of Convenience, Movie Reviews, Pregnant, United States of America, Widow or Widower
I remember watching this a long time ago. Now I know why I haven’t seen it since. Four people make this movie: Christopher Reeve (Will Parker), Helen Shaver (Lula Peak), and the two kids who play Baby Thomas and Donald Wade.
Nina Foch (Miss Beasley) could have been utilized better and would have been great but her part wasn’t fleshed out in the movie like it was in the book.
Deborah Raffin’s (Crazy Elly Dinsmore) performance was too brusque and strident for a role which has always read to me as concerned, soft, and maternal.
The settings and filming were great, I thought. I really liked the house, her farm, the town. I liked the style of filming for the most part. About the only thing truly cheesy in the film is the love scene montage between Will and Elly.
My two favorite parts of the movie were the egg hurling and gift giving scenes. Reeve is amazing and Raffin is at her best. It’s these scenes that really carry the whole film. They’re precious and very sweet.
The book spans two years (1941-1943). The movie ten months. This change basically stripped Will Parker of his military career and the character development that occurred because of it. It also means that Elly and Will had sex together two months after the marriage started and one month before his arrest for the murder of Lula Peak.
The first half of the movie was like a condensed version of the novel. It made a lot of the scenes too harsh or too flat. The romance between Will and Elly was going along just fine until right after the egg throwing scene. After the hurled eggs, the movie takes a turn for the worst. First, both characters rushed too fast and unbelievably into love especially compared to the slow pacing at the beginning. Second, the storylines in the second half of the novel are changed completely to suit an hour and a half television movie.
For instance, the whole Lula Peak plot was ripped asunder and rewritten shoddily. Motivations that made sense in the book make no sense in the movie. Reese Goodlow (who is a decent man in the book) is a shitty small town cop. Will is on parole in the movie and Reese keeps badgering him. Reese is also the one cheating on his wife Mae with Lula instead of Harley Overmire, the superintendent at the local sawmill. This and the time crunch completely screw up the trial.
Really, the trial is a laugh. It makes no sense whatsoever. Reese is not the murderer, Harley still is. Reese in the movie should know without a doubt that Will has not had relations with Lula because if he had, Lula would drop Reese like yesterday’s old news. The evidence and witnesses are a bunch of baloney.
Another thing to upset me is the scene where Lula sneaks up on Will in the library. He actually lets her kiss him. That doesn’t happen in the book! It is totally against Will’s character. He is less of a hero because of it.
Conclusion: read the book instead, you’ll like it more.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Buy: Morning Glory [VHS]
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January 15th, 2010 — 5 Stars, A-C, ARC, Cowboy, Firefighter, Friends, Guest Reviews, Kidnapping, Older Woman/Younger Man, Ranching, Soldier, Teacher, United States of America, Western
By Susan S., Guest Reviewer
Brown’s novel will warm your heart, and bring you characters so real, you’ll swear they’re flesh and bone. Getting Lucky will move to the top of everyone’s list of new comfort reads.
Getting Lucky is book three from Brown’s Lucky Trilogy. It stands alone, here’s why: In this novel the hero (Griffin Luckadeau) tells the heroine (Julie Donavan) fate stories. These stories will retell Milli and Beau’s fate in Lucky in Love. Griffin also goes on to retell Jane and Slade’s fate in One Lucky Cowboy.
Do we have “small” cameo appearances in Getting Lucky? Not just no, hell no! We got the whole family together!
In book three, which tells the story of another hunky Luckadeau cowboy named Griffin, we’ll stumble upon a chockfull of clichés, idioms, silly sayings, and similes. Here’s a glimpse:
Cliché: Don’t get your panties in a wad.
Idiom: The pot calling the kettle black.
Silly saying: One legged chicken at a coyote convention.
Simile: Her heart thumped in her chest like a bass drum.
This book reminded me of my first romances, First Love from Silhouette. I’m recommending this novel to anyone who enjoys romances, HEA’s, and heart-warming stories which leave you smiling.
Julie moves from Jefferson, Texas to St. Jo. As a single mom raising a daughter named Annie, she hopes to leave the gossip-mongers behind. She’ll soon realize she’s jumped out of the frying pan, and straight into the fire. Julie’s first day as a kindergarten school teacher has left her stupefied. Her new student Lizzy, is the exact double of her daughter Annie.
