#romance – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Through the Valley by Patricia Johns

Book Description

Miri Schrock never expected to inherit anything after months of caring for Old Tom Yoder, so upon his passing, she’s stunned to learn he’s left her everything. But Tom’s family is equally shocked, and Miri is not sure she can rightfully accept an inheritance that clearly belongs to Tom’s grandsons.

Moses Yoder thought he knew his grandfather, but his decision to leave the Lancaster County family farm to Miri has Moses questioning everything. Now he’s caught between his family’s demands that Miri surrender what’s rightfully theirs and his own growing romantic attraction toward her. As Moses and Miri are drawn together, they must navigate family tensions, yet discovering the truth behind the inheritance may change everything they thought they knew about love, family, and God’s plan for their future.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Through The Valley by Patricia Johns is a story involving two women who are not traditional Amish. Miri Schrock would rather be out in the field and tending to the cows and the farm rather than be inside cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Tabitha Schrock, years ago during her rumspringa, left the Amish community to become a veterinarian.

Tabitha ended up marrying an Englisher, Michael. Sadly, their marriage ended in divorce. Tabitha never really felt at home with Englishers so she decided to return to her Amish people. The one barrier she couldn’t break down was being a divorced woman. Despite her longtime friendship with Jonas and a growing love between them, she knew she would never be allowed to remarry if her ex-husband was still alive. She needed to move on with her life and she encouraged Jonas to move on, get married, and have a family.

But life takes an unexpected turn when Tabitha finds out her ex-husband has died. A lawyer reaches out to Tabitha to inform her Michael’s widow, Kelsie, wants to speak with her. After some consideration, Tabitha meets with her and the two discover the unkindness in Michael and his manipulative ways.

In another plot line, Tabitha’s cousin Miri Schrock has been helping Tom Yoder whose heath has continued to decline. She’s the one who has been tending to Tom’s daily needs as his grandsons, Moses and Benuel, are outside taking care of the farm. While Tom’s family knew that he was sick, his sudden passing was a surprise. At the reading of Tom’s will, it is announced that he left the farm to Miri.

The story weaves multiple plotlines and characters together. She does a fabulous job in having characters from previous novels in the story continue in this one. Readers will be sad to see this great series coming to an end.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Patricia Johns: I knew how the book, the whole series was going to end when I started writing it. This was something that I had planned from the very beginning. So, it was a well-planned series.

EC: There are two heroines in this story: are they alike or different?

PJ: Tabitha from early books is one heroine and Miri is the other. I think they’re similar. I mean, they’re cousins. They both don’t quite fit into the feminine mold that the Amish expect from them. I think they both struggle with a similar situation where they don’t quite fit in in the same way. But, of course, with Tabitha, she’s divorced, and is dealing with the other woman from her marriage, trying to connect with her and make peace. Miri has the community set against her because of this inheritance, which has gone terribly, terribly wrong in the community’s eyes.

EC: How would you describe Miri?

PJ: She’s a tomboy, inquisitive, good instincts, complex, vulnerable, stubborn, and moral.

EC: What about Moses, one of the heroes?

PJ: He is hardworking and kind, also passionate. I would think he’s moral too, but conflicted about his feelings and what he wants in life. His grandfather was supposed to leave the farm to him, and his brother. Since the death Moses is suffering from a personal loss, and he’s dealing with a personal rejection from his grandfather. He can’t even go and ask his grandfather, ‘Why? What did you do it? What upset you?’ He can’t even ask for query because his grandfather is gone. So, I think he’s dealing with a lot. The family land left to Miri had his father and grandfather grow up on this land, so, there’s family connections to this. He worked this land since he was a little boy. And, suddenly, he’s cut out of it. So, I think he has a lot more that he must deal with. Personally, I had some empathy for him for all of that because he was dealing with a lot.

EC: How would you describe the grandfather, Tom Yoder?

PJ: He had a unique way of looking at the world, and he encouraged Miri. He taught her about cattle and how to run a farm, passing on the passion he had about his farm, which partly explains why he left the farm to her. He’s a little bit of an enigma because he was such a straight talker, yet, he did not talk straight about this with his family, and he should have.

EC: What about the relationship between Miri and Moses?

PJ: He’s trying not to take it out on Miri, believing this isn’t her fault. He’s trying to protect Mari from his family, who are blaming Miri for what happened. She was supported by her parents. But Moses’ parents questioned his desire just to fulfill his grandfather’s wishes. He resents her in some ways and she’s kind of angry at him. They don’t trust the other person as just being honest and open with their feelings. Especially when the things are overheard.

EC: Did the community play a role with Tabitha and Miri?

PJ: With Tabitha, there is no solution that will please the community, because she’s divorced, and there’s no undoing it. There’s no way of fixing her situation in the eye of the community. But I think with Miri she could do what the community wanted, and she could say, ‘all right, I’ll back out. I’ll hand this back.’ Regarding Tabitha, community has written Tabitha off in a lot of ways. They’re like, ‘well, she’s going to be different. There is no helping her.’ But for Miri, they still think that they can sort of get their hands in there and mold her to their liking. I think there’s more pressure on Miri to change, because they think that she’s young enough, and she can be molded.

EC: What about the Tabitha and Jonas relationship?

PJ: He sees her as accomplished, gentle, and funny. They have feelings for each other, but hide it. She feels she lost his friendship when he possibly will become engaged. They both realize they fell in love with their best friend. And she’s jealous of the other woman, but she kind of hides it. She thinks it’s morally wrong to be jealous of this other woman, but she is very jealous. She has everything that Jonas could possibly want for the rest of his life, and she will be truly happy with him for the rest of her life, because he is a faithful type. They want a happily ever after, but don’t see how they can achieve it.

EC: What is the role of Kelsie, the other woman who broke up Tabitha’s marriage?

