A little bit of fun for you today, as this post is a part of the Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt for Linda Lael Miller's newly released Big Sky Country ($5.99 Kindle). I've got an author Q&A, a book excerpt and a chance to win a copy of the book.Author Q&A
Q: Which part of BIG SKY COUNTRY was the most enjoyable to write?
A: I loved writing about the livestock auction (go figure), which compromised the hero and heroine’s first date. (That’s a cowboy for you.) I also enjoyed penning the horse race scene.
Q: Which part was the least enjoyable?
A: I enjoy the whole process, though I admit I find the love scenes to be the most challenging. Trying to bring something new to a thing that’s as old as time can be hard work.
Q: How did you come up with the character, Joslyn Kirk?
A: Joslyn, like most of my characters, simply came to me as a brown-haired woman returning to her hometown to right an old wrong—one she’d had nothing to do with. As I wrote about Joslyn, she sort of flowered into a person I’d know if I met her on the street. It’s that way with all my story people—they become friends and I’m convinced that they’re real, somewhere.
Q: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in the book?
A: I would worry less about getting it perfect and just have fun with the process. Since “Big Sky Country” is the first in a series, the staging has to be just right to carry not only that book, but the others coming after it.
Q: How much, and what kinds of research went into creating this novel?
A: I do a sort of ongoing research—I consult a friend who’s an expert on rodeos, for instance. Most of my stories, though, are pure imagination. I try to get things right, but I’m much more interested in giving the reader an emotional experience and a little vacation from the real world.
Book Excerpt
By this time, he reckoned, all his deputies and Becky, the longtime receptionist, were probably fixing to send out a search party, complete with cadaver dogs and a plan drawn out on a grid.
The idea made him smile as he headed back toward the courthouse.
Joslyn Kirk overslept that morning, and when she opened her eyes, it took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings and realize she was right back in the one place she’d sworn never to set foot in again—Parable, Montana.
Joslyn sat up in her sleeping bag—she’d arrived late the night before and hadn’t bothered to put sheets on the antique brass bed—and looked around, taking in the cabbage-rose wallpaper, the worn planks in the floor and ornate woodwork, the heavy wardrobe that served as a closet.
She was in the guesthouse behind that mansion that had been her home for most of her childhood.
The publicist sent me a paper copy of Big Sky Country for review and I'm about half-way thru it (I'll admit, I miss reading on the Kindle when I have to back to a paper book); after getting past the rather incredulous setup in the first chapter, it's been a pretty good read. Of course, I'm pretty sure I know how it will end, but isn't that true of most romances? It's the journey, not the ending, that makes the book.
Book Description
The illegitimate son of a wealthy rancher, Sheriff Slade Barlow grew up in a trailer hitched to the Curly-Burly hair salon his mother runs. He was never acknowledged by his father…until now. Suddenly, Slade has inherited half of Whisper Creek Ranch, one of the most prosperous in Parable, Montana. That doesn't sit well with his half brother, Hutch, who grew up with all the rights of a Carmody—including the affections of Joslyn Kirk, homecoming queen, rodeo queen, beauty queen, whom Slade has never forgotten.
But Joslyn is barely holding her head up these days as she works to pay back everyone her crooked stepfather cheated. With a town to protect, plus a rebellious teenage stepdaughter, Slade has his hands full. But someone has to convince Joslyn that she's responsible only for her own actions—such as her effect on this lawman's guarded heart.
