Shoshana
If you can have Christmas in August, whom would you like to have in your stocking, and
why? (Right now, I’ll go for David Boreanaz. He’s got such sexy grin, and his behind is not bad either!)

Cheryl:
Hmm… Christmas in August… man in my stocking… Good question, but since we’re
talking fantasy here, I think I’d take a Zetithian—but if he has to be human, there’s this guynamed Daniel that I wouldn’t mind getting as a gift!

Hint: he has long dark hair and his picture is in the sidebar on my blog.;-)

If you’re going to be stuck in an island for some time, what are the three items you must have? (This is assuming that you have food and shelter and don’t have to worry about dying.)

Cheryl:
My husband, my guitar, and some sort of creative activity. I’ve always had this need to
create, be it candles, pies, books, or sequined shirts for a country singer—and yes, I actually did that!—otherwise, I’d go nuts!

Virginia C
What’s the very first book that made a lasting impression on you from your childhood?

Cheryl:
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart is the first novel I can remember reading
that wasn’t a children’s book. I loved her voice, the romance, and the suspense. Then I read all of her books and loved every one of them, particularly her Merlin Trilogy. Great stuff!

What’s the last book you read that made you cry?

Cheryl: It’s been out for a while now, so this isn’t a spoiler, but when Fred Weasley was killed in the last Harry Potter book, I was pretty weepy-eyed.

Estella

How do you decide on the names for your characters?

Cheryl:
The heroes mostly have feline sounding names, but since I’ve used Cat, Leo, Manx, and Lynx, there aren’t many left. The later ones are a bit more obscure. Tychar (Rogue) began with the word tiger, and I played with it a bit to come up with that spelling. Trag (Hero) is a combination of tiger and dragon. For the heroes of books 7-9, I’ve gone to some scientific names and played around with the spellings and pronunciations.

When it comes to the names of heroines or secondary characters, I just use whatever feels best. Sometimes I hit random keys and move letters around or replace vowels until I come up with something I like.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Cheryl:
I don’t have much in the way of spare time anymore, but I like to cook, garden, play guitar and sing, plus I have three horses. I don’t ride very much these days, but I do love my big pasture pets!

Chey

Do you get to choose your own titles?

Cheryl:
I come up with a working title, but the final choice is usually out of my hands. Of the books in the Cat Star Chronicles series, so far, only Fugitive and Hero were published with the titles I gave them originally, and Fugitive was almost re-titled because they didn’t think it would fit on the cover! However, one of the guys in the art department was able to make the letters narrow enough to fit, which was fortunate because there really isn’t another word that means the same thing as fugitive—at least, I can’t think of one.

How much input do you have in your covers?

Cheryl:
The folks in the art department ask for character descriptions, but since none of my covers shows a full face on any of the guys, hair color is about the only thing that matters, and sometimes you can’t even see that much. My covers are then designed by Anne Cain, who I think does a fabulous job. The initial covers are sent to me, and I comment on them. I don’t like the headless torso thing, and I’ve had to request that a few of them be changed as a result. So far, any major objections I’ve had have at least been considered, and most have been corrected. The main input I had on the cover of Hero was to tell them not to change it. I loved it just the way it was when it was first presented to me.

Caffey
If you could meet any author from the past that inspired you to become an author, who
would you like to meet and what would you like to ask them?

Cheryl:
I’d like to ask William Shakespeare if he was actually the one who wrote all of that
stuff. Of course, I probably wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of his reply, but it would be interesting, just the same.

Pam S

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Cheryl:
Chocolate. Pure and simple. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

What is your most memorable vacation?

Cheryl:
Probably the trip I took to Las Vegas a couple of years ago—and not so much for the
casinos or anything like that, but because of the side trip we took to the Grand Canyon. Now, that was memorable.!

Meredith Miller

Have you had any “real life” adventures that have influenced your characters or plots?

Cheryl: LOL! I’ve had so few adventures, it isn’t even funny. There have been people, books, situations, random comments, and movies that have influenced me, but not too many people care to read about the things nurses do on a daily basis. It usually isn’t very pretty….

What is the strangest question someone has ever asked you in an interview?

Cheryl:
Probably the questions regarding how I came up with the idea for the Zetithians and
their, um, equipment. No, wait! Scratch that. It was my answer that was strange….

Terri C
When did you know you wanted to make a career of writing?

Cheryl: In 2004, I was watching Under the Tuscan Sun with my husband, and when I remarked that it would be pretty cool to be a writer living in Tuscany, he said “Write!” So I wrote! I haven’t made it anywhere near Italy yet, but maybe someday.

CherylS22
What is your favorite writing environment?