PJ: I needed it to bring things back around for Tabitha to deal with, the pain of that divorce. On a personal level, the reason why I brought in the other woman is because I’ve seen this sort of situation, with people that I know, where it’s never just one affair. It’s never just like, ‘oh, he did it once and he would never do it again.’ There’s always a pattern. And even when the woman has been duped and she doesn’t see the pattern yet, there’s normally a pattern there. And so, I’ve sort of seen that with women that I know who have been cheated on by their cheating exes, and have discovered, ‘oh, there was a pattern, and I had no idea when I was in the middle of it.’ I wanted to give Tabitha that opportunity to see the pattern because she sort of blamed herself thinking, ‘I was different. I was Amish. I wasn’t English enough. We didn’t quite connect. I was embarrassing to him.’ I needed Tabitha to be able to forgive herself and to be able to see that she had been enough all along, and she was never the problem. It was always him who was the problem, not her. I really needed Tabitha to see that. It wasn’t because she wasn’t enough. It was because he had personal issues that made him incapable of fidelity. I wanted to give her that opportunity to really deal with it, and it was a painful dealing, but at the end of it, she could move on with her own love, realizing, ‘I do have a lot to offer.’ She absolutely is the whole package.

EC: Next books?

PJ: Coming out the end of February the book called Her Amish Secret Admirer. This is the last book in the “Amish Chocolate Shop Brides Series.” The setting is a little Amish town and the stories center around the girls who work there. In this book, the owner of the shop receives a secret admirer letter. And she has no idea who this person could possibly be. The secret admirer is her best friend who lives next door. He’s widowed. He was trying to cheer her up. He sends another one, just to try and smooth things over to keep her happy. They end up in the situation where he’s sending these letters and he’s sort of teasing her a little bit. He’s like, ‘ooh, you’re getting letters.’ Mayhem ensues, and it all circles around the right people getting married.

Another book is titled, Amish Country Christmas, and it is about the third sister in the “Honest Antiques Shop miniseries.” Her old friend ghosted her. And they had been best, best, best friends. Now, he’s a cop, he’s back, and he’s widowed. He has a young son. She is his young son’s second grade teacher, and is also running an antiques shop with her sisters. The cops are trying to root out the criminal element, and they need her help. There is a Christmas element and a mystery where the cops are trying to figure out who’s harassing this Amish community. It has romantic suspense. Both the hero and heroine are English but are involved with the Amish community.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Unearthed and Betrayed by Anna J. Stewart

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Unearthed and Betrayed by Anna J. Stewart continue the “Circle of the Red Lily” series. Both books have a suspenseful action-filled story.

Book Description

Unearthed’s plot has forensic investigator Dr. Cassia Davis living a life of isolation, after surviving the kidnapping by a serial killer. She has self-imposed to confining herself to her apartment and to online consulting. But after a Hollywood Hills murder mystery exposes a mass grave connected to her past, Cass must confront the man who shattered her trust, FBI Special Agent Mitchell Keaton.

His mistake nearly cost her life. Now, working together on the crime scene investigation, they must unearth the truth about a serial killer tied to The Circle of the Red Lily, a ruthless secret society that controls Hollywood’s darkest corners.

But digging into the past means reopening old wounds. As passion reignites between them, Cass and Mitch must overcome guilt, trauma, and the lies that tore them apart. Because the closer they get to the truth, the more dangerous the hunt becomes.

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Book Description

Betrayed highlights Sutton O’Hara, a good friend of the heroines from previous stories. She is raising her orphaned niece and nephew and working as a nutritionist at a retirement home. But when clues among the residents point to the Circle, a powerful secret network linked to decades of missing girls and murder, she refuses to look away.

Former Naval investigator Blake Redford is determined to keep Sutton safe. Posing as her friend gives him the perfect excuse to stay close while they search for answers, but the attraction they’ve both ignored quickly becomes impossible to deny. For the first time since losing his wife and son, Blake can imagine a future again.

Then, Sutton discovers why he really took the job as a building maintenance man, and it rocks everything she thought about him.

Now, with her trust shattered and the enemy closing in, Blake must prove whose side he’s on before the secrets he kept cost him the woman he loves, the family he never expected, and their only chance to expose the truth.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Anna J. Stewart: I knew when I was writing books, one and two, that I was eventually going to have to find the missing women, and they weren’t obviously going to turn up alive. So, I knew that there was going to have to be a mass grave somewhere. And that’s essentially how I came up with the idea for the character of forensic investigator Dr. Cassia Davis (Cass). Although back when I first put her on the page, I didn’t know how complicated she was going to be to write. For me, it was just kind of a natural inclusion into the storyline.

EC: How would you describe the serial killer Jonathan Whittaker, the one in prison?

AJS: Probably a genius and very manipulative. He was powerful because I think there’s an inherent power, good or bad, that comes from believing that you’re always going to get away with something. And I think when he was put away, he always knew he was going to find a way to get out. He managed to find a way to do that.

EC: How would you describe Elliot the dog?

AJS: He’s traumatized and he bonds with Cass. I watch a lot of animal videos on social media just because they’re so healing. There’s a thing in writing called “Save the Cat,” which is how someone knows whether somebody is very good or not, and it usually has something to do with an animal. This allowed me to give Cassia a coping mechanism and another lost soul to bond with to help her through trauma. And dogs inherently know whether or not they can trust you. Elliot himself sensed that Cass needed him as much as she needed him.

EC: What about Mitch, the hero?

AJS: He’s charming, a former FBI profiler, sympathetic, protective, and focused. He’s also dealing with a fair amount of guilt, and guilt is a great motivator when it comes to the rest of your life. Mitch wishes if only he could turn back the clock and make different decisions than he did in the heat of the moment. And this isn’t to say that he made any wrong decisions. When I wrote the prologue to this book and I showed what happened between him and Cass, in the opening pages of that book, that established where she is mentally and even physically. He wishes there was another way he could have done something without breaking her trust, but he doesn’t see it in the same way that she does. He was a safe person for her to strike out against, and to shut out of her life, because it gave her a kind of a sense of control that she needed. But at the same time, I think she really lost something she probably needed.