Lizzy’s single father Griffin feels perplexed over the girls' similarities. While the story unravels, the reasons for these similarities will begin to surface.
Getting Lucky gives us plenty of new characters to fall in love with. My favorite of these? Alvie, the love-stuttering rancher.
What will you love? References to Wild Sex Anonymous, bumping headboards, bull riding, women making bets, and the six sheets to the wind stories.
What did I love? In the barn, Julie’s heel gets caught on a loose board. She trips, Griffin grabs her, but ultimately they both fall to the floor. Is there more to this? Maybe.
Fundamental themes: Friendships are to be cherished, and fate will not be ignored.
Julie thinks Griffin’s egotistical, domineering, and too young for her (she’s six years older.)
He thinks all women are shrewd, conniving, with ulterior motives.
They certainly feel the attraction, but will they overcome prejudices, and stop letting their past cloud their judgments? Maybe.
This is a 5 Star Comfort Read!
Buy: Getting Lucky
Contemporary Romance, ARC, Trilogy, Sourcebooks, Inc., Casablanca, January 2010, Mass Market Paperback, Print Pages 393. ISBN# 978-1-4022-2436-2.
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January 11th, 2010 — 1.5 Stars, Business, Cowboy, Crime and Protection, Estranged, Lawyer, Movie Reviews, Survival, United States of America
Meryl Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a TSTL heroine. The woman witnesses a murder, goes into protective custody and decides calling New York is a good idea. Is the woman crazy or does she just have a death wish? Seriously.
Jackie Drake, her assistant, is just as stupid because when the adoptive agency in New York calls her to get back to Meryl she takes the number and says everything over the phone. If your boss goes into protective custody under no circumstances should you try to get the number, say it out loud, or dial it from your cell or work phones or dial it at all.
Most of the funny stuff is in the trailer. Nothing else that’s truly funny shows up in the movie. I had a good enough time in the theater not to demand my money back but I won’t be buying the movie when it comes out on DVD.
Paul Morgan (Hugh Grant) is a cheating husband trying to make it right with his estranged wife. Why does he always pick the sleazy “good” guys? I just don’t get it. At least as Daniel Cleaver it was hilarious.
Clay Wheeler (Sam Elliott) and Emma Wheeler (Mary Steenburgen) are terrible custodians or guardians or whatever you want to call them. Internet and phone at their house has a code, but they leave Meryl and Paul alone way too much, give them too much latitude and freedom. Come on, you think if they go into town they won’t try to contact home? How stupid are you? I’m surprised Clay Wheeler keeps his job honestly.
I guess if stupidity wasn’t allowed in movies, there’d never be a storyline and without a storyline the film couldn’t be made.
Adam Feller, Paul’s assistant is fabulous. He’s adorable and dorky and truly shines.
The sweetest scene in my opinion is when Paul remembers and repeats his marriage vows to Meryl under the stars.
Major Spoilers….
There were some other inconsistencies too, especially with the ending and the adoptive agency. I know it is overtly wrong because one) it was pointed out to me in the movie while watching and two) based friend and family experiences it would never ever happen in that short of time or with Meryl being pregnant.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Buy: Did You Hear About the Morgans?
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November 9th, 2009 — A-C, Author Interviews, Cowboy
Susan: I understand reading has been your passion since you were five. What’s your favorite book?
Carolyn: That’s a tough question. I love to read and my favorite changes often but the three that come to mind are: Exodus
by Leon Uris, Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell and The Godfather
by Mario Puzo. I’m an eclectic reader and will read everything from Faulkner to the back of the Fruit Loops box and love it all?
Susan: How can your heroine, Jane, eat all that food, without toting around three bottles of Pepto-Bismol?
Carolyn: Darlin’, anger dissolves fat grams and calories. Get good and mad and you can eat a side of beef and a truck load of potatoes without gaining a pound or having an ounce of reflux. Do not try that if you aren’t angry! Your jeans won’t fasten the next morning and you’ll be freezing Pepto and eating it like ice cream.
Susan: Do you have fun writing your books?
Carolyn: Yes ma’am. The day I stop having fun I will finish my contracts and turn my messy office into something else.
