Guest Blog from Lisa Mondello Author of Lone Star Lady!
Give a warm welcome to Lisa Mondello, author of Lone Star Lady, eighth book in the Texas Hearts series!
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, or there’s homemade lemonade in the pitcher on the counter. Chose a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Lisa, her Lone Star Lady and the Texas Hearts series.
Lisa, Lone Star Lady is part of the Texas Hearts series. Tell us about connecting books in a series.Creating a new world for a romance series can be difficult for an author. How do you create a series of connecting characters while making every book fresh?
When I wrote the Lone Star Lady, part of the Texas Hearts series, it wasn’t originally supposed to be part of a series. It sold and was originally published by another publisher. But when I got the rights back to the book, I knew I didn’t want it to be a standalone book. So I rewrote it to be part of the Texas Hearts series. In doing so, I had to figure out how a standalone book that was very different than the Gentry brother’s story, could fit into that world.
My solution to connecting Lone Star Hero to Texas Hearts came by connecting the heroines from The Wedding Dress and Leaving Liberty to the heroine of Lone Star Lady. Life sometimes pulls you in different directions and different places. But friendships from the past endure. And so Hannah Ward and Liberty Calvert became Theresa Morales’s best friends. It gave me the opportunity to revisit those characters from past books and give readers and update without allowing their storylines to take over the current book.
I also included country singer Brock Gentry, hero of book 4 Gypsy Hearts, in the story as an off camera character. So readers who are familiar with the series have an automatic connection to that world even though I created a new location outside of Texas to set the story.
Authors love writing series just as much as readers love reading them. But the constant work to create something fresh to keep readers interested is work. Fortunately for me, I love this work. I hope you check out Lone Star Lady and all the Texas Hearts books at http://texasheartsromance.blogspot.com.
Interesting, connecting characters from different books in a series is the reason so many enjoy reading series. They don’t have to say goodbye to characters they’ve grown to love.
A sneak peek between the pages of Lone Star Lady!
“I didn’t know who else to go to. I really need your help.”
Teresa Morales listened to Dr. Dennis Harrington’s words as she sat curled up on the soft beige sofa in the lodge at the Taos Falls Mountain Ski Resort. The fire in the huge granite fireplace in the center of the room was burning hot—almost too hot for her comfort. Or maybe that was just her anxiety kicking in. This was supposed to be her vacation. No one was supposed to need her help here.
She bookmarked the page in the book she had been reading before Dennis’s abrupt arrival and closed it, setting it aside on the end table. With a swift motion, she untangled one long leg out from underneath her and brusquely hit her bare feet to the wide pine floor with a dull thud. If this was his idea of a joke, she wasn’t laughing.
“Dennis, I’m just a tourist here. What help could I possibly give you?”
“Last night…” His voice trailed off. His face looked stricken, and Teresa knew he wasn’t talking about the New Year’s Eve party they’d both attended—or the dance they’d shared. No, he was referring to what had happened afterward—the reason behind the beeper call that had pulled him out of her arms and away from the party after their dance. The horrible car crash on the bridge just a few hundred yards from the ski resort had been the only topic of conversation throughout Taos Falls today.
“I’m not sure you understand how severe the accident that took place last night really was.”
It was wonderful having you with us today, Lisa! Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Lone Star Lady.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Contemporary, Lisa Mondello, Lone Star Lady, Romance, Texas Hearts, Western by Tena Stetler with 1 comment.
Lisa Mondell Author of Under A Texas Star!
Give a warm welcome to Lisa Mondello, author of Under A Texas Star, released on March 21, 2017! Book nine of Texas Hearts.
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Lisa and her Texas Hearts. Oh, don’t forget to enter for a chance to win a Kindle FIre, Raflecopter at the end of the post.
Lisa, tell us a little about writing this story. Was it fun or difficult? Do your characters always act as you expect? Are you a plotter, or fly (write) by the seat of your pants?
I am neither plotter or pantser. I’m a puzzle writer. Stories come to me in pieces, like a scene from a film. They’re very clear. But it’s only one scene and it can be any part of the story. So I write all those first and then piece things together.
Under a Texas Star was fun and difficult. It was fun because I used real stories from my husband’s time in the marines. Yes, he really stepped on an alligators head while wading in water to make a rope bridge. I also loved writing Brian’s character. I love writing about kids because they say what’s on their mind and do the unexpected. Even though he has a serious illness, he made for some heartwarming moments that made me smile. The subject matter was difficult all around. Grief is a very difficult thing. Everyone handles it different. But it’s important to know that however you handle it, it’s okay. As long as it doesn’t stay bottled up inside. There are parts of this story where I literally cried through them because when I write about my characters, I feel their pain deeply. I can’t express their emotions correctly if I’m not feeling it myself. So it can sometimes wear me out when I’m writing.