EC: How would you describe Cass?

AJS: She is reclusive, traumatized, anxious, and wants safety boundaries. She is self-protective, has imprisoned herself, remote, and paranoid. Cass is angry and I think that might even be close to where most of her issues come from is how angry she is. She doesn’t necessarily know what she’s angry at or who she’s angry at. So, I think it all kind of manifests itself in different ways. It is an illusionary control because what she learns through the story is that even though she thinks everything around her is safe, she’s still not safe. And that’s because she’s brought with her the trauma, and she’s been trying to outrun it by locking herself away, but there’s really no way to do that until she faces it.

EC: What about Temple House?

AJS: I think Temple House is honestly the heart of the story, where everybody has built their community. And that was purposeful. I wanted a central location where everybody had a connection to not only the building and the history of the building and the sense of community that it offers, but also a place where everybody who lives inherently becomes family. My stories, no matter what type of story I write, there is always going to be family found including with a circle of friends.

EC: The relationship between Mitch and Cass?

AJS: It’s complicated because they both are keeping secrets from each other. They’re both frustrated and they care about each other. They love each other. But just because you love somebody doesn’t necessarily mean you can be with them, and they really find their way through a lot of previous trauma to make the decision to fight to be together. And that’s really what they do throughout the story.

EC: In all the books the bad guys are in this group, The Circle?

AJS: They’re abusive, they like to kidnap, believe in ritualistic murders, want power and prestige. They’re like a fraternity and a cult. Past stories about events like this really did kind of influence how I approached creating the circle and what it is that they’re about.

EC: Idea for the fourth book, Betrayed?

AJS: This has been the trickiest story to write so far, and I say that getting ready to hit into the last book of the series. Because when I first introduced Sutton O’Hara, she’s a Midwest girl, a cook, a nutritionist, very much a homebody, because she’s built her life and her career around comfort and nutrition and caretaking. And I wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to bring to the story that could equal what the three previous heroines had done. Each of the three previous heroines had an actual role to play in the investigation and were properly motivated to want to see the investigation proceed. It was a puzzle on what to do with Sutton when she’s raising her niece and nephew. And she’s kind of an outlier, and it actually became a plot point of the story where even she’s wondering, ‘well, what do I have to do with any of this,’ even though she’s also being targeted, partly because she lives in Temple House, but also partly because she’s very good friends with the other women who the circle sees as a threat. I really challenged her into stepping up and deciding what she wants to fight for in her own life. Then there was the hero, Blake Redford, who was introducedin the first book of the series, Framed, book one of the series. I knew from the start what his secret was, and that doesn’t usually happen for me because I don’t plot out my books. I’m usually surprised as I’m writing them. Blake’s appearance, when he showed up in that scene in Framed, he was going to be there for reasons other than being there for a job. When I got to the end of book three, and I kind of had that twist ending in the epilogue, that surprised me. I knew there was some connection between Sutton and Blake but I didn’t realize how deep it particularly went.

EC: What about Blake?

AJS: Blake is former military, calm, and strong. He lost his wife and son. He’s honorable. The honorability is really something that was interesting to play with, because he’s extremely honorable, and he’s extremely loyal, but the loyalty shifts as he becomes more involved in the case. The reasons that he’s originally sent to help at Temple House aren’t necessarily on the up and up, but he’s doing a favor for a friend, and he’s the kind of person who’ll always do something for a friend. When he realizes that there’s more to this than he’s been told, his loyalties begin to shift away from his friend and into the new circle of friends that he’s found, that he didn’t expect to find. No matter what he’s done, he always does it with a sense of honor, which is one reason why he really can’t play a victim when the betrayal comes out. He realizes ‘I have to pay the price for what I set into motion.’ And that’s honorable.

EC: How about their relationship?

AJS: When I started with book four, he really is lying to everybody about why he’s there in Temple House and why he came to Temple House. And Sutton is somebody who needs to trust. And that is the one ultimate thing that she would possibly never be able to forgive is being lied to from the start from somebody that she develops feelings for. This book had a heavier romance lean to it than the suspense, but that’s mainly because Sutton’s position within the friendship circle really didn’t lend itself to quite as much suspense and danger as the other three heroines. Their relationship is complicated. She feels disappointed and betrayed by him and he is hurt by her. I think he’s hurt, but I think he also understands because he knew it was going to happen. He was just hoping to stay ahead of it. But as he’s learned through other events in his life, that it doesn’t matter how much he hopes for things, sometimes he just can’t make something happen that he needs to have happen. It was also an element of self- sabotage: ‘if she doesn’t forgive me, then I’m still protected and, I was right to be leery of getting involved.’ But at the same time, he still hopes that something will work its way out for the two of them.

EC: How would you describe Sutton?

AJS: Sutton is impulsive, gives people confidence, organized, smart, snarky, concerned, determined, and must deal with the death of her brother and sister-in-law. Earlier I was talking about trying to figure out the puzzle piece that she has. Her friend tells her, ‘You have a vital part to play in our circle, because you’re who we all come to for logic and reason and stability. You’re the anchor. And if you weren’t here, we’d all be untethered.’ And I think that was an important thing for her to be able to see through somebody else’s eyes, especially since she’s had a lot thrown at her when her brother and sister-in-law died, and suddenly she’s a single parent to two young children. It’s given her a purpose, but it’s also, kind of taken away from whatever she had planned for her own life. But she never resents that. Sutton kind of becomes the soul of Temple House, taking care of everybody. She cooks for them, and she’s always the one who will open the door and say, ‘what do you need?’