Susan: As much fun as an otter at a summer buffet full of clam buckets?
Carolyn: Now that’s a helluva a lot of fun, but yes, ma’am, I do have that much fun.
Susan: The seven flights of stairs scene in One Lucky Cowboy
, was funny and entertaining. Do you find comic elements simple or difficult to write?
Carolyn: My humorous scenes are the easiest to write. They play through my head like I’m watching a movie. All I have to do is make my readers see it the way I do.
Susan: Will Griffin have his own story? His quick dismissal of Celia has pricked my interest.
Carolyn: Oh, yes, Griffin gets his turn in Getting Lucky (January 1, 2010). Bless his heart! He locks horns with Julie, a red-haired stick of dynamite who wouldn’t back down from a forest fire.
Susan: I’ve read that your writing correlates with the way you speak. Does it really?
Carolyn: Yes, Susan, it really, really does. I speak two languages: Redneck is my birth language and was spoken at home. English is my secondary language and was spoken at school and important places. I’m most fluent in Redneck so that’s the language I think and speak in. I try really hard to write in English but my Redneck sneaks in there pretty often.
Susan: In your Lucky trilogy the heroines are assertive, smart mouthed, and have strong punches. Are the heroines in your upcoming Honky Tonk series equally so?
Carolyn: Oh, yes! Wimpy heroines do not live in my imagination.
Susan: Shameless self promotion here. Why should we read your stories?
Carolyn: Because they will make you laugh, cry and sigh at the end. At least that’s why I sit in front of a computer and write books. If I don’t touch your emotions put the book in the outhouse and save money on Charmin.
Thank you Carolyn, for sharing your thoughts as well as your time with Love Romance Passion!
Thank you, Susan, for the interview. Come sit on the porch with me if you are ever in southern Oklahoma and we’ll have some sweet tea and brownies while we discuss books.
Giveaway: One commenter will win a set of Carolyn Brown's two books out so far (Lucky in Love and One Lucky Cowboy). Open to readers in the US and Canada only. Enter by asking a question of Carolyn or starting a conversation. 1 entry per relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Winner will be announced on November 16th, 2009.
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November 3rd, 2009 — 4 Stars, A-C, ARC, Contemporary, Cooking, Cowboy, Guest Reviews, Ranching, Survival, Suspense/Thriller, United States of America, Western
by Susan Sigler, guest reviewer
Brown delivers another great cowboy romance! With devil-may-care characters, exciting plot twists, and outrageously silly sayings.
One Lucky Cowboy is book two from Brown’s Lucky Trilogy. This book stands alone, but if you read book one Lucky in Love, you’ll appreciate Milli and Beau’s cameo appearances all the more. You’ll also see the Yak-52 (Milli’s plane) take flight once again. This story takes place approximately one year after the first one, as evidenced by the amount of time Milli and Beau have been together.
Book two tells the story of another handsome Luckadeau cousin. We meet the hero Lester (Slade) Luckadeau. Slade’s a tall blonde, blue-eyed cowboy. He’s hell bent and determined to get the heroine (Jane) off the Double L Ranch. Slade’s grandma (Nellie) hired Jane as cook and driver and Jane has no intention of leaving. At least not until she turns 25. Staying alive for another six weeks will be a challenge, but dealing with an infuriating piece of cowboy eye candy will be downright impossible.
In typical Brown style, we have more outrageous sayings such as: burr in his britches, cow chips for brains, and one legged chicken at a coyote convention.
What will you find within the pages? Four fool hardy old women, who gamble, dance, drink, meddle, and have a grand ole’ time. There’s lots of eating, hangovers, and death threats.
I’ll be honest, I enjoyed this book more than the first, a lot more! Why? It has romantic suspense elements, and I love romantic suspense. The bantering between Slade and Jane was fun to read, while the drunken seven flights of stairs scene was cute and sexy. Oh yeah…it was also gross. (LOL)
The fundamental theme was the importance of family loyalty.
Will Slade run Jane off the ranch? Or will they simply drive each other mad?
I’ll be happier than a monkey in a Chiquita banana factory when Getting Lucky releases in January of 2010.