Cheryl:
Back here in my bedroom with the curtains closed, sitting at my messy desk right next
to my messy, unmade bed. All I need is my computer, my trusty Boy Scout cup full of tea or ice water, my computer glasses, and I’m good to go. I can write in other places, but this is where most of it happens.

KarenK

Who are your most favorite authors?

Cheryl:
I know they aren’t terribly current, but Mary Stewart, Georgette Heyer, and Daphne
DuMaurier have been favorites of mine since I was a kid. More recently, I fell in love with the Harry Potter series (along with millions of others) and I’ve read and enjoyed many of the books written by my fellow Sourcebooks Casablanca authors. Aside from that, I haven’t read very many books lately because I simply don’t have the time!

CrystalGB
Who are the biggest supporters of your writing?

Cheryl:
The core group of ladies who follow and comment on my blog are probably my most vocal supporters, however the gang I work with at the hospital aren’t far behind. Anytime we’re out together, they somehow manage to mention the fact that I’m a writer to someone. My family is supportive, but they just don’t read the sort of books I write, so they aren’t fans.

LilMissMolly

What do you enjoy reading?

Cheryl:
I read the Harry Potter series over and over again—usually as a means of winding
down before bed. It’s very difficult for me to read a romance novel without critiquing it, but JK Rowling’s writing is such that I don’t have to think about how it’s written; I can focus on the story and it diverts my mind better than anything else.

Aurora M

What book was your earliest memory?

Cheryl:
I can’t recall the author’s name, but the title of the book was A Horse of Her Own. It
was about a young girl living in England who got a pony and learned to ride. It was told in first person from her point of view, and was probably the earliest influence on me to enjoy reading (and writing) in that POV.

If you could have any other job what would it be?

Cheryl: I’d like to play lead guitar in a rock band. …hey, you asked me….

HERO BY CHERYL BROOKS – IN STORES AUGUST 2010
The Cat Star Chronicles #6
He is the sexiest, most irksome man she’s ever encountered…
Micayla is the last Zetithian female left in the universe. She doesn’t know what’s normal for her species, but she knows when she sees Trag that all she wants to do is bite him…

He has searched all over the galaxy for a woman like her…
Trag has sworn he’ll never marry unless he can find a Zetithian female. But now that he’s finally found Micayla, she may be more of a challenge than even he’s able to take on…

About the Author
Cheryl Brooks is an Intensive Care Unit nurse by night and a romance writer by day. Previous books in The Cat Star Chronicles series include Slave, Warrior, Rogue, Outcast and Fugitive.

She is a member of the RWA and lives with her husband and sons in Indiana. For more
information, please visit http://cherylbrooksonline.com/.

Giveaway:

Two winners on September 15.
US and Canada addresses only. No PO Box.
Fill in this form and leave a comment on this post. Feel free to ask more question if you have them, and Cheryl may answer if her time permits.

Tags: Cheryl Brooks, Sourcebooks

Thank you for the invitation to stop by This Book For Free today for a visit. I’m settled into the corner of the sofa over here and I’ve got a cup of coffee in one hand and a double fudge cupcake in the other. Hell, Yeah, the second book in the Honky Tonk Trilogy just hit the bookstores last week. Life is good so let the questions begin!

Shoshana

1. If you can have Christmas in August, what (or whom!) would you like to have in
your stocking, and why?
I want one of those RITA statues for any one of the Honky Tonk Series. I’ve been a good little writer, Santa, darlin’, and I won’t be greedy and ask for two of those lovely ladies. I’ll let you decide which book wins it and could you please give me the grace to walk up the steps to receive it without falling. I’m more than a bit clumsy. There will be a cold longneck bottle of beer and pretzels on the bar for you … my lips are sealed … Mrs. Claus or all those millions of children will never know about the beer or that you stopped long enough to rest your aching feet at my kitchen table.

2. If you’re going to be stuck in an island for some time, what are the three items you must have? (This is assuming that you have food and shelter and don’t have to worry about dying.)
My lap top with internet. One of those big umbrellas that stick in the sand so I don’t burn to a crisp. And a box of romance books to read when I’m not writing.

Virginia C

3. What’s the very first book that made a lasting impression on you from your
childhood?
I lived with a blind grandmother when I was a little girl and at night we listened to her “talking books” which were these big records that had someone reading books to us. Or else I read my library books if she wanted to talk to her friends on the telephone. I’m not sure I could ever choose one book in amongst all those. Everything makes an impression on me.

4. What’s the last book you read that made you cry?
I love LaVryle Spencer and she made me cry in every book she wrote. Can I have a coupon for a lunch with her in my Christmas stocking, too? Did I hear big a hell, yeah?

