Virtual Blog Tour Stop with Ann Montclair/Contest

Contest Information is after the interview and before book excerpt.

Welcome to my Reading Nook, Ann Montclair. Please make yourself at home and let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink.

Thanks, Dawn. I like tequila.  :)

Comfortable? Wonderful. Now let’s get started.

What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?  

My writing process is pretty straightforward. I imagine the hero and heroine then imagine their lives prior to the book’s beginning.  Once I’ve done that prewriting, I imagine how they meet and why.  Once all that’s accomplished, I write a one page outline and start drafting.  The bulk of the hard work for me occurs during revision.  Writing the story is pure pleasure.

What did you do before you were a writer? Do you write full time?  

I’m an English professor at a rural community college in upstate New York.  I did write full time for one year while I was taking academic sabbatical, but now I’m a part time writer again.

If you were going to cast the hero(s) of your book, what actor would get the part? 

Dule Hill would be my first choice for Joe Connors and Amanda Seyfried would be a great Lucy Alcott. 

I know you're not supposed to show favoritism but who's been your favorite character to write?  I love all my heroines, but my favorite character to write was Jessie Driscoll from One Wet Summer.  She’s an eight year old girl, and I found her character compelling and inspirational.  Let me say, we should all be as wise and open as Jessie.

Do you have a favorite TV show you can't miss? 

It used to be All My Children.  I watched it for the entire time it ran, more than 30 years.  Nothing comes close to the devotion I had for Pine Valley.  I’m trying to get into General Hospital, but it isn’t the same, you know?

If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why-no it doesn't have to be from your books? Oh, that’s a good one.  I’d time travel to Scotland and have at Jamie Frazier from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’d only need one unforgettable hour.  Oh, the things I’d do for that man…

Please share with us some juicy details about your latest release.  Joe Connors is a giant of a man.  He’s got gorgeous dark skin and soulful eyes.  He has a booming voice and he laughs a lot.  Of course, he’s an expert lover, quite adept at all aspects of lovemaking.  He’s a doctor and crazy about his lady-love, Lucy. 

What was your inspiration behind this book?  Because Lucy and Joe are an interracial couple like my parents, I’d have to say my own mom and dad were the bedrock of my desire to write a love story about opposites.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?  I’m trying to get to all the Musa Calliope stories.  Annie Seaton, Cindi Myers, and Helen Hardt are excellent writers.  I’d like to read something from the AuroraRegency line.  Musa has some incredible authors, and they’re all new to me.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so what are your favorites Artists and or albums?

No, I write in a busy house.  I do love music: world beat, reggae, classical.  I love everything with a strong rhythm section. Bass and drums make me smile.

If you could go any place in the world and to any time period, what place time would you choose to visit? Tudor England.  Henry VIII and Elizabeth fascinate me.

What is your favorite super power and why do you want it? Flying—because that would so much fun.  Plus I imagine that power would override my fear of heights. The other one I like is invisibility. Just imagine what you might be able to watch—or who!

If you could write a warning label for yourself as a person or an author, what would it say? 

Don’t let doubt bring you down.

Do you have any guilty pleasures? 

I already mentioned my penchant for tequila, didn’t I? Add chocolate, red wine, and a huge Amazon Kindle habit.  That one-click gets me every time, especially after some tequila.

CONTEST INFORMATION:

 Ann will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Please follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://www.goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/name-before-masses-tour-good-things.html

Good Things Come In Tall Packages

by Ann Montclair

Buy at Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Things-Come-Packages-ebook/dp/B008YWMH98/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345258132&sr=8-1

Dr. Joe Connors and socialite lawyer Lucy Alcott come from two different worlds, two very different cultures. But will those differences keep them apart when their attraction is too strong to be denied?

When socialite Savannah attorney Lucy Alcott entered the Hyatt looking for fun, martinis, and hot sex, the last thing she expected to find was Dr. Joe Connors. Joe is Lucy's opposite in every way: he’s dark, she’s pale; he’s tall and reserved, she's tiny and vivacious; he wears his compassion and deep spirituality on his sleeve, she wears designer bags and clothes. That night at the Hyatt Lucy found herself not in the arms of a casual encounter but reaching out to a man who challenged the walls she had built around her heart—and when he gave her his number, Lucy knew Joe deserved a woman as warm and tender as he was. So she threw his number away. When an unexpected meeting six months later brings them together again, will Joe overcome Lucy’s fear of losing her heart, or are their two very different worlds destined to keep them apart forever? 

Teaser Excerpt:

He traced one long finger along her chin. “I still want to be that friend. Will you let me?” Joe’s voice brimmed with sincerity, and Lucy twisted her face away, tried to pull away, but he held her by the shoulders and pulled her head to his chest.

“It’s okay to be real, to let go of the façade, and let me know you. You’re more than a smart, accomplished business woman. You’re much more than a tease and a seductress. I know you came up here for sex, but I wanted you here to tell you I care. I cared from the moment I snatched you from those vultures at the bar. I think you care, too, if you’d let yourself admit it.”

The stiffness in her face, in her shoulders, in her rigid posture, gave way. She held her face flush against his sternum and breathed in his clean scent. Could she even speak the words that battered her mind?

Lucy turned her head side to side, trying to negate the ideas, the concepts she’d never allowed voice, but they came unbidden, in a rush of truth so deep, it threatened to drown her. “Joe, I’ve never had a close relationship with a man. I’ve only had sex, had fun, had fights, and said goodbye. You’ve broken every one of my rules, gotten way too close, and it scares me. No, it terrifies me the way I think I could care about you. I can’t afford to hurt. I can’t lose someone I care about again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I grew up sneak-reading all my mom's steamy romance novels. She kept them high on a shelf in her closet and warned, "You better not read those..." Of course, I read them. And now I write them! I strive to take readers on a fun, emotionally charged, and highly sensual ride to happily ever after. Available now: THE BILLIONAIRE'S BAUBLE (Soul Mate Publishing 2011), ONE WET SUMMER (Musa Publishing 2012), and GOOD THINGS COME IN TALL PACKAGES (Musa Publishing 2012). Next up: LADY IN DEED, my debut novel in historical romance set in Tudor England (Musa Publishing Winter 2012).

I am a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and a community college English professor. I live in the Finger Lakes region of New York with my sexy hero and our teenage son. Our grown daughter lives in Los Angeles, California--my hometown.

Thanks for learning a little about me. You can contact me at ann@annmontclair.com.LINKS

Web site: http://www.annmontclair.com

Blog: http://annmontclair.wordpress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnMontclairFanPage

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/AnnMontclair

Buy link: http://www.musapublishing.com/