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: One Lucky Cowboy
Contemporary Romance, ARC, Trilogy, Sourcebooks, Inc., Casablanca, November 2009, Print Pages 331.
ISBN# 978-1-4022-2437-9
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September 5th, 2009 — 4 Stars, A-C, ARC, Contemporary, Cowboy, Cursed Lead, Friends, Mistaken Identity, Ranching, Secret Baby, United States of America, Western
Lucky in Love is a riot. Brown had fun putting phrases together that read like classic stereotypical western and modern feisty romance rolled into one. You’ll find expressions like: “my hide tacked to the smokehouse door,” “she belongs like a horse apple in a church social punch bowl,” and “heartache bigger than Dallas” to name a few. They were probably my favorite part of the book and never failed to make me smile or laugh out loud when they appeared.
Anthony “Beau” Luckadeau is lucky at everything but not lucky in love. He plans to prove them all wrong by proposing to Amanda, though his heart has long been lost to Amelia Jiminez, a one night stand at his cousin’s wedding. When he does propose everyone forces a smile and shakes his hand but nobody is congratulating him (not that he notices) because Amanda is the worst wife Beau could have picked. She hates ranching, barns, his friends, his workers, his home, and his nickname. It’s not classy enough for her.
Amelia Jiminez on the other hand is none other than sassy Camellia “Milli” Torres. She’s in Oklahoma to help her Granny and Poppy out on their ranch while Poppy is healing from surgery. She and her toddler Katy would never have stepped a foot out of Texas if she’d known Beau was Poppy’s neighbor. If making him dance in the dirt under fire of a .22 rifle doesn’t force him to keep his distance nothing will… and part of her doesn’t want him to stay away which makes him all the more dangerous.
Rating: 4 Stars
Buy: Lucky in Love
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September 4th, 2009 — A-C, Author Interviews, Contemporary, Cowboy, Ranching, Secret Baby, United States of America, Western
Keira: I loved all the idioms, metaphors, and similes in the book. They make for a great voice! How on earth did you manage to fit them all in comfortably and which is your favorite?
Carolyn: My brain doesn’t run in the same groove as normal folks. It travels a warped pathway with wide ditches on either side. Once the characters take up abode in my head, they pretty much control things so it’s their voices you hear complete with metaphors and similes! One of my favorites:
Milli bared her claws and got ready for the catfight. Granted, she wasn’t very classy in her jean shorts and tee shirt. But she wasn’t sweating underneath panty hose and a business suit and the clip kept her long black hair out of her eyes. Even with a shot of self-applied confidence, she still felt like an ugly June bug that Amanda was about to step on with her fancy high-heeled shoe.
Keira: Are you pro Angus or pro white-faced heifers and why?
Carolyn: Angus. They make bigger and better steaks. I am not a vegetarian.
Keira: Milli is pretty strongly opposed to the word bitch, especially when it’s applied to her? Does Milli share the same attitude as you when it comes to term?
Carolyn: Milli and I are in complete agreement over that expression. Actually, that particular part of her personality comes from my middle child, a daughter, who really did not like to be called a bitch. Her younger sister called her that once when they were teenagers. Twenty years later she remembers the consequences and declares that she would never do it again.
Keira: Beau is lucky in everything but love. How and when did he first acquire this epithet?
Carolyn: Most likely when he was a teenager and his first love left him standing in the middle of a barn dance floor alone while she ran out behind the barn to kiss his friend. He’d already been tagged with it by the time Milli met him in Louisiana at his cousin’s wedding. It was what caused him to think that the night he spent with her was only a figment of his unlucky imagination. Poor old Beau! His women always saw greener pasture on the other side of the fence. At least until Milli came into his life and turned his luck around.
Keira: If you were to describe Beau and Milli in 5 words each, what words would you use?
Carolyn: That’s very difficult since I do tend to go on and on but I’ll try. Beau: Tall, sexy, determined, passionate and honest. Milli: Small, determined, passionate, lovely and fearless. Mix up that much determination and passion and it’s bound to cause problems.
Keira: What is your secret guilty plot or character trope that you love beyond reason?
Carolyn: Hmmm, well, that is difficult. I do love to hang bitchy characters or villainous ones out to dry on a tall oak tree in the middle of the town square.