EC: There are a lot of quotes in both books from movies. Are you a movie fanatic?

AJS: I grew up on old movies. I grew up with Shirley Temple and Bogey movies and Marilyn Monroe always been a fascination of mine. I have a huge movie collection. I still collect DVDs because I’m a big fan of physical media where I want to watch what I want to watch. I don’t have to find the streaming service that’s on. I love everything about the whole bringing an imagination into the visual world. I was 7 when Star Wars came out, and that’s really the first movie I can remember where I’m like, ‘oh, this is what it’s like to step into somebody’s imagination.’ And that’s really where my lot of storytelling began. When I created this world and set it in Hollywood, it was just a natural fit because I’ve always been so interested in all kinds of things that have to do with Hollywood movie making.

EC: Who is Moxie Temple based upon?

AJS: Moxie Temple, who is Riley Temple’s great aunt, who I kind of created as a combination of Shirley Temple and Debbie Reynolds, because of the way that she moved through Hollywood. She is trying to reinvent herself, starting from the 1940s all the way up to present day and she’s still driving. She’s still trying to find the spotlight, which she always manages to find.

EC: Next books?

AJS: I think the one thing I know for certain is going to happen in book five is Moxie Temple finally going to find that spotlight again. No title yet, but it will be featuring Laurel Fontaine, who’s the character I have been dying to write. She’s the celebrity defense attorney who is very well known nationwide. She has a reputation. She’s very smart. I have no idea right now what her background is. I don’t know how she became what she became or why, so I’m really looking forward to figuring that out. She will be paired off with somebody we meet in book four, Granger Powell. I want to cause as much conflict and tension as I can, and I think putting those two on the page together is going to be really, fun. It should be out next summer, hopefully late June, early July. I am in the dark as much as the readers are right now as far as how the Circle organization is going to work out because the person I thought headed it, that is not the person. But part of the fun of not being a plotter is that I get to be surprised along with the reader. As far as I know, these five will be the only books in the “Red Lily Series.” That said, I am going to be introducing one or two new characters for a new series.

The new series will take a darker turn, and I’m not sure if traditional publishers would be interested in that. I’d really love to write something where I’m untethered and anything is open to what I want to write. The new series is a story about revenge and justice. I am 90% sure I’m going to be self-publishing it, and if I do, it would probably either be late 2027, early 2028. There’s going to be four books in that series.

The McKenna series is going to end with book four. That’s Aidan’s story and that will be out in February. Readers will meet a bunch of characters for my new series with Harlequin Romantic Suspense, which is called “Deep Current Solutions.” It will revolve around a security agency that deals with aquatic situations working on oil rigs or underwater science facilities. I’m really looking forward to writing those. I believe the first deep current book will be out next fall.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Covert Security, Colton’s Private Security & Twins for the Cowboy Dad by Lisa Childs

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Book Description – Covert Security

His past came with a reputation

Saving her would redefine his future

Hell has frozen over! Because Viktor Lagransky, the son of a former mafia assassin, is the only person who believes officer Sheila Carlson’s ambush was orchestrated by one of her police colleagues. Viktor is trying to be the best bodyguard the Payne Protection Agency has ever seen—even if the stubborn cop doubts his true motives. But when her questions about her dad’s unsolved murder lead to a new string of attacks against her, she has no choice but to trust the former bad boy she’s always been attracted to. If only her attacker—and Viktor’s own family secrets—didn’t threaten their unexpected partnership.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Covert Security has Viktor Lagransky, the son of a former mafia assassin, as the only person who believes officer Sheila Carlson’s ambush was orchestrated by one of her police colleagues. Viktor is trying to be the best bodyguard the Payne Protection Agency has ever seen—even if the stubborn cop doubts his true motives. But when her questions about her dad’s unsolved murder leads to a new string of attacks against her, she has no choice but to trust the former bad boy she’s always been attracted to.

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Book Description – Colton’s Private Security

He let her go once.

He won’t lose her now.

Since he left the military, Mark Colton’s work as a bodyguard has satisfied his need for travel and adventure. He’s on a rare visit back home when a dangerous criminal takes a nurse hostage. That nurse is Cassidy Garner, his high school sweetheart, and seeing her in the grasp of an armed villain makes his well-honed instincts kick in. After this close call, he’s determined to keep her safe—even if that means ignoring the once-in-a-lifetime attraction they both still feel. But what if it’s his past that’s putting her in danger?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Colton’s Private Security has military veteran Mark Colton working as a body guard, which has satisfied his need for travel and adventure. He’s on a rare visit back home when a dangerous criminal takes a nurse hostage. That nurse is Cassidy Garner, his high school sweetheart, and seeing her in the grasp of an armed villain makes his well-honed instincts kick in. After this close call, he’s determined to keep her safe—even if that means ignoring the once-in-a-lifetime attraction they both still feel. But what if it’s his past that’s putting her in danger?

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Book Description – Twins for the Cowboy Dad

Cowboy bachelor today…

Father of two tomorrow?

Pregnant with twins, newly single Trish Dempsey hopes for a fresh start at her late father’s ranch. Trish wants to turn Four Corners into a home for her and her children, as well as a new business. There’s just one catch—Brett Lemmon and his brothers already live there, and she’ll have to convince them to go along with her plan. Rugged and hardworking, Brett is the most stubborn—and the most attractive. He put everything he had into making Four Corners a working ranch. Now he must compromise with the frustrating and beautiful Trish. The more time they spend together, the more he realizes that the real threat she poses is to his bachelor status!

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Elise’s Thoughts

Twins For the Cowboy Dad has Trish coming back to the ranch after her father’s passing, having just gone through a messy divorce. Not only did Trish come back to the ranch, she came back pregnant with twins. She had a lot of ideas on how things should be done at the ranch. Brett Lemmon and his brothers already live there, and she’ll have to convince them to go along with her plan. This was not only a romance, but there’s a mystery involved.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the book, Covert Security?