Interesting, I know how you feel. I see you brough Tom and Jenna with you today, lets see what makes them tick.
Hello Tom (Tag) Garrison, mind if I ask a few questions?
Go ahead.
Tells us about the real you— What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you?
Being capture and imprisoned overseas while in the military. But the most profound thing was coming home to learn that I’d lost my wife and my child.
What do you most value?
My privacy, although that is getting harder to get these days since moving to Texas. Home and family are becoming important to me again.
What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?
Someone who loves family, who is strong and who can quiet the demons in my head.
What do you consider most important in life?
Family.
What is your biggest secret?
Well, that would be something I did with my cousin Wolf. The family knows we were gone for a few days when we were in our early teens, but they don’t know that we’d jumped a train and headed north to Washington DC and then jumped another train to head home. I’m not sure Oma would have liked that at all. I think Opa would have wanted to come with us though.
Thank you for being here today and answering my questions.
Now lets turn our attention to Jenna Atkins. Would you answer a few questions for me?
Sure.
Who are you really?
I am a mother, rancher and small business owner who is trying my best to keep my nose above the water line every day while caring for my sick child.
Who were the biggest role models in your life?
My parents. They had a love that people envy. Unfortunately I didn’t have that in my first marriage. But I have hope.
What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with?
Someone who is committed. Not just in words but in deed. Someone who I can lean on and who will be there for me and my son when I fall apart and when I forget that there is more to life than being a mother.
What kind of man would you never choose?
Someone selfish. It takes two to make a life work.
What is most important to you in life?
My son.
What is your biggest fear?
That I will lose my son before he has a kidney transplant.
Ok now I’m going to put you on the spot. Is Tom what you are looking for? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
Oh, I think I’ll let you read the book and find out!
Lisa, tell us a little about your book Under A Texas Star:
Military hero Tom Garrison is an expert in high intensity emergency situations. But after years of military service, all he wants to do is hide from the world. When single mom Jenna Atkins bangs on his door in the middle of the night begging for his help for her sick young son, Tom can’t ignore it. He flies Jenna and her son to an emergency center that can help the sick child, but can he just walk away?
Despite his efforts, Jenna and Brian capture his heart—just as he captures theirs.
Both Jenna and Tom have battled life’s surprises and been touched by tragedy. Can they overcome the past to open their hearts to love again?
Excerpt:
Reaching back and securing his hands at the nape of his neck, he watched as the millions of stars that had dotted the blue-black sky just a half hour ago blinked out one by one in the morning light.
He didn’t want to be alone for this moment, but it was more than that.
He wanted to be with Jenna. Climbing into his truck, he headed over to the Jenna’s. There was a light on downstairs in the den, which Tag hoped meant someone was awake at the Atkins farm. Jenna had said that she had a lot of sewing to catch up on. Maybe she’d gotten up early to get started before Brian woke up. With any luck, she’d be awake.
Anticipation rolled through him. Within seconds Jenna came bursting out of the front door onto the porch. Despite the porch’s shadows, he could see from the light filtering out from the den window that it was her. A smile immediately hit his face, but then he saw the panic in her eyes when she came down the porch steps.
His stomach clenched as the quiet peace he’d been feeling during the drive over shifted into concern. Had something happened? Was that really why she was up so early?
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New York Times and USA TODAY Bestselling Author, Lisa Mondello, has held many jobs in her life but being a published author is the last job she’ll ever have. She’s not retiring! She blames the creation of the personal computer for her leap into writing novels. Otherwise, she’d still be penning stories with paper and pen. Her book The Knight and Maggie’s Baby is a New York Times Bestseller. Her popular series includes TEXAS HEARTS, DAKOTA HEARTS, Fate with a Helping Hand and the new SUMMER HOUSE series. Writing as LA Mondello, her romantic suspense, MATERIAL WITNESS, book 1 of her Heroes of Providence series made the USA TODAY Bestsellers List and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2012.
You can find more information about Lisa Mondello at lisamondello.blogspot.com and sign up for her newsletter to receive new release information at http://eepurl.com/xhxO5
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Tour giveaway
1 Kindle Fire
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It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Under a Texas Star!
Visits: 472
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Contemporary Romance, Lisa Mondello, Sweet Romance, Texas Hearts, Western by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.