Keira: You’ve written over forty books to date, why did you get started writing in the first place? Which is your favorite book of the ones you’ve published?
Carolyn: I started writing seriously in the fall of 1973. My third child would not sleep at night and there was this story gnawing at the back of my brain so I picked up a spiral back notebook and sharpened a few pencils. The book I wrote during that fall did not sell. It has gotten enough rejection slips to wallpaper the White House. When my daughter started sleeping I put my writing aside for several years. In 1997 they’d all flown the nest so I picked it up again and sold two books the same day to Kensington.
Choosing a favorite book would be next to impossible. When I’m writing a book it becomes my favorite. Lucky in Love was so much fun to write and I’ve been involved with interviews and blogs these past few weeks so today it’s my favorite book. Next week the favorite could change.
Which reminds me of a personal story I’ll share: when my three children were teenagers I started hearing the old cliché words, “You love him/her better than me.” So I set them down and told them that I did not have time to love them all every day of the week so they each got two days and their father got Sunday. However, the days, except for Sunday, could change at my will and whim. So when I heard the old cliché words again I simply said, “It’s not your day, kid. Get over it.”
That’s the way with my books. Today I love Lucky in Love best. Next month it might be One Lucky Cowboy (in stores November 2009) and Lucky in Love will have to move over. Really, really, I love them all my books. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have written them.
Keira: How do you define romantic love?
Carolyn: Romantic love is the ability to trust the heart. The heart has no eyes and no ears. It doesn’t see outward beauty and it is not biased. It sees the inward spirit of a person and it does not lie.
Keira: In your opinion, what makes a great bedroom scene?
Carolyn: A great bedroom scene is a bikini. Picture this: a man walks out on a nude beach and everything is right there for him to see, nothing hidden, all hanging out. Ten minutes and he’s bored with it. Now picture him on a beach with bikini clad beauties all around him. Barely covering up the necessities but leaving something to the imagination. His imagination will go wild for the whole afternoon. That’s a bedroom scene. Give the reader plenty to see but leave a tiny little bit to the imagination.
Keira: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Carolyn: Lucky in Love is the first in a trilogy. Picking out a Luckadeau cousin for One Lucky Cowboy and Getting Lucky wasn’t easy since the family is so big and widespread across Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Slade (hero in One Lucky Cowboy) and Griffin (hero in Getting Lucky) were the winners and I’m hoping you like their stories also. The heroines, Jane and Julie, have just as much sass, determination and passion as Milli!
Thank you very much for today’s opportunity to visit with you. It’s been so much fun. I love to hear from readers. Drop me a note at ccbrown66@att.net or visit my website at www.carolynlbrown.com and don’t forget that the Luckadeau story goes on even after the last page in Lucky in Love.
Buy: Lucky in Love
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July 6th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, Book Review, Category, Cowboy, Divorced, Historic America, J-L, Mistaken Identity, Ranching, Rape/Abuse, Snowed-in, Spinster, Survival, United States of America, Virgin Heroine, Western, Working with Land
When wild woman, Mad Mag, came across a pair of boots underneath a layer of snow, she was determined to ignore the dumb sod and let him freeze to death. Stupidity was not something she or anyone could afford to accommodate in untamed Wyoming. Just as she was leaving, a familiar dog barked… Boots… which meant that the unconscious cowboy was Garret Daines.
Garret Daines was the first man to show her kindness, besides Ira, since she ran for her life fourteen years ago. Unfortunately that meant she had to save him. Mentally cursing the emergence of her conscious Maggie hauls Garret onto her sled and drags him two miles up the mountain to her little abode.
Safe inside and tucked under her sheets, Garret thinks he’s dreaming of an angel. Maggie, uncomfortable around people is not at all sure what’s going to happen when he wakes up. What’s a girl to do with a half dead man in the middle of a blizzard?
There were quite a few grammatical and spelling errors in the Harlequin Historical, which surprised me. I’m not used to seeing them. The most notable was wreaked when the word reeked was appropriate. As for the story, got to say it was one of the best stuck and snowed-in I’ve ever read. Very fun, I laughed quite a bit in the beginning. The ending was sort of bland/typical, lacking the strength of the beginning and middle of the novel.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Buy: Mountain Wild
Buy on eHarlequin: Mountain Wild
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