Lisa Childs: I loved writing the main characters banter. I thought of the movie “Moonlighting” with Bruce Willis and Sybil Shepherd, where they had that kind of quick, quick, witty banter. I loved that dynamic which was from the other books, and it was just like they needed their own story. The male lead, Viktor, whose dad was a hit man. He was just this terrible person. So, yeah, I wanted Viktor to get his happily ever after, for sure.

EC: How would you describe Sheila?

LC: Ambitious, tough, vulnerable, intimidating, fearless, snarky, funny, sexy, and stubborn. She has a rap as being ambitious, but she’s also on a mission to find out what happened to her dad, with people saying he was corrupt. She isn’t necessarily on a mission to prove his innocence, but to find out who killed him and the truth about his career. This has been what’s driving her more than any advancement of her career.

EC: How would you describe Viktor?

LC: Protective, charming, and funny.

EC: What about their relationship?

LC: There’s just that attraction between them. They’re the misfit toys, and so, they just have that cute attraction yet, he’s everything she doesn’t trust. He comes from this horrible upbringing. She’s accepted that these people have had these horrible upbringings, and wonders if they want to change, or are they capable of change. They’re very good people but just had horrible circumstances.

EC: Colton’s Private Security, how did you get the idea for this book?

LC: There are a bunch of authors who write stories. We’re given what’s called the Bible, we’re getting called the Bible, which is a plot outline. I was given to write about a bodyguard, because I’ve written a few of them. You have points in the story that you must know about the other stories that you have to put in there.

EC: How would you describe Mark?

LC: He’s former military, so, he’s got that rigid military upbringing. He’s always kind of had the wanderlust. That’s why he didn’t want to stay in the hometown. He wanted to travel. He likes traveling and wanderers. To a certain extent he has PTSD but I think he’s aware of it, and he’s found ways to cope.

EC: How would you describe Cassidy?

LC: Very nurturing, very solid, and dependable, but unyielding and stubborn. She just wants to help her sister and raise her nephews and take care of her patients. Just a very good person.

EC: What about their relationship?

LC: We know that he broke her heart in high school, and she’s resentful of that. I don’t think she trusts him with her heart. And she doesn’t want to wind up like her sister, who lost her husband and has been struggling.

EC: How did you get the idea for Twins for the Cowboy Dad?

LC: I loved that Brett was as the oldest brother, one of my favorite characters, because he always took on so much responsibility, even when he didn’t want to. I loved that about him. I loved his personality from the other stories. Regarding Trish, I always had an idea in my head of who she was and how much family meant to her. My dad’s a twin, so that’s why I do twins so often in my stories.

EC: How would you describe Trish?

LC: She’s just a very sweet person. She kind of reminds me of my mom’s personality where family meant everything to her. She had that nurturing personality, and she wanted the family she never really got to have.

EC: How would you describe Brett?

LC: He was also a nurturer like Trish and family meant everything to him.

EC: What about the relationship?

LC: He was very forgiving when she wasn’t there. He was best friends with her dad. So, losing her dad was hard for him. Once he met her and understood her reasons, they were able to overcome that conflict. And suddenly, she’s got twins on the way. So that was quite a leap for him to be able to take on that responsibility, but he fell for her, and he fell for them.

EC: Next books?

LC: Next April, my first cozy mystery comes out. I used to have rental properties that we rented out in Michigan. The female lead has a bookstore in this big building, and she has rental units in it, and one of her guests is found dead. So that’s the whole setup of that book. Its titled Lake Michigan Murder Mystery. I have done thrillers and intrigues, but this is the first cozy, so I’m super excited about it.

In “The Covert Security series,” the next book will be Sylvie’s story and comes out in February. It is titled, Her Secret Security.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Unexpected Caller by Shelley Shepard Gray

Book Description

She finds sisterhood in the Amish Widows Club–but will she risk loving again?

Leanna Mast never imagined she’d be a widow at forty-one, but it seems God had other plans. After mourning her husband for a year, she realizes it’s time to start living again. But her community expects her to remarry, and after living on her own, she’s not eager to start cooking and cleaning in another man’s home.

When she’s invited to join the Amish Widows Club, she discovers a place of belonging she didn’t even know she needed. In this group of women who support one another through sharing books, stories, and companionship, Leanna immediately feels welcome. She’s sure her life as a widow will bring her the fulfillment she craves . . . until handsome, kind Evan Keim comes calling. As their relationship deepens, her heart becomes involved. But how could she possibly leave the widows club for a dream that might be too good to be true?

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Unexpected Caller by Shelley Shepard Gray is like all the other books she writes; they never disappoint. The story is filled with patience, loneliness, heartbreak, and love.

Leanna Mast never imagined she’d be a widow at forty-one, but it seems God had other plans. After mourning her husband for a year, she realizes it’s time to start living again. But her community expects her to remarry, and after living on her own, she’s not eager to start cooking and cleaning in another man’s home.

When she’s invited to join the Amish Widows Club, she discovers a place of belonging she didn’t even know she needed. In this group of women who support one another through sharing books, stories, and companionship, Leanna immediately feels welcome. She’s sure her life as a widow will bring her the fulfillment she craves until handsome, kind Evan Keim comes calling. As their relationship deepens, her heart becomes involved. She is conflicted about leaving the club or getting into a relationship with Evan.

The story is engaging and readers will have a hard time putting this book down. It is a story that will make readers forget their troubles as they take a journey with the characters.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?