Estella

5. How do you decide on the names for your characters?
If I’m writing historical fiction I go to the top 100 names during that time frame. If I’m writing contemporary it’s pretty much the same only in the year that my character was born. But sometimes a name pops into my head and that’s it no matter if was popular or not. Like Jezzy Belle in Hell, Yeah … or Travis … and of course, Cathy! The names fit their personalities. Jezzy couldn’t have been a Sue, or a Darlene. It just wouldn’t have worked like Jezzy.

6. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I love to cook and sit out in my fabulous back yard and listen to the birds sing in the late evening. Both cooking and sitting on my patio with a cup of coffee or a can of Diet Coke clears my mind and gets me ready to write the next scene or chapter or even book.

Chey

7. Do you get to choose your own titles?
Titles are something my editor, the Sourcebooks staff and I all work on together. I absolutely loved the titles for the Honky Tonk Series. That Hell, Yeah cover just pops off the book shelf at the readers, doesn’t it?

8 . How much input do you have in your covers?
I’ve been very fortunate that the folks at Sourcebooks read about my characters before they design the book covers. They take the information I supply and come up with those gorgeous covers which are BYOB … that means Bring Your Own Bib to the book store because there will be drooling!

Caffey

9. If you could meet any author from the past that inspired you to become an author, who would you like to meet and what would you like to ask them? That would have to be Margaret Mitchell and I’d like to ask her why in the devil did she stop at one book?
There were many more stories that could have spun off of Gone With The Wind and I’m
just sure I would have loved every one of them!

Pam S

10. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
When I’m buying a cone I like that soft vanilla with a curl on the top. When I’m treating myself for finishing a difficult scene, it’s pecans pralines and cream right out of the half gallon with a spoon and standing at the kitchen bar. When I’m brave enough to step on the bathroom scales, it’s orange sherbet because it has less calories.

11. What is your most memorable vacation?
Well, I just came home yesterday from the RWA Convention in Orlando, Florida and that was pretty awesome. But in all my travels my favorite … remember now, I’m a romantic at heart … had to be on my 30th anniversary when my husband took me to Panama City Beach, Florida to celebrate and instead of a card he drew this big, enormous heart in the sand and put Happy 30th right in the middle of it.

Meredith Miller

12. Have you had any “real life” adventures that have influenced your characters or plots?
Oh, my yes. Those are the spice of a story and breathe life into it.

13. What is the strangest question someone has ever asked you in an interview?
That would be whether I’d written anything I wouldn’t want my mother to read. My mother read everything I wrote as long as her eyesight was good and until she took her last breath, anyone who came into her nursing home room got a full report on how many
books I’d sold, where they could buy them or check them out of a library and what month the next one came out. And if they didn’t want to be scolded the next time they entered her room, they’d have danged sure better come prepared to tell her that they’d read my books. She would have loved the cover for Hell, Yeah!

Terri C

14. When did you know you wanted to make a career of writing?
I do believe it was when I was four. All those beautiful words in those books had to be exciting. When I was five I learned to read and from that moment I was going to grow up and write.

CherylS22

15. What is your favorite writing environment?
When the nest was finally empty of kids and grandkids, I converted a small bedroom into an office. That’s my favorite place to write, surrounded by all my book covers, matted and framed around me, my notes thrown haphazardly around and a window where I can see the squirrels playing in the pecan tree right outside.

KarenK

16. Who are your most favorite authors?
If we’re going to get into that we’d better refill our iced tea glasses and put out another platter of cookies because the list is long. I love LaVyrle Spencer, Sue Grafton, Randy Wayne White, Nora Roberts (of course), Leon Uris … as you can see, I’m an eclectic reader.

CrystalGB

17. Who are the biggest supporters of your writing?
My husband, bless his heart! It takes a special man to be married to a writer. When we married, I tailor made his clothes; put three hot meals on the table plus cakes, cookies and pies for in between meal snacks; and kept a clean house. Now he wears clothes off the rack, eats fast food and dust bunnies tell him bedtime stories while I finish one more scene. He also monitors the phone and lets only important calls through to me … like when the youngest granddaughter said her first words!

LilMissMolly

18. What do you enjoy reading?
I will read anything from the back of the Special K box to Faulkner and love all of it. I love a good romance that makes me sigh, puts a wee tear in my eye, and gives me the giggles until I get the hiccups. I love a good mystery that makes me hold my breath and try to figure out whodunnit. Or a good old fashioned shoot-’em-up western. Any day with a book in my hands is a good day.

Aurora M

19. What book was your earliest memory?
Well, there was See Jane Run in the first grade when I was five. But I suppose you mean romance book? I remember the summer I found Victoria Holt and then Janet Dailey. I think I’m dating myself here.

20. If you could have any other job what would it be?
I can not think of another job that I would want other than being a writer. I can work in my pajamas on my own hours in my own house. It don’t get no better than that.