Shelley Shepard Gray: I wrote all three books back-to-back to back with the three finished. I was in the whole world for about a year, and then, it was done. I am friends with a lady, who became a widow, maybe five years ago, and her husband had been in hospice for a long time. After he passed away, she felt like she had her life back, because she had been nursing him, and always needed to put his needs first, which is, of course, what you do with someone you love. After a year or so, it was a delight to see her, be excited to go out to eat, or to go with her girlfriends, or someone would say, ‘Well, let’s go do this little tour for the weekend.’ She could do things, and she had said something to me once about, ‘I think I almost took my friends for granted. I just really appreciate what I have with these other ladies that have been in the same position I’ve been in.’ So that just always kind of stuck with me. People think the Amish rules are, if you’re a widow, you must remarry right away, or you’re going to be mourning and sitting alone and wearing black nonstop. I have a feeling, if I was an Amish widow, and under the right circumstances, maybe I would want to go do stuff too. I thought it would be kind of a fun thing just to focus on friendships as much as a romance.

EC: What do you want to say about the Amish Widows Club?

SSG: Just because someone is driving a buggy and doesn’t have electricity, they don’t want the same thing that every other woman does, which is camaraderie, friendship, sisterhood. To have people that have your back. That is why I made up this lady, Doreen, who appears at the people’s houses at the beginning of every novel. At first, I wanted it to be completely secret. Like, nobody knew about it unless you’re a widow, and my editors didn’t like it being completely secret. And they are of different ages and are from different classes. These widows have a lot in common. They’ve gone through either a husband’s sudden death, or a long illness, or they’re suddenly alone. They don’t know how to go through life just by themselves.

EC: It was tough for the main character, Leanna, who had to choose between Evan or the club?

SSG: If you are married, or in a serious relationship, then maybe you don’t have that need as much as these widows do. And so, I like that idea, too, that it’s kind of you’re invited in, and if you decide to leave, or if you decide to get married, then you’re invited to leave. Leanna had a tough time deciding between the comradery of Evan or the one with this group.

EC: What do you want to say about her late husband, Willis?

SSG: He made her feel isolated, empty, depressed, and vulnerable. And she felt helpless, overwhelmed, and dejected around him. She felt like she had to get married and thought it was going to be better than it was. She had no choice, and she kind of was like, ‘This is my bed, and I’m resigned.’

EC: How would you describe Leanna?

SSG: The Unexpected Caller, has one of my favorite lines I’ve ever written to start a book, and I thought it summed it up, because the first line is, ‘she was so tired of being nice.’ And I really liked that about her. I thought she had a secret spunk, with a backbone in there somewhere. She just had to find it. And as she found her strength, she had to come to terms with it. I found a lot of value in her growth.

EC: What role did Doreen, the head of the Widows Club, play?

SSG: She was a force of nature. She was just a woman with a goal. She decided this is something that’s needed, and I’m going to form it. I liked that about her. And I saw, in a way, a little bit of me, and because I love books. Well, I’m kind of timid by nature, but I was a teacher for a long time, and I love a good schedule, and I love rules. I’m the best rule follower I know. I guess I channeled a little bit of her, a little bit of me into her, that, you know, she wanted to do this club, and she was going do this club her way. And she was the captain of it who handpicked people that she thought would be good in it. She didn’t ask every woman who was widowed to be part of it. I liked how spunky she was. And opinionated, and she didn’t really apologize. I even have her living so far out. She is not in a church district, so she goes to all different kinds of church districts. I mean, there’s just nothing about her in the norm. But she got along with everyone.

EC: What about the male lead, Evan?

SSG: He was kind, suave, debonair, and attentive. I loved all the scenes with his boys. I love the interaction with them. I liked how all the boys were so different, and he accepted who they were.

EC: What about the relationship between Evan and Leanna?

SSG: The main issue was she wanted to have a child, and he felt like, ‘no, I’ve been there, done that.’ I tried to have multiple conflicts. After his wife passed away, he’s kind of lonely. As for her, once she started falling in love with him and his family, she started learning more about herself, that it was okay to want things, ‘Well, I’m young enough to still have a baby. What if I have a baby? I would like this to happen one day.’ Then I wanted her to be able to voice that, and I didn’t want her to be afraid to say, ‘Oh, well, you don’t want this. Well, okay,’ because that would be right back where she was before, where she didn’t feel like she had a voice in the marriage. They both were smitten with each other, but there was this tension, and problems that they didn’t want to overlook for a while. I thought it was partly because of their ages, too.

EC: Do you think Jeremy helped to influence that relationship?

SSG: Jeremy helped his father see the light, in a sense, out of all the brothers. I like that the youngest son was blunt, and he wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t afraid to just say, ‘Dad, you’re being ridiculous, or what are you thinking?’ Evan seemed almost too nice, so I kind of wanted to have Jeremy realize that Evan’s got some flaws, too.

EC: What about the role of the relationship between Jeremy, Evan’s son, and Becca, the English woman?

SSG: I liked Jeremy and his dad a lot together. Jeremy kind of cracked me up, and I thought, ‘Well, Jeremy isn’t sure what he wants to be.’ It was fun just having him interested in this girl. She had her own needs, and I thought they were just a good foil, because he really liked her. She liked him. She had a difficult family life. There was also, she was English. He isn’t sure what he wants to do. And so, there was a nice little conflict, I hadn’t planned on. I wanted Jeremy’s point of view, just so we had an observer. The reader had an observer.

EC: Next book?

SSG: I say this series is a little dipping into women’s fiction and maybe just thinking about some other things that women must deal with besides just falling in love and being in a romantic relationship. I like that some of these books has some things for a reader to think about besides just the main romance going on.

In the next book, The Forbidden Caller, the widow, is only 24. It comes out next month. She wasn’t too keen on joining the Widow’s Club, because she thought, ‘I don’t really want to be with a bunch of old ladies.’ The third book is called The Persistent Caller. There is a prologue; the next widow was in an awful marriage, and she’s been in the widow’s club a long time. Somebody comes along, and changes her mind, where it becomes a tough decision for her, and she questions, does she want to leave? I believe it comes out in March

I also have coming out in November, E is for Englisher. It’s a Christmas book, which is my favorite type to write, with baby doll sheep. So, very cute. They’re all named after states. The heroine happens to be a widow, having a hard time of trying to move on. She meets this guy and they kind of bond over the six sheep on Christmas Eve.

THANK YOU!!

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Feature Post and Book Review: Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst

Book Description

Avery Sunshine might not have a soul mate of her own, but she still believes in happily ever after—for her clients. Making dreams come true is her business at Sunshine Bridal, which she runs with her two sisters. When her best friend announces her engagement, Avery is thrilled to take charge of the giddy bride-to-be’s big day. Less thrilling? Her best friend’s arrogant and demanding brother, who just so happens to be the man of honor.

Carter Ross’s first instinct: call 911. He promised to always take care of his impulsive little sister, and he honors that vow. Even if it means taking over her wedding, where he is sure Avery will fail. At best, Avery is unpredictable. At worst, if she’s anything like the spitfire of a college girl he remembers, the main event could run wild.

With Avery and Carter wrestling for control, tempers heat up. So does the spark of attraction they’re fighting with every kiss. As the wedding draws near, it’s time to reconcile a rocky past and make a decision that could change everyone’s lives. Because what they’re rebelling against looks a lot like love.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50160315-love-on-beach-avenue?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=7nkK8ZCahV&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

LOVE ON BEACH AVENUE (The Sunshine Sisters Book #1) by Jennifer Probst is the first contemporary romance in a trilogy featuring the Sunshine sisters who own and run the top Jersey Shore bridal planning business located in Cape May. This first book is an enemies-to-lovers romance with the eldest workaholic Avery always believing her forever love is out there somewhere. An emotional, fun, and sexy start to the trilogy.

Avery Sunshine is excited when her college BFF, Ally, calls with the news she is getting married and she and her fiancée hope Avery can fit them in with little notice for her dream beach wedding. Avery is constantly busy, but she is determined to give Ally the wedding of her dreams. What she does not plan on is Ally’s staid older brother being her man of honor.

Carter Ross has been Ally’s guardian since the death of their parents. He has always put her first and wants her to have the best wedding ever, but he believes hiring Avery is a mistake. Avery and Carter butted heads during her and Ally’s college years and he still sees her as an impulsive and unpredictable influence.

As Avery and Carter battle over every decision and control of the wedding, sparks begin to fly and they discover they want more than just Ally’s happiness.

This is a wonderful introduction to the very different Sunshine sisters. Avery steers the company with an optimistic personality, but her life has become more work than play. Carter knows just how to get her ire up and he becomes just what she needs, for a while, but he has an emotional wall that is difficult to bring down. It is a great back and forth over Ally’s wedding and all the emotional baggage in-between. The secondary characters are funny, supportive, and are a bit of a peek into what I hope are the future sister matchups. I absolutely adored Lucy, Carter’s pampered dog. The dialogue, especially the intense banter between Avery and Carter, is great. The sex scenes are explicit and smokin’ hot while believable to the romance.

I really enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers romance and am looking forward to following the other Sunshine sisters to their HEAs.

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About the Author

Jennifer Probst wrote her first book at twelve years old. She bound it in a folder, read it to her classmates, and hasn’t stopped writing since. She holds a masters in English Literature and lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley in upstate New York. Her family keeps her active, stressed, joyous, and sad her house will never be truly clean. Her passions include horse racing, Scrabble, rescue dogs, Italian food, and wine—not necessarily in that order.

She is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance fiction. She was thrilled her book, The Marriage Bargain, spent 26 weeks on the New York Times. Her work has been translated in over a dozen countries, sold over a million copies, and was dubbed a “romance phenom” by Kirkus Reviews. She has over fifty books published.

Social Media Links

Website: https://jenniferprobst.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenniferprobst.authorpage/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjenniferprobst/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/love-on-beach-avenue-by-jennifer-probst

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride and Winning the Bull Rider’s Heart by Melinda Curtis

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The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride by Melinda Curtis not a single but a home run. All of Melinda’s books blends romance, humor, and relationship issues.

Book Description

Hayden Bennett is done with love. After being left at the altar, the Montana rancher returned home determined to protect his heart and honor his grandfather’s final wishes. But dividing the family ranch five ways, managing a wandering grandmother, and holding everything together alone is more than even a stubborn cowboy can handle.

Single mom Eve Atkinsonis done with marriage, too. Recently divorced and rebuilding her life in Bentwood Creek, the licensed vocational nurse is juggling long shifts, a spirited toddler, and an ex-husband who uses custody threats to control her future. Becoming a registered nurse feels like a dream she may never reach.

When childhood friends Hayden and Eve strike a marriage-of-convenience bargain, it solves more than one problem. She gains stability and protection. He gains the help he desperately needs.

But sharing a home brings buried feelings to the surface. What begins as a practical arrangement soon tests their guarded hearts.

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Elise’s Thoughts

In The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride, Hayden Bennett has returned home after years away to settle his grandfather’s estate. Along with that chore comes the very real concern for his grandmother’s fading memory, especially when she manages to wander off and needs closer supervision. Then he is stunned when Eve Fisher, desperately said that Hayden was her fiancé and that she and Katie would be living on his ranch. She did it to escape her controlling ex-husband who wants her and Katie to return home. Yet, it soon becomes apparent that a marriage of convenience would benefit them both, and she would help him with his grandmother and he would help her deal with her selfish ex-husband. There is also the problem that he was jilted by Evie’s sister at the alter and she had a huge crush on him that she is trying to hide.

The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride is one of those special books where readers will be disappointed when it is over. These characters leap off the page and face real-life situations that need answers as they struggle with their emotions about each other. Katie stole every scene she was in, and Hayden’s grandmother’s situation felt realistic. In all, this is an excellent start to the new series.