HELL, YEAH BY CAROLYN BROWN – IN STORES AUGUST 2010
She’s finally found a place that feels like home…
When Cathy O’Dell buys the Honky Tonk, the nights of cowboys and country tunes come together to create the home she’s always wanted. Then in walks a ruggedly handsome oil man who tempts her to trade in the happiness she’s found at the Honky Tonk for a life on the road with him…

He lives the good life…
Gorgeous and rich, Travis Henry travels the country unearthing oil wells and then moving on. Then the beautiful blue-eyed new owner of the Honky Tonk beer joint becomes his best friend and so much more. When his job is done in Texas, how is he ever going to hit the road without her?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Brown, an award-winning author who has published 36 romance novels for the library market, credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. Visit Carolyn Brown’s at http://carolynlbrown.com/.

Giveaway:
Thanks to Danielle and Sourcebooks. There’s two winners for Carolyn Brown’s brand new novel, Hell Yeah.
US and Canada addresses.
Contest ends August 30.
Fill in this form and leave a comment below to win.

For your comments, you can ask Ms Carolyn some more questions. It’s quite an honor to have Carolyn visit and mingle with us.

Tags: Carolyn Brown

Hell, Yeah
by Carolyn Brown
Mass Market Paperback
List Price: $7.99
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4022-3927-0

This title is the second installment of the Honky Tonk series. It started out with I Love This Bar. You don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this one. Cathy O’Dell is an accountant who bought the Honky Tonk bar from her cousin, Daisy, who was the star of the first book.

On New Years eve, Travis Henry kissed her. He’s geologist in town for a new oil well. He just also happen to have his new trailer located right next to Cathy’s bar. Sparks fly, and this story is off to a rollicking start.

While I enjoy reading this story, it didn’t hold my attention like Carolyn Brown’s other book. She’s an awesome writer guaranteed to make you enjoy her story, but I just can’t seem to care about Cathy or Henry for some reason. I think maybe it’s because Cathy and Henry are simply happy and well-adjusted. One of the reason I grow from reading stories is when a character has a personal struggle. I can learn from the choices that they make. I can learn from when they do it wrong, or when they do it right. I can decide for myself if there’s no clear answer. In this story, it’s a beautiful sunset. Period.

Other books in the series
I Love This Bar (June, 2010)
Hell, Yeah (Aug., 2010)
My Give-A-Damn’s Busted (Oct., 2010)
Honky Tonk Christmas (Nov., 2010)

Tags: Carolyn Brown

When A Woman Takes An Axe To A Wall:
by Allegra Bennett
Paperback
List Price: $15.99
Published in 2006
ISBN-10: 0-9754402-4-1

When a Woman Takes an Axe to a Wall is an uplifting book. It demonstrates the power of a woman to do just about anything she sets her mind to. At first I couldn’t relate because I’m always the one in charge of fixing anything that goes wrong in the house. If there is such a thing as traditional role in house repairs, then my husband and I have switched it since the beginning.

Each chapter features a woman who takes control of her home. Most of the featured women are divorced, but they don’t stay down for long. They triumph over their situation. I can say that this is a feel good book.

If you had ever thought you couldn’t possibly do repair because it’s a man’s domain, read this book and see for yourself. All kinds of women takes control and took an axe to a wall.

Giveaway:
I’m giving away my used copy of this book. Contest open worldwide. Answer this question:

Have you ever taken on a repair in your home? How did it make you feel on completion?

and fill up this form at the same time.

I’ll pick a winner from the comments left below and address for shipping from the form.

Tags: Allegra Bennett

The Art of Devotion
by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin
Paperback, 378 Pages
List Price: $15.00
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4391-5394-9

The Art of Devotion is a marvelous and  stunning tale of how one can get so lost in love, it becomes a single obsession. How that one precious human emotion can turn dark and sinister. This book is told in the voices of 4 women. Everything works perfectly on this book so that it’s comes out like a perfect dish ready for enjoyment. Despite it being a dark tale, there’s that underlying tone of redemption and love.

There’s Adora who loves and protect her brother. She loves deeply and exclusively – loves seems like a liability in her world. There’s her mother, Sophie. She seem just happy to let her kids spend time with each other so she’s free to do her own pursuit. Their lives are entertwined with that of Miranda and her daughter Genevieve.

Told from these women’s recollections and memories, this book is brilliant. I devoured this book. It took me a single night and half a day to read it. I just cannot leave it alone, I had to find out where it all ends.

I highly recommend this book for an enjoyable, thoughtful reading.

If you have a question for this author, leave it in the comment below. She’ll probably be able to stop by and answer most of them.

Tags: Samantha Bruce-Benjamin, Sarah Reidy