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Winning The Bull Rider’s Heart is a fun, second chance romance story. It is a sweet, uplifting romance full of banter, humor, and drama.

Book Description

Bull rider Noel Emerson left Clementine, Oklahoma—and the girl he loved—to chase his rodeo dreams. When his foster mom’s birthday brings him home four years later, he’s stunned to find that his beautiful ex Sophie Jean is a bigger part of his family than he is. His jealousy chafes worse than a new pair of chaps. But what starts off as a fierce rivalry turns into a sweet reunion. Beautician Sophie Jean Shearer has turned into a fine cowgirl thanks to her ex’s family. And she’s found her own dreams, but will she saddle up for a second chance at forever with her unpredictable cowboy?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Winning The Bull Rider’s Heart story is emotional, full of laughter and tears, assumptions and revelations as they rebuild their relationship. The plot begins with bull rider Noel Emerson coming home to Clementine, Oklahoma, four years later, for his foster mother’s birthday but he is really coming home because of a bad concussion. He tries to keep it a secret but there is no hiding it from his former girlfriend Sophie Jean. They thought their past romance would go the distance, but their opposing views on his career pulled them apart. He struggles with how to fit Sophie Jean and his bull riding career into the same orbit, while Sophie Jean has other ideas. Although she too still loves Noel, she wants him to commit to settling down in Clementine, TX before the bulls he loves to ride end not just his career but his life. Now he must decide which is more important to him, Sophie or his career as a bull rider.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride?

Melinda Curtis: I hadn’t written a marriage of convenience in a long time, and I like them. I was trying to figure out how I could get a marriage of convenience, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, it would be fun if she had a crush on him, a taboo crush, so how could I do a taboo crush?’ Then I thought, ‘he needs to date her sister, her older sister, and what if they didn’t get married?’ This is the way it kind of started. I enjoy that trope, and I really wanted to do another one.

EC: How would you describe Hayden?

MC: He felt jilted. He has grudges. He’s organized. He broods. He’s cool. Um, He’s a teaser and guarded. He let that one event define him, for 10 years, what happened with his grandfather.

EC: How would you describe Evie?

MC: Evie, is a chatterbox, brazen, naive, impulsive, determined, brave, compassionate, and lonely. She comes home to start over and kind of lay that foundation where this is going to be the one place I can put a stake in the ground against her ex.

EC: Speaking of Evie’s ex, Steven, how would you describe him?

MC: Steven is a workaholic. He seems indifferent to his wife and daughter, selfish. He is sharp tongued, never really gave compliments to Evie, and was possessive. I did not like him although he was unhappy with his choices. But he was a jerk. I wanted to show how managing divorces and child custody, all that stuff is messy, and I didn’t want to gloss over it too much.

EC: What was the role of Katie, Evie’s daughter, and Hayden’s grandmother, Irene, in the story?

MC: Katie kind of worshipped Hayden and she appeared sometimes like she was the boss. Katie is such a girly girl pistol as the boss being an only child. And then the grandmother, she kind of pushed Hayden. The grandmother had a stroke and was trying to recover. It was sort of based on my mother-in-law, who had a stroke and then dementia, but she has not come back. I wanted to write a character where she came back from dementia because it’s been so draining on all of us with my mother-in-law. The doctor kept saying, ‘You know, we’re going to give it another six months.’ Well, it’s been a year now. And I just needed, for myself, to write a character that has hope, and I find that Irene was so plucky, with this love of her chickens. It’s been fun to write a continuing character that has dementia that is managing it with drugs. You know how I love my humor. And so, I do like to have an older character that says unexpected things. She is my outlet, because of the thing in real life that I can’t fix, and then, my, my need to have humor.

EC: What about the relationship between Evie and Hayden?

MC: Hayden and Evie were soulmates who maybe got along better now than when Hayden was dating her sister. They just needed to come back together at the right time, and now were forced into it. He doesn’t believe in love, and that upsets her, because she had a crush on him and realizes when they had to get married, it was based supposedly on friendship. He did not want to get too close because he was afraid of a broken heart again after what happened with Evie’s sister.

EC: In Winning the Bull Riders’ heart, how did you get the idea for the story?

MC: Well, funny enough, I was talking with my editor about what the next series would be. And we talked about the bull riding teams, which are getting more popular. The Bull Riding Association decided to be like other professional sports and find a way to train their athletes along with having them make money. So, they’ve created these bull riding teams that had a draft. And it’s kind of fascinating., Winning the Bull Riders Heart, had these coaches of these bull riding teams that were retired bull riders. So, this book is kind of the prequel to the new series, and I did stay in Clementine. This allowed me to have a bridge between the two series, even though I have two more books that are coming out in the series.

EC: How would you describe Noel?

MC: Family oriented, cool, has composure, a perfectionist, competitive, cutthroat, witty, and humorous.

EC: How would you describe Sophie?

MC: Fearful of opening her own business, and scared to make choices.

EC: What about the relationship between Sophie and Noel?

MC: They would probably still have been together if she hadn’t put her foot down and said, ‘I need I need you to commit’, and that ended things. And I think they had lots of unresolved issues. There was a lot of time spent on kind of feeling their way back to each other.

EC: Next books?

MC: The next book in “The Bennetts of Brentwood Creek Series” will have Irene, the grandmother, playing a key part in book two, and a key part in book three. Book two will be Cult’s story because I’m doing them in order of their age. So, Cult is the next oldest brother, and he’s a Bronx rider that’s injured, so he comes back to town, and he’s going to discover that he has some kids that he didn’t know about, having made promises to come back, that he didn’t keep. And then I’m just finishing up Rhett’s book now. Colt’s book comes out in October, and Rhett’s book comes out next April.

The next book in the bull riding series is Cowboys Christmas Twins that comes out in October. In December, I have Snowed in with the Cowboy.

THANK YOU!!

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